Category Archives: Projects

Super Easy Glow Bowling Party

This turned out to be the easiest party ever!  The bowling alley provided the food and drinks.  I just had to bring the cupcakes and loot.  Instead of a loot bag, I made all the guests a personalized glow in the dark birthday bowling t-shirt and handed out silly bands and glow sticks that they could wear around their wrists and necks as they bowled.  This was simple and the kids loved their shirts and had a blast.  The best part was it was over and done within a few hours and my house was not trashed in the process!  It isn’t gender specific, so we have done similar parties for both kids.

Bowling Invitations:

For the invitation, I made circles on my word processing program (PAGES on my Mac) and filled them with black. I then typed the information inside one circle and the “announcement” in another using white font. I was able to fit four circles on each page (two invitations). I printed them out on white card stock and then cut-out the black circles with my circle cutting set from Creative Memories.

I stacked the circles and then used a brad to hold them together. The brad also allowed the top circle to slide up to open the invitation and reveal all of the details. For the pins, I oriented my page so that it was landscaped and then printed the word STRIKE vertically down the page. When I figured out the size and font I wanted, I simply copied and pasted it 2 more times, so that I was able to print 3 per page. I printed this on white card stock as well. I made a bowling pin tracer and carefully set it over the word so that it would sit towards the left side of the pin. I then traced and cut-out each of the pins by hand. Finally, I added some narrow red masking tape for stripes and attached the bowling ball. They were cute and easy to make. Here are the PDF’s to give you a better idea of how I did it. (You’ll notice the PDF is for Shay’s birthday and the photos below are from Eden’s….I did used the same idea for both of their parties.)
INVITATION PDF
PIN PDF

IMG_3030 IMG_3031

Cupcakes:

I can’t say I’m very proud of these babies, but the good news is that we all get better with practise. These simple cupcakes had poorly made fondant bowling pins. Can you believe the horrible job I did on the red stripe? The bowling balls were Whoppers with 3 “finger” holes punched in each. Nothing special, but the kids didn’t care.bowling cupcakes

Personalized Birthday Bowling Shirts:

Screen shot 2014-03-13 at 10.06.11 AM

I found free bowling clip art on line and used the images to create personalized shirts for each of the kids. The top right corner on the front of the shirt had a small bowling logo with their name printed below. Shay’s also had “The Birthday Boy!” under his name. If you click on the image to enlarge it, you’ll also see the pop he spilled down his front!Screen shot 2014-03-13 at 10.08.18 AM

 

On the back of each t-shirt was a large bowling picture with the date printed below. Of course, the shirts were white and glowed in the dark. The boys were thrilled with their glow sticks and shirts and it made for an easy party.  The shirts were made using t-shirt transfer sheets. I bought them at Michael’s using the 40% off coupon. You need to read the directions carefully as some instructions require you to print your document in “mirror” image. On my Mac, you do this once you press print and then select “layout” and “flip horizontally”.

reversed image
Screen shot 2014-03-13 at 10.08.47 AM

Happy party planning!

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Collapsible Wardrobe Repurposed as a Spray Paint Tent

spray paint tentI do quite a bit of painting and over the last year or so, I’ve started to do more spray painting for smaller projects. The idea of spray painting seems so easy…you know point and spray. However, anyone who has spray painted can tell you that it takes patience and a bit of practise to master the technique. I am not always great at taking my time. I like to do a very good job, but am always strapped for time and you can’t rush spray painting. It is much quicker to spray paint, but trying to get it done in one quick thick coat rarely works well. Believe me, I have messed up enough projects to know that very light thin coats work and a heavy spray finger may mean you only need one coat, but it also often results in ghastly drips. I am still learning the art of spray painting, but one thing that has really helped is having my own spray tent.

