The Kitchen A-B-C's

After recently buying a wooden framed chalkboard from Ikea for my kitchen, I knew I wanted something additional to hang above it for some added interest.   After little debate, I decided to get large wooden letters and spell out something, just wasn't sure what.  I tossed around "YUM" and "EAT" and even "KEYS" but ultimately went with "EAT" because it is the kitchen after all.  And that's what we do in there... EAT!  I also figured I could rearrange the letters ("ATE", "TEA") to mess with my friends heads if I so choose, and that's always fun. :)

I decided to make my own letters because a.) I love doing anything crafty and b.) the wooden or metal letters you often see at retail stores are too expensive for me.  I just can't justify spending $9.99 for one letter.  That would be over $30.00 with tax for a three letter word!  No, thanks.

How I did it:

I went to Michael's and got my letters ($3.99 each).  They were originally primed white and ready for painting.  I already had black spray paint but I needed to get a glossy spray to finish them so I purchased this and it worked very well.

When I got home I set the letters on an old sheet outside and began to spray them black.  I then let those dry and coated them with my new Triple Thick gloss spray.  Let me tell you... when they say "Triple Thick" they are NOT kidding.  This stuff is like lacquer!  It will make anything shine like the top of the Chrysler Building!  (see: Annie Reference).  

Once they were dry I got my trusty Command double stick squares and threw them up.  

{By the way if you haven't tried the Command double stick hanging tape you MUST.  This stuff is amazing and is seriously the easiest way to hang a picture (light weight of course) or anything else for that matter.}  

Anyhoo, I think they turned out pretty well!  What do you think?

Cheap and Easy Wall Art

If you're like me then you hate to spend money on stuff to hang on your walls (or anything for that matter). I especially hate to spend a fortune on something to hang on my walls when there's so much out there that can be considered "wall art".  However, if you insist on getting a painting or print already completed I would recommend Garden Ridge.  They have the largest selection of wall art I've ever seen in one store and it's all reasonably priced.  


If you'd like to think outside the box a bit and come up with creative ways to fill your walls then here are a few ideas that I've come up with that have worked well for me.  Of course all of these can be tweaked here and there and/or added to, but it's at least a starting idea!


My first example is something I made this past weekend on a whim because I needed a little something to fill an empty wall in our bedroom.  I have a damask print duvet cover and I wanted something to match but that I could create myself.  I came up with the simple idea and went to Hobby Lobby to get my supplies.  I bought two small canvas' (2 for $6) and used acrylic paint and stencils I already had.  I also purchased the ribbon ($2 for the roll) to hang them for a girly touch and needed a new hot glue gun ($2.99).  So overall the entire project cost me a whopping $11.00!

Here's another view to get the full effect :)

If you don't already have acrylic paints and stencils around the house they're very cheap as well.  Acrylics are about .99 cents per color for the small bottle and a whole sheet of different stencils was $4.99.  I've found Hobby Lobby to be much cheaper than Michael's.  If there are any other cheap craft stores out there please let me know!

My next project is a very simple one that used very little creativity and was simply the result of a dwindling bank account and a bare wall:)  I needed something for the walls in my spare bedroom and was not feeling very crafty that day so I came up with a simple idea to frame scrapbook pages!  The scrapbook pages I used were in fact from Michael's however they were only.... drum roll...  .59 cents each!  That's a bargain if you ask me!  I got lucky and the frames were also 50% off that day so they were only about $4 each.  So in total, the entire set of three pictures cost me $13.77.  It's also a very cute pink damask print.  Are you sensing that I love damask?   The great thing about this project is you literally have thousands of options to choose from.  Go to your local Michael's or Hobby Lobby or even office supply store and see how many different scrapbook sheets they have to choose from!  Buy a few to change out when you get tired of them, at only .59 cents (or less) a sheet you can't go wrong.