Pages

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Cork Board Frame

Those of you that went to our wedding two years ago may remember that we used corks for our name tags and table numbers. Something similar to this little beauty down here.

wine cork name cards

Well, needless to say, we ended up with quite a few extras and some leftover corks from some of our more enthusiastic (maybe drunk) friends. Two years later and those corks are still taking up room in our garage. So I thought, we needed a project to finally get some use out of them.
Enter Pinterest, where I found this picture. Follow the link on the picture to check out my craft board.

Ikea Frame Cork Board DIY - This is all kinds of great.

First thing was to purchase this frame from IKEA. It is called the Ung Drill. No idea what that means in Swedish but heck, its IKEA. Only $29.99! A steal, believe me, we checked everywhere. (Or at least Ross, Aaron Brothers, TJMaxx, and Homegoods didn't have anything in this price range) It is plastic mind you but still looks pretty good. You will have to remove the glass that comes with the frame, but be careful. We broke ours when we tried to get it out. It didn't look like it was meant to be taken out like that. Keep the cardboard that comes with it though. You will need that later.
UNG DRILL Frame IKEA

Next stop was Home Depot for some spray paint. Be sure to pick out one that is good for plastic. Any color will do. If you are more adventurous, Michael's has a greater array of colors and shades, but Home Depot's prices are about a third cheaper.


Be sure to wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty and maybe some glasses to protect your eyes and some gloves. Place plastic or paper underneath to catch any extra spray and be sure to do this in a well ventilated space. Our backyard and some extra moving boxes worked fantastic. 


It did take us a few coats to get every crevice of this frame. Be sure to go at it from every angle to cover it all.


The next step was to place some cardboard backing into the space where the glass used to be. Take  the piece of cardboard that came with frame and trace two additional layers of cardboard to fit into the frame. We found three layers of cardboard fit perfectly.


Then came the hot glue gun and lots and lots of glue...
You will also need a utility knife and pencil to trim up the side pieces to fit.


We decided to go with a chevron pattern. We made sure to setup all the pieces first and then glue them down one at a time.

And in no time at all, we had a finished project!
Pinterest score!



This idea can be easily be scaled down for a smaller frame as well.
I know a great place for it too! 

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Crotcheting!

That's it. We have finally succumbed to the dark side....
We are trying our hand at crotcheting.
Yes, I said it.
Crotcheting.
It is silly I know, but take a look at this guy...

Directions for making pillow pal giraffe
(Check out the link above for the official pattern)

He is soooooo CUTE!
I want to be able to make one of these by the time we have our first baby.... Not like that is anytime soon mind you. But wouldn't this be the cutest stuffed animal?

Love this!!!!


I even found a free pattern for a very similar little guy to try. 
We just have to start learning how to actually crotchet. 
Small speed bump...
We will let you know how all of our lessons pan out.
I am predicting quite a few Pinterest fails in our future...
Stayed tuned!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Bottle Cap Crafts!

We recently got some free cabinets from my parents that we decided to put out into our garage. I know, I know...we have NOTHING in our garage, so why would we need cabinets right?! 
Ha!
It took us two days to just empty enough space in the garage to be able to place the cabinets inside!
But we managed to get them up and operational over the weekend, thanks to my hubby and my dad's managerial skills.



Not that they don't look great as they are. They are over 20 years old, but still looking quite good. They just need a little something. Maybe some color!
And where do we always go for some decor ideas? Well, Pinterest of course!


That is where we came across this gem. This seems all kinds of awesome! Up-cycling of a FREE item (bottle caps) and look at that color! We love free and I love color! And beer bottle caps would be a great man-cave decoration.
 Now my hubby, being the math whiz as he is, calculated the exact number of bottle caps we need to complete the task. Drum roll please..................1386. 
Not too bad actually. After just two weeks we are already at about 300, thanks to the local karaoke bar down the street.
Stay tuned to see how this latest craft idea turns out!