Outdoor Chess Set

The other day while I was watching HGTV, there was a quick tutorial on how to make a "Outside chess set". It was a huge life size chess set that involved lots of grass squares, concrete, and ginormous chess pieces... I thought it was super cool, but Mr. Husband would never let me rip up our back yard. So I thought I would try and make one to put in our front porch on top of a table, so it could turn in to a "chess table" : )

For the base, I ended up using a board that was for magnetic scrapbook stuff, and it worked perfect!!!

I grabbed some wood from Home depot, glued the sides together, and then glued the frame to the board itself...

To make it match our outside decor, I spray painted the board white and added some decorative trim on the top.

I then grabbed a square sheet of travertine tile at Home Depot for half of the squares. It was the absolute perfect size!

I then found this moss at Michaels... I loved that it was so vibrant. I really wanted to use real grass at first, but Mr. Husband said absolutely not :) I had no idea that they made moss in sheets and it was the exact look I was going for...

I filled the base with potting soil, and then it was time to "checker board" away!!

After I was done, I placed it on a small wrought iron table that was already out front, and here's how it turned out :)

I also found a super cheap chess set at Target and spray painted the pieces brown and white, but we don' t keep them outside because it can get pretty windy. I imagined that we would go out in the front every weekend and play chess while we drank yummy coffee in the mornings, but that has yet to happen :(

At least it's fun to look at!!

A Closet Makeover

I love how my new years resolution was to be a better blogger... and that didn't turn out too well. It's been crazy in the Schulman household with lots of fun and new exciting changes! Sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with everything, and on top of it, I'm on a computer for at least 8 hours a day... The last thing I want to do is come home and use it for another hour or two... so it turns out I'm a much better blog reader than I am a blog poster :)

But it's funny how a new MacBook Pro can change things! I had no idea pictures can load so quick and blogging could be so much faster! It's taken some getting use to having never owned a Mac, but I know I haven't even come close to unleashing what this thing can really do...

Even though there hasn't been a post for quite a while, that's not to say I haven't been crafting away!

Thankfully, I finished the closet makeover a couple of months ago. This one took a lot of energy out of me and made me never want to paint again! I don't know what made me want to make a closet cute, but was determined to do something about the drab white walls. I also spend a lot more time in here than most would probably think. I start work at 5:15 in the morning, which means I get up pretty early. So I don't wake up Mr. Schulman, I go in to the closet and pretty much get ready in there.

Here is my small cute closet.... well... almost cute :)

It's a pretty small closet, but it's all mine :) Mr. Schulman has his own closet in the room as well, so it works for now!

...and I just wanted to say a quick hi to blog friends!!

I was pretty scared to start painting, mostly because I chose a dark chocolate. I wanted to paint pink stripes, but also didn't want the closet to look like it belonged to a 5 year old :)

I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I was also worried that the darker colors were going to make my already small closet look even smaller, but because we have such high ceilings, the stripes actually helped the room look even bigger.

In my previous post, I mentioned I was pretty excited about finding a certain something. Well... it was Martha Stewart's new line of Mineral Paint. It literally was just put on Home Depot's shelves the day I bought it, and they said I was the first one to try it! I felt honored...lol.

It's a bit expensive, but it's pretty awesome!

I chose a light pink to put on the ceiling... You can't tell in pictures that the ceiling has a "shimmer" to it, but it looks so pretty in person!

The last thing I did was decide I wanted Crown molding, and this is where I had a heart attack. It took me a while to figure out how to cut the crown molding, and was so disappointed when I started putting up the molding only to find out that wall's do no have 90 degree angles. Walls have 92 , 95 ish angles!!!!! I cried, and yelled, and threw things, and said words a lady shouldn't say... At this point I was so over the project that I went to home depot to find the "cheater" corners.... AND I'M PROUD OF IT!!

And here she is :)

You can't tell in the pictures, but I also switched all the plastic hangers with the nice velvet hangers and it makes a world of difference! It saves so much room, and just looks super nice.

I learned two things from this project. One was just a good reminder, but things don't always go as planned, and you have adjust and sometimes improvise. The second, is that it's okay to pay for some things.... and next time, for me anyways, we WILL pay for someone to come out and install the molding for us.

Even with all of the frustration, I am IN LOVE with how the closet turned out. I'm still on the search for cute little nick knacks but now it's at least easier to get up in the mornings!!

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chic's before and after party!

Spring Cleaning

First off, Mr. Husband is sitting next to my while I'm writing this post, and he said that I can't call this Spring Cleaning because it's not Spring yet.

so...

I've asked him kindly to go make me some breakfast :)

All I can say is that it feels like Spring in Arizona, so I'm leaving it as is :) Anyways, when we came home from Georgia (for Christmas), I was definitely in the mood to do lots of cleaning. Particularly when it came to one closet, often referred to the "Wedding Closet". We moved in to our house a couple of weeks before the wedding and everything that had to do with the wedding was thrown in to this closet. Then, after the wedding, everything got thrown in to this closet. Over the months even more has gotten thrown in to this closet (spices, baking stuff, books, crafts, bags, household cleaning stuff, shoes, etc.). I finally decided it was time to tackle the closet, but that I was going to have some fun doing it :)

Don't you love the spice rack that's getting ready to fall?!?

I'm embarrassed even showing these pictures....

So... remember this post with our pantry (which by the way I had no idea people were still responding to... I have a lot of questions to answer!!!). I decided I was going to do the same with this closet. This time however, in stead of mod podging fabric on to contact paper, I was going to try spray adhesive. I've been wanting to compare the two methods....

Knowing how messy and sticky it is, I laid down plastic so it wouldn't get all over the garage floor. The process was the same really... I had precut the fabric to the height and width I needed and worked in sections. I sprayed about 12 inches worth, laid down the fabric, then sprayed, then laid down the fabric, etc.... you get the idea :)

I wanted to try the spray adhesive because you don't need to wait (if at all) to hang it, unlike the Mod Podge way, where I let it sit overnight.

Then you simply peel of the backing, and voila, you have a insta-cute closet :)

Then after buying a few jars, labeling, and putting everything in just the right spot, this is how it turned out :)

Here's a closer look.... Unfortunately you can't see the brown stripes in the pictures too well...

I had so many cupcake liners cookie cutters, and just baking stuff in general, so one shelf was dedicated to baking :)

I couldn't believe I had so much chocolate hiding in the closet (This isn't even half of it...lol) I am also a sprinkle junkie so of course I wanted those displayed as well!

Here is another shot of the brown stripes... I'm obsessed with it!... so much so I'm starting another project with them in another part of the house...

Here's another shot, with the magazine holders from last weeks post.

and the Recipe Binders as well....

I picked up these baskets from Michael's for 50% off. They were still a bit more than what I would have liked to have paid, but we just really needed them :( . One holds Decor items, one holds Cleaning items, and the other holds Linens (napkins, place mats, runners, tablecloth, etc.)

Here is one more before...

and after!

And now to compare the two methods:

Overall, I like the Mod Podge method better. The Spray Adhesive method is definitely faster, but I thought the Mod Podge produced much better results. The Fabric wouldn't always stick with the spray adhesive, and the corners especially wouldn't stick as well. The fabric in our pantry (which used Mod Podge) is still holding up so well, with no corners peeling off. But regardless, both methods work so now you can try either one :)

Now I'm off to paint brown stripes in my closet... and I'm scared to death!!! But I found a freakin awesome paint at Home Depot that I'm dying to share. It just came out on their shelves and I can't wait to use it... I'll be back soon!

Recipe Binders

Happy Sunday!!

Every Sunday, (for the most part) I like to make a good dinner... not to say that I don't like that during the week, but on Sundays I have a lot more time to cook than I would on a average week day.

I was starting to feel like I was getting in a rut when it came to Sunday cookings. I have two major problems... 1) Most recipes I make have lots of ingredients that go to waste. For example, when the recipe calls for "half" of a onion... the onion that gets sent back to the fridge most always goes to waste... and 2) I was starting to make the same thing over, and over, and over...

