An Afternoon Project...

...that took a week to finish! Never have I had a project that every step I did the result ended up in me adding another step!
So, I may have mentioned this before, but I have a new obsession called PINTEREST. It's awesome! Kind of like a huge virtual pin board and you can see all of the things everyone else pins. I like it because it is a place for me to keep all of the tutorials and project ideas that I want to try. If you haven't checked it out, you should!

I saw this post on Pinterest and saved it to my board.

I thought...hmmm, I could do Max's whole name. Pick up a few cheap frames at the re-sale store as well as some Hot Wheels, cut big letters out of black contact paper, stick it on some foam core and be done with it. Yeah, right! I only found 2 cars and no frames, so I was back to step one. I really wanted to do this, but didn't want to spend a lot of money doing it. A friend of mine was over last weekend and we set off to Hobby Lobby to see if I could find some decent frames in the 1/2 off sale. Well, no luck, but we started walking around and I saw the canvases and thought I could make that work. Just paint the letter on and glue the cars. Wouldn't need a frame and it would be easy to hang. They had 2 packs on sale and the black craft paint was on sale too.
The first step was to get the letters onto the canvas...how do I do this. Well, there was a link for a DIY overhead projector using a lamp and cardboard box. A lady had put her transparency in front of it and used it to enlarge a drawing on her wall. Well, it didn't work for me. So, I broke out the ruler and pencil. Figured it was 3 letter with straight lines. I measured the width of 2 cars, added a little extra and drew my letters on. Then it was time to paint them. I had to do about 3 coats to get it nice and covered. I had this...

I decided that I did not like the white background since I wasn't going to frame it and I could see some smudges from the pencil marks. Since there is no good way to get pencil off of canvas, I decided I was going to paint the background a solid color. Hubby voted for green, so off I went to get some more paint.

Of course, I chose a shade that was too dark and had a hard time seeing where the letter was. So, now I had to outline the letters...great. Not only were all of these new steps being added, but each step was another way of potentially messing up the whole project. Every step I started with the A because that was the easiest letter to draw and I had one extra canvas, so I thought I could re-do it if I had to. OK, so there I sat one night with my silver paint and my little paint brush going around each letter at least twice.

I ended up with a decent product! I thought I was in the clear. Just the road stripes and glueing the cars on and I am home free...yeah right! I thought the easiest way to do the yellow stripes on the road would be with duct tape. So, I bought a roll and came to the horrible realization that I could not cut a strip long enough because of the stickiness. UGH! A little more investigation and I found a sheet of duct tape. It's duct tape, but comes stuck to a sheet of paper that had a grid on it. Perfect. I sat and cut the lines and cut them into strips and stuck them on. Got them all done and we looked at them and decided they were too thick. Out came the yellow craft paint and paint brush once again! Luckily, I had drawn pencil lines down the middle of the letters to line the tape up with, so I just used those as guides. Then I was left with this...

Nearly finished! I just wanted to do a quick coat of black around the edges and I thought that I needed to put a clear coat over everything before I glued the cars on. Once again, I started with the A. Well, it didn't turn out so well. I got the clear coat thicker in some places and it was just bad looking. I had to repaint the black and green parts of the letters and then decided to forego the clear coat.
On the home stretch now...just have to get the cars glued on. It was a little tricky because I would get the glue on the wheels and then they would turn, but I was bound and determined to get those suckers put on! This morning they were still there and stood the test of being turned upside down.

So, then we just had to hang them up and little man could enjoy looking at his cars!

So, a week after I started this project, it is finally wrapped up! I am happy with how they turned out and I think Max loves them.
Now, onto the next project...

Little Man's Room

I have slowly been getting the little guy's new 'Big Boy Room' set up. He has been sleeping in his big bed for about a month now, but I didn't have the room anywhere near ready for him. Honestly, I thought we would have to gradually move him in, but he really liked his room and slept through the night the first night. Needless to say, there was no turning back. So, I've been doing things here and there. I painted it a few weeks ago. The color turned out to be more blue than I originally wanted it to be, but it is ok.
My favorite thing so far is the toy storage bin in the corner. Inspired by a pin on Pinterest, we bought some waste baskets at IKEA. Daddy and I sat and drilled holes in them, then zip tied them together one day. Works great in the corner!

And, a close second, is another idea from Pinterest. The fabric book sling.
I found some cute fabric at IKEA and since the little dude is all about cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles, I thought it would be perfect!

I wish I would have thought more about where to put it and how long to make it, but I just followed the tutorial. We'll have to move it at some point, but I think it will work well for now.

Here is another project I did.

My hair lady is moving to Nebraska. So sad to see her go. She has been the only one to cut my hair since I moved to Iowa 6 years ago. She became a great friend to me and I will miss her. I made this little pillow for her.
I was impressed with myself...my first pillow and I thought the piping added that extra special touch. I traced a map on the fabric, then went over it with fabric paint. Then the hearts and connection were embroidered on.
So, that's what I've been up to...have some more projects lined up downstairs, so I better get busy!

Pink and Blue Owls!

 Seriously...how cute did these turn out? My photography skills need MUCH improvement, but I love these little bags. I made one for me a few months ago and I use it every day. It is great to keep your wallet, phone, keys, chapstick in as well as lunch. It's just the perfect size. On the weekend, I can throw in a few diapers, wipes and a sippy cup and we are ready to go! The front pockets are perfect for your phone and keys so that you can easily find them. There is also a fair amount of spare change in mine! Well, these totes are up for grabs, and I'm sure I'll have plenty more in the future. I've been organizing fabric this week and there are so many cute prints. So, let me know if you're interested!