DIY Painted & Stamped Knife Block

I'm still slowly but surely working on my kitchen.
Organizing and decorating it...

Tonight I finally brought myself to get into a craft project so I decided on a small, quick one.

My kitchen colors are varieties of greens, blues, and yellows.  There's already so many yellow tones (ugly walls) in my kitchen so I try to stay closer to greens and blues.
I'm going for a natural look with colors you would typically see on a warm sunny spring day in a garden.

Anyways...

Tonight I worked on my boring o'l knife block.
I love natural wood on just about everything but I've been tired of my knife block and it's boring look so I decided to paint and stamp it!

It was a breeze to start and finish and the paint I used took no time at all to dry, which always makes a project that much more fun to work with.  I'm not a very patient person when it comes to waiting on a project to set.  When I start, I want to get it done right then and there because I can be a terrible procrastinator!!

        

Tools Used:
Wooden Knife Block,
Sandpaper, (Don't know the grade)
Swiffer Cloth and Wet Wipe,
Cheap 1" Acrylic Paint Brush,
Americana Acrylic Paint, (Celery Green)
Paint Tray, (you can also use a piece of smooth plastic, wax paper or glass plate)
Stamps and Black Stampabilties Ink Pad.

1. I started out by sanding the block down on all sides to make sure I didn't have any rough and uneven spots and edges.  I also sanded off the brand name on the front of the block so it wouldn't interfere with my stamping on a later step.

2. I blew off as much sanding dust as possible then I took an off brand of Swiffer Cloth to it and rubbed it down to get the rest of the loose dust off.  After I did that I then wiped the block down with a baby wet wipe (because it was within arms reach).  You can use a damp dish rag or wash cloth.  As long as you get the remaining dust off of it you'll be just fine.

3. I let the block dry and started to paint it.  I highly recommend that you use strokes that go with the grain of the wood.  You'll end up with a better out come.  You'll also need to apply several coats of paint to it.  I applied about 3 coats on each side.  Each coat needs to fully dry before reapplying a new one.  If you keep painting over wet paint you'll (a.) end up with light spots where you'll be able to see the wood underneath, (b.) you'll get paint build up in areas, or (c.) BOTH!  Any or all of those won't be very flattering for your end result.  I used a nontoxic acrylic paint and I would suggest the same for yours as well.  After all, your knifes are going to be rubbing and touching parts of the paint and you wouldn't want toxins to get onto the knifes you'll be cutting and chopping your food with.  Ick!

4. Once you have all of your coats of paint on and it's completely dry you're ready to stamp.
Pick out which stamp you want to go with, test them on a piece of paper to ensure you're going to be happy with the out come, and then plan where you want to stamp it before you cover it with ink.
When you're ready to stamp your piece, lightly dab the stamp onto the ink pad and carefully stamp your piece in the desired area (or as close as you can get it) and let dry.
I used a scrap booking ink brand (Stampabilities) because of the fact it's nontoxic.

5. You'll want to find a nontoxic water proof sealer to cover the whole block in.
I have not sealed mine yet because I'm not sure what to use.
I thought about my off brand of Mod Podge but I'm not sure how well that product will stand up towards water.
My block is located right beside my kitchen sink and gets wet very quite frequently.
If you have any tips and/or suggestions I would love to read about them!

After you complete all 5 steps you'll be finished and ready to show it off as your new decorative kitchen piece.  I hope this was an enjoyable DIY tutorial and was easy to understand and follow.

God Bless and Keep Crafting!

Baby Shower Tutorials Coming Soon!

My sister Danielle at Simple Sapphire is going to bring a sweet bundle of baby girl joy into this world in a few months.  This will be my first niece and I couldn't be more excited for her arrival!
1) A new baby in the family is always an amazing blessing.
2) I LOVE BABIES!
3) It's A Girl!
I have nephews and a son so it's just about time for a little dresses, bows and butterflies!

I am going to be throwing my wonderful sister a baby shower in March so I'll be flaunting fabulous baby shower tutorials and ideas!

Today I went over to her place and we started planning and writing down lists.  I love planning and lists!
We came up with the perfect baby shower theme for the blissful season of Spring, a menu, guest list, gift bags, thank you cards, classic games and we even made up a few ourselves!  They probably have been done before but neither one of us has seen them on baby shower game idea lists or have played them at past showers.  We also thought of some adorable/fun/fantastic prizes for the game winners.

