May 23, 2013

DIY Chalkboard

A couple weekends ago, I was able to get my craft on…and it felt amazing! I have a bride this summer that was wanting to have a chalkboard for her ceremony. I knew this was something I could make!

I asked my dad if he was interested in a father son daughter project and of course he was up for it. I went out and purchased all of the materials and was super excited to get started.

The last father daughter project we did together was probably back in school making some school project. I remember doing a cotton gin for school which was pretty much awesome. Then we had to make a car in junior high that ran off of batteries (I had an unfair advantage because my dad is a mechanic:)) It was always a good time.

I asked my dad if he remembered making my mom a dishwasher…..not that kind of dishwasher. My mom would always tell us what she wanted for Christmas and then we would tell Dad and he would help us get it. This one particular year, she wanted a dishwasher. Well, that was pretty much not happening considering the cost was crazy. So, being the smart ass  good humored person that he is, he made a doll out of wood that would hold scrub brush and a sponge. Mom laughed so it was totally worth it.

For the chalkboard, I definitely needed help. I have used a drill before, but never for anything other than just putting in a screw. I never had to drill the hole first. It was quite a learning experience. Apparently, I drilled in the hole a bit crooked so my dad had to fix it…whatever. You live and you learn;)

Miss M Paint Chalkboard

Miss M was able to help with the painting which she was super excited about! We put two coats on of the chalkboard paint and waited for it to dry. While that was drying, we hung out with the family and enjoyed some time together.

Chalkboard Frame

Finally, when the paint was dry, we put it all together. It was my first time using a air staple gun…PS AMAZING! I am not sure why I would ever need to OWN one per se, but I want one. So easy and so fun!

The hinges were spray painted with some paint Dad had around for car parts, so that dried really quick:) Then it was time to put it all together…hinges, chain…ta da!

Chalkboard photo

I had to touch up some spots on the stained part of the wood, but it was super easy and I am absolutely in love with it. Miss M even got to test it out to make sure it really was a chalkboard:)

All pictures were taken with my phone so I realize they are not the best quality:) I cannot wait to use this in a wedding and take some good pictures of it!! Thanks for stopping by!

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Where I’m linking up

MondayMad Skills Tutorial Link Party Make Something Mondays  CraftOManiac Monday Market Yourself Monday A Marvelous Mess Inspire Me Monday  Sew Chatty Made by You Mondays More the Merrier Monday What’s in The Gunny Sack  Serendipity & Spice  Destination:Craft Show Off Monday Moms Monday Mingle Tuesday Show Me What Ya Got Tell Me! (Tuesdays) Tutorial Tuesday with Hope Studios Rook No. 17 Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays Handmade Tuesdays {Too} cute Tuesday Terrific Tuesdays  Trick or Treat Tuesday’s Tuesday Timeout Take A Look Tuesday’s One Project at a Time Tuesday To-Do Part Tuesday Tutorials From Dream to Reality Wednesday Create and Share We Did It! Wednesday Your Whims Wednesday Today’s Creative Blog Look What I Made Wow Me Wednesday! Sugar and Dots Someday Crafts Fine Craft Guild Homemade by You Wednesday Uncommonly Yours I Made This Whimsy Wednesdays Thursday A Glimpse Inside Somewhat Simple House of Hepworths A Crafty Soiree Transformation Thursday Creative Thursday live laugh {linky} Thursdays are Your Days Spread the Love Friday Friday Favs Delicately Constructed Fridays Flaunt it Friday Lolly Jane Free for All Friday The Shabby Nest Handmade 52 Cindy’s Romantic Home Creation Corner Pity Party Lovely Crafty Weekend Find Your Craft Friday Whipper Berry A Little Knick Knack Simply Designing Fun Stuff Fridays Feature Friday Free For All Friday Fun Party Fabulous Fridays Shine On FridaysWeekends Show And Tell Saturdays Saturday Spotlight Weekend Wrapup Party Sundae Scoop DIY Showoff Scout’s Sweet Sundays Sunday Blog Love It’s Overflowing Think Pink Sundays Sister Sunday Link Party A Pinteresting {Link} Party Pinning and Singing on the Weekend Twigg Studios Sweet Talkin’ Sunday Wayward Weekend Sunday {Fun}day Sew Crafty Saturday

Where have I been?

Where have I been? I feel super guilty that I have been so busy and not been able to blog much at all lately. I know that the reasons are good, but I also miss it. Like….a lot! I miss the relationships that I was building. I miss the excitement of finding out something I created was featured. I miss getting excited about all the new people I was interacting with. I miss it all. But… I have been so busy.

