Window Shutter to Wall Decor

Woohoo for Wednesday, half way to the weekend, people! Do you all ever get a DIY project idea, buy at least part of the materials, and then it doesn't happen? No, it's just me? Well anyways, I finally did a project I've been meaning to do for a while now.

This past weekend, I had some time at home and decided to finally complete a project I had been wanting to do since I first joined Pinterest. One of my very first pins was to re-do an old shutter and make it something for inside our home. I have had the shutter for a while (it's went through 2 house moves with us) so it was time to use it for what I had bought it for in the antique shop when I got it. One reason that I loved the project was that it was pretty inexpensive. I got the shutter for around $5 (it's been so long I don't remember exact amount). Then spray paint was $3.97 and sand paper was $2.97. I already had vinyl and my cameo at home so those three items were all I needed to purchase, oh, and the $1 plastic table cloth I bought as a drop cloth.

I started by sanding off the dark green paint, which I found out also had grey paint underneath it. After this project, I've learned that I definitely need to invest in a small electric sander before doing this again. My arms were so sore! I got the main space and the edges sanded like I wanted, but I left the middle part unsanded. Since my spray paint was both primer and paint, it worked well and just covered the middle parts that I didn't sand.

I did one coat, let it dry for 10 minues. Sprayed another coat, let it dry for 10 minutes, and then sprayed any areas that needed a little extra.

While the paint dried, I got on my computer and created our name in my silhouette studio and cut out the vinyl. After the paint was dry I transfered our name to the top and wa-la, a mail organizer and wall decor! We plan on hanging it in our office area, but we still need to attach a bracket to the back.

This was an easy project that I really enjoyed... and now I also enjoy not having a random old green shutter laying around that needs fixing.

And just because we enjoyed it so much, here is a picture from our fire in our fire pit last night, and yes, we had s'mores. We are having the youth group over Friday evening so we wanted to test it out first, success!

Crayon Art!

Hello friends! Hope all of you are staying warm in this cold weather! I am enjoying an extra day off work, as our company is closed today due to the temperatures. I hadn't had time before to write about the crayon art Brinley and I made when she visited. Here I am now with an extra day off, so what better time than now? You may have seen crayon art or have already done it, but it was a fun and easy project so I thought I would share it.

You will need:
Canvas
Plenty of crayons (since making 2, we had around 200)
Hot glue gun/glue sticks
Blow dryer

Step 1. Starting with your crayons, decide what color scheme you want your art to have.  Brinley chose mostly pinks and purples so that her canvas would match her room.  I wanted more of a rainbow look for my office, so I chose red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.  After deciding, we found it helpful to line the crayons on the canvas how you plan on gluing them.  We pointed them all the same direction, with the label showing the same way on all crayons.

Step 2. After lining the crayons how you are wanting them to look, using a hot glue gun, secure all crayons to the canvas.  Keep in mind you don't have to keep them in a straight line, you can create shapes if you'd like.

Step 3. After crayons are secure, hold canvas with crayons pointing down.  Make sure you have either a drop cloth, news paper, or a surface you don't mind getting messy, as some of the wax splatters.  I have a table cloth I use for crafting, so I just used that.  While holding the canvas, begin to blow dry crayons.  It helps to start at one side and work your way across.  Hold the blow dryer in the middle of the crayons.  Within no time, the wax will begin to melt and run down the canvas.  You can change the stream of the wax by moving the angle of your canvas.  Continue melting crayons until art is complete. We found that our wax only went half way down the canvas due to clumps of wax, to fix this problem, simple move your blow dryer to those sections and they will continue to melt.

Step 4. After melting wax, simply lay canvas flat and allow art to dry.

Here are our finished products, they are so fun!

Hello, Fall!

