. . . Painted Chest of Drawers . . .

I am really not sure how long this chest of drawers has been in our family but I can tell you it's been a really long time!  I also can tell you it's probably been painted about fifty million times.  It first started out in my sister's room when we were little and it was painted purple, then it came into my room and it was painted pink and pale blue with hand painted flowers on the front, then when my husband and I bought our house we painted it two shades of plum purple for our spare bedroom, then when our son was born we painted it pale blue and navy blue and NOW it's lime green and pale blue.  I don't know where this chest was bought but I am so glad it's lasted all these years and is so adaptable to being painted any color we choose.

Recently we did a makeover on my son's room, which was long overdue!  He is 11 now and we hadn't painted since we decorated his nursery and believe me it was time.  Anyway, we did the walls pale blue and orange and the bedding is green so I decided this chest of drawers needed another coat of paint and why not do the drawers a different color so it is more fun!  I used a bright green paint for the dresser itself and then used a pale blue for the fronts of the drawers and then brought it all together with the bright green drawer pulls.  At first I thought it was too big of a contrast but now that it is in his room I love it.  

This just proves that a little paint can make anything new again! 

• • •

 As you can see this chest of drawers was really beat up so it was more than ready for some paint to revive it.  I first sanded the entire chest and the drawers as well and then I chose to use a Glossy finish to the paint so it'd be easy to wipe down and it would add a little more pop to the room.

 I used Behr Semi-Gloss paint for both the dresser and the drawers.  The green is called Japanese Fern and the blue is called Misty Surf.  I panicked at first because I thought the green was going to be way to bright but after it dried I loved it and really want to paint something else with this color.  I think it would look so funky to have a cabinet or a big dresser painted in this color for the pop in a room.  Once the frame of the chest was painted I then painted the drawers the pale blue color and then painted the knobs the same green.  I am sorry I have no photos to show you but I was so anxious to get the project finished I forgot about pictures.  Ooops--bad blogger!

 Finished and Love it!  It's just the pop this little area needed.

 Perfect for a boys room!

 My aunt gave us this piggy bank back when our son was born and he loves it.  We thought maybe he would want it put away since he's older now but he sure didn't.  He was like, "Um, no" when we asked if we should put it away now.  Guess it's because we fill it all year and then let him cash it in for summer vacation money.

And, done!

Easy as can be but the paint certainly made a big change!

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. . . Simple Tulle Valentine's Day Wreath and Tulle Puffs Tutorial . . .

I am starting this post out a little differently than usual but I just have to get something off my chest about my little blog.  I am wondering if anyone visits my bloggity blog anymore? 

In reality I see my Google Analytics and know for a fact that people are coming by but I never receive comments anymore and my followers never increase anymore and my subscribers stay at the same number month after month.  I'm beginning to feel like the last kid picked to be on the team in high school gym class and that is not a good feeling to have.  

I know I have gotten really slack about posting regularly so I take the blame for that but a big part of that is because I wonder if I am reaching my readers that used to come by all the time.  I get a lot of my inspiration from my readers leaving nice comments and without reader interaction I have to wonder if I am connecting with my followers.

That all being said, I love cooking and baking and being crafty so I will always be puttering around doing something and I do really enjoy blogging about it.  I also love having a blog for my son to always have a record of what his mom was up to when he was young and it's a great way to document my passion for cooking and crafting but I just want to make sure I am reaching my readers too.  I am not pouting about this and more than anything I really want to make my readers happy with what I am sharing. 

• • •

Ready for that wreath I told you about in the title of this post?  Here you go...

I love making a wreath out of scrap yarn but I have done them so many times I was bored and wanted to figure out another fun and easy way to wrap a wreath form.  I use Tulle ribbon all the time for wrapping up orders of stationery and packaging gifts so I have a plethora of it and just so happened to have lots of red and pink and then grabbed some purple and white as well.  I used the same technique as the yarn wreath and just took really long pieces of each color tulle and started wrapping the wreath form until I reached the end and attached it with a floral pick.  Then I made the tulle puffs and attached those with floral wire and used my handy dandy E-6000 Glue and attached the X and O hearts.  Those XO hearts were from a garland I had from last year and had never used so I figured this was perfect for them.

  Easy Peasy right? Also, very festive with the traditional Valentine's Day colors!

