My chalkboard obsession.

I am starting to develop an itsy bitsy problem. It started a year or so ago with my first chalkboard experience, and I just keep adding to my collection. I'll show you my first one in a minute, but first, my most recent chalkboard from Goodwill...

I showed you this goody on Twitter during a recent shopping trip:
I actually passed by it a on a couple different occasions, and this time -- I saw the potential in those hideous little bears. Here's a close up just to show you how cauuute they were circa 1986: I needed a new spot to hang our clean clothes since I removed the door in this room, and I thought with a little bit of work, this could do the job.


I gave it a quick sanding, took off the board that the bears were on off the back and spray painted the shelf like mad. I turned the bears over and painted the backside with chalkboard paint, replaced it with glue and then put hooks were the pegs were:
I stacked some little bowls I got at Goodwill for a buck each and a little vase on top, and it's good to go for now. Love it! And since I put it in with anchors, it will hold plenty of clothes. When I do the laundry that is, which is not so often.
Not bad for $2.99. Not bad at all.


I've shown you this chalkboard I already had in the laundry room:

It says "I love chalkboards," for those of you who can't read my scratchings. Good thing I'm not a teacher. I wanted a clock, I wanted a chalkboard. Perfection -- a clock and chalkboard in one.

My first chalkboard creation was well over a year ago, and it's still my favorite. When the Bub was little, I thought it would be adorable for him to have a chalkboard to play with in the kitchen. We have an odd wall in there that was perfect. This is it most days, like 363 days a year:

This is it when we have parties or I need to show it off on a blog:Ahhhhh yes.

It was super easy to do -- I taped off a large rectangle with painter's tape. Then used magnetic paint and did about three, nine twelve coats. It really helps to shake the can a lot. Alotalot.

Then a couple coats of chalkboard paint and that's it! I added some molding I just wiped down with a quick stain:

But you can just leave it as is -- no need for molding. I was just fulfilling another obsession. :)

I found a container I screwed into the wall for the chalk and magnets, but I need to find something that will hold up to a two-year-old:

This is the second one we've had and they fall apart immediately. Something a bit stronger perhaps?

The day I created it, I stood back to admire my handiwork, asking Hubby, "Isn't it the cauutest thing ever?"

His brilliant response -- "So if we let him to color on the walls there, what will keep him from coloring the walls all over the house?"

Crickets.

Chirp.

Chirp.

Excellent question Hubby. Didn't have an answer for that one. It was just cute, so I told him to shut it. Luckily this hasn't been issue. Yet.

Crickets.

Chirp.

I shall call him Squishy.

I saw this project at least a year ago, probably more. I fell. in. love. I knew, one day, it would be mine. Well, Thursday was that day!! I have been had my eye out for a gumball machine for all this time, and last week there it was, at Goodwill!

I squealed with glee! (Really, I did. Out loud.) It didn't matter if it was $30, I was gonna get it. But it was only $10. Scha-wing!!

So this weekend, we welcomed Squishy to our family: He's a little shy. (He didn't realize a crazed bloggy woman was taking him home.) If you want to try this -- all you'll need for this project is the gumball machine, aquarium sealant and a cut piece of glass.

To start, take all the innards out of the gumball machine. This takes about ten seconds. Next, take the globe to a glass cutter to get a piece cut the size of the bottom. Mine was $3 and it took them five minutes:
Take the sealant (from any pet store, less than $5) and put a thick, chunky bead of it around the edge of the circle of glass, on top. Place it onto the bottom of the globe. Don't push too hard, so that the sealant all squishes out. You want there to be some between the two pieces of glass:

I was trying to make the bottom look at neat and clean, and they realized we'll never see the bottom with the marbles, so I just left it messy. I also took my (gloved) finger and spread it around the seam inside as well, to make sure the sealant was everywhere.

This is the view from the side (the aqua-colored piece around the bottom is what I glued on):

It has to dry for 48 hours, and then you can test it to make sure there are no leaks. After that, just fill with the fun stuff!

I used two packets of blue and green glass for $1.99 each, an a plant for $4:

I always wanted a fish for our son, and knew this was the only way to do it. With three cats in this house, fishy-fishy needs to be covered. Betta fish are different and can survive with less oxygen, and they tend to jump out of their homes (?!) so a cover is recommended.

