Kids' Jewelry Organizer

**Still having a fabulous time in Portugal, but here's one more scheduled post for you before I get back. And here's a not-great picture of a great view :)

In my two years of blogging I've discovered that I don't live in a part of the country that's densely populated with craft bloggers.  With that being the case, I love when I get to meet or make connections with someone local who loves the same stuff I do!  Several months ago I met Gemia who lives nearby and she recently started up a blog with 3 other crafty souls.  When she asked me to do a guest post for The Phat Quarters I of course said yes.  This is the tutorial I shared over there.  

My two girls don't have a very extensive jewelry collection, and mostly what they have is little plastic beaded stuff.  But what they do have is often in a tangled up mess in a box and they never wear it.

So I turned a plain Ikea MALMA mirror into a cute place for their necklaces and bracelets to hang.

Here's what you'll need to make one yourself
Ikea mirror

Source

paint (I used regular craft paint in a light blue)
brush
sandpaper
nails
hammer
saw tooth hanger

Start by painting the frame of the mirror.  You can tuck paper around the actual mirror to keep paint off of it, but if a little gets on, it scrapes off easily as well.  You may need to do a few coats.

When it's completely dry, sand corners and edges as desired to distress.

Find the center on the top back of the mirror and install the saw tooth hanger.

Then on the front of the mirror, set small nails all around the edges, alternating placement so pieces can hang down.

Hang on the wall, preferably at a low enough level where your kids can reach it, and add necklaces and bracelets.  Hopefully they'll think it looks so cute they'll put the items back at the end of the day too :)

I'd love to hear how you tame your kids' jewelry.  Then go check out the Phat Quarters Blog and tell them I sent you :)

Mother's and Father's Day Gifts

I shared a Mother's Day gift idea at Craftaholics Anonymous earlier this week, and my debut post for Brassy Apple today would be great for Father's Day.

Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway for not 1 but 2 JoTotes! Click here.

Kitchen Towel with DecoArt Ink Effects

Many of you have probably used fabric paint before--I've used it on t shirts, drawstring backpacks and pillowcases.  Here's another fun way to add color to fabric:  Ink Effects.  It doesn't ever crack or feel stiff either because the color actually transfers into the fabric.  I received some from DecoArt a few months ago and was able to try it out on this towel that I ended up using as a gift for a friend!

Before you start an Ink Effects project, check the fiber content of your fabric.  If it is more than 60% cotton (less than 40% synthetic) you must first prep the area with the base spray and let dry.  

My towel is a microfiber with 80% polyester and 20% nylon so I skipped that step.

Free hand paint or print out shapes and paint over them.  A toothpick tip works great for getting into really small spaces or lines (like the whisk)  Be sure to reverse any letters because everything will be backwards.

When dry, place paint-side-down onto your fabric.  Cover with a clean paper (don't use a scrap paper with any printing on it, the ink will transfer too!)

Move the iron around so you don't get any iron hole marks.  Make sure you go over the edges a lot too so they don't come out lighter.  It will take several minutes.  You can peel up a corner of one of the images to see if you like how dark it is.  If it still seems a little light, do a few more minutes.

Remove all the paper and let the fabric cool and it's ready to go.

Have you used Ink Effects before?  I think I might let my kids in on the action for my next project.  What would you like to see done with it?

To download and print these same shapes, go to the project library at DecoArt you'll find my instructions again there as well.

Oh Yeah--Giving Away *2* Jo Totes!

About a week ago I polled both my Facebook and Instagram buddies, and if you voted that we should give away a Jo Totes bag, you're going to love this--it gets even better because we're giving away 2!  And these bags can carry more than cameras :)

Mother's Day is only DAYS away! YIKES!! Are you ready? Do you have a gift for that special Mom in your life? Well, don't worry, we have you covered! Hang onto your seats and get ready for a FABULOUS giveaway!

With Mom Day coming quickly, the Craftaholics Anonymous® Creative Team put our crafty little heads together and decided to hold a very special giveaway just for you! We are giving away 2, yes, not 1 but TWO Jo Totes! {are you jumping up and down yet?! Because we are!} We are so excited to offer you this special giveaway! Jo Totes make us weak in the knees, so we knew they would be the perfect giveaway. 

