The Reading Corner

Once Upon A Time...
I was just like everyone else, slightly obsessed with Pinterest, but lacking motivation to actually complete any project that I pinned. UNTIL The "Ikea Spice Rack Bookshelves"...
This was my first ever Pinterest Craft/Project and it turned out so well that we even packed them and brought them to our new home!
Here is a picture when they were first finished:

So beautiful. I loved them so much, and they were perfect size and height for Little Man to use.
Anyway, since in the new house we have a "Play Room" I wanted there to be a designated space for reading and story time. So I began pinning all the things I wanted to have in the Reading Corner, and then started searching and crafting!

First Stop was an old antique and collectibles shop where I found all kinds of goodies for more projects!

I ended up walking away with an oil lamp, some apothecary bottles and jars, some serving trays, old door knobs and exactly what I was looking for a little kids rocking chair!!

I don't want to discuss how much I paid but I got what I wanted, I was looking for an upcycle project, and let's just put it this way, I paid way too much!
I already made the pouf chairs for the reading corner so I knew what colors I wanted and got to work refinishing the chair.

It was in pretty rough shape and took a lot of sanding and elbow grease to get it looking decent. Most importantly I wanted it smooth since my kiddos were going to be sitting in it--No Splinters Please!

Then I started Painting. I chose not to stain, not really sure why I guess I just wanted some color?
Anyway here it is! Before, In Progress, and AFTER! I LOVE it. 

After it was done I decided it needed a cushion and I had plenty of left over scraps from the poufs so I got to work and now it all matches. 

So now I just had to remount the Ikea Spice Rack Bookshelves and call this project DONE! 

My New Reading Corner in the playroom. Now let's just hope the munchkins love reading as much as I do. 

Material and Cost: 

4 Ikea Spice Racks: $3/each

White, Purple, Blue Paint: $1/each

Pouf Chair Costs: $18/each

Rocking Chair-antique store: *ahem* $40

Sandpaper-Owned: Free

READ letters: $2/each

Total Project/Corner Costs: $99*

*I know I know... paying $40 for the rocker is what KILLED my budget for this project but I still love it. And Awesome hasn't been too upset over my crafting costs lately! Thank heaven for great husbands! :-)

Winner Winner!! --- Update!

This month is National Craft Month and there are quite a few contests going on! The first one I found is on instagram and it is put on my Joann Fabric Stores. Since I've spent $$BIG$$ money there recently (lets not talk about how much just in case Awesome happens to read this) I figured why not enter! I was a few days late when I finally found it, but it is a "post a day" contest for the whole month of March, and each day features a different thing to post. For instance Day 2, was favorite Upcycle Project and since I just finished my buffet cabinet: perfect!

Long story short (well long now) we won't know the winner for a few more days and I am so anxious! I have posted everyday since I think day 4 so I feel like I have a shot. And I did the math >>Nerd Alert<< and based on my calculations *pushes glasses on nose* I believe there are only 135~ish people participating every day and they are giving away FIVE $250 gift cards. So stay tuned...

Fingers crossed, throw some salt, knock on wood, rub the rabbit foot and say a prayer! 

Anyway, while participating in that contest, I ran across ANOTHER giveaway on a different profile on Instagram. I had never heard of her site before but I figured why not give it a shot! This giveaway is every Monday they give away a $50 Michael's Stores gift card to someone with the best/most voted project of the week. The first week I posted a picture of the Rocking Chair (blog post coming soon) that I up cycled but sadly I was not a winner. The next week I posed everything! The Be the Good Board, the Buffet Cabinet, the Time Out Chair, and probably like 10 others.

And............. I WON!!

Thank you CherylStyle for picking my chair and making me a Craft Month Winner! My first ever contest, giveaway, or anything VICTORY! So stoked! Can't wait to keep crafting'!

UPDATE!!: 

I received my box/giftcard from CherylStyle and they sent me all kinds of goodies! Thank you!

So excited to plan another project! 

Craft Night with my Mom and lil Sis.

