Chevron Striped Tray- DIY

 I had this little unpainted wooden tray from Michael's, and I wanted to try my hand at a chevron stripe. 

- I painted the outside of the tray yellow and the inside white.

- I used a ruler to make equal squares on the white. I then used the ruler to connect one corner of the square to the other. I used a pencil and my hand kept rubbing, so the white got completely dirty.

- I taped off the stripes that were going to be white, and then painted them. After it dried I did the same for the gray.

-I pulled off the tape and I was disappointed, the tape let a lot of the paint seep through to the white.  

- I wanted clean lines and had no intentions of re-taping the stripes. I used gold glitter to clean up the lines.

It's not my favorite project, but it still looks pretty cute. Now I use it to throw my keys into when I get home, at least it has a purpose. What do you think? 

Adding Fabric to an Old Cabinet

So this is a project that was a project. I purchased a white cabinet from Kmart around 6 or 7 years ago. About 4 years ago I removed the doors, painted it black, and added a curtain where the doors were. I had no use for it after a while, so it got put into storage. 

I was looking for storage to put in my daughter's room, and I remembered the cabinet. 

-I cleaned it up, primered it, and painted the entire thing white (it's original color). 

-Then I took the back to a poster frame, and cut it to the size of the ruined backing on the cabinet.

 - I covered the board with this pretty pink fabric that I bought from a yard sale for $.50, using glue to secure it.

-After it dried, I nailed the fabric board to the back of the shelves.

 

 It was easy, and basically free since I had most of the materials. How do you think it turned out?

DIY: Vintage Embellishment Meets Shadow Box

For the past couple of weeks I've been helping my parents-in-law go through and pack up their house to move. No small task, seeing how they lived in the home for over 25 years.

I've found so many things to use for my crafting fun, including this sweet little embellishment. I thought it could go great with this old shadow box frame that I've been holding on to for years.

After a little painter's tape, some hot pink spray paint, and a piece of old scrapbooking paper -Voilà - A pretty picture for Charlie's room. What do you think?

 

DIY Owl Plush

My niece Haylee had her second birthday this past month, and I was completely strapped for cash for a gift. I have a three drawer container that is full of different pieces of fabric (all of which only cost $5 from a yard sale), so I decided I’d try my hand in plush-making. An owl seemed to be just the right animal.

Charlie helping Haylee blow out the candles.

I used manila envelopes and paper scraps to draw out the shapes of my pattern. I tried to make it as basic and simple as possible, just cutting out shapes for the body, eyes, belly, and wings.

 

 

I secured the eyes, belly, and beak to the front piece of fabric. I sewed all of the features of the owl on before I sewed the body together. I pinned the front and back together inside out and started sewing. I added little wings in the seam, and two flower embellishments to the eyes. I used stuffing from an old unneeded pillow, and hand stitched the final opening shut.

I’m really happy with the finished product, and I think Haylee loved the owl too. She even put on her owl jammies to match her new friend. It was easier than I thought it would be, and I can’t wait to make something else. I now have a special bunny in the works for Charlie, and it’s going to be so awesome.

DIY Birdcage Veil and Fascinator

This May in beautiful Aruba, my friend Ashley is getting married. Her fiancé Omar is a long time good friend of my husband, and he has great luck when finding a wife. Ashley has great style, and she’s decided on a beautiful up-do with a birdcage veil and feather fascinator.

She’s pretty crafty so she decided to make it a DIY project, and she invited me to help. We both watched a few tutorials, and she picked up a few materials from the craft store.

Materials:

-Feathers (your choice) he chose soft spinning white and beige feathers with a peacock blue feather undertone.

-3 fabric flowers

-3 rhinestone embellishments

-Stiff felt

-diamond veil fabric

-Fabric covered hair clip

-Hot glue gun

-Scissors

-Needle and thread

We started with the shape of the feathers, and made the cap pattern according to what looked to be the best fit. I cut out a pattern in a drop shape, and transferred it to the stiff felt. After cutting out two exact pieces of the felt, we took turns sewing the hair clip to one of them.

Ashley arranged the bottom layer of feathers in the shape she needed, and we attached them to the other felt using the hot glue gun. She kept designing her layers, and it came together beautifully.

We man-handled the tacky pearls from the fabric flowers, and attached the sparkly embellishments to their centers. Ashley arranged the flowers on the feathers, and we secured them with hot glue.

Ashley threaded a line through the top of the diamond veil piece, after cutting a bit off the sides. She just held and pulled the string through the holes of the fabric, and the veil gathered into the right shape. Finally, we glued the two stiff felt pieces together.  We were finished.

…… Well, finished with the main piece. We used the leftover scrap pieces to shift a feather clip for Charlie. She adores it, and it came out really cute.

 

Put a Cork in it.....

I've been saving my wine corks for quite a while now, in hopes of using them for a project. I keep throwing them in my utensil drawer, and then I had a painfully simple idea. 