 You will need:

Styrofoam wreath form

Lots of tulle in any colors you choose.  You could even do this in all one color if you wanted.

Floral Wire

Glue

Floral picks or anything you can use to attach the tulle to the wreath form

any extra embellishments you might want to add to your wreath

 Wrap your entire wreath with your tulle.  Because I did 4 different colors it gives it an almost ombre type look which I love but you could use as many or as few colors as you want.  I used little floral picks to attach my tulle to the wreath at both the start and the end.  They look almost like little bent paper clips and you can find them in the floral section of the craft store.  They are so nice to use for crafting.

 To make your tulle puffs you will need about 3 yards of tulle and a piece of cardboard that is about 4 or 5 inches long.  I use an iTunes gift card because it's stiff enough to not bend when I wrap it with the tulle and it makes the perfect size puff for a project like this or wrapping gifts.  The more tulle you use the fuller the puff will be and if you use a different size cardboard it will change the size of your puff as well.  

Take one end of your tulle and place it on top of the cardboard or gift card in my case and just start wrapping it until you reach the end.  You want to and with both the beginning and the end piece in about the center of your cardboard so when you tie it together you will easily catch both ends.  It's not the end of the world if you don't catch them but you will want to try to.

 Now, you will slide your wrapped tulle off the cardboard as carefully as you can so it won't all unravel.  Make sure to hold the end pieces when you are doing this step.

 This is a terrible photo because I apparently focused on the wreath instead of the looped tulle but I wanted to show you how I hold it right before I tie a piece of tulle around it.

 Here is where you will take a small piece of tulle and tie it right in the center really tight and make sure you catch your end pieces.  Then once you've done that stick your scissor blade into the end loops and just cut the loops in half.  Do this to both ends and then just start to separate the tulle and fluff it up until you get the desired look you want and then use it to wrap packages or embellish your wreath.  

 I then placed my X and O hearts onto the wreath and used E-6000 glue to attach them.

 Now you will attach your tulle puffs using floral wire or even another piece of tulle to tie them to the wreath.  I used each of my four colors to create a big puff.

 Tada!  Finished

 Aren't those tulle puffs the best! I just love using them for fun things like this or gift wrapping.

XO to all of you!!  Happy Valentine's Day

Here is a bonus photo of how I use the tulle puffs in gift wrapping.  This one is made using 2 colors of tulle so as you can see it makes them a lot fuller.  Such a simple way to dress up packages isn't it?

. . . Crates into Bookshelf . . .

We are in the process of doing a room makeover for our son's room.  We haven't painted his room since it was a nursery and that was 11 years ago so it was time to get it repainted.  He wanted orange and I didn't but we made a compromise and decided to do the walls orange below the chair rail and a pale blue above the chair rail.  We are all very happy with how it turned out and I will be sure to post finished photos of his room soon.  

We have a million and one comics and books and no where great to store them so they have taken over the family room in piles and in baskets and I have had enough of that.  We just ordered new furniture for our family room and decided to straighten it up to get ready for that so I was trying to think of a way to store all these books without doing a boring old book shelf in his room.  I was cruising Michael's to pick up a frame when I saw the unfinished wooden crates and had a brainstorm to paint them and stack them for book storage.  I bought three and ran home and pulled out my white paint and go to work.  

My son couldn't be happier and we are too because we have all his books out of the family room!  The crates ended up serving three purposes which is an even bigger benefit.  They are book storage and an end table and even a charging station for his iPad and Beats Pill.  Love that they worked out so well!  It's always nice when a plan comes together.

You can't beat this super simple project.  You could paint them and line them up under a window if your space is tight.  You could stack them going the opposite direction for larger books and even store lots of other things other than books.  I for sure think you need to do this easy peasy project for your space!

 

 I think for safety reasons it would be smart to use an "L" bracket on the back of each shelf to hook them all together in case they would fall but honestly with the weight of the books these bad boys don't move at all.  

 So perfect for all his needs--books, charging and an end table all in one spot!

 I was amazed at how many books each of these crates held.  It was amazing how I kept adding and they had enough space.

 DIY Success!

 Love it!

. . . Happy New Year 2014 . . .

May the year ahead be your very best year yet!  Wishing you a very Happy New Year from Itsy Bitsy Paper!