I used to worry about “off” spray, dust in the paint, wind, etc. It seemed like there was never a perfect location for painting. I was concerned about painting inside and have spray dust land on the walls, floors or other objects not meant to be painted. Outdoor painting also posed problems such as bugs and dust landing in the freshly painted surface. When I saw this idea for creating a spray tent, I put it down on my “garage sale list”. (Yes, it’s true, I have a garage sale shopping list….a list of items that I am on the look out for). So, I placed “collapsible wardrobe” on my list and was lucky enough to find one that was in poor shape and only cost me $3.  I rigged up the top and base to stabilize it and hung it from the rafters in my unfinished basement. It provides the perfect tent for spray painting. I simply set my projects inside and spray through the open front flap. This contains the paint perfectly and protects my projects from dust and bugs. Of course, it is not that big and therefore I am somewhat limited in the size of projects I can use it for, but if they fit, the spray tent works wonderfully.

Here are some shots of my spray tent. It is in a bit of an awkward spot in my basement, so I didn’t have much room to take my photos, but you get the general idea. Mine has a zipper across the top and a second one down the right side. When I bought it, it didn’t open right up for painting because there wasn’t a zipper across the bottom. Easy enough….I just used a craft knife and made a cut straight across the bottom. You can see that the cardboard base has seen better days and I will need to replace it with a lightweight board. I have oodles of scrap wood and can probably cut something that I already have to fit in the base in lieu of the less sturdy cardboard that currently sits there. Love this!!

Tent is suspended from my basement rafters.

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Upcycled Book Display Rack

Custom Kitchen Storage

I am beyond excited about this project! I have had this project on my “Someday List” for years.  I originally saw this idea on a handyman website. It was basically a custom-built shelving unit for kitchen storage. I am not sure if is the same site where I first found the idea, but this the same concept.  I loved the idea, but my building skills are still quite limited and my husband is not fond of the “make work” projects that I suggest for him. So, I “shelved” the project hoping that someday I would develop the skills to build one for my kitchen.  As soon as I got this free book rack loaded in my car, I got that twinkle in my eye and knew exactly what this would become. I remember driving home with only one thing on my mind….will it fit??

Upcycled Book Display Rack:

Original Book RackHere’s a picture of the original book rack. Each panel is about 4″ deep and 2 feet wide, but I only have two of the original four panels. Lucky for me, one panel fits almost perfectly in the space between my fridge and the wall.  I say almost because the bank of cupboards that sit over the fridge have pieces of wood that extend down to the floor on either side of the fridge (they look like supports, but are perhaps there to give it more of a finished look than actually serve a purpose). The result is that the 2 foot width will not fit. In order to use the rack, I had to cut it down to 16″. At first, I was really ticked about this and although I am still not happy about the extra work and lost storage space, I did manage to figure out a little something that made it a little less disappointing.  I will share this in the final reveal as well, as I haven’t got it all figured out yet.

Steps to Transformation:

  1. First, I had to take the whole thing apart. It was primarily held together with screws and a few nails, so I didn’t have to fuss with glue and that made the dismantling that much easier.
  2. I was able to keep both sides in tact, but I had to cut all of the horizontal pieces and the peg board back down to 16″.  I was able to do this easily on the mitre saw, with the exception of the peg board back. My husband kindly helped me out by cutting it on the table saw.
  3. The plastic covered wire cords extending across the books were just attached with hook screws and were easily removed as well.
  4. The ends of the horizontal shelves actually fit into grooves in the sides. The problem was that the shelves did not have a straight cut end. The front couple of inches were straight, but the back part was curved. This meant I had to trace the curve and cut it with the skill saw. I did fine with this, but the curves did not match the original cuts perfectly.  For the most part it’s not noticeable, as the end of the board and my cut is hidden in the groove of the side board. There is a slight gap if you look closely, but it will never really be seen once it’s in use.
  5. The other tricky part was positioning the wheels so that the shelf would slide in and out easily while providing the stability needed for it to stand freely when not between the fridge and the wall. I am actually still playing with this and may end up buying 1.5″ flat ball casters as suggested by the poster of the above cabinet.
  6. Everything is put back together, holes filled and ready for paint.
Here is the narrow space between the wall and my fridge.
The original two panels I got for free.
Here is a “before” shot of the book display rack.
Wire cord that used to hold the books in.
Curved ends that had to be cut to match. This nice cut is the original not mine.
Cut down panel.
Panel is patched and ready for paint.

