Retro Monday-Craft an EAT sign for the kitchen

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Retro Style EAT sign

I am definitely what you would call “old school”.   I love retro, and throwback items.  I always say to my husband that if I ever won the lottery I would buy an old Victorian house and fix it up instead of buying a brand spanking new mansion!

One of those throwback items I have seen all over the internet are the “Eat” signs.  These signs were popular beginning in the 1930’s and continued being used into the 1950’s.  Many of these signs were posted along the famous Route 66 advertising popular diners along the route.  I just think they are cute and thought the iconic letters would look nice in our kitchen.  I purchased the wooden letters from Michael’s.  I went to several different craft stores to find the letters.  A little frustrating because none of the stores had all three letters I needed!  Once I purchased the letters I simply painted them using acrylics.  You can also decoupage the letters if painting them is simply too boring for you.  I was looking for the simple red and blue letters.  I wanted them to “pop” in our bright yellow kitchen.  I thought it would be cute to add the napkin with the fork and spoon.  I used an old placemat and my upholstery stapler and stapled the material to the wall.  The hardest part was hanging the letters!  I have a level, but was still having difficulty.  Not sure they are completely straight but I can live with it!

Materials used:

Wooden Letters

Acrylic Paint

Old Kitchen Placemat

Upholstery staple

Old Fork and Spoon.

Hand Painted Decoupage Kids Time Out Chair

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Happy Mother’s day to all you wonderful crafty moms out there!

It was a bit ironic, that this weekend’s project is a kids Time Out chair, but my daughter is about to turn 2 in two weeks and my husband and I want to start using the little chair as a learning tool and why not learn in style?  I have to say this craft was a bit of a challenge for me, mostly because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to make the chair.  Looking back I may have done the chair a little differently as I am not a 100% happy on how it turned out.  I think the color scheme could have been a bit better and I am not sure I would have used flowers if I had it to do all over again.  I try not to get discouraged if something doesn’t turn out exactly as planned.   After all without mistakes what can we learn from?

Materials Used:

Scrap book paper

Acrylic Paint

Mod Podge-Matte Finish

Stick on Letters

Wrapping paper (for “time out” flower)

White Latex Primer

The chair was not in the greatest of shape.  I rescued it from the flea market for $ 2.00! When I got it home, I cleaned it as best I could and primed it with the latex primer.  I let it dry thoroughly   I then cut and measured the scrapbook paper for the seat and glued it to the seat using Mod Podge.  Then I hand painted the entire piece.  This was the most time consuming aspect of the project.  Once dry, I used the stick on letters for the “Time Out”  and wrapping paper I had for the flower over the letters.  I then sealed the entire piece with 3 coats of Mod Podge.  Who would have  thought a punishment chair could be pretty? (LOL)

Frida Kahlo inspired decorative decoupage tray and art case

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“Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light.
~Frida Kahlo

I picked up this ugly old tray for $2.00 at the flea market about a week ago.  At that time I really had no idea what I was going to do with it.  I did know one thing it needed a makeover! My sister’s birthday is coming up and since discovering my new upcycling obsession, I wanted to make her something special.  I always admired the artist Frida Kahlo and I was intrigued by her artwork and her life story.  My sister is also a fan of her art and got to see an exhibit of her work a few years back.  I recently did a quick project of my own when I decoupaged my art box with Frida Kahlo art and scrap book paper. (Pictured below)

This gave me the idea for the tray. Simple projects too!

Her birthday is next week.  Hope she likes the tray, but I am keeping the art box!

; 0 )

Art Case Before

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Sports Team TV Trays made with Mod Podge

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My husband and I were sitting down last Sunday after our little one had finally gone to bed.  We were watching our favorite show, Game of Thrones.    It has become our Sunday night ritual and is easily one of my favorite top five shows of all time!

