DIY Gift Ideas – A Diamond in the Stuff

Wood Pedestal Chalkboard

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 10 May 2013 07:00:01 +0000

In September I held a Make & Take where we made some Wood Recipe Holders. I absolutely loved them. So much that I wanted to make a bunch more and find all kinds of purposes for them. My head was just spinning with ideas. I decided that I wanted to turn one into a Wood Pedestal Chalkboard.

Here is a breakdown of all the pieces it took to make the pedestal. If you want even move info you can visit my post about making the Recipe Holders.

I painted the pedestal a beautiful aqua color using some craft paint I had on hand. I wanted to distress the paint and bring out some of the wood underneath, it kinda went with a whole beachy look that was happening!

I went back and forth between using chalkboard paint and chalkboard vinyl. In the end I decided on using the vinyl, the wood was pretty rough and I wanted the writing surface to be nice and smooth.

Once the paint was dry, I applied some satin clear coat for a little added protection. Then I cut the vinyl out to fit the front of the pedestal and applied it to the front.

The Wood Pedestal Chalkboard is so perfect for the kitchen! I am planning on making more in different colors because I love these so much! Wouldn’t they make great gifts, maybe even Mother’s Day gifts!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Yesterday I shared my latest Thrifty Thursday find, come check it out!!!

DIY Mother’s Day Gifts

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:12:22 +0000

Mother’s Day is quickly approaching. Year after year so many of us struggle to find just the perfect gift for our moms, mother in laws, and other moms we love. Let’s face it, at the end of the day nothing says “I love you” more than a gift made with our own hands. Especially for moms.

So I decided to round up some of my DIY projects that would be perfect Mother’s Day Gifts for those special moms on your list!!!!

For the nature loving mom….

DIY Photo Flower Pot

Moss Birdhouse

For the photo loving mom…..

Wood Photo Holder

DIY Photo Tile Coasters

A mom who sews….

DIY Framed Pin Cushion

Sewing Subway Art

A wine loving mom…..

Wine Cork Topiary

Wine Subway Art & Wine Bottle Hurricanes

A mom who loves to cook….

Recipe & Photo Holder

Subway Art Kitchen Jar

So there is just a few ideas for some great DIY Mother’s Day Gifts. Hopefully my little list at least sparked some ideas for you. Feel free to keep looking around the blog for more inspiration if you need it!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Have you seen my latest furniture transformation? Come on over and see how I took this bottomless chair and turned it into a salvaged beauty!

Decoupaged Ball Ornament {Tutorial}

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Last year I posted a day full of DIY ornaments. Some of the most popular ornaments were my Sheet Music Ornaments, German Book Ball Ornaments, and my Map Ball Ornaments. At the time I hadn’t posted a tutorial and since then I have had tons of emails, comments, and messages asking for one. So it is FINALLY a time to post my Decoupaged Ball Ornament TUTORIAL!!!!!

Here are the supplies that I started with:

Clear glass ball ornaments

Old maps, sheet music, and book pages

Circle punch

Mod Podge

Glitter

The first step and maybe the secret to my decoupaged ornament success: circle punch. I use a 2in circle punch to cut circles out of whatever paper I’m using. Punch out a stack of circles to cover an entire ornament, the amount you will need depends on how much you overlap the circles and how large your ornaments are.

Now that you have your circles punched out, it’s time to decoupage!!! I cover the back of the paper circle with Mod Podge and stick it on the ball ornament. You will have to work with it a bit to get the entire circle to stick down. There will be little parts where the circle kind of folds in on it’s self, this is totally okay, just make sure that you press it all down as much as you can.

I start at the opening of the ornament and work my way around the top. Then I work down the ornament until I get to the bottom. I overlapped each circle enough so that there weren’t any gaps or ornament showing through.

Keep decoupaging until the entire ornament is covered. Let everything dry for a bit and then cover the entire ornament with a good coating of Mod Podge to seal and protect.

If you want to add a little sparkle like I do, you can decoupage some glitter onto the metal ornament cap. To do this, add some Mod Podge to the metal top then sprinkle some fine glitter onto it. Shake off the excess glitter and let it dry. Once it’s all dry add a coat of Mod Podge over the glitter to seal the sparkle in. When everything is dry, put the metal top back onto the ornament and it’s all ready to hang.

If you are doing the map ornament and you want a certain area to be visible, I would suggest covering the ornament with pieces of map from the surrounding areas and then go back and add the pieces that you want visible on the top layer.

I loved the writing in an old German book that I found, it just screamed Christmas to me. I used these book pages to create my German Ball Ornament. You can use any old book that you desire; dictionaries, children’s Christmas books, or any old book you can find at the thrift store.

I absolutely love the Sheet Music Ornaments. I am on the search for some old Christmas sheet music to make more of these beauties!!!

I hope that this tutorial has helped some of you out. Of course if you have any more questions please let me know and I’ll try to help you out! If you are loving these ornaments but don’t want to make them, please visit my Etsy shop to buy some of mine.

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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The Time to Shine party is open!!! I would just LOVE if you would come link up and party with me!!! Also, don’t forget to link back to my using my button in the sidebar….I’d love to feature you!!!

Teacher’s Clipboard Gift {Tutorial}

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 07:00:00 +0000

A couple Christmas’ ago I made some Decoupaged Clipboards for my daughter’s kindergarten teachers. This last Christmas I just ran out of time to make any, so I decided to make one for my daughter’s 1st grade teacher and one for my son’s preschool teacher as end of year gifts. Since I didn’t include a tutorial last go around, I’m including one this time!

I started out with two clipboards from the craft store. I love the craft clipboards because you can easily screw off the metal clips for decorating.

I painted both of the clipboards. I decided to just use spray paint and it worked great. I used Heirloom white on the front and back of the boards.

Then I decoupaged some coordinated scrapbook papers onto the fronts of the clipboards. I used one piece of 12×12 scrapbook paper mostly and a little strip of coordinated paper across the bottom of the boards.

On the solid colored paper on the bottom I added the teacher’s names. I cut the names out of black cardstock using my Cricut and decoupaged them on.

I dug through my ribbon stash and found some ribbon that coordinated with the papers I had chosen. I just knotted them onto the metal clip.

Another coat of decoupage over the whole thing and they are done!

I think they turned out super cute and the teachers seemed to love them too! They make great gifts for Christmas, teacher appreciation week, or end of the year gifts! : D

Linking up to these great link parties!!!