Okio B Designs: March 2014

I'm always up for a super quick makeover and this one certainly fits the bill.

Meet the world's easiest chalkboard frame. The frame is from a local thrift store. I had planned on painting it white. Unfortunately, the backing is velvet and it can't be removed. So instead of having a hot mess, I moved on to plan B.

I cut a piece of self-sticking chalkboard paper to the size of the glass insert. I applied it right on top of the glass and fit everything back in the frame.

No kidding - literally 5 minutes from start to finish. Who doesn't love that?!

Jeanine

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Wouldn't you know it? We're gearing up for what I hope will be the last snow storm of the season. I'm keeping myself busy by making some Frenchy peat pots.

I didn't want to make these too Easter-y as I will likely keep them out all year. So instead of adding bunnies and chicks, I added some French book paper, lace and buttons.

And just because Easter is a few weeks away, I did add an egg and a Dollar Store bird - who has apparently seen better days. Lol! Luckily, they can easily be removed and swapped out with something else.

I really am obsessed with peat pots. So easy to make and so stinking cute.

I pick them up whenever I see them at a local garage sale or I stock up by ordering them from Greenhouse Megastore. They have a great variety and are reasonably priced. I am not being compensated for mentioning them - I just really love their stock and prices!

I have a few more in the works, but for now I'm loving these new ones!

Jeanine

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I wanted to make a simple banner for our front door. After searching Pinterest for some cute Easter designs, here's what I came up with.

I have a ton of this leftover muslin so I cut a large square of it to use as my backdrop.

Then I printed my bunny and the Happy Easter text to some TAP paper - reversing the images of course. After ironing the images on and letting them cool, I used fabric glue to add my banner to the wood dowel - which is a leftover from last summer. The boys used it to roast marshmallows. Ssshhh...don't tell them!

Once the fabric was secure to the dowel, I added some twine and hung it from our front door. Super duper easy! I would have preferred some black lettering for the Happy Easter but the touch of color is growing on me.

Jeanine

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I picked up some napkin rings a few weeks ago at our local thrift store. I finally got around to giving them a quick nautical makeover.

I started by using my handy hot glue gun and wrapping twine around the rings. Very tedious to say the least.

Once the twine was on, I used this great anchor rubber stamp I bought off Etsy last year to hand-stamp the image onto pieces of muslin.

I cut them down to size and clipped them on using some red safety pins. I have four more to do, and have to fix the top of the one I just noticed is showing some of the old napkin ring color. Doh!

Jeanine

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I had the perfect piece of muslin fabric lying around in the craft room. Just the right size for a little pillow.

I used this great bunny silhouette again from the Graphics Fairy. I used it a couple of weeks ago for a bunny banner.

I used TAP paper to apply it to my fabric. I probably should have done a better job of ironing my fabric first - doh! How did I miss that huge wrinkle on the left side????

Either way, now I have a sweet new pillow for spring/Easter.

Jeanine

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Photo courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

From this Irish lass to all of my bloggy friends!

Jeanine

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I never seem to have any luck finding old rusty tools during my garage sale shopping sprees. I popped by a random one and guess what I found? Yup, you guessed it...some old, rusty tools.

I love this ice grip (if that's what it's called!). Not sure where it's going to end up but for now it's hanging off an old pump in the yard. The pump still works!

You can never have enough pitchforks, can you? Or the heads at least.

I love this big one. Hoping to grow some flowers through it this spring. Still trying to figure out what to do with the other two. Might just safely prop them around the yard and pray my boys don't go near them.

Jeanine

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I'm embarking on a journey I've never taken before. I'm going to attempt to upholster dining room chairs and I'm terrified!

We swapped dining sets with my father-in-law over the weekend. This is a pretty oak dining set but the cushions are killing me. See what I mean?

I've never upholstered anything before so I've been busy bookmarking blog posts and Pinterest pages on how to do it. Some say to just add the new fabric over the old fabric; others say scrap the old fabric and padding and start fresh. I haven't decided which to do yet, so any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

I also have to work on getting a few water rings off the table. I'm planning to use mayonnaise over the weekend.

Wish me luck!

Jeanine

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The official start of spring is just a mere 10 days a way. I can hardly contain my excitement as this winter has definitely wiped me out. It was gorgeous here this weekend so I started adding some spring touches about the house.

Found this great chalkboard image on Pinterest.

I keep this little birdy out year round, but even he's ready for spring!

Peat pot and eggs under my favorite cloche.

Another cloche. This one holds a wooden bunny.

A nest rests in this huge crown that is actually a candle holder. I re-did the wood tray too. Originally it had a Frenchy design in the middle but I changed things up by covering the bottom of the tray with vintage dictionary paper.

These little bunny salt and pepper shakers are from the Pottery Barn outlet. Still looking good after about 5 years!

I have more decorations and such to put out, but I'm glad I got started with these simple spring touches.

Jeanine

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I picked up some plain white napkins at our local church thrift store last week. I wanted to dress them up a bit, so I broke out the TAP paper again and came up with this sweet touch for Easter.

I've used this image on several projects. I bought it off Etsy a couple of years ago and I never get bored of it.

I like that it's not overly Easter-ish, so I can use them year-round.

And of course who doesn't love a little French touch with the Le Lapin!

It took me literally 10 minutes to do four of them. I have two more left to finish. Thankfully, there is plenty of time before Easter!

Jeanine

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Who doesn't love these grainsack towels from Ikea? I was down to my last one this morning and wanted to give it a quick French-y look. I flipped through my Pinterest pins and decided to use this great Three French Hens one.

I'm pretty sure my sister Kathy (from CreativeHomeExpressions) has used this same image on some of her beautiful pillows. It's so versatile - great for spring, fall and the holidays.

I used TAP paper to transfer the image onto the towel. I just can't say enough about this paper. So easy to use and you can't see any remnants of the paper like you do with traditional transfer paper. Yup, I'm hooked!

Here's my new towel hanging off the kitchen island!

Jeanine

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Remember those candle tins I picked up at Goodwill over the weekend? Here's the before:

And here they are now:

I printed out some French script onto label paper. Then I used my Cricut to cut out the circles.

I hand-stamped the French crowns on each circle and added some rhinestone bling. All I had to do was peel and stick to get them on my tins.

I think they're going to be perfect for dressing up our outdoor table!

Jeanine

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The winner of my book giveaway as picked by Random.Org is:

#11 Deb from DragonFly Treasure!

Congrats Deb! I'll be in touch to get your mailing address.

Jeanine