Chalk Paint Refinishes

    Over the summer, while visiting my sister-in-law, I was introduced to the art of chalk paint refinishes.  My sister-in-law had done several pieces in her home and they were simply gorgeous!  She walked my through the steps and encouraged me to give it a try.  We visited a shop there that specializes in refinishing furniture for people and selling pieces.  The cost difference in purchasing a finished product and finishing your own is at least 4X's less DIY.  It is a little time consuming, but definitely worth every minute.

   My oldest son had this small dresser that was my husband's when he was a kid.  My son liked it but asked if we could paint it blue.  We found the perfect color at the shop in Colorado and purchased the other supplies needed.

The items you'll need are:

• Chalk Paint (Annie Sloan is the brand we used.  It is about $40 a quart, but it goes a long way.  There are also several tutorials on making your own if you google it, but I haven't tried this so can't give any tips!)
• Light or Dark soft wax (depends on the finish you are wanting.  You can purchase a dark Finishing Wax from Home Depot or Lowe's for about $10.00.  The light wax can be found from any Annie Sloan distributors.)

         

• A large stippling brush
• Regular size paint brush
• Small paint brush
• Cheese cloth
• Acrylic Paint
• Petroleum Jelly
• Fine sand paper
• Something to refinish

Here is the dresser my son wanted to have painted blue.  It has nice markings on the drawers and lots of scratches and dings to give it lots of character.

1.  Remove all of the hardware.

2.  This next step can just be skipped if you like the wood color and that is the color you want exposed.  If you would like a lighter or darker choose an acrylic paint to suit your taste.  Use a smaller paint brush to apply the acrylic paint to anywhere you think you might want to expose off after the chalk paint is applied.  Good places would be the edges, gouges and scratches, and carvings.  Remember, just because you put the acrylic paint there, it doesn't mean you will be exposing all of it, only some will come through with the sanding.  You will want to apply 2-3 coats of the acrylic paint to make sure it is covered well enough.

3.  After you have all of the acrylic paint on, use the petroleum jelly and apply a layer on each area you want exposed.  You don't want this very think but thick enough that it will allow the chalk  paint to come off.  If you put it on too thick, it will strip much more of the chalk paint than you want off. 

4.  Apply a layer of the chalk paint.  Let the paint dry and then apply a second coat.  Let it set for about 12-24 hours.

5.  Once the paint is completely dry, use your sand paper to remove some of the paint distressing it a bit.  You will be able to see glossy areas where the vaseline areas are.  Focus the sand paper on these to show the color underneath.  Expose as much or as little as you like, just don't make it uniform.

6.  Once everything is exposed you want, use your stippling brush to apply the soft wax back and forth over the painted areas until everything is covered.  Let it sit for about 30 minutes then use about 12 inches of the cheese cloth to rub the wax until smooth.  Apply a second coat of the wax and repeat with the cheese cloth.

7.  Reapply the hardware and display proudly.

~Stacy~

My Baby Girls Nursery!!!

     I am absolutely thrilled that I get to decorate a room for a little girl!  I have loved having my 2 boys and they are so fun, but girls stuff is so darn cute!  I didn't know if I would get this opportunity, so now that I am pregnant with a girl, I am going to make it as fun as I can!  She is just a week away from joining our family and I have FINALLY gotten the room finished.

      I have fallen in love with the pink and grey color scheme and these are the ideas I am pulling together, hopefully for a room she will LOVE!!

     Here are a couple of the room broken down.  The only thing not shown is the cute pink curtains because a temporary bed was in front.  I'll post them later once the initial sleepless nights are over and the bed is moved out!

I plan on posting directions for what I did, but it will be at later time.  I'll link them once I do for anyone interested in using any of the ideas!

~Stacy~

More FUN Christmas Decorations

    There are just so many adorable Christmas Decorations out there, it is a shame not to be able to put all of them into one post.  We have just a few of our favorites for this year we wanted to share.

Fabric Trees

   The first one is something our mom made for us a few years back.  They are so cute and can go anywhere so of course they go out every year.  They are really simple and inexpensive to make too.
   For this little project all you need are 2X4's cut about 4 inches long, dowels in 3 different sizes, 3 different colors of fabrics, raffia and a drill and wood glue.

