Chewie now has little stacks of floating books! Now on most of the tutorials I read online they destroyed the first book on the stack by drilling into it or gluing it to keep the bottom flap closed on the book. Well. We are book lovers here and I could never destroy a book. I placed a rubber band around the book and slid it on to the bracket.

Here is the finished product. And the best thing about this besides the fact that I didn't have to do a thing and Tobey did it all: is that I didn't have to tell Chewie twice to fill up his 'shelves' and he has requested more than the five we hung.

I hope you enjoyed my not-so-tutOHrial on how to hang an L-bracket and make it into a floating bookshelf! It is so easy it ranks up there with the tutorial I read on someone's blog not to long ago about how to peel a banana. I only wish I was joking on that one.

~ame

Guess who also used the litter box! I am so impressed with her little kitty self.

I filled it up with a few scoops of rice, tied a knot in the end and heated it in the microwave for a few minutes. She snuggled down and took a nice long nap which we both needed.

You can make the rice socks filled with corn seed, flax seed or cherry pits. Just make sure that once the sock is out of the microwave you give it a good shake to disperse any hot spots. Not only can you use the hot socks for pets but they work equally as well on humans and they stay nice and warm a good long time. You can also add in a few drops of your favorite essentials oils for a lovely scent and/or you can add a few teaspoons of your favorite tea to achieve the same outcome. It certainly is a cheap and easy alternative when you need a nice and toasty compress and that certainly Works for Me!

If you are like me you have a ton of Christmas cards both old and new. I love the beautiful sentiments and art that can be found on most cards and I never toss them out after the season is over with. Usually I tuck cards here and there and for the last few years I string old cards on ribbon and hang them over our doors.

Step 5.
You have two options on this step. One you can buy the hard-to-find carbon paper, which is an added expense or you can do like me: cheat. Note that using carbon paper is messy and you will have to clean your walls after you transfer your saying onto the wall. I vote for cheating and here is how: flip your banner over and using a pencil or charcoal pencil heavily sketch the backside of your letters. The heavier the better. You are making your own carbon paper! Note that you only have to sketch the outline of your letters, so don't waste your time with the centers.

Step 6.
Flip your banner back over so that the right side is showing and get your level handy. A word of wisdom, you may be tempted to cut your letters out or cut off the white edges of your paper. Don't! Once you cut into the banner you are going to lose the built in straight edge the paper affords you. Now you are ready to place your banner on the wall. Level the banner and tape in place. Heavily tape the banner because you do not want any slippage.



Step 7.
Once your banner is in place now comes the fun part. Take a sharpie marker with the cap ON, or you can use a dull pencil and trace the outline of your letters. Do not worry about filling in the letters as you will do this with paint in a few minutes. You only need to create an outline. Be sure to go over the letters carefully and with a good amount of pressure. If you are using a pencil use less pressure as you don't want to rip the paper. The goal here is to press the carbon on the backside of the paper onto the wall. Once you are done carefully make sure you have achieved a good transfer by peeling the paper up in spots. If there are a few missing spots you can either go over the letters again or if you are crafty you can freehand fill in the lines when you take the paper off the wall.



Step 8.
Take your banner off the wall and ready your paint brush. Fill in the letters with paint and let dry. Once the paint has dried, you may or may not have to add a second or third coat. When you are happy with the look let the paint dry completely. Don't worry if your hand is a little shaky and your outlines aren't perfect. If you have orange peel textured walls like I do, this next step will take care of any imperfections.

I have not tried it but if your letters are large enough I think it would be cool to fill in the letters first with crackle medium and then paint. Let me know if you try it and it works, um, if not... then I never suggested it.

Step 9.
Outline your letters with your sharpie marker, this time with the cap off. This is going to clean up any wobble a shaky hand or textured wall may have created. You can completely skip this step if your lettering looks good and I think it would be okay to use paint pens on this step as well. Okay, we are half-way there now! Just kidding. You're done. That wasn't too bad was it?


A final word of wisdom: Kilz. Because you used a sharpie marker on purpose, unlike our kids who self-decorated their rooms, selves, dogs and furniture with sharpies years ago, when you repaint your room you will need to Kilz your saying to keep the sharpie from bleeding through to your new color. You may need to Kilz a few times.


I hope you enjoyed my first craft tutOHrial and you will be inspired to try this out on your own. This technique is also great anytime you need to copy something. Have fun with it and send me pictures if you try it out!


~ame