DIY Wood Buttons!

OH MY GOSH! How flipping cute are these things! Seriously, I could eat them up (although my stomach would not thank me, so I won't).

I have been wanting to make myself some adorable wood buttons for a LONG time, and when my father in law decided to uproot some of his plants I begged and pleaded with him (ok, I just asked him) to hold them for me.

He just kind of looked at me when I said I wanted to make buttons with them.  I smiled, and he saved me a plant!

Here is my victim:

This picture was taken after I brutally attacked it with my jigsaw and threw it in the woods like spoiled meat.

When I tell this story I make it seem like I got my plant and then got to work on it immediately. Ha. Umm, it may or may not have sat at the corner of our driveway for about three months, then sat under our porch for another month until the hubby threatened to throw it away.  I just wanted to make sure the wood was nice and dry! ;)

I finally attacked it this weekend at the same time I attacked my pallet.  Guess I was in a violent mood!

I took my jigsaw to it and cut off the branches to make them easier to work with.

It's probably a good idea to wear some sort of protective eyewear so dirt and debri don't fly into your eyes.  Not that I didn't or anything.

Once the pieces were more manageable I held onto them with a furniture clamp and cut away.  I squealed with delight as each new piece fell to the ground!

I gave them a light sanding and got ready to drill holes.  Here they are pre-drill.

I grabbed our drill and used the 1/16 drill bit to make the holes.  I put the wood pieces on top of an old corkboard I paint on so it wouldn't matter if I drilled through it.  Worked perfect.  About five minutes later I had these:

Freaking - adorable - wood- buttons!

I chose to not put any poly on mine.  Partly due to laziness, but mostly because I love the natural wood look.

I mean seriously, look how precious they are looking all buttony:

So there you have it folks.  Buttons.  For free.

Cheers!

Five Feature Friday #31!

Happy weekend!

After weeks of beautiful Spring weather it is rainy and cool outside.  Maybe that will keep some of the pollen at bay, allergies have been awful this year!

I spent yesterday evening beating the crap out of a pallet that has been sitting in my garage for months!  I'm not gonna lie, it felt good to take a hammer to that beast.  I washed it and got it all clean so I could work on it today, and it got rained on. Drat! So I'll have to wait another day to let it dry before I can start on it.

Don't forget, tomorrow marks the beginning of Spring into Spring week with Jane from Adventures in Dinner!  I'll be wrapping up the week on Friday!  Hope you all get a chance to check it out!

FEATURES!

June & Bear shared her amazing dining room! I love the industrial chairs mixed with the teal/silver chairs and coral!

The Loud Silence enlisted the help of a friend to build her the perfect cubby space, which she then painted in some awesome colors! Love how it brightens up her space!

Okay, so it's no secret that Ashely from Domestic Imperfection is one of my real-life buds! I've been DYING to do a mutli-tone wood look, so I squealed a little when I saw her union jack coffee table done with different shades of stain.  Love it!

Tina's Crafty Ideas revamped this boring old side table in ultimate cuteness! I absolutely adore the shade of green she chose - and stop by to check out how she fixed up the inside of the drawer!

Mak and Jill made my heart flutter when I saw this.  I love the mixture of colors and the distressing on this piece! Great job!

Feel free to grab a button if you were featured!

<center><a href="http://craptastickatie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="CRAPTASTIC" src=" http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g330/kro2d/FeaturedButton-1.jpg" border=”0” height=”150“ width=”150”/></a></center>

Cheers!

Checkbook Cover and New Favorite Photo Editing Site!

 

Last August I did a swap with Bonnie @ Pink Stitches and she made me the most adorable checkbook cover.  I have been using that for my husband's checks, and I had another one for my checks.  It was ok, but I wanted a new checkbook cover!

I put in an elastic band to hold my debit card and keep it secure.  In my old checkbook cover the strap I made was too loose, and my card kept falling out in my purse.  Not cool when I'm trying to buy a greasy cheese enchilada.

I love the soft colors of this cover!  If I had made this for someone else I would have added the embellishments before I put the fabrics together so they wouldn't show on the inside - but it's for me and I dont' mind!

I'm kind of obsessed with bunting right now! It's just so bright and cheery!

I took all these pictures using the new lightbox I made.  It's super ghetto but it works!

I've also been incredibly upset lately that Picnik is closing. That is until I found my new favorite photo editing site - PicMonkey! 

My lightbox definately helped me get better photos at night, but this site made my pictures look waaaay better!  I would highly recommend it!  It's very similar to Picnik with some added features.

I've got a garage full of furniture right now, so hopefully I'll be back next week with some furniture projects!

Cheers!

Totes Magotes!

Name that movie!  Haha - one of my favortie lines ever!  In case you have no idea what "Totes Magotes" is from you can watch the clip from the movie here!

On April 4th we will be exactly four months away from graduation!  Talk about exciting and terrifying at the same time!  Once we graduate we have to take our certification exam, the PANCE.  I'm typically a huge procrastinator, but I'm not going to risk anything on this exam.  It's kind of a big deal, so I'm starting my studying now.  I've been carrying around my study materials in a little tote that was kind of boring, so I decided to make a bright one that would make me happy!

Enter, Totes Magotes!

I used a home decor fabric from Joanns for the outer fabric, and a regular cotton fabric for the lining.  I used muslin for the straps and pockets.  I bought one yard of each fabric for $17, but only used half of the outer fabric and about 3/4 of the inner fabric.  So I'd say it was right at $10 to make.

I followed Say Yes To Hoboken's tutorial for the tote, and Cut Out and Keep's tutorial for the pocket (well, kinda).

I put a divided pocket on one side to hold my water and any other goodies.  I did the pockets from the tutorial by memory, and realized I did them wrong.  Oh well, they still work!

I took two pieces of cardboard and wrapped them with my ScotchBlue Painter's Tape.  I made a pocket out of the lining fabric and slid it over the cardboard.  I then placed this in the bottom of the bag.  It adds support so my bag has a solid bottom.  If I spill something in the bag I can remove the cardboard and wash the rest - here is the cardboard insert:

Now I have a cute, cheery tote to haul around my study materials for the next four months!

I love the fabric and the long straps!

Cheers!!