Easy Signage and Wall Decor

Hey Guys!

These are the crafts that I have been doing over the Christmas holidays. Majority of these crafts are signs, which I made for Christmas presents and for holiday decorating. All of these signs consist of the same steps just different fonts and paint colors.

Items you’ll need:

Board/Piece of wood

Paint/Woodstain

Paintbrush

Sander

Varnish
Hammer

Hanging hooks

Step 1: Find a piece of wood that you would like to paint a quote onto. Now sand the board down until the surface and edges are smooth.

Step 2: Paint or stain the background of your sign. Choose a color or stain that will best fit the theme of your quote.

Step 3: Once the background paint has completely dried, it’s quote time. First you need to print out a quote, I use Microsoft word to design quotes at the exact font and size that I wish. Once the font is printed out, tape the paper with the quote printed onto, and place it where you would like it to be painted on your sign. Now use transfer paper that can be bought at any craft store, and put the transfer paper under the quote.  Use a pencil to trace the quote, the transfer paper allows the quote to transfer onto the sign! Once the quote is on, use a thin paintbrush and start painting on the quote. Usually do 2-3 coats of paint until the quote looks bold. 

Step 4: Once your quote is painted and dried, paint or spray varnish your sign. The varnish seals the paint onto the board and gives the sign a shiny look. 

Step 5: Lastly, use a hammer and nail some hanging hooks onto the back of your sign.

Thanks guys, hope enjoy making your own signs! 

Snowy Trees in Vintage Crown Jars

Hello everyone on this very snowy, Saturday morning!

Today, I was totally inspired by our recent snowfall that I decided to get crafty and make a snowy, Christmassy, craft! Today’s craft was easy to create and looks so pretty. These These Snowy Trees in Vintage Crown Jars look great on the windowsill, fire mantel, or used as holiday centerpieces.

Items you’ll need to build this craft:

Vintage Crown Canning Jars/Mason Jars

Epsom Salt

Small Village Décor Trees

**You can find old jars from your grandma's basement, or buy new ones from Wal-mart or Target. Epsom Salt can be purchased at a drug store and Small Village Trees can be purchased at Canadian Tire or Wal-mart.

Step 1: Find a Crown jar, older Crown jars can be purchased at flea markets or garage sales or new ones can be bought at Wal-mart or Target. I like using the Crown jars for this craft because I like the blue tint that the jars have, it gives the craft a snowy look. However, Mason jars will also work. I then used bleach and hot water and washed each jar out.

Step 2: After each jar was clean and dried, I add in the Epsom salt. Put about 2 scoops of salt into each jar, making sure that the bottom of the jar is covered, then place your mini trees into each jar. Now Sprinkle a few more scoops of salt into the jar to make the trees look like they’re covered in snow. The salt also packs down each trees base so that the trees don’t move. Once your jars are looking nice and snowy its time to put the lid, on and place the jars wherever you’d like!

Hope you guys enjoyed the DIY Pine Trees in Crown Jars craft!

More Christmas crafts to come! 

Holiday Peppermint Candy Candle

This weekend I started to watch some Christmas movies, pin some Christmas ideas, and started to dig out some of the Christmas decorations. After going Christmas crazy I decided to make a really easy Christmas craft, Christmas candles! These Christmas candles can be placed on fire mantels or used as festive centerpieces for Christmas dinner.These Christmas candles are very easy to make and a lot cheaper then purchasing them from the store.

Items you’ll need to create these Christmas Candles:

Plain white candles, any size.

Hot glue guy and glue sticks.

Peppermint Christmas Candy 

Spray Varnish 

Step 1: Go to Wal-Mart or a dollar store and purchase a white candle. Then go to the Bulk barn and purchase some peppermint Christmas candies.

Step 2: Once you have purchased your candle and the candies its time to plug in the glue gun and start gluing the candies onto the candle. Make sure to do one row of candies at a time, starting at the bottom so that you will know how many candies will fit evenly onto the candle. Be careful, this can become very sticky!

Step 3: Once the candies are glued onto the candle you can take spray varnish or any type of clear spray that seals, and spray the candle. The spray helps the candies stay onto the candle longer, gives the candle a shiny finish and decreases the stickiness.

