Remember how I told you I have had this old window sitting in my garage for over a year? I am so excited that it has finally been put to good use!

I really liked the rustic look of the old window and how it was distressed, but for this particular project I decided to freshen it up by spray painting it. I taped around the window panes and then covered them with paper so they would not get painted. I sprayed primer first, then white satin spray paint.


Then I painted one of the window panes with chalkboard paint. Michaels carries a chalkboard spray paint that makes it super quick and easy!


I made over another pane into a corkboard. You can buy cork in different sizes at Michaels or you can buy a large roll of it and cut it to fit whatever size you need. Since the window pane was so large, that was the option I went for. I measured it and cut it with an x-acto knife (well actually my husband Kevin did it for me!) I did two layers of it onto the pane so the cork would be thick enough to tack items onto it. I adhered the cork onto the window with my trusty E6000 glue. I am sure you could also use a hot glue gun or different adhesive tapes.



I made the last pane into a faux whiteboard. I just stuck a piece of white posterboard to the back of the pane and so it has a white background and I can write with dry erase markers right on the glass!

I use this whiteboard section for remembering things that are going on during the week, or messages that I want to write to my family as reminders or love notes.


This project was such a fun project and I will get a lot of use of it in my home now. There are always so many things to keep track of in our family and with this message board I can stay on top of it all!

If you are looking for more ideas on how to re-purpose old windows, check out our altered window frame tutorial and our altered window message board.


Don't forget to check out the Michaels Lookbook for more inspiration for your own re-love and re-purpose projects!

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Another great tutorial from Kalli of Sister Secrets while I madly sew last minute burp cloths and blankets! This perpetual calendar would be a great project to work on with sisters or friends during the holiday break. She's even provided free printables for the calendar pieces! Thanks, Kalli!

I recently purchased the We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper.  I love the Crop-a-dile, and have been eyeing the Chomper for some time.  After buying the Chomper, I had to come up with a great way to use it, so my husband wouldn’t roll his eyes (as much) at my purchase of “another unnecessary crafty tool.”  I came up with this adorable perpetual calendar, a project that would put my Chomper to good use!  Let me show you how to make one yourself.

Perpetual Calendar Tutorial & Printables

8. For the Month, Day and Number markers, cut two 2 x 1.25 inch rectangles and one 1.5 x 1.25 rectangle out of the magnet sheet.  I covered the non-magnetic side with some extra pieces of scrapbook paper I had on hand, just because I’m crazy like that!  Now cut a window with the craft knife out of each rectangle leaving 0.25 inch boarder.  

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We're guest posting up a storm over here! First it was our Christmas tea towel for the Holiday Craft Along, and today we're at Brown Paper Packages with a back-to-school, "Back 2 Basics" project! I love the look of the chalkboard vinyl labels for organization that we're seeing on everything from food containers to playroom bins, but I didn't want to buy a whole roll of chalkboard vinyl. My crafty friend Kalli gave me a great secret to make my own chalkboard labels, and here it is, an easy faux chalkboard label tutorial! Love!
Head over to Brown Paper Packages to see this secret, and check out the rest of the great {Back 2 Basics} posts from some of your favorite bloggers!

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Any extra second I can get during my day means more time for creating! Here's another quick tip from Jennifer that will give you a few extra minutes each week.

If you ask anyone in my family they will tell you that I will never win the housekeeper of the year award. I think I am just too creative to be neat.

Every once in a while I happen upon a system that is simple and saves me time. An example is my self sorting laundry. I have three medium size laundry baskets in my bathroom closet. When we undress we throw our clothes in one of the three baskets, whites, lights and darks. On laundry day my laundry is already sorted. I just take one basket out and throw it in the washing machine. Now I wish I could just figure out how to make the laundry self-folding. . .

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Since I know we're all still thinking about resolutions for the new year, here are some awesome menu planning ideas from Jennifer that will help you get organized and save money. This would work great in conjunction with our weekly dry erase menu board!

Menu planning saves me money at the grocery store. I love grocery shopping. I especially love going to upscale grocery stores like Whole Foods and Central Market. My favorite aisle is the fruit and vegetable aisle, I love seeing how they are displayed. My love of grocery shopping usually overcomes my food budget and I gather everything that looks good to me into my cart. Recently my budget has been protesting about all the extras that I bring home. Sometimes I have so many fruits and vegetables that we can’t eat them all before they go bad. Something needed to change. I have tried several different meal planning methods over the years, but this time I found something that the whole family could live with.

Our family usually eats at home every night, we only eat out once a month or so. Here is how I plan my menus to save time and money at the grocery store.

*To have seven meals worth of dinners I discovered that I needed to cook 5 nights. The other two nights were leftover nights.

*I chose themes for our meals, something broad enough that everyone in the family would like it. The themes that we are using right now are: breakfast for dinner, Mexican, Chinese/Thai, soup (winter)or salad (summer), and beef or chicken.

*I organized all of our favorite dinners into one of these categories and put them all in a tabbed notebook.

*When its time to go grocery shopping I look through my notebook and choose 1 meal from each category. I add what I need my shopping list and voila, I have a week's worth of menus planned and a shopping list in about 10 minutes. I used to have a night for each theme, but I discovered that I needed more flexibility. Now I just have a list of meals for the week (sometimes I do two weeks at a time) and I usually decide in the morning what we are going to have that evening.

I have found that just this few minutes of meal planning saves me tons of money by buying only what we are going to eat this week, not what looks beautiful. This method gives me plenty of flexibility to try new recipes. I usually try something new at least weekly and sometimes several times a week. If we love the new recipe, I put it in my notebook behind its tab and we eat it again. If we didn’t like it, I just throw the recipe away. A couple of tips:

*When someone loves a recipe I write on the recipe who liked it and the day we ate it so I can make sure to have it again and put it in the notebook. This has brought several new family favorites into our dinner rotation.

*I usually clean out the fridge and check the freezer and pantry just before I choose my menus. This gives me a better idea of what I already have on hand so that I don’t buy things I already have. I stock up on things that we eat all the time when they go on sale. Things like beans and pineapple tidbits. I know that they will get eaten and they taste better when they are on sale.

*Leftover nights are really fun at our house, I either take all the leftovers out of the fridge and put them on the table and let everyone make up their own dinner or I tell everyone that I am too tired to cook and its “nuts and berries” night. On “nuts and berries” nights they forage in the cupboards and the fridge and come up with their own meal.

We hope this system will help you reach your goals in 2011, or at least save you a little more time and money for crafting!

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