Sweet little birds

I've become obsessed with fat little birds. I can't explain it. I love them. They are mod and quirky and cute.  I decided I needed to have them in my house.  I already have a cute little white ceramic one that is still looking for a home, but wanted something a bit more punchy.

I also didn't want to spend any money. This bizarre thing has happened since I started this whole blogging thing. I can't believe it's possible, but I've gotten cheaper. I look at stuff in stores and think, "Huh, I could make that." And don't buy it. And most of the time, I don't make it either, because that would take planning and thinking and right now, I don't seem to have the time for either of those things.

But, I digress...back to my chirpy little birds.

I had a set of pictures from our old bathroom back in Colorado. They didn't fit the style of the house at all, but I figured I could repurpose them somehow, so hung onto them.

Here they are in all their glory.

Pretty standard bathroom art you can buy pretty much anywhere. Not horrible, but not what I wanted.

I tore them apart. Poor things didn't stand a chance. And I didn't take any pictures. I have no idea why. Sigh.

Anyway, I got them down to the bare frames and glass. Then, I primed them and spray painted them chrome with some spray paint I bought years ago. Covered like a dream! They looked great!

Next, I cut two pieces of scrapbook paper to the size of the frame. Then, I used my Silhouette to cut out two chubby little birds from pink and orange card stock. I use a glue stick to attach the birds to the scrapbook paper. As I was laying the birds out, I decided to swap the beaks, wings and tails to give them a little more interest.

(These are hanging in the same room which doesn't have any windows, one is by the light and the other isn't. The first one is more true to the colors. No matter how much I tinkered with them in Paint.net, I couldn't get them the same color.)

Originally, I'd planned on hanging these cuties in the kitchen, but they just didn't look right with the chrome frames on gray walls.

Here they are hanging in the downstairs bathroom.

And the best part is, they were free! I had the frames, spray paint and scrapbook paper. Cheap, cheap!

Once we get a couple more finishing touches on this room, I'll show you the whole thing. It's turning out very cute!



Quick and easy teacher gifts

I haven't done one single thing for my son's pre-school teachers all year. I feel horrible about it. He's got 3 great pre-school teachers. And, 3 great daycare teachers. And my daughter has 3 great daycare teachers too.  See my dilemma? 9, count 'em, 9 people to buy gifts for? Overwhelming.

But, since this week is his last week of preschool, I decided to make a little something for his preschool teachers.

Easy, simple and cute!

I started with plain white mugs that I got at the dollar store.  I used my Silhouette to add black mongrams in Century Schoolbook font.

I had three favor bags we'd gotten from a wedding we were at a couple of weekends ago, so I filled them with dark chocolate Hershey kisses. (Because really,  who doesn't love getting chocolate?)

They still needed a little extra something, so I used my Silhouette again to create a Thank You tag.



I wanted to include a personal note to each of his teachers, but all of my stationary is still packed away in a box somewhere down in the basement. Instead of stationary, I cut a piece of coordinating scrapbook paper, wrote my note on the plain side of my paper, then rolled it up and tied it with some left over ribbon.

On my way to daycare, I stopped and picked up Starbuck's gift cards and tucked them in the back as well.





I'm really happy with how they turned out!







It's Spring! Right?

I think in other parts of the country, it's spring. Up here, we've still got snow and it's close to zero at night. I think the high the past couple of days has been 30 degrees. BRRRR.

I am soooo ready for spring to get here.

To bring a little spring into the house, I made a quick and easy little project today. Remember the blocks I did for Valentine's Day? Well, they were cut from a 2x4 and were only three of like 10-12 blocks ( I can't remember how many are left out in the garage).

I didn't want to do Easter specific blocks, so I decided on a spring theme.

April showers bring May flowers. Get it? I thought I was being pretty clever.

I started by sanding down the rough edges of the blocks. (This was done in the nice, cool garage. With my jacket on.)

