~diy day~

 Today I am going to show you how to make a vintage style clipboard out of old yardsticks or rulers and a few other materials.

To start you will need a piece of wood with a routered edge. 

You can get these at any craft store, or you can make your own if you have a router. 

Any size will work, depending on your needs.

I am making two for this tutorial, a small one and a large one.

 Stain your pieces of wood in a dark stain.

You could also use brown paint if you don't have any stain laying around.

Let dry completely.

 Gather your supplies.

You will need your plain wood plaque/plaques,

liquid nails, your yardsticks cut to the length of your plaque, and a small trowel.

 Start by laying a thin layer of liquid nails covering the front of the wood.

One by one add your cut pieces of yardsticks until the top is completely covered.

 Place something heavy on the top to weigh it down until it is dry.

I like to let it sit at least 4 hours. 

If you have the patience, leave it longer.

 When it is completely dry you can add hooks, clips, or whatever your heart desires.

 For the larger one I added a vintage clip.

It now acts as a clipboard that I can display a photo in.

I am thinking of making these as teacher gifts and adding a photo of the teacher with my child.

Or, another cute idea would be to have your child draw a picture and you

 could display their artwork in it.

 Just for fun, and to show you another version, I added a vintage brass hook to this one.

This could be used to hold car keys by the door, a small towel in the bathroom, etc. 

If you make one, be sure to email me and show me your version!

I have a few of these for sale at Ruffles and Rust in Snohomish if you don't feel like making one yourself!

xoxo

~a new use for a discarded pallet~

Now here's something to think about.....

read more here.

xoxo

~a shadow box make under and Lisa Leonard giveaway winner~

 I wanted to share with you a project that I did yesterday.

 It's a shadow box I found at a salvage shop.

 This is the after.

{sorry for all the reflections in the glass}

But it didn't always look like this.

 Here is the before.

Pretty loud huh?

Gold frame, black velvet fabric backing, horrible shells.

 I suppose at one point in time this was in, but not anymore!

I ripped off the fabric and painted the backboard a dark charcoal grey and added a real sea fan.

Then I painted the gold frame a creamy flat off white and put it back together.

Here is the after once again for comparison.

Much better don't you think?

And now, for the winner of the Lisa Leonard giveaway...........

Sarah from Moske Monkey Business, congratulations! You are the lucky winner of the $50 gift card to Lisa Leonard designs!

Pls. email me and I will get you in touch with Lisa!

Stay tuned for another great giveaway coming up this week!

I am also offering a sweet deal on advertising through my sweet savannah~1/2 off actually!

If you are interested in 3 months of advertising for only $50.00, pls. email me at lakeliving4@msn.com

xoxo

~a contact paper miracle~

Do you recall this post? 

One of my readers just emailed me along with a picture of what she did with 7 rolls of the dollar tree contact paper and a craigslist dresser.

Can you believe this?

She said on the way home from picking it up, one of the drawers blew out on the freeway.

 They went back and searched endlessly for it with no luck.

Her father made her a new drawer and she finished off the fronts as well as the insides with the drawer liner/contact paper.

Total spent on the paper~$7.00~

Now that my friends is genius!

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter holiday!

xoxo

~on a silhouette kick~

I made these, because.....

 I saw these and fell in love,

 and thought,

"hey, I could make those!"

 And if you want to make your own, I am going to show you how.

Start by having someone take a profile pic. of you.

{please do not comment on my unwashed hair}

 Gather your supplies.

You will need 2 canvas'

{I got mine on sale for around $11.00 a piece}

a pencil, a thin paint brush, a small inexpensive foam brush,

a black sharpie

{optional}

&

black latex paint.

 Head on over to your local copy center and enlarge your photo to fit in your canvas. I wanted mine to fill up most of it, so I enlarged my photo about 300%.

If your cheap frugal like me and don't want to pay the money to use the oversize copier, you will have to piece together your papers and tape, like I did here.

 Once you have the pieces taped together, cut out your image.

Feel free to trim a little off your belly, give yourself a nose job, whatever you feel like.

 Position your "cut out" on the center of your blank canvas and trace around it in pencil.

You don't really need to tape it down, just hold with one hand, and trace with the other.

Now you are done with your paper and you can toss it.

If you have a steady hand you can use your thin brush to "outline" along the pencil marks, and then use your foam brush to fill it it, just like a coloring book. If you've had too much coffee and end up with a shaky outline, wait till you come off your caffeine high and then outline it with a black sharpie.

 To protect from dust and normal wear and tear, you can spray them lightly with a non yellowing polyurethane.

 And that my friends is it!

Total cost on this project: $24.00!

My daughter saw these and asked if I was pregnant when this picture was taken of me.

I smiled and told her that no, it was taken last week.

 And then I sent her to her room.

I will be at the gym this morning if you need me.

xoxo

~blog {project} lovin~

2 fantastic projects worth sharing.

First, this diy sunburst mirror.

 It started out life as a wine barrel and you can read about it here.

 And check out this diy postage window treatment.

Get the instructions as well as the downloads here.

 Now these are some pretty fabulous projects!

I will be back tomorrow with a project of my own to share with you!

And remember, the dreamy whites giveaway is still going on!

Click here to enter!

xoxo

~a dresser makeover, mustard seed style~

Ever heard of miss mustard seed?

She has a fabulous blog, is a total do it yourselfer, and has been featured in many magazines.

She's pretty much my idol.

Anyhoo, she painted the most gorgeous union jack dresser.

 I knew when I saw it I had to copy try my hand at it.

