Chalkboard Table Top

About a month or so before we got married, we started shopping for apartment furniture. We bought some end tables at yardsales and thrift stores and spray painted them all the same cream color. It was a good choice since we didn't know what other furniture we would end up with and wanted a neutral and cohesive look. All of the tables survived the apartment and moved to the house with us. One of the tables in now in between two chairs in our living room. It gets a lot of coaster and drink action, as well as card game action. Some nights we like to sit in our chairs and play a friendly game of cards on it.

It has gotten quite a beating on the top and needed a paint makeover (a paintover maybe?). I thought a chalkboard table top would be a perfect option for keeping score and leaving each other little notes.

Here it goes....this is what the final product looks like....

This is how I made it....

I taped off the edges...to create a border....

 And then I started painting.....

I used Rust-leum's Chalkboard Paint....it has instructions that were written for patient people, which I am not, so I used a hair dryer in between coats and painted a total of three coats.

Once the paint was dry, I peeled off the tape. It didn't work as well as I had hoped and had to touch up the border with cream paint.

 Then I "cured" the chalkboard by rubbing chalk all over it...

Then I wiped it all off...

Then it was ready to go...

This was sooo easy to do and gives us a fun table top to draw and write on. I am really happy with it!!!

Cheap and Easy Fall Vase Filler

I picked up some foam gourds and pumpkins from the dollar store the other day....

And decided to spray paint them a creamy white. I put them in a box but the power of the spraypaint just blew them all over the place so I had to hold them while I painted them.

I should've worn a glove :)

 I let them dry in the box....

 My original plan was to put these on my grapevine wreath for my front door.

It was extremely obvious how cheap my pumpkins and gourds were and I was unhappy with the outcome. I wasn't about to let $5 worth of gourds and pumpkins go to waste though, so I put them in some vases to use as Fall decor.

Even though it wasn't what I originally planned, it turned out to be a cheap and easy vase filler for my fall decor. I'm bummed that my original idea didn't work out but it was nice turning a failure into a success. Plus, i'm really happy with what I ended up doing to my fall wreath.

Bar Cart

A few weekends ago, I found a bar cart at a local thrift store and fell in LOVE with it! It was one of the those finds that the price was too perfect to pass up BUT I wasn't 100% sure of where it was going to go in our home. Well I made it work and I am loving it so far! There is something still missing but I wanted to go ahead and show it to ya....

Isn't she beautiful?!  I decided to leave her completely AS IS. I may touch up some of the paint but I am not changing it much more than that. I love it's character. The mirror bottom and glass top were wrapped up when we bought it, so the mirror was a complete surprise when we got home. I really like it!

Once I found a new home for our new cart, I decided that I want to use it as a bar cart. It will be great for serving drinks of any kind. My mom has always had a specific place set up to serve drinks for when she entertains....I have always wanted a spot perfect for that, and now I do!

My wire garden cloche found a home on top of my large chalkboard slate. I also put my wine bottle holder (a $3 thrift store find) that I found a while back, down there to hold wine bottles for easy access.

The top shelf now holds my ice bucket, my new chalkboard wineglasses, my vintage mixer, and a galvanized bucket with bar tools.

Here are more pictures...

 I love the wheels, they are so vintage...

I feel like something is missing but I can't put my finger on it! I think it will be perfect for serving drinks, it is located perpendicular to my buffet in our dining area, which will be perfect for entertaining. I think bar carts have a ton of character, I was lucky enough to find this one at a steal but they aren't always that affordable. So, if you find one at a good price, be sure and snatch it up!

Burlap Pennant Wreath

We had a really rough weekend, our sweet 3 year old puppy passed away on Sunday morning after spending all day Saturday in a Veterinary ICU.

 She was definitely a huge part of our family, like a child to us. We are going to miss her like crazy.

Luckily, last week, I felt compelled to write some posts on projects I had completed ( I am normally a fly by the seat of my pants blogger). I finished this wreath a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to share it with you today....

I have been thinking a lot about what to do for my Fall wreath. I really wanted to take my grapevine wreath and change it up. It has already been a Spring wreath and then it was a Summer wreath and now it is a Fall wreath!

All I did was strip it of all things Summer....

I then took jute and wrapped it around the wreath first to establish the lines for my pennants to hang from...

Then I cut triangles out of my burlap scraps, leftover from my burlap wreath, and wrote "Happy Fall Y'all", one letter on each pennant, with a black Sharpie.

Then, I hot glue the pennants onto the jute.

Lastly, I made a large burlap rosette and glued it onto the wreath.

This took me only 20 minutes to make and zero dollars because I already had the supplies! It is a really simple wreath but I like it that way!

Diva Night- September Craft Night

Last night was our September Craft Night! We decided to go out to a local pottery painting studio, Crazy Glaze, for their "Diva Night". Diva Night is held once a month (I think next month they are going to have two nights a month) and is for women only. They provide you with dinner for only $5 on top of the price of your pottery piece. It is also bring your own beverage and any beverage type is allowed. I was able to snap a few shots of the action so check us out! It you are close to Fuquay Varina, NC, check out Crazy Glaze!

Mica and Erin...

 Me and Allie Marie...

Allie painting her spoonrest...

Me and my mug...

Sarah's awesome football plate before she started her writing...

Mica with her cute mug....

Allie with her finished Spoonrest. It says "yum"!

Erin painting her cute plate...

My mug...I have such a hard time being creative with blank canvases like this. I used painters tape for my lines and Sarah (with her awesome free-handing skills) wrote "Choose Joy" on it for me!

Sarah with her awesome Appalachian/NC State Plate! Isn't her freehand writing amazing?!

 Erin with her beautiful baby plate for sweet Caleb...

I can't wait to see our finished products next week when they are ready! We had a great time and I am thinking about returning to Diva Night next month!

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