polka dot coat hangers

I have two little boys, and their room is always a mess. In fact, the whole house is always a mess! So to cut down on some of the mess, I made them some coat hangers for their room. Now we don’t have coats and hats hanging out by the front door or on the floor in their room.

First I had little G man help me find lots of random circles to trace. We used bowls, a lid, sandpaper, and a tape dispenser.

I traced those on a 3/4” wide board (custom milled by Grant!), some of the little ones I traced a couple of times.

Then I got to work on my scroll saw and cut out all the circles, then sanded the rough edges and tops.

Then little G man helped me pick out the colors. His favorite was the green!

I ended up using orange, green, red, blue & yellow paint, which matches the dresser knobs, shelves and stripes on the wall in their room. Paint each of the circles with a couple layers then top it off with a couple more layers of clear coat.

[you can see on the spray paint board the outline of my Quote Wall that I made previously!]

I didn’t take any pictures of this part, but I laid out the hooks on the 4 bigger circles and marked where the screws needed to go. I pre-drilled the holes (smaller than the screws). To hang them, I hid the screw going into the wall under the hook.

 

Then I added the hooks. I didn’t want the placement to be right in the middle (mainly because the double hooks made the circles look like a cat face or some other animal, without the eyes, and it was bugging me!), so I put them randomly on the circles.

 

The really small dots I just hammered in penny nails and cut the ends off with aviator tin snips. That made them easy to hammer into the wall. **Add a touch of glue to the nails before you put them in the wall and they will actually stay. I tried just putting them on the wall without anything and they stayed, but were super easy to take off. I know the boys would have had a hay day with those weapons if they found out about them!

 

And the finished product, a fun little addition to their room.

    

Tools used/needed:
*1 x ___ boards (mine was custom cut by Grant)
*Random circles (bowls, lids, etc.) to trace
*Scroll saw
*Sandpaper
*Spray paint & clear coat (Rustoleum Ultra Cover)
*Coat hooks (I got mine at Target and Home Depot)
*Drill (drill and screw bits)
*Stud finger &/or drywall anchors
*Extra screws (for putting them on the wall)
*Penny nails
*Tin snips
*glue (opt)

 

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Operation Dream House: part 1 – buying land

Grant and I have always wanted to build our own house. Ever since we moved here and bought our first house Grant has been on the hunt for a good deal on land. Then one day, all of a sudden Grant found a killer deal for 6 acres, 1.5 miles from our house. It had only been on the market for a couple days and within the week we were getting things going.

We finally signed and paid for the land (with a stinkin loan of course) in the middle of January. Buying land (and homes) is such an ordeal, all the paperwork that has to be signed. I swear you have to make at least one mark on each and every page they give you, initials or signature. But that part is long over and hopefully we wont be doing that again for a while!

Step one of building our dream house is done! Now, for the next couple of years, we will be paying off the land, looking at house plans and deciding what to do with all that land! Every time I go out there I realize how huge 6 acres actually is. It’s a pretty fun process, but if only we had all the time and money in the world so we could just get started building!

But for now, Grant is using it as storage for all of his huge logs, skid steer (bobcat), and sawmill parts…and now target practice with his new bow (early Father’s Day present). At least now our house doesn't look like a junk yard!!

Quote Wall

I don’t know how common this is, but our family is all over the quote wall. Family reunions are the best time to start one, but we also have one at our house ALL THE TIME. Each year we start over and at the end of the year we read through the whole list of quotes. It’s definitely one of my favorite things we have in our house, keeps the laughter going.

If you are new to Quote Walls, it’s just a collection of random quotes that people say that are particularly funny/interesting/random/etc. (especially when taken out of context!). In the past we just had a paper on the fridge that we would add quotes to, but I’m getting sick of my fridge being cluttered. I’m slowly finding a better place for everything and it was the quote wall’s turn.

This quote by Grant pretty much shows how awesome quote walls are (along with how sassy Grant is and how cool my family is)

I have the perfect spot to put this quote wall board on my wall down the hall, but it isn’t up yet so no picture until it’s totally done and in it’s official spot. To make this I started with a 11” x 24” pine board (cut & milled by Grant of course). For the top and bottom design I used my Silhouette to cut it out on cardstock (design is from the Organic Bloom - June). The side design I free handed.

Then I cut it out with my scroll saw, had Grant router the edges (for some reason I’m still a pansy when it comes to the router), lots of sanding, and then I painted. I put a couple coats of black spray paint then a couple coats of white. I sanded the edges so the black showed through, but I kept it light enough that I didn’t get to the wood. I just wanted a touch of black to show. Then I added a couple coats of clear coat. I LOVE how the plaque design and colors turned out. It has an organic bloom look, but custom to the size & design I wanted.

To finish it off, the Silhouette cut ‘Quote Wall’ out of black vinyl and I applied it with transfer tape (as always). Then came the best part, adding all the quotes we had written down so far for 2013 (we start our quote wall over each year). I used sticky notes (cut in half, all I had on hand was the bigger sticky notes). Because of the clear coat the sticky notes stick great and are also easy to take off. It was fun re-reading them and getting a kick out of the random things we say :) Here’s a sampling.

My other favorite part about this quote wall is the back. When I had the board on the counter with the design drawn out, my little G man decided he wanted to draw all over it too, without me knowing. I kept it on the back, for a keepsake! I should have had him sign his name!! Also notice the keyhole in the back. Grant used the router to cut it and now I can hang it without any trouble.

There you have it. If you don’t have a quote wall in your house yet, start one! It’s fun to randomly say “QUOTE WALL” after someone says something and they know it is committed to the wall where everyone can read and remember it. They are one of the best things to read at the end of the year!

Project Equipment & Details:
*11” x 24” pine board
*scroll saw
*Sihouette Machine (not totally necessary) with Organic Bloom design - Jane
*router – edges & keyhole
*Rustoleum spray paint – Matte Black, Matte White & Clearcoat Matte
*USCutter Intermediate Greenstar vinyl – Black & transfer tape
*Quote Wall font – Quilted Butterfly

All Our Love – custom sign

This was a recent custom sign that I did. The customers Grandmother passed away recently and she wanted a keepsake of her grandma’s handwritten note.

I particularly love these signs. They are so personal and meaningful. I made one for my mom (and myself) that was my dad’s handwriting, his signature ‘love & kisses’ that he signed at the end of every note, letter, card, whatever.

If you want a custom, personalized note made into a sign you can order HERE.

[zebra bracelet – made by little G man in preschool!]