DIY Wooden American Flag

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My mother-in-law gave me a few back issues of BHG.  I was drawn to this DIY wooden American Flag in the June 2012 issue.

Source: blogher.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Then one day on Pinterest, I saw this amazing flag made from reclaimed pallets.  Hmm...I can definitely do this!

Source: oneartmama.blogspot.com via Natalie on Pinterest

My husband and I spent a few days trying to find pallets on Craigslist.  They are apparently a pretty hot commodity in my town!  After spending a fruitless Saturday morning driving around to different Craigslist listings, we realized we were out of luck.  They were all gone!  We rethought our design plan and decided to use scrap wood we already had on hand.

This is what we started with.

I spray painted the wood white with spray paint I already had on hand.

Then I painted a blue square in the upper left corner and taped off the stripes.  I picked up a few paint samples from Home Depot in red and blue.  (The only thing I had to buy for this project!  So awesome!)

After painting the stripes red, I cut a template out of cardboard for the stars.  I just held it over the blue and dabbed white paint over the cardboard.  I didn't mind that it wasn't perfect.  I kind of liked the homemade look.

After the paint dried, I attached hardware and wire to the back so that I could hang it on the wall.  Don't mind the old contact paper.  The scrap wood was actually an old shelf from my in-law's kitchen cabinet.

I love the final product.  I probably could have made the blue a little longer - more rectangular - and the stars a little more uniform.  My husband and I talked about possibly redoing the stars.  A few people who have done similar projects used temporary stickers.  I really don't want to spend anymore money on this project so the stickers are probably out.

I still love it though.  It looks great on the blue siding and hanging over our vintage metal porch chairs.  Plus, it a perfect decoration for the season!

Has Pinterest inspired you lately? I would love to hear about it!  


Oh!  I noticed that Young House Love is doing a Pinterest Challenge this week.  I plan on sharing this project over on their AMAZING blog (and on Centsational Girl, Bower Power, and Ten June!

You can also find it over on Positively Splendid.

Barrette Board - Pinterest Inspiration

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I saw this cute storage idea for organizing little girl barrettes on Pinterest (see the original at Attempting Aloha) .  I thought it would be perfect for my daughter.

Source: attemptingaloha.com via Natalie on Pinterest

We currently are storing all of my daughter's hair ties and barrettes in this little box. The only problem was that when my daughter wanted to see (ie play with) her barrettes, she would take them out and lay them on the floor. Her curious little brother would then help himself. Eight month olds and barrettes don't go so well together.

I thought making this barrette board would be a perfect way for her to see all of her hair things, keep them up out of reach, and make a pretty display.  I already had on hand all of the materials (minus the spray paint - $4.99 at our local hardware store).  The picture frame was metal and took about 3 coats of pain to cover.

I used spray adhesive to attach a piece of remnant fabric to the original cardboard backing that came with the frame.  I didn't worry too much about how the back looked because I knew I would cover it with a second piece of cardboard when I slid the fabric covered board back into the frame.

Using scrapbook ribbon I already had, I tied them into place.  Those ribbons that were too short received an extra dose of hot glue to hold them in place.  Then I slid the original cardboard back into the frame.  To cover the unsightly back, I cut a clean piece of cardboard out of an old box and slid it in the frame to close the back off from view.

Then my daughter and I added all of her cute barrettes, rubber bands, and head bands to the board.

I absolutely LOVE the final product.  It is cute and organized.  A huge improvement!

What has Pinterest inspired you to do lately?  I would love to hear and see what you have been working on!

PS  I am so proud of this project!  I have linked up at Organize & Decorate Everything (my first time doing this!!).  So fun!

