I {Heart} U Boards

I am really getting into the Valentine's Day spirit this year.

I saw these boards and knew I wanted to make some for myself!

These were my first project in my new work space. :)

And to make it better, it was basically free!

I did spend $2.00 on a heart stencil that I can now use forever and ever...

But we had everything else!

Hubby cut the wood from a scrap we had. (My boards are about 11 inches tall and 5.5 wide.) I printed the letters on the computer and cut them out with an exacto knife to make my own stencil. I haven't ever stenciled before. I think next time I will buy the stencil adhesive. :) These bled a bit, but not too bad. I touched up the really, really bad spots.

To get the weathered look, I stained the edges first and then painted the middle with several coats of paint to get rid of the light pine color of the wood. I painted over some of the stain with a more dry brush. (If I did this again, I would have used even less paint on the edges.)

After the stain and paint were dry, I did the stenciling and touch ups. When that was dry I used a cloth with just a bit of stain on it to go back over the boards to give them an antique finish. At this point I was just winging it! The first coat of stain really took to the second coat of stain and made those spots stand out. That is why if I could do it again, I would have allowed more stain to show.

Oh well, in the end I like it! I might embellish with some ribbon or buttons or something. I haven't decided yet. I'll let you know!

Scroll down to see my clean craft space! I am so excited!

An Inspiring Workplace... Finally

Man, I wish I had a before picture! I had no idea when the hubs and I started working on my office/craft room what a big difference we would be making!

Take a look.

From the door.

We have another big black Ikea desk to the immediate left. That is the "office" side. :)

We swapped the desk and the sewing machine and it works out great!

Can you see Jake playing?

My sewing table

Paper crafting and storage.

I've never shown you the ribbon and buttons before, huh?

Closer to the table.

Projects underneath.

Some magazines and more paper crafting.

Fabric! :)

Neutral fabrics and current projects. :)

An up-close of some paper crafting supplies

It feels so good to have a clean craft space to work in! I already completed two projects!

I will post those next!

I've been busy...

CLEANING! And, organizing. The hubs sat on the couch with me one night and helped me separate all of those buttons! I had some, and then I got more for my birthday from a friend - and it was time to organize them. And, the ribbon below my other friend sat and put in rainbow order for me. (Mostly because I don't care that much), but it looks so cool!

Scroll down and read the next few posts to see what else I have been up to.

Tying off a few loose ends...

We changed our couch cover from a tan one to this brown. That's when I realized that the brown pillows just weren't going to work.

So, I followed this tutorial to make these!

The ties look a little floppy now, but I blame that on my two dogs.

Please, don't enlarge this picture and look at all the dog hair on my couch! eek!

The new brown cover fits the couch better, but the color sure does shoes the puppy hair!

Crayon Roll Up

I made Jake this crayon roll today.

Jake isn't really into coloring yet, but I am ready when he gets the urge! :)

I followed this tutorial exactly and it worked great!

The Valentine's Day Wreath

After seeing this done here, I knew I had to try. Amy says that this wreath takes a lot of little circles and she was right. I bought some cream ribbon and some black ribbon to hang it because I couldn't choose, but for right now it is resting on the hutch's knobs.

Happy Valentines everyone!