The teacher in me...

Wow, it's been awhile! So much has happened since my last post! We had a couple of classes, I went to a bunch of different states and saw lots of amazing things! I love my summer breaks!

As the summer is quickly coming to an end, I started thinking about my classroom and all the things I want to do to it! For those of you who haven't seen my room, here's a peek at what I did 2 summers ago! 

My mom helped me paint this amazing map on my back wall! I still love it.... it's not going anywhere! However, lots of smaller things are changing! 

So, I started a craft project yesterday and finished it this morning. I created a 'teacher toolbox' for my desk area! I have one from last year, but I decided I wanted a new one. I headed to Lowe's for this organizer and spray paint. I chose white for this one! I also have my Chevron paper pad from Hobby Lobby! I got this bad boy on sale! $10 for over 180 pages of chevron patterns. I am seriously in love. 

Ok, onto the project. I first took all the drawers out of the tower and sprayed the front. I did 2 good coats yesterday and let them dry over night. Then I turned it over and did a coat on the back/inside of the tower. I wanted to make sure the ugly blue would be seen anywhere ;) I let that dry for a few hours, while I was getting the paper and labels ready.

I chose 6 patterns, and got out my handy dandy (and rather old) paper cutter. Although the cutting is easy, the measurements can be a bit tricky! I cut about 4 1/4" long and about 2 1/4" tall. I did have to do some trimming later, but that's a good estimate for now.  

After cutting all 18 (I really did all 6 patterns at once, cause my cutter is great!), I placed them in the drawers to see what patterns I liked where! Looks good so far!

Next, I made a lst of supplies I wanted in my toolbox and printed them out in a cute font. I did this on Google Docs and the font is 'Covered by Your Grace".

This next part was a bit time consuming. Because I wanted the labels to be small (so I could see my super cute chevron paper), I had to cut them by hand. If you have a smaller cutter, you can probably use it, but mine was too big for the small labels. When i finally finished cutting, I laid the labels out in the order I wanted them to be in my toolbox. 

Next, I just used glue stick to put the labels on the paper. I used one line of glue and placed the label carefully on top, centered. I had to do some trimming at this point as well. 

 Once the labels are on the paper, I used 2 pieces of scotch tape to put the whole thing in place. You can see that I did one piece on each side. The nice thing about scotch tape is that it is invisible and easy to work with. So, if it doesn't get in the right spot the first time, just move it!

 And here's my final product! I absolutely love it! Now, I really can't wait to get back into my classroom!

I hope you have a wonderful end of your week! Happy creating!

Part 2 done!

Part 2 of my Changing Table Transformtion is complete! These drawers started out a simple, birch drawer.

 

 

After finding some awesome new hardware, I searched for a great pattern to add to them! I found this scrapbook paper and knew it was perfect!

 

I sanded the drawers down slightly, cut the scrapbook paper to fit the drawers. This took 6 12x12 pages because of the pattern. The polka dots had to match up! (Just a tip, always buy more than you think you will need when a pattern is involved.

 

 

I then pulled out some classic Modge Podge and went to work. I painted a thin layer right onto the drawer and place my first paper down, then added more Modge Podge and my second piece. Once in place, I added another thin layer across the entire surface.

 

Once dry, I sanded around the edges of the paper as well as across the top. This sanding took some of the color and some of the paper, but that's what I was going for! I love the worn look!

 

Next, I used a brown glaze to add a bit more dimension and aged look.

 

 

 

Finally, I was able to add the new hardware! I am completely in love! I can't wait to see what they look like on the final product!

 

 

 

 

Happy creating!

PS- Here's a sneak peek of the changing table so far!

Pallets!

Happy Friday! I've been thinking about how many awesome things can be done with pallets... I am in the process of making my decision about my next project, but in the meantime I want to share one of my favorite bloggers Donna from Funky Junk Interiors.

Check out these great projects she shared!

Funky Junk Interiors

What is your favorite pallet project?

Happy creating!

Email List

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A first attempt

So, like many people I am obsessed with this chevron pattern that has been popping up everywhere recently. I love it in all shapes and sizes! It's so fun and youthful! I attempted to created the pattern on a table top... here's how it went...

I bought this table at Goodwill (of course of half price Saturday). It only cost $6! What a steal! I started by sanding it down a bit, with my handy dandy hand sander (LOVE this thing!)

After dusting off, it was time to paint! I choose Saratoga Blue from Olde Centruy Milk Paint. I really love this color! I did 3 coats total over the period of an entire weekend. I really like the coats to be dry before I add another layer.

Like I said, this was my first attempt at creating the chevron so it was a bit rough! I used blue painters tape and measured the best I could. I am sure there is a brilliant way to do this... I will find one and let you know! After taping was complete, I choose a white as my accent color. I did 2 coats of the white.  Here are some pics of the process.

I let it dry for a bit, but not too long... I wanted to get that tape off and see how I did! Here's what it looked like! Not too shabby for my first time.... what you can't see (or maybe you can!) in this strategically far off picture is the undefined edges at some of the points. What you can see is a a decent chevron print.

Now if you know me at all, you know I can't leave anything alone for too long. So after letting my white dry overnight, I took the sander to my little table again! I also did some hand sanding and added a soft brown glaze. The final product turned out awesome! I can't believe it's the same table!

Happy painting friends!

A favorite project

As I was thinking about what I wanted to share on the blog, I kept going back to one of my favorite (and easy!) projects!

I bought this great oval shaped table at Goodwill on half price Saturday! $10 steal! Although it was a great piece on its own, and it stayed like this in my living room for quite some time, I walked by it one day and realized it needed some love!

So I cleaned it off, grabbed an old copy of one of my favorite books (Wuthering Heights), and Modge Podge. I started ripping pages out of the book (which kinda made me cry because I love it so much, but I have it on my Nook now so I can read it over and over again!) As I ripped, I laid the pages out on the table until it was covered.

When it was covered, I took one page off and put the Modge Podge directly on the table, then placed the page on top. I repeated this until the table top was covered. The edges were a bit tricky, but all you have to do is carefully (and I mean carefully) bend them under. Then I took Modge Podge to the top of the pages as well. After all that dried I also covered the top with a layer of polyurethane for protection.

I just loved how it turned out! Have you done any projects with Modge Podge that you would like to share?

Start blogging they said.....

Over the last 24 hours I have been obsessing about blogs... Eat, sleep, dream about them. Ok maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration. (Shocking for anyone who knows me!) Either way, I am total amazed by these crafty, DIY, home decor, amazing women who do it all, blogs I have come across on my search for my own path to blogging happiness. Now I would consider myself to be pretty tech savvy, but these daily blog posts and all the sponsoring is throwing me for a loop! Maybe it will come to me with time, so bear with me as I figure out this new world!

For now I just want to say thank you to those awesome blogs that I have started following! There are WAY too many to list, but you can find them on our blogroll!