DIY Fabric Storage Boxes - Pinterest Inspiration

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My sweet husband installed new shelves in the nursery a few months ago.  The idea was to create vertical storage in the room.  We wanted to free up floor space so the kids would have more room to play and create a place to store toys, clothes, and office equipment.  The shelves turned out great, but as we used them I realized we needed more storage containers to hold toys.  I considered buying baskets (I had already purchased four for my son's clothes) but they are so expensive!  Then I saw DIY fabric storage boxes on Pinterest.  They looked easy enough.  The inspiration and tutorials I used were from IHeartOrganizing and PostivelySplendid.

Using the tutorial on PostivelySplendid I was able to VERY EASILY cover the outside of three diaper boxes with fabric.

The inside proved to be more difficult.  I did not want to sew liners so I used the tutorial on IHeartOrganizing to line the inside of the boxes.  Unrolling the fabric as you slowly spray the glue section by section was the secret to getting the fabric to lay flat.  (Sorry - I didn't take any pictures.  I was up to my elbows in glue!)

To create the corner, I used a small piece of scrap material.

Creating the corner.

The biggest problem I ran into when making these storage boxes was getting an even edge around the outside of the box.  I wanted the inside material to make a 1 inch border around the outside.  I had a really difficult time getting the border even. 

Oh, yucky uneven edges.  What to do?  What to do?

I ended up hot gluing a ribbon around the outside of the box where the two different fabrics met.  I wasn't sure if it was going to work, so I selected a neutral color ribbon.  A brighter color would work great, too.  The ribbon really evened out the "hem" and cleaned up the box.

Ribbon did the trick!  Goodbye uneven edges!

Overall, I am happy with the final product.  The boxes were more difficult to make than I thought they would be (mainly because I couldn't handle an uneven edge), but I am happy now that they are completed.  They work great and hide toys very well!

What DIY storage project have you been working on lately?  I would love to hear about it!

Why My Pantry Will NEVER Look Like A Pantry on Pinterest

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I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest.  I love that it inspires me to be creative and tackle new projects.  I hate that it gives me this “stressed out, I have to do everything I see on Pinterest” feeling.  I guess you can chalk it up to my type-A personality!

I wasn’t loving Pinterest so much on Saturday. We did our monthly grocery shopping and when I was putting the groceries away I decided to reorganize the pantry.  In my mind, all I could visualize were these super organized pantries you see on Pinterest.  As hard as I tried, I was finding myself getting frustrated that I couldn’t make my pantry look like those I have pinned.  You know what I’m talking about – the beautifully organized, over-labeled pantries that people post with comments like “I wish my pantry looked like this” or “so inspiring.”  As I was standing in my kitchen looking at this mess (see the picture below) and wondering how in the heck I was going to get it into the pantry, I realized that I was driving myself insane.  And that’s when I realized that my pantry will never look like those you see on Pinterest. 

This had to somehow find its organized way into my pantry.

Here are five reasons why my pantry will never be a Pinterest pantry:

1. I actually own food.  Silly huh?  But really, the pantries I see on Pinterest do not have a whole lot of food in them.  They also lack in a variety of foods.
2. I have two kids.  They like to eat and my daughter has taken to complaining when I don’t have the cabinet stocked with her favorite snacks.
3. I have a husband and he doesn’t always put things back in the “right” place.
4. I have only one place to store food.  What you see is what you get.  The pantry is the only place I have to store non-perishable food.  And that means I have to get a lot in a little space!
5. My pantry is deep.  I unfortunately have to stuff things in the back.  Even with the simple white roller baskets I installed when I was in my "pregnant nesting phase" with my daughter, things still get hidden in the back of the cabinet.  I have not figured out a way around this (yet!).

It's a work in progress.

Even though it doesn’t look like it, I am actually organized.  Everything has a place and I reorganize and reevaluate the space every time I go grocery shopping.  There is a shelf that is a constant work in progress (my oils/spices - see "hot mess" above) and I may have a solution, but that’s for another day (when my husband can watch the kids so I can tackle and finish it at the same time). Until then, my pantry is what it is and I think it looks pretty good.

After everything was put back in the pantry.

Do you have an organization project that is challenging or constantly evolving?  I would love to hear about it!