Train Name Plaque for the Boy

Because Andyroo loves trains, here's yet another fun train project, just for him.

It was super easy and took me all of an hour to complete. And it only took that long because I kept getting interrupted.

I found the wooden train plaques (I actually purchased 2 - not sure how I'm going to use the other one) on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I found a cute train paper, traced the train shape, and mod podged that baby on. I used my Silhouette to cut out Andyroo's name and there you have it.

Easy peasy. And cheap too!

Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays, Made By You Mondays, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Made with Love, More the Merrier


Tuesdays:
Get You Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got, Tuesday Tutorials, Too Cute Tuesdays, Craft & Tell, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday


Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent, We Can Do it Cheaper, Look What I Made, What I Whipped up Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday


Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On


Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, PityParty, Look At Me, Show & Share, Fantabulous Friday, Tickled Pink Fridays, I'm Lovin' It


Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase Party, Think Pink Sundays, Anything Goes, Whatcha Got Weekend, Free For All

Fall Subway Art Printable!

Remember the Halloween Subway Art Printable that I posted a few weeks ago? Well, I had so much fun making it, that I thought it would be fun to do an Autumn/Fall Subway Art Printable too!

And here it is in all it's glory! Again, with this one you can print it on an 8.5x11 paper and then either put it in an 8.5x11 document frame or trim it down to fit in an 8x10 frame. Just for reference, it's pictured belown in an 8x10 frame.

You can click either picture above to download the PDF or download it from Google Docs.




Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays, Made By You Mondays, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Made with Love, More the Merrier


Tuesdays:
Get You Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got, Tuesday Tutorials, Too Cute Tuesdays, Craft & Tell, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday


Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent, We Can Do it Cheaper, Look What I Made, What I Whipped up Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday


Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On


Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, PityParty, Look At Me, Show & Share, Fantabulous Friday, Tickled Pink Fridays, I'm Lovin' It


Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase Party, Think Pink Sundays, Anything Goes, Whatcha Got Weekend, Free For All

Framed Fall Letters

Part of the reason I wanted the entryway shelf that I posted about last week is because I want something to decorate. I don't have a mantle or a porch and our entertainment center is just too crowded with the stereo system and the overflowing DVDs.

So now that my shelf is up, I decided it needs to be a little more festive.

It's not a very big shelf, so there isn't a lot of room, but I still think it's cute! And those framed letters were super easy to make. Or at least they would have been if I weren't so indecisive!

The frames are just a 4x6 size - each of them are different and from the D.I. You can't beat $0.50 for a frame, especially since I just painted over them.

I picked 4 fall colors (I used a brown, green, cream, and wine), picked some paper (the hardest part) and them cut out the letters with my Silhouette (the most frustrating part). I think I changed my mind 10 times about the paper I was going to use. Even now, I'm not completely in love with it. I'm sure if I were to scour the racks at the craft store I could find something I LOVED. But I'm trying to be cheap and just use what I have on hand. It's growing on me though.

The inspiration for these letters came from this picture which I found through pinterest and then posted about here a couple weeks ago.

I think I'm going to do something a little more Halloweeny, or at least pumpkinish for the entertainment center. Be sure to check back and see what I come up with!




Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays

Tuesdays:
Get Your Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got

Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent

Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On

Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Look At Me

Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander

Categorically Crafting

Key & Coat Shelf

Hubs and I have been married for almost 5 years now and throughout that entire time, I've always meant to come up with some kind of coat rack. In our first apartment, we used the vacuum cleaner as our coat rack. The coats and jackets just got piled on top of the vacuume cleaner. Sad, huh!? In our apartment now, the high chair was used as a coat rack. Whenever we needed the high chair, I'd pile the coats ontop of the table for a while. The high chair is in storage now and the jackets are moved around to different chairs around the table depending on where we want to sit. Right now the jackets are hung up in our bedroom closet (so their not cluttered on the table and chairs) but it's going to be time to pull them out again. In fact, we already did on Saturday! It was rainy and yucky and about 55 degrees when we left the house. And since they're out, they need a home. One that isn't the table or chairs, preferably.
No longer will the coats ben shuffled around. No longer will the keys be lost in the mess on the table or buried at the bottom of my purse!

I found this little unfinished beauty at the D.I. We have another shelf much like this one (without the hooks though) above our couch that has our last name carved into it. When I saw this one with the heart on it, I knew it would be the perfect companion for our other lonely little shelf.

Two dollars. That's all she cost! Adding in the cost of the paint I used, this little project cost a total of $3.75! Yay for cheap!!