Most of our house is now toddler proof, so we are lacking a coffee table in our living room as well as side tables.  We pulled out the old TV trays we had up in the attic and they were perfect to put our popcorn and drinks down on, but that’s about all the good I could say about them.  To me, they were just plain and ugly! I said to my husband that I should give the tables a makeover.  We have three total.  The original plan was to re-create the baseball card decoupage table I had seen on Pinterest, but the hubby didn’t want to part with any of his old baseball cards and I can’t say that I blame him.  So, we decided I would make a TV tray dedicated to my husband’s favorite sports team-The Philadelphia Phillies.  There are a lot of great, free graphics on the web. If you have a good printer at home and some larger paper you can find just about anything online to decoupage. (Ink jet printers not recommended as the ink will often times run)   The limits are endless on what can be used so keep that in mind.  Old sports linens, place mats, wrapping paper, sports decals-just about ANYTHING can be used to decoupage, so let your imagination run wild and always think outside the box. First I cleaned the table, removing any dirt or dust.  I used a latex primer to prime the entire TV tray.  Once dry,  I used Acrylic paint and painted the legs and underneath as well as the table top edges.  I used Mod Podge to glue the print to the table top carefully smoothing out any air bubbles.  Once dry I used three coats of Mod Podge Matte to seal the piece letting the table dry completely between coats.  I was actually shocked as to how well it turned out!  I was so pleased I decided to do the other two TV trays as well in the hopes of selling them. We plan on purchasing our flea market space one weekend this summer in the hopes of raising some money to take a much needed family vacation. Sesame Place or bust!

Materials used for this project:

Mod Podge Matte Finish

(I also used the Modge Podge Roller Tool to help smooth out the air bubbles)

X Acto knife

An item to decoupage (poster, print, linens, decals, place mat or anything you can dream up!

Acrylic Paint

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Decoupage Sports Team TV Trays

Dog Treat Jar made with Mod Podge

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I really loved our dog treat jar!  Then I knocked it off our counter top and it broke into a million pieces.  I was bummed.  So I began searching for a replacement jar.  Most that I found were either boring or too expensive.

It was Mod Podge to the rescue!  I had an old cookie jar that I stopped using because I stopped buying cookies.  I was determined to get healthy after the birth of our baby girl.    I printed out some cute images off the internet and decoupaged them onto the jar using Mod Podge.  It was really simple and easy to make.  Of course our Bichon Frise Casper, could care less about what his jar looks like.  He is more concerned with the treats inside! ; 0 )

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DIY Photo canvas and wall hangings

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This Mother’s day, I made my mom a photo canvas of all four of her grandchildren.  This is also a great first project when working with Mod Podge for the first time.   I have seen many techniques on how to make photo canvas’s on the internet.  I have yet to try the photo transfer method.  (Of course when I do I will be sure and share it with you)

My husband and I attended a beautiful wedding in upstate NY not long after our daughter was born.  The photographer Erin Covey http://erincoveycreative.com/ stopped by our table and took a photo of us.  The bride was nice enough to share this photo with us after the wedding, and we were so happy with the result!  It is one of the first times we had been photographed together as a family.  I wanted to do something special with this print, but I wasn’t sure what to do.  Then I came across all the photo canvas making methods on Pinterest and around the internet,  and decided to go for it.  I wanted to make a bigger canvas, so I ordered a large print of the photo from snapfish.   l also decided for a more dramatic effect, I would convert the photo from color to black and white.  I purchased a canvas from Michael’s and waited somewhat patiently for the photo to arrive in the mail.  Once the photo arrived, I was ready to get started!  The print was slightly smaller than the canvas, so originally I decided to paint the area around it black.  After some thought, I decided to frame it instead with some scrapbook paper.  I was so glad I did!  I think it gives the canvas a unique look from other photo canvas’s I have seen out there!  I used the Modge Podge to glue the print to the canvas.  I then measured the scrapbook paper and used it to frame the photo.  Once dry I applied 3 coats of Modge Podge covering the whole canvas to seal it.

Also don’t stop at using just family photos!  ANY print can be made into a wall hanging.  (I have included an example of this in a kitchen wall hanging that I made) So, get out that Mod Podge and start crafting those last minute Mother’s day gifts.  Mom will love you for it!

Materials used: 

Large printed photo

Mod Podge Matte Finish

X acto knife

Scrapbook paper (to frame print)

Family Photo Canvas

Kitchen Wall Hanging

Modge Podge Photo Canvas

Decoupage “Ugly Tray” Re-styling using Mod Podge

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One of the things I look for when I go to thrift stores and swap meets are ugly trays.  I like them because they are great items to decoupage and I love decoupage!  They are also fairly inexpensive.  They are great practice and experimental pieces, and they are functional.  The possibilities are endless as to  themes and what you can do with these trays.  They also make great gifts. For My first decoupage tray, I used a freestyle approach.  I printed out all these lovely Victorian Era prints.  I love the Victorian era artwork and elegant look.  I had this old tray that was quite boring and a few times I had actually thought of throwing it away because it took up space and was just plain ugly.  I decided it would be a great piece to experiment on.   I painted the entire piece black with acrylic paint, and cut out the prints I wanted to use in the collage. I then used Mod Podge Gloss finish to glue the images to the tray.  Once completely dry, I sealed the entire piece with 3 coats of Mod Podge gloss finish.   I decided to hang the tray on our living room wall.   These trays also make great wall art.