Let me back up a bit. Last September, (yeah, that long ago), I was back in Illinois for a friend’s wedding. While helping her with all the planning, I had to go to this little place called Kreative Rentals to meet with her decorators. I walked into the showroom and literally said “Oh my…this is my heaven!” There are vases, floral, linens, and more…it’s a crafty girls’ dream! Well, the owners at the time were apparently looking to sell and mentioned it to me. So of course, I told the hubs! I was giddy, I was pumped, and I was freaking out! If I bought this business, that would mean that the hubs would go back to Germany, and I would stay here in my little hometown in Illinois with Miss M….alone. Lots of decisions to think about. I already wanted to stay here because Germany and I didn’t get along very well. It was either rainy or thinking about being rainy the entire time I was living there…and well…that wears on a person. I was going to miss my hubs like crazy. I already knew that. But it is temporary.

So the planning (and panicking) began. I was getting things ready to own the business, already meeting with new clients, and getting very excited about this new adventure. All the while, I was still crocheting for friends, family and others, making wedding gifts with and for friends, and of course, spending time with the little one as she ventured into her new school.

I ended up buying the business on December 14, 2012 and it has been great. Doing Bridal Fairs in the local area, and meeting with some amazing clients has been a dream!

There are times where I get really scared that I messed up and made the wrong decision and that maybe it will hurt our marriage…but then I remember that the majority of our relationship has been apart. Either him working crazy stupid hours, or deployed…so it’s not much different…except now I have my family around to help out when needed. Which thankfully they are here because I have needed them a lot.

Back to the blogging. I continued doing the Fantabulous Friday’s so that I could still see what everyone was doing. But, then I ran out of time. I didn’t want my blog to ever just be a linky party blog and so I stopped because that was all I had time for. I currently have 33 brides/events that I am decorating for 2013 and a few for 2014 already lined up. It is very exciting, but also very time-consuming. No two weddings are the same so it’s not like you can just pick a package and walk away from it. You have to plan and re-plan and organize each individual one. I FREAKING LOVE IT THOUGH!

I just got done making hair pieces for a bride and her bridal party and I love the way they turned out. I am hoping to share them with you soon after I get them to her.

The hubs is going to be looking soon (I hope) for a job back here and then we can all be together again…including the cat. I can’t believe I actually miss that little cat.:) But I definitely do.

I hope you all will still check back in from time to time and see what I have been up to and hopefully there will be lots to share with you once wedding season starts! I miss you all and thank you for the continued support.

Don’t miss anything. Stay connected!

  

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Where I’m linking up

MondayMad Skills Tutorial Link Party Make Something Mondays  CraftOManiac Monday Market Yourself Monday A Marvelous Mess Inspire Me Monday  Sew Chatty Made by You Mondays More the Merrier Monday What’s in The Gunny Sack  Serendipity & Spice  Destination:Craft Show Off Monday Moms Monday Mingle Tuesday Show Me What Ya Got Tell Me! (Tuesdays) Tutorial Tuesday with Hope Studios Rook No. 17 Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays Handmade Tuesdays {Too} cute Tuesday Terrific Tuesdays  Trick or Treat Tuesday’s Tuesday Timeout Take A Look Tuesday’s One Project at a Time Tuesday To-Do Part Tuesday Tutorials From Dream to Reality Wednesday Create and Share We Did It! Wednesday Your Whims Wednesday Today’s Creative Blog Look What I Made Wow Me Wednesday! Sugar and Dots Someday Crafts Fine Craft Guild Homemade by You Wednesday Uncommonly Yours I Made This Whimsy Wednesdays Thursday A Glimpse Inside Somewhat Simple House of Hepworths A Crafty Soiree Transformation Thursday Creative Thursday live laugh {linky} Thursdays are Your Days Spread the Love Friday Friday Favs Delicately Constructed Fridays Flaunt it Friday Lolly Jane Free for All Friday The Shabby Nest Handmade 52 Cindy’s Romantic Home Creation Corner Pity Party Lovely Crafty Weekend Find Your Craft Friday Whipper Berry A Little Knick Knack Simply Designing Fun Stuff Fridays Feature Friday Free For All Friday Fun Party Fabulous Fridays Shine On FridaysWeekends Show And Tell Saturdays Saturday Spotlight Weekend Wrapup Party Sundae Scoop DIY Showoff Scout’s Sweet Sundays Sunday Blog Love It’s Overflowing Think Pink Sundays Sister Sunday Link Party A Pinteresting {Link} Party Pinning and Singing on the Weekend Twigg Studios Sweet Talkin’ Sunday Wayward Weekend Sunday {Fun}day Sew Crafty Saturday

Fantabulous Friday #44

Happy Friday!! Welcome to Fantabulous Friday #44! This week I had a lot of changes happen. Thankfully, they were all great changes. I am really looking forward to this weekend. The playoffs are calling my name. My family and I are meeting up to watch the Niners/Packers game <----see how I put the Niners first....yeah that's because they are going to win:) AGAIN!! We went to the first game they played this season and the game was great so I am hoping it's the same. Miss M will be celebrating her half birthday...yes celebrating...on Saturday so we will be going out as a family and having a good time. Pretty excited. Hopefully her surprise/gift is exactly what she wants!!

