Shanty Stenciled Sign

Hey guys!

Hope you all had a great weekend.  I spent mine with the fam and about 74839274 loads of laundry. Ashley and I have joked before about how we should post our folded laundry piles as our latest DIY projects.  You girls would be so impressed :-))

My latest space to tackle has been this blank space between my kitchen and living room.

It's a very long, blank space that catches my eye a lot.  I thought it could use a little something.  I decided to make a sign for it.

Because I am no free hand artist I started by purchasing a roll of Contact Paper.

I made my stencils using my Silhouette.  For those of you that have a Silhouette, this is my new favorite material for stencils!  I cut it on the same settings at vinyl and it was a perfect cut!

For the sign itself I decided to use a 1x10' board from Lowe's.  I gave it a couple of coats of Rust-Oleum Heirloom White and let it dry.  I picked a board with lots of knots and imperfections because I wanted it to look good and shanty.

After cutting my letters, I used the letter itself to space it on the sign like this.

Cute font??  I used a free font called Clarendon BT.  Love it!  And without having to use a cartridge I saved lots of time and money!

Once I had my letter placed I put the outline piece around it.

Then, I peeled the letter off!

I used my favorite acrylic paint...

...And used a stencil brush to paint on my letter.

Drying...

Here it is dry just before I shantied it up a bit.

I wanted my new sign to look old (the hubby still doesn't understand this concept) so I used a 3M 220 grit sanding block to lightly sand over the letters.  I LOVE the result.

My final step is to distress my edges a bit and get this baby on the wall.  I will show you guys that in my next post!  Thanks for stopping by!  I'm back to laundry ;-)

~Whitney

Highlights and a Winner!

Wow!  You guys brought it this month!  We are so impressed with the quality of projects this month! 

Now for some of our favorites!

How about these Canvas Lined Diaper Bins from Positively Splendid!

And yes, these are recycled diaper boxes!

We love this Retro Chic China Cabinet!

Ummm....can we borrow this for our houses for a bit;)

Ahhhh, we've died and gone to birdie heaven! 

 This Spring Mantel by The Bird's Papaya made us a tad jealous:)

Added to our never ending project list is this oh so perfect

Planter Crate by Today's Fabulous Finds!

And to wrap it all up check out this Spring Twig project from Cottage Hill! 

Love us some twigs!

Now for the moment we have all been waiting for:

The winner of this months giveaway sponsered by

Word of Wear

is:

Sara at The Bird's Papaya!

Congrats Sara!  Please email us at shanty2chic@yahoo.com with your contact info so we can get you started on designing your hat:)

Thanks again for all of the great ideas girls!  Have a fun and safe weekend!

DIY Full Storage Bed

So, it's spring cleaning time in our household right now!  I have a love/hate relationship with spring cleaning.  I love getting organized and redecorating but I loathe that you have to create endless messes in the house before the final product!

One project I am starting this spring is my 7-year-olds room.  His room has always been pretty hodge-podge because he likes to express himself with crayons and stickers on his furniture.  I have been bribing him the last year that if he could start taking care of what he has then we would redecorate his room.  So, here we are!  We are starting with a big boy bed which is quite an exciting change from his twin/twin, hand-me-down bunk:)

I'm sure you all remember the Twin Storage Bed that Whit shared with you all!  I have always loved the storage beds that I see in certain "high-end" magazines so this was the bed that I went with.  I  

followed the plans for the Full Storage Bed that from Ana's site! 

No more quick trips to Home Depot;)  I love my little shopping buddy and she looks so excited to be shopping with me;)

After building the pieces to the bed I stained it with Minwax Dark Walnut.  It took two coats and it was super easy! 

I let it dry and followed up with a coat of Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss.  This was just the look I wanted with the clear gloss!

So far so good!  I absolutely love it now that it is put together.  Anyone can do this and I suggest it because it is so rewarding (and addicting)!  Not to mention that it only cost me $120 compared to $700!

