Saturday, July 9, 2011

Upcycled Bulletin Board and Croffice Sneak Peek

When I was a child, my mom gave me a bulletin board that was hers when she was growing up. I used it for years. I even covered it with fabric and ribbon to make one of those ribbon memory boards when I was in college. A couple of months ago, we went through several boxes of my old things that were in storage at my grandmother's house, and I found the bulletin board. It still had the fabric and ribbons on it, but those were easy to remove. I decided I'd like to incorporate it into my craft room update, but I wanted to frame it to downplay some of the age on it. Easy peasy.

Mama's bulletin board prior to the upgrade:


I found a frame on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $8.84. It was a tad more than I wanted to spend on it (I attempted finding a frame at a thrift store), but I really liked it. It's white with just a touch of a reddish-pink color around the raised edges. It didn't have a back to it, which was perfect.



This is a bad picture of the edge of the bulletin board. It had a ribbon-y trim around it that was showing some age. That was part of the reason I wanted to frame it.


This is a shot of the back of the bulletin board. Again, you can see the age it was showing. It already had hardware on the back of it for hanging, so that meant I didn't have to add a hanging mechanism to the frame. Yay!

I used my high temp glue gun and attached the frame to the bulletin board. There was a small ledge on the inside of the frame, so it really was easy.

This is a picture of the framed bulletin board:

Joseph was super fab and said he would hang the bulletin board and a few other things on the wall above one of the desks in the croffice (craft room + office = croffice). He said, "I think there's a stud right here." I said, "Yep. *wink*" haha!


I purchased this bulletin board from Goodwill for $3.00. It's in pretty good condition. Not bad!




This is the wall where "we" hung everything above the desk. This is your sneak peek of the croffice update. I have some finishing details left to do, and then I'll post the reveal. :O)


Friday, April 22, 2011

Crocheted Kindle Case

I wanted a case for my Kindle, but I couldn't decide what I wanted. I did a search for tutorials online, and I found this one. Hers turned out MUCH better than mine, but I'm pleased with how my first attempt at something like this turned out. The homemade look of it doesn't bother me. If it did, I would have purchased a case. I may make a second attempt at some point, because it's much larger than I intended it to be (crocheted items always seem to stretch on me). As it is, there is extra room for me to carry a light if I choose to get one.












Sunday, April 17, 2011

Mailbox for Husby

For our first anniversary, I made two gifts for Joseph. Because it was our first anniversary, we were supposed to give each other paper gifts. That lent itself perfectly to being crafty. While I was in Hobby Lobby one day purchasing some items for Croffice (coming soon!), I found a paper mache mailbox (sorry, I don't have any before pictures). It was only 99 cents (on sale), and I thought it would be a fun way for me to leave notes for Husby. I started by adding scrapbook paper with modge podge. Then I cut a couple of fun images using my Silhouette SD. I really like the "restroom" couple. Hehe. I used a red Sharpee to add the little hearts on them.
I also used a red Sharpee to color the flag. I was pleased with the result.



An index card folded in half (and trimmed a tiny bit) makes a great start for a homemade card.