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Necessity, The Mother of Invention-using left over tile to create a counter top cutting board/hot plate

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They say necessity is the mother of invention.  When it comes to home improvement, sometimes you are forced to think outside the box, as was with the case of our burned kitchen counter top.  When we moved into our home about 7 years ago, our house was in need of some major TLC.  Up until that point the house was more like a college dorm than a family home.  The young man we purchased the home from had moved out to California, and he was letting his friends rent the home from him while he worked on selling it.  Needless to say, they did more damage while they were there, than good.  My husband and I were on a strict budget.  Most of the issues in the home were minor, but irritated us regardless.  One of those “annoyances” involved our kitchen counter top.  Their was a huge, highly visible burn mark right in the middle of the laminate counter top.  My husband and I could not afford to put in replacement counter tops, so for a while I simply used Velcro to fasten a small wooden cutting board to cover the ghastly burn mark, but I needed to come up with a more permanent solution.  My neighbor, god bless him, gave me some left over tile he had from a project he had just completed.  I used most of it for a  backsplash .  While putting up the back splash, I came up with a cost effective solution to our burned counter top problem.  I used the extra tiles to create a ceramic cutting board/ hot plate and matched it to the back splash.  I purchased a combination tile adhesive/grout which works great and is easy to use.  I took the tile and adhered them to the counter top using the adhesive and grout.  I then used the same adhesive and grout in one product  to seal over top and fill in the spaces between the tiles.  I used the smaller mosaic tiles to frame and add some color.  The result was something I could live with and it saved me hundreds of dollars in costs to have the counter top replaced.  I thought I would share this for those like us on a budget, but looking for inexpensive solutions to home improvement problems.  Almost 7 years later we still use the space as a hot plate and cutting board and replacing the counter tops became less of a priority on our to do list!

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Victorian inspired Art decoupage birdhouse

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Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Yesterday afternoon, our family hit the flea market circuit  in the hopes of finding a kids sized wooden chair to convert into a Time Out chair, and any other items that would make a good future project.  I am happy to report that we walked away with several items: A kids wooden chair,   a wooden school desk and a few decorative trays.    It was an absolute beautiful day today to walk around outside and soak in the sun.  Yard sale season is also in full swing.  We saw many on the trip, but had to save our yard sailing aspirations for another day.

Today was also the day my most recent craft:  my Victorian bird house, would be ready to hang outside.    Prime real estate for some lucky little bird family.  I wanted to create a Victorian feel. I searched the internet for Victorian art and floral images.  I then printed out the images I wanted to use on my color printer.  I carefully cut out the images with an X acto knife.  I painted the bird house red and white.  Once the bird house was dry, I used the Mod Podge to adhere the cut out images to the birdhouse.  The possibilities are endless as far as the styles and themes you can create.  You can choose any images you like including family photos, sports etc.  I then applied 3 coats of Mod Podge allowing to dry thoroughly between coats.  I used a metal hook  and screw for hanging outside.

Materials:

Wooden bird house from Michael’s Crafts

Red and White Acrylic paint

X acto Knife

Outdoor Mod Podge

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Dollar Store Bathroom Trash Can Makeover

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If you have been following my blog so far you know that I work a lot with Mod Podge. It is a great medium to work with as there are so many possibilities, and different ideas you can try; However there are a few limitations.  One day I had the time for an easy project.  I had purchased a bathroom trash can from Dollar Tree and thought I could add a little flare by decoupaging some leftover scrapbook paper I had.  This project turned out not to be as easy as I planned.  If you ever look at the back of the Mod Podge container you will notice that the manufacturer warn against using on some plastics.  I found that in this case, the Mod Podge did not adhere well to the plastic.  It was also difficult to smooth out the air bubbles.   It was possible to remove some, but I found it to be quite a messy task.  In the end I had a craft result I could live with, but I would rethink and perhaps try a different approach when working with plastics next time.   Not perfect.  I think in hindsight, I might try this project on a metal trash can with material instead of paper.

Dollar Tree Bathroom Trash Can