My Journey Album

Welcome to MADE BY ME FOR MONDAY!!!

The item I am featuring today is actually one that I made for my hubby for Fathers Day a while back.  It was a really fun project!

The way the entire thing got started was one day when I was in K-Mart.  I had gone in there to grab something and I noticed there was a clearance rack out in the middle of the aisle.  Well, I don't know about you, but, when I see CLEARANCE in big, bold, red letters, I can't help myself!  I HAVE to go and see what is in the basket!

I noticed that there was an old check register binder.  It was black and had several check register pages in it.  It was on CLeaRaNCe for (are you ready for this?) $1.00.  Yep.  $1.00.  I loved the shape of it, and since it was a ring style, I knew I could add as many pages to it as I wanted.  So, I made my big $1.00 purchase and brought it home.  Still not sure what I was going to make with it.

Fathers Day was just around the corner, and I had this idea to turn the check register binder into a book for my hubby.  I decided to do the book based on all of the "toys" he has had throughout his life.  The theme fit so well with Dr. Seuss "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" so I used the words from that book to inspire my pages.

Here is how it turned out:

Front Cover

This view shows the pages and the tabs I made.

I used the tape used when you sheet rock on the corner of the album (that is the "net" looking stuff) and then added textured paint on top.

If you want to see inside the album, you can watch the slide show :)

I don't normally do slide shows on my blog, but this had too many pictures to post! 

I didn't share the last several pages of the book on the slide show (because they are a little too personal) but, the last several pages, I had each of my kiddos do a 10 Reasons Why I Love You page for their dad.  It brought tears to his eyes!  He loved it!

**I will be linking up to SOME OF THESE FABULOUS PARTIES HERE this week!**

I hope you come back and join in on my parties too!

Wednesday: Wandering Wednesday Blog Hop

Thursday: Thrilling Thursday Linky Party

Friday: Fun w/Food Friday Linky Party

Hey Jude! Subway Art.

I am a little bit late getting this posted today!  For whatever reason, this week and last week have kicked my butt with homework.  All a day in the life of a returning college student/mom, I guess :)

WELCOME TO MADE BY ME FOR MONDAY!!!

This week I am sharing a project I made for a friend of mine.  She had a baby a while back and she named him, Jude.  Super cute, right?  Well, who can help but have The Beatles, "Hey Jude" song in their head when they hear that name :)

I found this frame and it reminded me of a record (Um, yes, I am old enough to know what a record is.  I know some of you aren't though!).  The shape seemed PERFECT since his name goes along with an old Beatles song.

This is what it looked like when I bought it:

Step ONE: Paint the frame with linen paint.

Step TWO: Add stain to the linen paint.  This is what will peek through the crackle.

Step THREE: Add a layer of Elmers glue to get the crackle finish.

Step FOUR: Add a layer of white paint on top of the Elmers.  Make sure the Elmers is tacky, but not dry.

Step FIVE: Create the "Subway Art" on my Cricut Design Studio.

These are the fonts I used.

Step SIX: Cut the Subway Art out.  It doesn't matter what color because they are just being used as a mask.

Step SEVEN: Add the letters on top of the dry crackled paint.

Step EIGHT: Paint over the top of the entire frame with black paint.

Step NINE: Remove the vinyl letters and then distress the edges with sandpaper.

See the "Crackle" showing through.  I LOVE that it looks aged!

FINISHED!  I hope she likes it!  Won't it look cute with a picture of Jude in the center of it???

I am going to PARTY HERE and BLOG HOP HERE as much as possible this week.  Stop by and show them some LOVE :)

PS- ENTER my GIVEAWAY if you haven't yet!  You will be glad you did!!!

Christmas Count-Down Calendar

Is it that time of year already? WOW! I cannot believe that Christmas is just around the corner!

My project this week is a fun one. Well, at least I think it is ;) The kiddos in this house LOVE it. It is a Christmas countdown calendar that I call, Reindeer Roundup.