This weekend we watched Finding Nemo, and it had me feeling major mommy-fish guilt about keeping this guy in a bowl. (Sheesh.) But it's one of my favorite kiddo movies, and the Squishy part is freaking hilarious, so I shall call him Squishy:

And over a gallon of water is better than the cup they have them in in the store, right? I saved him, he's not in captivity. :)Adorable. The pictures just don't do this justice. And the machine is a pretty deep red, not blaring orange red like in these I-took-these-pictures-at-night-and-they-always-look-like-crap pictures.

I am so excited for the winners of giveaway!! The winner of Beki's necklace is Beth Kohne and the winner of Bob's print is Molly from All about a girl and two boys. (Picked by Random.org.) Please e-mail me with your information and I'll get it to Beki and Bob!

P.S. Countdown to the NKOTB concert is ON BABY!!! WOOOeeee!!!

Gettin' my craft on.

***I added some how to's for this project below, based on the questions! Hope it helps!

Keep linking to the party here ladies! I may have to take down Mr. Linky in a few days and just put up the links -- the linky is causing major issues with my site. Either way, you'll be able to keep linking up! (Anyone out there happen to be a computer expert by the way? I would lurve you forever.)

Anyhoo, my mind has been absolutely swimming with projects to do around the house lately, so I have had no desire to work on anything crafty. I have about five gifts I need to get done, but nada...nothin'...

I have even driven right past Hobby Lobby about five times in the past few weeks with no urge to walk in. (I know! What is wrong with me?!) My crafting mojo needed a major kick in the pants. For some reason today, Hob Lob was pulling me in...I couldn't resist it:
I have three girlfriends who all had baby girls within a week of each other, so I've been trying to think of personalized gifts to give them all. I had the egg sign above from the dollar store, and today I got paper, ribbon and itty bitty flowers to make an adorable sign for one of the new arrivals.

The paper wasn't big enough to cover the whole plaque, so I just placed the paper diagonally so it would fit over most of it. I spray painted the sides and the corners, then used my spray adhesive to add the paper:
I found a font and color on the computer that worked and printed out baby girl's name:
Getting there...it needed some bling:
I hot glued them on:
Added some chocolate brown ribbon, and voila!:
Caaaauute!! Isn't her name adorable? Colleen, I hope you love it! (Katie and Steph, yours are coming soon!)

I forgot to show you all my latest favorite Goodwill find!! It is FAB. You've probably seen it in some of my recent pics. And it is waaaaaay more than I usually spend there, even on furniture:
It was $24.99 -- I told you it was a lot! I actually saw it, admired it, cackled at the price and said out loud, "There is NO WAY someone is paying that much for this!" and left it there. Then I got home and couldn't get it out of my mind. I got back in the car, sure it would be gone...but it was there. (With a beam of light shining down on it.) I got it. Love it.

Join me later this week -- I'm going to share every. single. little. thing. I know about paint. I know you are waiting with baited breath.

***Here is what I do to get my words to work for each project --
1. In Word, make sure the paper layout is set to Landscape (horizontally) -- go to File, Page Setup, Paper Size to do this.
2. Make sure your margins are as small as possible. Again, go to File, Page Setup, Margins and lower the sides, top and bottom to 0.3 or so.
3. Once you find the font and size, you can change the kerning or leading, or how much you want to stretch the words vertically or horizontally. Go to Format, Font, Character Spacing. To move the letters out or in, go to Spacing, and adjust the pt. size to what you want. To move the lines of words closer or further apart, go to Position, and raise or lower the pts. to where you want them.
4. I only use the fonts I have on Word, but there are a ton of free sites you can search to find more!

I use all of these tools each time I do a project like this! My picture may be misleading, the plaque is only about 16 by 3.5 inches. I hope that helps!

It's a Goodwill Party!

Well helloooo ladies! OK, the party is finally here! I am calling this a Goodwill party, but you can link to anything you've purchased "second hand," meaning you purchased it at a thrift store, consignment shop, garage sale, your grandma's attic, whatever!

If you have read this blog for one minute, you know I love me some Goodwill! I have three pretty good ones within a five mile radius, and the best is right down the street. I have developed what I call my "Goodwill radar." I can sense a good deal waiting for me inside...you think I'm kidding! I have found some of my best deals with my sixth sense. Goodwill and I are like this. Tight, yo.

