DIY Wednesday {Chalkboard Wall Art}

I am always ooing and ahhing over any DIYs involving chalkboard paint & finally found the perfect excuse to try one out myself!  We have a very barren wall in our dining area that has been needing a little TLC. I have been avoiding it for a while now, a big bare wall can be kind of intimidating, ya know?  But last week it hit me--the wall needed a chalkboard ;)

Seeing as I already had a large dry erase board from Ben's flying days that was just sitting around in our garage, I decided I would try to transform it into a chalkboard.  Much easier on the eyes than a dry erase board.

I googled if it would be possible to paint over a dry erase board & found out that all the prep it needed was a little sanding.  Awesome.

 I gave the board a good sanding, until it felt coarse to the touch.

Next I took a damp rag & wiped all the dust off of it, making a clean working surface.

I decided to paint the frame yellow to match our living/dining area, rather than leaving the light pine color it came with.

And now for the fun stuff :)  The chalkboard paint (which I got at Walmart, I think it was a little cheaper than Lowes).  And although it was $10 for the can, I used only very little on this project, so it can definitely be stretched to get your money's worth ;)

First coat complete!

I did a second coat (after 4 hours of drying) & then let it dry overnight before drawing any pretty chalk pictures on it.

And here it is after a little chalk-love.  I went with a Subway Art Spice theme, being as I L-O-V-E spices & well, it is in my dining area, so it fits.

And that's it. Sweet & Simple.

**Side note: Thanks to all for participating in the giveaway! I was SO thrilled with the number of entries!!  The WINNER will be chosen & revealed Thursday!  So.Get.Excited.   Also I have a BIG shop announcement to make tomorrow, so you won't want to miss it ;)  

not a lot to say...

credit

Our days are quiet around here at the moment.  The hum of the sewing machine & the breeze coming through in the window is the bulk of what I hear throughout the day, and it is good, but doesn't leave much to be said.


I thought I'd direct you to my friend, Heather's blog today where she writes about the experiences of she & her family in Haiti & the ministry they do with Heartline (a cause I absolutely love & get to support with my business).  She wrote a really moving post this morning, that you can read here.


Hope you have a lovely day!  Oh & don't forget, you still have one more day to enter to win 2 yards of fabric from My Little Sunshine!  Enter to win, here.

my little sunshine {fabric giveaway}

Sometime in the wee hours of the night, My Little Sunshine surpassed 100 fabric SALES!

Yippeee!!! 

And, you may or may not have known that I promised that once the shop hit 100 sales, I would host a fabric giveaway on the blog!  I have SO many fun fabrics from amazing designers in my shop right now, and the best part of this giveaway is that you can PICK whatever fabrics you want from the shop.

Yep. That's right.

My Little Sunshine is giving away 2 YARDS of your choice of any of our designer fabrics!  You can mix and match, however you please!  

Maybe you'll choose something like this:

Or this:

or even this: 

Here's how to enter:

1. Head over to the shop & leave a comment here on the blog telling me what fabric(s) you would choose if you won.

2.  Follow the blog on Google Friends Connect  ((located on the right hand side of the blog)) and leave a comment letting me know you've joined ;)

3. Follow my *tweets* via Twitter AND tweet about the giveaway.  You can tweet something like this "Yippee! I just entered to win TWO yards of designer fabric on @sunshinefabric's blog! http://tinyurl.com/6f6u65u ".  Leave a comment letting me know you've tweeted!

4. Facebook OR blog about the post for an additional entry and of course, leave a comment letting me know you've done so!

That's FOUR easy as pie ways to enter! Make sure you leave a separate comment for EACH entry.  

Let's get this party started! Have fun!! The giveaway will close, WEDNESDAY April 13th at noon!

((open to US residents only))

DIY Wednesday {Mod Podge Topiary}

Hey friends! I'm back with another DIY Wednesday.  This project is a really simple one involving just a few supplies that some of you may already have on hand!

I am calling them Mod Podge Topiaries, even though there is no foliage involved, I just don't know what else to call them.

Here's what you need:

 sheet music (the older & more worn the better), scissors, mod podge, paint brush & a few topiary cones

Once you have all your supplies, tear out a few pages of music and cut into strips as shown in the middle picture.  One at a time, wrap strips around cone while generously lathering the mod podge on top.  This takes having both hands free for wrapping & brushing the mod podge on, thus the lack of pictures for this step-- I'm  not THAT great at multi-tasking ;).  Continue wrapping & mod podging to the very top of the cone.  Fold the top pieces down on top of the cone's "peak" & cover generously with good ol' mod podge. Let dry.

And here's your finished product! We mounted ours on top of candle holders.  Easy as pie.

Ode to Burlap

Wanting to re-decorate on a dime?  

That's what we were going for when we moved into our new home.  I've got three words for you my friend:  

Burlap

&

Spray Paint

These two things have been our best friends during our re-decoration process. 

Why Burlap?  It's a beautiful natural fiber that adds great texture to a home ON THE CHEAP. At $2-3 per yard you can't beat it- especially when it comes to curtain making.  

Being as we move so often, it's really useless for us to buy nice, expensive drapes or for me to spend $17 a yard for upholstery fabric to make my own.  It NEVER works out that our window layout is ever the same as it was in the house before.  Never. So, I am always looking for cheap solutions for curtain making.

Here are the new drapes in our home made from burlap and some re-purposed fabric that Ben's grandmother gave me (Thanks, Idie!)

 We also tied the burlap into our second sofa (which is our old green one that is slipcovered) with burlap pillows.

Of course, I couldn't resist making a few pillows from the new Joel Dewberry fabric I have up in the shop..I'm slightly obsessed. 

Oh yes, and I almost forgot: why I love spray paint?  

I was able to re-use ALL of our home decor items for our new look.  Previously we had a Green:Black:Yellow theme going on.  It worked mainly because our couch was green & sometimes you just gotta go with whatcha got! ;)

But when we recovered our couch (not shown), I was able to turn it to a Grey: Yellow: Cream theme with just a few cans of spray paint! Pictured items that were spray painted: vase, flowers in vase, bird cage. 

how do you re-decorate on the cheap?

Saturday Snapshot

Hey friends, I am linking up to Yellow Songbird's Saturday Snapshot for the second week straight.

I choose this little snapshot, not because it was a great, artistic photo, but because of what it reminds me of.

When I look at this picture, I see God's faithfulness over our lives and marriage.  This was taken the day my husband graduated from his tech school after two and a half long, and hard years of being led (blindly, sometimes) into situations and to places we could have never imagined.  This is a reminder to me of God's faithfulness- that He never leaves or forsakes us & that His plan for our lives is Sovereign and Good.  Over the past two years we have had our fair share of mistakes & failures, trusting in ourselves and our plans more than God, but this picture reminds me how good it is to trust the Lord.  

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
   the LORD bestows favor and honor.
 No good thing does he withhold
   from those who walk uprightly.
O LORD of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Ps. 84:11-12

Strawberry Swing Indie Craft Fair

Guess who's the newest vendor for the Kansas City Indie Craft Fair?

THIS GIRL! ;)

I'm sooo excited about this fair, there are going to be SO many great vendors there, like this lady, who I had the pleasure of meeting in person last night!

Coming July 2011 to the Greater Kansas City Area.  If you're in the area-- SAVE THE DATE!  You gotta be there ;) For more info check them out at: http://strawberryswingcraftfair.blogspot.com