I am back today with another nursery related post – but this is one that you can use anywhere in your home.  I know if you are like me that you love all those adorable graphic prints that you have seen for sale or out on Pinterest.  In fact, I wanted to do some for the nursery gallery wall and I did – for about $10 or less a print! (If you want to see the full nursery reveal post and all the projects make sure to hop over.)

Now I am going to show you how you can do the same without having a fancy graphics program!  All you need is your imagination and Picnik.  What is Picnik?  Picnik is a fantastic online photo editing tool that is free!  Yup – free!  There are some pretty awesome premium features that they offer that you have to have a subscription to use – but the amount of editing that they let you do for free is great.  (Note: This is not a sponsored post – I just love the program!)

So today – I am going to show you how to make the graphic letter print and the cute little owl print shown in the gallery wall above.  Both of them use the same concept but have a slightly different starting point.  The letter print is made entirely in Picnik while the owl print requires a base graphic upload.  Either way you are going to see how completely easy this is!  You are only limited by your imagination!

To make something from scratch

1.  Create a “blank” picture to upload in Paint.  Paint is a free drawing program that is included with all PCs – and I am sure there is something similar in Macs too!  Once you make a new file – you need to modify the size by going to the main menu and then clicking on Properties.  Under properties – size the blank file to the size that you want.  Here I made mine 11 x 14.

 

2.  Upload your Blank file into Picnik – rotate to the direction of your Print.  I have put a black border around the picture so you can see the outline of the picture.

3. Go to Create.  (You can add the border here if you want to be able to see your workspace better.)  Then you can use all the fonts and graphics available to add in elements.  For this print, I just added letters using the Garamond font and made them all different colors. 

Once you have a set of colors that you like – you should write down the hex code (or six digit id) that is located next to the color so that you end up using the same color for each letter.  You can find it up at the top of the Text Properties box on the right hand side of the screen.  Here – the green color is 36CA00. 

 

4. Save your “print” and then arrange to have it printed.  I sent mine off through Snapfish since you can’t get a 11x14 or larger done at the local drug store.  (No endorsement of Snapfish here – but that is just what I used!  An 11x14 print will run you $6.99.)  Then all you need is a frame and a mat.  The frame was one that we had and the mat was $3.99 at Hobby Lobby.

To Make Something Using a Graphic you already have

1.  Add your graphic into Print and the upload into Picnik.  You can either insert or just copy and paste.   For the Owl Print – I just used a clip art owl that was included with my Microsoft Office suite. 

2.  Add additional text and graphics as needed.  I loved this little saying and it went so well with our book wall! 

3.  Save and Print.  For this one I just printed as a 5x7 at my local drug store and added to a frame and mat I already had.  Total cost – $3.99. 

So that is how easy it is!  Now I wanna know what you think?  Love this idea?  Think you might create some custom pieces for yourself now?  Lemme know!!

Linking this up to

Metamorphosis Monday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch
Tip Me Tuesday with Laurie @ Tip Junkie
Tutorials and Tips Tuesday with Beth @ Home Stories A to Z
Get Your Craft On with Kim @ Today’s Creative Blog

Update: The Nursery is finally finished!  Hop over and check out the full reveal!

Well we finally got one of our big to-do’s done for the nursery!!  The dresser has been refinished!  Here is what she looks like now and the rest of the post is how we got there.

If you remember from my “base” nursery post – the dresser was originally part of our guest bedroom suite.  But there was going to be no room for it in our guest bedroom/office.  So I decided that I wanted to keep it in the nursery and use it as our dresser/changing table.  This served both the purpose of giving it a home in our house and saved quite a bit of money in our nursery budget.  Here is a before picture of the dresser. 

I have loathed this dresser for almost 5 years – surprisingly the same amount of time that this dresser has lived in my house.  I am not a big “oak” fan – so after we picked out the crib – I knew I wanted to strip this puppy down and restain it darker to match the crib.  Add some new hardware and it would be perfect.  But I have always heard that stripping was such a pain. 

People – I am here to tell you that stripping and restaining is not as bad as what you may have thought.  In fact – having refinished a piece by painting it and refinished a piece by stripping and restaining, I prefer stripping and staining.  Now I didn’t know that at the start of this journey, so I had to get a good inspiration piece to help get the courage up to take on the project.  The piece I found for this redo was this dresser from Restoration Hardware. 