I can’t wait to get back to it and finish this project off, but the weekend is over and I have a super busy week ahead with Parent Teacher Conferences. Hopefully I won’t be too bagged after a heavy week and can finish it up next weekend. Stay tuned….

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A Look Back: Before and After Slideshow

This is my 248th post. At the end of June/beginning of July, I played around a bit a managed to get a couple of posts up on my blog, but after July long weekend I buckled down and was committed to blogging daily. Since then, I have only missed one day and that was because I was brutally sick with Strep Throat. I must admit that some days are easier than others, but I am hoping that the sunshine, warmer weather (by that I mean less cold) and longer days will get me motivated and back into DIY project mode. The winter has been very long and my motivation level for doing projects has failed in comparison to my desire to curl up on the couch with a warm blanket. Anyways, I thought I would help to get myself motivated by taking a look back at some of my favourite transformation projects and share the before and after shots.  I have done entire posts on most of these projects, so you can check the archives if you want more information on what I did. Enjoy the show and hopefully this will motivate you to get out some paint and give something a new look!

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Funky Scarf Jewellery

Thrift Shoppin'

Thrift Shop Scarves

You may remember that I picked-up several beautiful scarves while out “thrifting” one day. I got them for a buck-fifty each and felt like I scored big. I washed them and began to play with them, experimenting with different knots and styles. (If you are interested in creative ways to wear a scarf, check-out my previous post that featured a video demonstrating 25 ways to tie a scarf.) It didn’t take me long to realize that all of the scarves were similar in length and seemed to be quite a bit shorter than others I owned. I found them a bit difficult to work with because of their odd length. I decided that a clip or pin of some kind might help to make them “work” for me. Last week, I shared the t-shirt flower tie that works like a charm! You basically tie the flower around the scarf and then play with it until you achieve a style you like. Still, I couldn’t help but think that I would love to have a piece of jewellery that would serve the same purpose. I really wasn’t sure where you would purchase “scarf jewellery”, so I  did what all DIYers do…searched the web. I can’t say I really found what I was looking for, but Pinterest is packed with all kinds of ideas for re-purposing old cutlery. I figured I could modify some of the ideas that others shared and make it work for a scarf…why not? On the weekend, I went to a local antique store and purchased a handful of old silverware for $5.

Silverware Scarf Jewellery:

Although I really didn’t know what I was doing, I proceeded to bend and twist one of the old forks until I came up with what I deemed to be a funky little piece. Some of the on-line tutorials talk about heating up the silver with a torch, but others just used basic tools to get the look they wanted. I didn’t really want to” play with fire”, so thought that I would stick to elbow grease, pliers and a hammer for my first project. I think it probably helps if you know what kind of material the utensils are made of, as some work better with a heat source while others don’t require it. I don’t know what these forks and spoons are made of and really wasn’t interested in investing the time to figure it out. I saw some cool pieces on-line and just wanted to see what I could come up with. If I end up creating more pieces, I will make sure I am using the appropriate techniques to create a more “polished” finished product, but for my first attempt trial and error seemed like the best course of action.

