Finally...So sorry!!!

Sooooo, I have finally finished my little stained boxes, I know you are so stinkin' excited to see how they turned out!

Remember this is what they looked like last...

That's right, they looked like nothing, and had an awful glare.

Now worries my sweets, they have turned out super cute. My camera is currently I.D.A *Injured During Action* and is on the shelf. So, I have been using my Bloggie, it's amazing, sweet, small, light, perfect...however, it works best for videos and outside photos since there is no flash :(

Anywho I was going to turn the boxes into memory style decor. Add something of my babies in there and adorn the walls of our lush mansion...or wait that's not my house, lol! Ross and Marshells adorn the walls because it's cheap and afordable!

Aren't they just the cutest things ever??!!! I love how they turned out. I wish I could hang them up and show you, but the picture quality would be awful, lol!

So the cost again...

$3.99 per box + 30% off = $2.80

It cost me less than a Starbucks :)






Pin It

What's your challenge??

Since we are all reading, following, loving and stalking Pinterest...

What are your next to do's??!!

Here are mine.

I actually want to do these for the kiddos with the first letter of their name and use pictures of them and family. I think it's a super cute idea!!

Jaymes is going to help me make this for his teacher!! We already got the crayons. So super excited.

And this I just adore! Such a great idea. I have Mod Podge and had no item what to do with it, who knew!!

What are you upcoming Pinterest goals or challenges?? Share them PLEASE. I would love to make a post of some we are working on!!!

Vintage Shadow Box

After many hours of scrolling through Pins on the beloved Pinterest, I came across a memory/shadow box that someone made for their baby's shoes. I never click the photos to see how they made it or what supplies they used. I get too excited for all that mess and do it myself. This helps add character too.

I have all my little one's baby shoes saved so I thought this would be a fun, cheap and easy thing to make for them. My ultimate goal is to decorate my entire house with handmade art. It's totally possible. 

I went to my local crafting store and picked up a few memory boxes that were unfinished. They were priced at just $3.99 a piece. The wooden crafts were all 30% off and I already bought stain for another project. This was already turning out to be a rewarding project.

Here is the stain that I picked up from Home Depot the other day. I cannot remember the exact cost, but it was $7 something. I originally purchased this for the trunk I found at the Salvation Army. No worries, that project is currently being worked on as well.

I took a piece of an old t-shirt to use for the applying . This type of material is perfect because there is minimal if no shedding at all. I dipped the shirt in the stain and then started to apply. These boxes just soaked it up. It was gorgeous from the start and I was so happy with the color. The furniture in my house is all dark browns, creams, tans and the wood is dark as well. I was hoping to have it all coordinate.

I used a paint brush to get the insides stained.

It's beautiful, love it!!

I stained the top piece as well. I did not worry about the instead of the top piece right now. However, if you plan on having these boxes sitting out, you want to stain every side/piece/inch so no unfinished wood shows through. If you plain to hang the box on the wall, you shouldn't worry too much because it will be unseen.
Personal preference comes into play here.

Ta-da! How pretty is she? Sorry the lighting is poor. I will be adding to this post as more photos are taken of the finished look.

Can you guess???

The next project at "Of Course She Added a Bow"...

My recent Wal-Mart purchase included the following items: (Yes just what is pictured,lol)
1. Hangover Part II
2. Crayola Crayons
3. 3M Sandpaper
4. Lemon
5. Biotin
6. Clothes Pins

Very random and strange trip!! Can you guess what my next project will be from this photo?

What have you crafty readers been up to?

Crazy Christmas Balls

So who wants a project that is under $5.00?? Well I lie, it's under $5 if you already have the mini $5 tree from Home Depot, and the $0.99 paints from Hobby Lobby, oh and the $0.49 string from Wal-Mart. If you have all of that then you are good to go with this sweet project.

So I went to Micheal's today and picked up a pack of 6 clear "made for decoration" ornaments. I had been looking for them at local stores, but never noticed any. Never thought to look at the craft store for an item needed for crafting. Go figure. They were a little under $5.00 I believe, if not a little over, but you can always find a coupon.

I already had the paint and the ribbon to hang them with. You can use the metal hooks or yarn. It's really up to you. Since we only had festive wild loud colors we went with sunflower buttons and crisp 1/8" ribbon to hang ours. Blue for boys and white for the girls.

