Sunny Bag

In my first post I introduced you to a pattern I bought off of etsy.com for the Sunny Bag. As soon as I saw this pattern I knew it would be perfect for my friend Emily for her birthday! Here's how it turned out--


This picture is deceiving-- it is much bigger in person than it looks in this photo!



Once I get some more free time I'm going to make myself one.... well, let's be honest, I'll add it to the bottom of my list of things to do and hopefully get around to it before Christmas.

I hope you like the bag, Emily! It's made with lots of love from your's truly!

New Wall Decor!!

I first saw this project on Thrifty Decor Chick's blog and loved it! I always have trouble finding wall art that matches my decorating style that's within my tiny budget. This project is cheap, easy, and, because its DIY, it turns out to be exactly your taste!

To start you'll need MDF (medium density fiberboard) cut into 9 12X12 squares. Don't worry if you don't own a saw-- your local home improvement store will cut it for you for free! You'll also need 9 sheets of your favorite coordinating scrapbook paper, spray paint, and spray adhesive.



I lightly sanded the edges, just to get them nice and smooth. Then, I spray painted them a nice shade of brown.


After the paint dried I used my adhesive to attach the scrapbook paper. You could also use modge-podge if you wanted, but spray adhesive is much faster and in my opinion looks a ton better. I attached these sawtooth thingies to the backs-- make sure to put them at the exact same spot on each board to make hanging them on the wall easier.


Hang them up and enjoy!!

Garage Sale Table Transformed!

I finally got some time to work on my garage sale table. Remember this ugly thing from my last post?? YIKES! The rose stickers on top really made me gag.


I peeled them off with a razor and lightly sanded the whole table. Then, of course, I spray painted it black. It looked much better, but still needed a little something.... a little flare, if you will. I gathered my stenciling supplies.



A few stenciling tips:

- I use painters tape for delicate surfaces to hold my stencil in place. If you spend the time to paint it try not to mess it up as you stencil!
- Clean the paint off your stencil each time you move it, otherwise the tiny bit of paint that somehow gets on the back of your stencil will ruin your design.
- Don't worry if you get some stencil paint on another part of the table. Just wipe it off with a damp paper towel before it dries!

(see the design-ruining paint on the back of this stencil??)

Here's how she turned out-

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Much better than roses, huh?