DIY Map Gift Bag

  It's not always easy wrapping a grad gift or a dad gift. Masculine wrappings often leave much to be desired. Usually it comes down to a gift bag festooned with fishing tackle or striped wrapping paper. The options are normally pretty limited. 

  Until now. 

  Have I got a solution for you! Enter your new best friend... old maps.

  You can simply wrap a box with a map which would be perfectly acceptable, or you can kick it up a notch by creating your very own customized gift bag.

  All you need is:

• a blank bag
• a map
• a strip of cardstock in a complimentary colour
• 2 brads to fasten the pinwheel centres 
• glue

I used this template for the pinwheels.

Cut on the lines. Punch holes on the dots. Fold the dots to the middle & fasten with a brad.

Source

  How great are these pinwheels? They add a little fun touch to what could be a stuffy-looking gift.

They may not, however, be for everyone. Totally cool. Just leave them off & do the strips of map paper on the sides of the bag. 

Awesomeness.

My work here is done. ;)

~~~~~

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Map Wall Art

Several weeks ago, I posted about our family room & a few of the changes I wanted to make in the space.

I'm happy to say I have another project complete!

Here was my original list:

• New artwork above the couch - done!
• New artwork for T.V. wall - done!
• Makeover the little table my map lamp sits on
• Paint the dress-up box (to the right of the couch)

I wanted something a little less boxy to go on the wall over the T.V. Because the T.V. isn't centred on the wall, it was awkward to hang rectangular art on that wall. I needed something more free form.

I had these embroidery hoops in my crafting box & a bag of maps from my parent's travels. I put the two together & in about 10 minutes, I had new art!

I also really like how the maps nod to the map lamp that's in the room too. :)

Enjoy your day!

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Chevron Wall Art

  Am I the only one who wants to spruce things up in their home in Spring time? Rearranging furniture, bookshelves, pictures on the walls... Spring is a time of CHANGE. Last week, I showed you my family room & a list of small things I wanted to tackle to spruce it up a bit. Here is my first completed project from that list.

  The art in our family room was feeling kind of tired to me {Yawn}. Definitely time for a change. Something fresh & springy.

  I had these 9 canvases that I got at the dollar store several years ago & I covered them with patterned paper to make my own "art". After changing them a couple of times, I was ready for something new again.

BEFORE

  I started thinking chevron... something in chevron. But what colour? How about a few colours? My idea was born: take the existing canvases, take off the paper & paint a chevron print onto them with craft paint. Three rows of canvases, three different colours. Yellow, grey, & aqua.

  I found a chevron template printable here & got all my supplies together.

 After tracing & cutting two stencils out of cardboard, I started painting. Let me tell you from experience that you should first paint your whole canvas your background colour first. It would have made touch ups go much faster. Alas, hindsight is 20/20. :)

Here is the finished product:

  I also moved them to the other side of the room over the couch. Please forgive the poor photos as there is no natural light in this room.

  The total cost of this artwork was very small. I had the canvases already so there was no cost there. The only thing I had to buy was the yellow & aqua paint - a cost of under $5.

  I love being able to cross things off of my to do list!

• New artwork above the couch 
• New artwork for T.V. wall 
• Makeover the little table my map lamp sits on
• Paint the dress-up box (to the right of the couch)

Now on to the other projects!

Enjoy your day!

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Home Tour (Part 7) : The Family Room

  Wow, it's been several months since I shared the next instalment in my Home Tour. It's about time I showed you another room! 

  I must admit to you that the reason I haven't showed you this room is because I'm not in love with some of the furniture. We are hoping to be able to replace some of it soon, but for now it is what it is. 

  So here's the family room as of last week...

  Sorry about the bad lighting. This room is hard to photograph since it's in our basement & there's no natural light.

Here's what this room looked like when we bought the house. 

Pretty much a blank, boring, & somewhat dirty slate.

(And look how little my daughter is! That was almost 5 years ago now...)

 
  So, as you can see, we ripped up the old, dirty carpet & laid laminate flooring. We painted the walls & trim (No more periwinkle door!) and we updated the lighting.

My Ikea Expedit Bookshelf which I love!

Here are my ideas of how to spruce up the space while we wait for some new furniture:

• New artwork above the couch (I'm in the middle of working on this one & should be able to show it to you next week.)
• New artwork for T.V. wall
• Makeover the little table my map lamp sits on
• Paint the dress-up box (to the right of the couch)

And because we all enjoy before & after shots...

Ta-da!

So, be sure to come back next week for the art project I'm working on for this room.

Here's a little sneak peek:

Haha! Can you guess what it is?? :)

