Re-purpose an old window into a shabby chic message board

June 2, 2016 / TakeTimetoCreate / 2 Comments

If you follow my Instagram (taketimetocreate) then I am sure you have already seen the reveal of this repurposed window. For those of you who don’t follow me there here the shabby chic message board!

I have to say I do love the way it turned out! This all started when my friend asked me to paint a window for a silent auction for mental health awareness. At first I wasn’t too interested, not because I didn’t believe in the cause (because this is one cause I totally support) it was because I wasn’t sure I had a design that would work. Most everyone else did a more traditional painted window with flowers on the glass and things like that. Well of course I didn’t follow the crowd. So I did my own thing and hopefully it will bring in a lot of money for the charity!

Here is how I did the repurposing.

Materials:
~ old window (for this to work you for magnets you will need one with a metal screen)
~ sandpaper, tape, cleaning supplies
~ paint and brush
~ cork
~ flowers, magnets, tacks, and clothes pins
~ ribbon and burlap

Instructions:
~ The first thing you will need to do is sand down all the rough edges and smooth it out. Once you like the feel of the window then give it a good cleaning.

~ Now you are ready to paint. I taped around the edges to help cut down on how much paint went on the screen, and this seemed to help.
Paint a couple coats until you get it to how you like it. I used this white acrylic paint that I had on hand.

~ Cut your cork down to size and glue it on to the screen. I just glued the edges with a metal glue and that seems to hold it pretty well.

~Then I went to work decorating the edge. Shabby chic is all about layers so that is what I did. I put down a layer of burlap, the layered on a layer of crochet ribbon that I had in my stash.

That looked good, but I felt like it was missing something, so I added a ribbon on top and flowers in the corners.

Then I added ribbon to the bottom of the screen and to the bottom of the window. Once that was done it was time to add the flower decorations.

~ For the flowers add a magnet the back of some and tack to the others. For the clothes pins I just added ribbon to a plain clothes pin I got from the dollar store.

And that is it. This is a very fun project that is easy to do and I loved using what I had on hand. I can’t wait for the auction and hopefully they will make a lot of money for their cause!

Christmas Mason Jars

December 23, 2015 / TakeTimetoCreate / Leave a comment

Hello Everyone and Merry Christmas!

Do you remember the Fall Mason Jars I made a while back? Here is the link incase you missed it: Fall Mason Jars

Well I updated them for Christmas just by making a new flowery top.

Here is how I did it;

Materials:

~Flowers

~Mason Jar lid

~Hot Glue

~Ribbon

Instructions:

~ Remove the old lid and save it for next year

~ Take a new lid and glue on flowers. For Christmas I used Poinsettias that I found at the Dollar Store

Glue ribbon around the edge

Fill with Candy and you are done. I didn’t use any window clings this time because I thought the red and green candies were enough.

I am loving how easy it is to make these jars and how easy it is to store just the lids. And my boys love the candy in the jars Smile

Easy DIY Scarf Holder

December 4, 2015December 3, 2015 / TakeTimetoCreate / 2 Comments

I know I am way late to the scarf train, but now that I am aboard I am all about scarfs! I love how you can take a basic outfit and dress it up with a simple scarf, and they make your wardrobe so much more versatile!

Well now that I have accumulated a fair number of scarfs I ran in to the problem of where to store them. I wanted the in a location that I could see them so I didn’t forget about them in the morning. Also I wanted the scarfs to hang so they didn’t get too wrinkly (less ironing, which is always a good thing)

So we can up with the solution of finding a way to hang them on the back of the closet door. Please excuse any mess you see in my closet, organization is an ongoing problem in there.

This is a fast and easy way to hang your scarfs

Materials:

~ Dowel Rod

~ Adhesive hooks (I used 3M Command hooks)

~ Level (for hanging)

~ Duck Tape (Used this great purple Prism color)

Instructions:

~ cut your dowel to length. I wanted 2 rows, so I just cut them the length I needed. We had a saw at home, but the home improvement store can cut it for you if needed.

~ I was worried about the wood snagging my scarfs so I decided to wrap it in Duck tape. It also has the added benefit of being purple and sparkly.

~ Attach your hooks to your door, or where ever you want your scarf holder. (My fabulous husband was nice enough to help me hang it up and make sure it was level)

~ Add the dowel rods

~ Add your scarfs and you are done!

It was that easy!