I know some of you have an aversion to Goodwill shops. (Ahem...Jennifer.) Whateva whateva people, you need to load yourself with a mask and some latex gloves and bare down. You can do it! You can bare it! You can walk past the elderly potty chairs and get through it. I believe in you. And if you do, maybe you'll find some treasures like I have. First some of my favorites...

My beautious $25 Goodwill coffee table:

With a bunch of $1.99 hardback books stacked on it: With the covers taken off of course, and they have to have titles I love.

This table is one of my all time favorites. I think it was $30, I can't remember it's been so long. It was AWFUL, awful, blech, puke green. Awful. But I saw it's potential. My dad actually took it and refinished it for me as a gift and now it's one of my favorite pieces of furniture:

Gorg! It's actually an antique, if you can believe it! I had a marking underneath that I researched (I'm too lazy to get my butt off the couch to look now) and it is really old.

This desk was also an awful throw up green (what's the deal with green?) and I painted it black and replaced the knobs. It was $20: Here's a few before and afters I've done in the past few months. I was looking for a little tray for the cat food and water, for, like EVER. I mean, I'm not paying $20 for a tray the cats eat off of. I mean, I love them and all, but really? This bed tray was $4 and falling apart:

With some glue and black spray paint, it turned out perfect:

Don't ask about the water fountain. Please. Just don't ask.

Last fall, our son was starting to get into Thomas the Train, and I researched the train tables and about threw up in my mouth a little. The whole shebang would be $250. One day, my Goodwill radar was at high alert, so I popped in and found this for $25:

It was in PERFECT condition, except where the tracks were glued down. I just turned over the table part and spray painted the table green:

I'm not kidding when I say I saved $225 on this thing! Now, if Hubby would quit buying train stuff, that would be great.

I showed you this last fall, it was $5 and I'm not really sure what it was originally:

I saw it as a little bookcase:

I love it! This little beauty was $2.99 and was OK in white:

But it needed some cleaning and I'm a black paint kind of girl anyway:
It still had a Crate and Barrel price tag on the bottom for $20ish.

I've had a bit of an obsession with all things glass lately, and my Goodwill doesn't disappoint. I found both of these for $1.99 each:
Our dining room cabinet has collected quite a few, although I haven't figured out what I'm doing with them yet:
Remember the jute vases? Yep, they were Goodwill finds:
That gorg tall carafe is fantastic and was $4!

Of course, my laundry room update consisted of mostly Goodwill and consignment shop finds:My little $3 mirror I made into a candlescape...I loved the detail!: I am loving our local consignment shop too -- I've made more than $200 by selling old stuff there over the past year. I find great little treasures there as well (that have completely blown the $200 I made. Huh.) My lamp that I transformed with spray paint and some ribbon:

My skeleton keys were $7 for five keys:

These candlesticks were on sale for $10 for both. I cut one down and glued the top back on so they weren't the same size:

This little doodad on my $20 sofa table is actually a $7 decorative shelf I turned upside down:
Sooooo...what have you transformed? Made your own? Made work for you? Do you need a mask and gloves or do you lurve Goodwill?

I have to mention the purpose of Goodwill while I'm at it -- they are a fantastic organization that help to employ people with disabilities at all levels of the business. These are people may not be employed otherwise. Goodwill allows these folks to be productive members of society, and that is a very good thing. OK, onto the party!!

I have taken down the Linky because of issues it was causing with my site...I've tried just adding the links but it's not working...I'm going to try to get this to work! If you would like to add your post, please leave it in the comments! Thank you so much!

1. Vivienne (lamp shades, canisters) 2. Vivienne (platter) 3. Katie @ Clean & Classic Interiors (and a giveaway!) 4. Amanda @ Serenity Now (Ugly Metal Table/Desk Makeover!) 5. Donna at Funky Junk Interiors 6. Lacey 7. Shortmama 8. Molly @ A Bit O' Shine 9. Amanda@ Imperfectly Beautiful 10. Fresh Poppy Design...CuTE DecOR! 11. Erin 12. mary's meanderings 13. A Beach Cottage ~ Vintage Shabby Old Dresser 14. Traci-Goodwill chair makeover 15. Kammy-Small Home in the Country 16. Living With Lindsay 17. Chrissie Grace 18. My Garden of Eden 19. Kinzie Sue 20. Kimba (headboard makeover) 21. Kimba #2 (tufted piano bench) 22. The Acting Mom 23. We are THAT family 24. Jenny @ L.O.T.s of Love 25. Ashley @ AshleysBusy 26. melissa * 320 sycamore (green table makeover) 27. Brandy- Loving Blakely 28. Scatter Sunshine 29. TidyMom (nightstand makeover) 30. TidyMom 31. Christy @ EmbellishedBayou 32. Christy @ EmbellishedBayou (Tins) 33. Caren - CityMomma/CountryMomma 34. Lipstick and Laundry ~Jen 35. Caren - CityMomma/CountryMomma 36. ilovemy5kids 37. Sweetbippy 38. Andrea

