Repurposed Cabinet Doors

My step-mother called me a several months back and asked if I wanted some cabinet doors. The hoarder in me rejoiced and I gladly accepted them. I put them in the garage because I hadn't a clue what I was going to do with them.  A few weeks later, I was at Hobby Lobby and came across and rub on transfer on the clearance aisle. I bought it for $1.72. When I finally put the two together, it started a fire, or an obsession rather.

I used my Cricut to cut out a Babe Ruth quote for the prince's Yankee gallery.

 I painted the inside of this one the same color as the wall and used another rub on I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby to hang over the bed in my bedroom. Hubs is kind of a miracle :)

I have one more just like this white one. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm having fun looking!

What's In a Name?

Last June, my BFF came to visit. While she was here, she just happened to meet my husband's brother, who will from here on out be referred to as BIL. Anyway, they started chatting, one thing led to another, and six months later, they're engaged!! That's right, my best friend is going to be my new sister. I'm pumped. They're getting married six months from yesterday, so expect lots of wedding crafts on here.

Back to the point. When I was racking my brain, trying to decide what to get my new sister-to-be for Christmas, my husband said, "Get her something with her new last name on it." He said it so matter-of-factly, like it was something I should have thought of myself (which I probably should have). My husband has a way with words. I immediately thought of a project I saw on Pinterest (where else?) that I wanted to make for myself, so I decided to make two, one for me and one for her. Here is the link to the tutorial that inspired these lovelies.



I got a 1"x8", which is actually only 1"x 7.25", and some of my frames were 7.5" tall, so if I had to do it again, I would get 1" or 2"x 10". Anyway, lay out your frames on the board and mark where you need to make your cut. Then prime and paint your boards. I did BFF's red, and mine a light turquoise. Then I distressed them with a sander a little bit. 1. I like the distressed look. 2. It hides a multitude of blemishes.

 I bought frames from the Dollar Tree ($1 each, heck yes), and framed the pictures of the letters.

 I pulled the 'stander-uppers' on the back off, and used a wood glue to attach the frames to the wood.



Oh-So-Handy Kindle Cover

Forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned...it has been four months since my last post...

Truly, the last post about crocheting hats was fully accurate and I did no crafting, besides crocheting hats, until school let out for Christmas break. We had a wonderful break from school, during which time I spent some quality time loving on my prince and princess, playing the Wii, and completing some projects for my house that I'd been wanting to do but could not due to my demanding crochet schedule ;)

The kids got waaaaaaay too many presents, of course, and they have enjoyed them tremendously. As have I. None more so, however, than my daughter's Kindle Fire. The only problem I found with it is, that like my phone, I feel it needs some protection from the elements {and by elements I mean my kids}. I found a great tutorial on Pinterest {it's changed my life}, and gathered the supplies to create a nice little home for my new favorite toy. Here is a link to the tutorial.

My best friend-turned future sister-in-law and I went treasure hunting at a few thrift stores and I got a hard back book the perfect size for the Kindle. I paid $0.50 for it. I tore the pages out, which I will save for another project.

I layed the book face down on a piece of paper and traced a pattern, and then gave it another inch on two sides to allow for a hem. 

I cut a piece of coordinating fabric and ironed a 1/2 inch hem on all sides.

Then cut a piece of quilt batting about 1/2 inch smaller than that to glue into the book cover to give it a little padding. The tutorial calls for quilted fabric, but I didn't have any, so this worked for me.

 I skipped a couple pictures and steps here, but I glued down the batting with a hot glue gun, then glued down the piece of fabric over the batting. I made a pocket of the same fabric and glued it down, using the Kindle to make sure the pocket is the right size. Then I used the Kindle to attach four pieces of elastic to the other side of the book.

 The elastic holds the Kindle in place while you're using it, and when you're not, you put it back in the pocket :)

 This is a picture of the Kindle cover closed. It looks like any other hard back book, but will serve to better protect the Kindle. I intend to make the outside adorable too, but that will have to wait.

For the Love of Yarn

It's been a while! Phew! I haven't been doing a lot of repurposing, as of late, but I have been doing a lot of creating!

When I was in third grade, the ladies of our local VFW taught my Girl Scout troop how to crochet. They taught us a couple of basic stitches and we became professional crochet-ers...okay, not really, but we could make a reeeeallly long row of double crochet stitches. I, on occasion, would break out the old crochet hook and yarn and make small blankets, but I was by no stretch of the imagination good at it. Right before my little prince was born, I was looking for a hat that looked like a baseball for him to wear home from the hospital.

I told you we {heart} the Yankees.

Anyway, I found one on Etsy, but when I got it, it was way too big for him to wear home from the hospital. The other issue was that I fell madly in love with a bazillion tiny yarn hats and hubby said, "No," to spending oodles of dollars on them.  It went something like this:

Me: "Ohhhhh...{hubby} look at these little hats!"
Hubby: "No."
Me: "But look at the little giraffe..."
Hubby: "No."
Me: "Fine, I'll just make them."
Hubby: "You don't know how to make a hat." <<< all condescending like
Me: "You don't know what I can do." <<< all irritated and determined like

Okay, so it might not have gone exactly like that, but that's how I remember it. So the story goes on and I find a crochet hook and yarn in a tub in the garage and I started trying to make the hats that I fell in love with online. They got better with time and I started putting pictures of them on Facebook {because my prince is the most handsome feller in all the land}, a couple of people wanted one, and then the owner of a local boutique saw them and wanted some for the store. Long story {not-so} short, I have been crocheting like a mad woman, almost constantly, for the last few weeks and I may never get caught up. Meanwhile, I am helping to make the world a more adorable place, one yarn hat at a time :)

Lamp Makeover

This AMAZING blog, U Create, has a monthly "Create With Me" project that I was overjoyed to participate in during the month of July. During July, the project was a lamp makeover. You send before and after pictures, and she posts them on her blog. There were some awesome makeovers, go check it out!

http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2011/09/create-with-me-lamp-makeover-gallery.html

Here are before and after pictures of the two lamps I repurposed in July.

Bowling Ball Yard Art

Have you ever seen bowling ball yard art? Google it. Seriously. This is some of the most interesting stuff you'll ever see.
Last year sometime, the amazingly talented Jenny D, who also happens to be married to my sweet dad (step-mother sounds like it should imply that she has warts, or something), asked me to keep an eye out for a bowling ball she could have. I thought it an odd request, at the time, but her talent is random, not unlike my own, and I learned a long time ago to trust her instincts :)
The other day, she sent me a picture of the finished product and it's ADORABLE! Sort of makes me want to grow something in my yard on purpose so that I can have one!

Precious, right?

Tip for Holding Those Tiny Nails!

You know those teeny, tiny nails you're supposed to use to nail in the picture hangers? They're even too small to hold with your fingers! I read all over the package, trying to figure out how you were supposed to hold them while you hammer them, but could find anything. After smacking my fingers with the hammer {TWICE}, I decided to figure something else out. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

Here's what I did. *WARNING* All those with perfectly manicured fingers, avert your eyes!

A bobby pin is perfect! It has those little grooves that are just the right size for holding a nail. Then, just squeeze the open end and your fingers are out of the way of the hammer. Works like a charm!

Happy hammering!