Are you excited yet?  Just wait, keep reading!

I will be throwing this shower on a budget, therefore I'll be sharing a thick spread of advice and tips on how to create a beautifully decorated shower that will be fun for the mommy to be and all guests attending for nickles and dimes!
Also, Danielle and I are both very creative and crafty gals, so I'll be sharing some incredible DIY projects!

What about now...  Are you excited?  You are aren't you!?!
If not then you need to go bungee jumping or sky diving to get that unamused heart racing. tehehe

I won't be leaking any of the inside scoop until March.  You'll just have to check back then.

If you have any side effects from your prolonged excitement, you can always check out my pins here and follow me on pinterest, keep reading past, present and future entries here at My Discovered Thoughts (be sure to follow my entries so you don't miss out) and don't forget to check out and follow my lovely sister Danielle at Simple Sapphire.

Stay tuned and have a blessed day!

DIY Diaper Cake

I was cleaning off my desk the other day and came a crossed an invitation to my friends baby shower that I had completely forgotten about.
Panic starts to set in!
Oh, holy crap!!!  What in the world am I going to do with no time or budget to pick up a great gift?
I'm always so thoughtful and creative and I feel as if I ALWAYS have to be when giving gifts and plus it's for someone that was very thoughtful at my baby shower.  I was excited about it when I first received the invitation but with lack of much needed sleep, my 1 year old running circles around me all day and trying to get all my house hold chores done it had easily slipped my mind.  What was I to do with "no notice"?  I need time to budget myself, save money, figure out what the mother to be needs and/or wants, plan what and how to present my gift, should I buy and put everything into a basket, tray, diaper bag, I GOT IT!  A DIAPER CAKE!
It's cheap, easy and fool proof!!!

I could only afford to spend $25.00.  Yikes, that doesn't seem like a lot of money when we're talking about a baby shower gift.  Everyone knows how expensive baby stuff is unless you're a smart shopping, budgeting Momma like myself.

I went to Dollar General.  Yes, I bought supplies for a baby shower gift at the dollar store.
Don't judge, be impressed!
Diaper cakes are super simple and easy.

The supplies that you'll need are:
(These are the items I bought today that were suited to the mother to be needs, but you can pretty much get whatever. Your options are endless!)

Diapers, (I used 50 diapers.) (the bigger count of diapers you buy the bigger your cake.)
Baby Wipes,
Bordeaux's Butt Paste,
Healthcare Kit, (medicine spoon, thermometer, nose cleaner, nail clippers, etc.)
Teething Ring,
Teething Tablets,
Rubber Bands, (make sure you have enough for each diaper and a few extra.)
Card Board,
Pen,
Scissors,
Card Board from a Toilet Paper Roll or Paper Towel Roll,
(paper towel roll is going to be your better option.)
Duct Tape,
Ribbon,
Curling Ribbon,
Card Stock
Gift Bag,
Tissue Paper.

Keep in mind, this isn't the "only" way to make a diaper cake, it's just the way I was able to make mine.  I used what I had around the house so I could save some pennies. 
No harm, no shame.  It's what the mother to be needs and it looks really cute, so who cares.

Instructions:

Start out by rolling up the diapers.  You'll want to lay the diaper front side down and with the top part of the diaper closest to you and roll and use a rubber band to keep them secure.  Depending on how big your rubber bands are you may have to wrap them around the diaper and couple of times.  I only needed to wrap it twice and be sure that the rubber band is in the middle of diapers.

I used 16 diapers for my top layer and 34 diapers for my bottom layer.
If you're making a cake just like mine take 16 already rolled up diapers and rubber band them all together with 1 rubber band.  The rubber band needs to lay a crossed the rubber bands on the diapers.  There's no need to wrap the rubber band twice around the layers, it should be secure enough to keep them all together.
And then do the same to the other 34 rolled up diapers.
Make sure that the outside of your layers aren't showing the ending rolled edge of the diapers.
It's easier to rubber band your rolls together and then turn any diaper rolls around. 
This way the cake will have a clean, even look to it.
(See the 5th picture down from here to see what I mean.)


