Hidden Messes = Happy Mama

My husband and I recently had a debate about the need for phone books in our house. In an effort to get rid of some clutter I threw all of ours away only to find out how "important" they are. Anyway, long story short, he won and we have new phone books. We also have a kitchen counter cluttered with three cell phone chargers. So I kept an eye out for a cabinet that could be a cute home for this old and new technological mess. I found the perfect piece a week ago.

First, I painted this cabinet with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in "Duck Egg". It's the color of my daughter's chair in the picture below. I distressed it, waxed it, and honestly didn't like it. I didn't want to spend more money on new paint so I starting rummaging through my stock of left-over paint. I found a gallon of Valspar's "Scandinavian Sky" from our recent kitchen make-over and begrudgingly started again.

I then painted a stripe of Annie Sloan's "Old White" across the top cabinet door. My frustration with the project was forgotten when I started distressing it and really loved the underlying  "Duck Egg" peeking through the blue.

New Hickory Hardware from Menards completed the look.

I placed the cabinet in our mudroom and it can now hide all the phone chargers in the top space with the drop-down door. I even gave the phone books a cute make-over with left-over burlap and ribbon. I love the little mail holder so I can stash all the snail mail in there too. 

My pen and pencil holder is a little old mason jar with a water spigot thingy on top. I swear repurposing is a sickness...

Our newly covered phone books...if Google is unavailable you just call me and I'll look it up for you!

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree." - Emily Bronte

Autumn Blessings- Lori

Start Here + Now

"Life is not a dress rehearsal. Stop practicing what you're going to do and just go do it. In one bold stroke you can transform today."  -Marilyn Grey

Welcome and off we go!

My first blog is a little project that I did for our holiday of ghosts and goblins. I am a decorative pillow fanatic and wanted some Halloween pillows for the bench on my front porch. I decided to cover some pillows I already had with burlap that could be easily removed and stored after October 31st. I found some super cheap burlap bags at a salvage store that I knew would work for many projects. I also found a small pitchfork to use like a stamper on the burlap. I bought some ribbon on sale and used black, white and copper acrylic paints. I decided to use a letter template since the texture of burlap is hard to write on.

I washed and air dried the burlap bag and then ironed it. I found a pillow in my stash that pretty closely fit my burlap bag and measured out the burlap to be 4" larger at the top of the pillow.

 I used a straight edge to help make a straight cut. I did not use my hair scissors on the burlap but did use them on my ribbon since they are the sharpest scissors I have!

For the next step, I enlisted the help of a lovely, cute-as-a-bug assistant...

I used the water-based white paint on the bottom of her adorable feet to stamp on the burlap to create ghosts.

I then used the black paint and letter templates to paint "Boo" next to the feet "ghosts". I dotted a couple of black eyes on the ghosts with a very fine paint brush.

I then folded over the top of the burlap and pinned it.

I measured out 3" intervals and marked them with pins. I made a cut at each pin about 1/2" wide. Since the fabric is doubled over, it is a 1" wide cut. I then threaded the ribbon through the front and back fabric together so the top would stay shut and tied a bow.

And the finished product!

Not only is it a fun, decorative pillow, it is a keepsake of my daughter's footprints. This would make a great gift for grandparents and can be easily taken off, folded, and stored for next year.

For the pitchfork pillow, I wrapped the rest of the burlap around the pillow and gathered it at the top with ribbon. Since, this burlap is open at the top and the bottom, I just slipped it over the pillow. I placed a magazine between the pillow and the burlap to protect the pillow from paint bleeding through the fabric. I sponged black paint on the pitchfork and stamped it. I again used my letter guides to paint the word "Beware".

Have a safe and fun Halloween!  

 Blessings, {Lori}

 

It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy. -Lucille Ball