Repurposed Old Window ~ Turned ~ Necklace Hanger

Thank you, Pinterest! I've seen several versions of this on Pinterest which inspired me to do my own. All of my jewelry has a nice home... except my necklaces. They have a drawer. Necklaces don't belong in a drawer. When you can actually find one to wear, it's so tangled with others that you end up going necklace-less.

My husband and I got permission to grab some old wood and stuff from a property that has an old house, barn, milk barn, and shed on it. They are all falling down. The house basically has no floor anymore, and it is dangerous to go in. We did, however, find some broken windows sitting on what is left of the floor. I grabbed them and took them home.

This is what the window looked like when I got it home:

Gross, right? It had nests all over it, chipped paint, one in tact window, one broken window, and one completely missing window, springs sticking out the sides, and filth galore. I strapped on the face mask and gloves, cleaned it up, scrubbed it down, sanded the loose paint, and took out the glass.

Then I painted it brown, nailed a bunch of nails an inch apart from each other, put a couple of picture hangers on the back, hung it on my wall, and draped my necklaces from it.

And there you have it! I spent absolutely no money on this necklace hanger! I used paint I had in my arsenal, nails I found in my old toolbox from about 5 or 6 years ago, and picture hangers I had in the same toolbox.

Valentine's Day: Card for the Hubby

Ok... So this one gets a little personal. This is the Valentine's Day card I made for my husband last year. I likely won't reveal this year's until after he gets it. I don't know... we'll see. Since I decorated both the outside and inside, though, I decided to put pics of both on here. Yes, you'll be able to read the personal message that I wrote inside to him. But I don't reckon it's anything so personal that should be kept private.

This card was made on white cardstock using scrapbook paper, ribbons, stamps, felt, and markers.

Front:

Middle:

Back:

Valentine's Day: Decorative Jar

Today's Valentine's Day craft is a simple one that I did last year for my stepson's school Valentine's Day party. One other mom and I were the party planners for all the class parties, so we had a blast coming up with decorations and crafts. We had heart shaped suckers for all the kids. They were going to be used for a craft (that I will post later) toward the end of the party. I thought it would be cute to use them as decorations until they were needed for the craft. I took one of my spaghetti jars from my stash, added some cute Valentine's scrapbook paper, edged it with ribbon, and placed the suckers inside. I wish I would've gotten a better picture that day, but this is the best I have. You get the idea, though.

Valentine's Day: Wreath

For the last full week of January, it's time to move on to some Valentine's Day crafts. I've had my Valentine's decorations up since I took down my Christmas ones. If you don't have them yet, though, now is the time to get going.

My first Valentine craft is a wreath. I did this with a wire heart shaped wreath base. I added the layer of red ribbon first, using flower ties at each loop. Once I got that completed all the way around I did the black layer. Next was the zebra ribbon. I used wire ribbon so it would be easier to shape the way I wanted. Again, I used flower ties all the way around. I bought the "LOVE" as pre-cut unfinished wood at Hobby Lobby. I painted the red and black, but it looked too plain for me. So I added the extra designs to it. The picture in the "O" is one of our engagement pictures from a few years ago. I thought it was pretty fitting. I debated on how to attach the LOVE sign to the wreath, but I finally ended up using black jewelry wire. Finally, I added the ribbon to hang it from above.

Organizing: Kitchen Storage Boxes

This is another project that I did using unfinished craft wood from Hobby Lobby, but if I did it again I would have my husband make the boxes. These were quick and easy creations, but they far beat the cardboard boxes that each of these items are packaged in at the store. I painted them to match my accent colors, added a little ribbon, and cut three layers of letters out of cardstock with my Cricut. Stacking three layers on top of each other gave them a more 3-D look.

Organizing / Home Decor: Hanging Box Shelves

The next project for my husband was a set of shelves that I saw in a book and wanted. I love a contemporary look, but our house is rustic. So we thought these shelves would be a good mix. I failed to take pics of this project along the way like I did with the laundry room cabinets. Lesson learned. But at least you can see the final. I'm still working on getting them decorated.

He used 3/4 inch birch plywood for these shelves. One 4' x 8' sheet did the entire thing. He used 1/4 inch plywood for the backs of each box. He ironed edge banding onto all the edges to give them a more completed look. Then he stained them and applied polyurethane. I wish I had pictures of how he hung them, because he had to really engineer it up. Those suckers are heavy! They are hung in three separate sections.

Organizing: Laundry Room Cabinets

One of the problems with our house is lack of storage. We are planning to put our house on the market in the spring, so we are trying to create some good storage areas to add to the appeal. Plus, I tend to be a little ocd. Messes stress me out. My husband got some new tools for Christmas, and he couldn't wait to use them. It took several days because the doctors are trying to teach him to pace himself better so he doesn't knock himself down for several days in a row. Otherwise this could probably be done in a day. But I couldn't be more proud of him for how they turned out.

Here was the "Before." I wanted to scream every time I walked in here.

He started with base:

Then he added bracing for support around the middle:

Awww.... Isn't my hubby handsome????

Here is me pretending to do something while wearing my new pink toolbelt that I LOVE!!! 

