Easy Diy Chalkboard

When we bought our house, one of the first things I wanted to do was to make a large chalkboard for the weekly menu on one of the kitchen walls. We've owned this house for 2 1/2 years, and we recently got around to doing it!

It ended up being just about free. Can't go wrong there!

You need:

• Picture frame in the size you want your chalkboard to be (I had a huge framed print that fell off the wall when we first lived here. The glass broke but I kept it anyways. I stripped everything away and used the frame for this project!) So since I had a frame already, 0$
• Spray paint, Optional. If you want the frame you choose to be a different color. I wanted it to be white. The paint was like 3$
• Chalkboard paint. My Mum lent me her can.. 0$! 
• Mini foam roller (We have a stockpile!) 0$
• Chalk (We have 3 kids..therefore we have an abundance of chalk) 0$
• Nails to hang your frame

So first, I took the frame outside and sprayed it white. 2 coats, it could use one more though..someday.

Before paint.

1st coat!

I decided where exactly I wanted the chalkboard and hung the frame up in the right spot. Using a pencil, I traced the inside of the frame (about 1/2" past the inside edge).

 

 We were also painting the walls in the kitchen that weekend, so I painted my wall color around my traced square. Of course if you're not painting the wall, you'd skip this step.

Using a mini foam roller, roll on your chalkboard paint! I did 4 coats, waiting at least an hour between coats. The first and second looked bad..Really streaky. Also a weird blue color when wet.

Wall color and chalkboard paint all done!

Definitely let the chalkboard paint cure for the 3 days or whatever it says on the can! It's worth it. You don't want to ruin your hard work! Once the chalkboard part was done, I hung my frame over it!

I've used it for the weekly menu, a birthday party and a "Welcome Home Daddy" sign.. A leprechaun has used it and so has the Easter bunny! I definitely looooove my chalkboard!!

Crackle Easter Eggs

My Mum came across these beautiful eggs last year on Pinterest. We made them for Easter and fell in love! We were all excited to make them again. They're so simple to make and so beautiful!

You'll Need:

• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Liquid Food Coloring
• Ziploc Bags
• Vinegar

Instructions:

Take your egg and roll/break it until you have cracks all over! (It's nice to have an expert egg breaking helper for this part!)

Once your egg is full of cracks, place it in a ziploc bag. Drip a little food coloring into the bag and move the egg around in the bag until it's coated in the color. Let the egg sit for 5-10 minutes in the bag.

Once it's done, rinse off the excess color with water. You're supposed to "splash it" with vinegar after rinsing it, but I just put the vinegar in a small mug and gave the egg a dip. (This is done BEFORE peeling the egg and is meant to set the color).

Peel the shell off and marvel at the beauty of your crackle egg! Beautiful to look at and edible too! We'll be using ours for deviled eggs on Sunday. :)

Coconut Fudge

An incredibly rich, decadent fudge full of coconut flavor and yummy shredded coconut! It's hard to stop eating! I found this recipe in the candy section of About.com while looking for birthday party dessert ideas. It's a keeper!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 3/4 cup cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3.5 cups sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp coconut extract/flavoring
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• A hint of gel color paste (optional) I used a dot of hot pink and achieved a beautiful antique pink color

 

Preparation:

1. Prepare an 8x8 pan by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, sugar, color (if using) salt, and butter. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melts. Brush down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming.

3. Insert a candy thermometer and bring the candy to a boil. Continue to cook the fudge, stirring occasionally, until the thermometer reaches 238 degrees.

4. Once the candy is at 238 degrees, remove the pan from the heat and remove the candy thermometer. Set the candy aside to cool for 20 minutes, or until it reaches about 110 degrees. Do not stir the candy during this time, or you will form sugar crystals that will cause the candy to become grainy.

5. Once the candy is barely warm, add the vanilla and coconut extracts and begin the stir the fudge vigorously with a wooden spoon. As you continue to stir the fudge, it will begin to thicken and lose its gloss. When the fudge has thickened and become opaque, add the coconut and stir about one minute more, or until it is quite thick. This process will take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Alternately, you can use an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, but watch carefully as it is very easy to overbeat fudge in an electric mixer.

