Burlap Message Board (Ballard Designs Knock-Off)

The kids are back in school and the paperwork is flooding in.  I have four in school this year and I'm afraid I might be buried alive in paper!  I found a cute wire basket at TJ Maxx to help cut the paper clutter,  it is somewhat similar to wire baskets that I spotted in the Ballard Designs Catalog.  I only wish it had one more basket!

While I was peeking through the catalog, I thought a Burlap Message Board would be great to go along with the new baskets.  (A knock-off, of course.)  I love a good knock-off challenge, it makes me happy to make something nice for less.

Ballard Designs-Burlap Message Board

I was lucky enough to spot some great burlap in Home Fabrics last week that is almost identical to what is on Ballard's boards.  The burlap is thick and sturdy with a nice weave.  Perfect for a cork board.  I didn't know there were so many varieties of burlap beyond a potato sack!

I put the Message board in my kitchen area, where the clutter tends to pile up.  I wanted the entire under cabinet area filled with cork board, so I started by building a custom size wood frame.

Here are the supplies I used:

pine 1x2's
Foam Board (Hobby Lobby)
Cork Roll (Hobby Lobby w/coupon)
Burlap
Glue
wood screws
upholstery nails

tools:

staple gun
screw driver
drill
saw to cut 1x2's
rubber mallet

One of the reasons I like the wood frame so much is that I could "frame" around my phone jack and electrical outlets.  I built the frame deep enough to allow the cords to fit behind.  

After measuring my space, I started with the wood frame.  I made a rectangle with 1x2's and braced the center with two more 1x2's.  The braces are important to support the foam board and cork.  I used long screws and wood glue to attach everything, making sure to pre-drill to avoid split wood.

Next, I glued the foam board (cut to size with a box knife) to the wood frame with wood glue.  For extra hold I attached the foam board with staples.  Then I cut the cork roll to fit the frame and used spray adhesive to attach the cork to the foam board.  I then cut the burlap fabric to fit and stapled it to the back.  The corners are tricky, I folded mine on the top and bottom where I knew they would not be seen.

There's nothing worse to me than crooked nail head, it can ruin all of your hard work.  I made an "easy to follow" template to help me get the nail head on nice and straight.  First, I marked how far in I wanted the nail head. (About 1 inch.) I drew lines on each side of the paper one inch in. My nail head is about 4 inches apart (this depends on the measurement of your board) and marked dots on the line where the nail will go. 

Next, I cut a line on the paper with scissors on each nail mark.  Then I lined my template up on the corner of the board, pushed the nails in part way on the dots, then pulled the paper away.  It's super easy, then I moved on down the board with the template.  Before permanently hammering the nails in, I used my straight edge to double check that the nails were straight.  I finished hammering the nails in with a rubber mallet to avoid damaging the nails.

I used sawtooth picture hangers to hang the board on the wall. The open frame and foam board keep the board light!

Now I have a burlap message board that rivals a high ticket board from Ballard Designs for a fraction of the cost!  I am one happy and "semi-organized" gal!  

Yellow Flower

I stumbled upon a gigantic yellow flower on Pinterest that goes along with the outfit below. 

 I love looking at all the clothing outfits on Pinterest... maybe it might inspire me to finally rid myself of sweatpants!  

The created outfit is found on Polyvore.

  I quickly headed over to see where the flower is from, kirnazabete.com. I about died when I saw the price!  335 dollars!? Yikes, that must be some flower!  Maybe it has gold dust sprinkled between the silk petals? :)

Lanvin Flower Brooch - kirnazabete.com

For about a dollar's worth of fabric, I tried knocking it off.  The original is made from washed silk.  I couldn't find yellow silk in our local fabric store, so I went with 100% polyester yellow.

 ( I know, a huge step down from silk)

I traced a silk petal from a previous store bought flower and on paper enlarged it by hand into various sizes.

I mostly used the larger petals.  To give the petals texture without having to sew much, I carefully burnt the edges and then held each petal over the flame until it crinkled.  There is something so fun about burning polyester....but if you do this, be sure to keep some water nearby.  

For the center of the petal, I used a 10 x 1 inch strip of the same fabric.

  I also burnt the edges and center of the strip to add texture.

Next, I stacked each petal until it looked the way I wanted it to, and then ran a thread through the center.  

For the center, I rolled the fabric and stitched it in place. 

I was still curious how the silk would burn, so when I was at the store, I picked up red dupioni silk to make a similar flower. All I can say is silk really stinks when it burns.  It smells like burnt hair, not very pleasant. 

I burnt the edges carefully, and started a couple of petals on fire. Yes, water nearby is very important!

 The silk petals lay flat, so to give them texture you have to pinch and sew in place.   

For the center of red rose, I took smaller petals and folded them into thirds. 

 There are three small folded petals in the center.  

The flowers were somewhat time consuming, but really, it wasn't too bad.  I had the excuse to catch up on Season 2 of Downton Abbey while I made them. {Love that show.} Nicole introduced me to Season 1 when I was down with my appendectomy.  I was hooked from the first episode!

See you soon!

Pottery Barn Art Boards

In case any of you guys missed our guest post over at Infarrantly Creative

we thought we'd post it again here at home!

Here's our latest project we've been working on.

Do you recognize these???

Here's our source of inspiration~~

(image source Pottery Barn Kids)

These bad boys go for $169 a piece, yup each, so that would be a

grand total of $676 for 4.

Let me go grab my wallet......  

Yeah.

So here's where we started.

We printed off the picture and tried to measure them to scale.

If you don't own a quilting ruler, go get one, they are so useful!

We got 7 2x4 foot 1/4 inch MDF boards.

