Friday, December 9, 2016

Key of David Magnets

It's been awhile since I've had time to post but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!  I've been working on lots of projects and working more hours at my "day job" so there just never seems to be time to post!  I decided since this was a quick project, I would snap a few shots and tell you about it.  These are for the Sunday school teachers I serve with (and probably a few others!).  I didn't want to have to spend money so looking at what I had, this is what I came up with.
 Scrap fence boards, cut to 4" lengths
Scrap booking paper
Old keys
Mod Podge
Screw eyes
Ribbon
Mini High-Power Magnets

 Did you know that in the song, O Come O Come Emmanuel there is this verse that says, "O come, Thou KEY of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home"?  I always thought it was saying KING of David, but nope -- it's KEY!  So it was exactly what I wanted to put on these.  I just printed on with my printer, applied to the board with Mod Podge and sanded to distress the edges.
 I've had this bag of old keys for years and I've used them for all kinds of projects.  I had the little screw in hooks so after putting those in, I simply used some vintage twill tape to tie the keys on.  These could stand on their own or be added to a vignette or as I did, added to the refrigerator with magnets.  I bought the tiny, 1/4" thin, high-power magnets on Ebay.
 Here they are packaged and ready to go.  I used scrap booking paper to make the bags and added little gift tags, embellishments and ribbon.
 Trying to keep Christmas simple this year . . . and so far succeeding!  Less stress, and more time to enjoy the season and focus on the Savior.  I hope you are able to do the same and are enjoying the season . . . it sure does come and go quickly.  What ways are YOU simplifying the season this year?

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Peel & Stick Floors -- LOVE!

 Now tell me . . . what's NOT to love about this floor?  I mean, really there's the great looking seam between each tile; the deep gouges and stains; and let's not overlook the beautiful design, pink and blue flowers . . . well I could go on forever.  But instead, I'll share with you this part of my under 500.00 renovation of my kitchen (you can read the whole post here) using peel and stick vinyl floor tiles.  Since I was going with a retro design I wanted black and white which I found at Menard's.  I purchased two boxes of each (48/box) and ended up having just about 15 tiles of each left over.
If I have any advice about this project, it would be first of all about the tools and second of all the layout.  As far as tools go -- it's pretty simple:  A rolling pin, a large cutting board, quilting ruler and rotary cutter.  The rotary cutter cuts clean lines AND curves.  The ruler helps in measuring and giving straight cuts.  The rolling pin helps press the tile (especially the points) down for good adhesion. 
The second piece of advice is to lay out your tiles before you peel and stick, especially if you are doing any type of pattern like I did on the diagonal.  You want to make sure that the edges that will be seen the most do not have tiny, little pieces but nice, large pieces on the edges.
Once I knew where I wanted them to end in either direction and was satisfied with the edges, I THEN found my center tile.  The center tile was NOT in the "center" of the kitchen floor.  That didn't matter -- what was important was that the edges had nice, big pieces.
Cleaning the old floor is essential for good adhesion so be sure you scrub, scrub, scrub and let dry.  We also removed the small piece of molding around the edge of the floor and replaced that with new when we were finished.
I had a little "problem" under the refrigerator where at one time water must have leaked and rotted the flooring.  Dear husband cut out the rotten wood and laid a new piece of wood down.  So that the tiles were level, I had to lay tiles down on the wood FIRST and THEN the new tiles.  Guess what? We STILL had a box of those lovely floral tiles in the basement (pointing out here that WE didn't choose this flooring -- it was in here when we moved in!).  Funny thing, even brand new and shiny -- they were still ugly -- haha!
Ava made sure that no new tiles were damaged by the appliances.  We simply moved them gently onto old rugs and slid them over the new tiles so we could work.
Ava also gave her approval even before I was finished.  We both definitely prefer the new floor!  The whole project took me about 10 hours split between two days.  
What a difference!  The floor has been down for a month now and nothing has come loose, cracked, etc.  I'm SO pleased with how this turned out -- I highly recommend peel and stick if you are on a tight budget but want a new floor.  

On any given week (depending on how busy I am!) I love to participate in Linky Parties.  These gals put a lot of time and effort into hosting these parties so I always want to show my appreciation by directing my readers to these blogs. 

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Sunday, July 24, 2016

The War of the Squirrels

I am at war!  The first thing to know when you are at war is KNOW YOUR ENEMY . . . believe me, I know mine! If you've ever battled squirrels, you're on my side.  Sure, they LOOK cute and fluffy but they are devils and they destroy things.   This summer, they've zeroed in on my sanctuary  . . . my refuge . . . my gazebo.

 Look closer . . . and you'll see what these evil creatures are doing . . .

