DIY Little Girl Lamp Shades

As most of you know, I am a nanny for two girls, ages 5 and 7.  The girls are in the process of getting new décor for their bedrooms, and their mom asked me if I could find or make lamp shades to match the new décor.

The youngest is a girly-girl, and her room has lots of pink in it with fashanista accents. This is how her shade turned out......

The oldest girl has more of a funky look to her room and just got blue and black zebra bedding.  Goig off of the blue and black zebra theme, this is how her shade turned out.......

To get these shades to look the way they do, I first went to Goodwill and found two plain white shades for $3 a piece.  Then, I went to my local craft store for the following items: scrapbook paper (two pieces for each lamp) was $59 each, ribbon was $1 for each spool and fabric trim was $3.49 a yard (one yard for each lamp). The supplies for the lamps ended up costing about $7 for each lamp shade. 

To begin transforming the shades, I first covered the shades with scrapbook paper.  Then, I hot glued the paper to the edge of the shade and cut off the excess paper. Next, I glued the trim around the bottom of the lamps. Lastly, I added ribbon to the top of the lamps and made a bow to embellish each lamp.

The girls were really happy with the new lamp shades.  I’m still on a Goodwill hunt to find the perfect lamps to go with the shades.  I have four really great Goodwill’s that I browse all the time, so I’m sure it won’t be long before I find the perfect lamps:)

I Heart My New Wall Decal....

I feel the need to apologize for the pictures in this post.  I’m certainly not a professional photographer…..far from it actually, but I do try to post decent pictures on my blog.  It must have been the lighting or something, because all of these pictures look dark and unfocussed to me.  Perhaps it's time to invest in a new camera.  Anyway, this is the best I could do with these pictures today, so here we go........  

I have several vinyl wall decals throughout my home.  I love them all, but my new monogram wall decal that I purchased for our bedroom might just be my favorite!

I knew I wanted a large monogram decal to go above these bedroom windows, because I wanted to draw the eyes up to the vaulted ceiling.

As I was shopping around, I found the perfect decal on Etsy.  You can find it here.

Considering the large size of this decal, the price wasn’t bad at all.  I think it was worth every penny and accents the style of our bedroom perfectly. The product is exactly what I expected, and it was easy to work with when applying it to the wall.  In my opion, it was $26 well spent:) 


I was not compensated or given any gifts for my opinion of this product.  All opinions of this product are my own.

The Versatile Blogger Award x2

         

             I have some exciting news to share with you! This past week, I was given the Versatile Blogger Award, not once but twice!  Yes, after receiving a message from  Melissa at Love Bug Living letting me know that she was nominating me for this award, I received a message later that same day from Jessica at Green PB&J's telling me that she too was passing this award on to me!  Be sure to check out their blogs:)  A big thank you to both of these lovely ladies for sharing this award with me.   I found it excitingly ironic that I was given this award twice on the same day.   Part of receiving this award is nominating others for the award and sharing seven things about yourself with your readers.  So without further ado, here we go…….

Seven random things about me……

1.     I have seven siblings.

2.     I took up crafting, because I don’t have an athletic bone in my body….seriously, I am really bad at sports.

3.     I’m not sure I could live without chocolate or coffee.  The first would be harder for me than the second.

4.     I have an addiction to shoes.

5.     In my early twenties, someone actually took the time to make me understand the game of football.  I’ve really enjoyed watching pro football ever since.

6.     I’ve always wanted to skydive, but don’t think I’ll ever have the guts to do it.

7.     I can stomach just about anything.  Prepare yourself for a not-so-proud moment of my life, although I was pretty proud of it then……one summer in college when I was a camp counselor, I ate a real night crawler every week for a Fear Factor skit we put on for the campers…..yep, if it weren’t for the physical endurance part, I could survive the wild;)

I’m nominating the following blogs for this award…..

Jess at Balancing the Dream

Ashley at Domestic Imperfection

McKenzie at Girls Love Glam

Amy at Home Happy Home

Hollie at I'm Busy Procrastinating

Laine at It's Just Laine

Julie at Knot All That I Seam

Samm at Little House in the Big D

Virginia at Live Love DIY

Amber at Queen of Chairs

Stephanie at The Cozy Old "Farmhouse"

Rebecca at The Crafted Sparrow

Jennifer at The Home Daybook

Karah at The Space Between

The Wayward Girls at Wayward Girl's Crafts

If you were nominated, here’s what you need to do……

1.     Thank the person who gave you the award in a blog post.

2.     Include a link to their blog.

3.     Pass the award on to 15 bloggers you follow.

4.     Include 7 random things about you in your post.

5.     Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog.