Back in October I went out to visit my Mom and little Sister and we had a craft night at our church. We signed up for projects ahead of time and made them as a huge group one night.
The three projects I signed up for were: (and I believe I paid $20 for the supplies for all three)
1. A "Be the Good" Sign
2. A 3 Wise Men Photo Block
3. A Photo Block of the Prophet of our Church (to learn more about our church visit here)
The goal was to complete all three projects from start to finish in 3 hours! My kind of night!

First, the Be the Good Sign:
We started with this one because we had to stain the 1"x4" planks first. It took some time for it to dry because it was night time...in Colorado... in October... So of course there was snow on the ground and moisture in the air! Let's just say it took awhile.

Then, once that was dry, we took nails, hammers and hangers and beat the heck out of the planks to give it that distressed look. then I sanded the edges again to give it some definition. Once all that was done then you paint the letters. We used a stencil and regular craft paint with sponges--literally took me about 5 minutes. Then you screw the boards together with 3 pieces of scrap wood on the back and hang some picture wire and BOOM, an awesome piece of decor with that DIY touch! I love it.

So while those were drying we started on the photo blocks. Pieces of 2"x4" wood cut to the size of a 4"x6" photo. We used sand paper to smooth off the edges and then painted them so the photo could have a background color. Since I chose white, it took mine a bit longer because I had to do more coats than those who chose to use black. Anyway once the paint was dry, you use Mod Podge, in either Matte or Gloss, and paste the photo (or in our case picture printed paper). Super, super easy. Here are the finished photo blocks:

Mason Jar Soap Pump

I saw this idea on Pinterest and since I have a little love affair with mason jars I knew that I had to try it. The idea: Use a mason jar and add a regular hand soap pump, seal it together and paint it if desired. Well I finally got around to painting the pump and lid so it's done! And here it is:

Its awesome and holds a TON of soap. Its one of the vintage blue Ball jars that I picked up on super sale last canning season.

What I Learned: Nothing I didn't already know: Mason Jars are the best.

Materials and Cost: 
1 Pint Jar with lid and ring: $.90
Soap Pump from a recycled plastic soap bottle: Free
Spraypaint-Owned: Free
E6000 Adhesive-Owned: Free

Total Project Cost: Less than $1!

Next Post: Craft Night with my Mom and lil Sis! 

Biggest Project So Far

I have always seen people all over Pinterest up cycle old furniture and I have my nursery set from when I was a baby and thought it would be awesome if I could refinish both of the dressers into something functional for my home. But since they are such sentimental pieces I didn't want to make a mistake or ruin them on my first go at it... So I started scouting garage sales and craigslist for something cheap that if I destroyed I would be heartbroken over it. After only like a week of searching I found this behemoth: 

 It was listed as a "buffet" cabinet which was perfect for me because I was looking for something that had a bit of storage as well.

 You may not be able to tell but it was in rough shape. The couple selling it had it listed for $240 which was WAY more that I wanted to spend on a project but I was able to talk them down to $80. I left as a happy camper with this monstrosity (seriously it weighs a TON). Looking back I wish I wouldn't have paid that much but for the quality and size of this piece it was worth it.


So I knew right off the bat I had some work ahead of me because of how scratched and beat up it was. And I found a power sander for less than $20 and got to work, sanding and sanding and sanding.

Once I got it smooth then I had to decide whether I was going to paint or stain. I decided my house needed an accent color and I picked to paint. And I knew I wanted to use chalk paint. Originally, I was looking for a "distressed" look with white chalk paint but that would not have looked good in my house so I chose Disney's Chalkpaint in red. It's called "A Shirt for Pooh" and it was the PERFECT color.

It took about 3 coats for it to be even and completely covered but I still only needed 1 small can. (Wow!)

It dries incredibly fast, so having to do the multiple coats was really not that time consuming.

I also chose to use a satin based polyurethane and applied a few coats of that before I went to "distress" the edges.