If you're in love with these bags, wait till you see JoTotes' newest bag that we have the honor to introduce to you today! Behold the "Abby" bag! 

It comes in mint or lilac and is available for preorder today on May 6th.

 The lucky winner will get a Jo Totes for herself and one to give to a special gal in her life!

{The Rafflecopter may take a second to load} 

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

GIVEAWAY RULES:

No purchase necessary. To enter, participants must like the facebook pages by using the Rafflecopter form above. This giveaway is in no way affiliated, administered or endorsed by Facebook. The giveaway closes on May 10th, 11 PM CST. The winners will be chosen via Random.org and will be notified by email on 5/11/13 and will need to respond within 48 hours to claim their prizes or other winners will be chosen. Winner must be 18 years of age or older and a US resident in order to win. Winners are responsible for paying any necessary taxes on winnings.

Disclosure: A HUGE thank you to Jo Totes for donating the prizes! We love Jo Totes and appreciate them sponsoring this giveaway.

Window Features

Short and simple post for you today to just share a couple of cool ideas from the window links we had last week.

This first one will show you how to build curtain rods for your bay window by Here Comes the Sun.  Such a great idea for this space!

Then how about turning a tablecloth into curtains by Clean, Smart, Simple Style.  I love the pattern of these!

Do you have any fun window treatments you've made?  Share them here!

Flood Staining Guide and Sweepstakes

This post brought to you by Flood® Wood Care. All opinions are 100% mine.

Over the last 3 1/2 years we have been slowly working through the house on different remodeling projects.  We have taken care of the living room, kitchen and main living area, both bathrooms and the master bedroom.  All windows have been replaced and we painted the exterior of the house.  But there are still a couple of things we haven't touched yet.  Take our back deck for instance.  It's solid at least, but has definitely seen better days.  And it gets so slick when it's wet (which is often)

 Flood® Wood Care asked me to plan a project using their staining products, so I went to Staining Made Simple and answered a few simple questions about the condition of the deck and how we want it to look when we're done.

Their recommendation came back to treat the whole area with their cleaner/brightener, and then use a solid stain which will let us reapply less often and give us a mildew-resistant coating.

 

Other staining project ideas that would be great to add to a to-do list (and then stain!) would be building a picnic bench from Ana White's plans

or making these garden planter boxes

What's cool is that right now they are running a Flood Better Backyard Sweepstakes for a chance to win $1500 plus they're giving away 12 $10 gift cards daily just for liking their page on Facebook.  Share for more entries, and keep getting great ideas from Twitter  Sweepstakes ends 5/17/2013.

Have you had luck staining your deck by yourself?  What tips can you give us?  I just know we'd better wait til summer when we can have a few days in a row without rain :)

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Legal residents of the 50 United States of America and (D.C.) 18 years and older. Ends 5/17/2013. To enter and for Official Rules, including odds, and prize descriptions visit www.facebook.com/flood. Void in Puerto Rico and where restricted or prohibited. This Sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to Sponsor and not to Facebook.    

Washi Tape Teacher Gift (with Printable Tag)

When I realized that I was going to be gone during teacher appreciation week, I knew I had to come up with something fast and easy that I could get done ahead of time.

Here's what I made, and you can print out the tag below to do the same.

Pick up a couple of fun rolls of washi tape from the store (or your stash) and slide it in a little bag along with a gift card (if you want...we went with Sonic)

Print out the tags (there are 3 on each page) and glue it down on a piece of colored cardstock.  You can also download the svg for the scalloped base I used and cut it with an electronic cutter.  Decorate with a small strip of tape, punch a hole in the corner and tie it onto the bag.  I had my kids each write a little not to their teacher on the back too.

All set!  And now I have one less thing to worry about when I'm gone.

You could also use this same tag with any of these items (some which would work great for male teachers too!)
Duck Tape
Gum
Magnets
Thumb tacks
Post-it Notes

What did I forget that would work here?

Printable Teacher Tag
Scalloped Frame SVG