Gallery Wall

November 20, 2015November 20, 2015 / TakeTimetoCreate / 2 Comments

Today I thought I would take a moment and show you my gallery walls that are in my house. I love to have photos of my family and our favorite vacation spots on our walls in our house. Since we don’t have a ton of wall space we needed to be creative in how we display our pictures. So we set up two gallery walls. One in a 3 x 3 grid and looks a little modern with our black and white pictures. The other is a little more free flow. I will show you both and how we put them together.

Black and White Grid

This was a fun way to show our favorite vacation spots. We love to travel and we have tons of pictures from our travels, so what better way to show where we have been than with a gallery wall. The frames are 12 x 12 black frames I got at Aaron Brothers, but I think you can get them pretty much anywhere, including online. I had our photos printed at Walmart in black and white in and 8×10 size. I added a blurred boarder around the edges. When I got the photos I glued them on to a 12 x12 piece of card stock and framed the photo. We then hung them in a 3 x 3 grid pattern. Very easy to do and it is a nice way to show case you travel photos.

Here is a close up of the photos

If you want to see how we painted our couch you can see this blog post.

Gallery Wall

The other wall was a little bit less defined. Going up our stairs we thought it would be fun to show our family pictures and other things that mean a lot us. First we laid it out on the floor (and yes that is Starlight “helping”). I am so sorry for the blurry pictures, these are just terrible…

Anyway we laid out that pattern and when we found a pleasing layout we took papers in the sizes of the frames and laid it out on the actual wall so we could get a good idea of placement. Once we were happy we pounded in nails and hung up everything.

On this wall we have our family pictures, a favorite saying (Live well, laugh often, love much) a letter S that I put buttons on (the how to blog post is here) and a beautiful hand pained tile we got in the Bahamas. And we have prints with what our names mean. It is a wonderful grouping of things we love.

What do you think of our gallery? How do you hang pictures in your home?

I am tired

November 6, 2015 / TakeTimetoCreate / 1 Comment

I will give you all fair warning that this post will contain swear words. What a way to start this blog post. So if you don’t want to read those naughty words then stop right now. If you don’t have a problem then let’s continue on.

I am tired of the BS

I don’t mean for this to be a complaining post, I did want to share what I was going through and how I handled it.

Like I said, I am tired. What I mean by that is, I am tired of all the bullshit that is going around. Whether it is from family, friend, coworkers, customers, or vendors I am tired of all the bs. I hear a lot of complaints without solutions, whining without anyone doing anything about it. People just like to carry their bs around and spread it all over the place, and I am tired of it. I don’t mean to be a “complain-a-saurus” so I am surrounding myself with people who are not spreading the BS, but people who are trying to make the world a better place.

I have been calling people out on their bs, which might not leave me with many friends, but that is ok.

By now you are probably wondering what this is all about, and how does it relate to creating and crafting. Well, I will tell you. I was talking about how tired I am of the BS to my husband and he jokingly suggested that I stitch that up some way and display it. I thought that was a fantastic idea! So I decided to make a cross stitch pattern with my new saying. I have never made a pattern before and I have to say it was a lot of fun. I know it is not perfect, but it is my first try. If you have any suggestions on making patterns I would love the help.

I decided this was not complaining it is taking a problem and making something from it.

For this pattern I just used an Open Office grid template and made a grid in the spreadsheets and put and X where I wanted a stitch. Pretty easy to create. I am not sure I will actually make in the colors I picked, but it was fun to play around with the colors.

I am attaching a pdf of the patterns on the blog so that you can print one up and make a cute decoration with the saying “I am tired of the bullshit”. I made 3 versions, so make the one you like best and be sure to share it with us when you are done. I am planning on making one as soon as I am done with some other projects.

Thank you for listening to my rant. I love my readers, you guys are the best and I truly appreciate you. I will try not to do this too much. But I am glad that even with my frustration I was able to create something new.And while I was making the pattern I couldn’t stop laughing. I giggled and laughed the entire time, and to me that is the best part of the whole experience.

And that is what this is all about, taking a deep breath, and creating something new.

tired of the BS

tired of the Bull

tired of the bullshit

Wake Up And Be Awesome

October 29, 2015 / TakeTimetoCreate / Leave a comment

Wake up and be awesome is my motto. Everyday you have a choice of what you want to be and awesome is my answer. It is not always easy, but I do try.

So what better way to show my love for awesomeness than to make a wall hanging? It is fun to look at first thing in the morning and they day is always better when you start off with a smile.

