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

Father's Day -- Uh-oh, It's Here!

It's the proverbial: "What do we get Dad for Father's Dad?"
Am I right, or am I right?
We all wait until the week of, and then decide that a card will have to cut it this year.

However, I'm sure that you've all seen the cute little questionaire's floating around in the blos-o-sphere
(and hence Pinterest).

I liked all of them.
But, I either had trouble getting the link to work
OR I was asked to purchase it.
I didn't want to do that.

So, I made my own (don't you just love moustaches? -- I'm kind of hooked on them right now)
So I share with you --- go ahead and download it, share it, make it your own.
Have your kids fill it out and give itt o Dad with handmade, drawn card and he will cherish it for always.

you may download the pdf here

Meal Planner

I know, I know. Neither papercrafting or jewellery today. But as I was pondering what to write about I ALSO happened to be working on my meal plan/grocery list, and I realized, DUH, I had something to share. :-) I mean, when I saw the idea for the first time I thought it was GREAT, so hopefully someone out there will agree with me and find it useful, too!

I have some friends who are far too artistic and one day saw a post on Facebook from their company, Ollibird, about a meal planner. Well, I happen to have a degree in kinesiology and am studying to be a bona fide health care professional, so I LOVE all things health-related, and to me, meal planning fits in that category.

So I clicked on their link to see what was up.

Sheer genius. I LOVE it. And then I started surfing around and found other design options for the same thing - a beautifully designed weekly menu planner you print out and pop into a frame, then write on with an erasable marker.

I can't tell you how much I love these, and how WONDERFULLY the fun, bright colours will go in my kitchen!!

Buuuut...even at a measly $10, with neither my hubs or I working right now (BOO to layoffs!), I couldn't justify spending the money, even though I was looking at this for myself and a friend as a Christmas present. (I TOTALLY will purchase one as soon as I have a job - I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colours of the 'bright & mod' planner! SO FUN!)

So...I made my own!

It's not NEARLY as fun and fancy - I don't have any of the mad skillz the Ollibird group do, but I can click and drag shapes in Google Docs like a superstar; here's what I came up with:

I then bustled my butt over to WalMart, where I found some fabulous black frames for like, a buck, and grabbed a black "lumocolor" marker (you know the kinds your profs use on overheads in lectures?).

Voila!

I currently have two weeks' dinners planned out on it - necessary when relying on outside assistance for groceries, OY! - and LOVE that each day instead of trying to rack my brain to answer "what should I make for dinner" all I have to do is glance over at my meal planner and get started. It's wonderful!

Feel free to download my amateur version, above, but definitely look at the fun options Ollibird has to offer - they are only $10 (USD) and you can print them as many times as you like! AND they're way prettier than my perfectly adequate copy.

Happy Thursday, everyone, and get your meals organized! It's FABULOUS!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

"Do you know where I found him? You know where he was? He was eating a cake in the tub! Yes he was!"

-from The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone
 
This Crafty Bettie post is devoted to providing a number of different activities you can do together as a family in celebration of Dr. Suess's birthday on FRIDAY, March 2nd.

Why celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday, you ask? 

Well, Dr. Suess showed us that reading and learning can be fun. By using rhymes, children are able to develop foundational tools needed to sound out words, then make sentences, and eventually create stories of their own.

So... Let the Celebration Begin!

• "You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child."

• Here are four (4) FREE printable lesson plans for your kids from Seussville.

• FREE Dr. Suess Read-n-Color Word Search from Read Across America.

• Make simple gold stars to wear on your belly, like the Sneeches'! 

• Give children a variety of cratf supplies and recycling items (ie: glue, toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, pipe cleaners, felt, yarn, pom-poms, wiggle eyes, etc.) and challenge them to create their own unique character or creature like those found in Dr. Suess's books. Then encourage them to write a story about their creature.

• Make cupcakes with red, white or aqua/ turquoise frosting.

• FREE Cat In the Hate Birthday Cake Maze from Suessville.

Quality Time With Your Spouse AND a free printable

We all know that it is coming.
It is inevitable and (pretty much) unavoidable.
Do you know what you're going to do for it?

Valentine's Day is a little less then a month away.

Some people have a difficult time with the Valentine's Day holiday.
I've heard: "You shouldn't need a holiday for you to show that you love your spouse/S.O."

True.
Extremely true.
However, I look at it as a oportunity to show a little bit more love.
Shower a little bit more kindness on my husband.
(....now granted, it doesn't always work out that way, but I do try!)
--and my kids!

I saw this saying on Pinterest and really fell in love with it.
So I decided to make it pretty.
And give it to YOU!
FREE! free! FREE! printable

But before we get into that, I thought that I would share some ideas on dates with your spouse;
and ways to let your spouse know that you love them and are thinking of them;
So take notes (or save the links...) and get at it!

I loved this link!

50 questions to ask your spouse on a date.
We've all been there. Sitting across from the person you love and have pledged the rest of your life on this earth to; and you DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY!!!!!
double-yikes!
That shouldn't happen. But it does (my hand is raised).
So check it out and bring the list along on your next alone-time.

This one from pink pistachio

Is all about "penny jar dates"

Inexpensive time with your spouse.

We can all use a little quality time, but not spend a lot of money, eh?

I need this list

101 ways to tell your husband that you love him.
Notes in the lunch box aren't bad....but sometimes we need a little jolt to get more creative.

Now onto the FREE stuff.
Like I said earlier, I really, really liked this saying.
Most likely because I need to remember to make sure that I am being my husband's favorite part.
Just click on the link below each picture and you will be able to save your own copy.
Happy Valentine's Day!



pink

 

red

 

yellow