Gold Dipped Painted Letters - Teacher Gift

Looking for a golden way to thank your teachers this Christmas? These gold dipped painted letters are a great craft that your kids can paint in a jiffy!

I picked up the letters from a craft store, they are lightweight and made of hollow cardboard. The paint, I had on hand..just pulled out the colors and let my kids pick the ones they'd like to use. Paper plates made a great spot for paint, easy clean up and you only have brushes to clean.

The gold dipping is actually just a touch of spray paint, I waited a day to make sure the letters were completely dry before taping off the ends with green painter's tape and used a magazine to protect the rest of the letter from the gold spray. 

I thought they turned out super cute and my kids were very proud of their painting skills. 

You can't start thinking about Christmas gifts too early and if you start now, you won't be as frantic in December - happy painting!!

"anatomy of a gold dipped painted letter"

Chalk Painted Octopus

Who doesn't love a little octopus? I picked up this wooden guy at Home Goods awhile back when I was starting to pull things together for my kiddos shared bathroom and hid it away for a rainy day. 

Once I painted their bathroom, the current color of Guy, the octopus, wasn't what I wanted (I had always planned to paint it anyway), so I quickly slapped a coat of WHITE chalk paint on it...

and then another. After it was fully dry, I quickly sanded down the edges with an electric sander. No wax or poly was used on guy, so this project was quickly finished and hung in their bathroom. Isn't he cute?! So glad the warm weather is back, it means paint dries faster!

Furniture Makeover - Summer Porch Yellow

Warm weather means that I can paint again, yippee!

I've been wanting to give this piece of furniture

a facelift since we moved to VA last year. 

A bit banged up and scratched with moving

but it's still a great piece that sits nicely on 

our stairway landing.

Our walls are grey (darker in the main part of the

house, the photos were taken in our sunroom) and

the yellow pop on the stairway will be a nice addition

to our family sunflower canvas.

I found this scrumptious yellow at AC Moore, it's 

called Summer Porch, by FolkArt Home Decor Chalk.

I used about half of the bottle with two coats for this

project. I'm not the best painter but I like to tackle

projects and get them done and am very happy

with the end result of this one!

Two coats with two different brushes...

I waited a day in between coats since I painted

during nap time but the paint was very quick to dry.

A different day, I pulled the sander out and quickly

edged up my piece, letting the brown pop through

in various places.

Next the Polycrylic, this was very easy to apply

but you need to make sure you don't put too much

on your brush or you'll get unwanted drips

(which can be sanded off, thankfully, oops!)

Two coats of Poly, in two days...again at naptime.

I wanted to paint the drawer pull black but only

had chalkboard paint on hand...I used two nails 

poked through a piece of cardboard to hold my drawer

pull away from any surfaces. The bottom two

photos are what it looked like before. The top pic 

is right after I sprayed, still wet...

Next the drawer, I didn't paint the bottom, since I

knew I was going to line it with something. Found 

this super cute, inexpensive grey and white chevron

drawer liner at Target. 

I unrolled it and folded it over in the corner to create

a cutting crease, pulled it out and slid my scissors

up the folded line. Before taking off the backing,

I made sure it fit inside. Just two small trims, peeled

off the back and stuck it inside. 

I'm in love with my little yellow table, 

isn't it sweet?...

DIY Frame and Valentine Mantle Decor

I asked my dear hubby to whip up another project

that's been floating around in my head. We needed 

something larger for our mantle that could be used 

to decorate with. After looking for frames at Michael's 

and a few other stores but not wanting to swallow 

the $100 or more price tag for the size we needed...

Two pieces of fence boards from Home Depot were

snatched up instead and this is what the hubs made 

that I painted with Americana Decor Chalk Paint.

 Just a simple square but it adds a bit of height

and will be so fun to switch up for all the different 

holidays this year, can't wait to continue

the crafting projects!! 

Here's our mantle this year for Valentine's Day.

Share the love and link your Valentine projects

or decor below in the comments!

Valentine Heart Banner - Kid Craft

Got all four of my chickens involved in decorating this

year for February. I die cut out these hearts in white cardstock,

and let them go to town with craft paint and Q-Tips. 

Love those sweet little hands...

After the hearts were dry, a simple hole punch for

ease of threading bakers twine (or you can use yarn)

and then die cut letters to spell your desired phrase.

You can also use stickers or draw directly onto 

the dry painted hearts with a sharpie marker, 

if you don't have die cuts for lettering.

Happy Decorating!!

DIY Valentine Decor Amore

After taking down our Christmas decor, the house

felt a little barren and although I love a clean and

uncluttered house, I also love holidays!

We are lacking in the Valentine decor

department, so when I spotted these cool

metal letters at Michael's...I put them back.

Really. I did. I put them back and walked away.