Since my last post, it has really started looking, and feeling, like Fall here in Grayson.  We all know that Fall reminds us of Thanksgiving and this past week, Preston and I have been blessed with countless things to be thankful for.  Last week went by pretty quickly and we were off to Pikeville, Abingdon, and Elizabethton for a long weekend.  However, all of that excitement is in another upcoming post.  Today, I am sharing a couple of my  fall projects that I have been working on...my first attempt at wreath making and some outdoor decorating, warning: lots of pictures!  

Making my wreath was wonderful, who knew some fake leaves and a glue gun could be so much fun?  I loved every minute of it!  I had looked on Google images for a few ideas but didn't really find anything so I just went with my own idea.  After getting my supplies at... you guessed it, Hobby Lobby, I couldn't wait to get started.  I first applied the leaves and berries and followed with the bigger items, the last being the beautiful bow (which my fantastic Mom assisted with).  Enough words, here are the pictures! 

Love this!

I just love that sparkley corn!

As mentioned before, I loved making this wreath and really love how it turned out, I can't wait to make one for Christmas, Winter in general, and any other time I can make one!  

Outside, thanks to Nana and P-Paw, we have a lovely bale of straw with some pumpkins and gourds to spruce things up a bit. We really enjoyed picking out our pumpkins and gourds, even had to make a second trip back to get more!  Here is our or hanging wreath and outdoor decor!

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of our fall projects, come back to read about our future home! 

Brooke

A Crafty, Relaxing, Weekend

Hello!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend, I know we did. We had plans with friends on Saturday, but our plans were canceled, however, we still enjoyed a fun Saturday.  After sleeping in, we spent the day with Rachel, John and their boys, Owen and Camden, and Adam and Meghan.  We started by going out to the playground by our apartment where Owen was enjoying himself on the swings, slides, and ropes.  Soon after, the guys headed in and us girls and Owen and Camden went on an adventure.  We wanted to do something crafty and Meghan had a great idea she found on Pinerest.  Have you heard of Pinterest?  If not, check it out here. There are so many wonderful ideas all on one website!  We went to Hobby Lobby for our supplies, of course.  Afterwards, Owen and I went into the fish store where he was mesmerized by all of the "Nemo" fish!  Anyways, we got home and started our project, which took longer than we thought.  Project of the day: Crayon letters.  These are great for kids' rooms, teachers, and such, but mine is simply going on a wall in our craft/office room.  Sorry I did not take pictures through the whole project, didn't even think about it until after!

Supplies needed:

• 1 shadow box or scrapbook frame (we used 12x12 scrapbook frames, either is fine)
• 1 piece of cardstock  
• crayons (amount depends on letters, I used 3 boxes of 24, Crayola)
• Sharp knife
• Running hot water
• paper towel
• Glue gun/glue

First of all, put all of your crayons in the freezer.  Weird, yes... but it helps! Next, we opened a word document to create the outline we would trace onto the paper.  By inserting word art, stretching the letter is easier.  After printing the outline we liked, we cut them and traced them on to the paper.  Now comes the longest part of the project, cutting the crayons.  Get one pack of crayons out of the freezer.  By measuring  eyeballing the right size needed, the cutting begins.  First, hold the knife under the hot water and then wipe it off with the paper towel, find where to cut the crayon and begin.  Do this for the entire letter.  It is fun to use tips of the crayons and pieces without tips.  I used a whole crayon once or twice.  Take out boxes of crayons as needed.  After getting all of the crayons cut and you have enough to cover your letter, arrange them how you like, don't be afraid to mix and match the colors.  Next transfer them onto to paper they will be glued on.  Now, pick up two or three crayons at a time, put hot glue on the paper and glue them in place.  Do this for the entire letter. After all crayons are glued and the entire letter is covered, simply put your creation into your frame and you're finished!  It is fun to put a name beside or under the letter, but I just did the letter in case I want to add something later.  Here is my finished product:

I think it turned out quite nicely... hope you enjoyed it! 

On a totally different note, I absolutely love fall decorations and I made a simple centerpiece for our table...

Hope you have a great week, check back for my wreath making project!

Brooke