Upcycle and Keeping The Memories

When my daughter was thirteen she decided for her birthday (aside from the teenage party) she wanted her bedroom redecorated in sunflowers. So with the comforter, curtains, pillows and all the little extras, as one of her gifts my mom bought her this little draw cabinet to hold all her CDs. 

I have had this cabinet up in her old bedroom for years and one day walking by it,

 I decided it needed a new home. 

Now that she is expecting her second son, she is working on his nursery.

 So I took all the drawers out sanded, painted and stained .

In doing this I found tucked behind one of the drawers was one of her little writings.. so sweet. 

I left this little memory.

Redoing this little cabinet was a surprise for her and now works well for all the 

new little booties and other little baby items. 

So what once held her little secrets and music now will hold her little baby's treasures.

This is why keeping and remaking the old into the new is sometimes so much better then going to the store and pulling something off the selves.

Kitchen Ledges- Awkward or Opportunity?

I have a love hate relationship with my kitchen ledges. I have never known how to decorate them and so I searched Pinterest with little to no luck. My goal was to use what I had on hand to create a visually appealing display. I did pick up a few pieces at the thrift store - cheater!

My parents are from Iowa and I love having the pottery around the house that reminds me of summers in Iowa. I had everything on hand here but the R. I think that was $5 at Tuesday Morning. 

I had all of these items on hand except for the wreath. I bought this for $1 at the thrift store. Though it wasn't perfect, you really can't tell from a distance.

The plate I picked up at the thrift store. I spray painted the Simple sign with Lagoon from Rust-o-leum. The lemons are actually a dishtowel that I purchased from Crate and Barrel for $5 and framed. Instant art! I didn't have pretty dishtowels on hand :(

The plate was another thrift store find. The apothecary jars with the tomatoes and limes in them are $1 store purchases glued together to make the jars. They are candlesticks and vases = $4 for 2 sets SCORE! 

The stool I spray painted lagoon so I had some consistency throughout the stories. Same idea with using the glass insulators in turquoise throughout the groupings to connect them. 

I have to admit that I had a hard time having open space but I love how it turned out! What ideas do you have?

~Jenn
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Recycled Acrylic Frame Album

Okay if you have been following our blog, you are somewhat aware we are big on finding new life for old items. Also we are thrift store junkies.

 With that said, finding so many of these little acrylic frames for just pennies, seemed destined to be turned into something, an album of course.

This can be done with single frames or double frames. It's great to make calendars or albums,

just so many options for these free standing little treasures.

The number of pages are your choice, I just used the key rings at the top with holes punched in the card stock and let my imagination run.

 

I added little pockets, frames, library cards. It's just the perfect project that will become addictive and so good for using your little odds and ends. 

Of course I am always a fan of any many embellishments. 

The more the merrier. Have fun.

~Cathy

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Monster Truck Party Part 3 - DIY Monster Truck Costumes

So the main part of the party was going to be the Monster trucks for each child and the obstacle course for them to run through. With 15 children invited, I had to start early in order to have enough time to make all the trucks!!! Thankfully my friday night girls and Cathy were up for the challenge!

I saw some Box cars on Pinterest so I got my inspiration from Pinterest searches. You can visit my 'Birthday Love' Pinterest board for links to all the ideas > HERE.

I completely deviated from all the ones I saw but leveraged the overall idea!

Materials used: 

• Boxes (varying sizes for the kids young and old)
• Box cutter
• Modge Podge
• Plates (2 different sizes for the wheels)
• Black, Red and Silver Spray Paint
• Cricut and Cricut Stencil Cartridge (for flames and skulls) 
• Paper (to cut out the flames, skulls, and print Grave Digger on the side)
• Coasters (Spray painted Red and attached as headlights)
• Hot Wheels License Plates (from The Dollar Tree - 2 in a pack for $1)
• Washers 3/16" x 1-1/4"(optional for bling on tires)
• Fasteners - 1-1/2" (to secure the tires - bought at OfficeMax)

Ok this took many Friday nights and Saturdays. Here was our spray painting party one chilly Saturday!

1. Cut flaps off boxes except for the windshield.
2. Spray paint all parts - Boxes, wheels, and headlights. 4 wheels per box x 2 plates each wheel = 128 plates spray painted!!! Whew! 
3. Cut out enough flames and skulls for all trucks. I used 3 flames on front, 1 on each side and 2 on the back = 7 flames per truck!
4. Print out Monster Truck logo - ours was Grave Digger. 
5. Mod Podge all paper embellishments to truck. 
6. Secure wheels (in assembly order Large plate, small plate, washer, fastener)
7. Attach Tulle for the suspender like attachment for each child. You will need a child to help you gauge this. They are going to be tighter that you would guess!

OK, in 7 steps this looks like it was easy! If you are attempting to replicate, please feel free to email me at outonalimbinva@aol.com if you have questions! Here is the Grave Digger original and our final product. 

Not too shabby if we do say so ourselves!!!
~ Jenn

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Summer Fun Garden

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon it just makes me want to be outside hanging wind-chimes,  painting flowerpots and looking to see what whimsical object I can stick in my flower bed.

I really enjoy going to thrift stores and looking for those fun little objects that can have a new life tucked in the flowerbed somewhere. Both the chair and bird (repainted blue bird of course) came for just a few dollars from my favorite up cycle store.

Just  look around and find items that can be painted like these old lawn chairs I placed up in a plain corner of my yard. That is not really a ladder with the hanging pots, 

it's the back of a very old bench

I especially love looking for little toys to place around the yard, sometimes I just have a hard time keeping the grandsons from pulling them out!

Just look for anything that makes you happy, doesn't always have to be a green thumb. Happy Sunday!

~Cathy

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Time to Upcycle Again...

My best friend  gave me this little picnic table that her sweet boy had outgrown. 

 

So I brought it home and of course I had to have help from my grandson and we began to disassembled the entire table.

Then spray painted each piece.

Then  " we"  had to reassemble it.

 I also added his little hand prints on top. He is going to have a new little brother in September so next summer it will be time to add the new little hand prints on the other side. I just used the children's washable paint and then sealed with Mod Podge.

Always look at a discard through spray painted eyes!

~Cathy