The Southern Nest Blog

Chalkin’ It Up: Make a Chalkboard with a Vintage Frame

Sometimes, when I walk into a thrift store hunting for “treasures,” I just hit gold.  Luckily, that is exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago.  I was visiting a ReStore (just killing some time) and my eye fell on a fabulous, HUGE Syroco framed print.  I bought it immediately (left the print there in hopes that it will be beneficial to someone else) and brought the giant frame home.  I immediately decided to turn it into a chalkboard for my home office.

 First, I traced the inside of the frame directly onto the wall with a pencil.  Next, I drilled two coat hooks onto the wall (to hang the frame on.)  Then, I began painting with black chalkboard paint.  I roughly followed the traced rectangle, as I knew the borders did not have to be perfect.

Once the paint dried, I simply placed the frame directly onto the hooks.  The Syroco frame was fabulously gold and I was completely going to leave it that color.  But, because my office is a space that gets so cluttered with paperwork, paint, ribbon, you name it, I decided that painting it a distressed white would keep it clean by staying within the “black and white” style of my office.

So, one coat of Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Pure White later, I was finished.  (P.S. I found this quote on Pinterest and I think it might be my new favorite.)

It’s perfect for the space.  Sadly, I cannot take a picture of the entire office, because it is currently in a state of paper filing/redecorating madness. It is on my one mile long to-do list, so hopefully I will be showing pics of my completed office soon!

Have a great week!

By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

Make a Growth Chart….because they’re getting taller by the second

The other day, little B reached up onto the counter and pulled down a tray that I had pushed back into his “no reach” zone.  Argh…he must’ve grown overnight and now I’m going to need to find a new spot for those very tempting, breakable objects.  And then it hit me…he was getting taller and I wasn’t keeping track of it.  How could I not have been marking his height on the wall like my mother had marked ours for so long?!?  I remember pressing myself eagerly against the wall, trying so hard to make myself just a bit taller.  I’d proudly step away to observe the fresh ink spot my mother drew to show my height.  (It became a mini competition between my brother and I.)

It was time for a growth chart.

Being a sentimentalist, I know that when the day comes for our family to move I will want to bring the reminder of B’s growth with me.  So, I got a little creative.

I started with a cut piece of 1/4″ inch scrap wood I had.  (You can go to your local Home Depot or Lowes and have some cut for you.)

I painted it a robin’s egg blue (OF COURSE!)  After the paint dried, I watered down some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White and roughly brushed some overtop to create a “whitewashed” look over the blue.

(My inspiration for this came from this old photo I had been saving:)

photo via Apartment Therapy

I wrote his name at the top in white paint marker and my husband screwed it to the side of the old shelf in our kitchen.  Now, it was time for our first “official” measurement.

(No matter what we do, both dogs MUST be right there with us.  Note in the picture below, every single one of us is crammed into the same corner of our kitchen for this event.  Nice.)

 

A whopping 34 1/2″!!  Thank goodness we started!  I marked it with white paint marker and wrote the date and height in pen.

I’d like to pretend my little boy will be so tiny forever.  But I know there will come a day I look back at the first little mark…and I won’t believe how tiny he was.

By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

Lollipop Tutorial-Candyland Birthday Party

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I have received several requests and e-mails asking how to make the giant Candyland lollipops I made for B’s Candyland First Birthday Party.  I finally made the tutorial!  Here it is, step by step, complete with pictures.

Tools for one “Lollipop”:

  • Hot glue gun
  • Spray Adhesive (found mine in a craft store)
  •  Red Duct Tape (found mine at an office supply store)
  • White Poster Board
  • Tissue Paper in 3 different bright colors (found mine at Dollar Store)
  • Clear cellophane wrap (found mine at Dollar Store)
  • Ribbon
  • Clear Fishing Line
  • 2 Thin Wooden Dowels (Mine were 1/4″ thick and 36″ tall from a craft store)
  • White Craft Paper
  • Scotch Tape
  • Wooden Monogram (southernnest.com)
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Twine

Draw (freehand-having the shape NOT be perfect is part of the charm) a large circle onto the poster board.  This is the shape of your “lollipop.”

Starting with one corner, lift the tissue paper and fold it over.

 Repeat the fold (folding about 1-2 inches of paper) in the same direction.  Repeat this until you have folded the entire sheet.

With a pencil, draw a dot in the center of the circle.

Spray some of the glue adhesive onto the center dot.  Let it set for about thirty seconds to get tacky.  Choose the first color of folded tissue paper and press the end down to the glue.  While holding the tissue paper in place to dry a few seconds, slowly spray some of the spray adhesive onto the poster board in the pattern you would like the tissue paper to go (a swirl, in this case.)

Gently press the tissue paper along the adhesive.

This is what your first piece will look like.  Continue to spray adhesive and add the same color tissue paper to finish the swirl.

