DIY Chalkboard Play-Station

 It has been awhile since I last posted due to so much going on in my life.

 I am here to show you this fun project I have had in mind to do for months and just got around to putting my thoughts into action.

My kitchen and living space are open to each other and my fridge sits at the dividing line so I wanted to make something to hide the big black side view of the fridge.

I had an old door that I took off of my bedroom closet when I replaced them with an upgrade back last summer of 2011.  I saved the two doors and one I used for this project.  The doors were hollow core and not in great shape, hence the reason we replaced them.  Hubby took off the front and this is what I used to make the playstation chalkboard project for my granddaughter Kinley.

I filled the holes and sanded lightly.


I made up my own chalk paint with some different color blues mixed together. Then I painted two coats, let dry then primed the board with chalk and wiped down.  Pretty simple actually.

I knew I needed a frame to finish this off so I went dumpster diving over in in neighborhood that had new construction.

You will not believe what these construction workers throw away.  I found over $100 worth of trim baseboard molding that they just threw away, I guess cuz they used all they needed.

However that was to my gain!

They were 20 ft in length so I had hubby to cut and miter the corners, then I took a staple gun and stapled the molding to the board.  I painted the molding a nice white first and then filled in the corners with some paintable caulking to finish it off nicely.

Once I had all that done, now to figure out how to hang it on the side of the fridge.

Here is what I came up with.  I bought some heavy duty mounting tape that holds up to 5 pounds per every 5 inches.  This was double sided sticky of course.  I placed that along the top, sides and bottom and a couple strips in the center.  I then bought a roll of magnetic tape from Walmart in the craft section and peeled off the sticky back of that and stuck it on top of the mounting tape and stuck it up on the side of the fridge.

It is holding up beautifully and Kinley my sunshine is loving it.

Kinley my Granddaughter.....my little sunshine

So what projects have you hung on your refrigerator?

Until next time,

Linking up to:

addicted2decorating.com

Mom's are Special

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out their in blog land.

Mom's are special, they sacrifice and give so much to their families.  So a day is set aside so we can honor our mothers with thoughtfulness letting them know how much they are loved and appreciated.

In honor of my mom and mother-in in law I decide to make something from the heart instead of buying them something.  Of course buying something would have been much quicker but I know they both will appreciate the love that went into making their individual gifts.

My husbands mom is a crafter.....

Her hubby just built her her own craft room in their log home in Wyoming. It is so spacious and beautiful.

So for her gift, I thought I would make her a sign to hang in her craft room to remind her of us every time she sees it, to know how much we lover her.

She is so creative and crafty so this was a perfect saying...

  "CREATIVE ADVENTURES HAPPEN HERE"

Because we all know crafting is an adventure, a fun ride!!!

These are a few pictures I wanted to share.

I really love the way it turned out.

This was my first chalk paint experience and I loved it but I did not look up the directions on how to make it......

I just guessed on how much non sanded dry grout to add to my paint.

Well let's just say I should have looked it up before I began :) I can tell you it was an adventure, kinda like driving to a new location hoping you remembered the direction because you left your GPS in the drawer.

I ended up with sorta a paste conglomeration.....

Boy was it ever thick...so a word of wisdom from experience, read the directions before attempting this....grin

So how did I do it???

easy peasy..... went out to my wood pile, found a board.

.......yeah that looks nice, threw some thick homemade chalk paint onto it (2 coats) adding water every 2 mins to the thickening concoction.

Picked out a font on the PC, printed it out, used some transfer paper and traced the words onto the board.

I then proceeded to fill in the words with my paint pen.  Added a whimsy picture traced and painted and their you have a homemade sign for mother-in-law and my mom.

BLESSED......................

This one I made for my special mother. I was inspired by the scripture out of Proverbs 31.

I love proverbs, such good wisdom to live by in that book.

I had fun making this little flower, a nice addition to her sign.

I took a paper towel ..viva brand not that it matters but this brand is nice and thick so it does not tear easy.

I cut 5 pieces in a square folded it accordion stile.....

snipped off both ends, rounded shape, wrapped a little stretchy hair band around the center to hold it all together.

Then I started pulling all the layers apart and fluffing.