They are shredding my gazebo screens!!  This happened a few summers ago and by the time I found out, they had literally shredded two complete sides!  I'm guessing they are gathering nesting material but they are gathering from the WRONG person.  I did a bit of research and found lots of different suggestions for repelling squirrels and well, I decided that a multi-faceted approach was the way I would go.  SO . . .
 I read that they do not like strong scents like mint so since I have an abundance of mint, I spread pieces all around the deck.  The next strong scent I added was good, old-fashioned mothballs tied up in pieces of panty hose.
 To "spice things up" I sprinkled cayenne pepper all around the edges . . . and made a solution of hot pepper sauce and water which I sprayed on the deck as well.
 And then for "good measure" I went the chemical route and soaked the screen with this critter repellent (Important side note:  They really mean it when they say to not spray INTO the wind . . . I think the main component in this is pepper!)
 And after all of this . . .
I came home yesterday to find this . . .
 DRAT!!!  Now I'm not giving up because it WAS just a few smaller holes so MAYBE once they got a mouthful, they decided they didn't like the taste?? I'm still not convinced this is going to work but early this morning I had another idea based on what they had done a few summers ago to one of my outdoor decorations.
 I had made this cute, little banner to hang in front of the house but one day I came home and it was broken.  I thought maybe the twine just broke but when I tried to tie it together, it appeared that some of the banner was actually MISSING?! The next day I came home -- only about 5 triangles were left!!  I was TOTALLY baffled -- who would do this and WHY??  The answer came a year later when we trimmed a thick pine tree at the side of our house.  Inside we found . . . you guessed it, pieces of my patriotic banner. SO, this led to my current day problem and I wondered, "What if I GAVE these little monsters some nesting material?" -- would they leave my gazebo alone?  The result . . .
I didn't INTEND for this to be patriotic -- it's just that the tulle I had was blue, the fabric I didn't care about was red and I figured the fluffy batting might be appealing so I added that.  I stapled it all onto an old bench by the bushes where these little varmints tend to congregate and I'm HOPING they say, "Gee . . . why don't we use this pretty stuff for our nest and not bother with that nasty tasting screen that smells".
SO, does anyone else have any ideas for me??  Have you ever battled these creatures and won??
To be continued . . .

On any given week (depending on how busy I am!) I love to participate in Linky Parties.  These gals put a lot of time and effort into hosting these parties so I always want to show my appreciation by directing my readers to these blogs. 

Monday

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Saturday, July 9, 2016

Kitchen Renovation Under 500.00


There are four words I'm sure my family NEVER thought they'd hear me say:  "I LOVE my kitchen"!
But after 20 years in this house . . . I finally DO!
Thanks to my girls who 'got the ball rolling' by starting the painting of walls and cabinets, I just finished.  It took a few months but less than 500.00 to transform my most hated room into my most loved. There are SO many pictures of this process but I tried to pare it down to the ones that I felt would be most helpful to others considering this process.  Our budget was tight and the three biggest expenses were the paint (I'll explain why later), the flooring (109.00) and the counter top refinishing kit (119.00).  The rest was elbow grease and a few odds and ends.
The yellow dinette set was the inspiration piece for the room.  I purchased it years ago at a thrift store for 100.00 hoping some day I'd have a yellow, retro kitchen to put it in.  
Painting the cupboards was, well, a REAL job.  Here's the paint explanation.  I decided to go with chalk paint because I'd used it on furniture and loved the look.  Research told me it would work.  Well, it did . . . and it didn't.  It was VERY temperamental even though I thoroughly cleaned and even lightly sanded the laminate cupboards.  It took three coats to get good coverage and even after waxing, it was 'spotty' and dull in spots.  SO, I ended up going over them with a semi-gloss white paint I already had and that looked great.  SO, I spent 80.00 for chalk paint when I could have spent 20.00 on a gallon of semi-gloss paint and a quart of Kilz primer.  SO much time wasted too.  But -- lesson learned and in the end it all worked out.  I did not paint the inside of the cupboards either -- just the faces.  I also sprayed the beige stove hood with white paint designed for appliances.
I kept all of the hinges and sprayed them white.  To replace the old handles, I filled one of the holes and then bought red, porcelain knobs to put on the doors.  The drawers (pictured here on the left) presented another problem.  I filled BOTH holes but then had to drill a hole in the center for the knob.  Do you have ANY IDEA just how TOUGH cheap, laminate is???  I tried every drill bit I had and finally went to Home Depot and asked someone there what to use.  He told me to get a bit used to drill through tile -- and it worked!  Still took a bit of effort but it did work.
My tiny kitchen looks SO much bigger now with the pale yellow walls and white cabinets.  As I said, one of the larger expenses was the counter top kit that I told you about in an earlier post.  You can read about it here -- Daich Spreadstone Counter Top kit -- simply AMAZING!
I painted all of the outlet covers with high gloss, red spray paint; made a new little awning-type curtain over the sink; and a matching toaster cover.
 Over the sink is this nasty (well it USED to be nasty), cheapo, fluorescent light fixture.  No money to replace it right now so I just painted the lovely faux-wood grain, metal frame yellow so it blends into the section above the sink.  I got a piece of clear fiberglass cut at the local hardware store then laid a piece of lace on it and sprayed it white.  Remove the lace and voila -- a pretty light fixture.
I decided to do something special with the cupboards over the refrigerator (does ANYONE really use these cupboards??) Well I didn't so I decided to make this a decorative focal point by painting the inside a contrasting color and adding a few vintage pieces I had stored away.  I also drilled a hole in the bottom so I could add some light in there, running the cord down the side of the refrigerator to the outlet.
In the "After" picture you get a glimpse of my new flooring as well as a cabinet I made over and a message center from an old cupboard door.  I'll be posting more information on those in future posts.  Proof positive you CAN make over a room on a budget -- you just have to be willing to put in the time, effort and in my case, have a couple of cute, twin daughters who got the effort started!