Dry Erase Board Tutorial

Two things have recently happened. First, I was looking at buying a dry erase board for my husband's office for work (he works at home and requested one for brain-storming/flow-charting and other things). If you've looked at the store for a decent sized dry erase board (not a junky one that is so light it falls off the wall when you breathe), you may have noticed they get pricey fast - 24" x 14" = $54.99. Um, that's more than I was planning on spending, for something not that big.

Second, I've recently started writing notes to myself on my closet door mirror in my bedroom. Important things, that I need to see first thing in the morning before I even get out of bed. Dry erase markers work great on glass, and I think I actually prefer it to a dry erase board because there will never be ghosting if you leave something up too long.

These two things, floating around in my brain simultaneously, slammed into each other one day and I made something out of it! Using things I had mostly laying around, I created an awesome dry erase board, it's actually one of my most favorite things in my office right now! So here goes.

You need:

• A good sized picture frame & glass to fit
• Spraypaint (if you want to paint your frame)
• Fabric of choice, a piece big enough to cover the area inside frame
• Trace paper or vellum
• Hot glue & glue gun
• Glazier points

The frame I started with had no back, glass, or way to hold the back and glass in. It was an old frame, in a not so pretty color, from some art I reframed. I spray painted it with a primer and a plum color that coordinates with my fabric. I purchased a piece of glass at my favorite home improvement store. It was a little more than $4 for a 16"x20" piece, but if your frame already has glass you're set. I also cut a backer board out of some left over mat board I had from a previous framing project. After your frame, glass and backer are ready to go, lay out your fabric, with the backer board on top to use as a template, and cut a piece of fabric with a 1" to 2" border on every side.

Starting with the corners, fold the fabric over the backer board and glue corners down, diaganol from each other and pulling the fabric into place as you glue to avoid wrinkles.

After the corners are glued tight, follow with the four sides, again gluing opposite sides first and smoothing the fabric to make sure there are no wrinkles. Set the fabric board aside.

Next, lay out the trace paper or vellum, and use the glass as a template to cut it down to size. Layer the glass in the frame first, with the trace paper or vellum on top next, with the backer board last. If your frame already has clips to hold everything in place, you're set!

Mine didn't, :( - so I used glazier points to hold everything together. Hang it all up on the wall, and write away!

This is what a glazier point looks like. They're usually used to hold the glass into old single pane windows.

If you want the full boldness of your fabric, or if your fabric is more neutral, you can skip the vellum/trace paper. I needed something to mute my patterned fabric so I could see what was written on my dry erase board.

This isn't a good photo - it is night, and I have very poor lighting in here, but here's my board hung on the wall!

DADDY DAY!!

With Father's Day coming up in a few weeks, I've been busy scouring the internet for ideas of what we can do for the best daddy I know- my hubs- Derek. He seriously is such an amazing father to our 3 beasties and I love that we can honor him on this day. Having a 6 year, 4 year, and 3 month old, I'm trying to incorporate them all in this years gift. I really try and have them make something meaningful for dad rather then go out and buy him something expensive and say it's from the kids. Who are we kidding? I got a bike for mother's day (yee-haw!) but the girls stole my heart with their hand-made cards and a sweet silhouette drawing of Olivia. Here are some things I'm hoping to get made for the big day (along with the regular cards):

#1 Dad Trophy - kinda cheesy but super sweet

Dad photo - LOVE this! Might switch it up a bit but I love the idea!

SUPER T's

The Super T's were a huge success and I've been officially renamed "Martha" by my friends. Here are some pics of the finished products. I need to get some pics of the shirts in action...

SUPER PARTY!!

My middle beastie is turning 4 in a few days (sniff) and for her birthday we're going to Monkey Joe's with a few of her besties. It's a HUGE room with a bunch of inflatables that the kiddos can run and bounce around in. They leave sweaty and staticy and hopefully exhausted! We actually won the party while we were at another party a few months back so that was a major score. Because B2s party is relatively inexpensive (being free and all) I thought I'd have fun with the favors. I always try and avoid giving favors that will make parents curse me out and I like to be practical. For B1s 5th birthday party, she wanted a Pinkalicious party so everything was PINK and girly. She was having several of her little girlfriends over so this was the favor. The girls LOVED them! Anyway- back to B2s favors. I figured she's 4, full of energy, and loves to dress up so why not something they can wear that's fun and sort of dress-upy. Enter the Super-T. It's essentially a t-shirt ($2.99 at The Hob Lob) that I'll applique something on (not quite sure yet...and the party is in 2 days!!) and then for the fun part- I'm going to make capes out of shimmery material (no fray bathing-suit type material- I scored 2 yards- enough to make 8 capes- for about $8 at The Hob Lob with my 40% off coupon...) and I'm going to attach the capes to the shirts using snaps. I got this handy dandy contraption that is supposed to attach the snaps easily to the shirts and capes which I'm pretty excited about using. We'll see how well it works...
Stay tuned- I'll post pics!

