Fall Windowscape

No crazy theatrics here, I just "shopped" around my own house and restyled my window frame for the upcoming season. 

Top shelf.

I hung this wreath on a hook on the wall and slid a little candlestick under it to look like a stand.

Picture frame painted red (cheap little Goodwill picture frames are great to have around. A quick coat of spray paint can easily transform them for any season or style.)  I left the glass in and used vinyl letters to denote the season. Also, Michael's has the best battery operated, real wax LED candles with a nice little realistic-looking flicker and a built in timer. It will start at the same time every evening and run for 4 hours then shut off. 

Faux caramel apples from my 2012 window.

Bottom shelf.

Crow, Birch bark and red flower reused from past years designs. Neat little wooden box from my father-in-law.

Fake plant from IKEA (they have the BEST!) and great little string of LED lights on a timer. I got these at Bachman's, but they can be fund cheaper online. 

That's all folks. Thanks for looking. 

Driftwood Nautical Lamp

As snow was falling this last winter, I was dreaming and planning of decorating our "new" boat. I had a Pinterest board that was rapidly filling up with rugs, pictures, pillows, etc. I wanted to play up the nautical theme, but I quickly learned there is a very fine line between chic nautical and cheesy nautical! One of the items that I fell in love with was this lamp from Get The Lighting:

Problem was, I couldn't swallow the $108 price tag! As I've thought I million times in life, I figured "I can make that so much cheaper." Only this time I actually did. How 'bout that?! For this project I started with a pretty straight hunk of wood. I knew I could count on my father-in-law and his endless supply of firewood, and I was right. He hooked me up with the perfect piece of Poplar from one of the recent tree losses in his yard. 

For this lamp project I used a combination of DIY tutorials I've learned over time on Pinterest. The first one was this tutorial on how to make any ol' piece of wood look like driftwood. I found that it didn't work exactly as easily as the blog implied. I really had to peel and scrape the bark off and I had to leave my wood in the solution for a lot longer than they indicated, but that may be a difference in type of wood/tree. I actually did like the way all of the extra soaking and sun drying put cracks and splits in the wood though. After a few days of soaking, a few times scraping and peeling bark, several days sun-baking and some sanding to round the edges, this is what I was left with:

The other thing that didn't turn out quite the way the DIY Driftwood blog post said was the color. The wood was still quite "fresh" looking and not nearly the aged color I was hoping for. I used a thin wash of my wood aging solution I also found on Pinterest. (I love this trick and use it a lot!) I also did a thin layer of Minwax stain in Sunbleached and dabbed on some random streaks of Weathered Grey. I was left with this as the final product:

I had my husband help, and my father-in-law donated the use of his drill press, and we put a 1/2" hole straight down the vertical center of the log. I also had John drill a smaller diameter hole down near the base of the lamp, perpendicular to the center hole so the cord would exit on the side rather than straight out the bottom. I used this inexpensive lamp kit from Menards to add the electrical component. 

For the rusty cleat on the side, which really gives that lamp a nautical touch, I purchased a cheap cleat from West Marine. When I got it, it was fully galvanized to prevent rusting , which you don't want on  dock of course. 

However, for a fun, weathered lamp, you want it rusty (of course!) I soaked it in straight vinegar for about 48 hours. That removed all of the galvanization. To add a layer of rust, I used YET ANOTHER Pinterest-learned trick (which I also use  LOT) and sprayed it with a solution of vinegar, peroxide and salt that I learned on this website. 

Pop on a cute Target shade and a bulb and it looks perfect in its new spot! Perfect for those rainy nights curled up on the couch watching a movie or reading. 

Indoor/Outdoor Pillows

Well, happy to say boating season in upon us! We are settling into our new digs and learning what does what and what goes where. In the few weekends we have spent at the dock, one thing I have been wanting is a few indoor/outdoor fabric pillows for the flybridge area. As soon as we saw this boat, before the sale was even complete, I called "shotgun" on this pretty sweet little lounge chair.

Since comfort is my goal, I planned to just pick up a few pillows at Target or Lowes, etc., with outdoor material to make the space more functional. However, I was disappointed with the fabric options out there and even more disappointed with the price. I took a little trip to my local Joann Fabric store and, lo and behold, not only was the indoor/outdoor fabric 50% off, so were the pillow inserts! Score. I was able to pick up all that I needed, including zippers and cord for the piping for around $35 for one 20"x20" pillow and one 18"x18" pillow. Target was selling ONE large outdoor pillow for $39.99. 

I started by measuring my pillow to make sure of the dimensions. For the 20" pillow, I cut two squares of my fabric at 21"x21" to allow for a 1/2" seam. 

I measured out slightly more cord than I needed for the piping (4 sides x 20" for a total of 80" plus about 4-6" to spare.) I then used my piping foot on my sewing machine to make navy blue covered piping to go with the fabric I chose.

I followed the directions on this YouTube video to apply the welting/piping to the pillow front. 

I wanted to add a hidden zipper so the covers could be taken off and washed or changed at any time in the future. I won't go into detail about how to sew in the zipper, the woman in this YouTube video does a great job of walking you through how to do it. She also shows you how to finish off the pillow once the zipper is in. 

I found her video to be incredibly helpful and detailed. 

Here are the finished products:

 I loved the bright floral print with the blue zig-zag. Since the two fabric didn't necessarily "go together," I added the same navy piping to the floral pillow to pull it all together. 

I'm very happy with the outcome. Hopefully you can be inspired too, and save a few bucks in the process!

