DIY Pottery Barn Floating Shelves, As Seen on Ana White

Holman Shelf from Pottery Barn

I like to think of myself as creative, artsy and have good design esthetic. I am not en engineer, though. So when I stumbled upon Ana White's website and blog, I was hooked. Ana is a momma from Alaska with a purpose in mind: to make great furniture like the items found in our favorite stores but for a small fraction of the price. I love making knock-offs from Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware items, so Ana and her design plans are heaven-sent. Who doesn't love a chick who knows her way around power tools? Seriously, when you have an hour or two available, go to her site and explore. And then come back and tell us what you made!

Although I totally made these shelves by myself, all the credit has to go to Ana for inspiring me in the first place. On her site she offers detailed plans (what to buy, how much to buy, and how to make it) for everyone so they too can make her Ten Dollar Ledges. Oh, did I mention her plans are FREE?

Now, this is why my small bit of expertise comes into play. I loved the 8' long floating shelves, but didn't need shelves for that large of a space. Also, since my husband works (a lot!), I knew he wouldn't be available to help hold the ledges while I attached them to the wall. In my pictures, shown are the two (2) 4' shelves instead of one 8' shelf, 2" wide shelves I made. So, I took one Ten Dollar Ledge and made two Five Dollar Ledges. Not bad, eh?

Great for Artwork and Trophies.

Shown with Ballet Photo, Play Bill and Special Knitted Doll.

Four Feet Long is the Perfect Length.

These space-saving wood shelves provide a handsome place for storage and display, and can be hung in any room of the house. Ana put her shelves in her dining room, I put mine in my children's room. What would have cost me $75/ each Floating Shelf at Pottery Barn ($150 total), I was able to make for $5 /each.

Another Knock-Off has been mastered! Thanks for looking, :) Kristen

DIY Batman T-Shirt

I'm SO EXCITED to share today's craft with you! I saw the idea on Pinterest originally the other day aaand have been flipping out GIDDY waiting to do it myself. hahaha 'Cause I'm an uber nerd like that. And I used cardstock, so it totally falls under my paper-crafting expertise area! ;-)

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN BATMAN T-SHIRT! BOOyah!!

What you need:

• a solid-colour t-shirt (white won't work, silly!) - I got ours at Wal-Mart for $4-$9 (I think Mr. Man's was the pricey one - oy!)
• a spray bottle of bleach (STRAIGHT bleach; don't dilute it)
• the Batman sign (which you have to cut out, so scissors, of course)
• and if you're cooler than me maybe some spray-adhesive to help hold the paper to the shirt while you work...especially if it's as windy for you as it was for me!

So I was GOING to draw the symbol and cut it out, 'cause I totally mastered that skill at Hallowe'en when I carved a Batman pumpkin (it was awesome, if I do say so myself...and I totally do!) but wanted to just verify something aaaaand realized in the Googling that I could just print the thing off and save myself the angst of the drawing.... duh!

I got the Batman image from Google search: "how to draw batman symbol" which brought up the image from http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/3751/1/1/how-to-draw-batman-logo.htm  You can get this logo pasted into a PDF for printing here)

Then, obviously I think, I cut it out. I should have used my craft scissors, but being lazy and the weather ridICulously hot today (aiding my laziness take over) so I just used the kitchen scissors. O:-)

Did you know when you cut shapes, especially round ones, that it works best to move the paper and NOT the scissors?  Try it next time you're cutting out a circle; just hold the scissors steady and move the paper along the line you're cutting. It's the secret to a lump-free round cut!

Batman's all cut out and ready to go!

Then I went outside and laid my shirt out flat, and put the paper pieces down on the shirt.

Placed on the t-shirt.

ALMOST READY!

....then I pulled the greatest face EVER...

Dang it! There was quite the gust of wind... I think this is why the original suggested using spray adhesive to help hold her letters on... silly short-cutting!

Then the spraying began!  The idea is to spritz above the shirt and let the bleach sort of float down onto the shirt.

Waiting for it to dry a little before moving it...see how much lighter the shirt is already?

Next shirt!

Spray up above the shirt and let it fall down

like this!

Then remove the paper and voila!!

Ta da!  ...except you can see on the bottom right where I slightly didn't spray UP and got a wee bit under the paper... O:-)

 Because I sprayed our shirts SO much (to make the symbol stand out oodles) I sprayed the backs, too.  A bit lighter, though, 'cause I wasn't screening anything on that side. Just so it wasn't funny looking. 

The coolest family of Batman shirts EVAH! SO excited to wear these!

Once they're dry you're supposed to be able to wear them and go...but I don't like my clothes reeking of bleach, so I ran them quickly through a short wash first.

Isn't that GREAT?! I'm SO IN LOVE! And, obviously, you can do ANYTHING! The pin that I got this from was of the kids' names on the shirt and the blogger had tried a cross that she then added jewels to - it was very pretty!  The sky is the limit, folks! Make yourself something fabulous!

I'm going to go watch Batman.