I took some plastic magnetic containers like these:

Then I cut triangle cardstock shapes out using my Cricut machine and the George Cartridge. You could easily cut these by hand if you don't have a machine.

I attached the triangles to the fronts of the containers and then decorated them with some google eyes, ink for the cheeks, and circle for the nose, to look like Santa's Reindeer. I even added some twisted pipe cleaner for the antlers. This is what they look like now:

I had a metal sign that someone had given me. You can buy them at any craft store. So, I attached some circles with the Reindeer's names on them (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolf).

So, the metal sign looks like this:

My idea is to put the Reindeer on the countdown calendar and fill each of the magnetic Reindeer with something fun for the kids. It could be a scripture for the day, some small candies, a clue to a larger item, etc. Then each day (starting 9 days before Christmas) the kids can take one of the Reindeer off and see the prize inside. It will give them something to look forward to and help them count down the days until Christmas.

When they get to Rudolf, Christmas is here!!! :)

Here is what it looks like with the Reindeer all in place:

I was also thinking that if you don't have a metal sign like this one, you could even just make the Reindeer and put them on the refrigerator or a metal door inside your house.

I am linking up to some fabulous LINKY PARTIES HERE and some fun BLOG HOPS HERE. Pop on by and say hi to some of the fantastic talent out there.

Also, don't forget about Wandering Wednesday Blog Hop where you can meet new friends and get some new followers and my FAVORITE day, THRILLING THURSDAY where you get to link up YOUR creations! Hope you stop by and link up, or just check out some of the other creative links :)

JUST SMILE: Another Textured Frame :)

Using inspiration from last weeks post where I made TEXTURED FRAMES.  I decided to play around and make something just for fun.

This time I still took an unfinished frame, only instead of adding the lace cardstock, I cut flowers out of cardstock on my Cricut and Mod Podged them on to the frame.  Then I used the same technique as I did before.  I painted over the top, and used a white stain on the top of that to give a white washed look.  Then I added some jewels for a little BLING :)

Sometimes we all need a reminder to Just SMILE :)  Have a fabulous week!

I will be BLOG HOPPING HERE and LINKING UP HERE this week.  Go check them out :)

Also, stop by on Wednesday and join in on Wandering Wednesday and on Thursday to link up to Thrilling Thursday.  I would LOVE to see YOUR creations!

Textured Frames

Wow!  How is it another week already?  I feel like I haven't had much time to get my creative mojo flowing lately!  Do you ever feel that way?

This week I am going to share a fun project with you.  I came up with a way to add some texture and interest to a plain, unfinished frame that you get at a craft store.
 
I had two frames left from a stack that were given to me.  YAY FOR FREEBIES!  I wanted to do something fun with them, so here is what I came up with.

I started with a plain 12X12 wood frame just like this:

 And I took a piece of 12X12 Lace Cardstock like this:

Then I used Mod Podge and applied the cardstock to the frame.  I cut the center where the photo opening is with an razor blade.  After the Mod Podge was dry, I painted over the top of the frame with paint.  I let that dry, and then I went back and squirted a few squirts of Walnut Ink on the top and rubbed it around with a rag until I got the look I wanted.

One frame turned out a little bit darker than the other.  I am not sure which one is my favorite!  I really like both of them :)

I am not sure what I am going to put in the frames yet, or where I will hang them, but I am certain I will find a place for them soon!

Don't forget to stop by and join in on Thrilling Thursday Linky Party this week.  I can't wait to see what YOU have been up to!

I will be linking up HERE this week and blog hopping HERE this week.  Go check them out.  You won't be disappointed! 

Child's Chair Makeover :)

Happy Monday everyone!  I am late getting this post up today.  I have been super busy spoiling my daughter on her birthday today.  I even went and stole her from school this afternoon to take her to lunch and do a bit of shopping before I returned her to finish up her classes for the day :)  It was a great afternoon!

