Bathroom Break

My in-laws are finishing up an awesome remodel on their home with the bathrooms being the last step. They are going to have a men's and a women's bathroom right next to each other, so my mother-in-law asked me to make door signs. She didn't want them to be super obvious by just saying "Men" and "Women," so we decided shoes would be cute. The general idea could be used in other areas too such as a girl's room or wherever you want! Just change the framed item to match the space/decor. Here is what I did:

I found a pair of frames at an antique mall with a picture inside that I didn't feel bad (at all) about ripping out. They were $6.95 each, which seemed pretty cheap since they are matted and everything.

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For the men's room, I chose a boot and printed out a side view picture from the internet.

A heel was an obvious choice for the women's room. I found a silhouette and printed that as well. As you can see, my lazy way of stenciling the image onto my choice of paper is to go over and over the outline with a Sharpie until it bleeds through. Pretty inventive, huh...

I used a textured, corduroy type paper for the boot with a brown for the sole. I found some tiny gold rings in the jewelry section at Joann's (I have no idea what they're for), and glued them onto the paper. Then I poked holes through them and weaved in some thin ribbon for the shoestrings.

The heel was a lot more simple. At the end I added a black puff of tulle to the top to give it more detail. I wish this shoe were real and I had somewhere to wear it.

I bought a couple plastic mirror sheets and cool cut out paper. I glued the paper on top of the mirror, then the shoes on top of the paper, and closed it all up.

Yay!

-kt

What You Chalkin About?

Ever since we moved into our apartment, I've been trying out ways to cover up our cheap, ugly kitchen cabinets. This post is about my latest endeavor...chalkboards!

I put one on each of the three upper cabinet doors on one side of our kitchen. They do a pretty good job of covering the doors and add a fun element..and polka dots. I thought they might be fun for children too if placed on the bottom cabinets. The chalkboards would keep the kids occupied while Mom (...or Dad) cooks dinner, etc. Here is how I made them:

I bought a set of 3 canvases from Hobby Lobby and black chalkboard paint from Joann's. The paint directions say to do two coats, but I had to do more like four to get total coverage. Once you are done painting, you have to wait twenty-four hours before you can use them. It was the longest day of my life...

After the paint was completely dry, I staple gunned some ribbon to the back of the boards, and that was it!

Oh no!

Not!

After I stopped crying...just kidding...I realized I had enough ribbon to wrap around the top and cover the project ruining staple meanies. 

And then I ran out of ribbon to fully cover the last one, but didn't want to buy any more, so too bad. 

To attach them to the cabinets, I hammered a nail into the inside of the cabinet door. Think the landlords will notice? Oh well. I think our wallpaper will probably be more of a concern...

Done! They are pretty easy and cost me about $15 to make. That's cheap for all of their great uses...

Grocery lists

Museum quality self-portraits

Party guest fun

Love notes

And wishing your best friend a happy birthday!

-kt