Use them for decorating while I collect- I found an old lidded jar, and just filled it up. I think it looks cute, and now my drawer isn't as cluttered.

Trash on My Wall

It was another one of those times.... I was driving, and pulled over when I saw free stuff on the curb. This time it was just two boxes, but I really wanted to know what was inside of them. 

I found this large copper-ish picture with an embossed head of a horse on it. The frame was way worn, there was no glass, the matting was ripped, and the entire thing had some weird clear jelly substance all over it. I took it home anyways. I wish I had a before picture, so you could see how bad it was but I was just interested in getting the jelly stuff out of my house. 

I removed the frame, added a bit of paint and glaze, and put it in a frame. Ta-da! Trash on my walls.... again.... It's probably not the last time either.

 

My Craft Blast From the Past

I was cleaning out my closet and I found a bag of some of the old purses I made. I used to have a shop on Ebay for them, but never liked them enough to keep making them. I can't actually sew, I just make it up as I go along. I remember cutting out cardboard shapes, because I don't know how to read sewing patterns. I sold them with a starting bid of $15. I had one of my Johnny Depp Pirate purses have a bid war over it, and sell for over $50. I haven't made a purse in over five years, but I might just start again.....

My friend Sara and my little sister Nikki were always down to model for me.

 I remember the Red dice Marilyn Monroe purse- It was sold to this guy who was the biggest fan I had ever seen, he literally had thousands of Marilyn items. Here's the photo he sent me after he received it....

 

This was probably my favorite. I had the biggest addiction to Marilyn Monroe when I was younger. The second picture is actually the inside pocket.

 

Inside pocket of the Edward Scissorhands purse

Charlie's Sticker Chart

Charlie has had some issues lately with cleaning her room and sleeping in her own bed. Today we made a sticker chart for her, to maybe put a little fire under her butt to do what she needs to do. We watched an episode of Sid the Science Kid and we were inspired....

Each day she has four jobs:

1. Keep her room clean
2. Be good
3. Brush teeth and hair
4. Sleep in her own bed

She gets to draw a star for each task each day she completes, and if she does well she'll get a sticker for the week. A month that has a sticker each week earns her a trip to the mall to buy a Build-A-Bear. I'll let you know if it works..... 

New Blogs to Read.... Thanks Homies.....

I'm so glad it's that time of year again! The Homies are back on ApartmentTherapy.com, and I have so many new blogs to read. This is where I found the blogs I follow, Design*Sponge and Young House Love. They have a few blogs I already read up for nominations, and I already want to nominate so many in the DIY section.

I really like Dollar Store Crafts and Hi Sugarplum!, and I already read Sawdust and Paper Scraps. I haven't even checked out the home design section, there are just too many good ones already!

The Homies- 2012

DIY French-Vintage-Inspired Wire Hamper

I've been searching different sites, looking for a nice hamper to buy. Leave it to ApartmentTherapy.com to save my wallet, with a tutorial on building your own "French-vintage-inspired" wire hamper. I was also in the market for a hamper that has a dark and light compartments. I could just make two of them, and the wheels make them super easy to move around. 

Here's the link to the  article on ApartmentTherapy.com

DIY French-vintage-inspired wire hamper 




I'll post the photos of the hamper me and Charlie built, after we get our supplies :)

Me, Myself, and I .... Craftasauras Rex

 My name is Jaclyn, most people call me Jackie (or Crack if you’re one of my sisters). I've lived in sunny California my entire life, and I'm still one of the palest people you'll meet. I was born on June 8^th in 1985, to a family of my mom, dad, and older sister Darlene. I was the second child born, my parents added my younger sisters Robin and Nicole in the next nine years that followed. My mom is a nut, and had all four of her daughters at home with no drugs. Heck, I remember being excited the night Nikki was born, because I got to stay up late and watch Jay Leno. All while my mother gave birth in the next room, kind of horrific now that I’m thinking about it. 

                    Me and my older sister Darlene (left).

          I had a great childhood. Years were spent living on a cul-de-sac running the streets like a wild banshee, while the rest was spent climbing chicken coups and using my imagination in the trees. I was a tomboy for years. I chopped off all of my hair in the fourth grade, and spent months being asked “Are you a boy or a girl?”

          After graduating from high school, I got a job in customer service. It was at an HVAC company, and that’s where I met my husband. Matthew and I were married approximately two weeks before I accidentally got knocked up. Our entire honeymoon period was spent with me being fat and unsexy. Charlotte aka Charlie Bucket was born in January of 2008, and she just recently turned four.  Charlie is amazing, and already ten times smarter than her parents (she literally corrected her doctor last week).

 

       

  I adore crafts, and discovering new crafts. I took four years of ceramics in high school, and I still have a deep-seeded longing to do it again. It's the reason I started playing with polymer clay in the first place. I opened a shop on Etsy a few years ago for all of my creations, but have since switched to only selling wine charm sets. I also crochet, scrapbook, re-purpose, paint (badly), do a bit of woodwork, and other various projects and ideas I find across the internet.