Just a quick reminder that one of my knob jewelry holders is on auction today over at I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar! The proceeds benefit an incredible family (read their story at Owen's Heart), so please stop by and bid!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
For the Love Auction
Just a quick reminder that one of my knob jewelry holders is on auction today over at I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar! The proceeds benefit an incredible family (read their story at Owen's Heart), so please stop by and bid!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Knob Jewelry Holder FAQs
My Distressed Knob Jewelry Holder tutorial is one of my most popular posts, so today I thought I'd address a few of the most frequently asked questions that I've received about the process.
What size are your knobs? My knobs range in size from 1.25" to 1.5" though you could use knobs that are smaller or larger depending on the height of your piece of wood (my wood is 2.5"x14.5").
What type of glue do you use for the crackling process? How much should I use? I use white school glue (I've used many brands and all have worked equally well) for my crackling process. After giving your wood a base coat of colored paint (and allowing it to dry), spread a generous amount of glue on to the face of the wood. How much glue you use really depends on how crackled you want the final finish to be. You want to wait for the glue to become tacky before painting on a top coat, and use as few strokes as possible when painting. Too many strokes will result in overmixing of the paint and glue and the final result will not crackle very well or may crackle unevenly.
Here's an example of different amounts of glue creating different crackle effects. For the grey wood piece I used a thin coat of glue, the pink had a thicker coat and the white used a super thick coat of glue. I suggest that you practice on a scrap piece of wood to get the hang of your technique before attempting your jewelry holder. After the piece is dry I like to go back and use a fine grit sandpaper to smooth out the edges and give it a bit more distressing.
How do I attach the knobs and hang it up? Start by marking off the places where you want your knobs to go (I recommend at least 2" between knobs) and then drill holes in your wood at those locations. Before attaching your knobs, flip the wood over and nail a small sawtooth hanger to each top corner. For attaching the knobs, use the screws provided with your hardware. Some knobs attach by inserting the screw from the back side of the wood and then screwing the knob on to the front side to secure it.
Some knobs (including many/most of the faceted glass knobs) are attached by feeding a bolt through the front of the knob and through the back of your wood to be secured with a nut. After tightening the nut, use a pair of heavy duty metal clippers to snip off the excess bolt. You may need to do this a few times for the bolt to become flush and not so sharp. That's it!
It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds, I promise! The hardest part is choosing which knobs you want to use!
This jewelry holder will be on auction at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar as part of the For the Love series to support Owen's Heart beginning on Tuesday, July 25th. Please stop by and check out all of the great projects and tutorials that were donated to help raise money for this incredible family!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Summertime Fun {What We've Been Up To Lately!}
I can't believe that summer is more than halfway over already! I've really been enjoying taking a little bit of a break and spending lots and lots of quality time with my boys. Here's just a few of the things we've been doing lately...
After getting inspired by creating our own Pollock-esque art online at JacksonPollock.org, we whipped up a batch of chalk paint and tried out a life-sized version. TONS of fun!
It wouldn't be summer without pitching a tent in the backyard!
Who knew that a little bit of vinegar, tea and steel wool could make new lumber look like old barn wood?! I see lots more of this in my future!
Sorting objects is always popular with all of my kids. One of Simon's (our 22-month old) favorite activities these days is digging through our magnetic letter bin and sorting the letters into rows. It's crazy how much he learns just by watching and copying his big brothers!
Another great use of masking tape (especially fun colored tape!).
(In Pajamas) Sure, why not?
Oh yeah, we also did a complete start-to-(almost)finished office to craft room renovation over the past two weeks. If you follow me on Facebook you might have seen me post about my new bamboo flooring, cabinets, built-in shelves and a ridiculous amount of art and craft supply organization. I can't wait to show it off when it's totally done!
I LOVE FIREWORKS!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Washi Tape Candles
This is SO simple that it
really doesn't even need a step-by-step tutorial (not that that's ever stopped
me from doing one anyway!). The results are lovely, the combinations endless,
and you can swap out the colors/patterns as often as you want or use my handy
trick for making it a permanent part of the candle.
You can apply your tape
strip-by-strip to the candle, or you can do like I did - lay out a sheet of
waxed paper and apply your strips to the waxed paper, slightly overlapping each
strip with the last. This gives you a little more flexibility to play with
pattern and color arrangement before sticking them on to your candle.
Peel up the strips as one
large piece.
Start wrapping the washi
tape around your candle, peeling it off of the waxed paper as you wrap.
Smooth it all out, and
you're finished - easy peasy! If you'd like to make the tape a permanent part of
the candle, set your blow dryer to the highest heat setting and quickly give the
candle a few blasts of hot air, using your finger to smooth and lightly
press the tape into the top layer of slightly melted wax to permanently adhere
it to the candle.
