Friday, April 19, 2013

Chalk Paint Pens.....Amazing!

OMG! If you have not seen these new chalk pens, you have to get one!
 
 
Check out how these pens are being used on a chalkboard, its amazing!
 

 
Here is my attempt at my first chalkboard!
 
Happy Friday!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Good Afternoon Shackers!
I just have to share the recipe for these awesome tortilla chips I made the other night!
 
 
Ingredients needed:
Cooking Spray
Salt for taste
Spinach tortilla wraps
 

With the cookie cutter of choice, cut out as many as possible from tortillas. I was able to get about 7 hearts per tortilla.

-Sometimes the cookie cutter will not cut all the way through the tortilla. To get a better cut, push the cookie cutter down firmly and move the entire tortilla back and forth while pressing. For those stubborn edges that will not cut, use cooking scissors.

-Save scraps to sprinkle on soups and salads.
 

Place on baking sheet. Spray chips with cooking oil. Sprinkle with salt. Bake at 375 degrees for about 7 - 10 minutes. Check often, they burn quickly.
 
Serve with your favorite dip. You're welcome!



Thursday, April 4, 2013

Scrapbook Pinwheels

Pinwheels are the new trend for weddings, birthdays, parties and holidays. Let me show you how to make your very own!
 
Materials needed:
Scrapbook paper
Scissors
Brad
Dowel rod (we drilled a hole in ours)
Drill
1/8" drill bit
Hot glue gun & glue (optional)
 
 
1. start with a square
2. fold in half diagonally
3. then fold diagonally again (to make an X)
4. unfold
5.Poke a hole in the center (just big enough for the brad to go through)
6. cut just over half way up each fold
7. punch a hold on right side of each cut
8.gather four holes together and place a brad through all four
9. push brad through hole in center of square
10. fasten brad on reverse side
 
To attach the dowel to back of pinwheel drill a hole into the top of the dowel (about 1/2" down) and put the brad through and fasten brad to reverse side
 
You can use two sheets of paper, back to back for double printed pinwheels.
 
Enjoy!

Monday, March 25, 2013

LOVE Vase

 
Over the weekend, a dear friend of mine asked me how I made this cute love vase, which inspired me for my post today. All I did was take a half gallon beer jug and wrote "love" with hot glue and then spray painted the whole jug. You can use a carafe, mason jar, wine bottle....you name it!

I got my inspiration from Pinterest, the greatest website in the world!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Monogrammed Wall Art

Good morning my Shackers!! Our dear friends Stephanie and Jeremy are getting married next month and asked us to help them with a wall art piece to display at their reception. Here is how we did it...

 
Materials needed:
The MDF letter is from Etsy...http://www.etsy.com/shop/BuildACrossCanton
It's 24" tall and 3/8" thick for $11.99 plus shipping.
We used 8 boards from a pallet but 1x4's or old fence will work fine
Paint of choice
Drill
3/4" wood screws
2-1x3 boards (cut 2" smaller than the width of your 8 boards)
Wood glue
Nail gun with 3/4" nails (you can use screws if you do not have access to a nail gun)
 
Use the MDF letter as your guide to measure the size of the boards. This particular letter fit across 8 boards with about 3" left on either side. We cut the length of the boards to also be about 3" on the top and bottom of the letter.
 
 
Flip the boards over to where the side you are going to paint is face down. You will put your 1x3's acorss the boards about 1/4 of the way down. Drill a screw in each board so they are all attached to the 1x3's (pictured above).
 

Here is what it will look like once flipped back over.
 
 
You can do any design on the background or letter but we decided to do a chevron background with a solid color letter. First we painted the whole board white. As you can see we sped up the process by blow drying it with a hair dryer (works like a charm, by the way).

 

She knew she wanted 4 sets of shevron stripes so we divided the board horizonally by 8 and used the lines of the 8 individual boards for our vertical line. We then drew out the chevron stripes like the picture above.
 

Now you are ready to paint! We were going to tape off the lines but knew that would take forever so we took the chance on hand painting it. We marked the sections where the blue paint will go to keep us from painting the wrong section.
 

The good thing is if you go out of the lines, you can go back and paint over it with the background color.
 

The letter is now ready to be painted. We used a spray gun but spray paint or brushing on the paint is totally fine.
 

Once the letter is dry, mark off where you want it on the board (we marked it off with painters tape). Take the letter off and put wood glue on the back. Use the painters tape to put the letter back on the board. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
 
Lift the board on it's side and use your nail gun to nail the board to the letter from the backside.
 
Hope you love it!
 


 

Friday, March 15, 2013

Earring Holder


Jeff made me this earring holder to organize the mounds of earrings that were tucked away in a bathroom drawer.
 
Materials needed:
Barnwood frame (any frame will work)
Aluminum Metal Sheet 4'x8' sheet at Lowe's used for concrete (chicken wire will work)
Wire clippers
Paint color of choice (optional)
Clear caulking or staples
 
Put the frame face down and measure the height and width of the inside (where the glass would go).
 
Next, paint the frame unless you want it as it is.
 
While the paint is drying, use the wire clippers to cut down the metal to fit the inside of the frame.
 
Once the paint is dry, put the frame face down.
 
Put the clear caulking on the inside of the frame (where the glass goes) and set the metal into place. Once the metal is in place add another layer on top of the metal all the way around the inside. You will then need to find something heavy to set on each corner of the metal and let the caulking dry.
 
If you prefer to use staples, you will just use a staple gun to staple the metal to the frame (a few inches appart all the way around).
 
I would recommend letting it dry overnight.
 
Now you have a cute but efficient earring holder.
 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013


How cute is this Egg Tree?

I used twigs and hanging eggs (from Dollar Tree) to make this super easy tree for Easter.