Play Bakery

Hey guys!  Today I'm going to show you my final entry for blog wars.  I also have the 3rd round coming up too, however, that is a tutorial so I will be posting that in the near future.  For the final round I really wanted to give all I could in the short amount of time that I had to give it. ;)  We found this entertainment center on craigslist for $30.  It was in such great shape!  I knew I wanted to turn it into something great for AB.  So I turned it into a play bakery complete with pretend cake pops, pretend cookies, and pretend sprinkles.

Below is the before and after picture.

As you can see below the bakery lights up! :)  It was hard to get a good picture of it in the daylight outside so we did have this shot of it before it was finished so you guys could get an idea of how it looks all lit. :)  I just love it!

I made the cookies from wood circle cuts from Michael's.  I bought a small and a large size disc.  I painted them and then hot glued them together.  and of course, cookies would not be complete in a bakery with out the cookie bags.  I picked up the bags and the embellishments as well at Michael's. The cake pops where also wood pieces I found at Michael's.  I already had the lolli pop sticks from making real cake pops so I used the left overs for this craft!  Aren't they so fun?  I just love the stand with the glitter tape from American Crafts.

The sprinkles are made out of tiny beads that I bought at Michael's.  I put them in clear salt and pepper shakers from the dollar tree.  (To make sure they didn't spill out, on the inside of the lids I put clear tape.)

The menu chalkboard was made from one of those laser cut wood frames from Michael's. I stained the frame using a light gray color. Then, I took the bottom part of the drawer from the entertainment center and used it as the backing for the chalkboard.  Then cut out in vinyl the Menu design I designed in illustrator. 

"The Man" made the shelves from spice rack molding and a small sheet of wood we had in the garage.

Most of all the accessories for the bakery were found at the dollar tree, (Glasses and baking sheets).

The sign was found at Michael's and I just painted it white and added the details on the side and cut the bakery out of vinyl with my cameo.

There is still a few things I would like to add to it to make it 100% complete.  I plan on putting a mirror behind the shelving in the door part. And I also want to add a back part with some cute bakery styling in the main play part of it.  We originally thought it would be fun to play behind it like taking orders and stuff, but "The Man" pointed out, "Who is going to put that huge thing out in the middle of a room so kids can play behind it?"  haha.  He's right! (Don't tell him that) ;)  So I will have to come up with something for the inner back part and something on the other side. :)  I'm open to ideas!!!

Until next time, keep creating, living, and obsessing!

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Pottery Barn Knockoff Tile Board

Hey Everyone!

Guys!!!! It's been SOOOOooo crazy lately!  The contest has kept me Obber busy on top of work and I haven't managed to put together my project posts as Blog wars was going!  I'm so thrilled that I made it through the first round and I am able to present my entry for round 2 of Blog wars!

This round in blog wars we had to use some fabulous fabric that Riley Blake Designs sent us and I decided to do a organization board for our family command center.  Our house is in need of one since we are growing and have more and more appointments and notices that need to be left in plain site.  I'm in love with the one from Pottery Barn that you can find here.  But no way would I ever pay $500 dollars or even close to that for a command center that I could make myself.  So I did! and for a Fraction of that price!! :)

The List

Your going to need 9 tile boards I made 2 of mine and the rest you can get at (JoAnn's, Michael's, Or any other craft store that may carry them)

• 4 Cork Tile boards 
• Calendar Tile board
• Chalk tile board
• White Dry Erase Tile board
• 2 Wood boards cut to size
• Fabric 
• Buttons
• Thumb tacks
• Mini Clothes Pins
• Magnetic adhesive Buttons (Walmart)
• Natural polished Hemp Twine
• 10 Eyelet Screws
• 2 8ft Natural Wood Molding 
• 4x4ft plywood sheet
• corner braces
• Hot glue
• Liquid Nail Glue
• Brads Nail gun or a finish nail gun (We used Brads)
• Paint
• Screws

The first thing I did was make a "Pin it" (Pinterest) cork tile!  One of my favorites of the whole board.  I enjoy puns! ;)  I designed the template in Illustrator and then saved it as an SVG. file to cut out with my Silhouette Cameo.  I pined it to the board and then traced it with a gelled white pen. My paint color was a light color so I wanted it to disappear.  It took 2 coats to get a solid finish because the cork sucks up the paint.  But I love it!! :)  I then took the other 3 tile boards and covered them with fabric.  I used the Grey color that Riley Blake had sent me for Blog Wars and the other was just some that I had left over.