Spray adhesive onto the center (this time, you will be spraying onto the first color of tissue paper-that’s ok!)  Take a second color of tissue paper (in this case, red) and repeat the steps.

 

Add a third color in the same manner.  It will be a tight fit, but that’s fine.  (In this case, pink was the third color.)

If you see some poster board showing like you do in the photo below, just spray it with the adhesive and add more tissue paper.

The next step is to mold the swirls into the exact shape you want them.  First, lightly spray the entire front of the lollipop (directly onto the tissue paper) with the glue adhesive.  Push down any tissue paper pieces that have lifted up, and readjust the swirls into the places you want them.  Warning:  this part is messy.   You will notice in all of the following photos my fingers are covered in glue.  Definitely don’t do this project with a fresh manicure.

While the lollipop is drying, unroll the cellophane paper completely off of the roll.  This ”wrapping paper roll” will serve as your lollipop stick.  Unfortunately, this is where I ran into a snafu.  The first time I made these lollipops, the cellophane came on a white roll….perfect for a “lollipop stick.”  This time…the roll was brown.  :(   Who has ever seen a swirly lollipop with a brown stick?!?  So, if this happens to you, follow the next few steps to cover the roll.  If you happen to get a white roll, consider yourself lucky.  :)

To cover the roll:  cut white craft paper to fit the roll.  Spray the roll with glue adhesive and wrap in craft paper.  Tape the paper for added holding power.

Starting with one end of the roll, begin applying the red duct tape.  Wrap it down the entire roll in a diagonal direction (forming a “candycane” look.)

 

Once the “lollipop” is dry,  flip it over so that you are looking at the blank side.  Apply hot glue to the bottom of the circle, and press one end of the “lollipop stick” into the glue.  Let glue dry, and add some duct tape for reinforcment.

Next, break one of the dowels in half.  Hot glue the halves into a cross shape on the back to make sure your lollipop doesn’t flop over.

Next, lay the “lollipop” on top of one end of the cellophane.

Fold the cellophane over the front of the ”lollipop.”  Cut the cellophane where you would like the “wrapper” to end.

Keeping the cellophane in place, run hot glue along the two sides of the “wrapper” so that they are securely closed.

Gather the bottom of the cellophane into a bunch, and tie into place with twine.  Tie decorative ribbon into a bow over the twine and voila!  Cute lollipop.

To add a monogram to the lollipop:

Tie clear fishing line onto the top of the wooden monogram.  Postion the monogram on the face of the “lollipop.”

Pull the fishing line over the top of the lollipop and being hot gluing it to the back (as close as possible to the dowel that is supporting it.  See picture below: fishing line runs along the vertical dowel.)

Hot glue the fishing line to the top of the “lollipop stick.”

Take the loose ends of the fishing line and tie it around the stick. (For added security.)

I added a little extra hot glue to make sure this baby wasn’t budging.

Push the other dowel into the ground.  Slide the “lollipop stick” onto the dowel and……..

Ta-daaaaaaaa!

For a “Candyland Birthday Party,” make several of these lollipops in a variety of sizes.  This is the perfect spot for a birthday boy/girl to take pictures!  (Added cuteness factor:  ask a friend to snap a picture of the mini guests individually in front of the lollipops.  Send the picture with the thank you card!) Pin It

So sweet.

By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

Merry and Bright

Ahhhh….welcome to my new blog.  I’ve made the transition to Wordpress and I now “own” my site.  Yaaaay!  I still have a lot to learn, but it’s a work in progress.  Also, it’s now easier for people to leave comments!  You don’t have to log in or have an account to comment.   So far, I’m happy with the transition.

I have been so busy with moving the blog that I barely even got to talk about Christmas this week!!!  We had so much fun.  Here are some pictures of my decorations.  (And I still have them up…I refuse to take them down till AFTER New Year’s!)

My husband finally hung my HUGE window pane mirror above the couch in our living room.  I hung my moss wreath from it by tacking the ribbon to the top of the window pane.

I made this centerpiece for our kitchen table.  I took a bunch of extra Christmas tree branches I had collected when we were at the Christmas tree farm and stuck them inside this old coal bucket I painted white.

I took one our family Christmas cards, punched holes in the sides, and tied it around the bucket with polka-dot ribbon.  I love the way it turned out!

I also started my mercury glass collection on the fireplace.  I added holly berries and strung Christmas lights around the glasses on the mantel…I love the effect! (And I managed to cut the ugly TV out of this picture.)

I have seen tons of creative ways people use clothespins in blogland.  Thanks everyone for the inspiration-I decided to use them to hang Christmas cards on twine across our kitchen window!  It had a cheery ”garland-like” feel to it.   I could see the pictures of my friends’ adorable kids/pooches/etc. easily (I spend every year trying to keep one card from covering another…I’m weird like that) and I was able to make it with things I found in my house.