Home Depot was so good to cut everything out for us!

We used printer paper to make our patterns, which worked great

since it was already 11" high, we taped 3 sheets together to fit the 24" width

of the board and eyeballed the rest from there.

2 of the boards were cut into 3" slats,

1 was for the house tops

and the 4 remaining were for each house base. 

Each school house was 48" high except for the red one so we modified the pattern

to maximize the use of our boards.

I know looking at these it might seem overwhelming but remember...

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

We know a lot of us get a bit nervous around tools,

but we Crafty Sisters really want to encourage you not to!

The jigsaw was one of the first tools we tried and it's pretty user friendly!

For this project you'll need:

A jigsaw, a drill, liquid nails or wood glue, paint,

sand paper and some clamps would be really useful!

(Although I have to admit my pantry was completely raided to clamp all of these down!)

We made the top portion 11 inches high.

Side slats were cut at 35 inches, the bottom was 24".

We used some 1x2" trim moulding for the chalk tray at the bottom.

It's easier to be exact with the roof line by layering the top piece,

 gluing it to the main house and then cutting it exactly. 

Less cuts, nicer finish.

Spray paint works best and gives the best finish!

Did you know that if you lightly sand between coats

it will make your finish look even better?!

Also following the directions on the back is always good (note to self).

Don't get too close and glob the paint.

It's better to do several thin coats then ruin it with one globby one.

Spray painting in cold weather isn't fun.

It stinks. Literally.

We're hoping the hubby doesn't notice the over spray of red on the garage floor.:)

Each house was then either inlaid with dry erase board,

cork board, or painted with chalk board paint. 

If using chalk board paint we recommend pre-painting the side slats and

then gluing them into place so you don't get chalkboard paint all over them.

Scared to cut dry erase board?  We were too!

Luckily we remembered a great tip we saw used on trimming doors to protect them from chipping:

Make sure to tape along the line before you score~

this will eliminate any chance for the finish to chip and flake up!

We also found a roll of white craft paper to hang from a dowel that

was held on by little corbels we made that attached to the base.

A little liquid nails holds everything in place

and spray adhesive worked great for the cork!

We attached "d" rings to the back for easy hanging.

All these things can be found at your local craft and hardware store.

We had to make one in pink for Nicole's daughter to display her

artwork and to organize her jewelery!

Candace's boys didn't need any coaxing to try them out either!

 These were pretty fun to make and actually pretty easy

but more importantly our kids love em'!

Plus our grand total was just over $75.

That's total....for 4!

Pretty fun huh?

Now, what to do next.....

Chicken Wire Wall Shelf

  

This is another shameless copy of a shelf Nicole and I saw in a store. 

 I think they wanted over 70 bucks for  it. 

We took a trip to the hardware store and made it with

a couple of cedar fence boards, chicken wire, hinges.... and a little finial to top it all off. 

 Much cheaper, and that's for two!

I will not lie...those darn pitches on the roof were incredibly hard to figure out how to cut. 

There were a few choice words said today and this shelf was almost not meant to be.

Seriously, I don't even know how we even got the angles,

We just kept cutting.....and cutting.....and cutting......and yes, more cutting.

We almost tossed it aside.....(well actually I had some grand fantasies about taking a hammer to it....)

but we were stubborn...and you can fix about anything with wood filler! :)

We made a couple more of the Celluclay Pots from a previous post.  We didn't paint these ones, instead we sanded them down after the Celluclay dried to let a little of the terracotta color peek out.

I'm telling you...that is cool stuff! 

 

We forgot to buy knobs for the doors, so we painted some GOLF TEES with spray paint,

drilled a few holes and stuck them in.

I kinda like the look of them. 

 

Of course I had to match my bird house, so I whipped out my left over paint.

After painting it all ,we lined the doors

and the roof with chicken wire. 

Does anyone have a great way to put chicken wire on?  Do you all use staples? 

 

The shelf is meant to hang on a wall, like a mini potting shed...I haven't gotten around to it yet. 

 

Nicole used her table saw to rip the cedar boards.

  The 1 inch excess is what we used to build the doors. 

 

I was in awe of how Nicole figured out how to make the doors. 

She built the base first, and fit the doors to the back.  She made it look so easy! 

 

Now for some real flowers in those pots!

We're linking to,

http://thecsiproject.com/

 because "almost"  all of the supplies, we found at the hardware store! :)

Hinged Frames

This is a super easy project!

  We were again inspired by a decor store.

I feel bad copying store ideas, but I also feel bad paying high prices! :)

  Their frames had a built in arch, to make them would require power tools ( well this time anyway;) ).  We didn't feel like pulling the saws out today and so we turned to a really easy

 (and cheap)

 way to make these, plus the frames are already made. 

We used Michaels cheapo unfinished wood frames and inserted the glass from another cheap Michael's photo frame.  Hinges and decorative wood pieces came from Hobby Lobby.

This is probably the hardest part - putting on the hinges. 

 Make sure you have the hinge going the way you want to picture to tilt.  I had to unscrew a few! :)

We used a little wood glue to stick on the wood piece.

We gave it a couple coats of spray paint.

I read a post by Rene of Cottage and Vine sharing her favorite places to find free artwork.

  I found these free fern prints at one of the sites she recommended,  Vintage Printable.

Carefully pop the glass out of the second photo frame and place into hinged frames along with print cut to size.

 We used this same idea in a craft group I'm involved in to make a set of hanging frames.

This would also be easy to make with thrift store frames.

Pretty simple!

Nicole and I have been busy with tons of garden and yard work. 

There's always so much to do this time of year! 

We hope to bring you some more projects soon!