A Favorite Quote

...and a nice reminder.

Hope you have a wonderful and memorable Mother's Day! 

Decorative Faux Window (with vinyl): Before and After

A year ago (almost to the very day) I walked into our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore for the very first time and walked back out with the nastiest, dirtiest, thrift find that I've ever brought home!  I myself was even questioning my judgement.  (I'll show you just how gross it was in a sec.)  So what swayed me to buy it?  The price--only $1.00 for this coop door or window, or whatever it was, and the before and after projects of fellow bloggers that pushed me to try to look past the ugly to see something more.  Thank you craft blogs! 

A year is a long time to wait for inspiration to hit (ideas will come when they come), but I think it was worth the wait! 

I'm not sure that I want to know what this originally was, but if you have an idea let's hear it!  I can tell you that it's made with a plexiglass insert, was filthy, had holes drilled in both sides, and for some reason was only partially painted purple? 

It also came complete with it's very own spider sac!  Eww.  First thing when I got it home I put on some rubber gloves and got out the 409 and windex.  I typically don't clean wood with 409, but it made me feel better.

I still wasn't convinced it was clean, so I took my electric sander to it and sanded it down to nice bare wood.  This is how it stayed for an entire year.  At first I wanted to finish it with a quote just like this one, then I thought I'd add music staffs with notes and letters in vinyl and hang it by the piano to help the kids with note recognition, but that never happened either.  When the idea came to add birds and branches in vinyl and then make it into a paned window I couldn't wait to get started on it--that was it!   

I started by staining the frame with a dark walnut stain and then painting it white.  For directions on how to paint the frame and distress it follow the tutorial that I posted for my Decorative Door.

Then I cut some (previously used) wood trim to use to make it appear to have panes.  If you do this make sure you measure and measure again.  This window isn't perfectly square, so it was tricky to get it all lined up so it looked right.  In this picture I was lining it up, measuring, and marking it for placement.

The design for the vinyl came from the Silhouette store.  I picked this one because I liked how it filled the frame and would hide the scratches on the plexiglass.  I had to change it to make it work with the size of the window so the birds were in the center of a pane.  After I enlarged and cut it with the Silhouette, I cut it apart with scissors and placed the leaves and branches where they fit best.

 

Edited to add:  The image is called "Bird and Branch Background" by Hero Arts and it's Design ID #9127.  I had to size it quite large so I was only able to cut out 1/2 of the design at a time.  You can't tell when you look at it, but a couple of the branches are even seemed together. 

I love the idea of looking through the window panes to see the birds and branches, but it looks nice without them too.

 

I used wood putty to fill in the cracks, measured and marked the placement, and then hot glued the wood trim together.  For more directions on how to add the wood for the faux window panes you can follow the tutorial for my How to Make a Window from a Picture Frame post.

Use an x-acto knife or a scissor blade to score any overlapping vinyl on the edges of the frame.

This decorative faux window is hanging in my dining room and is part of a gallery wall that I'm still working on.  I'll show you the rest of the projects as I finish them.

I've always loved decorating around birds and nature so I couldn't be happier with the end result!

Today's Fabulous Find...Habitat for Humanity's ReStore

 (Check for a location near you, they have some great stuff!)

Linking up to:  Beneath My Heart   Six Sisters' Stuff   Tator Tots and Jello    Funky Junk Interiors-Birds and Nests     My Repurposed Life    Creations by Kara    Someday Crafts     Lil' Luna    Oopsey Daisy    Not Just a Housewife     Home Stories A To Z

Organizing Puzzles to Save Space and Stay Sane

Through the Winter we found that having a puzzle out was a great way to keep us sane while we were cooped up in the house.  It was fun to have something that all of us could work on together, no matter what age. 

We put the puzzles together on a poster board on our living room table so if they needed to be put away when company came we could simply pick up the poster board and move it out of the way.  (It's also nice to be able to turn the puzzle when you get stuck and need to look at it from another view.)

After time though it's inevitable (with kids) that the corners of the boxes will tear and puzzle pieces will be lost.  Finding random puzzle pieces around the house drives me crazy, it's such a pain to figure out what puzzle they belong to and so frustrating for kids to put together a puzzle only to find out that there is a piece or two missing in the end.

I decided to spend a little time and organize them, based on a tip that my sister shared with me.

I cut the picture off of the front of the box and labeled it with a number on the back.  Then I wrote the number on a zipper seal bag and on each of the puzzle pieces on the kids puzzles with 100 pieces or less.

Now when (not if) I find random puzzle pieces around the house, my kids will know what puzzle they belong to and can put them away.   All of the puzzles pictured above fit into one box now with room to spare, which is a big space saver.

The font that I used for the vinyl on the box is a fun font called Hercules.

This is all of the extra packaging that I was able to throw away!

 This puzzle was cute, but tough--it has a whole lot of green and red!

Does your family like to put together puzzles?  Do you have any tips to share?  What is the largest puzzle you've ever put together?

Today's Fabulous Find...

Organizing Puzzles to Save Space

I was able to spend most of Saturday working on projects and got a lot done that I'm excited to show you including a home decor piece that to date is the dirtiest thrift find that I've ever purchased!  I didn't even want to put it in my trunk but the possibilities of what it could be won out and I brought it home, you won't even recognize it!

Linking to:   Lil' Luna     Creations by Kara     Someday Crafts

Today's Fabulous Finds on Facebook

I'm excited to share the news that Today's Fabulous Finds now has it's own Facebook page!

Now you can know whenever a new project is posted through Facebook if this is how you prefer to read along.  Some of you have been waiting for this, thanks for your patience!

 Just click on this button on my sidebar to visit my page, or click here.

Enjoy your day!

Featuring: Teacher Blocks...Appreciation Gift

These teacher blocks are going on my must make list!  Kierste at Brown Paper Packages has shared all of the details on how to make these amazing blocks--including the font and paint colors (love this red). 



Please pin this photo from the original post.

There are 10  blocks that spell fourteen + school related and seasonal words!  I don't think I'll have time to make them in time for Teacher Appreciation Week this week, but I should be able to get a set made by the end of the school year.  I think elementary teachers would love these in the classroom!

Today's Fabulous Find...Teacher Appreciation Blocks