Step 4: Once the spray has dried your candle is ready to burn and look festive! Hope you guys enjoyed this easy Christmas craft! More to come.

Diy Barn Board Headboard

Over the past few weeks I have been putting together a headboard for my double size bed. I came across this idea through Pinterest. I was looking into purchasing a new headboard but they were too expensive, so I did some researching and came across a DIY headboard. I choose to create a rustic look using old barn boards that I found at my grandad's farm.

This project is really inexpensive and easy to do!

Items you’ll need to create a DIY barn board headboard:
9 Barn boards
Saw
Screw Gun
Screws
Wire brush
Electric Sander
Chestnut Stain
Varnish
Paintbrush

Step 1: Once you have 9 barn boards, set 2 aside. Use the other 7 boards and measure them to be about 1 foot longer then your bed. Once the boards are measured at the same length cut them. Use the other 2 boards and place them vertical on the back of the 7 boards. Use a screw gun and screw each board into the 2 vertical boards.

Step 2: Once the boards are all screwed together you can now see the outline of what your headboard is going to look like. My barn boards were dirty so I used a wire brush, kind of like a bbq brush and brushed all the dirt off.

Step 3: Once all the dirt is completely off the headboard you can start sanding. Now plug in your electric sander and sand the entire front of the headboard and all its edges. Sand until the headboard is soft and smooth.

Step 4: Once the headboard is completely sanded you can now start painting. Grab your paintbrush and chestnut stain and do 2 to 3 coats of stain each time a layer has dried.

Step 5: Once all the stain is dried, do 1 coat of varnish. You can also do 1 coat of varnish on the back of your headboard too.

EXTRA: There are multiple ways to hang the headboard against the wall. You can screw 2 large hooks in the back of the headboard and mount the headboard on the wall or you can add legs to the headboard.

Hope you guys love this project just as much as I did!

Vintage Wood Candleholder Centerpiece

Hello all!

This week I decided to create another DIY candleholder. I was browsing on Pinterest and I came across a candleholder made out of a thick piece of wood. I then went to my grandparents in search of a similar piece. After hunting for a few minutes I was able to find the perfect piece of wood. Next, I got down to work in hopes of creating a vintage wood candleholder centerpiece! 

The supplies you’ll need to create this wood candleholder are the following:

Thick piece of wood

Drill press with a round bit.

Sander

Paint Brush

Chestnut Stain

Varnish

**Majority of these supplies can be purchased at a hardware store.

Step 1: Once you’ve found a thick or long piece of wood, take a drill press with a round bit and drill 10 or more holes depending on the size of your piece of wood. Drill the holes in a pattern onto the wood. The round bit is the same size as a tea light, so the candles will fit perfectly into the drilled holes.

Step 2: Once all the holes are drilled, I used a palm sander and sanded the piece of wood down until it felt soft.

Step 3: After the wood was sanded down I used my paintbrush and chestnut stain and painted on 3 coats of stain. I wanted my candleholder to look very shiny. Once the stain was dry I took another paintbrush and painted on 1 coat of varnish. The varnish is a final coat that leaves the piece looking sealed and shiny. Once the varnish is completely dry you can now place the candleholder anywhere you’d like. I placed mine on top of my dinning table and used it as a centerpiece. I also place it on top of my fireplace mantel.

EXTRA: I eventually carved my boyfriend’s, and my name into the piece of wood. I did this with a stencil and a electric wood carver. This is very easy to do and adds more to the piece.

Hope you guys enjoyed the Vintage Wood Candleholder Centerpiece tutorial!  

8 Point Deer Painting

This week I decided to get a little creative/different and make a painting of an 8-point deer. I wanted this painting to look a little rustic and vintage so I used some old beat up boards and varnish. This painting could look great over top of a fireplace, in your bedroom, or even in a “man cave”.

