End table sneak peek…

Here is a sneak peek of my next project…

about to go from boring to a little more character! Stay tuned!

Master bedroom furniture.. from Mis-matched to a matching set!

As you know we moved in April and have been busy trying to get the house and yard the way we want it. Most rooms have been worked on at least a little bit, some have had a lot of work done. The last room to be touched of course is our Master bedroom.

Our bedroom is normally the storage place for anything that doesn’t have a home.. but now we have a bigger home and I am hoping that we will find homes for all of those things very soon.

I wish I had a matching bedroom set, but working for the school means no paycheck for July and August… so no money for a new bedroom set. I had to go to the next best thing, paint! I love spray paint! Here are some before pictures of the furniture pieces individually.

This is one of our night stands that I bought at a garage sale several years ago for $10 for the set. I loved them. They are Mahogany and used to be beautiful I am sure.. they were in this condition when I bought them but I never actually did anything with them until this weekend.

I started to sand the top before I thought to take a picture…

Here is the headboard. It was just a plain bed from Ikea that was handed down to us from my Sister in law.. very boring..

Here are the really bad pictures of the bench I bought at the Goodwill Outlet store just after we moved. It was going to be my first project of the summer.. but is turning out to be the last.

This the only before picture I have of the bedroom. It was taken to show my Mom who couldn’t go up stairs what the bedroom looked like.. I told her it was a mess! Here the bed isn’t even set up yet. This was our first morning in the new place. Messy messy!

Now here is the after! As you can see.. lots of work yet to do, but it is a start!

The bench was rough and really soaked in the paint.. I think it needs to be sanded and sprayed again but I wanted to see what it all looked like in the room. I am so impatient. Actually the more I look at it the more I think it needs to be repainted a different color.. Not digging all the black.. I like the bed and the tables but the bench needs to be a different color...hmm.. any suggestions?

I love how the nightstands turned out. I really love that the hardware was in great shape and look great with the black paint.

Ok that’s it for now. It is cool and cloudy here today after a very hot weekend, so I think I will play at my craft desk for a bit. Have a great Monday!

Kari

A little of this and a little of that…

So I am all alone here at home this week. The boys are on their annual 50 mile back packing/hiking trip, and Em is with G-ma hanging and crafting and picking out kittens. So Momma gets a little alone time! Yay! I had a fabulous weekend full of friends and fun. Then Monday morning came and it was time to get to work. My job this week was to get the garage clean..That’s a big project.. so that we can participate in the neighborhood garage sale. I figured it would take me 3 days to get the garage done and then I would have a full day to get the sale stuff ready..Well, I must be very productive when I am alone. I got the garage done in less than 3 hours! So that left me with today to play! Here is what I did. First I finished my 42 swap cards..

This card is made using the Mischief paper pack and the new Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge for Close to my Heart. I think it turned out ok.

Then I had to decide what to do next…

Have something to eat… read my book.. or make a burlap table runner and 4 matching place mats… decisions decisions…. I decided to start the runner and mats then have a snack.. then I was gonna read but then my Mom sent me a picture of her new kitten.. So reading was out..

Isn’t he so cute!

Ok so here is how I made the runner…

I started with my burlap and this edging stuff I found on clearance.. I really like it!

I got this kind of thread… incase you were wondering…

I measured it to the size I wanted on my table. Then it was time to cut it. Do you know the  trick to cutting Burlap so that it is straight? When if not I will show you.

First you make a snip to start where you want your cut.

Then pull it apart a little bit and get one thread in the middle..

Now pull it carefully… it will probably break but that is ok. Find the end and using something pokey (poky?… hmm.. which one is right… not sure.. oh well you get the idea)

pick it out and pull some more until you get to the other end..

see how it leaves a little line where the thread was.. Now take your scissors and cut down that line!

I cut it then I had to wash it.. Boy is it messy! Take it outside and give it a good shake and let it dry.. It doesn’t take too long for it to dry. There is a great tutorial Here. Very simple actually! Here is my runner all done!

If you look to the right of my runner in the picture below you will see a pile of threads from the process! WOW! this was a messy job!

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This is one of the place mats I made.

That’s it! I actually Still have to sew the other 3 mats but it is all ready for me to finish them up in the morning.. I can’t wait to get my table cleaned off so I can put my new runner on!

When I do I will post a picture of it in action! Let’s see what I end up doing tomorrow!

Thank you card set

Hey there, It’s been a while since I last posted some crafty goodness. My family and I were on vacation and I had house guests for the last month and a half so I haven’t had any crafty time..Well, I decided I needed to fix that so instead of getting dressed and showered and cleaning the house this morning I decided to play around and be crafty! It was so much fun! Here is what I did…

It’s a Thank you card set in a Fry box. I cut the fry box using the new Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge that is exclusive to Close to my Heart! It is awesome!

I cut the fry box at 11 1/4 inches using our double sided B&T papers from the Lucky paper pack.

The star and the ticket are also cut using the cartridge. The Stamped image on the ticket is from one of the 3 stamp sets you get with the cartridge. I really love how they work together and I was able to cut all 6 out in a snap!

And of course I stamped a coordinating image on the envelope for a special little touch!.

I was totally inspired by this fry box set by Lori Miller. Thanks for the inspiration Lori!