Now if you are doing something like this project and you want to distress it STOP! 
Luckily, I started with a drawer and when I grabbed the sandpaper to smooth out the poly and distress it, it was a disaster. the Chalk paint came off so easily and turned pink. It was awful and I had to repaint that drawer and start over. No distressing on this project for me. Maybe if I use another color.

Okay, lets talk hardware. I did not like the plain boxy squared off handles that it came with so I started searching for new hardware. Let me just say "Holy Cow". Ridiculously expensive. I wanted a french provincial style decorative handle... which cost about $9 a piece. and I have 6 drawers and 2 cabinets. Yeah...not going to happen. My goal was to keep the project under $100 and that would have put me way over. So I settled for a good ol' can of spray paint.

I chose a dark metallic brown almost black because...... that's what I had already.

Free is always the best answer. Always.

The other "extra" I wanted to add were drawer liners. I ended up deciding on black and white contact paper that was on sale. And it turns out that I just love it. It was a super simple way to dress up the plain boring wood drawers. 

 After all was said and done, I put in about 6 hours of work and I am completely stoked with how it turned out. It fits my house perfectly. Here is the finished product: 

And of course, my favorite type of picture the Before and After: 

Things I learned: It is not necessary to sand all the way down, when you are using paint. If you want a smoother surface you can do a little more but as much as I put into it, it was not necessary. If you find cheap hardware somewhere buy it. Because I'm fairly certain "cheap" hardware does not exist. Use what you have or be prepared to spend some serious $dough$. DON'T try to distress red chalk paint. It will turn pink. Polyurethane will ruin whatever you are using to put it on with. I used a microfiber cloth and it is trashed. Also, paint both sides of the hardware. The tops look great but my 1 year old little princess loves to flip the handles up and the ugly brass side shows. Its annoying but not enough for me to take them all apart and paint it again. 

Materials and Cost: 

Cabinet-Garage Sale Find: $80

Disney Chalkpaint-1 Sm. Can: $11

1 Roll of Contact Paper: $5

Spraypaint-Owned: Free

Sandpaper: $7

Total Project Cost: $102

$2 Over Budget

Spring Project Time!

It's been a good craft month for me. I've been able to organize and plan what I want to get done this Spring before I don't want to do ANYTHING in the summer heat! Plus, the weather has been hit or miss so still a lot of inside (my favorite!) days.

So, I went fabric shopping and found these two beautiful fabrics... I knew I wanted to attempt these "pouf chairs" I had seen on Pinterest (where else?) and since the fabric was such a good deal I figured why not give it a shot. First let me start by saying that I am by no means an "expert seamstress" or anything like that at ALL! I would consider myself a very-very beginner. So this project was a little daunting but why not try right?!

Before:

After:

I love them. And they were so incredibly easy that I have fabric right now to do 5 more and maybe give them away or sell them? I don't know.they only cost $10-20 to make depending on how expensive the fabric is... What I know is: They are fun and FAST to make. And my munchkins LOVE them! 

What I learned: Piping is awesome and not at all intimidating. Trust me. It really makes this project. Everything looks so finished and complete and and really clean edge. I also added zippers to mine because with my messy kids I knew I would have to wash them eventually. Glad I did but wish I knew what I was doing with the zippers. That took the longest. Even with both my kids up and having constant interruptions, start to finish I would say this project took me about 3 hours. Piece of cake. 

Materials and Cost: 

1 yard of Home Decor Fabric: $9 (both the blue and the purple ones were on 60% off at Joann's--normally $19.99/yd)

2 packages of 1/2" piping: $3

30-40 oz. of fiberfill: $6

Zipper: $0.97

Thread-Owned: Free

Total Project Cost: $18.97/each Pouf* 

* I found cheaper fabric when I went back in the clearance sections that brought down the fabric cost, AND I bought a BULK box of Fiberfill to finish the other 5 Pouf's I have fabric for. I would estimate that now my CPP (Cost Per Pouf!) is probably closer to $10-12. 

Also this is part of a bigger: Reading Corner Project that is still in progress but almost done! 