After getting the middle braces, he added the shelves and the top support: 

Next came the face frame: 

Here it is from a straight-forward angle:

Next he painted the frame:

And finally he added the doors that he built and painted in the garage. (I didn't realize that bottom drawer to the dryer was open when I took this):

The final close-up:

Organizing: Coffee Container Boxes

My craft post yesterday showed the containers I made to store my coffee. Today I'm showing the boxes I made to house my coffee jars. I bought these boxes in the unfinished craft wood section at Hobby Lobby during a week they were on sale, but if I made them again I would just have my husband build them. I painted the inside and trim with the colors I use as my main accent colors in our great room. Then I decoupaged scrapbook paper onto the outside. I'm still working to perfect my decoupage technique as it is an artform, and I do not have enough experience with it. But I did the best I could. Then I took a sponge applicator and dabbed brown paint onto the edges in an attempt to make each side fade into it's edge. I hung them on the wall and placed my coffee jars in them. Bonus... the top one hides our thermostat.

From the side you hardly even notice the thermostat. It used to stick out on that wall like a sore thumb.

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Notice on the decaf jars I flip-flopped the colors. That way we don't mistakingly grab the wrong one and end up staying awake all night. I recently got a new Cricut cartridge that has coffee on it, so I will add a coffee dye cut under the words "decaf coffee" to complete the look.

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Here is a close-up of the sides and edges:

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Organizing: Coffee Containers

Hi, my name is Whitney, and I am a coffee addict.

Yes, it's true. My education is in exercise science and kinesiology, and I have an addiction to coffee. Not just coffee... coffee with cream and sugar. For the most part, we use organic coffee beans that we grind ourselves (although I do like Dunkin Donuts coffee from time to time). I sweeten my coffee with organic evaporated cane juice, and I cream it up with a bit of organic 2% milk from grass fed and finished cows. Better? This particular post is for my craft section of the site, though, so that's enough talk about the nutrition side.

I get tired of the ugly bags of coffee sitting around. If there's one thing I don't like in the kitchen, it's some of the ugly packaging that food comes in (or in the case of organic coffee, the brown bag you put it in when you buy it in bulk at Whole Foods, Fresh Market, or straight from a farmer). There's no point in throwing away (or taking to the recycle bin) jars you got from store bought items. You can always use them for something, and I ALWAYS do. I never, ever get rid of them! These coffee containers came from spaghetti jars. I used scrapbook paper, ribbon, and letter stickers to give my coffee some cute containers worthy of setting out for all to see. Bonus... it keeps your coffee fresh for much longer!

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Monkey Baby Shower

Here are the final pictures of the monkey themed baby shower.

Rubber Ducky Punch:

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Food Table:

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Cupcakes, Gift Bag, and Monkey Decor:

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 We used paper lanterns sitting on the buffet for decorations, and we scattered some of the extra rubber duckies around:

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And no party is complete without a chocolate fountain with all the fixins:

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Baby Brody Gift Bag

In addition to the main gift my mom and I gave her for the shower, I decided she needed some help starting off her scrapbook for Mr. Brody. I gave her some scrapbook embellishments, and I make this gift bag to match the decor of the shower. I used a brown paper gift bag, scrapbook paper, 3-D embellishments, ribbon, and 3-D letters.

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Monkey Cupcakes

To go along with the monkey theme of the baby shower from the past couple of days, I made some monkey cupcakes. The first couple of them didn't turn out how I hoped, but they got better with each one I did. I was happy with the end result.

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Monkey Baby Shower Thank You Card Box

For the same baby shower as the Monkey Diaper Cake I made a box filled with thank you cards. I used simple stamps with colored pencils for the thank you cards. I bought the box from the unfinished craft wood section at Hobby Lobby. I didn't take before pictures, so I cannot show what it looked like before I decorated it. It looked like a wooden book, though. I stained it, then added a piece of cardstock to the top with the same stamp design as the thank you cards. I added a little ribbon and... voila!

Front of the single-fold cards:

Back of the cards (I left the center blank):

Card Holder Box:

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Monkey Diaper Cake

To stick with the baby theme of yesterday, I decided to post a pic today of a diaper cake I made for a baby shower my mom and I had for a good friend. She was having a boy. She had specific colors for the nursery, but she was not going with a theme. When I looked for ribbons and accents in those colors, I kept finding these cute monkeys. I ended up deciding to take the monkey idea and run with it. Here is the diaper cake I made her as the centerpiece. (I'll post more pics of the baby shower over the next few days).

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New Baby Birth Announcement Door Hanger

My sister-in-law had a baby boy in December. At the time my husband and I were on our 22nd month of trying to conceive, so I knew it was going to be a bittersweet birth. Although I was so excited to get a new nephew, it would tear at my heartstrings to know that I might never get to experience that myself. I decided the best way to deal with it emotionally was to focus my energy on doing something for the baby. I love seeing the door hangers that people get when they have a baby, so I told my sister-in-law that I would make one for her. I searched Pinterest for ideas, but I couldn't find anything that fit what I wanted. So I went to her house and took pictures of her nursery. I wanted to use the colors of the nursery. Then I went to Hobby Lobby, bought some matching paint and ribbon, and I bought a few wooden cutouts and a foam wreath. This was my end result. I was proud of the final result.

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