** For the fabric, we would suggest Christmasy colors, but not necessarily Christmas patterned material.  Example, reds, greens, golds, blues.    You can choose solids or something with a mild print like a star or plaid.  If you get about 1/2 yard per color, you should have plenty to cover your tree.

** For the dowels, you really can choose how long you want to cut them (or have them cut when you purchase them if they offer that service--Home Depot or Lowe's would).  Ours are 13", 16" and 19" and that seems to be a perfect length.

1.  You will start by drilling a hole in the center of the 2X4" piece (sitting flat, it will be a 4X4" by 2" height).  Drill it about 1/2 to 3/4" down.  Add a little wood glue and stick your dowel into it.  Allow this to dry.

2.  Next,  cut several strips of the fabric into 1" strips.  The length of these will vary, depending on which tree they are for.  The smaller ones will be about 6-7 inches long, the medium tree 7-8 inches, and the larger tree 8-10 inches.  Cut one strip the length you think will work and actually tie it on to see if that is how long you want it before cutting all of them!

3.  After you have the strips cut into the lengths you desire, start at the bottom of the dowel and just start tying the strips onto the dowel, one by one.  You will want to tie them at different spots (rotating the dowel around) so the loose edges go all around the tree.  Continue until you get to the top.  The final 4-5 pieces you will tie just a little differently.  Lay one or two over the top of the dowel, then tie 2-3 more around the dowel, over the top of the material you just laid down.  This will cover the end of the dowel and finish it off.

4.  Final step is to tie a long raffia ribbon around the top with the long ends touching the ground and maybe +2 inches!

Shop More Sister Stuff!

We have worked really hard this year to get a BUNCH of Christmas decorations into our shop for this season.  We decorate our homes with these fun items and hopefully you will find something you want in your home too!  Some of the things we have available in our shop this year are also linked below and you should be able to see the rest from there!

Vinyl Platters

Apothecary Style Candy Jar Sets

Christmas Greetings Blocks

Ho Ho Ho

Merry Christmas

Snowflake Stitching Picture

Christmas Glass Blocks

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Christmas Decorating Traditions

Night of the Christmas Tree

   Something we did as a family when we were young that was a fun tradition, happened on the night we finished decorating the tree (and house).  I believe we always decorated for Christmas the Monday following Thanksgiving.  It might have been another night and it wouldn't matter when you choose to decorate.
    What we would do is make egg nog (store bought and sprite added to it, yum!) or hot chocolate for everyone.  We would all come and sit around the Christmas tree and turn off all of the lights except for the tree.  Dad would tell a Christmas story or talk about the REAL meaning of Christmas to start us out.  Then we would sing Christmas songs for a while.  We probably each got to choose our favorite song and would sing until everyone got a chance to choose a song.  I don't know what it was about the singing under the lights, but it sure put us into the BEST Christmas mood and spirit!

Light Sightseeing

   Another tradition we had every year, maybe a week or two before Christmas, was to go look at everyone else's Christmas lights.  My mom would usually make some Hot Chocolate or something we could drink to keep us warm while we looked.  We would all pile up in the car and just start driving around for an hour or two looking at the beautiful lights around us.  There were usually a few neighborhoods or single houses that always had good lights we would make sure to hit.
   One of the homes we always went to went WAY out of their way to show their spirit.  It was SOOOO much fun to see as a kid.  They had decorated several different "scenes" throughout their yard, from the front to the back of the house.  There was Santa's workshop with his elves, Mickey Mouse and his crew working on presents, kids ice skating in a pond, trees and animals in a winter wonderland, a scene from The Nutcracker.  Just about anything you can imagine, he had out there.  You would get out of your car and go walk around.  When you left the yard, the old man was always out there passing candy canes to everyone who came to look.
   As an adult, I have tried to keep up this tradition with my kids because I loved it so much when I was little.  When we lived in Texas, there was this GIGANTIC neighborhood that had competitions each year.  It was really amazing.  Each street had a theme they were in charge of.  They would take a certain Christmas carol or story and starting with the 1st home on that street, they would break the story or carol up with each house doing a small phrase.  It was really incredible how it all went together and how the entire neighborhood participated.  My understanding is that when you bought and sold a home in that neighborhood, the new owners had to agree with participating in their purchase contract!  What a neat idea!

