Goodbye Ugly Dresser, Hello Cuteness!

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Everyone, meet ugly dresser. Ugly dresser, everyone.

It pains me to put this ugly thing on here. I've never been a fan of it since my husband picked it up. He got it when we first moved in together, and I guess I was too cheap to buy a different one, so I just sucked it up and dealt with this thing. Why I didn't think of painting it until now, I'll never know!

Well, now that that introduction is over, lets move on to the fun stuff!

I've been trying to find my style, what I REALLY like and it has been hard. Finally, I found it! I'm definitely a rustic/French country kind of girl (I would also LOVE to live on a farm, but... I need someone to take care of the farm for me ;) ) Anyway, I've been doing lots of pinning on Pintrest and discovered chalk paint. This stuff is pretty awesome! It's really pretty awesome that no prep is needed other than just cleaning the surface you are going to paint (yay for no sanding needed!) The first brand I found was REALLY expensive for a test run, so I searched around to find something more affordable in the event that I royally screw this up! Americana Decor makes chalk paint that is really pretty affordable, especially in the event you mess it up! Check it out here. They also sell special brushes, but I ordered one from Amazon, you can find that here. You'll also need to get the wax, which will be your top coat, it comes in clear but also other colors.

I ordered a few colors. I have an old coffee table that I want to turn into a bench, so that was my first test. I learned a lot with that test. It's really important that you follow the instructions and paint THIN layers of paint. Thick layers will result in the paint cracking as it dries. While that also goes with the rustic look, that was NOT something I was going for. Lesson learned. When it came time for the dresser I took my time and made sure the coats were nice and thin.

The first coat covered pretty well, but needed a second coat for sure. It's also important that you make sure it is COMPLETELY dry in between coats, or you'll also end up with the paint cracking.

I added the second coat, I had a little bit of cracking on one of the drawers, but not too bad. After the second layer was dry I sanded the edges and distressed it a little. As cute as it was without that, distressing it some made it EVEN BETTER! Plus, that's just my style :) In some of my research it sound like it was better to distress before the wax layer because the wax layer will help protect everything once you put it on. Made sense to me!

After the second coat was dry I applied the wax coat. It's kind of hard to see as you put it on so I used the reflection of the light to make sure I covered it the best I could.

Now... wait for it... The finished piece!

See, doesn't that distressing make it look SO. MUCH. BETTER?!

I hope you all enjoyed! I'm still researching away on the bathroom remodel, and chalk paint is a definite contender. Now, I just need to find time to do it. Ha, I have a feeling that will be a summer project, but as always, I will let you all know so you can follow that FUN!

The Chaotically Creative Mom
-Kate

Weekend Fun in the Sun

Good evening everyone,

While this weekend wasn't a crafting one, it was amazing weather wise! Who can complain about 75 degree days in March?... The beginning of March at that!

This weekend we took a trip to my parents house. We enjoyed that warm warm sunshine and spent most of Saturday outside. Of course, when the weather is nice, we always have to break out the chalk!






I'm not sure who loves it more, me or Liv. Either way, we both have fun and enjoy that vitamin D!

We also discovered that Liv fits the big tricycle that my mom has. My sister and I used to ride up and down the driveway on it when we were kids. Even hooked up the little red wagon to the back!



Look at that big girl! She had a total blast :)

And what goes best with warm days?


Campfires at night of course! Complete with hot dogs ans s'mores :)


Two casualties though. They just jumped off my plate!  Must have been because they were on a hamburger bun and that was just too much for them to handle. Small town and a last minute hot dog roast leave very little options for gluten free buns! Ah, well.

I did decide on one BIG DIY project at my mom's house. Just trying to figure out the best weekend to do it! We're going to re-do her hall bathroom. I'm SO excited, I can hardly control myself and want to start NOW. Don't worry, there will be lots of pictures, before and after. Also, I'll let you know step by step how we did it! It will be quite the adventure, and I can't wait to share it with you all :)

We had a blast this weekend, and hope everyone enjoyed the nice weather in Oregon!

Until next time, my friends :)

The Chaotically Creative Mom
-Kate

Some Bunny Loves You...Easter Dress!

Good evening everyone!

Last time I posted about digital scrapbook paper and how awesome it is. Well, I'm here to blow your mind again with yet ANOTHER amazing thing. Vinyl. Permanent, indoor/removable and heat transfer. All three equally amazing. I briefly touched on this on my first post with Liv's birthday shirt. This stuff is so cool, and it's amazing how you can transform anything!



First, I need to give a shout out to Expressions Vinyl.I order all of my vinyl from there and they're really reasonably priced.

With this post, I am also going to share my Design Space (DS) file, so any of you Cricut users are more than welcome to use!

Today, I spruced up this Old Navy tshirt dress.

For this project you will need:

1 Tshirt/Dress you want to customize.
4 Vinyl colors - I used neon glitter pink, neon glitter purple, glitter white and brown
1 Iron to iron on the vinyl
1 Cricut, to cut all the designs :)

The bunny is layered. The pink and brown are cut out of the white, with the exception of the pink on the bunny's belly.The pink heart nose is also layered on top of the brown one, I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the brown heart and keep the mouth.

The other two eggs are on the other side of the dress.

Design Space File: https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/25491475

And OF COURSE Liv had to model :) Isn't this just cute?

That is it for tonight's post, thank you for reading!

Is there anything you want to see a how to for? Let me know, and I'll give it a shot! kate@thechaoticallycreativemom.com.


The Chaotically Creative Mom
-Kate