Marquee Sign Winter Windowscape

Two blog posts in one week?!?! I've had the week off and have seen very little of most of my house...because I've been holed up in my craft studio most days. It' bee  good week of getting projects finished. Today's post is a fun marquee-style sign, a trend that is oh-so-hot right now.  I have this display window that I change out several times a year for the various seasons. I din't get around to doing anything special for Christmas, so with the start of a new year, I cooked up a little something fun that's sure to last me through the next couple er, few ahem, SEVERAL months since I kept it a generic winter theme. Sad but true! First I'm going to show step-by-step how I made the marquee-inspired "Winter" sign, then I'll show you the whole windowscape. 

I got the idea for a cheap, lightweight and inexpensive marquee letter from this blog post. I started with a paper maché "W". 

I used an X-acto knife to carefully cut of the top layer of cardboard and removed the filler inside (which is just a strip of cardboard that gives the shape some structure.)

I then painted the letter with white chalk paint. Once the white was dry, I added an oxidizing iron paint to the inside and outside seams where I wanted the letter to look rusted and give the impression that the cardboard was actually a rusted metal sign letter. This is the product I used to get the rust finish.

Once the oxidizing paint dried, I brushed on the rusting solution. I also brushed on some of my own rusting brew. I use this on wood, paint, paper. It's cool stuff if you want to make things looked aged. Here's what the letter looked like after those steps. I have a feeling the rust will continue to develop even weeks from now. I've used this product before and that is exactly what happened.

I decided where to punch the holes for the lights by drawing a grid on the back like this:

Now, I'm making this lighted letter into a sign that says "winter:" I had prepared a small wooden plaque by gluing three unmatched strips of wood together and giving them an aging treatment using a combination of steps including my rusting brew, beeswax and brown shoe polish and sanding. That's how we roll! Once I had the placement for my lights figured out on the W, I laid it over the plaque where I wanted it to go and transferred the holes with a drill. I drilled all the way through to the other side so I could feed one LED light through each hole.

I had purchased this cool little light set at Hobby Lobby specifically designed to make mini marquee lighted signs. Perfect! Who knew they made such things? It looks way more authentic than just having exposed LED bulbs. I tried to find the product on Hobby Lobby's website so I could give you a link directly to the item I purchased, but I couldn't find it. I did switch out the string of lights that came with the kit for one that was on a timer. I got these on deep discount at Joann Fabric around Christmas time. They're perfect for the location of my window, since it's way up on the wall in our split entry level and I would not be dragging out my 7' ladder every time I wanted to turn the lights on! This way, they come on at 4 o'clock every afternoon and turn off automatically at 10. I love these little lights!

I inserted one light into each clear bulb and on the back side of the plaque I arranged the remaining bulbs. I CAREFULLY stapled the extra cording down so it would stay tucked away out of sight.

And here it is!

Lighted too. 

At this point I still had to had to add the i-n-t-e-r part of "winter". I did this with vinyl cut on my Cricut. Here is the whole window put together.

I also cut out the word "wonderland" because, well, we live in Minnesota, we might as well embrace winter!

My tongue-in-cheek take on the "wonderland" part of "winter wonderland"!

Another string of "uber" mini LED lights on a wire, found at Bachman's. These are also on a timer, so, perfect! It adds such a nice warm glow at night.

There you have it. I should be good until at least April!

'Atta Boy Ottoman

It's hard to believe it's been a year since I finished my craft room reno. What a realxing, inspiring and comforting place it has been. I get exhausted just thinking about how much work it was to do that project! Today's post I am showing you a little ottoman build I did using up leftover supplies from the craft room makeover.  First, there's the chair that narrowly escaped being fuel in our fire pit :

(This is after I made new cushions.)

Then there are the legs on my craft table that I made from balusters that I cut one end off of:

The leftovers from the table legs made perfect little chunky legs for a footstool and I had leftover fabric from the chair cushions, So here's what I did.

I cut down the legs a little more to make them the right height. I then applied an aging solution over the green treated wood. Once that dried and darkened to a nice medium rust color, I applied a coat of Country Living brand chipping creme and let that dry. 

Lastly, I applied a coat of homemade chalk paint (just flat creamy white paint that I poured some baking soda into). As soon as that was dry, I lightly sanded the spindles to give it an aged/distressed look to match the chair that spent a winter out by our fire pit! The chipping cream allows the top layer of paint to come off very nicely to reveal the underneath color.

I then used this hardware

to make the legs able to be attached to the ottoman base. 

I built a VERY rudimentary base for the ottoman. Again, I was able to use old plywood and pine we had laying around. Yay for left overs! Double yay for using up leftovers!!

(Top side.)

(Bottom side.)

I then set the 4" foam pad on top and took measurements of height, length and width to figure out how big I needed my cover. I added 1/2" on width and length and 2" on height, plus seam allowances. 

I attached the legs,

and put the foam pad on top, I also wrapped a light layer of batting around the sides and lightly whip-stitched it in place so it wouldn't shift when I put the fabric cover on.

If you want to learn how to sew an ottoman cover, the best place I can direct you is to this YouTube channel. This gal Kim has TONS of great upholstery step-by-step videos. I didn't photograph all the steps of sewing my cover, but I made it to mimic the cushions on the aforementioned chair. I used (leftover) grey piping and my grey and cream chevron fabric. I followed the example on Kim's YouTube video on how to finish off the bottom edge.

I added a dust cover of left over drop cloth fabric. 

And here it is at home in its new spot! I love it. 

It's small and chunky and really comfy. It's really sturdy so it even could function as another seat if I take to entertaining large groups of people in my craft room! For now, it's a party of one.