39. Kara 40. Jane- Anthro find! 41. RedAries-Home decor 42. Holly@Homebody 43. Kelsee Webb ~Window Pot Rack 44. Kimm at Reinvented 45. Aunt LoLo - Teacup Pincushion 46. Jennifer 47. MyFragrantLife 48. Amanda @ SmithSnapshots - Frames 49. Amanda @ SmithSnapshots - Lamp 50. Rachael 51. Tiffany @ Happy Day 52. Reborn - Steward of the Gifts 53. Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam(fashionista) 54. The Pleasures of Homemaking 55. Ode to Creativity 56. The Blessed Country Mom 57. Stacy (aunt's entertainment center into kitchen hutch) 58. Molly (sewing chair) 59. Tara @ Home Again... 60. vanessa 61. Jen's Thrift Store Treasures 62. Noelle 63. Mustangkayla 64. Bren 65. Marie 66. Casey @ Life as I know it... 67. Terry @ Cherished Treasures 68. Lila's Pockets (Everything Was Bought at a Garage Sale!) 69. New Every Morning 70. Suzanne @ Happy Chaos 71. Amy Breedlove 72. Mary@Lifeon19th 73. Maridith 74. Anna See (thrift store finds!) 75. Josie 76. Kim@TIBTF

77. Giggles Galore 78. Holly (Mosaic Table) 79. Brittany 80. Brittany 81. Brittany 82. Andy 83. The Starr Family 84. Jen @ Our Heartland Home 85. June 86. Elizabeth @ That's {FAM}tastic! 87. A Little More Crazy Than Cool :) 88. Linsay 89. Lisa S. 90. Eileen (Earring Lamp) 91. Eileen (Egg Basket, Candy Dish, Bread Box) 92. Steph 93. Amy 94. Marie - Consignment Find 95. The Magic Brush 96. jennifer@ SEE? I'M NOT A WUS 97. The Painted Lady 98. Colorfly Studio 99. Simply Saving 100. Kelli 101. Kathleen @ Everyday Ellis 102. Jill @ Barnes Yard 103. Enchantresses 3 104. Melany (Pilarina's Workshop) 105. cher 106. Kendra@My Insanity 107. Tammy 108. Eileen HUGE Goodwill score 109. Amber - table to tufted ottoman 110. Heather Happy Chippy Junk 111. Michelle B 112. Jill @ MoneySavinDiva (work clothes!) 113. Jaron Hatch 114. Diana

Little updates

ACK! I've been cleaning like a mad woman! I'm hosting a party just for the girls this weekend and am doing just what I swear I won't do every time we have a party.

Freaking out.

I mean, reeeeeally, my girlfriend's won't notice the dust bunnies in the corners.

Right?!

I've finished up a few projects over the past couple weeks I thought I would share with you this weekend. First, I got my tulips for this vase:
I love my birdies AnNicole! Now if the cat would just stop eating the flowers, that would be nice:

I recovered the ottoman from this post. Oh, hello loverly fabric:

THANK YOU Heldy for finding it for me!! I heart you! I have plans for the rest of the fabric I'll show you soon.

I found this mirror at Goodwill back before Christmas, and painted it months ago, but didn't know what to do with it. Tonight I grabbed some candles and made a mini-candlescape out of it for the table from my last post:

I love it!

I went ahead and got the white rugs for the bathroom, to match the curtain I showed you in this post. Ohhh, they are soooo soft and fluffy, heaven for our feet! I even put up a pretty towel for you all! But now all I can think of is that the towels don't match the white rugs and curtain.

Good. Lord.

And finally, I couldn't resist hanging another one of my new keys from another lamp. :)
Have a wonderful weekend! I hope your weather is going to be as beautiful as ours!