Next: My 1st Ever Crocheted Hat

At church we're collecting hats and scarves for the "Mad Hatter Foundation" which is an organization that collects and redistributes hats to cancer patients across the country. This is from a pattern called "Chemo Cap" found on Pinterest (duh). It was my first ever attempt on hat, or band or a flower. And I think it turned out pretty good. 

P.S. I love the Tiffany's colors-total coincidence... :)

What I Learned: Reading patterns when you are a rookie crochet-er is ridiculously hard. And luckily my Mom and YouTube were there to help. Don't know if I'm cut out for the crochet world. But the pattern was for a "beginner", maybe just not my level of beginner!

Materials and Cost:  

Less that 1 skein of yarn-Owned: Free

H" Crochet Hook-Owned: Free

Total Cost: Free! Just lots of time. Gladly given to help someone in need. 

Hello Blog World.

KysCraftyMama is catching up with the rest of the blogging world to share some insight and hopefully some inspiration with all of the projects I have attempted and all the things I have learned along the way! Excited to be here sharing my knowledge! 

Without further adieu, here are some of my latest projects:

First: We recently moved and we have ALOT more room and luckily with all of the new space in the new house I am able to have my own little craft nook! I love it. Anyway, I was searching Pinterest (like always) for ideas for a craft table and came across a DIY bookshelf-tons-of-storage craft table that my hubs Capt. Awesome quickly vetoed. So I decided to have my own MacGyver'd version of a similar table to the one I saw but instead of making the bookshelves, I used a 9-Square Home Storage Shelf and and regular bookshelf that I already owned and then placed a cut piece of MDF board on top. Heres a picture: 

It's tall and sturdy and it holds most of my craft stuff...most importantly: it's out of the munchkin's reach! It was more expensive than I was expecting: about $30 for a huge piece that they cut down for free to my measurements. But an actual craft table or new desk would definitely cost me more than $30! So I'm happy! 

What I learned: Should have measured it again while still at Lowe's because when I went to place it on top of the bookshelves, I just assumed they cut it correctly and it was a little too snug of a fit. (I wasn't there, Awesome went for me because he's too good to me-so really this is my own fault!) I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to ever get it out but since we just moved hopefully it will get to stay awhile! 

Materials and Cost: 

Already Owned Bookshelf and 9 Square: Free! 

MDF Board: $30

Total Cost: $30! 

Next, ribbon storage holder. 

So I didn't have very many ribbons in this picture but my collection has grown substantially. And this little guy is a genius addition to my new craft nook. It is a scrap of 1"x4" about 2-3ft long and about six 8" nails from the hardware store ($0.48/piece). I superglued the nails to the wood and added a quick coat of craft paint and voila! Less than $4 ribbon storage that sits right on the banister next to my new craft table. 

What I learned: The superglue was not strong enough for constantly pulling the ribbon on and off the nails, eventually one of the nails came unglued but I just E6000 industrial adhesive and haven't had a problem since. 

Materials and Cost: 

Scrap piece of 1"x4" wood about 2.5' long: $1

Six 8" Nails: $2.88

White Craft Paint-Owned: Free

Superglue-Owned: Free

Total Cost: >$4

Next: "My Lil' Masterpiece" picture frame!

This was just a plain wood empty frame that I painted with the leftover Disney ChalkPaint ("A Shirt for Pooh") that matches everything in my house and I attached a picture hanging wire across the back and added clothespins. I made matching ones for both of the munchkin's masterpieces. Favorite part is that you can keep changing them out for the lastest wall-worthy-one-of-a-kind-pictures! 

What I learned: The picture wire I attached not the back and when I went to hang it on the wall the frame hangs off the wall quite a bit. Perhaps I would screw the wire onto the front or maybe use a staple gun instead if you have one (I don't). 

Materials and Cost: 

Plain Open Wood Frames: $8 x2

Picture Hanging Wire kit: $1.86

ChalkPaint-Owned: Free

Total Project Cost: $17.86

Stay tuned more projects coming!