I took the tops off the ornaments. Then we squeezed paint, one color at a time. Rotating every couple of minutes, or when we added a new color. We made the mistake of using too much paint. I suffer from lack of patience so since the paint wasn't spreading at the speed of light, I insisted on more paint. Anywho, so we did that until our ball was full. Then I placed them upside down in the tray so all my wasted paint could run out, lol!

I think it's so cute. And semi psychedelic, what do you think? A bunch of hippies got together and made Peace, Love & Sunflower ornaments??!!

Okay gals...Share your crafts. I would love to post about them :)

Hanging Around

Stay tuned for more details....

I'm so crafty :)

I make people...and sweet decorative pieces!

Reindeer Paws

Another amazing post brought to you courtesy of "As seen on Pinterest" or maybe I just made that up.

So I saw this lovely little number and re-pinned it. Probably before I knew what that meant or what I was doing. I later received 10 emails that so and so had re-pinned my re-pinning, lol. WHAT??!!!

Anyways take a look my friends....

Adorable. And guess what I happen to have 2 feet that would make this look super cute in my house along with paint and canvas. You guessed it my friends. This project cost me $0.00!! I love it. It's like I coupon-ed myself. Okay maybe that isn't realistic, but free projects are always fun.

Isn't that just plain adorable <3 Do my kids have cute feet or what??!!

We of course...ADDED A BOW <3

Ribbon Holders

Hi my name is Ashley and I'm a ribbon addict.

Yes this is true. I don't even have close to the collection that I dream about, but I am getting there. When I started my little bow business I had to use money, my money, not borrowed money. As we have expanded and started new projects I just re-invested the money I made into buying more goodies. Now it's solely my business buying for the business.

The ribbon spools were piling up and I had no where to put it. I had it stacked it plastic tubs, the floor, and really everywhere else that was in the way. So we started looking for ideas online and found this...

It's just beautiful. If I could have a craft room like this I would be in heaven. I guess I have something similiar, no cute curtains or rockin' paint though! That can really make the "difference" in a room.

As I drew out the design for the mega ribbon holder I started to think. It's easy to pop that bar off and on, but man, when that middle ribbon runs out you have to take all of them off. And then put them all back on. What a chore. For me that is.

So I visited my neighborhood hardware store, better known as Home Depot, and found these...

18" 3 Tier Basket $11.98

I love them. For a few reasons:

1) They able able to hold ribbon of all sizes. 3/8" spools to 1.5" spools.

2) They blend right into the wall and are easy to hang.

3) If I no longer need them for ribbon, they can be used for many other purposes. I can put them in the cabinets and hold cleaning supplies. In bathrooms (under the sink) to hold toilet paper, extra toiletries or rolled up towels!!!

Another great thing about this option is I can add as I have the money. Each piece functions on it's own. Love that.

So here is what I have started with. I bought 4 of them at $11.98, so that is $47.92. I have never bought lumber for a project, so I can't say how much it would have costed to build one. But with time, labor, tools, supplies...you can see that this was much easier, easy on the eye and woman friendly. No offense, but I am no carpenter.

Do you have any ribbon storage projects?? Please share!!!

A treasure maybe

So after much thought about new blog ideas, I decided that I wanted to find some sort of wooden box/create/table to turn into an ottoman for the living room. I literally thought of this today (December 2nd).

I ventured off the local thrift stores in hopes to find some pieces for new project ideas and maybe older cookie sheets that I could turn into chalk boards, lol. It's possibly turning into a small obsession.

Anyway I found this...

AMAZING <3 AMAZING <3 AMAZING <3

I bet you will never guess how much I paid for it. I would not have guessed. Well I found these first...

Each tray was $1.50 a piece, which put me at $6.00. I wanted to stay under $15.00 with $20.00 being the max. I don't see the point in spending more at the thrift store when the point is to re-use items or re-create them for bargin prices.

Anyway, I saw this guy, he had a large plastic tub of men's tuxedo shirts on top. Very formal. I figured $30. Maybe high for re-sale, but sometimes that's the game they play.

Friends...it was marked $15.00.

approx size 40" x 28"**did not get the height**

31"W x 16"D x 18"H 

$231.00

It was missing one plank on top and the henges needed to be fixed. Not necessarily replaced, just repaired a little.