Items you’re going to need to create this painting:

7 or more beat up boards

Measuring Tape

Pencil

Saw

Hammer

Nails

Sander

Chestnut Stain

Varnish

Tracing Paper

Transfer Paper

White Acrylic Paint 

Paintbrush

Hanging Screws/Nails

**All of these tools can be purchased at any hardware of craft store.

Step 1: First find 7 or more boards and use a measuring tape to measure 5 of the boards at the same length. Measure the other 2 boards at the same length, but at a longer length then the other 5 boards. Once the 5 boards are cut, line them up and face the good side of each board on the ground. Grab the two longer boards and place them onto the 5 lined up boards. Place the 2 boards on each side of the 5 lined up boards and now take nails and nail the 2 boards into the 5 boards. The 2 boards hold the 5 boards together.

Make sure your boards end up looking like this on the back.

Step 2: Once all the boards are nailed together take out your hand sander and sand the surface and edges of the boards. Keep sanding until the surface and edges are smooth.

Step 3: Once the board is completely sanded, take your chestnut or any color stain and use your paintbrush to stain the attached boards. You’ll only need 1 coat of stain.

Step 4: Once the stain is completely dried I looked at a similar photo of a deer that I liked and then decided to draw it on the pattern paper. This took awhile to draw but I got it looking just the way I wanted my deer to look. Make sure that the deer will fill up majority of the space on the boards.

Step 5: Tape the deer drawing that’s drawn on the tracing paper and place it where you would like it to be painted on the boards. Use your transfer paper and place it underneath the deer drawing. Now use your pencil to trace the deer picture onto the boards. The transfer paper allows the image of the deer to transfer onto the boards.

Step 6: Once the deer is traced onto the boards take your white acrylic paint and paintbrush and do 3-4 coats of the deer. Use a smaller brush to paint the antlers. Once the white paint is completely dried, use your paintbrush and do one coat of varnish to make the painting look a little more rustic and shiny. After the varnish has dried, you can screw or nail hanging nails into the back of the boards and hang your deer painting anywhere you’d like.

Hope you enjoyed!

Vintage Chair Reupholstered

For the past few weeks I have been working on redoing a pair of old vintage chairs. I was given one of these chairs from my grandmother, which she received at her wedding over 50 years ago! And the second identical chair came from my boyfriend’s great grandparents, which they also received over 50 years ago. Since these chairs have been passed down through our family members, it was finally our time to accept the chairs. We decided to redo them and bring them on our new adventure to Vancouver in the New Year.

Things you’ll need to redo your vintage chair:

Old Chair (Garage sale, Grandparents House)

Sander

Black Acrylic Paint

Water

Paintbrush

Varnish

Upholstery Service (I used David’s Upholstery)

Step 1: If your old chair has any wooden pieces on it, you’re going to have to sand and stain those pieces. I used a hand sander and sanded the arms and legs down. I sanded each piece until the old shiny varnish was no longer there.

Step 2: Once the arms and legs are sanded, mix black acrylic paint with a lot of water so it’s almost clear. The water and black paint makes a black stain. Paint the arms and legs with the black stain. Do at least 2 coats until it’s the color you'd like.

Step 3: Pick out a funky fabric for your chair or a fabric that is going to match your home decor. I chose black and white. I chose the black and white pattern at the upholstery store and then they had the fabric ordered in. Remember you’re going to need at least 2 and half yards for each chair.

Step 4: Once the arms and legs are completely dried you can take your chair to whichever upholstery service that is the closest to you and have the upholstery part completed.

David's Upholstery

26121 Kennedy Rd RR 3, Sutton West, ON L0E 1R0

905-722-6888

Crow Silhouette Painting

This week I wanted to make something spooky and festive for Halloween, but I also wanted to be able to use this piece all year long. So, I was looking on Pinterest and I seen a crow silhouette painting that I just had to have, so I decided to make it!

Items you will need to make the crow silhouette painting:

Thin piece of wood

Tracing paper

Transfer paper

 Pencil

Sander

Black/dark aqua blue/brown acrylic paints

Thin and thick paintbrushes

Varnish

**All of these tools can be purchased at any craft or hardware store.

Step 1: Once you have found a thin piece of wood use the sander to sand it down to make sure it’s completely smooth. Next use a thick paintbrush and paint the entire piece of wood dark aqua blue.

