A rustic clock knock off

It's knock off week people! Okay not really, but I'm on a roll. Sorry Pottery Barn, you are just so inspiring. Shouldn't you be taking this as a compliment? Have you seen this clock:

 I love it! It has a rustic feel to it, which will look perfect in my guest bathroom. I know, it's still not done. Pictures soon okay?? Anywho, I found this wood plate at Goodwill awhile back for $1.99 and swooped it up.

Supplies:
Wood plate
leather strips
tacs
clock kit
hot glue gun
mallet

 I stained it a dark walnut and let it dry:

 I then got some tacs and leather at Hobby Lobby. The tacs are in the upholstery section and the leather is in the jewelry making section. I marked off where they would be evenly spaced and used a mallet to hammer in the tacs. I then cut the leather into strips to make roman numerals. I adhered them with my hot glue gun:

 I then had my husband drill a hole in the middle of the plate (I could have done this myself, but I wanted my hubs to feel needed ;) I then put together the clock kit, I also got at Hobby Lobby. There you have, my version, of Pottery Barns rustic clock:

She works too!I absolutely love it and it totally goes with the beachy rustic theme I have going in my guest bathroom now. Little sneak peak of my new guest bath color behind the clock. Don't mind the cream in the background, still touching up paint. We are finishing up painting tonight.......hopefully.

Michelle


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It's about time for a knock off

Don't you think? It's been awhile. I think my last knock off was my Anthro inspired bow purse? Any who, I first would like to say Happy Birthday to myself! Yay! I turned 29 yesterday. It's officially my last year in my twenties. I had an awesome day, in case you were wondering :)

On to the knock off, I went to Pottery Barn the other day with a friend and saw these:

 At which point I was like "hey I could totally re-make this" and my friend was like "yeah easy peasy". Then  I saw these oversized hangers online PB and I was like "hey I could totally re-make these too!"

And that my friends is how an idea is born or borrowed because it really was Pottery Barns idea first, to be fair in all.

So I took some frames I had sitting in a closet and got myself a yard of burlap (really didn't need that much, but burlap never goes to waste in this house). Then I whipped out some mod podge and my handy scissors.


Luckily this frame had a mat already in it, so I used it as a template to cut out the burlap:

 I then applied mod podge and layed burlap on top:

 I trimmed the edges with scissors and cut out the center piece with a razor. I also applied mod podge to the edges to hold it down better.

 There you have it:

 Now for hanging it, I found this lovely at Hobby Lobby 50% off for 2.99 a piece!

 I first drilled a screw in the wall that was the same diameter as the pull. Then I just twisted in the pull by hand in that same hole I drilled. I attached the ribbon to the two brackets on the back that were meant to hang the picture.

What an easy knock off! I saved some money too! Those burlap matted frames in an 5x7 are $34.00 a piece and the hangers are $24.00 a piece. I love my version just as much. Thank you once again Pottery Barn for your wonderful inspiration. You know I love you :)



Michelle

ps don't mind the empty frames underneath my knock offs. I haven't decided what to put in those yet


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A new endeaver perhaps?

Before I get to the meaning of the post title, I would like to say I am sorry for being a blog slacker this week. We are all trying to get used to the new school schedule. Also, we have had a ton of play dates. We have been busy busy busy! Good stuff! I need to catch up on my family blog too.

On to the new opportunity. So remember when I painted the cute little turquoise chest and I joked that I might sell it on craigslist?? Well, I decided to post it on there for fun. Guess what? It sold! In like a couple days AND I quadrupled my money. How exciting! I was a little sad to see her leave, but the lady who bought it was super impressed and loved it. Which made it easier to let go, not to mention the money. So the first thing I did with the money you ask? I bought two more pieces of furniture. One on craigslist for a whole $20 and one at goodwill for $8.99.  Stay tuned for their transformations:

Don't mind all the saw dust in the garage. Still working on our guest bathroom. I will reveal our new beadboard project early next week for sure! Stick around to see what I do with these tables too. There will be lots of sanding and painting going on ;)

Michelle

School tote tutorial

It was Alexa's first day back to school today. It was bittersweet. I am happy to be on a schedule again, but I am going to miss our summer days together. I will write more about today later in my family blog.

On to the goods! Alexa has been bugging me since school let out in June to make her a bag for school. I kept telling her that we would the week before school started. That's exactly what we did last week. I took her to Jo-Anns and let her pick out two different fabrics and some buttons. We looked at pictures upon pictures of inspiration on Pinterest and finally decided on what she wanted.

 So pretty! I love my girl!

Supplies needed:

1 yard of main fabric
1 yard of coordinating fabric
3 yards of piping
1/2 yard of fabric to cover piping
coordinating thread
Two buttons

First cut out the pieces needed. I made this rather large. Cut out two pieces of this in both fabrics. You should have four pieces

 Cut the tops off the front and back pieces of the outside fabric. Cut where it starts to curve out. This is where your piping will go

 Now cut out the two sides and bottom. Measure by using the main piece as a guide. Make the side pieces the length of the front piece and the bottom the width of the bottom of the front piece. Do the same with the other fabric. I made them about 6 inches wide.

 Make piping. Measure across where you cut off the top of the fabric. You will need two of these for from and back. Then measure around the bottom and side of front piece, cut a strip of fabric in that length. Make piping out of the three strips of fabric you cut.

 Take the large front piece and do a straight stitch across the very top using a high length. Then you will gather the fabric by pulling the top stitch. Iron down when you have the look you want. do this for both front and back pieces

 Attach piping, top piece and large bottom piece of front fabric on the back sides:

 Stitch down, flip over, and iron down

 Attach piping around the outer edge of the front now:

 Attach the sides:

 Now attatch the bottom and sew the sides to the bottom:

 Attach the back to the front (which already have the sides and bottom sewn on). Make sure it is inside out.

 Now you have the outsideportion almost finished

 Make two straps by cutting two long strips of fabric that are about 10 in wide:

 Fold in half inside out and stitch. Turn right side out when done:

 Fold over rough edges and iron down. Attach to purse and sew in place:

 Hand sew on the buttons. Repeat process for back strap minus the buttons

 Now onto the inside of the bag. You should have the exact piece you had for the outside, except you won't be cutting the tops off.

 Make as many pockets as you want. I made three. Two for one side and one for the other:

 Sew pockets on. Make sure to back stitch a lot!

 I made the larger pocket into two pockets by doing a stitch down the middle, again back stitch a lot.

 Put bag together the same way you put outside portion together, minus the piping. Also be sure you leave an opening on one side of the bottom piece:

 Put outside portion of bag inside the inner portion of bag. The front of bag should be facing the pockets. You will then sew all around the top of the bag and pull the outer part out by going through the hole you left in the bottom. Confused?? You can look at my tutorial HERE or I will definitely reply to any questions by email.

 After you pull bag through, you will sew the bottom closed and now you have a beautiful school tote:

 I added one of her flowers to the bag. It's a pin so she can change them out. As you can see she decided on a different flower for the first day of school:

Michelle