My first 《FREE》pallet project

Well hello there my crafty little diy-ers!

So did you guys know I'm a psychic?? Yeah... I am. I'm going to ask you a question and I guarantee you, I know the answer!

 Ok... what's your favorite word??

My guess, if you are anything like me and the rest of the world, it's FREE! Am I right, or am I right?!

 So for this pallet project, number one, find a pallet. So roll up those sleeves, take off those cute little red pumps I know you love, and go find some dumpsters! Luckily, my husband did the dumpster diving for me, and brought me home three amazing pallets!!

 Ok, step two, grab a hammer, and start ripping the boards off! You don't have to do the whole pallet, just grab a few (like 4ish), wipe the sweat off your brow, and let's do this!!

 So, step three, go grab that electric hand saw thing you've seen your husband use 15785 times. Put on your big girl panties, ladies, because this can get a little sketchy. I didn't measure my boards, or any of that fancy nonsense. Basically, I just sawed off a few inches here and there, and got the boards to the length i wanted them.

 Now it's time for the fun stuff. First, I used this great chalk paint I bought from Wal-Mart. "Curry" is the color, which suits this shade quite nicely. I dry brushed it on here and there. (Dry brush means I put my dry brush into the paint about an inch in, and painted on the boards until i needed more paint, then dipped it again) **Listen up perfectionists! THIS STEP DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!** Sorry for "yelling", but I know how you guys love to get super into this painting thing, and cover all the creases evenly... No... just stop. Brush some on, and chill out. You will be sanding and painting over it anyway.

 Which brings me to the next step, grab yourself some good sandpaper. Whatever you have laying around really, and rough those boards up a bit. 

Now for this next step, I just used the paint I had laying around. You don't have to go out and spend a bunch of money on paint. Wal-mart actually has some fantastic chalk paint in the craft section, if you don't have any on hand, just go pick some up. I think it's like $6. 

So, what I had on hand, was some Annie sloan chalk paint in Duck Egg color. Let me just say, I super duper looooove this paint. I have painted lamps, my kitchen table, and now this awesome mantel piece with it, and it is dreamy.

Anywhosy, apply your primary paint just like you did your secondary paint. Then rough it up a bit, too, with your sandpaper.

 To finish it off, i decided i wasn't going to use my fancy Annie sloan wax. So i grabbed some interior white paint and i diluted it quite a bit to make a white wash, and just painted right over the boards.

 Once that is dry, grab your power tools again. You're gonna need to attach these boards together at this point. I grabbed some wood (that was laying on my garage floor, of course) and drilled a screw into each board. (You could even grab a board from your actual pallet, cut it in half, and use it for the attaching board)

Woohoo, you totally handled those power tools like a champ! I'm super proud!!!

Alright, now you get to choose what your pallet project would say. Think about where you will sit it. And try to come up with something that suits the area it will be in. If it's the kitchen, maybe just the word "EAT" will do. Or if you decided to set it on your front porch, it could say "Welcome". You get my drift...

So mine was going on my barren mantel. I chose the word "Family" because i knew i wanted to have it be the background for a plethora of family photo frames. (And i love the way a fancy F looks. ;) )

So I drew out the word by hand with a pencil, and brought back my secondary color, which was the Curry color I used for my base coat. Painted the word, then grabbed a brown paint pen. You could also just used brown paint and a brush. I just like paint pens because they get the job done much faster.

Outline your word. It doesn't have to be perfect, again. You perfectionists are probably going to hate me after this next step.

So once it's all dry and looking gorge... grab that sandpaper, and go from the top of the board to the bottom. Scruff up that gorgeously painted masterpiece! We are going for rustic, ladies!!

Whew. Ok. Guess what?

YOU'RE DONE!

Do a dance. Shout hooray. Click your heels together.  You have a gorgeous. Basically free. Rustic art piece, that will have people asking... Did you make that?! And you can respond proudly with an "Of course I did. I'm AMAZING!"

Love you all.

Craft on, lovelies.

-Lauren ;)

(Find me on Instagram: @3kids1craftymomma

Shabby to Chic {Picture Frame}

So I found this little gem at Goodwill for $3.92! 

All I did was take everything out of the frame (the mat and flower picture), and cut a piece of fabric that I bought from hobby lobby that I already had from another project. I just used the the picture that was in it as a template for how big the piece of fabric should be. The frame is an 11x14 so I used a 5x7 photo to place in it. And voila! Cute as a button! I thought about spray painting the frame.. but I love the color of it as it is. :-) 

Happy crafting,

Lauren

I have started selling on etsy!! Check me out @ etsy.com/3kids1craftymomma

{Repurpose} Picture & Frame to Chalkboard

 So I found this beauty at Goodwill for $4.94! The frame itself and the glass was in really good shape although the picture was a bit out dated. It actually glued itslef to the cardboard backing of the frame cause it had been in there for so long and may have been exposed to some moisture at some point. So I decided to give it a new life as a chalkboard and this is how I did it....

  First things first, I took all the pieces apart from the frame. Leaving me with glass (to set aside for future projects), the picture (which in this case was attached to the cardboard on the back), and the frame.

  Then I painted the farme. No priming was needed (sandpapering or washing) because this little baby was in pretty good shape. So at first, the end result was going to be put in my kitchen for me to use so I painted it with some indoor/outdoor paint I found laying around the house (Krylon Acrylic Latex Enamel Paint in Gloss Ivory color).

  

  Once it was finished I remembered that all of my walls are white (we are renting so we can't paint)... So then I turned to my stash of acrylic paint and decided that "Peony Pink" was going to be the new color on this project and it was no longer going to be for my use, but for my little girls room in their "learning center". I applied about two coats of this stuff.



  Next step was to spray the chalkboard paint onto the picture/cardboard. You can get this stuff at any store in the spray paint section (we went to Home Depot). It is a bit expensive but will last for a while. So I sprayed the board down from left to right.. cating it as evenly as possible. Let it dry.. then coat again.

Once this dries completely (about 24 hours) simply attach it back to the frame and hang it on the wall!
Easy, I know! And my 2 year old LOVES it!



So happy with how it turned out! Happy crafting everyone :)

{Easy Peasy} Valentines Day Card

Your children's hands and feet prints always make for really awesome keep sakes (and it's fun for them too).

• I used just regular acrylic paint and drawing paper (it's thicker than printer paper).
• Just lather your little ones hand in the paint using a paint brush and stick it to the paper for about three seconds. If you have younger children like I do (2 yrs and 3 months) it helps if you press their hand to the paper yourself instead of just telling them to put their hand down on it ( my 2 year old kept wanting to rub her hand around on the paper).
• Then for the V I used my 3 month old's feet (to incorporate both of the kids in the artwork).
• Once that dries, just paint in the L and the E and some hearts for decoration and send of to relatives (be sure to keep one for yourself). The fam LOVED them, and you didn't have to go out and buy cheesy cards for everyone!