Made it Monday: Personalized Doormat

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I had a couple of friends getting married over the last few months. I wanted to do a DIY wedding gift along with something off of their registry. As I was thinking what I could make, I remembered something I had seen in a Ballard Designs catalog a while back- monogrammed doormats (I believe they also sell personalized doormats). These bad boys run for about $90.

I was pretty sure I could make one of these for significantly less. So, I started my hunt. It was a little tricky finding plain doormats,but I found one at Home Depot for $7. I bought two and set out to make the personalized mats.

 

 



Once I got home, I cut out the couples' last names out of vinyl with my cricut. Using the vinyl as a stencil, I laid it out on the doormat. It was not sticking. I tried setting heavy objects on top of the vinyl to get it to stick, but it didn't work. So, I decided to take back the mats and look for something the vinyl might adhere better to.

 

I scoured a few stores, then tried good ol' google. I found a nice mat at Crate and Barrel for $15 that I thought may work a little better.



 

Luckily these shipped quite quickly and I gave it another try. The vinyl stuck a little better, but still wasn't great. I decided to just give it a try.

 

 

I stuck on my stencil and spray painted it black. On the first attempt, I put newspaper around the edges that the stencil didn't cover, to protect them from getting spray painted, but the spray paint blew the edges up a bit. This left a few minor black spots.

 

**One important thing I learned from the first mat to the second: Put sticky vinyl around the outer edges of the doormat as well so the spray paint doesn't get on the edges of your mat.**

 

I spray painted two coats of black paint on each mat and once completely dry, removed my stencil.

 

The mats were not completely perfect for my perfectionist self, but they turned out pretty well. They did turn out to be more work than I thought (mainly because the vinyl wouldn't stick), but if you want a personalized door mat and want to save a bunch of money, this is the way to go.

 

I think another option would be to use craft paint instead of spray paint, but I wasn't sure how that would hold up outside in all the Minnesota elements. Here is how one turned out in the end. I thought I had a picture of the other, but apparently I don't. I did a script font on the other doormat.

 

 



 

 

Have a great Monday!

 

Lexi





Made it Monday: Glass Etched Casserole Dishes

Happy Monday! This week, I'm going to share a fast project with you. One of my really good friends is getting married soon. Her friend threw a shower for her that was themed "fill the house room to room," where each guest was assigned a room to buy for. I got kitchen-perfect for me to try out glass etching casserole dishes! 

The process is quite easy, but I did forget to take pictures, so you'll just have to bear with my explanation. 

I cut out the bride's soon-to-be new last name in vinyl with my cricut to make a stencil. I put the vinyl stencil on the glass (the vinyl is sticky on the back). Then I applied glass etching cream to the part that said "Newland." I apply it with a small paintbrush or a foam brush. The cream can be pricey, but use a coupon at your local craft store and it makes it quite reasonable, especially when this bad boy will last you a really long time.

Here are the finished dishes:

This is a great way to never lose your dishes! I have also glass etched numerous drinking glasses, glass blocks, and champagne glasses for a wedding. Its a great way to add that little extra flare!

Lexi

Made it Monday: Barnwood Art

You know me...I love a good thrifty find, so when my brother asked me if I wanted any free (yes, I said free) old barnwood, I jumped at the chance. All I had to do was go with him to help pick it out. So I got myself a few boards with ideas floating through my head.

I had seen a few things on pinterest that I wanted to make with barnwood, like this and this and this. After thinking on it for a while, I finally decided to use part of the chorus from one of my favorite songs.

Here is how I made it...

After I recovered my barnwood that I stored at my parents, I was just going to cut it down to size. But then I got to thinking...this wood has been outside, at a farm, for a long time. Which means bugs could be living in it. I consulted with my wise, old dad about my options...he said I could either bake the wood to get bugs out or use some paint thinner (paint it on the wood). I opted for the paint thinner. So I brushed it down with a wire brush, blew off all the gunk with an air compressor, and painted it with paint thinner.

Once the paint thinner dried I cut the wood down to size. Then I pieced them together (they fit together perfectly since each peice had a groove on top and lip on bottom). They just needed a little reinforcement to help them to stay together, so my dad and I added some scrap thin strips of wood along the back and nailed them on.

Once I got back to my place with the assembled piece, I broke out the cricut to make some stencils. I cut my lyrics out of vinyl and stuck the stencil onto the wood.

I used some cream paint that I had on hand to paint on the lyrics. Once it was dry, I removed the vinyl and nailed a good old pop tab to the back so I could hang it on the wall. That made the total project cost...FREE!

I hung it in my spare room above the bed. Yes, the picture is off center, but I just hung it on an existing nail. I'll get around to fixing that soon.

Also, check out For King and Country, their song Proof of Your Love is where these lyrics came from. This band has some great music! Here is a link to the song.

