Updated Recipe Box

I really wish I had thought to take a "before" picture of this!  I stumbled across this old metal recipe box a couple of weeks ago & it was a dingy brown color.  But I thought it was pretty cool & very simple & I knew I could vamp it up a little.  So I just grabbed a pretty blue colored spray paint at Home Depot & gave this recipe box a few coats.  Then I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the label with some black vinyl & the word "recipes" with some white vinyl.  Then I stuck them on!  Easy & it gave this old metal recipe box a whole new look.  And it's another small way to add a little more of this pretty aqua color into my kitchen!  I {heart} spray paint!

Ribbon Board Makeover

To be honest, I get bored with my home decor very easily. I don't know why. I do something I love, but then get sick of it quickly & want to change things again. Oh it drives my husband nuts! Especially now with Pinterest there are just too many fabulous ideas out there that I constantly see & want to try for our house. I really try to only make changes when they fit into our budget. I've found that I am pretty content to just change out small, simple decor items & it gives me the updating I need without changing big, expensive items in our house.

The source of my latest irritation-my kitchen. Since we rent I obviously will not be doing any crazy remodels in the kitchen or anything, but it drives me nuts because it is so dark in there. We hardly have any natural light in our house, especially in the kitchen. And I am tired with the color scheme of my kitchen towels/accessories. Isn't that crazy? I know, I am a little nuts. But we've been using the same dark blue & white & yellow kitchen towels for 8 years now. It's definitely time for a change & to brighten things up in the kitchen.

I found some kitchen towels in a pretty bright blue color & thought they would add just the right touch of color to the kitchen. Next on my list was to makeover my dark denim & yellow ribbon board. It's pretty big & hangs on one wall in the kitchen. I went to JoAnn's not knowing what I was looking for exactly, except that I wanted to do something with that same bright blue color & then maybe add dark brown or a cocoa brown color. I came across some dark brown polka dot fabric & since I love polka dots (& didn't find anything else I liked) I decided to buy that. Then I found some ribbon in the same color as our new kitchen towels & then added some big white buttons too.

Here's the new ribbon board:

And in it's spot in the kitchen:

I didn't even take the denim fabric off of the old ribbon board, just the old ribbon & then stapled the new fabric & new ribbon right on. Then I sewed the buttons & we now have a whole new ribbon board! So easy, inexpensive & it makes me feel better when I walk into the kitchen now that it's had some sort of little update! And this was a quick & easy project to do while waiting to have this baby! :)

"Yay for You" Cupboard Door Chalkboard

A couple of weeks ago our ward (church congregation) had a Super Saturday & this was one of the projects. What is a Super Saturday? It's a day full of fun crafts that you can sign up to make. I signed up for the cupboard door chalkboard. And then my hubby had to go into work & I didn't make it that day. But I was still able to get the cupboard door & do this project at home.

One of the ladies had gotten a bunch of cupboard doors for only $7 each! This one was unfinished so I first threw a coat of primer over the entire thing. Then I painted it the soft blue color. I got this color in a sample size at Home Depot, it's a Martha Stewart paint & was less than $2 & I still have a bunch leftover. Then I painted the raised center of the cupboard door with chalkboard paint. I ended up doing 4 coats of the chalkboard paint because I wanted to make sure it would work really well. Then I hot glued on some clips onto the bottom that I got at Staples.

Now the cupboard door that I chose was a big one. I mean, really big. I took this picture just to show you how large it is. It's all hung up in it's new spot in our kitchen above the girls' little table:

I had decided that I wanted to add some kind of sign saying "Yay for You" on it. I wanted this chalkboard to be a place where our family can write all of the good things we've been up to or the things we are proud of. And also a place where we can hang favorite artwork or awards or anything else special to us. I want it to help us do a little more positive reinforcement around our house & help our girls to strive to do well. So I decided to add a cute little pennant banner at the top that says, "Yay for You":

And I used my Big Shot so cutting out the pennants was super fast & easy. I love how the banner turned out! The colors really brighten the whole thing up & make it more fun.

Here it is already being put to use:

My kindergartner loves it! I think this is going to work out just great!

Chalkboard Canister Labels

You've seen this idea before, I know. But I got some new canisters at Tai Pan Trading a couple weeks ago & I knew when I bought them that I was going to use my Silhouette to make some of these cute chalkboard labels for them. I just think they're so cute! And, no, my four-year-old did not write on them, I did! Ha ha! But I like that if I want to change up what's in them I can simply erase the writing & write on them again.

So I keep the 3 on the left on the counter & then the spaghetti canister in my pantry, but here they all are:

I love that you can see through the top of them too:

I'm going to go back & get 3 more too for in my pantry for whole wheat flour, powdered sugar, dark brown sugar. I'm so excited to keep all of my goods nice & fresh in these convenient canisters & to get a little more organized in my kitchen!