Easy deer silhouette DIY

This simple and fun DIY was so easy! It took all of about 30 minutes to make. The hubs is already placing orders for more so maybe I will indulge him and have a few more different silhouette experiments.

I started with a frame that the hubs made by glueing together two pieces of tongue and groove and a simple frame nailed on top. You could make this on any surface at all though. I have no swanky vinyl cutter (although it is on my wish list!!) so here is my method using good ol scotch tape.

Wordless tutorial.....

Instructions go like this...

1. Find and print an image and cut to size for your frame.

2. Scotch tape the surface area of the frame and press firmly.

3. Stick the image down on top of the scotch tape prepped frame.

4. Using a craft knife carefully trace the image and cut firmly so that the scotch tape underneath is scored. Remove the scotch tape (you can use this technique to paint the outside of the silhouette too by removing the outside scotch tape) and your 'stencil' is now complete.

5. Paint!

6. Allow the paint to dry a bit and then peel off the remaining scotch tape. Voila! You are done!

This little guy is just hanging out up here until he has some brothers and sisters for a mini silhouette gallery wall.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Serenity Now

Too Much Time On My Hands

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Liz Marie

Some one is having a birthday....

My little girl is turning five soon. Seven weeks to go and counting. This kid is truly awesome and even though I AM actually quite sad (my BABY is growing up!!) I am so happy for this little girl of mine. She is so ready for school and this is a time in her life I can tell she is going to love so much.

Here she is with her little brother - what a gorgeous pair of kidlets they are. My little man is going to miss his big sis so much when she leaves daycare. Now it's time to organise school uniforms, lunch boxes, school bag and stationery. Oh and a birthday celebration!!

I love you my princess! xx

Magnetic Spice Rack and easy DIY labels

I am amazed I am functioning today, as one who does not cope well on inadequate sleep... last night I was awoken by the loudest thunder and brightest lightening I have heard/seen in a long time! It must be the amazing about turn in weather, as the sunshine is pouring into the house today and I am loving it.

Last week I was dreaming about my soon to be magnetic spice rack, and this week I have it! I found a very well priced supplier of magnetic spice tins on good ol TradeMe, so I purchased and a day later they arrived!

It took me all of 10 minutes to create my very simple spice labels. They may not be fancy or complicated but I like them, and they suit me.

Here's the before piccy:

and here is what it looks like now:

it is very much my style to just plonk things into arrangement

here's my wordless tutorial on making the labels

easy peasy!

and because christmas is just around the corner...

I am LOVING my new magnetic spice rack for it's simplicity, ease of locating spices, accessibility, and utilization of space off the bench, to free up that prime real estate!

Thanks for dropping by!

linking up to:

Serenity Now

Too Much Time

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A bowl full of lemons

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aka design

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Liz Marie

freckled laundry

Four favorite things in the kitchen

In the lead up to a few kitchen updates soon to be in progress, I thought I would share my four favorite things in the kitchen, that are making the cut, and defining the 'look'.

1. I love my Typhoon retro storage tins. The bread bin is used for storing all of my packet mixes for puddings, sauces and recipe bases. I think the other three speak for themselves... And the sign, that is actually only placed there to hide the ugly power outlet that sits just behind the tins. The sign was purchased at Farmers and  I purchased the entire storage container set on TradeMe* for $18.50! A good bargain if I say so myself. Here are links for stockists in NZ and the US.

2. I love this rustic key holder that the hubs made. It is convenient in the kitchen as the first thing we do when we get home is usually put the jug on for a cup of tea! The hubs and I don't agree which key looks best in the frame, so I have included a pic of my choice below.

I think this old antique key suits the rustic frame, and hubs thinks the stainless key stands out a bit better. Which one do you like?

3. The next on the list is this recipe holder, another Trade Me* purchase! It came with a gorgeous Gordon Ramsey cook book which I gifted to my brother as he has a wee collection of Mr Ramsey's cookbooks.

4. Last but not least is this simple antique loaf tin that sits on the window sill. I added the blackboard paint label, and I will share a tutorial of how I did this without any sort of vinyl cut or purchased stencil. I love having this in the kitchen, because it stores all of those itty bitty odds and ends that have no real 'home'.

So there you have it... four favorite things from the kitchen... and before I leave, here is a 'before' of the first area I plan on tackling in my kitchen upgrades. My spices sit in that rack on the bench, taking up valuable limited bench space. I can't wait to add a magnetic spice rack, which will conveniently live on the side of the fridge.

