A little something I did over the weekend...

Since we moved into our new rental home last month, Kevin and I have been trying to find ways to spruce up the place without upsetting the landlord or breaking our budget!  Here are a few little things we did over the weekend to make our office look a little less rented...

We found this chair in the crawl space under our house. It was pretty ugly but Kevin sanded it down and spray painted it white while I upholstered the top using THIS tutorial from Craftaholics Anonymous. Total cost: $10 (for spray paint and fabric, we had everything else!)

We also fixed up this old shelf that our downstairs neighbor (from our first apartment in Chicago) gave us. It was warm outside so I took it to the driveway and gave it a good sanding before using the same spray paint we used on the chair to give it some life. After the paint dried, I rubbed some sandpaper over the edges to give it an aged look. Then Kevin screwed little hooks into the bottom for me and voila!

We FINALLY have a place to hang all the running medals we've accumulated over the years! Best part, it only cost $2 for the hooks! We had everything else on hand.

What "trash to treasure" projects have you been working on lately? I would love to hear about them!

Outdoor Adventures: Wood Carving by Erin Uda

Wood carving, or whittling, is a long-standing tradition for campers and outdoorsmen.  It’s also a good exercise in fine motor skills and patience.  There are many mediums that can be carved – wood or branches, soap, soft clay or plaster of paris, and vegetables (typically gourds such as pumpkins).  And it’s a great project for a long weekend out of school, since it can take plenty of time to finish your project.

There is no specific tool you must use when carving. Some of the best tools for young beginners are play-doh shaping tools, especially if you’re carving soft clay or soap.  If your child is old enough, try letting him use a butter knife, cuticle pusher, or the blunt tools from this year’s pumpkin carving kit.  And if you get really into carving, you can purchase a set of pottery sculpting tools (found in most art or craft stores).  If your child is eight or older, or you feel comfortable with the idea, try letting him use a Swiss Army knife on a scrap of wood.  A finger guard can prevent accidental injuries.

 

I would suggest starting with the following items:

1. Paper and pencil, to create a blueprint and outline
2. A bar of soap, any color
3. Plastic silverware or play-doh utensils
4. A cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil or wax paper, to catch the shavings

If you carved pumpkins for Halloween, then you know the basic techniques you’ll need.  For any beginners, here are a few tips:

Start with a drawing or pattern of what you hope to create.

Use a pencil to trace a faint outline on your medium.

Shave away chunks of material until you have the general shape.

Slowly and carefully carve the fine details of your design

If you need some designs or inspiration, try carving your child’s name in block lettering.  Or carve a simple, stylized animal. 

Once your children get the hang of it, try making Christmas ornaments using small pieces of wood or branches.  You can create simple shapes like circles and triangles, or get fancy and make snowflakes, icicles, and other objects.

If it’s not too cold, the porch or a picnic table can be perfect work spaces.  Be sure to wear good gloves, to keep your fingers warm.  And have fun!! 

If you like, share your creations with the rest of us by posting your pics. 

Happy carving!

Recommended Reading:

• Soap Carving: For Children of All Ages, Howard K. Suzuki
• Carving for Kids: An Introduction to Woodcarving, Robin Edward Trudel
• A Beginners Guide to Whittling, Bruce Totman

You can find more books on wood carving at your local library.  Check out call number 745.592.

P.S. You can check the calendar tab at the top of the page to see other activities we will be doing throughout the week!

Fall is in the Air!!!

(Subway art can be found HERE at Blooming Homestead)

Today's high was a crisp 57 degrees in Chicago. I wore a hoodie all day long, including on my 2 mile run outside! And because Fall is my FAVORITE time of year, I couldn't resist  putting up some of my autumn inspired decor.

In fact, I even went the extra mile and whipped up a little wall art just for the heck of it. The frames were from the Dollar Store (years ago) and have been used for all my random holiday pages. I just switched out the old for the new. The leaves were from last fall. I simply removed them from the pages of A Mid Summer Night's Dream and glued them to some paper. The rest was just cutting, ripping, pasting and layering different pieces of scrapbook paper to each other. I finished them off with a little button and some raffia and I think they turned out pretty cute.

Another fun thing I got to do yesterday was this fabric heart craft. I decided to join my husband at our church building last night while he was helping some young men practice their skit, and was invited by my friends Jacquie and Missy to participate in the craft they were doing with a group of young women. I know my painting skills leave something to be desired, but it was still fun, easy, and has an easy to reuse concept. All we did was paint an 8"x  8" board, nail horseshoe nails into it in the shape of a heart, paint the word "love" in the middle, and then tie a 1"x 5" strip of fabric to each nail.

