Tile Tray Makeover

Good Monday Morning Everyone! How was everyone's weekend? Our was pretty eventful. Saturday we jetted out of town and hit some of the wineries that Oklahoma has to offer. The main event we were headed for was a Grape Stomp at Chapel Creek Winery in El Reno Oklahoma. 

Con and Saw

Not only is Chapel Creek a winery it's a farm as well. So the boys got to run around and chase goats and play while we sipped wine.

Me stomping grapes

I must say I am glad I got to stomp some grapes but it was kind of gross feeling- not sure it's I'd like to do often. 

I also was able to finish up another project this weekend. Again one of my thrift store finds. Remember these guys?

This tray in particular-

Now I'm all about vintage find but this is one butt ugly tray. There is good vintage and bad and this is bad. Those tiles had to go for one. Luckily they popped out pretty easily. Almost as if they never wanted to be there in the first place. 

The tray has nice carving so I painted it a soft grey and sanded the edges to add some detail. (I swear I took more pictures of this but must have accidentally deleted). Using some tile samples leftover from a past design project I laid them out and glued them into place using Gorilla Glue.

Then since my new tiles were smaller than the original ones I used tile caulk to fill the edges. Messy but effective. Side note- I thought it would be easy to scrape off any excess caulk but it wasn't. I finally found some Goo Gone and got it off that way. Just in case you wanted to try this yourself!

Let is all dry and Voila you're done! Not to bad for a $2 tray. Everything else I had on hand. :)

My original plan was to sell this and some of my other recent finds in a shop here in town like I have done in the past, but someone expressed special interest in this piece so it's going to be a gift instead. Sorry Altusians! 

Deep In The Heart of Texas

You probably know by now that I hail from Louisiana, I went to LSU, and love all things Cajun. But you may not know that I did a lot of growing up in Houston, TX. And you probably don't know that my youngest sister lived most of her life in Houston and even though she now goes to LSU herself her heart belongs to Texas. So when she asked me to make her some Texas wall art I wasn't surprised. A little heart broken but not surprised.

She wanted something rustic, with colors that matched her room, and was in the shape of Texas. Soooo....

Cutting Up- DIY Style

Did everyone have a fantastic weekend? We had some rain and hail here in OK but luckily it didn't last long and we were able to get outside and enjoy the Fall weather. And my LSU Tigers won so it was good times all around.

I was also able to get some rare wood shop time in. If you remember I posted a few weeks ago about scoring some scrap wood from the shop. 

Convex Mirror DIY

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!! Today I have a quick and easy DIY for you. 


I had a pair of small convex mirrors forever. I found them at a thrift shop back in college for $1 each- thinking one day I'd make some sort of frame for them I bought them. But inspiration never came. They sat in my craft box for years.


Then I saw this from Worthing Court Blog. 

So Simple! So Stylish! So Easy! Why didn't I think of this?


I went to Lowe's and found the ceiling medallions I needed. I bought 2 small ones for $7 each instead of the large.

Once I opened my ceiling medallion I realized my mirror was to small for the hole, so I decided to cut a piece of fiber board (Lying around from another project I have yet to start.) using my jig saw and use it as a backing to glue my mirror to. I traced the size of the circle then cut it out a little bit larger than my pen mark so I'd be able to glue it to the back of the medallion.

I didn't mind that it wasn't cut perfectly since I was glueing it to the back of the medallion.

Once it was cut out I glued it on to the back using Gorilla Glue for wood, stone, and metal and let it dry. 

Once that had dried I use a semi gloss white spray paint to paint the whole thing. Though I did learn not to leave my projects lying around or else some one (The Con-Man...) will come by and step right on top of it. Oops... had to do this one all over again!

The final step was gluing my mirrors onto the medallion using the same super glue and done! My mirrors were not the same truck mirrors as in my inspiration project; they had flat backs so there was no prep work to be done. Lucky me!

I hung them in our bedroom. 

I'm glad I finally was able to use these mirrors I've been carting around with me. Do you buy materials for projects and don't always get started on them right away?

DIY Slate Chalkboard

You know, there are few things I love in life more than a free project. Chocolate comes to mind, and my family of course... but anyway- Free Project!! Woo!


