Concrete for the Little

Yesterday, once I finished sealing a bit of Ardex (and my hands in the process) I made a dresser delivery for a special little lady. Little Miss Lyla, my new niece, is a whopping 4 days old and has cheeks for days.

And she's the reason that I played with Ardex.

This is a very unofficial before and after since I clearly ran out of daylight by the time I delivered the dresser and didn't have my good camera on me.  I'll give you a quality before and after with more detail and steps very soon but I was dieing to share.

If you remember the dresser that I started with:

Very solid with nice detail... except the top.  The top was a product of its age, and although the rest was wood with dovetailed drawers, the top was laminate with plastic edging.  Even if I got it to hold paint, I doubt the paint would hold up in a kid's room.  Which is what lead me to consider Ardex Feather Finish, like I posted about previously.  If concrete can't hold up to kids, then I don't know what would.

It was applied directly onto the existing top kind of like icing a cake, so the concrete is only a fraction of an inch thick.  I sealed it with concrete sealer so it will stand strong and be stain resistant.  The jury is still out about the final result.  I probably went a little heavy with my first coat which made it more difficult to get an even edge.  But I don't hate it! (isn't that always the goal with projects?  Not to hate it)

I do love the finish that I was able to get on the body of the dresser.  I used my handy dandy Critter Sprayer and the finish looks like it could have been done by a factory.  If the top had been real wood, I would have refinished it and left that wood as a contrast, but alas, so with the Ardex, I just accomplished the contrast in another way.

The room color looks a little wonky in this light, but it's a delightful shade of light yellow that you may have gotten a glimpse of on instagram.

Now that the ball is rolling and Little Miss is leaving the drama at the hospital, hopefully the room will come together quickly!

So, tell me- do you agree with my Mom that I'm nuts to put a concrete topped dresser in a little girls nursery?

DIY to TRY

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my promise to show you what I'm adding the Ardex to, however life and the wet weather we've had have been pushing the project back by a few days.  Thus is the reality of sharing projects in real time.  Mother nature sometimes has other plans.  It's really all her fault. And speaking of Mother Nature, now that the weather is getting colder and frolicking on the beach is no longer the best way to spend time (not that I frolicked on the beach at all this year, but you get my point I hope), I feel like I'm looking for a new bunch of projects to cozy up with for the winter.  Spray paint season is almost over!  Here are a few recent DIY's that have caught my eye- no spray paint necessary.

**As always, please pin responsibly and from the original sources that I have linked to.  Muchos gracias!!**

IKEA Hack Wooden Globe

Guys- those are bowls.  Bowls!  Genius.  I love the simplicity.  I can also totally see this "joy-to-the-world"ed up in holiday decor.  Not that I'm rushing it... the holidays and accompanying freeze can take their merry time.  Check out how Kristi Murphy repurposed the simple IKEA bowls here.

Freehand Patterned Wall

I probably wouldn't do this for an entire room, but it's so sweet as an accent wall!  Elsie at A Beautiful Mess added just the right amount of zing with this treatment.  I always prefer a patterned accent wall to just changing the color.  IMHO it's very hard to pull off one differently colored wall and usually just comes off as- "look, I painted one wall red to be clever."

DIY Stamped Metal bracelets

These charming stamped bracelets from Brittni at Paper & Stitch would be a sweet gift idea (or a sweet gift to yourself).  Personalize the quote, put an inside joke, or just an inspirational phrase.  Inta-awesome gift.

What DIYs have you come across lately that you're just itching to try??

Fly Away

This past weekend, I had the joy of being asked to do a DIY demo at my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore's "Fall for All" event.  As soon as they asked, I had a spark of an idea.  I've been wanting to try my hand at some 3d cut paper butterfly art for my future niece's nursery and the event would be a perfect practice.  For all those visiting because we met at the ReStore, WELCOME!

