Frosty's Hat

"There must have been some magic
In that old silk hat they found
For when they placed it on his head
He began to dance around"


Well I'm not so sure about silk, but this old wicker find will do the trick for me. Which is great, since I found both pieces for 1.50 at a thrift store. Along with a can of spray paint (I already had), some fun ribbon choices, a dab of hot glue, and some pipe cleaner!



With the weather outside being so blistery cold..spray painting was a little more difficult than planned this time...this called for not one, not two, but 4 coats of paint. (Brrr!)



Not only did Frosty's Hat need a ribbon, but a little decoration couldn't hurt. Next, I used pipe cleaner to spell out his name. (As I use this to label all my wrapped packages under the tree)



This fun ribbon was wrapped around the hat as you would typically see the same type of patterned scarf on a snowman out in a yard. The fun prints will go nicely with my tree and decor in my home. You could choose any color choice and it would work nicely with the black hat.

I chose to keep small packages in my hat for now, but I also thought this would be a great place to store fruit on the kitchen table, or simply fill the hat with ornaments for a decorating party which I will do for one of the holiday parties I will host this evening.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out these great parties this week!

Read more...

Painted Mirror Makeover

I have wanted to paint a mirror for a while now, and am so excited that I finally got the chance. I got this mirror at the thrift store for $7. The mirror is actual glass (as opposed to the thinner, slightly flexible ones that you can get most places now). I loved the look of the frame but it was really beat up and coming apart on a few sides. Yikes! Not what you want to be holding a heavy piece of glass, that is for sure! I disassembled it and got to work.

First I wiped the frame down really well with Krud Kutter's Gloss Off. Has anyone seen this before? It removes the top layer(s) of poly and stain from the wood, dulling the surface, and prepares the surface to be re-painted. Apparently it has some chemical in it that helps the new paint to stick to the surface. I was all about this, mostly because I didn't want to strip the wood (I hate using chemical paint strippers, they scare me), and I don't have an electric sander and didn't want to buff the whole thing down. It worked pretty well. My rag was covered in brownish orange stain, it cleaned the wood and dulled the surface, so it worked for me. It didn't remove all of the paint like a stripper would have, but I was sticking with it. I re-inforced the corners by gluing them together with some Gorilla Glue, and then turned my attention to the mirror.

I cleaned off the mirror, lined up this stunning Iron Gate Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils, and started painting.

I used a light coat of spray adhesive since I was working on a flat surface and didn't want it to shift on me. I used a dense foam roller (also from Cutting Edge), got a little paint on it, rolled off the excess onto a paper towel, and then started rolling onto the glass. I did 2 light coats so that no paint would seep under the stencil, and waited for both to dry completely before picking up the stencil and shifting it over to cover the next section of the mirror.

(There's me! Hi guys!!)

I spray painted the frame a similar ivory color to what I used on the mirror, and when it was dry, just popped the mirror back in and nailed the back piece to the frame.

I was left with this perfect mirror makeover.

Isn't it gorgeous?!

As always, I'll be linking this project to some of my favorite link parties including the DIY Club, which you can see here. Have a great week!!

Read more...

Baby & Big Girl Room - Part 4 - The Other Walls

Okay, today I am going to share how these walls came together...

First up is "the sun" as Avery calls it. When I told her that the new paint color in her room would be like the sky, she asked if there would be a sun. I didn't think there would be until I found this treasure for $3 in the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby. It just needed a quick change in fabric. I tore off the back, used the pink polka-dot material as my pattern, cut out the yellow fabric I wanted, and glued it on...

Super easy, cheap, and it was "the sun" that Avery had requested. It was a pin-up board that came with adorable crystal push pins. I personalized it with an old flash card, a newborn photo of me, a picture of my Mom when she was little, and then a bigger picture of my girls together...

Next up were the oval frames on the other wall. My Mom just had these oval beauties laying around her house. I love me some oval frames so I was thrilled. They were perfect for the girls' wall and free! I painted them black first. Then I used delicate white with pink dot fabric as my background for silhouettes of the girls. I used the 'ol print and trace method. I took pictures of the girl's profiles, printed them out the size I needed, traced them onto black paper, and cut them out.