Advice/Pointers:

~ If you mess up, nothing is unfixable!  Wood putty works wonders and I used a TON;)

~ Use Gorilla Glue Wood Glue!  This is what actually joins the pieces together.  The screws/nails are just to hold in place while the glue dries.  This bed is so sturdy that I can jump on it!

~ Make sure you wipe all the glue drips off, especially if you are going to stain the wood.  If you do not, the stain will not penetrate leaving lighter spots (yes, I learned the hard way but fortunately it is not obvious).

 ~ Check all of your boards to make sure they are straight!  If you get home with bowed boards it will make construction a nightmare!  This is very simple.  Just pick one end up to eye level and look all the way down the board to make sure it is pretty level.  Flip over to check all of the sides.

~ You can have Home Depot cut your boards for you.  I cut my own with my miter saw but I have had them cut boards for me before.  (Make sure you bring a tape measure with you so you do not leave with mistakes).

So that's it for now!  I am going to add the Farmhouse Headboard to his bed next.  I love the look of it and I think it will complement the storage bed nicely:)  I am also working on the storage crates for the cubbies.  I am constructing them without plans so I will share the tutorial on those as soon as they are done!

Don't forget to scroll down to our "I Made it Without My Hubby" party to check-out all of the great entries!  It's not too late to enter;)

~Ashley

I Made it Without My Hubby!!!

Hey guys!! Thanks so much for all of your fun comments on my nursery!  Ashley and I loved reading them and appreciate you taking the time to leave them for us.  If you haven't checked out my nursery reveal you can see it HERE.

We have a fun giveaway lined up for this month's party!!

Word of Wear

is a one of a kind collection of hats adorned with handmade patches created specifically for you!

These are too cute!!

She has a gallery of previous designs she has done.  You just pick a hat color, tell her a bit of what you are looking for and she does the rest for you... So fun!

Word of Wear

will be giving this month's party winner a hat of their choice!

How great is that!?

How do you win??

We want to see any and all crafts, revamps and projects you have been up to!  The only rule is that you do them without the help of your man!  Make sure you add our party button to your post or sidebar to be entered in the giveaway!

Link up Ladies!!

Whitney's Nursery!

Hey guys!!

We have had lots of questions about our nurseries.  Ash revealed hers a few weeks ago.  I have been waiting until I feel like it's totally "finished" but knowing my personality that reveal may not happen until she is 2 years old.  So... Here we go :-)

This is E's bed.  We found it pretty cheap at Baby Depot.  I think it was right at $200 and it converts to a toddler bed so I was happy.

This is the armoire that was black and in the living room in it's previous life.  A little paint goes a long way!

I know Ash received a less than friendly comment about the TV in her nursery.  Well, guess what??  Behind those doors hides a TV in my nursery too!  Do our babies watch these? Obviously not.  But, we do enjoy sitting in the rockers with the babies and watching TV.  You know what else??  I bottle feed!  I guess with the TV and bottle feeding combined I might just be in the running for "worst mom of the year".  Seriously people. :-))

Here is the entire wall with my magnetic photo board!

And a little nightstand I revamped.  That is the lamp I showed you guys HERE!

Window shot.

That amazing trunk is one of my next projects.  I think it will go red... What you think??

Chest of drawers...

Painted it yellow and added those great $2 Hobby Lobby knobs!

I LOVE our bedding!  I was ready to whip out the sewing machine and make my own until Ashley sent me a picture of the bedding she chose.  I told her I would be copying and I did just that!

I love the prints of the fabrics!

Bedskirt...

Bumper...

And my rocker (that I happily watch TV in:)...

This rocker started green and I slipcovered it with a thick, soft brown corduroy. 

I can show you a tutorial on that later.  Not too hard but oh so time consuming.

And my curtains!  I made these using a drop cloth and attaching some fabric and ribbon to the bottom.  

And one more shot...

That's about it!

I'm sure you noticed some blank wall space.  It's all in my head but getting it done will happen soon enough.  I'll keep you posted on it!

Don't forget about tonight's party!

See you then!

~Whitney