I swear, it is so much easier than it looks!  I was able to put one together in 2 hours at my Demo table at the ReStore.  All it takes is a frame, some paper, and some exacto knife skills.

After my demo, I recreated the art for my soon-to-be niece's room.  I started with an empty frame from, you guessed it, the ReStore, a piece of thick watercolor paper, a piece of thick chip board or thin cardboard for the backing, and one curious kitten.  (no kittens were harmed in the making of this art)

After cutting the 2 pieces to fit within the frame, it was time to get messy!  I chose to layer some rice paper onto the backing with Mod Podge to add a pop of color to the background.  Painting the backing piece would have the same effect, but I had some rice paper on hand and an idea in my head.  Don't you worry, it'll dry clear!

Once you have the backing covered, set that aside to dry for a while.  Now on to the butterflies!!

The prep step that I'm not showing you was figuring out a few butterfly shapes.  They could totally be drawn freehand, but I thought it would be easier to create a template.  Using a scrap of paper folded in half, I played around with butterfly shapes and sizes until I had 8 of varied sized that I thought could work.  I traced them onto scrap cardboard from the recycle bin and cut the butterflies out with an exacto.  Thus a template was born!  If you ask really nicely, maybe I'll scan it in and make a printable template available.

Next, on your watercolor paper, figure out a flight path for your butterflies.  I decided I wanted to start small in the corner and fan them out at the top.  I drew to guide lines for the general shape planned, then started tracing butterflies willy nilly.  Go crazy!  Fill up your paper!

Just make sure to leave about a half inch around the outside for your frame and don't allow your butterflies to touch or overlap.  While tracing my templates, I made sure to leave a space between the 2 halves of the butterfly.  This is an important step when you're cutting since you want to leave a gap where the butterfly body would normally be.  I tried to bump up the contrast on this one so you could see my light handed butterflies, but the color got a bit wonky.

Once you have your butterflies all drawn out, break out an exacto knife with a new, sharp blade.  Sharp blades make cutting much easier, so I'd be sure have a few on hand.  This part is not as challenging as it looks, I promise!

Go slow, be careful, rotate your paper as necessary to get the best angle, and make sure to leave a gap between each butterfly's wings.  This 'body gap' is what allows you to fold out the wings.  The best part about this is you don't have to be exact!  If you don't follow your lines precisely, it doesn't matter, as long as it still resembles a butterfly wing.

Be prepared to spend a bit of time on this step- although it doesn't take hours, its the longest part of the process.

After all of your butterflies have been cut, you have 2 options: take an eraser and erase all of your pencil lines or flip your paper over and use the back as the front.  I chose to erase since I had some patches on the back where I overcut a few of my fliers (oops).  If taking the erasing route, I recommend holding down the wings as you erase so they don't get crunched up by an overzealous eraser.

Now it's time to make them fly!  Carefully peel up each wing and crease it at the body.

Repeat until all your wings are taking flight.

Bring back your backer piece which should be totally dry by this point.  I decided to use Mod Podge again to adhere my butterflies to the backing.  Spread a THIN layer, wait for a few moments until its a bit tacky and not totally wet, and carefully place your cut paper over the backing.  If the glue is too wet, it'll warp your paper... trust me, I've learned from experience...

Once aligned, run your finger between the butterflies to make sure that the negative space sticks down and your wings stay flying free.

While it's drying, you can take this opportunity to put it in the frame (make sure if you're using a frame that has glass in it, remove the glass since it will just flatten your flying friends).  Since I was using an empty frame, I used framing points to hold the art in the frame.

All that's left is to hang and admire!

It even earned the kitten stamp of approval (which naturally is indifference, but I'll take it!)

What I love about this project is that it's so customizable.  Want to make it smaller or bigger?  No problem!  Want to make your butterflies into a letter?  Go for it!  Whatever way you want, they butterflies will be dynamic and playful, but still the right amount of elegance.

So, what do you think?  The perfect addition to a little girl's nursery?