Anyway, I just thought I would share these super cheap and easy ideas in case any of you want to bring a little Fall into your homes :) Happy crafting!

Something Old, Something New

Every once in a while, (about every 6 months) I get a bit stir crazy. In those moments I usually suggest to my husband that we either move somewhere else, or join the Peace Corp. He, being the more rational of the two of us, always finds some kind of logical excuse to stay where we are and eventually helps me to realize that we are just at that stage in life where we are putting down roots and we need to bloom where we are planted. He's always right (on this matter) of course, so I back off my crazy ideas and try to find somewhere else to place my restlessness. That place is usually in a PROJECT.


Like my mother, when I am feeling restless I LOVE to move my furniture, scrub my walls, and make old things look new. One of my favorite changes was to this Ikea chair last year. Kevin thought it would be cute to buy Brooklyn her own chair but didn't realize how messy a white chair can get with a 2 year old in it. So, when Grandma Hanks came out to visit, she created a pattern for me and I sewed a washable slip cover for the chair. It turned out cute and totally hides all the old Cheetos stains underneath, and the new ones on top!


Another favorite of mine is this old secretary. An elderly gentlemen who lived under us at our last apartment was moving out and let us have it for free! It had some weird wood glued on to the glass and some outdated hardware when he gave it to us, but Kevin just cleaned it up, sanded it down, slapped on some paint, and gave it new hardware. Now it is one of my favorite pieces of furniture in the whole house!

Anyway, the point is, I got that restless feeling again a few days ago so I made Kevin saw my table in half. We were running out of space for the girls to play and the leg had fallen off of it already anyway. So, he hacked it in two and now we have an awesome bar table to enjoy our breakfast together (when we're not feeding the girls in the kitchen to prevent them from painting our carpet with food!)

Thus, if you are ever feeling restless, take a look around your house, see what furniture you can move around or refurbish, and make a change! If that doesn't work, try some light spring cleaning. It really feels good!

Past Project: Head board for Queen Size Bed

So, if you're one of those people who loves new furniture but never has the money to buy it, then this post is for you.

Last year I found myself really wanting a headboard for my bed because I felt like it would make my room feel like a bedroom instead of a hospital. I started looking online to find something I would like but couldn't afford ANYTHING I came across. Then I stumbled on Ana White's Knock Off Wood blog (now known as ana-white.com). If you've spent ANY time blog-hopping, then you know who Ana is and have probably browsed her site. But perhaps you were one of those people who thought it was a cool idea, yet, you didn't think you personally could pull it off. Well, I'm here to tell you that you can...


...because I did it with limited time, money, talent, knowledge, tools, and space! I know it seems crazy, but I took a leap of faith anyway and went to the Home Depot with these plans and found a very nice (and skeptical) man who helped me to pick out the right wood and cut it to fit in my car. I had a chop saw at home to cut everything to the right length, but if you don't have a saw, don't worry. They will cut your wood for you at Home Depot if you know the measurements you need!


Because I didn't have a garage or yard to work in, all the work was done in my living room or on my small porch. It made quite a mess but was totally worth it in the end. One word of advice though, you should definitely cut and sand your wood outside, otherwise you will be dusting for the rest of eternity!

If you're worried about your kids getting in the way, don't! My youngest daughter was only 4 months old while I was working on this project, but she was more than happy to roll around on the floor next to me while I screwed all the boards on, and Brooklyn was 2...the perfect age to help hand mommy screws and tools! (The plans actually called for a hammer and nails but I had to buy cheap wood that was slightly warped so I needed the extra support from screws.)


My husband had an orbital sander lying around so I got really lucky in that department. Sanding something that big by hand is not fun! (But if you had to do it you could!)


Next came the staining. I did this when my girls were either napping or in bed at night because I didn't want them exposed to the fumes... and I didn't want them tracking wood stain across my carpet. :)


It took me longer than it probably should have because I had to take a lot of breaks to take care of my regular responsibilities (so if you're a mom you should think about that too). One time when I took a break from staining to feed Lily she even puked all over the headboard and I had to scrub it up and re-stain. A minor setback in motherhood.


Regular furniture also came in handy as I was waiting for the stain to dry or trying to stain the underside of the headboard. You'll find that without a garage you have to be really creative when making something this big.


Anyway, when all was said and done, I had a headboard that normally sold for $800 and all I paid was $150!


I also get to tell everyone that I made my own headboard...by MYSELF! And you can never underestimate how good that feels.

And last of all, my bedroom no longer looks like a hospital room! Thank you Ana for sharing your talents with the rest of us. And to anyone reading this, let go of your excuses! This is TOTALLY something you can do too!