Knife Wielding Cabinet Illustrator

March 13, 2012 in Life

I entered the kitchen to prepare something (I didn’t know what yet) for dinner. That’s when I spotted it.

Apparently a child of mine had attempted to make a whimsical and spontaneous illustration on the face of the cabinet with a knife.

“Isn’t that just darling?” I thought. “What dear thoughtful child left this illustration right here on this cabinet drawer face for me to admire for years to come?”

That is false. I did not think that.

I stood for a moment pondering which child could be the knife wielding cabinet scratcher, and I quickly concluded that there were only two possibilities. After a brief interrogation, I determined the illustrator and proceeded with a lecture on the proper use of knives, followed by a brief historical talk on the miraculous invention of pencils.

(The previous story may have been enhanced slightly for entertainment purposes. No children were harmed during or after the making of this story.)

I literally scratched my head wondering how I was going to fix this without:

1. Having to see it everyday.

2. Having to buy a new cabinet drawer face.

I remembered pinning something awhile back that dealt with scratches in wood. After taking a look at that post by Alderberry Hill, I purchased some walnuts and gave my cabinets what I like to call a soothing walnut rub.

Simply rub the walnut over the scratch following the grain of the wood. When you are done, wipe off the face of the counter with a damp cloth. This rub is soothing for the cabinet drawer face and the mom rubbing the walnut on said surface. It also soothing for the mom’s mind who won’t have to notice the unsightly scratches each time she walks into her kitchen.

It is not a perfect solution, but I haven’t noticed the scratches since I did this. It greatly reduced their visibility.

Once I finished this drawer, I went to the other side of the kitchen to do the second drawer face. Yes, there were two illustrations. No, I do not want to talk about it. Yes, it was the same child.

These scratches were not as deep, and after the rub they are hard to detect.

This would work on any wood surfaces in your home, and when you are finished you can make some cookies with the leftover walnuts. I am going to try it on the feet of my dining room chairs next. What surface in your home could use a soothing walnut rub?

I’m partying over at:

Mommy by Day Crafter by Night

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Carolyn’s Homework

Alderberry Hill

Uncommon

Introducing Transformation Tuesday

January 24, 2012 in Uncategorized

I’ve had the idea for a while now, and I’ve decided to make it official. On Tuesday’s I will be recycling, up-cycling, re-purposing, painting, editing, cutting, pasting, or any other number of things. In one word, transforming.

I’ll be starting this series with the transformation of the necklace pictured below.

#1 Before

I started by removing the heart pendant. I created a flower using fabric, ribbon and two vintage buttons. Once I decided where I wanted to place the flower, I warmed up my trusty hot glue gun and fired away. I unhooked the shortest chain from the same side that I wanted to place the flower. I gathered the short chain, along with the longest chain up by the flower and allowed them to hang down underneath. I glued them all to the back of the flower and covered it with black ribbon. I ended up with a necklace that now looks like this.

#1 After

I was able to complete this project in about 15 minutes and I ended up with a fabulous new necklace.

For tutorials on making your own fabric flowers, check out these ten at Skip to My Lou.

You can also glue a clip to the back of the flower to transform any beaded necklace you have by simply clipping on a flower. I wanted to rearrange the chains on this one, so I went with glue and ribbon instead of a clip.

Have other ideas for transformations you’d like to see? Want to transform something of your own and write a post about it?  I’d love to hear your ideas! Leave me a comment below or contact me by email.

#1 Transformation

Somewhat Simple

These Peas Taste Funny