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Black Friday Sale

Hey everyone!  We are having a Black Friday Sale this week in our More Sister Shop!  Click the link to check out the deals you can get for Christmas gifts this year!  The Sale Starts today and goes through Friday!

Some of our featured items are:
Christmas Decorations
Birthday Boards
Infant and Toddler Dresses
Sashay Scarves
Infant and Girl Headbands
Infant and Girl Hair Clips (use promo code SILK5 and get one of these hair clips for 50ȼ.  Must have a hairclip in your cart for the promotion.)

Name Blocks

My youngest son wanted to get these big letters from Hobby Lobby to put on his wall, that spell his name.  His bedroom is red and white with a sports border at the top.  I came up with the idea to get various sports scrapbook papers to decoupage onto the letters to put in his room.  I think the turned out really cool and he loves them.




Here is how I made them.

1.  I first traced the letter backwards on the back of the piece of paper we were using for that letter.  Add an extra 1/4 inch around as you are tracing.  (You will need that for the edges).  The letters we chose were about 1 inch taller than the paper we were using, so I had to get creative to cover both ends.  Some of them I would add the remnants to the top and bottom, some in the middle, some to the top with a strip in the middle and so on.  I mixed it up so they wouldn't all look the same.

2.  Once you have cut out the paper and made the adjustments (if needed) you will turn both over and start adding the mod-podge to the board, then press down the paper.  I would try to do it about 1/3 at a time so I could adjust the paper as needed.  I would also make sure to mod-podge all of the edges after attaching to the board.

3.  Next you will cut the extra edge with little slits at each corner and around curved edges so you will be able to cover the width of the letters easily.

4.  Start at one end and start moving around gluing a small section of paper to the edges.  This part takes a while, so be patient.  The edges will not hold immediately.  You will have to hold it down until the glue starts sticking, and don't be surprised if you have to go back and hold some sections down again.

5.  Once you have finished all of the edges, go around all of them and the back outer edges with the mod-podge again and let it dry.

6.  Once dry, turn back over and mod-podge over all of the front.  Let it dry overnight.

7.  To attach it to the wall, you can attach picture frame hooks on the back or get some of the heavy duty Command tapes and apply to the back, leaving the little tabs hanging out the edge.  I know you can buy packages of just the sticky tabs if this is the route you want to go.

Here is a look of the final product!    My son does love them.

8.  If you are willing to be patient in getting the letters, you can use a 40% off coupon on each of them.   You can go to this Hobby Lobby website to either print the coupon or put it on your smart phone to show the cashier.  For the largest letters, this will make them about $2.56 each.  The paper goes on sale about every 2-3 weeks at 50% off, leaving each sheet at $0.25 each.

It is a really fun project and looks great in the kids rooms.

~Stacy~

Halloween Decoration Ideas

  I have said before, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for.  I really don't like the creepy skeletons, bloody hands or things like that , but I love the cute pumpkins, witches, and ghosts.  I really do try to add to my collection every year.  I have gotten with my sisters to see what ideas they have for decorations this year and this is what we have come up with!

Let's Get Batty!!

My friend had done this on her front door a couple of years ago and I fell in love!  She gave me her template and I finally got the bats made this year.  I just used cardstock and taped them to my front door windows.

Pumpkin Patch

Arizona is really big on recycling, which is nice and it also helped to spark this idea.  As I was throwing away multiple glass bottles, such as spaghetti and pickle jars, I got an idea to save them and use them as pumpkin decorations.  I just painted the outsides of the jars orange.  I painted the lids and  the little pumpkin segment lines brown.  One of the pumpkins I painted over the orange with a beige color, leaving the pumpkin segment lines orange.  I used a sharpie marker to draw on each pumpkins face and finished it with some raffia or Hemp String around the lids.  My kiddos really like them too!

Trick-or-Treaters

Here is a picture of my little Trick-or-Treater group!  I wish I could say I made all of them, but just the little girl with the ghost head is my contribution.  (You can buy one of them in our store if you like her too!)