And finally….our tree.  Good grief.  I love our tree and our decorations, but every single year we have a CROOKED star.  No joke, every year.  When we buy our tree, we always forget to ask the”tree people” to cut the top branch shorter to make it work with our star topper.  And this is what it looks like every year.  At this point, it is kind of just our thing…we are the people with the lopsided star.

Excuse the lighting…it’s hard to get a good picture at night.

Christmas morning….oh, what fun we had.  Briggs made a beeline for the slide…and just sat there.

As a matter of fact, he just kept sitting back and looking at everything.  (He held this pose for a few minutes…just trying to figure it all out.)

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday….and a late Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

Make a Gift Tag out of a Christmas Ornament

Sometimes, the way a present is wrapped is as exciting as a gift itself. For a recent birthday party, I came up with this fun way to add a gift tag to the box.
I wrote the recipient’s name on a clear glass Christmas ornament with a kelly green paint marker. My original intention was to fill the inside of the ornament with snips from the birthday boy’s party invite. After that went terribly wrong, I curled tiny bits of lime green curling ribbon and put it inside the ornament. (The wrapping paper is actually brown craft paper, my latest obsession. More on that another time.)
I did have a bit of a blond moment by using a glass ornament. Seeing as how it was for a child’s birthday party, plastic would have been far more suitable. It did, however, make it into his mother’s hands safely. :) If you do try this for a child, I suggest using the plastic version of this type of ornament.
I know you are all up to your elbows in gift wrap and bows right now….this is the perfect, simple finishing touch!

 

By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

Decorating with Christmas Ornaments

Hello there. Remember me? I have been lost in a sea of monograms. I am trying to decorate for the holidays, bake cookies, ship monograms…and I keep trying to figure out how my house got so messy. Fa la la la la!

But, nonetheless, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. And I have been hanging ornaments EVERYWHERE. I tied pink and green ornaments to coordinating ribbon and hung them from the tall bookshelf.


(The picture below was my inspiration picture.)


And I had the sweetest little helper the entire time I decorated!


By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

Monograms

Remember my monogrammed wreath post?

Well, I enjoyed working with that monogram so much that I am happy to say that I will now be selling my own wooden monograms!

They are cut from high quality birch wood and are available in 6″, 14″, and 18″ sizes. The 6″ monograms are lightweight enough to use as gift toppers…perfect timing for the holidays! The 14″ and 18″ are perfect for wreaths, hanging on the wall with ribbon, or simply propping on a shelf or a mantel. 

Shop for them here!

By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

Antique Mirror

I’ve added another window frame mirror to my Etsy shop! Can you tell I also have a mild obsession with mercury glass from the photo below?? :)

By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

The New Red and Green: A Moss Frame for Christmas

I know it’s a little early to start thinking about Christmas, but I just can’t help myself. I heard “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” on the radio this weekend and since then, I’ve had the FEVER. Watch out honey–the decorations are going to start making their way out of the attic very, very soon.

In my Christmas giddiness, I made this frame. It is a wooden frame that I covered in moss and embellished with sparkling (lightweight plastic) red ornaments. It turned out even better than I pictured it would. The contrast of the natural moss and sparkling ornaments are perfect.

And I’ve listed it in my Etsy shop! My mirror sold so quickly, I have to admit–Etsy is addicting. However, I will be making another one for myself, too. :)

Visit my shop


By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

Fall and Winter Vase Fillers

It amazes me how simple things found in nature (like beans, cranberries, and pine cones) become as beautiful as floral arrangements when filling vases and apothecary jars. (Truthfully, I often prefer decorating a table this way.)

At A Pop of Pretty, the creative layering of beans in complementary colors is simple and beautiful.

At DG Style:

Pottery Barn:

And this picture just doesn’t do these mirrored glass balls from Michaels any justice. I saw these in person….they are gorgeous and super sparkly.

From Michaels:

This holiday season, get inspired. Look for items found in nature and craft stores that you find beautiful and are small enough to be put into glass vessels.

Tips for creating a “wow” display:

-Pick a “theme”-whether it is “nature inspired” and you choose acorns and pine cones or “sparkly” and you choose ornaments and glittering stars, make sure you love the look you are creating. Anything goes with this!

-Group the filled vases and jars together to make a statement. They will look beautiful on a dining table, side buffet, coffee table, kitchen counter….you name it. Don’t hesitate to add other things to the display (like the tiny Christmas tree in the Pottery Barn picture above.)

-Choose a few colors that complement each other.

-Choose a variety of sizes. We instantly think of “very small” objects only when thinking of vase fillers, but my rule of thumb is, if you can comfortably fit at least three, it looks great. For bigger objects, try to stick with an odd number (it’s more pleasing to the eye.) Check out my “Skulls in a Jar” from Halloween below:


    The choices are endless and there are no “rules” here….have fun with it!

    By Courtney Ronay of Southern Nest

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