I used Dark Chocolate and Fawn from the Americana Paint line. As a side note, I was NOT at all happy with the coverage of the Dark Chocolate. It took about 4 coats and almost the whole bottle of paint to get good coverage. I've use Americana and have always been happy with the way it covers (so much better than the super, super cheap stuff). I don't know if they've reformulated or if it was just this colors. Anyway, back to the project.

So, I slathered on the Dark Chocolate until she was good and covered. Then did some dry brushing with the fawn to add a little more of a textured look. You can't really see it in the picture though.

It now hangs right by our door, all decorated and pretty. Once I get some of my fall decor stuff done, I'll be switching these things out and putting some of it here on this shelf.

Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays

Tuesdays:
Get You Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got

Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent

Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On

Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, PityParty, Look At Me

Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander

Halloween Subway Art + Free Printable

As part of my Halloween decor, I created this cute little subway art printable!

Want one too? Click here to download your copy! Remember that this is only for personal use, please. If you'd like to share it with others, please be sure to link back to this post.

Also, this is a PDF download. I made the image small enough so that you could frame it as an 8.5x11 or also trim it down to put in an 8x10 frame (which is what mine is in). If you go for the 8x10 size, you'll probably need to trim it down by about 1/4" on each side, but that will vary based on the frame you're using.

Enjoy!



Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays

Tuesdays:
Get You Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got

Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent

Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On

Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, PityParty, Look At Me

Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander

Thomas the Train - Redone

Remember the Train Canvases I made a while back? Yeah. I've discovered that the Silhouette Vinyl just is not meant to be used on the textured canvas. Not that I added any texture to it, but the regular old canvas is just too textured to get a good stick. The light blue vinyl was the worst. It started peeling off first and then basically it just all fell off. I eventually just took it off and Andyroo only had James and Percy in his room.

So I decided to take another route. Going with something that needed to be removable (because we're renting) and movable (so we can take it with us when we eventually move), I decided I liked the idea of piecing it together in some frames.

MUCH better!!

I still used the vinyl (because I had all the colors and didn't have the color in papers - no black or gold, gasp!), but you could use paper or fabric or anything you want.

*UPDATED* Train Canvases

**UPDATE: I discovered the vinyl doesn't stick to the textured canvas in a long-term capacity. Sad, huh? Anyway, I did some more creating and came up with some Framed Trains. Go check them out!!! And if you know how to get vinyl to stick to the canvas, please let me know!**

As part of Andyroom's train room, I wanted to do something for the walls. However, whatever I put up on the walls needs to be 1) removable, since we have no idea how long we're going to be here (and since we're only renting), and 2) Moveable, as in something we can take with us when we inevitably move. I thought about vinyl on the walls - easily removable, but I would have to redo it in his next room. And who really wants to do that?

I tossed around the idea of vinyl on some kind of frame or board, but ended up with this instead.

Vinyl on canvas! Not exactly a new idea, but I haven't seen anything quite like this.

I scoured the internet for free SVG images of Thomas the Train, or even just trains, but nothing was quite right. After finding Andrew's Thomas the Train comforter on clearance at Target, I knew I had to do something that was definitely Thomas and friends. So I decided to create my own images to cut. It only took about 4 hours total to do all three of them. Once I did the first one, I was able to incorporate some of the basic elements into the others which helped save time.

Putting the vinyl on is pretty self-explanatory. I cut the parts of the train in multiple colors so that the image wasn't so one dimensional, so the hardest part was lining everything up and making sure each train had the correct parts. Because Thomas is the number one engine on Sodor - not Percy (who is number six!). And Andyroo would definitely catch that mistake! Here are a couple pics of the layering process.

I started with the big green piece, or the body of the train, then added everything else to that.


And some closeups of the finished Thomas and James.

The canvases are 11x14 - purchased in a pack of seven at Michaels for about $10 (with a coupon, of course). I used 3 of them for this project, so about $4.50 for all three. Most of the vinyl I already had on hand, but it's about $8.00 a roll, or about $0.30 per foot. I used about $5 worth from the vinyl I already had on hand and had to purchase a couple sheets of extra colors. I'm not counting the price of the whole sheets because they're colors I can (and will) use on other projects. Anyway, the total cost of all the vinyl was probably about $7. So $11.50 for three Thomas the Train wall hangings. Thomas the Train stuff is EXPENSIVE, so I think that's an awesome deal!!

What do you think?


We're linking up with these super awesome parties:


Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednseday, What I Made Wednesday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, Just Something I Whipped Up, Frugal Friday, Lovely Little Linkup, Craftastic Monday, Woot Woot Wednesdays, Made it by Monday