First off THANK YOU to all who joined in on Paisley Passions Thrilling Thursday last week.  There is some amazing stuff linked up.  If you haven't checked it out, you really should scroll on down and check out the talent.  I am going to try hard to leave comments for all of you who linked up.  If I don't leave a comment, just know that I visited each one of you and your wonderful blogs!  :)

This week I have a cute little chair that I did.  It is a cute little thing.  The perfect size for a kid.  It was an unfinished chair that was given to me and I decided that I needed to spruce it up a bit.

A little paint, a little scrap paper, some mod podge, some vinyl lettering and there you have it.  A chair fit for a little princess!  :)

I am LINKING UP TO THESE PARTIES this week.
I am BLOG HOPPING W/THESE PARTIES this week.

PS- Hope to see YOU back on Wednesday for my first Blog Hop, Wandering Wednesday, that I am co-hosting with Jessica @ Inspiring You to Save and Thursday for Paisley Passions Thrilling Thursday!  Can't wait to see what gets linked up this week!!!

Altered Terra Cotta Pots

I had some fun last spring altering some terra cotta pots.  I haven't shared them on my blog yet, so I figured I better share before winter is upon us and no one has any use for an altered terra cotta pot ;)

For this project, I took a plain ordinary terra cotta pot:

I painted the base of the pot with a sanded paint.  You can do this in one of two ways, you can buy the paint with the sand already in it, or you can add some fine sand to acrylic paint.  I have done it both ways, and both ways work just fine :)

Then I took some texture paste (if you have never used texture paste you don't know the fun you are in for)  and spread a small layer of the paste around the top ring of the pot.

While the texture past was still wet, I took a rubber stamp and stamped into the texture paste.  For this pot I used a floral stamp.  After the past dried, I painted over the top of the paste, layering several different colors to give it a patina-ed look.

Since it was spring when I made these pots, I filled them with some super cute over-sized flowers from my local craft store.  It was a fun addition to my front porch this spring.  Since it is fall, I am thinking I am going to use the pots and put some fall decor in them.  I will certainly share pics if I do!  :)

I am LINKING UP HERE this week.
I am BLOG HOPPING HERE this week.

My first two linky parties have had great success!  THANK YOU~ THANK YOU ~THANK YOU to all of you who have joined in on the fun!  I hope to see you again this Thursday at my Thrilling Thursday linky party here at Paisley Passions!

Hope you all have a great week :)

Shelf Top Ribbon Organizer

**(HAVE YOU ENTERED MY GIVEAWAY FOR A FREE 180 Piece MemoryWorks Kit???  CLICK HERE TO ENTER!) ***

I spent last month reorganizing and cleaning out my craft room.  It was quite the process and took me much longer than I ever expected that it would!  (On a side note, I have had SEVERAL people asking me to post pictures of my craft room and I PROMISE they will be posted soon)  :)

While I was cleaning out my craft room, I came to the conclusion that I have a problem.  Hello, my name is Lori and I am a ribbon hoarder.  I don't know how it happened.  I don't know when it happened.  Somehow it happened, and I have a TON of ribbon.  Ribbon on rolls, ribbon on cards, loose ribbon, ribbon pieces, ribbon, ribbon, ribbon.

I wanted to come up with a way to store my ribbon that is on the rolls.  Somewhere out in plain sight where I can see what I have and actually use it instead of just storing it.

So, here is what I came up with.  I took my little shelf that sits on top of my storage boxes.

When I first got the shelf, I mod podged the paisley paper and added the flower.  That is how it has looked for the past year or so.

I took my drill (yes, MY drill.  Hubby and I have agreed it is MUCH easier to have our own tools) and I measured and drilled holes in the top of the shelf.

Then I took some wood dowels and pushed them into the holes.  I used some E6000 in the holes before I put the dowels in.  You could also go to the reverse side of the shelf and put a small nail or screw in.  My dowels were really tight, so I didn't see the need to do that.  I can always do that later if I need to.

I slid a washer down each dowel and glued them in place with some E6000.  Not for any other reason then because I thought it looked nice :)  Then I painted each dowel black.

