Try it Tuesday Party (no.20)!!!!

Hi! Hi! Hi!

I have decided that the Try it Tuesday Party is going to be a 2 week party! Every 2 weeks, I will pick the top links and feature them and then open a new one! That means whatever projects you have for a whole 2 weeks, you can share here! Whoop!!

Remember the rules...that there are No Rules! Link up whatever you want (as long as it's appropriate).

Your Projects, Your blog, Your Etsy, Giveaways...whatever ya dig!

Now link'er up my friends!!



FREE DIY Mantle & Corbels from Scrap Wood!

HI peps!

I am so excited to share with you how I made this awesome (or at least I think it's awesome) mantle. Technically it's more like a faux mantle, but who's keeping track?!

To start the story off, I will tell you what brought me to this situation. We have this big wall in my formal living room, since we moved in 3 years ago I have wanted a mantle, but didn't really want to fork out the big bucks to get one! As I was brainstorming different ideas, I came across this HUGE pile of old barn wood at my in-laws farm! You can't even image the thoughts that were racing through my head at all the possibilities that lye in that pile! My in-laws were using it for firewood, until I was like uh-uh, and grabbed a few of the beams! I don't think they realized how much people love old wood now days, especially beams! I need to take a picture of it so you can all see for yourself.

 Okay, whoa, sorry for the tangent about that..geeze. Back to the reason of why you're here.

Anyway, I knew now that I had a huge beam for the shelf part, and then I thought that I would just buy some big corbels and bam..I would have my mantle! Not so fast, have you ever bought big corbels? They are expensive! (The real hefty wood ones, the only ones that could actually hold up a huge beam?) Yeah, that wasn't going to happen for under $300, so back to the drawing board. Until I stumbled upon this genius woman's post about how to make your own corbels. Stacy from Not Just a Housewife, posted THIS post on Tatertot's and Jello.

I followed her tutorial and made my own...okay well actually the hubby made them mostly...but again, who's keeping track?!

We made them a lot larger than she made hers, the pictures don't really show how big everything is! We went back to that pile of scrap wood so that we wouldn't have to go buy plywood. Then once I we my hubby was done cutting them out, I filled in holes with wood putty, painted them 4 different colors until I reverted back to white, then I distressed them. 

I was going to leave the large beam in the natural state that it was, but then once I put it against my wall, it just wasn't as pretty. So I slapped some walnut stain on it, but the natural color still peps out along with some other old paint colors from it's previous life.

I seriously LOVE it! I am begging my hubby to get back in the shop and help me make some more corbels for my girls room, more of a scrolly look like Stacy used!

Have a happy Sunday!
P.S. If you're in my area and want a huge beam, I've got the hook up! ;)

I am linking up to these great parties!!

 










 

Halloween Mantle!!

My Halloween decor is finally coming together! I'm so excited to finally have a mantle! I will share with you in the next post about to make a mantle just like mine for FREE! Yes, all of that holding up my Halloween decor was FREE.99!

Anyway, here it is....

Since I don't have a fireplace underneath my "mantle" I have my sofa table there right now. I figured my ceilings are so high and there is a lot of room under it that it needed something. I had my couch there, but my husband thought that wasn't the most brilliant idea seeing that we have 3 very active kids and all. It adds another surface for decor I guess!

I still need to put up my Halloween banner, it's just not finished yet because I can't decide how I want it to look!

I made lots of chalkboard pumpkins last year and never put them up because I didn't have a mantle or any surface for them, now I do, and they are everywhere! :)

I found this awesome birdcage for $10 at my favorite thrift store in town, Gypsy Mama's.  I put a black bird in it from the Dollar Tree. For a girls night craft we made these cute book page wreaths that are EVERYWHERE! I have been wanting to make one for over a year now, and it took a girls night to finally get it finished! 

Sorry for the sideways photo, can not get this thing switched the right way for the life of me, I tried several different ways and it seemed like they worked until it loads on this page!

This is the start of my centerpiece for my dining table. Another chalkboard pumpkin, spiders that are all over my house because my son keeps putting them everywhere. (I told him one would be fin,e but he wants the whole bag out!) Then I made a quick place mate table runner, following the same steps as all my other place mat table runners from the dollar store!

I tried not to go with orange because I wanted more of a vintage looking Halloween this year. What do you think? I of course had to throw in my 2 favorite colors of purple and turquoise!

I will be back later to share with you how to make yourself a mantle for FREE!!
Have a happy weekend!

I am linking up to these wonderful parties: