Monogram Button Art

I made a little goal for myself that the four hours a week when my oldest boys are at preschool, that I'll try really hard not to use that time for cleaning, or other household chores. I decided that I need to use that time for creating, since these days I don't get as much of that as I would like. The addition of our third little fella has been wonderful, I can't get enough of him, but I'm still working on achieving balance all over again.

This is one of my little creations during preschool/momma project time.

My favorite section is this little part with the little "n" that looks like a typewriter letter. See it down there?
Since I'm only working with a two hour time slot (they go for two hours on Tuesday and two hours on Thursdays) I didn't want to waste time taking pictures of the process, but here are the details:

I started with:
* a big 16x20 piece of art board or mat board. It needs to be thick to hold the weight of the buttons and glue.
* glue. I think it was 3m project glue or something like that. I bought it at Target. It dries in less than a minute. Bonds paper, plastic metal, etc. Tacky glue would work. Maybe hot glue, although it would make a stringy mess.
* Buttons and brads. lots and lots of buttons. A few scrap book elements and brads to fill in and add depth and dimension, and a few glass beads for fun.

I free handed a lower case "n" for my baby Noah. I just drew it on with pencil. Then I did a rough lay out of where the buttons should go. This took a while, but it was actually pretty therapeutic. Playing with bright colorful buttons is a great stress reducer!

It was pretty easy, and I love the playful color it adds to his room. I'm pretty darn close to finishing up the odds and ends and calling his room finito.

Idea from American Crafts, go here for more details.

Dresser Before and After

A few years ago (right before we moved, actually) Scott's mom gave us this old dresser that belonged first to his Great Grandma Harris, and then he and his brother used it as kids. It even had red crayon marks to prove it, not sure if those are courtesy Scott or Michael, but it was funny to see that.

I was really excited to aquire it for it's history and for it's curves. I love the serpentine design of the drawers. It's really a cute piece of furniture.
Before:
After:

It was in rough shape. Well built, but had seen better days, for sure. The drawer fronts where coming apart at the joints and some of the back supports where loose, causing the whole thing to shift and the drawers to not be able to slide in. One whole side was barely hanging on. I really wanted to save it. It took me this long to get around to it, and to know what to do with it, but I basically took it apart and reassembled it, banged on it with a hammer and eventually got it all put back together and working. I'm proud to say, the drawers now slide in and out with ease and it didn't fall apart when Scott and I packed it in the house and down the stairs. Let's just say, the thing was dang heavy. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

I had to sand down the entire top to get around some water damage.

I then restained the top in a dark walnut and used the same white we have on all of our trims and wood work in the house. I think the white really made the hardware pop. I wouldn't dream of replacing those old tarnished brass knobs.

The plan is to use this dresser in the new basement to house all of our games and puzzles. Perfect storage, and it gives the space a lot of character. It really needed something "old" to mix with all of the new.