6. Once the fudge has thickened, scrape it into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer. Let the fudge set at room temperature for several hours.

7. Once the fudge has set, pull it out of the pan using the foil as handles. Cut it into small one-inch squares to serve. Store remaining fudge in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

My Nightstand Solution!

For my master bedroom, I have really, really, REALLY been wanting a mirrored nightstand. Something shiny and reflective to keep the lightness in the room. Winners had one but the bad thing about Winners is that they don't often have the good stuff for long. What's there one day may forever disappear by the next. So of course when I went to buy my nightstand.. It was gone. They had a small mirrored dresser for $399 (which is a fantastic price for mirrored furniture!!) but sadly, it wasn't what I needed.

I went home and went back to the drawing board. We were using the nightstand that came as a set with our dressers that we refinished and I just wanted it out of the room. Look at this thing.. It takes the room down a notch I think.

Yuck.. So as I was folding laundry and staring at it.. I thought.. Well I COULD just paint this one.. I didn't want it  to match the other dressers though.. I was dead set on something shiny. Then it hit me. DUH! Silver spray paint. Even though the stand is so boxy and awful.. I could do it in silver as a temporary improvement.

So I told Greg my plan. He seemed skeptical so of course I had a blog pulled up already to give him an idea. The nightstand on that blog though was feminine.. It had beautiful wavy lines.. A scalloped edge.. A cute little shelf.. So I showed it to him and sighed.. I told him I wish we had a prettier nightstand to paint silver, but the ugly one would have to do. Then Greg piped up.. He told me that we still had the cute little nightstand that came with our 2 oldest girl's dresser set (that we also bought used and refinished) in the garage. We never used it because there's no space for it in their bedroom, so out to the garage it went where forgotten stuff goes to die, or in this case.. Get remembered and saved!!

So he brought it in the house and my eyes lit up. We took the drawer pull off and filled in the holes.

So first I went over it with a coat of a good spray primer. Just to be safe. Then I used a whole can (4 heavy coats!) of Rustoleum metallic spray paint with the chrome cap.

 

I read a few reviews saying that even though the paint advertises "Fast Drying", that the silver rubs off when dry. So to be safe, I hit it with a coat of this spray sealer. Minwax Poly in Clear Gloss (not semi-gloss like the picture)

 

That brought me to this:

It was in need of a handle. Something about the same size since the shiny paint kind of emphasized where the old holes were.  So I picked one up and I am super happy with how the nightstand turned out!!

All it needs is a little stack of books in there and I think I'll be happy!

A Different Kind Of Feature Wall

When we started our master bedroom makeover, we had thrown around the idea of a wallpapered feature wall. We scrapped that idea after looking into the cost and factoring in the not-so-fun labor of applying wallpaper..Then removal if we got tired of it.

Which brings us to this. A wall stencil! Perfect! Much cheaper, easier and almost the same effect! I found a beautiful pattern on Royal Design Studio called Moorish Trellis (in large) and ordered it! I came across a metallic craft paint (Pearl White) by Martha Stewart at Wal Mart for $1.80 a bottle and bought 3 bottles.

The stencil came in the mail on a Friday. I was feeling nervous and intimidated . What if it came out crooked? What if the edges bled through the stencil?? What if I didn't line it up properly??????? How long was it going to take?!?!?! With a stomach full of butterflies, I threw a piece of tape on each side, placed the stencil in the top left corner of the wall and dove in. I used a tiny foam roller and didn't even use the whole 3 bottles of craft paint. Lining up the stencil was very easy and the paint was dry as soon as I was done rolling it, so no smudges. I couldn't believe how quick it went and the impact on the space it had! I finished in under 2 hours and I am in LOOOOVE.

In progress:

You can see the stencil sheet and how big it was on the bed. It was 23"x23".

All done!:

 

 

Our master bedroom transformation is almost finished!! The end is finally in sight. :)