I was looking for an idea for garden markers for my vegetable garden.  I wanted them to be on the large side and I wanted to be able to recreate them easily for future garden items.  I was going to use wooden spoons and decorate them, but that wasn't very cost effective and it would take a lot of spoons for the size of garden that I am working on.  I am trying to feed the family with fruit and vegetables that we've grown ourselves. 

I was wandering around the isles of my local hardware store looking for scrap wood and I found the perfect solution! Wooden Shims!  Now I thought that I was being very creative and thoughtful until I read the package....apparently the shim company had the same idea.  

I painted the shims about 3/4 of the way down and left the skinny shim part paint free, because I don't want the paint to contaminate my soil.  I had to use several coats of acrylic paint to make the bright colors pop and have less of the wood show through.  I chose pretty bright colors to plop some nice color into my garden.

 Two bright colors later and about three coats of paint this is what I created. This took a small bottle of acrylic paint for each color and I painted about fifteen shims with each one.

I used black acrylic paint and painted the markers with my current and future crops that are in the works.  I just used a skinny brush and free handed the letters.  After everything dried for several hours I sealed the painted areas with acrylic sealer, so that they would last through at least one season and not peel and flake all over the place.

I can say that they are a success so far.  It has been very rainy here for the past few days and all of my markers are still in tact.  Here is the final product of my garden marker project.

If you want to recreate this idea, you can use bright colors like I did, or just keep the wood plain and paint the letters on.  I would suggest that if you keep the wood raw looking that you should still seal it, because it will warp and the letters could peel off otherwise.  If I would have had them on hand I would have used paint stirrers instead, but my store would not give me any for free since I wasn't buying any paint from them.

Thanks for reading! Now go create something for yourself!

Another laundry room project

I made the washboard key holder in an effort to spruce up my boring laundry room.  It just didn't seem like it was enough.  So I went searching for more ideas.  I came up with this loose change "wash" sign.  

The laundry room is a room that is walked through to get to the garage, so it's seen by many people going in and out of the house.  

Here is the final product.

Keep reading if you would like to know how I made this sign.

 Supplies needed if you would like to make your own sign:

-cardboard letters to spell your word 

-metallic copper acrylic paint if you will be using pennies (use metallic silver for other coins)

-acrylic sealer if you have a moist area that you are hanging them in

-strong multipurpose glue, I used the brand 527

-coins....lots of coins

-thick foam mounting tape

-paint brush, newspaper and thumb tacks...etc.

Paint your letters with the paint.  To keep my letters from touching the newspaper I used thumb tacks on the back to elevate them a little.  This is an easy step that is worth the extra effort.  I used three coats of paint.  Let the coats dry completely between, so that you don't cause streaks or smearing.  After painting the letters seal them with acrylic sealer if you need to protect them from moisture.  This is especially important in a bathroom, kitchen or a laundry room.

Once everything is completely dry you can glue on your change.  I chose to face all of the money the same way and and make all of the heads up, so that it looks more uniform.  I also chose to overlap the coins to have less paint showing through.  

I think that a haphazard look for loose change might be a good idea though.  Use all coins all facing every direction could be a really good idea too.

I waited two days to mount them.  I did not want to run the risk of anything being wet or falling off. 

Using thick foam mounting tape I mounted them to my wall permanently.  Use a level or ruler to make sure that you get them straight.  I used this thick foam to make them stand out a bit.

I love the end result.  If I'm not careful this could be the most decorated room in my house.  

Now onto the next project!

Thanks for reading!

What to do with your serger scraps

We have recently added a new addition to the family.  She has blond hair and brown eyes and is quite beautiful.  I was wondering why this particular family member had to keep playing with my fabric stash that I was trying to organize unsuccessfully.  I decided to give her a "fabric" space of her own so that I could keep her away from the good stuff.


I would like you to meet Dixie, my beautiful little mutt of a terrier.  I love her and she is fitting in perfectly! Please notice that she is on a scrap piece of fabric which I now have to re-wash.

Now I have been saving my scraps from serging so many fitted diapers.  I had no idea what to do with them, but since I am so inspired by everything on pinterest......I save EVERYTHING right now.  I had a great idea to get rid of them since Dixie wants to play with them anyhow! A dog bed for the sewing area!

Find yourself some ugly fabric that you no longer need.  If you want to get artsy and need it to match your decor go ahead and buy the good stuff.  This is just for the work room area for my business and other sewing.  I encourage you to use old clothing or curtains.  I am all for up-cycled items as you can see!

Sew two pieces of your found fabric together, turn them inside "right" and stuff them with your scraps.  I didn't use too many scraps, because I wanted to make it movable and somewhat flat like a dog bed and not like a pillow.  I am very lazy and decided that I did not want to pull out the hand needle and thread, so I just top stitched the pillow after turning it inside "right."

Viola! We have a dog bed that is worthy of the most fabric loving pooch I have ever met.

Here is Dixie checking out her new fabric bed that was made for her.

Here she is very cozy and enjoying her bed.  Now I can barely get her to leave the room, because she is in love with her new area.

Hopefully you are inspired to go and find something in your home that can be reused or up-cycled.  Don't forget that you can get a rescued dog like Dixie and "fix" her so that they can't reproduce and give them a chance to be loved again as well.

Thanks for reading!

9 hours left for a chance to win fluff!

There are only nine hours left for a chance to win this fitted crabby gender neutral diaper from my business. You don't even have to cloth diaper to enter...it would make a fantastic gift for a new baby or Christmas!

http://www.simplyrealmoms.com/posts/giveaway-littlebitloo-cloth-diaper/#

Don't forget to check out my Facebook page as well. There is a review and a chance to win a credit to my shop.  Can you say busy? I have two giveaways going on at the same time!  I have loved this experience.

https://www.facebook.com/LittleBitLooCreations

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleBitLooCreation



 Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging

I wanted to create a place that I can share my current products and my current projects.  They may or may not have anything to do with one another.

With that said, here is a project that I completed today.  I love how it turned out!

This is a painted and distressed washboard that I made into a key holder.  It now resides by the door in my laundry room that goes out to the garage.