I then cut strips of the other fabric that Riley blake sent and some that I had and made Rosette flowers out of them.  You can find a great tutorial for that here. ( I used hot glue to make the rosettes )  I then took some thumb tacks and Magnetic buttons and hot glued them to my rosettes to make Thumb tacks and magnets out of them.  I also use the buttons that came in the Riley blake package and some others that I had in my studio and made thumb tacks and magnets out of those.

I took some of the fabric that was given to me and some that I had and made a fabric banner using one of the cute ribbons sent by Riley Blake. LOVE THOSE CARS!! :)  This was simply for decor.  I love to spruce up simple things. 

If you don't have 2 wood boards you can skip this step!  You will want to cut two boards to measure the length of your store bought boards.  Paint them however you want!  thats the fun part! :)  You can see I went for a whimsical rustic look. If you want to know how I did my painting technique, leave a comment and I will respond! :)  

Next is the frame around the boards! You will want to lay all your boards out and measure from top to bottom on vertical and horizontal sides.  this will be the inner part of your frame!  I had my handy man (The Man) do all the dirty work for me since I'm pregnant.  But here is a fabulous tutorial of how to build a frame from molding. and beside is a picture of my doodle I laid out for "The man" to follow.   Hopefully you understand what I was trying to tell him.  and it should make your frame building and measuring easier. :)  Once your frame is built you will want to paint it or stain it to your liking and then you will take your screws and screw in your plywood backing to your frame.  This will create your layout to hot glue your tiles to.  Before you hot glue make sure you have your layout all figured out.  where you want to place the tiles and what not. Then apply a large dot of hot glue in each corner of your tile boards and stick in place.  Start in the corners, then the middle sides, and finally the very middle board.  I can't tell you enough to make sure you measure and double measure. if something is wrong or off then your tiles won't fit in your frame!  So double check the double checking. :)

The very last step is to measure out the placement of your eyelet screws for your wood tiles.  If you did not use wood tiles you can skip this and enjoy the final pictures! ;)  For those of you that did,  You will want to screw them in according to the spacing you see fit.  I did 3 clothes lines on my top tile board and 2 on my bottom.  However you can do as much or less as you like.  Once your screws are in, take your twine and tie a knot and pull tight and tie a knot on the other side.  Cut away the extra twine and then you can repeat for all the lines you wish to create.  Then just add your mini clothes pins.

There you have it!  Now you can decorate your board with all the tacks and magnets you have created and add pictures to your clothes lines and such. :)  If you have any questions regarding this tutorial or project please send me a message, email, or comment below!

Until Next time.. Keep creating, living, and obsessing!

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Blog Wars!

Hey Everyone!

Right around this time of the year there are all these amazing blog contests.  For crafty lovers like myself.  Most of you know I entered into one last year that was my very first.  The "One Crafty Contest"  And made it all the way to round 3.  This year I entered into Blog wars over at the "Just Between Friends" blog.  I am so excited because I love her blog!  And not only is every contest different but I just love coming up with ideas and completing them to show you all.  Now that I am in my second trimester and feel GREAT.  I get to get back to what I love doing. :)  So I entered into the contest and found out I made top 12!  How exciting is that!  The contest starts next monday so make sure you all follow along if you don't already.  You can click the link above and it will direct you to Jonie's lovely blog.  Also, on her blog it goes over the contest so you all know what to expect every week.  If you would love to go check out all the lovely contest sponsors, just head on over to this link here.

What Would You Do?

Hey Everyone!

Guess what I saw while searching the web today!  A chandelier that looks almost like the one I had made!  Crazy price though!  

So there is mine!  But check out this $4,200.00 Ro Sham Beaux Malibu Up Chandelier!