Marian graciously accepted my request,

so I set out on a mission to find the perfect ugly dresser.

 My only qualifications were that is was solid wood, the drawers worked

smoothly and it wasn't over $100.00.

I found the perfect specimen at a local thrift store, bare bones,

and ready to go.

The drawers were smooth, the wood was solid,

and it was pretty plain and ugly.

I sanded it down, primed it, and painted it with a base of horizon grey recommended by Maria.

I then added the flag details with antique white I had matched to a pottery barn piece, and slate grey from restoration hardware.

I sanded it down, quite a bit, and finished it off with antique brass bin pulls.

And here she sits at ruffles and rust square waiting to go home to a new home. I think it would look darling in a child's room, but also it would look very chic in a master bedroom or family room as a side table, and it would hold a ton of storage!

happy friday friends!

xoxo

~parade of homes tour continues~{our home}

Today I am joining poppies at play in their online home tour!

I took some photos of our main living areas for you to see, the rooms that receive the most changes~monthly, if not weekly!

This is our living/family room. It's where we watch tv, play games, sit in front of the fire, and hang out!

This wall behind our sofa continuously changes.

I recently have gone through a sunburst mirror infatuation, so that is what I have up there now, along with some of my favorite family photos. I call it my wall of love!

I also just got these new lamps.

Don't kill me, if you've been reading my blog a while I had just purchased some fabulous chippy blue wood lamps.

I have a friend who wanted them really bad, so they are now in her house.

I like my replacement, a bit more contemporary, I like mixing modern with cottage.

Here is our back door, which 99% of the time people use as our front door, us included.

I painted the walls a while back a creamy oatmeal color but chose to leave the ceiling cedar, as well as the logs you see here above the french doors.

The chandelier is from Pottery Barn.

We have a massive river rock fireplace and with the exception of the summer months, we have a fire going almost all the time.

It's a very cozy room.

I also changed out some of the accessories on the sofa table.

I got this ornate gold mirror at TJ Maxx to tie into the gold in the new sunburst mirror

{also a TJ Maxx purchase}

I love this photo of my son with his 2 front teeth missing.

I got this cool metal box thingy from circle creek home at ruffles & rust square.

My mom gave me some old pharmacy bottles, and I added these as well as succulents in chippy garden pots.

I kill almost all indoor plants, but these are almost impossible to kill.

I think I always have at least one candle burning at all times, it's an obsession of mine~I love yummy smells.

This one is called milk and honey.

All these items sit on my $5 garage sale trunk that is stocked full of magazines~another obsession!

Now, moving onto the dining room which sits directly behind the living/family room. It's actually one big open room with different floors being the dividing line between the two.
I am seriously obsessed {do I use that word too much?}

with these melamine Ikat bowls and plates from Target. The kids can't break them and the colors are fabulous!

 Another every changing wall. This little niche that sits at the top of the stairs. I found this great ledge/shelf at a garage sale last summer, and for now have photos of my kids in reclaimed wood frames that I made. A couple old posts are leaning up against the wall.

 I recently stenciled this one wall in the dining room just to add a little interest. The shelves, which are an old door cut in half,  are filled with misc. flea market finds and TJ Maxx goodies.

 I LOVE all the light these windows bring in! They face the lake and in the summer months, the light just streams in. I have never shown this angle of the room before because of the embarrasing water damage in the skylights.

Don't look too close :)

I also recently found 2 caned high back chairs at a thrift store, painted them black and added a burlap coffee sack to the seats.

I may do a seperate post on those later, they are kinda fun.

Moving along to the kitchen which is right off the two rooms.

We do not have this pot rack anymore, but I like this picture because it shows the lettering around the inside of the skylight.

You can also catch a glimpse of our chalkboard wall in the background, which the kids love. I have to say, I love it too!

The kitchen island has a honed black granite on it and is HUGE. Eventually when money allows I'd like to update the rest of our counters with the same or maybe even butcher block.

I got these counter stools at Pier One Imports and think I'll have

 them for life.

They are comfy and I just love the cross backs.

A dear friend of mine made me the most adorable light leopard print seat cushions for them with a flouncy ruffle around the edge.

My husband trimmed out the island with mouldings and I painted and distressed it. These photos were taken prior to our mini kitchen makeover where I painted the cabinets to match and stained our floors.

You can see them here.

Not much else has changed in our other rooms, but if you are new to my blog and would like to take a peak, you can see our daughter's room here

&

our son's room here

{photos taken pre good camera days, sorry for the poor quality}

Thanks for stopping by!

Next up on the list is flea market trixie!

I love her home and her diy attitude, so be sure to check it out!

Here is the complete list of homes on the tour:

1. www.funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com

2. www.theoldwhitecottageblog.com
3. www.dearlillieblog.blogspot.com
4. www.honeywerehome.blogspot.com

5. www. mysweetsavannah.blogspot.com
6. www.fleamarkettrixie.com
7. www.starviewsonnet.blogspot.com
8. www.reddoorhome.blogspot.com

9. www.theshabbychiccottage.net
10. www.jenniferrizzo.com
11. www.justagirlblog.com
12. www.gransvillehouse.blogspot.com

13. www.infarrantlycreative.net
14. www.joysofhome.blogspot.com
15. www.modvintagelife.blogspot.com
16. www.domestically-speaking.com

17. www.isabellaandmax.blogspot.com
18. www.inmyownstyle.com
19. www.freckledlaundry.com
20. www.muchtodowithnothing.com

I also wanted to let you know I will be doing the mother of all giveaways tomorrow, so be sure to stop back by, and tell all your friends!

xoxo