Oil Rubbed Bronze Glass Door Knobs for Less

I don’t know about you, but I love the look of oil rubbed bronze glass door knobs! They add so much character to a space, and in my opinion, they look a lot better than the builder-grade brass door knobs that most houses come with. 

When it came to our master suite, I knew I wanted glass door knobs, but glass door knobs are EXPENSIVE!  I couldn’t find any oil rubbed bronze glass door knobs online for less than $25, and I needed six sets of door knobs!  One for the master bathroom off of the bedroom, one for the door that leads to the separate toilet area, one for the master closet off of the bathroom, one for the linen closet just off of the master bedroom, and two for the French doors as you enter the master bedroom.  One of those French doors has a dummy door knob, so I actually needed five door knobs and one dummy door knob.  Yep, this was going to be expensive unless I came up with a plan. 

Well, I did come up with a plan.  While shopping around for glass door knobs, I noticed that the brass glass door knobs were a fraction of the price of the oil rubbed bronze ones.  I also remembered my ORB door knob project that I did a few months ago.  Are you putting two and two together yet?  If you keep up with my blog, you know several months ago, I redid our builder-grade brass door knobs by spray painting them oil rubbed bronze.  It was a very successful project!  You can find that post here.  Basically, my plan was to buy brass glass door knobs and spray paint them ORB. 

It sounded like a fabulous and simple plan in my head.  I wish I could say that this project was a cinch, but there were a lot of unexpected problems that I came across as I worked on this project.  Live and learn I guess.  Here’s how I managed to pull this project off……

I bought five of these  glass door knobs on Amazon for $8 each.....

.....one of these glass door knobs for $5 to replace the dummy door knob on one of our French doors...

…..and one $8can of ORB spray paint from Lowe’s. 

Quick Side Note:  By switching out the builder-grade door knobs to these glass door knobs I forfeited having locks on the new door knobs.  It’s hard to find locks on any glass door knob, and the cost is much greater for glass knobs with locks. 

I set out all of the brass pieces of the door knobs that needed to be painted on a large piece of cardboard.

I spray painted the caps of the door knobs.

Then I taped the glass knobs with painters tape…..

…..and painted the brass part of the knob.

When the paint dried, I took off the tape and it looked like this. 

FYI:  Some people prefer to use a spray primer before they apply the ORB spray paint. I didn’t use any primer, and our door knobs that we painted several months ago are holding up well. My husband and I live alone though. If you have kids and your house gets more wear and tear, you may want to try the primer before applying the ORB.

The door knobs that I bought off of Amazon came with these…..

…..but they were sized a little bit different than the ones from my original brass door knobs.  I painted my original ones ORB and used them instead of the new ones, since the original ones already fit perfectly into the door frame.

Now for the first real problems that I ran into with this door knob project.  My new knobs came with these.  I discovered that in order to make them work in my door, my husband needs to carve out a piece of the door to give them the perfect fit and make them functional with the rest of the new door knobs.  We have the tools to do this from all of the doors we replaced in our last house, but the hubs is not fond of home improvement projects.  Since I had him updating our guest bathroom this weekend, I didn’t have the heart to make him do all six of these doors too.  We will need to do it some point and time, and when we do I'll give these a coat of ORB paint before they go in the doors.

In the meantime, I am using the original piece that came with our builder-grade door knobs.  It’s actually a little loose with my new knobs. It does work, but the problem is that we can only turn the new door knobs one way with this original piece.  For now, this is just a quick fix….it’s not a long term solution.  When the hubs carves out all the doors, this problems will be solved.  Unfortunately, I know my husband, and it could be a year before that happens;)

The second problem that I ran into was with the dummy door knob for my French door.  I thought that the builder-grade dummy door knob came apart into several pieces, and I had planned on using the plate from my builder-grade dummy door knob to put on my knew glass door knob …..however, the plate did not detach from the knob.  To fix this little problem, I had to go to Lowe’s and buy a set of door knob plates for $2.50.

The next problem that I ran into was once again with the dummy door knob. There was no way for ther plates that I bought from Lowe's to screw onto the glass door knob.  This was an easy fix though. I attached the plate to the knob with some epoxy glue that I had on hand.  Problem solved;)

What was supposed to be a one hour project ended up consuming most of my Saturday.  But I have to say that it was totally worth it!  I LOVE the character that these glass door knobs give our master bedroom!  And I LOVE the price that I paid for all six of them!  The lesson to be learned here is "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again":) 

Let’s total up the cost of this project: $40 for 5 brass glass door knobs, $5 for one glass dummy door knob, $8 for one can of oil rubbed bronze spray paint and $2.50  for a set of door knob plates.  That brings the total cost of this project to about $60!   Yes, $60 for 6 glass door knobs is a lot better than paying $25-$50 for one oil rubbed bronze glass door knob! 