Well, when Mr. Husband and I went back to Georgia, we often times hung out with his mom (who I call Mama Schulman Sr.) in the kitchen. This lady can cook. Even more so, she doesn't let anything go to waste. She also had two binders that were just full of recipes that she had printed out over time... so I thought to myself "D, not only did you steal her son, but your going to steal her cooking habits too" :)

First task: Binders

You know how when you go to the gym, it's so much easier to actually go when you're wearing a cute matching outfit with pink Nike's? Well, I think cooking works the same way, for me anyways. I decided that if I had super cute binders to keep my recipes in, it would make me not only look for recipes to fill them with, but also want to use the recipes :)

Solution? Mod Podge Contact paper... This seems to be my solution for everything these days. After taking FOREVER to find "cooking" scrapbook paper, I simply Mod Podged it to some contact paper.


The only reason I Mod Podged to contact paper as opposed to right on the folder, was because I was worried the paper wouldn't like it when you open the folder (and it would come off along the creases). I figured contact paper would give it more "give". I guess I could have just inserted the paper under the clear inserts like you typically would with a folder, but who wants life to be easy?!?

After it dried, I simply peeled off the back of the paper, stuck it to the folder, added some ribbon and irresistible flowers that I picked up at the Scrapbook store, and ....

I'm ready to cook :)

I made 3... One for "Prospects (food we want to try)", one for the "Index" (mostly for our Food Network inserts), and the other for "Yummy's" (or food that we know we like/love).

Here's a close up of the paper... I wasted all day trying to find paper with a pink mixer, and all I have to say was that it was a good day wasted :)

One more look! See the closet to the left? That got a full make over and there's a special shelf just for these ladies... So there's something to look forward too :)

Have a great week!

Magazine Holders

Can you believe this will be my 2nd post in less than two weeks!?!?..... I haven't done that for a while! It's one of my new years resolutions.... I want to get in to a routine where I blog at least once a week. I have so many projects that never get posted because blogger just takes sooooo loooong to post and I clearly don't have the patience... I hope everyone else shares my frustrations!

Anyways... Mr. Husband and I flew out to Georgia on Christmas day and spent about a week there with his family... and apparently Georgia people have freakin awesome paper stores that we just don't have here in the desert.

Don't get me wrong... I have my absolute favorite Scrapbook store (Scrapbooks etc.) not too far, but they don't have really big sheets of paper like they do in the store that we went to...

We went to a area in Georgia called "The Virgina Highlands" and there were a variety of boutiques and restaurants. There was one particular store that caught my eye, and I darted over there right after we parked (with the entire Schulman family in tow.... a year ago I would have felt bad, but I'm their daughter in law now so they have to deal with me:)).

Well... right when we walked in, my jaw dropped, I smiled, and my heart started beating really fast, only to look at Mr. Schulman with the "oh no" look on his face :)

I'm sure many of you have been to Paper Source before, but we clearly don't have one here in AZ or I would probably frequent it every weekend. Not only are the designs sooo pretty, but the paper itself is really really big...

This one is my favorites...

I was going to use it as a background for our wedding pictures, but I decided I had a more immediate use for it. This weekend I decorated a closet (future post) and didn't really realize how many magazine subscriptions we have.... So off to Ikea I went!

They have cardboard magazine holders that are white, and come in a pack of 5 for $2. So I decided I was going to use the paper and Mod Podge it to the magazine holders...

I won't bore you with how messy I am with Mod Podge... I did have a little problem with the paper bubbling up, especially because I was working with cardboard. Has anyone tried the Mod Podge designed for paper? Does it work better?

Once they dried, I was pretty happy with how they turned out... eventually most of the bubbles subsided, but it still just irritates me :)

Then I wanted to add Labels to them. I always try and keep these label holders in stock. I get them at JoAnnes, and they come in a pack of 10 in 3 different sizes. I believe they are only $3.99 and most of the time are 40% off.

They come punched so you can put brads on the side of the labels (If using for scrapbooking), but they also are perfect for Rhinestones :)

Then, so they would go with the closet a bit better, and just for added "awesomeness", I added ribbon to the top.

Here's a close up...

And here is the end result! I am absolutely in love with them!

I never thought magazine holders could look so cute and make such a statement. Wait until you see the other friends that I've made to go with them!