Quick and Easy Nursery Wall Hanging

My Friend dropped in last weekend for a quick visit to pick up her daughter, I thought! She actually stopped by not only to get her daughter, but needed some help with a gift idea.

She was headed to a baby shower that afternoon and had picked up a fat quarter of fabric and a few monogrammed wooden letters.

I pulled out my paint tray and brushes. She got busy right away and painted the wooden letters. We used a hair dryer to quickly dry them.

I just so happened to have a cabinet door I pulled out of a storage unit. It was a sample left over from when my father was purchasing new cabinets. I knew when I saw that door that I could make something with it, but I just had not decided what exactly. So I told Corbey...let's use this. 

We flipped it over and added a hanger to the back side.

After the letters dried, we measured the center of the cabinet. Corbey cut a piece of fabric to fit the center perfectly.

Then we mod podged the center with a generous coat and placed the fabric on it. I air dried it for a few minutes to speed up the process.

The next thing we did was use a dab of all purpose Gorilla glue to the letters with a dab of hot glue so that the hot glue would hold it on there while the craft glue dried. I don't always trust hot glue on a slick surface. The Gorilla glue will be completely dried in 24 hours so that is fool proof.

It turned out great. We put it in the backside of the basket and tada! It took less than 20 minutes. After it was done, I was like "Wait I need some pics!" Too late. Here is what I got...

I just love barn sales. There is this terrific barn down the road at Sunny Patch Farms. About twice a year they open their doors to the public. It is always a great day. I spent all morning milling around and visiting with many friends, helping others to load their treasures, and then panicking that I myself had found nothing except the one thing that I have been waiting for since last fall, a vintage glam mirror and taper candle set (sconce). I will post my makeover on that another day. The item was so high up, I have to go back later to pick it up!

The barn sale

These Pictures are a little blurry. I was sneaking in a few photos :).

 

While scanning the walls, alleys, and vendors, I found a great vintage bird on a dogwood set for $12.00. Yes it is worth $12.00. After all, this is not a garage sale we are talking about it is a barn sale. :) Big Difference.

 

OOOh the excitement. I brought my little birds home and gave them a good scrubbing in the sink with a bristle brush and Dawn detergent. Once it dried thoroughly, I gave it a nice coat of Rustoleum Painters Touch Ultra Cover in Gloss White for plastic. This spray paint is 2x the coverage and dries quickly. I love that!  Once it dried, I gave it another coat making sure to cover almost all of the nooks and crannies.

 

Then I took 220 sandpaper and gave it a light rub on the areas that I wanted to accent the most. I rubbed the sandpaper across the edges of the flowers, the middle of the flowers, and certain areas of the bird such as the feathers to pull a little of the old color through.

 

 

Now it is time to clean it up again. Making sure to get all the loose pieces off the little birds in the process. I want them to be super clean.

If you want to take it a step further, you can rub a coat of Valspar Antique Glaze on them.

Wait a minute, then use a soft cloth or soft paper towel and gently rub it into the distressed areas wiping off all excess. It will give it more of a wooden look by darkening the distressed areas. If it looks too dirty or too dark in one spot--no worries, just dampen your cloth and wipe over it to clean it off. I would not wait too long to rub in your glaze. It dries quickly.

 

 

Now they are ready to shine. Where to put them?? On my hand made grape vine wreath for the time being! I am off the help my sister with 60 baby Tamworth pigs!

 

Tickled Herring

Mason Jar Triple Mounted Vase

As seen on Pinterest...

I was surfing around on Pinterest and found a tutorial for a Mason Jar Wall Planter by Craftzine, as well as this one for a Mason Jar Storage by Liz Marie. The pins will take you to their sites. I followed the tutorials listed and within an hour, I had three of these babies!

It was very easy and inexpensive to make. I am thinking about a pencil jar for a teacher now :) on a single board since it is the end of the school year, but that means I would have to make 7. Yikes!

Tickled Herring