Lexi

linking to: www.iheartnaptime.net

Made it Monday: Canvas Print

After a little hiatus, I am finally back with another post! For today’s Made it Monday, I am going to share a canvas print I made for my mom’s church. They were revamping the ladies bathroom and asked if I could make some sort of canvas wall art. Once my brain got off of vacation mode and into creative mode, I came up with this:

This is how I made it:

I started out by cutting two of the same image out of vinyl with my Cricut. I cut one image out at eleven inches and one at nine inches. After removing all the scrap vinyl, I transferred the image onto the canvas.

I like to use either transfer paper or contact paper to transfer my images, especially when it is a large image. By using the transfer tape, I am able to line the image up easily. It was a little tricky removing the transfer tape since the vinyl doesn’t stick extremely well to the canvas. I had to pull the transfer tape back very slowly.

Once both of the images were on the canvas, I painted over the whole canvas.

After the paint was done drying, I peeled off the vinyl images. So easy and cute! Now, I am trying to figure out a spot where I could put one in my place.

Hope you like it!

Lexi

Linking to:

www.iheartnaptime.net

www.sweetlittlegals.com

Made it Monday: Spring Banner

The other night, my friend and I ran to the grocery store to grab a few things to complete our meal, when a banner in the floral department caught my eye. It was so cute and I knew that I had to make one of my own for my seasonal table. I’m pretty sure I’m going to change the ribbon color on my banner (I’m just not diggin’ the pink), but I love the rest of it!

Here is how I made it:

I started out by cutting six pieces of burlap, each the same size.  I removed a few strands of burlap off of each end to make the edges appear frayed. Next, I used my cricut to cut out the word “spring,” making sure to leave space between each letter. By leaving space between each letter, it allowed me to use the vinyl surrounding each letter as a stencil. I placed my homemade vinyl stencil for the letters on  each piece of burlap and used craft paint to fill in the stencil.

After letting the paint dry for a bit, I took off the vinyl.

To finish the banner, I hot glued each of the letters to a piece of ribbon.

Can I just say that this banner is making me so excited for spring and my spring vacation!?!

Lexi

Made it Monday: Lucky

Finally, I’m back with some crafts! I am so excited to share what I have been working on with you! After taking down all of my Valentines décor, I started working on decorating my place for St. Patrick’s Day. I had an idea in my head for a while to make an art piece out of a cupboard door I found in a free pile at a garage sale. Here is what I came up with:

I started off by removing the hardware and sanding it down (I love my mouse sander!). There was a good size hole in an awkward spot from where the handle was, so I knew I was going to have to be creative in order to cover that up.

After I sanded it, I primed and spray painted it. Then I roughed up the edges a bit to give it an aged look.

Next, I used my cricut to cut out the word “lucky.” I debated weather to use my vinyl as a stencil and paint on the word or to use the green vinyl. I decided I liked the green vinyl and it would be a lot easier, so I went with that.

To finish it off and cover up that hole, I rolled some flowers out of remnant fabric/burlap and hot glued them on. It is enjoying its new home on my seasonal shelf and I’m lovin’ it!

I finished a lot more fun projects over the past few days and will be sharing them with you soon!

Lexi

Linking to:

www.iheartnaptime.net

Made It Monday: Valentines Decor

A little over a week ago, I pulled out all of my Valentines decorations. I ended up throwing things on the shelves rather quickly, because I had friends coming over and wanted to have my Christmas decorations down. After having the decorations out for a while, I saw a few things that I wanted to change. So, the next couple of weeks of Made It Monday is going to be new Valentines decorations. Here is a picture of the seasonal shelves I wanted to change up:

The first thing I wanted to change was this:

I remember making it last year and not being happy with it, but I didn’t feel like changing it then. Well, this year I did. Here is the new picture:

I used my cricut to cut out the branch, birds and “love” out of vinyl. I applied them right to the glass of the frame and put a piece of burlap in the frame. I also sanded the edges of the frame a bit.

This picture fits in much better with the décor. The old one was just a little too red. Hope you all had a productive and fun weekend! Keep checking back to see what the seasonal shelves look like now!

Lexi

Linking to:

www.fivedaysfiveways.com

http://www.iheartnaptime.net/

Shabby to Chic!

Well, it is one of my favorite times of year—garage sale season! I have found some fun buys this year and am excited to spruce them up. Here are some cute canisters I found. They were originally going for $6 for the set, but the lady informed me she was going half price on all her home décor items. For 3 bucks these babies were sold:

Now I admit, they aren’t much to look at right now, but I brought them home, got out my cricut, and went to work.

Using black vinyl, I added an outline to each canister first:

Then, I cut out the words coffee, tea, and sugar and stuck them on (I admit-I did want to put “coffee” on the large canister because I love it so much, but I didn’t):

Such an easy and fast way to transform these canisters from shabby to chic!

Lexi

linking to:

www.iheartnaptime.net