I think it works best if you flatten the piece out with a hammer first.  I didn’t do this as I read this after fumbling through my first project. I had to work quite hard to get the prongs of the fork bent how I wanted them and even then ended up settling because I couldn’t get them into the exact position I wanted. I am guessing that the fork I started with probably would have worked much better with a heat source, as I found it quite difficult to manipulate.   I had to apply a lot of pressure and the tools ended up leaving little nicks in the surface of the silver. I did try to sand/buff them out, but they are still visible. I decided not to worry about it and just call the flaws “character”. LOL

Overall, I am pleased with what I came up with and will wear it. It is a simple loop, so you need to actually knot the scarf into it. I will definitely try more pieces like this. I love the idea of “scarf” jewellery! Next time, I will probably try to “test” my piece to determine what it is made of and then use a heat source, if necessary. I am a little nervous about that and will probably work on my basement floor, so I don’t burn the house down. Anyways, I will keep you posted and let you know if I come up with any cool designs to share. For this one, I added in one of the baked marbles I made earlier this week. I basically glued the base of it to the fork and then wrapped the bent prongs around it. Hopefully it will hold.

BEFORE: Antique Cutlery
Bent fork
Bent fork with baked marble
AFTER: Funky Scarf Jewellery

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That’s “Marbleous”!

baked marbles

The original poster added starter rings and created these really pretty pendants.

I saw this cool idea on Pinterest for baking marbles to make very cool looking jewellery. I loved the cracked look and thought that these marbles would be a cool addition to the “silverware” pieces that I have been messing around with. I picked-up a few marbles for 10 cents a piece at a local antique store, but they were the type with the little splash of colour in the center. I also had a few that were opaque. I followed the instructions from the above post, but found that I needed to bake them a bit longer to get the cracked  effect. In the end I wasn’t pleased with the result. The cracks weren’t even visible in the opaque marbles and the clear marbles with the fleck inside, didn’t look great either. (The original post did warn against this, but for 10 cents, I thought I would judge for myself.) I was determined to make this work, so I went to Michael’s and bought a bag of glass beads on sale for under $2.

“Marbleous” Marbles:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place TRANSLUCENT (clear or tinted) marbles on a foil lined pan. You can either use traditional sphere shaped marbles or the flat-bottomed glass beads/marbles, both work.
  3. Bake the marbles for about 20 to 30 minutes.
  4. Using a metal bowl, prepare an ice bath (ice cubes with enough water to cover the marbles).  Remove the marbles from the oven and immediately place them in the ice bath. The glass beads/marbles will immediately crack when they contact the ice water.
  5. Let cool and use in a project of your choice.
    Bag of glass beads for under $2.
    Place on foil lined tray and bake.
    Place in ice bath.

By following the simple instructions above, I ended up with these beautiful little gems! These could be incorporated into all kinds of projects:  wrapped in wire and used in a plant pot, for jewellery or glued on a project to add some interest. I absolutely love this look and you can’t beat the price at just pennies a stone.

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Just Add Tape!

This morning I challenged myself to a 10 minute project that began with no plan or goal. I was pushed for time and had no post planned for the day. I got out my crafting tape and basically started to “play”. In fact, Shay came in and asked what I was doing and I said I didn’t know. He proceeded to ask a few more questions about my project and I told him I really had no idea what I was going to do, but it all began by covering an old puzzle piece with tape.  Here is what evolved.homemade card

Materials:

  • card stock (for card base)
  • crafting knife
  • scissors
  • old puzzle piece
  • crafting tape
  • dollar store letter stickers
  • adhesive/tape

Steps:

  • Cover the puzzle piece in tape. I used 3 different designs of tape and randomly placed strips across the surface.

tape covered puzzle piece

  • Flip the puzzle piece over and use the knife to cut all of the excess tape off by using the edge of the puzzle piece as a guide. (Oops! No picture.)
  • Use the tape to create a border along the bottom of the card. I layered mine to get this look.
  • Adhere the puzzle piece to the card.
  • Add lettering to get the message you want.  (The “PEACE” Man! is a little lame, but I was in a big rush and wanted to incorporate the puzzle piece into the greeting itself.)  Of course, you could use any play on words with the peace/piece idea (Peace be with You, May you find Peace, etc.) or something like “love you to pieces” or “you’ll always have a piece of my heart”, etc.
  • The concept of this card is much less about the final look of the card and much more so about being able to create a great card without a roomful of scrapbooking tools. This is the epitome of simple, cost effective and the possibilities are endless. The puzzle piece simply adds dimension and a bit of interest. If you skip it, you could get the same effect by incorporating buttons, fabric, washers or other household items. I tend to find that some sort of dimension adds interest and a focal point to a card. It isn’t necessary, but more so my preference.