I had found a pile of old slate tiles that had been ripped out of building during demolition a few years ago. The foreman said I could have them since they were just going to toss them. (When in doubt about something just ask! People are usually pretty willing to get rid of stuff.) I took about 8 that were in good shape and carried them around through 2 moves. Unfortunately most of them broke during those moves but I still have 3 left. 


I decided I needed to use them ASAP before those ended up broken as well and I made a slate chalk board!

Yep, thats right- no chalk board paint here. It's the real deal. I thought it would be fun to use in the kitchen as a menu board. 


If you want to make one of these yourself it's real easy. Here's what you need:


2 Slate Tiles (if you can't find them on the side of the road like I did check your local home improvement store.)


1 piece of scrap plywood or MDF cut down to about 8" x 20" about 3/4" thick (this could vary depending on the size of your tiles, you don't want the wood to close to the edge of the tile. Otherwise it will show)


Liquid Nails


Heavy Duty Picture Hangers


Scrap piece of Molding to be used as a chalk holder


Saw for cutting wood down if need be

First lay out your tiles and determine what size wood you need. Depending on what size your tiles are the size of the wood could vary from the size I used.

Next slather Liquid Nails on the wood, then place the wood centered on the two tiles.

Now, patience. I weighted my wood down under some books and let it set over night.

Once it was all dry I screwed the heavy duty hooks into the wood. This is the reason I used 3/4" plywood- so my screws wouldn't be to long to screw into the wood.

Then I cut down my scrap piece of molding down to about 8" long. Mine was a natural wood look and I thought it looked nice with the slate color. I used Liquid Nails once again and let it set over night.

Then all done! Hang and admire.

Yay! I think it turned out super cute and it was FREE!!

Linking to the Talent Scouting Party at Whisper Wood Cottage!

Dowel Star Wreath

I hope everyone had a fan-tabulous weekend! I know I did- Christmas Tree shopping, football game watching, Altus Christmas Parade, good times. Don't forget that tomorrow is the last day to enter my Dremel Trio giveaway!


Have you ever seen the Lowe's Creative Idea Magazine and website? I like to look at it for ideas and inspiration. We've been getting into the Christmas spirit more and more over at our house so I was in the mood for another Christmas-y project and the Lowes magazine had lots of good ones this month.


I saw this project in particular for a Dowel Star Wreath. 

It just so happened that my mom was cleaning out their garage over Thanksgiving and was going to throw a bunch of dowels away. But I snatched them up instead! If you want to try this project out yourself you'll need:

The dowels were 4' long so I needed to cut them down to 18" each. I used my scroll saw for this.

Once my dowels were cut I used Gorilla Wood Glue to attach the dowels together. I started with 2 triangles, opposite ends facing each other and glued them together. 

I set the star under a heavy book and let it dry for a few hours.

After the first set was dry I put another triangle on and glued that, then continued the process until I had used all my dowels.

After everything had dried over night I gave my star wreath a few coats Krylon Metallic Caramel Spray paint. I liked this color because it is two dimensional- from one angle it looks golden and from another it looks silver.

Then it was time to hang! I used some red ribbon and hung it over the mirror we have on the mantle in the living room.

This was a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to decorate for Christmas! 

What sort of Christmas crafts have you been up to?

Anthropologie Inspired Cupcake Stand

Hello Everyone! It seems that this week has become the week of guest bloggers! This time Samantha at My Three Blind Mice will share her tutorial on how to make your own Anthroplogie inspired Cupcake Stand!

But first I wanted to talk a little about her. She is a crafty mommy who has her own etsy where she crochets the cutest things!

Like this sweet little frog hat:

And this adorable stuffed owl!

And thing for us adults:

Beautiful scarves in all colors.

And these stylish clutches.

Now without further adieu a Cup Cake Plate Stand!

1) Find old, vintage miss matched plates tea cups, and saucers all in the same color (white) from your house, antique stores, thrift stores, garage sales.

2) Arrange them together on top of each other till you get the desired plate stand you like. Then glue them all together using super glue or gorilla glue.

3. Use books to press the items you are gluing together to help the glue bond better.

4) Then youre done! This plate stand works great for cup cakes, cookies or tea sandwiches. It is a great way to add some vintage charm to your next party!

Wow I love this! I'm going to look for some cups and saucers on my next thrift store trip. Thank you so much Samantha for sharing this with us today!