It still needed something, I wanted an aged worn look so I took a lighter to it......

 yeppers I started lighting the ends of the paper then blowing it out quickly ( or the whole thing would have gone up in flames) :)

It was perfectly singed and aged.

I also added a watered down brown glaze over the whole thing to give it a worn look.

Her children rise up and call her blessed

I found some left over white flowers which I tore off the stems and tucked underneath securing with some hot glue.

Ephesians 6:2..... says Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise.

What is the promise, the bible says so that you may live long!

So we honor our mother all year long yes, but a special day is set aside for just her every year.

Father's you are next!!

To all the Mother's

So how did you honor your Mother this special day?

Inquiring minds want to know.



Until next time,

Linking up to:    Funky Junk Interiors, Cherished Treasures, DIY show off, my 1929 charmer, addicted 2 decorating

Pillow Talk

This little pillow was a thrifty 2.00 find I got at my local Goodwill.  Dont you just love going thrift shopping?

This pillow was calling to me saying, I would look so pretty spruced up sitting on your rocker in your outdoor space.

So I picked her up gave her a good look over and said OK you're coming home with me!

I then proceeded to ponder what I could do to dress her up a bit and give her more character.

Idea, burlap......Burlap is always a good addition to any project.

So I cut a 3 inch strip out of my burlap and pulled out the sewing machine although the sewing machine and I aren't that great together.

I mean, I have not done much sewing in years so I was not sure how to accomplish the ruffled vision I had in my head for this lonely little pillow friend.

Google is my best friend when I need to figure out how to do something, so to the PC I went.

Their I found out how simple making a quick ruffle was and so I began.

A few minutes later I had a beautiful ruffle to attach to my new find.

I grabbed the glue gun and got to gluing this ruffle onto my pillow.

It was a simple fix and now she adorns my rocker in my outdoor space with all her textured beauty.

I found another fab find .......this all so creamy throw to add to the back of the rocker to pair with my new pillow.  A great match dont ya think?

So friends, do you think I should add a cute flower of some sort to this pillow?  Or leave her be?

Until next time,



Linking up to: Thistlewood Farms, my 1929 charmer blog

I would say "I Do" all over again!

You see my knight is sweeping me off my feet!!!!!!!

Well friends today April 14, 2012 is my 6th wedding Anniversary

I dedicate this post to my loving DIY lifelong partner who is my Knight in shining armor.  My hunky hubby and I have been together for 10 years now.  We decided to keep our wedding simple and have it outdoors in the spring inviting close friends and family.  

It was really OH So perfect.

I have a funny story to tell. You see we were married on Good Friday in 2006.  As you know good Friday does not fall on the same day each year. 

Coming up on our 1st anniversary when good friday came around my dear hubby proudly said Happy Anniversary baby.......I laughed so hard explaining that our special day was April 14th a week away. 

You see he thought he would always be able to keep up easily with our wedding date because of being married on Good Friday.  

It was a good laugh.

This was my Knight or should I say cowboy 10 years ago when we met at a photo-shoot in Texas.

He was originally from Utah living in Lubbock Texas at the time and I a Southern girl from NC.  I was in Lubbock on a modeling job when I met this handsome hunk.

These were some of our first pictures together 10 years ago, what great memories we have made over the years.

My cowboy/knight decided to up and move to NC to court me after our meeting in Texas. We dated exclusively for 4 years before we said I DO on April 14th 2006.

This is our beautiful wedding cake, simple and elegant!

Awe......... lookie he has captured me!

No words needed here, just bliss

well here I am, testing the good ole' mic with sound out at our outdoor wedding........

I had a special song planned to sing to my husband during the wedding ceremony....


this picture is a reminder that 6 years has put on 20 extra pounds (bah), who's counting? (me)! that's just depressing....I tell my hubby their is just more of me to Love!  ..........right ladies

My daddy and Me

                                     This is one of my favorite pictures with my 3 sons!!!

Here we are posing for the camera

Look at all my handsome men holding me up...this was not easy to do..... as you can tell my facial expression is less than glamorous...hehehe, it was fun! 

 Taking the cake! or so it looks


hey!!!!! thats where that extra 20lbs. came from

   The traditional cake cutting......

I feel so blessed by God to have been given such an amazing man.

I thank God often for his blessings.

And they lived Happily Ever After.........



Until next time,