Step 2: Once the paint is dry, dip your thick paintbrush into the brown acrylic paint. Dab the brown paint on the edges and corners of the piece of wood to give it a dark vintage look. Over coat the brown dabs with black paint and keep blending the colors together for an even spookier look.

Step 3: Now choose a set of crows that you’ve seen on the Internet or draw a set of you’re own. I found a set of crows online and then enlarged the photo as big as I wanted it to be. Then I used tracing paper and traced the crows from the computer screen onto the tracing paper. Once this step is completed, you can now use your transfer paper and place it onto the piece of wood with the crow pattern on top. Use a pencil and trace the crows onto the piece of wood. The transfer paper transfers  the crow pattern onto the piece of wood.

Step 4: Once the crow outline is on the piece of wood use a small paintbrush and paint the crows in with the black paint. Once the crows are painted and totally dry use your large paintbrush to paint a coat of varnish onto the painting. This allows the painting to look shiny and sealed! Once the varnish is dried you are all done your crow silhouette painting.

Any questions let me know guys!

Enjoy J

Festive Mini Pumpkin Candleholders

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Seeing how this weekend is Thanksgiving I decided to make something easy and very festive! I made pumpkin candleholders. These holders are easy and cheap to do. They can be left outside for decorations or inside on the table where they work as great centerpieces for turkey dinner.

What you’re going to need to be able to create these cute candleholders:

Mini Pumpkins

Sharp knife

Tea light candles

Sharpie

Water based varnish

Paintbrush

Step 1: You can purchase mini pumpkins or gourds from a farmers market or Wal-Mart. Cut the steam off of each gourd and use a marker to trace the outline of the tea light candle onto the top of the pumpkin. 

 Step 2: Take a very sharp knife and cut around the marker lines, which will look like a circle. Be careful, the mini pumpkins are extremely tough. Once the hole has been cut, use a spoon to dig all the seeds and guts out of the pumpkin. Do this for each pumpkin.

Step 3: After the seeds and guts have been removed wash the marker lines off and the inside of the pumpkin to make sure everything is looking clean. Dry the pumpkins off with a paper towel thoroughly.  

Step 4: Now take a paintbrush and the varnish, and do one coat of varnish to each pumpkin. This allows the pumpkin to look shiny and the varnish allows the pumpkin to last longer.

Step 5: Once the varnish has completely dried, you can place the tea light candles into each pumpkin. Now you are finished! You can place these festive candleholders anywhere you would like.

Hope you enjoyed, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

P.S I Love You Mailbox

The mailbox I created was simple to do and fun, I loved the way it turned out!

I thought this mailbox would be perfect for wedding cards, or used as an actual mailbox.

DIY Mailbox Turtorial

Step 1: First you will have to puchase a plain mailbox from any hardware store or even from a garage sale. Mailboxes are usually around $20-30 dollars.

Step 2: The next step is to paint your mailbox black. I did this with black spray paint because it drys faster and doesn’t leave any brush storkes. You will also have to spray paint the screws, bolts, handles, and the piece that holds the flag up.

This is what your mailbox should look like after is has been spray painted.

Step 3: Now its time to put the quote onto the mailbox, this is done very easily. You will need transfer paper that is available at any craft stores. You will also need to print the quote onto a banner size using Microsoft word. The font size should be around 300, and you can choose any font style you prefer. Now you need to place the quote in banner size on the mailbox and tape it there so that it doesn’t move. Then slide a piece of transfer paper underneath the quote. Now, with a pencil trace the quote onto the mailbox. The transfer paper allows the quote to be transferred onto the mailbox.

This is what the quote should look like after its been trasfered onto the mailbox.

Step 4: Now that the quote is traced onto the mailbox you can start painting! You can choose any type of paint colors you would like but make sure its perm enamle paint. The colors I chose were grass green, sunny yellow, parry purple, and hot pink. Also use very fine, squared, paintbrushes, they will help you with the edging. They can be purchased at any craft store.

Step 5: Now, just take your time and paint in between the lines, just like coloring. Do 2 to 3 coats, until the quote looks bold.

Step 6: After painting the quote onto the mailbox, spray the mailbox with a clear coat of varnish. This pervents the paint from chipping and rusting, it also makes the mailbox look shiny! 