After everything was dry, I put the shelf back in its place and slid my ribbon spools on them.  Of course they are coordinated by color.  At first I thought I could just put them all willie-nilly like.  I tried that.  It drove me crazy.  I had to remove them and color coordinate.  Haha.  A little OCD, I guess.

I also organized my ribbon strands and ribbon on cards nice and neatly in some of my drawers.  Ahhh, organized ribbon.  Now hopefully I will USE it instead of HOARDING it!  :)

I will link up at some of  these parties FOUND HERE and blog hop at some of these blog hops FOUND HERE this week :)

PS- DON'T FORGET my Thrilling Thursday Linky Party.  Every Thursday-Sunday hosted by me on my blog.  Come join in on the fun!!!  :)  Hope to see you there!

Running Subway Art

I have been seeing Subway Art EVERYWHERE!!! It seems that it is the "in" thing right now and I really like  LOVE it!!!  I have always thought it was pretty cool stuff, so to see so much of it out in blogland is awesome!

My son's room had a spot that needed a little something, so I thought, why not make my own piece of Subway Art that reflected something that he was passionate about?  He is a runner.  He runs track.  He runs cross country.  And, if I do say so myself, he is pretty dang good at it!  :)  Anyway, he has running quotes that he likes and so I used those for my inspiration for my art piece.

I took a regular artist canvas and cut out vinyl lettering on my Cricut.  I used a variety of different cartridges for this project.  I designed the look I wanted using my Cricut Design Studio.  I LOVE IT!

Doing this project was a great way to use up all the different odd pieces and colors of vinyl I had :)

After I got the look I wanted, I took the canvas outside and gave it a good coat of black spray paint.

 I let it dry and then peeled off the vinyl letters.  Here is what my finished piece of art looks like.  I really LOVE it!!!  :)

I join in LINKY PARTIES HERE and I BLOG HOP HERE.  Pop over and check them out!  Also, mark your calendars, I am starting my own Linky Party a week from this Thursday (September 2nd) called Thrilling Thursday.  I hope you will join in!!!  :) 

Floral Laundry Basket.

{Have you entered my GIVEAWAY to say THANKS for reaching 500 Followers?  CLICK HERE TO ENTER}

I am just going to say it. I HATE LAUNDRY!!! Seriously. I always feel like I am behind on the laundry. It is a never-ending project. I guess that is what happens when you do laundry for 7 people. It is all consuming.
So, anything I can do to put a smile on my face when I do laundry makes it all the better :)

I took a bushel basket that was given to me (FREE!  LOVE IT!) and decided to turn it into a bright and fun colored laundry basket. Maybe it will make doing laundry a little more fun. Or not ;)

All I did was use some mod podge, tissue paper, and ribbon for this project. Just take the mod podge and use a foam brush to apply the mod podge directly to the basket. Gently lay the tissue paper on top and then put a top coat of mod podge on the tissue paper.  The tissue paper will kind of crinkle, but it will just give a textured look.

I added some ribbon around the top and the bottom, and then tied some ribbon on the handles.  The finished product is fun and colorful.  Here's hoping laundry day can be more fun and colorful too!  Haha!

This week I will be participating in BLOG HOPS HERE and LINKING UP TO PARTIES HERE.

Gettin' Scrappy Friday~Altered Chipboard Box :)

Here is a chipboard box that I altered. I can't wait to add pictures to it! Have a fabulous Friday! :)

Flashback Friday~Shelf Makeover

I took an unfinished shelf from my local craft store.  One just like the type here.  I forgot to take a picture of the one I used before I started redoing it.  Ooops!  So, this is the closest thing I could find to what I used.

I flipped the shelf upside down and glued some unfinished balls to the bottom of the shelf.  Then I painted it and added some scrapbook paper with mod podge.  I added matching baskets and VOILA, I had a handy dandy storage space to store some more of my craft supplies.  It looks cute and works great!

If you want to see a video clip of this shelf and some others I did, CLICK HERE.  Have a great weekend!  Now go and get creative!!!  :)

I LINK UP HERE.
I BLOG HOP HERE.