Cupcakes and Corndogs: March 2013

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Handmade Wednesday #4 {Promote Yourself Link Party!}

Happy Humpday! I hope you all are having a great week. It is spring break here, although the weather is anything but spring weather.

No features today, but please drop off your link below to be featured next week! Simply click the button that says "add your link" and insert a URL from your shop or website!

Monday, March 25, 2013

DIY Chalkboard from Cabinet Door

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. It is spring break here, but it is snowing! Crazy!

I took advantage of the cold weekend to finish up a project I started a while back but never completed. I'm embarrassed to admit how many of those I have lying around.

DIY Chalk Board

For this project, I used a $2 cabinet door from Habitat ReStore and a little paint to create an adorable chalkboard for my craft room. This project is super easy and doesn't take long at all. I was actually finished with this project in about an hour but then it sat in my floor for a month waiting for me to attach a picture hanger and actually hang it up.

This beautiful turquoise is Destin Gulf Gray Chalk Paint by CeCe Caldwell. This was my first time to use chalk paint and it is a little different than I expected. The good thing is you don't have to do much prep to your surface. Just clean it and paint! No sanding or stripping required! Be sure to use very thin coats. It will look a little streaky at first but the second coat will go a long way.

The trim is painted with Dove White (also CeCe Caldwell). Once your paint is dried, you will need to apply a soft wax to seal your project. I actually used a Madison Blanch wax but most lines of chalk paint also sell a wax product. You can get different finishes, I used an amber wax. If you are going to distress your chalk paint, sand it before you wax.

As you can see, the wax changes the color a good bit, don't freak out! (I definitely did) If you are using the amber color, it will dry lighter than it appears. Also, your distressing will look a little heavier once you apply the wax but this will correct itself once it is dried too.

For the actual chalk board area, I used a chalkboard acrylic paint. Just apply two coats and DO NOT WAX this area.

Once the wax has dried, take a lint free rag and buff over your piece until it is no longer sticky. You will begin to see a shine.

To hang my chalkboard, I attached two eye hooks and picture hanging wire to the back.

And here it is hanging over my desk! If you would like to see the tutorial on how I refinished this desk, you can check it out here.

Linking up:

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Handmade Wednesday #3 {Promote Yourself!}

Thanks for joining again this week! I really enjoy seeing all your handmade products. Here are a few of my favorites from last week!

I adore this banner from LucysArtEmporium. How cute would this look strung across a fireplace??

This tool belt from GingerlyMadeCrafts is precious! If I had a little boy, he would HAVE to have this.

I LOVE these hand knotted swarovski pearl necklace from Lucky Clover Boutique. It's on sale right now so head on over before it's gone!!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Simple Spring Table Setting

It finally feels like Spring in Alabama and I can't wait to share my spring table with you! I've been working on this one for a while but I just couldn't find motivation to finish it when it was still 30 degrees outside.

This table setting is just Eastery enough to pass for an Easter table but simple enough to keep out all through out the season.

F0r the place settings, I used the casual china we received as wedding gifts for salad plates. (Lenox French Perle) and these beautiful light blue dinner plates that I found on sale at Homegoods. I swear I can't make it out of Homegoods without stopping by the dinnerware section. (I come by the plate obsession honest, definitely get it from my mom).

You may remember those cute little birds from my Thrifty Finds post! They were $8 at a local antique mall.

For the centerpiece, I stuffed some fake Spanish moss left over from my dinner party centerpiece in a glass vase that I already owned and filled it with some beautiful yellow flowers from Hobby Lobby ($2 per branch with coupon!)

This runner is definitely my favorite part of this table setting. I simply took 2 yards of fabric that I fell in love with at Hobby Lobby and folded it to the width that I wanted and pressed it with spray starch. Yep! No sewing or even fusible webbing required. It looks great and you can't even tell that it isn't hemmed on the ends unless you get up close. Since we never eat at the dinner table (it's to pretty to mess up!) I wasn't too concerned about anyone looking too closely, plus, when I get tired of the table runner, I can use the fabric for something else!

Here are a few other Spring details I've incorporated this season:

China Cabinet:

Lenox French Perle Vase with silk hydrangeas. The chick figurines and birds nest and eggs are from the dollar aisle at Target!

Coffee Table:

I traded out rocks and candles for eggs and moss. I wish I could justify this all year round!

Handmade Wednesday #2 - {Promote Yourself!}

Good morning! Thanks to all of you who participated in my first linky party. There were some super cute handmade gifts posted and if you missed it you should definitely check it out.

Here are a few of my favorites from last week:

Oh my goodness! Could this be ANY cuter?? This adorable bunny hat from ThreeKittensKnitting definitely wins the award for the most precious entry ever.

This pillow from Kaminann is also a great find. This one would look great on my red couches. She has lots of pretty pillows and vintage treasures in her shop!

Last but certainly not least, this bag from Shaggy Baggy is great. Spring cleaning and organizing just got a whole lot more fun with this cute bag. To top it all off...it has chevron print!! I do love a good chevron print.

Don't forget to link up your items this week! The link is open all week!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Dinner Party Table

Is anyone else super excited that it is Friday? This has been the longest week ever!

I wanted to share with you my simple dinner table from our dinner party last week. This is the first time we have been able to pull out the table leaf and have a full table so it was very exciting!

Since there were so many chairs around the table it was a little crowded so I decided to keep it simple with my centerpiece. I just love the pattern of my Lenox French Perle serving bowl so I added some moss and some colorful eggs from the dollar isle at Target! (PS. You will see this bowl again when I finish my Easter table).

The dinnerware is Laurie Gates "Felicity" but it is retired now so we only break it out on special occasions. They are still making a red and black version called "Laura". This was probably the thing I was most excited to register for during our bridal showers.

I kept it simple with the glasses and flatware to keep it practical. After all, we really didn't want a stuffy dinner party. This was a simple get-together with other young couples from our church.

We had a great night and I can't wait to do it again soon! It was great to see our table filled with good friends and good food.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Handmade Wednesday #1 {Promote yourself!}

Friday, March 1, 2013

Spring Fever

Is anyone else dying for Spring to arrive?? I'm beginning to think Mr. Groundhog lied this year. It's the first day of March and they are predicting snow flurries tonight. I live in ALABAMA, we are NOT supposed to have snow in March.

I really want to start decorating for spring but it is so hard with it so cold outside so I've just been browsing other blogs and pinterest looking for fun ideas. I'm really loving yellows and greens and birds this year. Here are a few of my favorites.