My Craft Room!!

This past summer we gave our youngest daughter the boot from her room and moved the beasties in together. They love being roomies and there hasn't been any problems (yet...they are only 3 and 5...I'm scared of the teenage years!) What did we do with this new found space? We made it my craft room, of course! It's been a wonderful space and I love having it all to myself. A few weeks back, my in-laws came for a visit. Seeing that it was the first time seeing our house, we wanted to make sure it was spic and span for their arrival. I took advantage of this and made sure to take pictures of my super clean craft room (it's since fallen apart...a little...) So here are the pics! I love 'em and just looking at them makes me want to make something!

view 1: the bookshelf in the background is my fabric storage, the short table is my sewing table, and the long table is my multi-craft table
ps- the upholstered cornice board I made to match the room- I love it!












view 2: my wonderful cutting table that I searched high and low for (got it at Ikea in the kitchen island section)- it fits my cutting board perfectly. Eventually there will be a TV on the wall so my hubby can watch TV while I create. (note the clock on the wall- I made it out of a plate and stickers...and the lamp- made of little rosebuds from Hobby Lobby and glued on)












view 3: the white cupboard in the background is my gift wrapping station












another view of the wrapping station- cards, tissue paper, ribbons...it's all there. And the drawer hols the tape scissors and labels. (the wreath and R have since been combined and hung above the cupboard...stay tuned for that one!)


















view 4: the closet- it's since be revamped for efficiency

Cute Halloween Crafts

I'm an avid reader of oneprettything. I'm officially obsessed with that site and check it several times a day. This site is the reason my "someday crafts" list keeps growing longer and longer. Recently, there has been an abundance of Halloween and Fall crafts and I just thought I'd share some of my favorites (all of which I plan to make over the next week or so...)

Floating Ghost by Everyday is a Crafting Day!














Harvest Blocks by Shannon Makes Stuff (the one I made is going to say "welcome" and sit on my mantle)















Superhero Cape by The Long Thread (my girls are going to be superheros for Halloween)


















Boo Wreath by Craftaholics Anonymous



















Have a spook-tacular time crafting!! (see what I did there?) ;o)

Katie

Nap Towel Revamp

My youngest daughter started preschool a few weeks back (sniff) and she needed a towel to take "rest time" on. I use the term "rest time" very loosely- try getting 15 3 year olds to lay down and be still for 10 minutes and see how successful you are! Anyway- I couldn't just send in a normal towel. I needed to make it pretty so I looked through my ribbon stash and found some chute ribbon that matched perfectly and set to work. First I embroidered her name (I couldn't just write it in sharpie on the tag!) and then I used some stitch witch to attach the ribbon to the towel (so it wouldn't slide around when I sewed it. Then I tacked down either side with a basic stitch on my sewing machine and I was done! A super cute towel that she wriggles around on for 10 minutes a day.

The original towel...BORING!!












The updated version...cute!

CrAfT rOoM!!

So the time has come- I finally have enough craft stuff to warrant my own space- yippee!! Right now it the youngest beasties room but she'll be 3 years old in 2 days (SOOOOOOOB!!) and will be moving in with her older sister. I'm a little scared of that- but I can cover that in another post (and therapy.) SO, I'll be using her room as my new craft space. I'm feeling a little guilty that I'm taking over the little ladies room, but I've been told that it's important for me to have my own space...especially a space where I can close the door. I'm SO excited- especially seeing that the space I have now looks like an episode of Hoarders- it's a scary, scary place and does not produce any creative juices what-so-ever...it's scary...really, really scary (have I said it's scary? Ask Kaitlin- she'll tell you- I could see her twitching last time I took her up there- she was itching to start organizing- that's how she rolls...) Anywho- the time has come and I'll be taking pictures along the way. Sarah over at create studio (one of my new favorite blogs, www.createstudio.blogspot.com) has a great craft room so I'm getting inspiration from her and a few other sources (like The Polka Dot Chair.) Stay tuned to see what will be created- it'll be a process, but I'm sure it'll be a fun one! Project #1- paint what is supposed to be a buffet but we used as a changing table. It's a light wood color now but I'm painting it white. Pictures to come soon!