Another home project complete!  Only a bazillion more to go…...or at least it feels that way to me;)




I'm linking to these parites this week:)

Embellish Frames with Scrapbook Paper

I heart scrapbooking paper!  I hardly ever find time to scrapbook anymore, but scrapbooking paper is still one of the most widely used items in my craft closet.  It is so versatile!  When my husband and I first got married, one of our registered wedding gifts was Target’s black collage picture frames to hang on our bedroom wall.  After framing some of our honeymoon pictures, I decided to embellish the frames with some leftover scrapbook paper from a previous project.  The paper really makes the frame pop a little.   It's been three years since I embellished these frames, and I still love the look of them:) 

Easy and Inexpensive DIY Framed Art

Today I want to share with you an inexpensive and easy DIY project that I did when I had my first apartment.  Pictures frames do not always have to hold pictures.  Sometimes inexpensive frames can easily accessorize a space on the cheap.

Years ago, I found a box of frames (10 frames for $8) on clearance at Kirkland’s.  I used several of the frames in my first apartment to display Scripture as artwork in my home.  I simply used scrapbooking paper and my computer to create the artwork.

Using three pieces of scrapbook paper, I made a background for my words.  Then, I printed my words and Scripture verses on transparent paper.  Next, I aligned the transparent paper with the scrapbooking paper and framed my artwork.  It was that easy.  Five years later, I still use these framed verses in our new home.

October Baby Review

Source

            While most people are excited to see the blockbuster hit Hunger Games,  the film October Baby was on my must-see list this past weekend.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read the Hunger Games trilogy and am anxious to see the movie.  I’m sure I’ll be sharing my thoughts about the trilogy in a future blog post, but today I want to share my thoughts about a different film that is playing in a theatre near you.

            October Baby is an inspiring film that portrays the value of every life.  In a day and age when a woman’s voice is heard far louder than the voice of an unborn child…..that’s right I said child, not fetus….a film such as October Baby sends the message that every life is beautiful.

            In the film, a young teenage girl finds out that she was adopted from a failed abortion.  The movie does an excellent job portraying the emotions of the aborted child who lived, the birth mother who attempted the abortion, the nurse who performed the abortion and the adopted parents who wanted the child.  The overall message of the film is one of forgiveness rather than condemnation.  Go see the film, remind yourself of the beauty of life and be sure to have tissues on hand......this film is definitely a tear jerker.

I've been featured......

I have a bit of news to share today. A blog that I follow, Keeping It Simple, featured one of my projects, "Flower Wreath from Book Pages":) Be sure to check out Keepig it Simple to see what other creative ideas were shared and to see other blogger's featured projects.   

I also added the post, "Flower Wreath from Book Pages", to my featured projects page. You can visit that page to see what other blogs have featured my projects:)

Keeping It Simple

Monogram Wreath

Several months ago, I saw a monogram wreath on an Etsy shop that I really liked.  Go here to see my original inspiration. 

I knew that I could make a similar looking wreath for less money than it would cost to buy it off of Etsy.   For someone who is not crafty, Etsy is a great place to buy a variety of unique hand-made items.    However, I would consider myself crafty.  Often times, it is much more cost-effective for me to try to make some of the things I like instead of buying them. 

My original inspriration cost $35 before shipping.  The only thing that I had to buy for this project was a $5 cardboard monogram from my local craft store, making this piece of home decor much cheaper to make myself.  I already had the following materials on hand from previous projects:  yarn, hot glue, ribbon, black cardstock and a book page.

First, I wrapped yarn around the cardboard monogram.

The next step was to make three flowers, two from black cardstock and one from a book page, like the one’s I made for my DIY Flower Wreath from Book Pages.  Once the flowers were made, I attached them to the monogram using hot glue.  You can find my flower tutorial here.

Next, I made a bow out of ribbon and glued it above the flowers.  Lastly, I glued ribbon to the back of the monogram before hanging it up for display.

And that's it!  Another project completed for less than $10:)

Upcycled Night Stands

I have another thrifty guestroom project to share with you today……..

Last summer, I paid $4 a piece for these tables.    When we finally got around to fixing up the guestroom, I decided to use the garage sale tables as night stands for the room, but they needed a little fixing up before I used them in that space.

To do this, I painted the tables with some sample antique white Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint that I got for free with one of my paint purchases.

To add interest to the tables, I simply decoupaged the tops of each one with some scrapbook paper that I had in my craft closet.

And that's pretty much it:)  Another $10 project completed…..

.....and I really like the look and simplicity of my “new” night stands:)