I taped them to the fabric, popped the glass back in, and admired the finished product. The one of Mia just makes me smile...

The next mini project for the wall was the sisters sign. We have so much beadboard leftover from our nook project that I am always trying to find a use for it. I had used some for a giant ruler and now some would be used for a sign. I just had my husband cut a piece to the exact size I wanted. I looked through my stash of cardstock letters and found the perfect ones. I traced them onto the board in pencil, and then painted the letters black...

The final touch was adding pink ribbon with spray adhesive to the back for hanging...

I used the white shelf that had already been in the room under the sisters sign. I have a serious love of Little Golden Books and am lucky enough to have a few from when I was a little girl and sweet friends who give them to me as gifts. I found 3 that were just perfect for the room.

I added a pink hanky and some old blocks that I found at the Country Living Fair this year and it was complete...

So, that completed the other walls and now the room is shaping up quite nicely and almost ready to be fully revealed...

I'll be linking to these parties this week. Check them out for some serious inspiration!

Come back next Tuesday for the final part of this series. I can't wait to show you the rest of the details and the whole finished product. I'll let you in on the paint color and even tell you where those perfect little birdie decals came from just in case you are wondering...

Happy Tuesday!

Read more...

Baby & Big Girl Room - Part 3 - The Clothesline

Remember I told you these blocks were inspiration for the design of this room...

So, I bought two wooden circle plaques for $1.00 and spray painted them black...

I also bought an A (Avery) & M (Mia) knob from Hobby Lobby and had my husband put them into the wooden circles. He then screwed the wooden circles right into the wall for me. I attached a pink grosgrain ribbon to each of them and that became my clothesline...

My sister had given me a pack of old fashioned clothespins at one point that I was saving for just the right project. This was it.

I then found some simple and cute things to hang from the clothesline. I used a plain white baby t-shirt, baby bloomers, a cute burp cloth...

an old baby dress that was mine, and some leftover pink toile fabric...

I was so excited when I finally found just the right things to go up on the clothesline...

And the best thing about this part of the room is that can be changed at any time. I can put up different clothes, linens, or fabric. As they get older, I can replace the clothes with photographs and/or artwork they create. Gotta love a versatile decoration, especially in a growing kids room.

I will be linking up to these parties this week!

Happy Tuesday! I'll be back tomorrow with part 4 out of 5 in the series!

Read more...

Baby & Big Girl Room - Part 1 - The Banner

Hello, friends of Lemon Tree! I am so happy to be back. I hope you enjoyed the great guest posts by Wendy & Kristen and the archives from my family blog. I have been busy with this little lady and loving every minute of her newborn sweetness...

We did not know that she was a girl until she came out and we were thrilled. I was secretly (or not so secretly) hoping for a girl and had already been dreaming of plans for making over Avery's room since they would be sharing. I posted about this room awhile back here and since then it has undergone a pretty serious transformation that I cannot wait to share with you all...

A lot of love and thought went into this room so I can't just share it all in one post. So this will begin my baby and big girl room series...

The main inspiration for this room came from these blocks and specifically this one piece of scrapbook paper I used to make these blocks. I shared these blocks on my family blog because I made a boy set and a girl set as I eagerly awaited the arrival of baby #3. I just loved the colors used to make the girl blocks and I loved, loved, loved this scrapbook paper with a clothesline and birdies all over it. It made me smile.

I went on a super fun trip to Hobby Lobby and Jo-Anns to find the perfect fabric for the room. Somehow I found exactly what I had in mind. Things just kind of fell into place the whole time I was designing this room and who doesn't love when that happens?

Part 1 of this series begins with one of my favorite features in the room...the pennant banner made from this beautiful fabric...

I have seen banners all over the place and I am a big fan. I have seen so many different versions. Here is how my simple little banner came to be...

I cut out a paper triangle, pinned it to my fabric, and cut it out with pinking shears...

So, I had these beautiful triangles that were just pretty to look at...

I had some pink grosgrain ribbon that I folded in half and ironed to keep it that way...