Next time you’re at the dollar store, pick-up some tape and card stock and begin to play and create. It is amazing what you can come up with simply by combining different patterns and materials.  This project took less than 10 minutes and that was without knowing that I was evening going to end up with a card.  This project is rated A for “anyone could do it”.  Have fun!

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Upcycled Piano Update

My husband finished dismantling most of the piano a few weeks ago and it was at this point that we decided to move it to our kitchen. Initially I had no idea what I was going to do with our old piano, but eventually I formulated what seemed like a grand plan. I thought it would be very cool to replace the table in our kitchen with the piano and use it like a “bar” type table. I had ideas for how I might incorporate some built-in cubbies and was deciding on a colour scheme. My only concern was the actual size of our kitchen and how this piece might impact the general flow of the kitchen. Although we already had a table there, it was considerably smaller and I didn’t want to go to a bunch of work and then hate it. When we initially moved it in, I was immediately disappointed as it seemed to over power our long narrow space. We decided to leave it be and live with it for a while before making any final decisions. After about a week or so, I was getting used to it and I felt myself once again getting excited about the idea of finishing this unique piece for our kitchen. I am still in a mid winter “February Funk” and hardly have enough energy to do the menial tasks like cleaning my house, let alone refinishing a piano. So, fortunately I haven’t done a thing with it yet….why is this fortunate you might ask?  Well, evidently it takes more than a week to really get a feel for something. Lately, I find myself walking through my kitchen and feeling an almost uncontrollable urge to kick the stool that seems to constantly be jutting out into the “path” because someone hasn’t pushed it under the piano properly. It seems as though someone or something is always in the way. Yikes! This piano is absolutely not staying in my kitchen, but now I need to get back to the drawing  board to figure out what I am going to do with it and where it is going to go. You can see that the iron harp is still inside the piano. It is what makes the piano so crazy heavy. I still want to remove the harp, but we haven’t had a chance and thought we would leave it until we made a final decision on what to do with it. I actually love the iron and hope to somehow use it as well.

I must say, having the piano “under foot” everyday has been good for something.  First and foremost, my mind is constantly thinking of how I could use it and where I might put it. I don’t have all of the answers yet, but my creative juices are definitely flowing and that’s a start. I really do love the structure and it will be a fabulous addition to our home, I’m just not sure how yet. Secondly, the piano helped me to realize how much I didn’t like the table that sat in the kitchen prior to the piano. It was actually too small. I now know what I want. We need a table that is longer than the old table and perhaps even slightly longer than the piano, but the depth needs to be more consistent to that of the old table for functionality.  I am already busy thinking about how I might build a custom table and/or counter to fit in the space. Here we go again….it seems like there is always a new idea and therefore a new project!

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T-shirt Flower Embellishment

 

Do you have one of those scarves that is either too short and too long for it to hang properly around your neck? Or maybe, the length isn’t the problem, you just can’t get your scarf to sit nicely. This is a simple solution and so cute!  When I found this great tutorial on “A Bit of Sunshine” demonstrating how to make a simple fabric flower to dress-up a scarf, I just had to make one. I wanted mine to be very versatile, so I made the flower white and the button in the middle is white as well. I have worn mine lots and love this shabby chic wardrobe upcycle!!

