let the holidays begin...

i have seen these wreaths all over the blog-oh-sphere. and i love them. i think that Ballard designs has them for about 50 or 60 dollars. but mine cost way less. wanna make one? you only need two things. a giant letter, i got mine from Joann's, and Christmas garland. i ended up using 4 garlands. they are about 2.99 at Michael's this week. i can't remember how much the letter was. but i want to ballpark it about 8 or 9 dollars. i didn't use glue, the garland is on a wire, so i just kept bending it as i went around.

i started in the center and made my way around the two bumps.

and then, i just kept on going. all the way around. i just kept tucking the ends of the garland into the last section i worked on.

and then i added a ribbon. in hindsight, i would probably add my ribbon as i went around. but i just adjusted the branches over the ribbon and you can't see it.

there are many different tutorials on the Internet on how to do this. i used a combo of a few. i wanted mine to be "chunky" so i wrapped the garland all the way around the letter. but i saw that some women just cut off the branches and hot glued them to the letter. this method will give you a flat back instead of a puffy back that mine has.

easy peasy, so bring on the Christmas decorating. i love it

jill b

will this work

http://www.knock-offwood.com/

this is the blog that i got the amazing coffee table plans from.
go there right now
you will love it!!

here she is, all painted up

zella helped me paint her. and i think she turned out beautifully! we got the plans for her off of knock-offwood.com
her site is awsome!!
thanks ana

she is so pretty...

if you scroll down to the post: introducing... you can see how we made her.

now, who wants to come over and sit by her?

did i tell you she is pretty?

jill b

our weekend project

ok, so it was my project. but charlie b helped and did more than his fair share. i have always wanted a large chalkboard. even when i was little i wanted one. my mother-in-law had made one for her grandchildren, and i loved it. so i went a looking. i found a couple on the Internet that i liked. and then charlie b helped me make it. it was pretty easy. we used ply board. it is much lighter than the particle board that we already had. chalkboard paint and molding. so i first primed the board. i did about 3 coats. it said to reapply after an hour. but we live in Arizona. so by the time i made it around, it was dry enough to go around again. once i had it primed, charlie b measured the board to mark where the trim would go.

i then added the chalkboard paint. this is so cool! i put about 3 or 4 coats on it. we started to get a wind and dust storm, so we moved this inside.

zella helped me put the next coat on. i think i put about 3 more coats on it. i have never used this paint before, but i wanted to make sure that the primer didn't sneak through, and i wanted it to be a crisp black.

charlie b and i held her up against the wall and nailed it into the studs. we used our stud-finder, and the stud jokes began...

charlie b let zella help.

after we nailed it to the wall. we placed out molding over the nails.

zella is my example of the scale of the chalkboard.

and now, may i introduce to you...

my big, and beautiful chalkboard. i love her! she is 6 feet by 4 feet. did i tell you that i love her? because i do. and charlie b for helping me.

my supply list

ply board, cut to the size you want.

paint primer

chalkboard paint

paint brush/roller

molding

nails.

and a charlie b, he was the most important part of my supply list.

now i have to fill her up...

jill b

introducing...

i have been raving about my new coffee table. i just love her. i thought i might post some pictures of her making. charlie b started off by making a shell of a box. we used screws and wood glue.
ana, from knockoffwood.blogspot.com, had hacked this coffee table. we loved it, but we read on her blog that some people were a tad disappointed in the overall height of the table. so we tweaked the plans just a big. we used 1x12 boards for the sides. add an inch for the top and an inch on the bottom, for the support for the wheels, and 5 1/2 inch wheels= our coffee table at 19 1/2. we also enlarged the overall dimensions of the coffee table. we went with a 4 feet by 5 1/2 feet. we super-sized her!
my handsome hubby working on my table.
a picture of the inside.

and here she is. we just love her! i am going to sand her, and then paint her a rustic/chocolate brown. i think she fits us just beautifully.

jill b

we took a holiday

we jumped in the car and drove to Dana point California. we stayed with some friends. which is the best kind of friends, the kind that live one block up from the beach! we went to the beach a couple of days and then came home. thanks, we had a blast!
jill b