Materials:

~old painting that you are willing to cover up. I found mine at Goodwill

~ paint (I am using acrylic paint that I found at the craft store)

~ Alphabet stickers, I was looking for big stickers and I found mine at Target near the poster board section

~ Rhinestone (of course I need rhinestones! I think this is a prerequisite for all my crafts Smile )

~ Glue to glue on the rhinestones (I am using Aleene’s Jewel-it glue)

~ Foam paint brush

Instructions:

~ Take your old painting and wipe clean. A damp paper towel should do the trick. I found this painting at Goodwill. It is not an actual painting but a print on canvas. The style doesn’t match my décor but the colors do. So I thought it would be perfect for this project.

~ Gather your supplies

~ I cut out the letters and laid them out to make sure everything fit.

~ Stick the letters on the canvas. Really press them down to make sure no paint seeps under the letter

~ Start painting. Cover the entire canvas. Take your time and make sure it is all covered and looks good.

~ Before the paint completely dries take the letters off and throw them away. Check for sections where the paint might have seeped under the letter and clean it up. I used a Q-tip to make the letters look crisp.

I am not sure how anyone gets anything done without a little cat help. Smile It seems like every time I start a project Starlight has to be in the middle of it. But she makes it more fun.

~ Then I started adding rhinestones. I think everything is better with a little sparkle. I just added a few to the left edge of the each letter in the word Awesome. I think it added just the right amount of sparkle.

~Hang it on you wall (mine is in our bedroom) and get ready to wake up and be Awesome!

DIY Mason Jars for the Fall

October 22, 2015 / TakeTimetoCreate / 2 Comments

Mason jars are the best. What is not to love, they are the perfect storage container for just about anything. Also, when I get a jar from my mom there is a good chance that it might already be filled with yummy jelly or jam or salsa or something else equally as good. And that makes the jar that much better.

But for this DIY I am using empty jars that will be filled with candy corn. For us the candy corn season is a major event. And yes, we celebrate the candy corn season very enthusiastically, from beginning to end.

I decided to make a festive mason jar that can hold our yummy candy corn and look cute at the same time. Also, we live in a very small house and any decorations need to be small, or very versatile. These mason jars are easy to switch out with the various seasons. In Dec I will show you my Christmas mason jars. So lets get to the tutorial.

Materials:

Mason jar. I pick up some at the dollar store and used ones from my mom. Any jars will do as long as they have the lids with them.

Fake flowers, I picked mums for the fall, but any will do

Hot glue
Ribbon
Window clings. Here are the ones that I found at the dollar store, I love how it looks fall and festive, with out being over the top.

Candy Corn, or any candy you want to fill your jar with

Instructions:

~ First cut off the stems to your fake flowers. You still want the green part under the flower to hold everything together. I used 3 flowers per jar, but depending on your flowers you might use more or less on your jar.

~ Using hot glue, glue the flowers to the top of the jar.

~ using hot glue, glue your ribbon to the ring of the jar. by only gluing things to the jar lid and the ring and not the jar you are able to switch out the lids (rather than switching out the entire jar) for different holidays.

~ add a window cling to the jar for more festivity. Window clings are non permanent and reusable making them perfect for this project.

~ Add your favorite candy and enjoy! That is it! Enjoy this easy DIY for fall!

If you want to know how I made the lanterns you can go to this blog post.

And if you want to know how we made the fireplace mantle you can go to this blog post.

Paint a Plastic Dollar Store Vase with Nail Polish

September 29, 2015 / TakeTimetoCreate / Leave a comment

First I have to tell you about the free arm knitting class I took last night at Michael’s. It was awesome.

I am was excited to finally learn how to arm knit and check out the infinity scarf that I made!

So much fun, and the instructor was wonderful and very patient! Once I got the hang of it, it was easy to do and very fast. I can’t wait to make other things with arm knitting. You can be sure I will feature arm knitting projects in the future Smile

Anyway, on to the other project I did this weekend….

I was wandering around the Dollar Store this weekend and I saw this plastic vase. It looks like it could be a cut crystal vase from a distance, I am talking about way distant, like a mile or so. But up close you can really tell that it is plastic. So I thought I would help the vase out and give it sparkles and color.

Here is the vase in all its glory.

And here is an up close to of the “cut crystal” part of the vase. I like the design and it is pretty enough to use.

Materials:

~ Vase you want to paint

~ Nail Polish. Any color will do. I used this copper color called DS Glow from OPI, I thought it was perfect for fall and the holidays. This vase will work for a variety of holidays, which is a good thing. But at a dollar for each vase you can make a new one for each holiday.

