EASY & CHEAP Elmer's Glue Crackle Chalkboards

My most popular post and Pin is this simple crackle paint DIY.

http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2010/05/crackle-finish-with-elmers-glue.html

Let's use Elmer's glue and craft paint to make these neat (and cheap) chalkboards.

 This is simple and inexpensive and has a big WOW factor. You can do this!!

I used this super simple but effective process on some chalkboards awhile back, and here's the tutorial. You'll love it. You'll want to crackle something for sure. I love this cheap crackle technique! It seems like magic every time I use it and did I mention that it was cheap? Holy cow, with Elmer's school glue 2 for $1 right now, I have stocked up big time.

I started out with cupboard doors from a local bargain builder's supply at $1 each. 

After spray painting them flat black (which saves you money on the expensive chalkboard paint) I spread the glue on really thick. I did not use a brush for this but laid a nice line of glue around the frame and spread it with my fingers. You are not looking for an elegant finish here, you want a nice layer of glue on your intended crackled target. Now, wait til it gets tacky. 

DO NOT LET THE GLUE DRY, the glue MUST be moist when you do the next step.

Taking plain old acrylic craft paint, load up your brush and paint, in ONE DIRECTION only, a nice thick coat of color. Do NOT go back and try to touch up and at this point and do NOT go back and forth. One direction, one swipe, with a light touch. You want a nice layer of paint on top of the still moist glue layer. The crackle effect will begin almost immediately and within a few minutes you will see a great aged patina bloom right before your eyes..

Five minutes later....crackle, baby!

It does not matter if your paint goes on thick and thin, as this effect looks much better with a bit of uneven paint.

Look at that, it makes me smile every time I do this.

If you have some spots you have to touch up, use a smaller paint brush and a light touch and go in the same direction as before but lightly, lightly. At this point it is very easy to drag the paint and the glue and make a big non crackled spot. If this does happen, let it dry, add more glue and repaint with a gentle hand. This technique is very forgiving.

If you have perhaps got distracted by kids, pets, some kitchen disaster or life and your glue has dried, don't worry. Just add more glue on top and go on from there. I've done this dozens of times and this technique has lots of wiggle room.

Oooh, ahhh. I like the white on black, love the black on white and ADORE the turquoise on white. Gorgeous, just gorgeous.

 Let your paint and glue dry thoroughly before you seal the crackled edges with clear acrylic. I added a thin layer of umber glaze before I sealed mine. Then paint the centers with chalkboard paint.

 Wait 24 hours or close to it if you are impatient like me ;0) and season the chalkboard with a layer of chalk, wipe it off and voila! Easy peasy crackle framed chalkboard, baby!

My FAVORITE board was the red on black, it was stunning and of course it was the first one we sold at the Artwalk. Now I'll have to make another. Good thing I stocked up on Elmer's glue!

I'm linking this up to the fun linky parties. Be there or be square!

http://www.elizabethandcovintage.com/ http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2015/03/whatever-goes-wednesday-260.html
http://www.simplenaturedecorblog.com/fabulous-friday-party-26/

DIY Earring Cubbyhole Display

Thanks to a family Pinterest board about Christmas gifts, I picked this pretty and colorful earring display to make for my daughter.

And also thanks to Pinterest, I knew she wanted colors like these in her bathroom decor.

And voila! 

It has so many of my favorite things....turquoise color, shabby funky wood, metal accents and dangly, pretty earrings!

Originally I had remade this shabby cubbyhole box for storage in my craft room. Here's the link for that DIY.

http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-page-projects-for-my-craft-room.html

That was a fun project! I add new storage to my craft room all the time using the same basic DIY...turquoise paint and book pages and Mod Podge.

I chose one of the cubbyhole shelves for this Christmas project and my new favorite scrapbook paper of all time...it is printed with shabby painted boards in beautiful colors on one side and natural aged boards on the other. LOVE IT!

This DIY is so simple and with such neat results. I repainted the shelf with the same color and fitted each cubby with that pretty paper then sealed the whole shelf with clear acrylic spray.

I used the cup hooks from my stash for each space. I marked then made pilot holes using a small drill bit to make screwing the hooks in easier. I tried different sizes of brass hooks for this project and liked the scale of these bigger ones.

Oooh aaaah!

I also made the pretty dangly earrings using beads and findings from my stash so this project was a home run from the start.

PLUS, the total cost was minimal since I already had almost everything I needed in my huge hoard of supplies. 

Win win!

I'll be sharing this at these blog parties this week. Come check them out for some great ideas...

http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2015/02/diy-arrows-for-home-decor-reclaimed-wood.html

Colorful Leaf Pillows

Best most colorful leaf pillows EVER!

I made these for my daughter's new home and I love the way they came out!

 These are two of the four I've made her so far, and they are perfect for her red, gold and brown leather living room.

Her drapes are very similar to this fabric. I knew I didn't have coordinating fabric in my stash but I always have canvas and felt. 

And I loves me some nice curvy trees so I went full speed ahead. First I cut the square pillow tops of light colored canvas and added a backing of felt for stability and "heft."

  

From dark brown felt, I cut a tree trunk and curving branches design then sewed it down with machine  straight stitching in black thread.

From red, burgundy and gold colored felt I cut several dozen leaf shapes (enough for all four pillows) then pinned them in place. I sewed them down with black thread also. I added veins and small stems to each leaf and even added a few curving branch tips tin some places.

My aim was not a totally neat outline but lines like an ink sketch. I really like how the stitching gives the felt some neat dimension!

Ooh, I really like how bright and colorful these are! And the machine embroidery gives the leaves and trees such neat texture!

In this pair the trees and leaves are smaller and centered on the pillow cover.

