The moment I saw this wooden frame at Goodwill I knew what I wanted to do with it. It was the perfect chalkboard menu waiting to happen! I'm not sure what it was used for before I snatched it up... it is an odd shape to be a frame so maybe it was some sort of calendar holder. Here is what it looked like when I pulled it out of a pile of other "junky" treasures. 

As you can see it was rough. The backing had a hole in the middle of it so my husband had to cut a new piece of wood for that. We just bought a piece of thin birch wood from Lowe's that only cost about $4.00. The backing was stapled to the frame so to remove it we pulled out the staples with a screwdriver and then used our staple gun to attach the new board. We used chalkboard spray paint on the backing and gave it about 4 coats to make sure my chalkboard was nice and thick. We used regular spray paint on the frame. The hubby chose the avocado green and I love it! I was skeptical at first, but he was right on with that color. 

I love this piece because it's not only great as a menu, but also as a "to do" list, a grocery list, and as a place to write notes to each other. The total cost of this project was around $12. That includes the frame, the board for the backing, the chalkboard paint, and spray paint. My favorite things about this project is that it's an upcycle, it was cheap, and it was super easy to do. It doesn't get better than that!

DIY Decorative Pumpkins

Well, I'm still feeling like I'm at the brink of death so that means another day of tv show reruns and more time for blogging! On Saturday I did a makeover on some artificial craft pumpkins that I have had for a couple of years. Before this weekend I used them to decorate above the cabinets in my kitchen along with an Autumn garland. I loved them, but when I spied some copper and gold colored accents at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago I decided I needed to give my plain orange pumpkins a facelift.

So here is the inspiration. I love these. They are so Hannah. I like that they are seasonal, but chic. Totally me!

And here are the plain craft pumpkins that I wanted to re-do. I like them the way they were, but I just didn't think they went with the inspiration pieces that I am currently in love with.

I have been wanting to buy some of this cool metallic spray paint for awhile. I kind of have a think for spray paint and when you throw shiny / glittery into it.... well, let's just say I'm smitten.

So first, I gave each of them a base coat. The first pumpkin I painted gold and pretty much covered it completely. The second I painted copper, but just did a very light coat. I liked how you could still see the orange tint a little bit. I had planned to do a design on top of the copper colored pumpkin, but after it was done I liked it the way it was.

The gold colored pumpkin had a different destiny. It was definately going to have a design on it. Who wants to guess what kind of pattern I chose? That's right, you guessed it! CHEVRON! My favey!! I didn't want to get too technical. I just free-handed a zig zag pattern with painter's tape.



And when I was done here's what I got!

I think that they turned out really great! They look fabulous with my inspiration and I love how they are different, but cohesive. So that's it! Easy peasy.