Time to brag on my lil fireman!

Its time to brag on my lil fireman!

Caleb is a firefighter (or so he thinks he is)... everything in our house is firefighter this and firefighter that! This kid has more trucks then you can ever imagine, a hat in every color, his boots that have holes but he wont let us throw away, he got a Super Fireman Caleb cape from Santa and for his 3 1/2 year old birthday (yes I celebrate everything) he got Fireman undies!!!

I had won a free photo session with B Faith Photography (check her out, www.bfaithphotographydfw.com) and so we decided to go with a firefighter theme!!! Hope you enjoy these adorable photos as much as I do!!!

Princess to Zebra Mirror

My sister has been moving and we all know when you move you end up throwing away a lot of "crap" you really don't need anymore. One of the things she wanted to get rid of was a princess mirror that was in one of my nieces rooms... well instead of throwing it away, she asked me to re-do it! Since it was for one of my nieces I of course said yes!!! I love being their Aunt Jay!

The mirror had a yellow heart sticker on the crown and a big sticker on the mirror... it is something that would have been trash to anyone who didn't have Krafty Karen as their sister. My nieces room is done in hot pink, lime green and zebra so my sister wanted it painted zebra and rhinestones to line the mirror. Please note that the rhinestones will be added later due to my sister having surgery and we have not made it to Hobby Lobby yet. 

How I flipped this piece:

1. I detached the mirror and scrubbed it with a Brillo pad, hot water and soap to take the sticker off

2. I sanded down the frame - the sander had no problem taking the sticker off

3. I painted the frame white - ended up doing 2 coats.

4. I then started painting zebra lines

5. I will go back later and add rhinestones to the frame line the mirror

Here is the before and after!

Tutu Rocking Chair - Kate's 1st Birthday

It has slowly become a tradition that if I am invited to a 1 year old's birthday party, I will make them a chair for their gift. When I received Kate's 1st birthday invite, I knew I needed to start my hunt for a cute chair. I usually find these chairs at Good Will over in the kids section or close to the furniture section. You have to keep an open eye because these chairs go fast! I found this one for $5! It was a perfectly good white rocking chair, needed no repairs just a good colorful paint job and of course a tutu.

Casey sanded down the chair for me and then helped me paint it lime green. Kate's bedroom is purple and pink with a hint of lime green...the reason we decided to do lime green all the way was because we have a can of lime green paint we need to get rid of, haha! While Casey sanded and painted, I created a cute tutu to hot glue around the chair. I made the tutu in 4 pieces and then just hot glued each piece to each side of the chair. After the paint was dried, I added the tutu and we started to antique the chair out.... It needed something, so I added Kate's initials in purple.

I have to say, it turned out to be a really cute chair... and Miss Kate loved it!

Easter Flowers

Last weekend I went to a birthday party and the center pieces of the tables were cute vases filled with colorful candy with flowers popping out... I loved them so much that I decided to make my own!

I did not want to break the bank (and I suck at keeping things alive, heck I am doing good keeping my 3 year old alive I don't need to add anything else to the mix haha jk) so I went to the local Dollar Tree (I love that place) and bought 3 bouquets of colorful flowers. I also bought a glass vase (which I found out later, I had one at home) and then I bought 3 boxes of mini tropical gobstoppers. I was going to buy jelly beans but the gobstoppers had more in a package. I ended up spending $7 on this project and I think it was money well spent.

Directions - pour candy into vase, shove flowers down into candy... you are done!

Tip - if you want to use less candy, you can fill the middle of the vase with another vase, tissue paper, canned foods (if the jar is big enough), or really anything to take up the space.

Here is my creation!!

Mirror turned Chalkboard

When Casey and I went to our cake tasting, a HUGE chalkboard hung on my cake lady's wall caught my eye! I told Casey on the way home "I am going to make us a chalkboard like that!"... the poor guy had no clue what I was talking about BUT he did know that I meant business.

That was a Saturday...

Monday on my way home, I stopped at Goodwill and found me a HUGE mirror and took it home. Casey was not surprised one bit when I told him I needed him to bring it in from the car! Gosh, I just love that man! The downside was that we had to wait 5 whole days before we could start working on it due to our hectic lives... I wanted it finished that night! HAHA

We decided to spray paint the frame of the mirror a turquoise color (mostly because I had a full can of spray paint and we didn't want to spend money on another color). After the frame was dry, we decided to antique it out a bit... after all it needed to fit the rest of the decor in the house. A friend gave us some chalkboard paint to use on the mirror but before she brought it over, Casey had bought me some chalkboard spray paint (he knows me oh so well). I was kind of nervous on how the spray paint would work, but it worked like a charm. We applied the paint according to the directions and waited for it to dry.

I ended up stealing some chalk from my son's chalk bucket (shh don't tell him) and smooth a layer of chalk dust to the chalk board... it was complete!!!

The only down side to all of this, the mirror didnt have hooks on the back for hanging so now we have to go and buy a picture hanger set that is for a very heavy picture (probably weighing 20) pounds... It WILL be hung this week because we have guest coming over for Easter this weekend. Here are the before and after photos, I am in love with it!!!

Now its time for me to find some cute loving quotes to write my family each week!!!

Have a KRAFTY day!

Love Krafty Karen

Old Desk Turned Cake Table

I have been wanting to find an old desk that I can turn into a cake table for our wedding... last weekend, Casey's aunt found us one!!! She spotted it outside on the curb (her neighbors are moving) and quickly claimed it. I was so excited when we went over there to pick it up... it is exactly what I have been wanting.

We brought it home and I was so anxious that I started work on it that night! I had a small amount of sealer left from my last couple projects so I went to town covering every last inch of the desk. I then drove up to a local store and bought some cheap spray paint. I didn't buy the expensive stuff because, 1. I know this stuff does not run and 2. because I knew I was going to antique the desk out so if it did mess up, I could just antique that one spot.

After I antiqued it, I sprayed it down with a gloss spray and it was done! Casey and I stood back and just smiled... it is perfect! We have a little less than a year to the wedding so until then, we will be using it in the entry way of our house.

This project cost me a total of $2 (+tax)!!!

Shabby Chic Plate Setting

I have a 3rd eye that my fiance does NOT have and sometimes when I get a vision, he has to just put his seat belt on and (try to) enjoy the ride. Sometimes it turns out ugly and horrible and he is left wondering what is wrong with me (this happens very rarely)... but then most of the time it turns out better then what I could every imagine!!! This is the case for what I came up with for our table settings for the wedding...

Our theme is a very "Shabby Chic meets Country"... LOVE IT! I wanted the table settings to really help pull this theme together. Before looking at the photo please keep in mind that the centerpieces aren't 110% done. They will be raised on some kind of wood bases to create some height and then each mason jar will have water and a floating candle. There will be a white table cloth with burlap and lace as well.

The plates I bought from Good Will on half price day. I spent a total of $6 on each table... the plates will either go home with my guest or be left at the reception for us to re-donate to the YWCA to help single Mom's set up their new homes.

***Please note this isn't a final table setting (hence the mismatch forks and spoons)... this is just something I set up for my Fiance to see so he could fall in love with my idea!***