She likes them. She likes them ALOT!

Now I need to make some for my own living room. I think some colorful turquoise and red leaf pillows would be perfect in there!

                                 

And the family is telling me I should add these to my Etsy shop. I've already developed a line of sweet shabby chic rosette pillow covers in there, so these pillow covers will be a nice addition!

What do you think?

Join me at these fun linky parties this week!

http://www.flamingotoes.com/2015/01/think-pink-sunday-no-198/

http://diyshowoff.com/2015/01/04/diy-party-34/

http://www.keepingitsimplecrafts.com/

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

http://www.pluckys-secondthought.com/

http://www.elizabethandcovintage.com/

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2015/03/whatever-goes-wednesday-260.html

http://www.simplenaturedecorblog.com/fabulous-friday-party-26/

Simple DIY Family Photo Gallery Hallway

I have always had a family photo gallery wall and I figured after four years in this house it was time to JUST DO IT. 

If you go to Pinterest or Google images or anywhere online looking for inspiration you could get bogged down with the overwhelming creativity and ideas. Trust me on this.

I know from experience that it is almost impossible to keep all the framed photos on a gallery wall straight. So frustrating! But we came up with this design a few years ago and we've been doing it this way ever since.

So we keep it simple and with a bare bones budget, really CHEAP. 

Like, less than $18 cheap.

Here's one end of our project. It's a GOOD start!

For this really simple gallery wall I chose three - 1" x 3" x 8' molding boards for $2 each. They are made of a lightweight wood, usually pine or poplar. It is important that you peer down the long side and make sure the boards you pick are STRAIGHT. Turn them over and look at them from all angles. This will make your project much much simpler, trust me on this. 

Then I had the lumber guy cut them off at 5', so I now had six pieces. Three five footers and three that were three foot long. The store will cut your lumber for free!

Just as important as the straight boards are the bulls eye  rosette blocks I got for each seam. They look just like what they are called and they are IMPORTANT to give your project visual interest and style.

I paid less than $2 apiece for the 6 blocks we needed. What a deal!

I painted all the boards and bulls eye blocks white before we put them up. I know in the photos they look unpainted but they are not.

We laid out our shelves based on the basic framed photo sizes we were using plus we had to work around a smoke detector and the furnace thermostat/controls. Measure twice and make sure your marks are accurate because now the fun stuff starts!

Use a level. Use a level. Use a level. I cannot emphasize this enough. Do it.

We used wood glue and our handy dandy favorite brad nailer to attach the boards to the wall. Easy. Simple. Accurate. And the nail gun makes a really satisfying 'kachunk' sound.

Kachunk! Yes, you can have a turn. 

You can also use regular nails or screws and just fill in any holes with wood filler when you're done.

And here you see how the bulls eye blocks give our gallery wall just a bit of punch and visual style. We staggered the joints on each run for some interest. And even though they look like plain wood here, the blocks and boards are all painted. Though if you choose to leave them plain or even paint them a fun color, that is up to you on your own wall!

I like this alot! There is room up there for dozens more framed photos!

Oooh aaaah. One of my favorite projects, EVER.

Did I mention the neat kachunk sound the brad nailer makes?

A family photo gallery wall doesn't have to be a huge complicated project. Keep it simple, keep it cheap and just DO IT. 

       

DIY Chair Rescue With a $4 Sheet

Here's my FREE wing back chair next to her sister, the Red Velvet Throne Chair. They both look good in red, no? 

They didn't cost an arm and a leg. The throne chair was only $7 at the tail end of a local yard sale. The wing back was given to me by my mom. She knew I wanted it and she threw it my way. You rock, mom!

Both chairs started out that marvelous 90s mauve. Pink. Almost lavender. NOT the best fit for my red, brown, turquoise, blue and gold living room.

Here's the throne chair before. See?

               

The wing back was similar to the pic below but not as pretty and certainly more worn. Lots more worn. Okay, really worn and old looking.

So I had enough red velvet to finish the throne chair. I added some antiqued brass finish upholstery tacks and look at her now. She is secksy!

                                                                                                                                                                           

But I didn't have enough red velvet for her sister chair, so I went to my favorite cheap fabric alternative - a twin flat sheet from Walmart for only $4! There is several yards of fabric for about $1 a yard. That's my kind of bargain.

I got to work with my pins and scissors and easy touch staple gun and look how the sisters in red are doing now!

There are dozens of DIYs and videos online telling how to pin fit a cover for a chair. I always check out a few before I start a project like this just to refresh the details in my mind.

Ladies, you look marvelous!

I shirred the front of the cushion to give it some softness...and also because I didn't have what I needed to make piping. Truth be told, it will take at least half of another flat sheet to finish the back and one side which is still naked, but hey, for $4 I love how she's turning out! And even on my budget I can afford that. I'll be adding some brass upholstery tacks when I'm almost done.

Eventually I'll have enough red velvet to make them truly twinners. But for now I am LOVING the bright red vibe in my living room.

Because life is too short to live without bright colors!

And besides being thrifty and fairly easy, a big plus is that I can do both chairs all over again in a DIFFERENT color just for the cost of a couple of flat sheets from Walmart. That's a cheap thrill and I love it!

Projects Projects Projects

I am not going to give you alot of excuses but I will give you lots of pictures. It has been a busy year. Baptisms, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, reunions, holidays, plus my Etsy shop....Lol. You get the idea and most of you are also living it. And so.... 

Look, shiny!






Restyling books to look like vintage editions...

http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-restyle-books-to-look-like.html

......and in January, another big family wedding!

But you know, it is life and I'll take it!

I'll try to post more in the new year but know that I am still here and boy, do I have projects!