Chippy Window Memo Board

We recently got our hands on a bunch of free old windows like this one. So far I've only used 2 single pane windows with broken glass from the bunch. One I used as a frame for a vintage print I made at work. This one I turned into a memo board with just some drop cloth, paint and jute string. 

Chicken Wire Memo Board

I'm finally getting a chance to show you some of the projects I've been working on for this weekend's craft show!

Cherished Memories Corkboard

We had this really great, detailed frame in the garage. I finally pulled it out and painted it. Using Annie Sloan™ Graphite, I painted the entire frame, then dry brushed some Duck Egg blue over the detailing, finishing it off with a coat of clear wax. 

Next, I cut some cork to size from a plain-jane corkboard we had sitting around and inserted/glued it into the back of the frame.

I added some simple blue ric-rac, painted a piece of chipboard I had on-hand with Graphite and used my trusty awl to put a hole in it. I inserted the cherished memories metal tag (another scrapbooking embellishment) into the hole, glued some pretty matching flowers on the chipboard and added a few vintage buttons and she was finished. 

I think she's awfully pretty now. Hope you do too! 

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Getting new followers and comments absolutely makes my day! :)

Waste Not, Want Not!

Just a quick post today to remind you why it's good to be a hoarder! lol

You may remember the Barn Wood Hook Board we made for a friend.

We cut a cool piece of chippy old barn wood for that project.

After cutting, we had 2 pieces left over. 

Well, Eric saved the pieces.

Shortly after, I picked them up and realized that they fit perfectly together to make a little self-standing easel. 

Eric glued them together, I added a bulldog clip and there you have it...

A cute little rustic easel for your desktop or for holding a picture.

And that proves it... it's good to be a hoarder! :)

Message Center {from a repurposed crate lid}

Meet our new message center.

This little beauty was made from a crate lid that Eric's boss was going to throw away (crazy people!). Thank goodness both his boss and mine are getting used to us collecting their trash. They've actually started asking us if we want stuff before trying to throw it away now! :)

Here is the message center before we did anything to it.

Just a plain, old crate lid. But loaded with potential!

I knew right away that is was completely perfect to make into a multi-purpose center for organizing notes and memos. 

The first thing I did was paint the chalkboard area. Then I painted the frame in Coco ASCP™ and gave it a dry-brush coat of old white, just to add a little more texture. I put on a coat of both clear and dark aging wax, then added cork to the bottom inset. 

I also knew I wanted some pegs or hooks on the bottom.

(In my house, there's always a need to hang up more stuff!)

Awhile back my boss had given me a coffee can full of miscellaneous hardware. Actually, he gave me 3 coffee cans full. I pulled these black knobs, if that's what you call them, out of the coffee can o'junk, made some measurements, drilled some holes and attached these to the bottom of the crate lid. 

The message center was certainly coming together nicely. But it felt like it was missing something. So, I got out another coffee can. This one was full of plastic-covered magnetic cabinet door latches. It's also the very same can my boss said "you don't want this junk" about. Well, thank goodness I DID want that junk! Because those cabinet magnets certainly came in handy! 

I took the metal pieces out of the plastic casings then used gorilla glue and clamps to attach them onto the top of the board. After they were dry, I pounded some great dark carpet tacks into the existing holes in the magnets.

I love the way this magnetic strip turned out!

The colors of the metals are great with the coco chalk paint.

Next, I cut some burlap and attached it to the inside of a few bottle caps, that had already been spray painted ivory, and glued magnet buttons to the backs.

I think these are the perfect little accessory for this piece! :) 

I had purchased some pulls for this project because I really wanted to add these to the piece. Normally, we don't purchase anything. I suppose that every now and again it's ok. :)

The pulls came with screws that were too short. No problem. I went to the hardware store and bought longer screws. I even measured the depth of the wood before going so I would get the correct length. So much for my measuring skills! lol. The screws I purchased were still too short!

Man, was I bummed. I really wanted to finish this project and get some photos of it over the weekend, not have to make another trip to the store for more screws. 

I got so fed up and irritated with myself about the lame-brain screw fiasco that I got the drill out, used my largest bit and, goll-darn it, if I didn't counter-sink those screws in the back of the board and get those pulls on after all! And all by my sweet little self, I might add! 

Hooray for me!

I just might be getting the hang of this handy {wo}man stuff after all! 

(But I'm still gonna leave the cutting and sawing to Eric.

I want to keep all of my fingers attached to my hand, after all!)

Hope you like the new message center!

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Chicken Wire Memo Board

I purchased a box of frames at an auction for $3 last summer and, imagine my surprise, when I found this gorgeous little beauty in there! This frame was originally all gold (and quite ugly). But just look at some of the details on this thing...

I started off on this project by painting the gorgeous details with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ in Graphite. I then added some home-made aqua chalk paint (a leftover accent color from Eric's bathroom makeover). I dry brushed the aqua and didn't try to cover the details very well. This technique works much like a dark wax over the paint... all the architectural gorgeousness of this frame just pops right out with the Graphite underneath the aqua. But I did put a heavier coat on the straight lines of the frame to cover the original color. 

I had Eric staple some chicken wire on the back. And this was not without incident!! No one got injured (except my frame), but I thought I might have to shoot Eric. Okay. That's a bit strong. Maybe I just considered punching him. lol. Despite my warnings to the contrary, he actually stapled right through this wonderful frame! In his defense, however, it was on the side, not in the details, and he did fix the problem with some handy-dandy wood filler. Thank goodness he didn't staple through any critical areas! Who knows what might have happened... :)

Once that was done, it was just a matter of adding some clothespins for a vintage memo board! No more ugly, just plenty of gorgeousness! 

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