I finished my shopping, I was now at $21.00, over my budget. I asked the gentlemen if he had the missing plank, if so that would save me money. If not, I would need to purchase a piece to fit there. Ugh :(

He kindly replied, "I'm sorry we don't. (scans items) $1.50, there is 4 of those, then the trunk $10.00."

WHAT??!!! Awesome, didn't even ask for a discount. I wouldn't because I find that obnxious and tacky, but there was also a sign that read:

"Prices are as labeled. Please do not ask for a discount."

It's sad that they even have to write that. People these days kill me.

Anywho, walked out with the new trunk and 4 dishes (they were intended for chalkboards, apparenlty now 2 will be transformed into superhero shields) for $16.00. Pretty exciting.

I headed over to Home Depot to pick up some stain and a piece a wood that will fit into the top of the chest.

Stay tuned for the post that will show you how that bad freakin boy turns out!! I am over the moon excited and realized that this might actually be my calling.

Attractive Chalkboard

You like the title??!! Get it??!! A magnetic chalkboard...ATTRACTive...did I just laugh??!!

Who doesn't love a cute chalkboard? Ever since I laid my eyes upon the chalkboard paint at Lowe's, I was in love. I thought this was the neatness invention ever. Don't get me wrong, I hated them in school. They never seemed to be clean enough to read, the chalk makes your hands feel gross and don't forget that loud obnoxious noise it makes when someone's nail hits it...wait for it...you can imagine it now can't you??!! Sorry about that.

Anyway that is beside the point, chalkboard paint is amazing for those of you out there with children. You can paint it directly to your wall at home, add a frame and call it a day.

Here is an example of the one I made for our kids.

 It was a pretty large chalkboard. They both could write at the same time and have plenty of space. We added a small frame which was great becasuse it caught a lot of the chalk dust. Such a great investment for the little ones.

Just a side note **creating this wall for the kids to color on did not promote coloring on ALL the walls** At just 2 and 4yrs old they both understood this was the only space to color on! Awesome. However, chalk does wipe off nicely.

Now back to the project. I found this on Pinterest the other night and loved it.

How cute is that! And she added a bow, true love there. So I went to Wal-Mart (this is not a promotion for Wal-Mart, it was the closest store to our home that sells cookie sheets) and picked up a cookie sheet at the sweet price of $2.68!! WHAT WHAT!!

She measures in at (enter size for the readers...they can't assume) and is super light. Which I find to be a plus because I want to have the option of hanging it on the wall. I'm sure it will fall at least once, so the damage will be small, if any. The photo above shows it on a stand, which I actually have, 3 of to be exact. I bought some decorative plates in Japan a few years ago and well they are boxed away. Currently they have no place to go. They are black so it will match the chalkboard (cookie sheet) perfectly.

So above you see a little collage of the supplies and getting started.

Photo A: Supplies
1. Chalkboard Spray Paint
2. Fleur De Lis Stencil
3. Cookie Sheet
4. Set of 10 Magnets
5. Spool of 1.5" Decorative Ribbon
6. Paint

Photo B: Cookie Sheet
1. Set up a work area, I used a trash bag, cardboard is probably a better for this project. The bag could get blown onto the wet paint.
2. Make sure the Cookie Sheet is clean
3. Follow the directions on the Spray Paint (Shake, Listen for the Bal, Shake more...)
4. Paint the cookie sheet

Photo C: Close up of the supplies

Photo D: Chalkboard Cookie Sheet getting some decor. I just used my finger and dabbed the paint on. That way there were no lines or spots that need more paint. This dried really quickly as well.

So here is a close up of the fleur de lis painted on the cookie sheet! Love it. It's bold and rustic/vintage looking. What do you think??!!

Now I have turned some bottle caps into magnets. Bottle caps are extremely easy to make, but I am not including a tutorial for those in this post, I think the require/deserve their own!

Here is a picture of the 5 I choose. I have 10 magnets total, so enough for a 2nd board, maybe a gift. These would be great teacher gifts. Just think you could paint some numbers of the ABC's, add a cute yellow ribbon and some school supply images!! Super cute.

Now I just need to piece it all together! Can't wait. Stay tuned for a 2nd post :)