Trust me when I say that
you're going to wish you have a dozen or so candles to washi, so stock up and/or
raid your cabinets and shelves! I'm heading back to the store to pick up some
more in different shapes and sizes because it's definitely addictive (and a
great way to make use of the giant washi tape collection I have!).
Monday, July 16, 2012
{Giveaway} Catching Fireflies: $43 Gift Certificate
GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
CONGRATULATIONS TO KELSEY B.! Check your email!
Catching Fireflies is the place to go for fun, unique and whimsical gifts for recipients of all ages. I recently discovered their shop, and I am in LOVE with all the great things they have to offer! They truly have something for everyone, even those ridiculously hard-to-shop-for people (don't they drive you crazy!?!). It was super hard to narrow it down, but here's a little sampling of some of my favorite gift ideas from Catching Fireflies...
FOR THE KIDS: 
· Mom's Sippy Cup Wine Goblet (okay, maybe this one isn't FOR the kids haha!)
FOR THE HOME:
FOR THE MUSTACHE LOVER:
(And because it's my birthday tomorrow!) FOR ME:
Catching Fireflies is offering one lucky reader a $43 gift certificate to spend on anything in the shop (why $43? Because they're fun and quirky like that!)! Catching Fireflies has excellent prices, so you can get a lot of super fun stuff for $43!
Giveaway will close on Monday, July 23rd at midnight EST. Winner will be announced the following day and contacted via email.
a Rafflecopter giveawayMonday, July 9, 2012
Easy DIY Homemade Moon Sand
We LOVE Moon Sand around here! I know that many people cringe at the idea of moldable sand as a play toy (at least a couple of moms that we gifted Moon Sand to at kids birthday parties have LOL!), but I tend to think of it as an outdoor activity (i.e. easily swept up and/or hosed off), so the mess doesn't really bother me. It's one of those things that can keep my boys entertained for hours, so I personally tend to think of it as something just-short-of-miraculous.
The problem with Moon Sand is that there is never enough of it to go around! With three boys wanting to dig their hands in and get squishing and molding, even the large packs of Moon Sand aren't very cost effective when you consider that a large portion of it probably will end up on the ground/table/etc. (we try to remedy that by putting a sheet down underneath and then dumping all the spillage back into the tub).
When I discovered this recipe for Cloud Dough via Tinkerlab I figured it would be perfect for my Moon Sand lovin' bunch. The recipe is simple: 8 cups of flour & 1 cup of oil (we used baby oil). Mix it up really well until all of the oil is incorporated into the flour. It will still look like flour (albeit full of teeny tiny lumps from the bits of oil), but it is moldable just like Moon Sand! I didn't get any pictures of them when they were building with it, but they were able to mold bricks and stack up an entire wall with this stuff!
It kept these two entertained for the better part of the next TWO DAYS, and over a week later it's still going strong out on our backyard table. Just as much fun as Moon Sand, but WAY cheaper!
Friday, July 6, 2012
How to Get {Temporary} Colorful Hair With Chalk Pastels!
Brightly colored and ombre hair are super trendy right now, so I decided to have a little bit of fun with my hair while the trend is still hot! All you need to create this look are chalk pastels and water - it even works on super dark hair like mine (sweeet!)! This box of pastels comes with 48 sticks of color, so it will last a really long time.
Start by choosing a few complimentary colors and deciding on where you'd like your color placement. I chose to use magenta, purple and teal for a few face-framing pieces up front. Spritz the ends of your hair with water and rub the pastel down the hair shaft from top to bottom, repeat the top to bottom motion until the color is saturated. Do NOT rub from top to bottom and then back up again as this will create frizz and tangle your hair.
While your hair is still wet, the color WILL transfer on to your clothing and skin, so be sure to wear something other than your favorite outfit while you're applying the pastel. The coloring does come out of clothing in the wash though, so you don't have to worry about permanently staining anything.
Ooooh, this is a nice angle - right up my nose! Haven't I learned anything from all those episodes of Top Model? It's all about knowing your angles! Sorry, Tyra. At least you can see some of the teal and purple coloring here, right? :)
After your hair is dry, it helps to set the color with heat (such as a curling or flat iron) to make it last longer. After we got home from the birthday party that I wore this to, I was exhausted and went straight to bed...in the morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was zero color transfer on to my skin or pillowcase! It seems that once it's dry and set with heat that you can rest easy and not worry about it rubbing off on anything.
My kids love hair chalk too! We've had a lot of fun adding bright pops of color for 4th of July and for Crazy Hair Day at school. The best part is that it is super easy to wash out - a normal shampooing gets rid of every trace of color!