You'll need a platform for the bottom layer of your cake so when you pick it up it won't fall apart.
I didn't have anything special around the house so I used a card board diaper box that my sons diapers came in.
I broke the box down at the glued areas and opened it and laid it flat.
I then took my 34 ct. bottom layer of diapers and set it on top of the box and drew a circle around the layer as close to it as I could possibly get without getting ink on the diapers.
You could use a pencil for your circle outline but I wanted to be able to clearly see my marking.

Cut out your circle outline.
You'll want to cut about 1 - 2 inches inside and all the way around your circle, that way you won't be able to see the card board when you put your bottom layer over it.

Then you'll duct tape a toilet paper or paper towel roll in the middle of your card board circle.

My toilet paper roll is actually centered, my circle is just a bit lop sided because my scissors broke and I had to use a knife to cut my platform out.

 

I used a toilet paper roll because I didn't have a paper towel roll.  Toilet paper rolls are long/short enough for 1 layer.  Since I didn't have a paper towel roll.  I cut off one of the longer flaps on the diaper box that I used to make my circle platform.  I then bent the flap long ways to try and make a rod and rubber banded both ends together.  I slipped my "card board rod" into the toilet paper roll hole, and placed the top layer of diapers over the "rod". 
Try to center the card board the best you can in the middle of your diapers.

This is where it gets really fun!
Wrap your ribbon around the middle of each layer where you have your rubber band line and tie a pretty bow.

I then put the Teething Tablets on the top front of the bottom layer and tucked the top flap part of the box under the top layer bow. (Look at the picture and you'll see what I mean.)
I also had a few tiny plastic clothes pins that a friend gave me for my baby shower, I clipped them on the box flap and the top part of the bow on the top layer so it looks like there at holding up the box.
I also clipped tiny plastic baby bottles with ribbons glued to them onto the bottom layer bow with the tiny clothes pins.
You don't have to use embellishments, I did because I had them laying around the house.

I then took the Bordeaux's Butt Paste and stuffed it down the middle of the top layer of diapers right above where my "card board rod" is and then set the Teething Ring tilted on the front of it.

Last but not least.
I made a little note card to put on the cake.
I measured out a 3"x6" Card Stock strip and folded it in half and I recently bought a fancy little Martha Stewart paper punch (on clearance and saved $10. on it at Hobby Lobby!  I love a great deal!!!) and with the card folded in half I punched along the top and bottom edges of the card.
I then punched a small hole in the side of it by the fold line with a hole punch and tied it to the top layer bow with curling ribbon.  Honestly you could use any type of ribbon or string that you have around the house.  Remember, saving pennies is a good thing...  For anyone.

That's it.  The diaper cake is finished and for the Baby Wipes and Healthcare Kit...
I didn't have enough room on the cake for them so I put them in a gift bag with tissue paper that I also had laying around the house and made a tag that looks the same as the one on the diaper cake and a pretty curling ribbon bow and put them on the gift bag..

 

I really like it when I'm able to save little things like gift bags, ribbons, party embellishments, etc. etc.  I recommend it to everyone as long as you have a place to keep it neatly organized.  If you're not organized about little things like that then when the time comes to use it you probably won't be able to find it.  So therefore, what's the point in having it if not to use?
I'm not the most organized person (lack of space) but I do keep all my party embellishments and supplies all together so I'll know exactly where I find them.
Thank God too, I would have spent more money then what my budget called for or wouldn't have been able to get my friend as much stuff as I did.

I hope this tutorial has inspired you in same way.

DIY Distressed Coat Rack

After thinking up at least 100 different ways I wanted to make a coat rack, I finally just jumped in and made one.

I was going for an old rustic look with a hint of a collective chic flare.

I wanted to take tutorial pictures to make this so much easier to understand but I didn't have my camera at the time of the making of this project so I'll just do my best to talk you through it as detailed as possible.

 

 

1. First off, I measured the wall area where I wanted to hang my coat rack, which is behind my front door and figured out how long and wide I wanted my coat rack to be.  38"x8"x1.5"
    
2. I didn't want to make it with the usual hooks that you always see.  I thought that different styled knobs would be really cute and at Hobby Lobby they just so happened to have dresser knobs 50% off this week (in my area) so I bought 7 of them.
   SCORE!  This was meant to be!!!
    