Well, now on to the fun! What have you all been up to? The kids are back in school, more time to get your craft on, right?

Last week’s most viewed was how to Make a Fake Tiffany Bracelet from The Thriftiness Miss.

I have decided to show off the featured posts on my Facebook Page throughout the day! If you are not following me on Facebook, you can do that here and then you can see if you were featured from last week and then of course grab a button here!!

What amazing projects have you been working on this week?? Link them up!!



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Fantabulous Friday #43

Happy Friday!! Welcome to Fantabulous Friday #43! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. I took some time away to spend with family and get some much needed rest! It was fantastic! I cannot wait to see what everyone has been up to over the holidays!

I have decided to show off the featured posts on my Facebook Page throughout the day! If you are not following me on Facebook, you can do that here and then you can see if you were featured from last week and then of course grab a button here!!

What amazing projects have you been working on this week?? Link them up!!



Make sure you don't miss anything!

Knock Off Striped Hat

I have been in hiding lately…not for any other reason other than the fact that I have been super busy! I made this about a month ago but still wanted to share it with you all! I am kind of in love with it!

A friend showed me this picture from the Kate Spade website and asked me if I could make it. I hadn’t ever done a striped hat before to this level, but was definitely up for the challenge. I headed out to the store, picture in hand, and picked out the yarn colors. I told her that I wasn’t going to knit it because I don’t have the patience for that right now, but I would crochet it.

The first time I was doing it, I was cutting off some of the tails and I clipped right through the hat….MAJOR FAIL! I was so upset! But, back at it I went! The final product is exactly what she wanted and she loved it so I was super happy.

The one major thing I learned after many tries (and I mean MANY) was how to fix the bottom rim of the hat so that when it is folded up it doesn’t look like a different stitch. Instead of crocheting in the round (meaning switching the colors and continuing working counter-clockwise), I would switch colors and turn. This made it so that the stitches looked the same both on the outside and inside of the hat. It worked perfectly!!

Let me know what you think!:) I would love to hear your thoughts.

Don’t miss anything. Stay connected!

  

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Where I’m linking up

MondayMad Skills Tutorial Link Party Make Something Mondays  CraftOManiac Monday Market Yourself Monday A Marvelous Mess Inspire Me Monday  Sew Chatty Made by You Mondays More the Merrier Monday What’s in The Gunny Sack  Serendipity & Spice  Destination:Craft Show Off Monday Moms Monday Mingle Tuesday Show Me What Ya Got Tell Me! (Tuesdays) Tutorial Tuesday with Hope Studios Rook No. 17 Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays Handmade Tuesdays {Too} cute Tuesday Terrific Tuesdays  Trick or Treat Tuesday’s Tuesday Timeout Take A Look Tuesday’s One Project at a Time Tuesday To-Do Part Tuesday Tutorials From Dream to Reality Wednesday Create and Share We Did It! Wednesday Your Whims Wednesday Today’s Creative Blog Look What I Made Wow Me Wednesday! Sugar and Dots Someday Crafts Fine Craft Guild Homemade by You Wednesday Uncommonly Yours I Made This Whimsy Wednesdays Thursday A Glimpse Inside Somewhat Simple House of Hepworths A Crafty Soiree Transformation Thursday Creative Thursday live laugh {linky} Thursdays are Your Days Spread the Love Friday Friday Favs Delicately Constructed Fridays Flaunt it Friday Lolly Jane Free for All Friday The Shabby Nest Handmade 52 Cindy’s Romantic Home Creation Corner Pity Party Lovely Crafty Weekend Find Your Craft Friday Whipper Berry A Little Knick Knack Simply Designing Fun Stuff Fridays Feature Friday Free For All Friday Fun Party Fabulous Fridays Shine On FridaysWeekends Show And Tell Saturdays Saturday Spotlight Weekend Wrapup Party Sundae Scoop DIY Showoff Scout’s Sweet Sundays Sunday Blog Love It’s Overflowing Think Pink Sundays Sister Sunday Link Party A Pinteresting {Link} Party Pinning and Singing on the Weekend Twigg Studios Sweet Talkin’ Sunday Wayward Weekend Sunday {Fun}day Sew Crafty Saturday