I think I like mine better, but I love how they used different style of beads.  What do you guys think?  Would you spend 4 G's on a chandelier? Or just make one yourself using my tutorial for not even 5% of that cost!  It actually cost less than that. rounding around 2.5% of that cost!

What would you do?

Get creative!  Until next time keep creating, living, and obsessing!

Easy DIY Lemonade Stand

Hey Everyone!

If you all didnt get a chance to checkout my tutorial on one artsy mama im posting it here for you all.  I wanted to do something that I think every parent would enjoy making while the kids get to reap the benefits! ;)  As it is the end of summer for most of us and school is just beginning, it's time for us to clean out our houses and garages for those end of the summer yard sales!  Whats not a better way then to have your kids join in and sale a little lemonade and treats? It gives your kids something to do and will also spike interest in garage sale hunters!

....So today I bring you...

First things first,

The List

• 2 Wooden "Drawer" Crates (JoAnns)
• 1 2'X4' 1/4" board (Lowes)
• 2 1"X2"X4' Side posts (Lowes)
• Elmer's Wood Filler "Natural" (Walmart)
• 2 Bags of 3/4" screws "#6" (Walmart)
• Jigsaw
• Drill
• Clamps
• Miscellaneous decor

BTW!!! Did you know that if you find a ding or a crack in any wood or craft items at JoAnns, they will  give you a discount!  I got 40% off just for this little crack on one of my crates! And it was already 25%! So on top of that I practically walked out of there with a free crate drawer unit!  Plus, JoAnns lets you use as many coupons you have all in one checkout! I <3 that store!

Step One:

Your going to measure the side of the crates.  ( I cheated. I took out my drawers and laid one crate down on my 2'X4' board and traced it.) Don't do what I did unless your good with eyeball dimensions.

Once you measure and trace out your measurements on the board, cut it out with a jigsaw. *Tip* Slow and steady wins the race.... "Just saying.."

Step two:

Then take your clamps and place the newly cut board in between your crates and place a  clamp at the top and bottom.  This will hold them in place when you screw into the wood.  Look below for reference to clamps.

*Tip* Lay the crates down so your screwing down instead of up right.  It helps the screws go in deep. review picture to the right for further tips......

Step Three:

 Measure the top of the crates where the table will be. It should come out to 9 1/2" X 24".  Draw it out on the 2'X4' board and cut it out with a jigsaw. (BTW, I should mention that you will be cutting 3 pieces out of this board so make sure your measurements count. If you have to make all the measurements before hand and draw them out before you do any cutting)  Once again, slow and steady with the jigsaw!  After your board is cut, sand the edges down. "We don't want our kids coming up to us with splinters!" Screw in the top board.  I went in from the outside with this one because the top piece is skinnier than the top of the crate. (Make sure you inset the screws.)

Step Four:

Take your 2 Long posts and screw them into the side of the crates. (Screw from the inside) It's nice to have someone to hold it for you while you screw the screws in. I was not so lucky since "The Man" is now on night shift. *Sad face* But it worked out great anyways because, "I have mad skills yo!" Use picture to the left for reference.

Step Five:

Measure the length from post to post and the length of how wide you want your sign.  I measured mine based on AB's height.  (Yes, I'm that mom that makes their two year old come out in the garage so I can have her stand behind the lemonade stand to get the right height for the sign!) Draw it out on the board if you haven't already and cut it out with the jigsaw.  Sand all the edges! And clamp it the the posts, one on each side.  Place one screw at the top and one on the bottom on each side. (make sure to sink the screw a bit, this will help with the next step)

 Step Six: 

Take your wood filler and fill all screw holes.  Let them dry for 15 minutes and then lightly sand them smooth.         Once that is done take one screw and Screw into one of the posts leaving the screw sticking out slightly to hang a sign on.  See picture below for reference.

And there you have it! A lemonade stand to decorate as you please!  

I have some very cool things to add to this to put all those other lemonade stands to shame! To see how this bad boy turns out check out our blog next week!  Hope to see you all there.  

Below are some awesome pictures of AB's First Lemonade Stand that I had made for her 1st Birthday Party.  Hope this gives you all some ideas for decorating your lemonade stands!

Until next time keep creating, living, and obsessing! ;)