My Darling Table

This week I decided to redo an old side/coffee table that I found at my boyfriends house. This project was definitely the longest and hardest to do so far.. but of course, it’s the best one I’ve ever done!

These are the items you’re going to need to redo your table:

An old or new side/coffee table

Sander

Varnish (water based)

Wood Stain (chestnut)

Aqua Sea Acrylic paint

Paint Brush

White Acrylic Paint

Tape

Pencil

Ruler

 Step 1: After you have chose a table you would like to redo you can now plug in your sander and sand every edge of the table making sure that all surfaces are no longer shiny or have any type of varnish or finish left on.

Step 2: Once the table is completely sanded you can now start painting the legs and if theres a little shelf under the table like mine, you can paint that a solid color too. I chose to go with a greeny blue. This paint color is called Aqua Sea and it’s an acrylic paint that can be purchased at any craft store. Do at least 2 coats of paint until every inch is completely covered.

Step 3: Once the table legs have dried you can now use your wood stain, which can be purchased at Home Hardware. I chose chestnut because I wanted my table to look darker. Take a paintbrush and stain the top of the table and the edges. Only do 1 coat.

Step 4: After the stain has dried, take a paintbrush and do one coat of varnish to the top and edges of the table. The reason why you should varnish, is because if you get paint on the stain, it will wipe off easily and the varnish will also give the table a shiny look.

Step 5: Once the varnish has dried you can now take out your ruler and measure how many stripes you would like to put on the top of the table. Even out the stripes out so that each side is either stripes or no stripes, this is where I messed up.

Step 6: Once you have measured your stripes out evenly, take a pencil and a ruler and draw on the stripes. After the stripes have been drawn on, you can use any type of tape and just place the tape on one side of each stripe .The tape helps you see the lines and it prevents you from putting paint onto the varnish side.

Step 7: Mix the white paint with the varnish so that it thins the white out and gives it a glosser look. Use the paintbrush to do big brush strokes so that the white doesn’t completely cover up the stain underneath.

Step 8: Once the top of the table is dry, take the tapelines off of the table. Use the varnish to go over every inch of the entire table just to seal all the paint  in and to give the table a shiny look. Once the varnish has dried you are completely done and now can start using your table! Hope you enjoyed this project!

Extra: Step 9: This step is only if you messed up your lines or wanted to add a quote to your table. Unfortunately, I messed my lines up and decided to paint on a quote, just to make the table look more professional. The quote I chose is “oh darling, lets be adventures’. To paint a quote on, I printed out a quote on Microsoft word, and then taped the quote where I wanted it to be on my table. I then used transfer paper that can be bought at any craft store, and put the transfer paper under the quote and used a pencil to trace the quote on. Once the quote was transfered onto the table, I used a thin paintbrush and white paint to paint the quote in. I did 3 coats of paint until the quote looked bold. 

Knife Block Facelift

So I decided to repaint my knife block to give it a bright new look! This was really easy to do and looks great in the kitchen.

For this craft you’re going to need the following:

Knife Block

Sander

Paint

Paint Brush

Pencil

Tracing Paper

 Step 1: First you’re going to sand your knife block right down until the glossy finish has come right off. The reason being is that the paint will not stick onto the block, and the paint will chip off really easily. If your knife block doesn’t have a glossy finish then there’s no reason to sand.

Step 2: After sanding, choose a paint color that will go best in your kitchen, I chose red. Make sure the paint is an acrylic paint; these can be purchased at any craft store. Use a paintbrush to do 3 to 4 coats until the knife block looks totally covered.

Step 3: Now this step is for adding, “knives” or any other quote that you would like to add to your knife block. To do the quote you must use transfer paper that can be purchased at any craft store. Then you need to print off “Knives”, or any other quote you'd like. Place the print off where you would like it to go on the knife block then tape it on, slide the transfer paper underneath, then use a pencil to trace the quote on.

Step 4: After the quote has been traced on, use a paint color to fill it in. I chose black, and used a skinny paintbrush. Use the paintbrush to paint in between the lines. I added brush strokes on the top of the knife block just to add some detail. After the paint has fully dried, you can now place your knives back into the block and begin to use it daily!