T-shirt Flower Tutorial:

  • Draw and cut-out a 6 petal flower from card stock (about 4″ in diameter). This will become your tracer/template for the other flowers.
  • Using your template, trace and cut-out 8 flowers on an old t-shirt.
  • Fold each flower in half and then quarters and secure the corner with glue (or a stitch) so it maintains the fold.
  • Cut-out a 1″ circle from felt and lay down four of the folded flowers on the base, so that they meet in the middle of the felt and extend over the edges. This bottom layer will essentially form a “circle” and cover the surface of the felt. You will need to secure each of the folded flowers in place with glue or by stitching each one. I sewed mine in place.
  • Take three of the remaining four flowers and create a second layer that is staggered across the joins of the bottom layer. Secure them in place.
  • The last flower/petal will need to be pinched a bit more than the others and glued or stitched right in the center of the flower.
  • Finally, attach a button to the center of your flower using either glue or needle and thread.
  • Cut a long strip of fabric and secure it to the felt backing on the flower. This will be your tie to attach it to a scarf.

*I did not use glue. I sewed everything together, but the original tutorial does suggest glue, so either should be fine. The original tutorial is complete with photos. I did not take pictures of the steps when I made mine because at that time, I wasn’t blogging.

*You could easily attach a hair clip to this instead of the fabric strip and it could become a really cute flower for your hair.

You can see my messy stitching here. I really wasn’t trying very hard, as I knew this would never been seen when you’re wearing it.
T-shirt Upcycled to Flower

 

Boston Bruins Birthday Card

My son is certainly a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, but if truth be told, the Bruins would always be his first choice. He loves Boston! He has made a new friend this year and one of the things they have in common is their love for the Boston Bruins. It is his birthday tomorrow, so Shay wanted to get him a Bruins hat or t-shirt. There isn’t much selection here, so I picked him up a Bruins hat and made a card to go with it. It turned out quite well and hopefully he’ll like it.

Most of this card was really simple to do with lots of straight cuts and minimal measurements. I used a blank white card and added a black mat to the surface, leaving a very small white border around the outer edge. I then cut out strips of yellow, black and white and layered them across the middle of the card. I cut out a yellow circle and a white one that was slightly smaller. I then cut-out out 4 long narrow strips of yellow paper for the “spokes” around the “B”. I inked the edges of the yellow strips and then cut them in half to equal the 8 I needed in total. I placed the first strip horizontally across the white circle and it fit directly beneath the middle part of the B. For the other strips, I glued the ends, but did not put any adhesive under the center of the strip so that I could trim out the middle so that it wouldn’t be seen under the B. This also allowed me to line up the opposite sides of the strip perfectly using one long strip as opposed to two smaller ones. It was easy to mark the strips and then snip the center out. I did this for all of the remaining yellow “spokes” and then finally glued the B in the middle. I have to admit the B was the hardest part. I ended up pretty much making it by hand as I couldn’t figure out any other way to get the squared off style of B. I didn’t have a matching font on my Cricut, so I cut out a B that was similar in style, but much more rounded and then squared it off with scissors. I then cut a black ring with my Cricut and set the open black circle over the ends of the “spokes” and just inside the yellow circle.  At first, I wasn’t sure how to make this Boston Bruins’ logo into a birthday card, but eventually decided to go with the term “B” day instead of birthday to tie the two together. I did a combination of stamping and hand printing to make the little tag for the top corner and attached it with a yellow brad. Boston Bruins Card

For the inside, I made up a little birthday greeting using a bit of a play on words with the Boston Bruins theme. I used a free font called Varsity to get that outline on the letters, similar to the font the Bruins use. Of course, I had to pick-up a yellow gift bag to pull it all together. I didn’t use any fancy ribbon or anything, but I think the yellow and black looks really sharp. I would have preferred to have either black tissue with the yellow bag or yellow tissue with a black bag, but I the dollar store didn’t have exactly what I wanted and I didn’t have time to go elsewhere.

Hopefully, they’ll have lots of fun and he’ll have a great birthday.Boston Bruins Card

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