3. Went to Lowe's and bought a board that measures 8'x8"x1.5".  My original plan was to stain the wood but I had my heart set on a darker Caribbean blueish-green.  Well they had blue stains and green stains.  Yes I know I could have bought one of each color and mixed them together but hey...  I'm a budget kinda girl and I can't justify myself on buying more then what I need, so I settled for paint instead.  I bought a quart sized Flat Valspar Ultra Paint + Primer called Turquoise Tint, which is way to much for what I need but I'll find more uses for it.  I didn't buy the brown that I used because I had a quart in my tiny work shop cabinet and it's a Flat Olympic Premium called Spiced Wine.  Both of the paints that I used are for interior.
    
4. I don't have a table saw or a routing table so I asked my dear o'l Dad to help me out so he cut and routed all of the edges for me.
    
5. When I got my board home I started in it right away.  I used the crappiest 2" paint brush I had and started painting my board with the brush dry and as if I was a small child.  I didn't apply much paint because I wanted a thin layer all over it.  After it dried I sanded it down just a little bit here and there.  I didn't use any rhyme or reason, just picked random places as I went along.  I did sand a few areas like the beautiful knots in the board down to where you could actually see the wood it's self.  You'll want to wipe all of sanding dust off.  I then took a tiny can that I had saved and a plastic spoon and dipped out 3 or 4 spoon fulls of brown paint into it and mixed it with a little bit of water.  Probably...  about...  3 Tbsp.  ???  I'm not really sure, I eye balled it until I got the thin consistency that I wanted.  I wanted it really thin and watery.  I used the same crappy 2" paint brush and lightly brushed on the brown.  In a few areas I painted it heavier then others.  Let that dry.  Then I took the sand paper back to it and sanded it some more.  Again, sanding down some areas more then others so I could bring out the blue-green paint and in some areas like the edges down to the wood.  The areas where I sanded all the way down to the wood I took my finger, dipped it into the paint and rubbed it on the wood areas and lightly wiped it off with a paper towel.  After you're finished with sanding wipe all the dust off again.  After the brown paint dried I then sprayed it with a Clear coat of Matte Spray Paint to seal and protect it.
   The best tip I have is to not plan how it's going to look distressed.  The more random the better.  After all when you find an actual distressed object, Mother Nature doesn't "plan" on how that object ages.  Also I personally don't think it matters what grit of sand paper you use, it all depends on how heavy your hand is and how long you want to sand your board.
   BAM step 5 is done.
    
6. I then took the side of a hammer and lightly beat the board to make it look dinged up and even more distressed.  I used the side of the hammer because I didn't want a bunch of little circles all over my board.  Lines and marks are more appealing to me.
    
7. I flipped my board over and found the center of the board by measuring and marked it with a pencil dot.  Then I figured out how far apart I wanted all my knobs which came out to be 19" was my center and 5" between each knob on both sides from the center.  I hope that makes sense.  I then had my Love drill the holes straight through for me because I am terrible with power tools.  I wanted my project to look distressed not sloppy.
   You'll want to measure your knob or hook screws in diameter to figure what size drill bit you'll need to use.  The knobs I bought came with nuts to secure the knobs to your project.  (They all should come with nuts and/or washers.)  Since I want my coat rack to be flush with the wall my Love drilled bigger holes over the screw just enough so we were able to use a socket to tighten the nuts as much as we could to the knob screws so they would stay secure.  We also drilled 2 up side down key shaped holes close to the top two corners so the nails in the wall would have a place to hold the board up (we used 2 different sized drill bits to accomplish that).
    
8. Remember to keep the weight of your board in mind because you may have to use these weird little plastic things that your nail/screw goes into in the hole of the wall and then put your nail/screw in it.  I know I sound ignorant but I honestly don't know what they are called.  I do know they are commonly found boxed up with heavy shelves that you buy in a department store and that their purpose is to give strength to the wall for heavy objects. 
   I had to use them for my coat rack.
    
   That's pretty much it, I now have a beautiful and uniquely made coat rack that adds the perfect touch of my living room.
    
   I do apologize if any of this was confusing, if you need more help feel free to drop me a line and I'll do my best to explain in better detail.  It's late and I think the lack of sleep is starting to kick in.