Thursday, March 15, 2012

Some New Before and After's!!

Feeling frustrated with my current make up situation in my small master bath, I decided I needed a new solution. I was tired of picking through my makeup bag, having to rummage through all my eyeliners, mascaras, and concealers until I found just the "right" one. Plus, I hated the counter top being so cluttered! I decided I wanted a set of cute drawers, something I could open & clearly see the contents. I bought this small drawer unit at my local Target, but I wanted to embellish it a bit, add some "pretty" so it's not just sitting on my sink looking blah. I went to Pinterest for some inspiration, and many had used paper to line the bottom or the fronts of the drawers. I didn't think I could line the front of the drawers, due to the shape and the handle, so I just lined the bottoms. I had bought this paper on clearance at Hobby Lobby, it is embroidery paper made by the Paper Studio, all in shades of black and white.




So, first things first. I took out one drawer, traced the pattern, and cut it just a bit smaller. I did a dry fit it to make sure it was going to work, then used double sided tape to anchor it down. It has a vinyl feel to it, so I hope it stands up for a long time; I didn't want to permanently adhere it so I can swap it out later, when my color mood changes. 


I had some rub ons left over from my sugar hand scrub jars, so I decided to use those for the fronts of the drawers. I wanted some "bling" so I then used Stickles to embellish those just a bit, but only on 2 drawers. Once I get the other color I want, I will add it to the other drawer.


 I then cut some paper to stick to the top, added a strip of the paper leftover from the drawer liners, added a circle & circle frame, and of course, some flowers with some "shiny" in the center. 





There you have it!! Now to fill it up with my makeup and admire it on a daily basis!! I plan to also add some labels once I figure out what is gonna go where, kwim??!! :) I love it, it is so pretty!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Counting Collection

My 3rd grade daughter's teacher sent home a letter asking for help and donations for "counting collections" for the classroom. This is a technique they use to help the students with basic math skills when they need practice, like counting, sorting, and place value. We started saving lids from 2 liter pop bottles and water bottles, and I wanted to send them to school in style..so I started looking for a cute container that I could re-purpose! I finally found one that was perfect, so here's the before and after!

Before: A plain Planters cashew plastic container.
(The tray is for another project I am working on...that will be posted later.)















I measured all 4 sides, cut some paper to fit, and using double sided tape, I attached it to the container. To better hold the paper in place, I covered it all with a coat of clear Mod Podge. I also wanted to spice it up a bit, so I added a ribbon around the top, and it also covers up the stamped expiration date on the container. I wanted to decorate it further, so I added some felt sticky back numbers that I had left over from another project. I felt the white ones faded in to the paper, so using some Sharpies, I added some dots. 

Here is the finished project!





I threw in the bottle caps we had been saving & sent it to school with her. Now, for the next one I am going to decorate it a bit more, but since I wanted to keep this one simple, I held back and used the "less is more" theory. It is for 3rd graders, ya know!!??