I layed out the triangles in a pattern that I was happy with and slipped them inside the ribbon and pinned them in place...

The final step was to zig-zag stitch the ribbon to the triangles to create a banner...

It was originally going to hang on the crib but then I found an even better place for it...

I cannot wait to show you every detail. I had too much fun with this baby and big girl room. I kind of wish I was the one sleeping in it!

I will be linking up to these parties this week! Hope to see you there!

Also, don't forget to enter the Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway here!

Oh, and stay tuned for Part 2 of the series!

Read more...

Jute Webbing to Fall Planter

I apologize to those of you who thought you might find more craft room projects today, as had I promised last week. But this idea popped into my mind at the beginning of the week and I couldn't restrain myself from trying it out. Then it ended up coming out so well that I couldn't help but share it a little earlier than later. Hope you don't mind too much!

I saw this jute webbing in JoAnns a few weeks ago and just feel in love with the beautiful texture and the fun red thread running throughout. I bought a few yards, unsure of what I would use it for, but knowing that it would end up somewhere. I kept envisioning how cool it would look all intertwined, but just didn't know exactly what I would do with it. Then I remembered this old cooler. You probably have one lying around somewhere in your garage or basement, and if not, check your parents or grandparents' garage or basement-they're the types of things that always seem to be just lying around somewhere. Or buy one at your gas station, they're cheap.

I ran lengths of the jute webbing down the sides of the cooler under the bottom and up the other side, keeping it slightly loose the whole time, and secured the ends with pins.

I made sure that the pins were pushed into the cooler at a downward angle as opposed to straight in. This kept them from pulling out as I wove the webbing.

I then ran a length of webbing down the shorter side of the cooler, weaving it through the bottom pieces and then up the other side, again, securing with pins.

I took a length of webbing and wrapped it around the outside of the cooler, and trimmed it for length. I then pinned the end underneath one of the pieces of webbing that was running vertically down the cooler, and then weaved it under and over the other pieces until I had worked my way all the way around.

I trimmed the webbing so that both ends would be hidden under the same vertical piece of webbing and pinned them in place.

Now that my basket was completely woven, I took the slack out of the lengths of webbing. I started with the vertical pieces, adding a second pin at the top for extra support, pulled each strand until it was taut, and then re-secured the end with pins.

I then moved onto the pieces that were running horizontal on the cooler. I grabbed my glue gun, and glued the ends of the horizontal webbing to the vertical strand that they were hiding behind, pulling them taut and trimming as necessary. Now that my whole basket was assembled, I took my glue gun and ran a thin line of glue behind any pieces that were pocketing to get them to lie completely flat.

I then got my fabric stiffener and applied a thick layer with a sponge brush. I didn't worry about it soaking through to the bottom layer, I just focused on getting the top layer saturated. I left the top ends (where the pins were) without any stiffener, because I wanted to fold those down later. But everything else got a good dose. (The red dye from the red yarn ran a little bit, so I tried to apply the stiffener in the direction of the pattern, as to not spread red dye over top of the brown webbing.)

When everything was dry I discovered that I couldn't pry the cooler out, so I decided to just break it off piece by piece. It was really secure in the bottom corners, and I was worried about warping the now stiffened jute webbing that I had worked so hard on! Luckily I won't miss that cooler.

I left the bottom piece intact, because I want to use the basket as a planter, and want to protect the bottom of the basket from any excess water that runs out of the plants.

I layered up a fun red vignette and popped it onto my front porch. Hello fall!

The size of the cooler, and therefore the basket, was perfect for 2 small mums, which were perfect for my front porch. But it's lightweight and fun enough to be used in the house as well.

In retrospect, had I known that I was going to be throwing the cooler away at the end of this project, I probably would have just covered the entire thing in webbing, hot gluing it onto the cooler as I went, and then I wouldn't have needed any fabric stiffener. But the basket would be larger, and a bit bulkier too. Oh well, just a few more options for you I guess. :)

I'll be linking this around to these great parties this week. Check them out for some beautiful fall inspiration.

And check back with us later this week for a great giveaway!

See you next Monday!!

Read more...