Now the dresser from Restoration Hardware runs $1249.  Loved the color and the hardware was perfect!  I was hoping that we would get this project done for significantly less than that.  And we did – our cost for this redo was $50.  So here is how we did it!

First, the hubby stripped each of the drawers and the dresser frame itself with Citri-strip Spray stripper.  Below is a pic of the product and a drawer that had already been stripped.  This stuff was amazing (and I am not being compensated in anyway to say that – we just loved the product)!  It doesn’t smell chemical at all and was perfect for getting in the crevices of the drawers and trim on the dresser. 

Once you spray it on – you leave it there for awhile while it loosens the old finish.  Then you just start stripping it off with a plastic scraper. You can see below how easy it comes off! 

Once all the stain was off – the hubby sanded everything down and we started staining.  We used Cabot Stain in Maple Leaf which is one of the custom colors that you can get mixed at the store. 

Once the first coat got on – I was really excited about how good it was looking. 

Another coat of stain and then a coat of poly and we ended up with our final product.  Here she is again below!!

Loving the hardware?  Yeah me too!  The cup pulls were the perfect addition and I got them for a steal on Amazon.  $2.19 a piece which is WAY less than what they were charging at the hardware store.

I love love love it!  And it is a perfect match to our crib!

The nursery is coming together very quickly!  I think I should be able to share with you guys within the next couple weeks!  I have a few more projects to finish and then it will be ready for its reveal.  Of course – hopefully that will be before Lil Man makes his appearance! 

So tell me – have you ever stripped or restained anything?  Was it as hard as you thought it would be?  If you haven’t – do you think you might try now?  I wanna know!

Linking this up to

Metamorphosis Monday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch
Get Your Craft On with Kim @ Today’s Creative Blog
Tutorials and Tips Tuesday with Beth at Stories of A to Z
Show and Tell with Becca @ Blue Cricket Designs
Transformation Thursday with Gina @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
Weekend Wrap Up Party with Jen @ Tatertots and Jello
Saturday Nite Special with Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors

Before and After Party with Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick

Furniture Feature Friday with Miss Mustard Seed @ Miss Mustard Seed

So I don’t know about you guys, but I have been lusting over these jute wrapped Ballard Demijohns for forever.  I just love the textural look of all the little rope knots!  But with the mid-sized one at $59 and the large one at $129 – I have been forced to love them from afar.

But when I was cleaning out some stuff – I came across a roll of jute twine and a heavy weight vase.  And my curiosity got the best of me so I decided to try it out on my own.  I started by wrapping it once around the bottom of vase and tying it off. 

Then I took it up to the top of the vase and wrapped it once there too.  Now – I had a bottom and top area to anchor off off as I did my crosses back and forth.

I went up and down.  Around and around.  And at each cross of the twine – I knotted it.  And then tied it back to the top and bottom each time I got there.

At first, it went pretty quickly.  But as I got more and more layers on – it took longer and longer to tie off.  I did make sure as I went that I straightened out my lines and made sure they were tight!  I think it took me about 30-40 minutes to complete the whole thing.

So here is the finished project!  Not quite a demijohn – but I really like how it turned out!  And I think the rope work on it looks pretty close to my inspiration piece! 

I have some of my best girlfriends coming into town for a little girls weekend this weekend!  I think this vase with some fresh spring flowers will be just the thing to brighten up my dining room table! 

So what do you think?  Did I capture the style?

Linking this to

Metamorphosis Monday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch
Made with Love with Elizabeth @ Sew Chatty
Get Your Craft On with Kim @ Today’s Creative Blog
Tip me Tuesday with Laurie @ Tip Junkie
Tutorials and Tips Tuesday with Beth @ Stories from A to Z
Make it Yours Day with Carolyn @ My Backyard Eden
Hooking up with HOH with Allison @ House of Hepworths
Transformation Thursday with Gina @ The Shabby Chic Cottage

Best DIY Projects of March with Traci @ Beneath My Heart

Yeah – I totally realized that I forgot to post the tutorial on this one.  And since I have had a couple of you email for how and since pinecones are more of a winter decoration anyways I thought I would go ahead and post it!  So here is a glimpse of the finished product on my porch for the holidays.

When I first started on this project, my inspiration was to to make them look somewhat like these ones from Crate & Barrel. 

But I couldn’t find any small pinecones.  All I could find where these mammoths.  Yeah – a dainty kissing ball that will not make.   

So I had to come up with a way to make them smaller.  Allow me to introduce my handy friend, a big pair of wire cutters!