I will be aiming for something similar to this above. Can not wait!

*TradeMe is an online trading website, which I use way too much!! I will post a Trade Me house tour in coming weeks to show you just how much I am addicted.

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Funky Junk Interiors

Natasha in Oz

Mahlimoo me and three

Too much time on my hands

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Freckled Laundry

Would you like to know where this lives?

I would love to show you where this rustic beauty of a key rack lives at my place...

At the moment it turns out there are not enough hours (of daylight) in the day for me to photograph everything! Full reveal will come on Saturday...

And just because teasing is fun... here's a little something else that is up and coming in the wood works...

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Upcycled window pinspiration

As you may have seen in this post, I have a few old windows filling up space in the lounge until I find the time and the right idea to upcycle them. They are just three old windows of about 5 that I have.

The glass is not ideal... so I am looking at taking it out and leaving the frames empty, or maybe even replacing with clear glass... 

Here are my window's in the corner.

Here are my favorite upcycled old windows, all oozing with chippy paint and character of their past lives.

via The Painted Home

I can't wait to take the plunge and see what I can do with my old windows. And then find them the perfect home in my house.

From the archives...

Here's a wee update from the archives. Back in my pre-blogging days, well way back... since my blogging days only began a few weeks ago, and this was a project I did about 2 years ago!

I bought a wall unit off trade me, for $40 from memory....

Here it is...

This is, as the theme may be, the best and only before picture I have...

And then I painted it, and a bit of bright white and blackboard paint later it looked like this....

And then I wish I could say it lived happily ever after...

However not all stories have happy endings.

This is one of the pieces of furniture that did not survive the shipping route to Dunedin. It arrived, however one drawer was missing never to be seen again, and it was battered beyond use able repair.

This unit did brighten our space during it's short life, and I was definitely sad to bid it farewell.

I am sure I will find time to up cycle another piece just like this one day as I just loved the stark contrast between the black and white, and of course the extra storage space and open shelves to display my gorgeous tea sets that I inherited from my late great grandmother Narnie. The tea sets which for the time being sinfully live wrapped up in newspaper in a cardboard box, until they may see the light of day once more...

linking to...

Serenity Now

DIY modern rustic living room make-over

Hi folks, I am so excited to post this update! So excited that hey, there are a few things in here that aren't perfect, but I am not waiting for perfect - so let's show you what we've done!!

When I revealed the rustic wall hanging from this post, I was waiting for something to be done before I would show the wide view of the hanging on our wall..

Well my friends, it has now been done!

A while back I needed a spare TV for the kids to watch their DVD's on, so I bought one on trade me. It was $1 and even came with a TV stand. I wasn't fussed on the TV stand at first but then we got an idea.... Here is our TV (not the $1 one!!) on the stand below, before we gave it a make over. It is flimsy mdf wood on a steel frame. You can even see the MDF buckling under the weight of the entertainment unit and Tivo. This is the best & only before picture I have so sorry for the poor quality.....

So, what we decided to do with the unit was simply strip off the MDF and replace it with recycled tawa (NZ native) tongue and groove, reclaimed from a demolished villa.

Here's how it turned out...

I just LOVE it! The wood is imperfect and you can tell it has had a previous life, and the smooth lines give the unit a contemporary look. Here's a closer look....

Oh and yes it ties in with the rustic wall hanging quite nicely!

The coffe table is made up of two boxes that the hubs made out of an old pallet and then there are two tongue and groove panels on top that you can push together to make one large lid. This table suits us to the 'T' as we can put quite a lot of stuff inside the boxes, and the lids can get scratched up and ruined and we will  not mind one bit. Rustic is a good look for a young family as all of the knocks and bumps just add to the piece. I had a wee go at painting on one of the lids but then decided it didn't really suit it, although I haven't gotten around to sanding / wiping it off yet.. it might grow on me??

So that is where we are at with our living room for now... I am missing something in the corner to the left of the TV.... and I have not yet decided what I want to go there, so there's something fun to think about!

I am well behind on posting our projects due to a very busy week and the man of the house turning 30! Happy Birthday Hubs! So there will be a few more awesome projecty posts coming out of the mill this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Alex & Sunny

UPDATE....

It's Saturday and I have been busy filling that gap in the corner. I have added a small table and some old windows that are just waiting to be used for another project. I have also added a huge piece of charcoal carpet to act as a rug. Now it looks a little bit more 'finished'.

Here's the photo bomb!

Linking with:

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A bowl full of lemons
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