Instructions:

1. Paint a first coat over the parts you want colored.

2. Add a second coat, more if needed. I just added color in a few strategic parts on the vase. Now I know that my painting is not perfect, but I am convinced that it adds to the charm of the vase. Perfection can be overrated Smile

3. Let dry then add flowers, candy, marbles,or anything else you thing would look good in your new vase.

I put mums in the vase for the fall.

Here is the vase with poinsettias in it rather than the mums. Ready for Christmas.

Paint Your Couch!? Say What?

September 10, 2015September 10, 2015 / TakeTimetoCreate / 1 Comment

I know what you are going to say, that is crazy! Painting your couch! There are better ways to update your couch. I will agree there might be better ways, but this is a great solution for my dingy, old couch that needed an update.

This couch is great, it has individual sections that can be moved if needed, and the ottomans can have the soft footstool side facing up or a hard table surface facing up. It is very versatile and we have enjoyed it for many years. The downside is that the couch is made of a light colored micro fiber that stains easily. over the years the couch has become a collection of stains. I have tried to remove them, but after awhile nothing would work. So I had the option of recovering the cushions or to paint them. I decided on painting because I thought it would be easier.

See stains (I am actually embarrassed to show you guys this stain, and I just couldn’t bring myself to showing you the bigger ones.) And this was just a small one…

Overall it was pretty easy, but time consuming.

Here is how I did it if you are interested in doing the same with your furniture.

Materials:

~ Fabric Spray paint. I used Simply Spray Fabric Paint in Sage green. For my couch I used 12 bottles, which was about $120. Not the cheapest solution, but cheaper than recovering all the cushions but cheaper than buying a new couch. I bought my paint from Amazon.

~ Furniture that you want to paint.

~ Plastic covering for your work area, and room for your items to dry

~ Rubber gloves

Some notes:

Before I evens started I watched a ton of YouTube videos on how to do this and I read all the instructions and I looked over the company website. I took my time getting to know the product and how to use it. Before doing this yourself I would recommend doing your own research and practicing before you do your entire couch.

You can see here that our couch was a very light beige color. It blended in with the walls and the floor and it was very boring. Not to mention dirty. I thought the green would make it more interesting and make our living room more inviting rather than bland. Lyle was skeptical, but he was on board with my experiment.

Here is a picture of beige town that was our living room.

I will tell you that you should do it all at once rather than space it out over a few years….

Yes you read that correctly, I did this project over the span of 2 years. I am sure you all have had a project that you started and didn’t get back to for a while, well this project was one that took me a whole to get back to. I started it one weekend and got half of the couch done. I didn’t have any pictures of it because I was embarrassed that I didn’t finish in a timely manner Smile well eventually I decided to finish the project. Lyle was very patient and didn’t nag me toooooo much about the unfinished couch in our living room. But I did go back and finish. That is why the colors are a little different from cushion to cushion. The 2 year time span is evident. My technique changed a bit and some fading happened. Oh well, it is done and we are happy with the final result so that is all that matters.

Instructions:

1. Clean your furniture. You want to make sure you have a clean slate so the paint will adhere to the cushion.

2. Take your cushions to your work area. We put plastic all over in our garage so that I could work in there. The cushions could dry without being outside where dirt and leaves would blow on to the wet paint. And if it started to rain I could close the garage door and keep the cushions dry.

3.Put your gloves on. Spray a light coat on the cushion, then rub the paint into the fabric. I did this and I think it coated better.

4. Let it dry and spray and rub again. I did 3 coats, that seemed to get the best coverage. After the first 2 coats you will think to yourself “What on earth have I done? This looks like crap!” But hang in there, by the third coat everything looked better.

5. Let the whole thing dry over night then put it back on your couch.

Enjoy your “new” couch. This project has been completely finished for over a year now and I can honestly say I still love the final result. The paint has stayed on the couch and doesn’t rub off on your clothes (this was a concern of Lyle’s) and it still looks good. At first the fabric was a little stiff and not as soft as it was before the paint, but over time the paint loosens up and the fabric becomes softer. It won’t ever be as soft as the original micro fiber, but it is getting better.

So, is painting your couch something you might do? What else do you think I should paint?

Take Time to Create

Taking a few minutes in our busy lives to create new and wonderful things

home decorate

Re-purpose an old window into a shabby chic message board

Christmas Mason Jars

Easy DIY Scarf Holder

Gallery Wall

I am tired

Wake Up And Be Awesome

DIY Mason Jars for the Fall

Paint a Plastic Dollar Store Vase with Nail Polish

Paint Your Couch!? Say What?