Then, I brought them in and put them on my work surface. (Also known as a flattened out Bud Light box on my kitchen island. Oh, how I dream of the day when I have my craft room!)

Next, I painted them Antique White (cream) with craft paint. I put two coats on two sides, and three coats on the sides I was going to put the decorations on.  I didn't bother painting the bottoms.  In between coats of paint, I cut out shapes using my Silhouette and scrapbook paper that I already had.  The equals sign was a little puny to begin with, so I decided to layer  two  different kinds of paper to make it.

(I'm still learning how to use my Silhouette and I know I'm not using it in the most efficient way, but practice makes perfect right?)

Next, I put on the umbrella, equal sign and flowers with Mod Podge.  About half way through, I decided the sides needed a little bit of detail as well, so I used my Fiskars straight cutter and cut squares to fit the other two sides of the blocks and Mod Podged them on as well. (Is Mod Podged a word? Hmmm.)

At this point, they still looked like the could use a little something, so I used a distressing ink and just rubbed the ink pad on the edges and wiped it off with a paper towel. 

Here are my lovelies, on the window sill with my awesome Celtic scentsy warmer (Green Tea and Cactus is the current scent. Loverly). And of course, a bunch of snow is in the background.  I've been changing the order of the blocks every time I walk by. Right now, the umbrella and equals sign are swapped.  I'm sure I'll change them again tomorrow.

Linking up with:



Centsational Girl

Love is in the air!

I have never decorated for Valentine's Day before. Ever.  I think it's because I'm not a big fan of decorating with hearts. The look is a little too country for me. (If you decorate with them GREAT! They just aren't my style.)

But, while stalking reading some other blogs, I became inspired to make some of my own Valentine's Day decorations.  And, it is my son's birthday on Valentine's Day as well, so he deserves the house to look festive, doesn't he?

After reading this post and this post and this post and this post, I was ready to jump in!

So, where to start. What do I have at home that I can use?

I'd bought two rolls of flocked wrapping paper at Target after Christmas for a whopping $.25 a piece. As in twenty-five cents. I loved them and knew I could use them for something! 

I also have a ton of picture frames. Like, too many. But I can't bring myself to ever getting rid of any picture frames. I keep them forever. EVER.

I have white vases and a cool little silver pot.

I also have some left over red craft paint.

A trip to Home Depot got me a 4x4 post, for $6.97. 

A trip to the dollar store got me heart picks and ribbon.

And a trip to JoAnn's got me Valentine's scrapbook paper.

I had originally planned to print out letters on scrapbook paper and use Mod Podge to put them on my blocks.  But, for once in my life procrastination paid off and my Silhoutte came! So, I decided to use that instead.

This is my craft area. I can't wait to have a table to do this on in the new house.

What came out of all of this?

Scrapbook paper and scrapbook letters in a little five opening frame. I threw the picks in the vases just to have something behind it.  RC came home with a tissue paper flower, so I threw that in a vase too.

I think this is probably my favorite.  (Even though the pictures aren't the greatest. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to figure out my manual settings.)

I took the glass out of a picture frame and taped on the black flocked wrapping paper.  Then, I cut the sticks off of the picks and glued the hearts onto the paper.

I picked up a little cyclamen plant at Wal-Mart for my little silver pot.

I wrapped a ribbon around the top and then added vinyl letters. (Yay!)

Amazing what a bit of ribbon taped to a plain white pillar can do!

The top shelf of this stand is really small and I always have a hard time figuring out what to put there.  I don't know what made me think of using a playing card, but I kinda like how it looks! The Queen of Hearts is propped up using a red wine marker.

And this is what the whole stand looks like.

Next up was the blocks. My DH cut my blocks for me and I painted them red. Then, I downloaded a couple of designs from the Silhouette store and printed out letters.

The blocks are on a Norwegian bible that came out of my husband's grandparents house. I love it.

I really like the way everything turned out! Are you decorating for Valentine's this year?