Have a great weekend! See you next week!

Spray Paint & the Frog

Do you remember this guy?

No? Then let me refresh your memory. :)

I purchased this ceramic golden toad on a thrifty adventure last fall. 

At first, my kids informed me that it was a poison dart frog, but after some more research, 

we discovered that an orange frog is actually called a golden toad. 

You needed to know that, right? ;)

I finally got around to giving this chap a few coats of black spray paint...

He now holds a place of honour in my kitchen with his pot scrubber at the ready. 

He sure adds a touch of whimsy to the kitchen. And a touch of nostalgia as well. 

I remember my mom having something similar next to the kitchen sink when I was a kid.

Good memories. :)

Another successful mini makeover!

Enjoy your day!

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subscribe by email, or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

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10 Spray Paint Ideas!

Now that it's March I'm crossing my fingers for the weather to get a bit warmer soon so I can get out & SPRAY PAINT!! Not that it's all that cold (we've had a surprisingly mild winter), but just cold enough to deter me from getting to some of the spray paint makeovers I would love to tackle. After spray painting 1 coat on my lamp revamp in my basement, I've learned my lesson. Definitely waiting for warmer days out in the fresh air...

So for now, I'm just compiling lots of inspiring ideas to use when the warmer weather appears. :)

Heehee, isn't this printable too funny? Click here for source.

Look at these old lamps spray painted in fun colours!

via Mod Podge Rocks!

I know my friend, Sarah is going to love this chandelier! And purple too!

via Vintage Revivals

Spray paint an old shutter & use it as a note board.

via Better Homes & Gardens

How lovely & easy is this?! Glass vases with rubber bands & then spray painted. 

Remove the rubber bands when dry & you have a cool design!

via Pinterest (I couldn't seem to find the original post this photo belonged to. If it's yours, please let me know!)

This is just a normal chair painted in such a cheery colour!

via Domestically Speaking

I love these fabulous wooden crates painted & used as shelves! Nifty & thrifty!

via Be Different Act Normal

I'm in the market for a new pepper mill since ours broke. Now I'm thinking of just finding a thrifty one & painting it!

via Kotori

This is pure happiness. Take old kitchy finds (from your basement or a thrift store) & spray paint them.

Display with pride.

via Craft

Taking ordinary items like glass bottles & spray painting them to help you beautify your home is pretty wonderful.

via The Colorful Living Project

More thrifty finds spray painted in gorgeous, trendy colours! 

via Tattered & Inked

Are you feeling inspired yet? Eeeee! I am just itching to get out my spray paint! 

If this is not enough, check out some of my previous spray painted projects. 

Do you have any painting projects in the plans for this weekend? 

Whatever you have planned, have a great one. See you next week!

Enjoy your day!

Lamp Revamp

   In these cold winter months, one thing that gets me through the dreary days is the expectation of Spring, Summer, & fun things to come. Right now, we're planning a big road trip for this coming summer and we've started talking about a trip next winter... somewhere warm. :) 

  Last week I posted some ideas using maps. With all this talk of traveling & maps, I was itching to get to this project I've been planning since last fall. I present to you my latest makeover, the travelling lamp!

It started out with this 80's brass lamp with a dusty rose little highlight in the middle. It would have gone perfectly in my bedroom when I was 12 years old. I'm not sure about you, but I'm so over that colour scheme. :) 

I paid $4 for it at a local thrift store. 

I also paid $4 for the lamp shade, which wasn't so bad to begin with. It was just a bit dirty. 

I got out my favourite glossy white spray paint...

Then I wrapped the cord & the light socket with aluminum foil before starting to spray.

I gave the base 3 light coats of spray paint. The first two I was able to do outside in the garage because we were enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures. Then it got cold & I had to bring it inside to do the last coat. 

The house smelled for days! Ya, not one of my most brilliant moments. :)

After cutting the map into sections, I used Mod Podge to decoupage the map to the lamp shade, 

being careful to push out the bubbles with my fingers. 

After it had dried, I trimmed the edges & hot glued some white grosgrain ribbon to the edges to finish it off. 

Oh, by the way, I paid $2 for 2 vintage maps at an antique store here in town. 

The colours are slightly more muted than a brand new map.

We're enjoying our new lamp in our family room & it reminds me of our fun travels to come. 

I would like to thank all of you, my wonderful readers, for stopping by. 

In these last several months, I've been so excited to see Silver Boxes grow & see my friend count rise bit by bit. 

I really appreciate all of my new friends in the blogosphere. Thank you for your kind words & support.

I hope you stop in again soon. And don't forget to join the party on facebook! :) See you there!

Enjoy your day!

I'm amazed by all these features! WOW! Thank you!

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