Mainly because there wasn't an "o"...and then

I walked past the Valentine row and spotted 

the perfect "o", the red metal cookie cutter

heart. I quickly ran back and snatched up

my letters and then headed to Home Depot.

Happy girl, happy girl!!!

Picked up 3 fence panels since another project

is in my head, in the works.

Just a two foot section was cut for this craft.

It needed to stand up, so a piece of scrap wood, 

an angled cut & some screws fixed that.

Already had the pink Americana Decor chalk

paint on hand, so I quickly got to work painting.

Of course a coffee break between the two coats.

Finished up the edges with a bit of white chalk paint.

I used the two pots of paint to balance the board on while

spacing the letters and hot gluing. If you wait a couple of 

seconds, the glue is the perfect temperature to smear into

the cracks with your finger without losing layers of skin.

A quick cut with an exacto knife to remove any visible glue 

that seeped out from the tops of the letters and voila!

That's Amore!

Easy DIY Painted Stripe

Checking 'to do' items off our list, one of which

was touching up all the paint in our home. With little

fingers and tiny thrown toys at times, our walls had

a few dings that needed repaired and touched up. 

This dresser had one of those beloved dings on the 

top drawer and it has bothered me for over a year.

I already had the blue paint out to touch up the 

large horizontal stripe that goes around our sons room

and decided to 'fix' up their plain jane white dresser

from IKEA while I was at it.

I eyeballed my first tape line, then grabbed a ruler 

for the second to make sure I was even from each end.

A little hole filler - no sanding on anything - a foam

brush and paint. 

First coat...I waited until completely dry. I set a mini

fan in front of the dresser to help quicken my drying

time, since my todo list seemed miles long, isn't it 

always, haha!

Second Coat

and Third Coat...you can still see a bit of the ding

but it's not as noticeable now that the dresser is painted.

I wanted to make sure the paint would hold up to my boys,

hence the third coat.

 Peeled off the tape and am in LOVE with the new look!

 Have you painted anything in the new year?

Kids Christmas Ornament Craft

This was a fun and simple craft to prep for my kids

and their friends. The little houses I picked up at a craft

store for 29 cents each and I already had the glitter, paint

and paint brushes on hand.

I always keep a few plastic table cloths on hand from

the $1 Dollar Store, so I can quickly cover the table

and it makes for easy clean up too. 

I poked a hole (so the finished houses could be easily

hung with ribbon or twine) with a Crop A Dile in the 

tops of each of the wooden roofs.

The kids drew on their houses to give 

themselves some guide lines and then had fun with

the paint. The black lines are glitter glue (left over

from Halloween) and I pulled out some 

Martha Stewart glitter from my crafty stash

which I sprinkled on the wet painted rooftops, 

no glue needed. Now for some string and they are 

ready for the tree!

Makes the perfect gift for a Grandparent too..

DIY Desk Makeover

This fugly desk was left in a closet in the home we

moved into this summer and I almost chucked it to

the trash bin until I decided to redo it for my daughter.

Before - Black, Boring, Blah...

I started by taking everything apart and

poked the screws into a piece of cardboard, partially

so I wouldn't lose them and also for ease of painting.

All the sections are lifted off the ground with a few

pieces of scrap wood...although I got smart the next

day and put them up on saw horses...much better!

I only used two coats of chalk paint and then with rags

sloppily applied the wax. Next time I'll get the right 

brush but this time, it worked just fine.

A few coats of gold spray paint for the legs

and hardware...I think the gold looks a bit more fancy

instead of the drab silver

I looked through my hubbies tool box for some sand

paper and found one of these round boys...roughed up

the corners, edges and a bit off the tops

before and after shot of the legs

and hardware...I almost couldn't wait 

for it to dry before putting it back together

and I'm in LOVE with the after!

Here's a shot of her new creative corner, 

which she exclaims that she "LOVES"!

The perfect spot for a pre teen to doodle, 

do homework or write letters to her friends.

Glamorous Gold

Remember this Trashy Treasure, I vamped up HERE back in 2012?

I found a new spot for this beauty above the doorway in our Sunroom

but orange just wasn't going to cut it with the turquoise and yellow decor.

Soooo, out came the bottle of gold spray paint, again...haha. Hope

you're not getting sick of the color yet?! 

Before and After

Do you have any favorite colors of spray paint

you like to use on your DIY projects?

I think I just might venture out on the next!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

linked up to Monday Funday

come check out all the fun projects!

Coordinate with Paint

I added this piece in our Sunroom (just not on the main

wall) and wanted to  have it flow with the room, 

so a bit of frog painter tape,

a touch of GOLD spray paint and tadaaa...

An easy way to update a piece of art or make

it coordinate with the tone of your room.

I actually like it better now!