Gliding Ghosts (and a bat)

Another one of the kids favorite is our flying glow-in-the-dark ghosts.  We have a bat amongst them (my oldest son made in 1st grade a couple of years ago).  The glow in the dark ghosts can also be found in our store or on the blog as a tutorial!  I attached these by using fishing string and hooks in the wall.  I put them up as high as I could reach and just tied slip knots on either end of the fishing string.  Then I attached fishing string to the heads and bottoms of the ghosts and bat (2 strings each) and did a slip knot for each string onto the string strung across the room.  I hope that makes sense!  I think it turned out pretty cool.  (I, Stacy, really shouldn't be taking credit for hanging them though because Michelle actually did it for me!  Thanks so much!!!)

Here is a close up of the bat.  It is just made from a black nylon hose with the end stuffed with cotton.  Tie it off at the length you want your bat.  On black cardstock, draw the bats wings, head and ears and then hot glue it onto the bats back.  You can also add additional googly eyes if you want!

~Stacy~

Witches Hat Garland

This is a project Michelle is going to be doing this week.  It is this really cute Mini Witch Hat Garland.  Click on the link for the tutorial!  I believe Michelle is making the hats garland!

~Michelle~

Halloween Garland

Here is Rachel's Garland she made from scraps of black, white and orange material.  It was a quick and easy project she did with her kids this weekend.  Rachel is also going to make some cute little witches hats for some center pieces at her Witches Night Out Party.

~Rachel~

Homemade Home Decoration

   I have been receiving the "All You" magazine this year and it has some really good ideas for home decorations.  This one caught my eye because I am in need of some balls to go in a decorative metal bowl on my sofa table.  I have been looking for a while for something I like and finally found these!  The lady who made them had said she likes to recycle things into things for her home if she can.  This idea she formed from cereal boxes.  Super cute!  We go through cereal boxes a lot in our family so I decided to try it.

   For this project you will need an empty cereal, acrylic paint, and the normal size gold or silver paper brackets.

1.  Cut your cereal boxes into 8 strips 3/4" inches thick, by 10" long.  (Do this times how many balls you want to make.  My large cereal box made 3).  I also made one 8" long so I could have a variety of sized balls.

2.  Lay the strips out (preferably on something plastic) so you can paint them.  Use a sponge brush (or small paint brush) and put 2 coats on both sides.  (I used a cardboard box for round 1 and found the strips stick to the box and you'll have to repaint them several times).  You could also choose a spray paint color and spray the strips.

3.  After they are all dried, poke a hole in both ends of all 8 pieces so you can attach them with the silver brackets.  On 2 of them, also poke a hole in the middle too.

4.  Place one of the strips with 3 holes on the bottom, add 2 more of the 2 hole strips, another 3 hole strip, followed by 2 more strips.  Match up the holes of one end and put one of the brackets through the holes with the bracket points facing the inside.  Once you have the bracket in, separate the segments evenly.

5.  Take another bracket, also facing in, and gather the 6 strips in, lining the holes up onto the bracket forming a circle.

6.  Take the remaining 2 strips and another bracket, line the 2 ends and the middle hole of one of the strips and place the bracket through.

7.  Circle the 2 strips around to the other side and line up those holes with the remaining middle hole strip.  Place the final bracket through.

8.  Display proudly!

Hope you like these cute decorations!

~Stacy~

Fall Wreath

 The other day we were outside winterizing our house and I had a brilliant plan to make a door wreath for my front door...out of dead weeds.  I have always loved the weed that looks similar to wheat, I call it fake wheat, and we have tons of that along our ditch bank.  So I grabbed the clippers and started gathering the "pretty weeds" .  When I got done I had a box full and went about sorting them into groups.  Then I started arranging them.  It was very pretty, but needed a little something, so I added some Indian Corn and a simple burlap bow.  I really like the way it turned out!  Even my husband, whom I did not think would like it, thought it looked nice.

This is an easy enough project that I think I can handle every fall, because I will ALWAYS have enough weeds.  :)

Happy Fall!

~Rachel~