So by cutting off little layers of each pine cone I was able to create little pinecone flowers.  Aren’t they cute!!

Then I just glued them onto a foam ball that I spray painted red.  I also added some mini ornaments to give it a little bling – but if you were doing this as just a winter project you could easily forgo those.

So the finished project looks a little like this! 

I think this would be a great way to accessorize a wreath or something like it!  What do you think?  Can you think of any other ideas of what to do with this?  I would love to hear them – I still have a pile of pinecones!!

Linking this up to

Metamorphosis Monday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch
Before and After Party with Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick
Made with Love Monday with Elizabeth @ Sew Chatty

 

For this week – I am going to be showcasing a couple of the holiday crafts I have been working on around the house.  One of my big projects has been my outdoor decorations – and as soon as I saw these is the Pottery Barn catalog – I knew I wanted to do the same thing.  And it is a good thing – because they were sold out of these almost immediately.

Photo via Pottery Barn

So I was super excited when I found some BIG blue ornaments at a yard sale in late September.  I got five of them for $2.50.  A couple of weeks ago I gathered them up and decided to try my hand at a faux mercury treatment.   Here are some before pics!  Like my lovely spray painting set up?  Who said you can’t use a shepherds hook off season!

Ok – so there are a there are literally a ton of different ways out there to recreate mercury glass.  I am going to show you guys how I did it.  First, I sprayed the ornament with silver metallic spray paint that I happened to have on hand.

Then to create the mottled, aged look – I did quick burst sprays using some silver hammered metallic spray.  It created the “spots” you see on mercury glass pretty well.  And if you ever oversprayed on the hammered spray – you just needed to recoat with a little of the metallic spray and start over. 

So here is a final shot of them drying.   I think they turned out pretty well.

Now – I will have to say that they would have probably looked a little more like PB’s version if I would have used the mirrored spray paint.  But I still love how they came out.  I will have to show you my full outdoor display later this week.  

So what do you think?  Have you ever done a faux mercury glass project?  What technique did you use?  I wanna know!

Linking this up to

Before and After Party with Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick
Christmas Crafts Party with Kate @ The Centsational Girl
Get Your Craft On with Kim @ Today’s Creative Blog
Power of Paint Party with Mary Ann @ Domestically Speaking
Weekend Wrap Party with Jen @ Tatertots & Jello

Whew – what a weekend!  I am exhausted!!  I wanted to hop on the computer several times while the family was here but I was either cooking, talking, catching up or shopping.  So my apologies for not getting to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving on the day proper!  I hope everyone had a great time with family and friends.  And I know I have a ton of you who left comments last week that I need to stop by and see!  I am on my way!!

Now that we are officially past Thanksgiving – I am going to start posting some Holiday ideas and crafts.  I just can’t bring myself to do it until after the turkey has been served.  I drug out all my Christmas decor this weekend and have most of it up!  I also worked on some holiday crafts – one of which I would like to share with you today!  If your like me, you like to flip through your favorite decorating catalogs to get ideas or drool over the things that are perfect but soooo expensive.  One of my favorites to do this with is Pottery Barn.  So this year – when I got my first catalog – I was flipping through and saw this beauty.

   Photo via Pottery Barn

Now – their version was made from metal and cost $149.  It is no longer available for purchase – so they must have sold out.  Even at that price.  I took one look at this and thought – I can do that!  And I did.  For $8.  Here is how!

For starters – I picked up some chip board letters from Hobby Lobby for $1.99 a piece.  I laid them out in the design that I wanted.

Next I flipped them over and used some old scrap pieces of thin wood to glue the letters together at the places where they met.

Once that was dried and felt secure – I flipped it back over.  Originally, my plan was to spray paint it ORB but it was too cold today to do that.  So instead I pulled out my bottle of Raw Umber acrylic paint.  Gave it the perfect finish.

So here it is up on my faux mantel!  I love how it turned out!  Just as beautiful as the catalog version and at 95% off the cost!

Don’t you just love it?  Here is another close up!

I will show you the rest of my holiday mantel tomorrow!  Hope your excited to see it! 

What about you?  Planning any catalog knockoffs this season?  Think you might try this one out? I wanna know!

Linking this to

Metamorphosis Monday with Susan from Between Naps on the Porch
Boardwalk Bragfest with Jan from Bobbypins Boardwalk
Get Your Craft On with Kim from Today’s Creative Blog

 

And I am linking this up for the CSI Projects Painted Christmas Challenge!