"H" is for High Chair

The long awaited doll high chair:

And as a nod to Pantone I painted it a close honeysuckle color (Behr watermelon pink):

The plans are from Ana White's website as usual. 
Here it is before primer and paint:

I have to say all the 10 degree angles were a bit challenging, it's hard to cut 10 degrees on a 1 x 2 with a circular saw (wishing I had my hand saw now) so the angles are not perfect. 

And after some primer and paint:

The girls love it and that's all that matters.

(I guess buddy boy loves it too.)

I'm linking up to:

"P" is for Paper Bags

Paper bags turned into artwork

After seeing this post on Beth's blog (scroll down to the 10th picture) and my previous post on subway art I wrangled up some grocery store paper bags and got to work.

And really I don't use mod podge at all but it just so happened the last two posts are heavy on the mod podge.  Sorry about that.

I carefully swiped some bags from Trader Joe's (yes I did buy some groceries but not four bags full). 

The great thing about this paper bag sign art is that it can stay out Thanksgiving through New Year's, it's not strictly Christmas.

And this one from Whole Foods will definitely be a year round item:

First I cut some 1/4 plywood to size and mod podged (matte finish) the paper onto the wood:

Once dry I flipped it over and trimmed the edges with an exacto:

Then I sanded down the edges and mod podged the front and all edges to seal it up:

I cut down some 1/2" plywood to serve as a frame, applied a piece of fabric (using mod podge of course) and stacked up my boards under some books to dry flat:

I trimmed down the excess fabric around the edges and sealed the edges with mod podge, once dry I sanded the edges smooth.  I have to say mod podge is the best adherent for the fabric and the paper to wood, far superior and much more permanent than spray adhesive.

Finally I cut a piece of burlap to act as a matte under the papered wood piece, I adhered the burlap and the smaller papered wood piece to the larger board with liquid nails (the burlap is very porous so the liquid nails squishes through) and placed lots of books on top for weight.

Now they are ready to find a home and yes Meredith one is coming your way.

Going forward I will forever be on the lookout for designs on grocery and retail paper bags,

if you see any great ones let me know.

I'm linking up to:

"C" is for Clipboards

Now that Christmas is over let's get back to work.
Monogrammed fabric clipboards.

This has to be my most frugal project ever. 

I found these clipboards at the dollar store, I know sometimes I do go there just to check it out, you never know what you might find.

Surprisingly not 10 minutes before I found these at the dollar store I bought some at Staples for twice the price.  Go figure.

I brought them both home and did lots of comparing: board sturdiness, clip strength, spring action, etc. and decided they were virtually the same and as a bonus the dollar store clip hardware did not have any brand name embossed on the front.

Here's how I made them:

I had to make a template for the fabric to shape around the clip hardware here:

I shoved some paper in, traced the outline and cut it out:

Checked for fit - looks good:

Then I pinned my template onto my fabric piece:

I traced the template with pencil onto the fabric and cut just inside the pencil line:

Then I used mod podge matte finish and a brush and applied the fabric to the board.  No picture here but super easy and I let the edges hang off for now.

Once dry trim up the edges, I flipped the board over and used a rotary cutter:

Now the monogram:

Print your letter out and using a light box (or a window) flip your letter over and trace it onto the wrong side of the fabric:

Cut out your letter:

Again using mod podge and a brush apply the letter to the clipboard and seal up top of fabric at same time.  I also went around the edges for a first seal there as well.  I stuck a stick under the clip hardware to keep the clip from sticking to the board while it was drying.

Once dry clean up the edges using sandpaper to get off any excess fabric and chunky mod podge.  I also ran the sandpaper over the entire clipboard to soften up the surface and make it smooth.

Then do a final quick coat of mod podge just around the edge to prevent it from fraying.

Add some ribbon to the loop (I used a wide seam binding).

I only bought five clipboards that day but I will definitely be getting more.

Here they are all stacked up:

Use it for notes, lists, for the babysitter, chores:

Great for easy gifts:

They're slightly industrial with a soft feel from the fabric but hard enough to use as a writing surface.  Watch out friends, you might all be getting one sooner or later!