Project: DIY Retro Bread Box

Please excuse the blurry iPhone photos, I promise better photography in the near future.

I've already shown you the inspiration for this and told you all about how I've wanted a vintage enamel bread bin but can't quite seem to afford one. (And lest you cry out "but I always see them in my thrift stores," here's where I complain that my neck of the woods just does NOT have good thrift shops).

I racked my brain for a while on how to paint letters onto a readily available metal bread box. What kind of food-safe enamel paint would go on neatly? And how do I get it to not look so much like a stencil, just like my inspiration?

But first, the box. I found this cute retro bread box on Amazon, and for the longest time, that was the one I planned on buying... until I saw the one above at Target for about $15 cheaper. The garage-door-style one above isn't exactly the style I wanted, but I couldn't pass it up for the price. I may still buy the Amazon one at some point. Sorry, they longer have this one at Target for me to link to.

And now, the solution to retro-fy it... vinyl stick-on letters. They're a true black and a good font for the look I was going for. They're just permanent enough, but not too permanent that I couldn't preposition them. Yes, they're crooked in the picture below. That's the beauty of it; after this picture was taken, I straightened them out. And then was too lazy to re-take the picture.

These basic black ones I found at Wal-Mart in the poster section for I think about $3.99, maybe even $2.99. But I saw similar ones at Office Depot in different colors and fonts, which might be fun to try also! It looks like Amazon has some too.

DIY Retro Bread Box

Materials: bread box ($17.99 - Target), vinyl letters (~ $3.99 - WalMart)

Total cost: Under $25

This project is linked at:
The Frugal Girls, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sew Many Ways, Petite Hermine, Nifty Thrifty Things, Lamb Around, Homemaker on a Dime, Raising Memories, My 1929 Charmer, Flamingo Toes, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter, Craft-O-Maniac, Sew Can Do, Delicate Construction, Mad in Crafts, Creating my Way to Success, KDBuggie Boutique, Tip Junkie, Today's Creative Blog, Vintage WannaBee, Creative Itch, Ladybug Blessings, Funky Polka-Dot Giraffe, Ginger Snap Crafts, Polka Dots on Parade, Lil Luna, Someday Crafts, Southern Lovely

Project: DIY Nursery Letters

When I was a kid, I was always super disappointed whenever I perused personalized souvenirs. You know the ones; keychains, license plates, and shotglasses that come already emblazoned with common names. I could never find my name.

So now, I love the chance to personalize anything I can. That's carrying over to purchases for my son, too. So even though nursery letters are becoming pretty cliched, I still wanted to make some. In fact, since his first name is so short, I decided to plow forward into his middle moniker as well.

They're pretty straightforward, so I'm not going to insult your intelligence with a tutorial. I wanted the "cobbled together and collected from various sources" look, so they intentionally have different fonts and paint designs.

UPDATE: I've had lots of people landing here looking for ideas to DIY their own, so even though I didn't photograph a tutorial, here's a list of what I did (see below the new picture for a list of tools and materials):

1. Shopped at local craft and hobby stores (and one big box chain!) for mismatched letters.
2. Sketched out the letters on paper (see the new picture below), and drew designs on the letters so that I wouldn't have the same patterns too near each other.
3. Came up with a color scheme, and just like the patterns, sketched it on paper so I wouldn't have too much of the same color too near each other.
4. Lightly sanded the letter with a fine-grit sandpaper. I was mostly looking to smooth out the manufacturing imperfections.
5. I considered priming them, but didn't! I got right to painting the base coat on each letter. Some took more than one to get the base as dark as I wanted it.
6. Once they'd dried, either free-handed the next design layer, or started applying painter's tape. (TIP: paint the base coat over the painter's tape before changing colors. This'll keep the second color from seeping under the tape).
7. Finished each one off with a layer of clear spraypaint! DUNZO.

DIY Nursery Letters
Acrylic craft paint on wood
Letters: From Richard's and WalMart, $1.99 - $2.49 each, approximately $18 total
Paints: On sale for 50 cents each at JoAnn (Purchased in Navy, Cobalt, Orange, White, Black, Yellow, Red, then mixed)
Foam brushes: $1.99 at JoAnn
Crackle medium: $2.49 (Used on letters "T" and "L")
Clear spray paint finish: About $3.69 at WalMart, KRYLON in Satin
Total project cost: Approximately $29

Pan Am costume: there's still time before Halloween!

I'd love to be a Pan Am gal for Halloween, but I'm not too sure I'd want to go the "sexy stewardess" route. Nope, as the mood board below indicates, I'm thinking more along the lines of "Christina Ricci jet-setting vintage bombshell" as seen on ABC's Pan Am.

Just like there was a vintage explosion on the Halloween following the debut of AMC's Mad Men, we're sure to see plenty of flight attendants this Halloween.

My sewing machine is still in storage because we're still on the ranch, but it's not too late for you to wear a Pan Am costume on my behalf! I've done some of the work for you, choosing easy-to-find patterns with pencil skirts and jackets (so you don't have to buy two separate patterns).

1. Simplicity 2154 - Obviously this "Simplicity Retro" pattern is from the right era, but the fit of the jacket is slightly off for the stewardess costume. It's not as tailored, and is looser around the hips. But made from the right fabric, it's sure to look authentic to the era.
2. Butterick 5147 - Has a pencil skirt and a fitted jacket, with the correct length of sleeves. But the collar is all wrong.
3. Butterick 3037 - Has the four buttons, just like the show, a close fit, and the perfect collar. The skirt and sleeves are too long, but that could easily be fixed. This is probably the pattern I would choose.
4. Royal Blue Suiting - $5.75/yd from Fashion Fabrics Club.
5. Pan Am Bag - These are all over the Internet thanks to the show, this one is $89 from Brookstone.

Don't forget the white gloves, retro-fab shoes, and pill box hat! Here's Threadbanger's tut on "How to Make a Pill Box Hat":


Have you made a Pan Am Halloween Costume? I'd love to see pictures and hear what pattern you used (if you used one).

How to: Cake Bunting

If you haven't seen the practice of decorating a cake with bunting instead of piping on icing, well then, you probably don't visit Pinterest. Or Odeedoh. Or every crafting, caking, kid-ing blog ever.

I know, I know, bunting has pretty much reached "Put a Bird on It" status.

But it's so darn easy, and looks so cute! Way easier then trying to-- and failing at-- fancy frosting.

You don't even really need a "Cake Bunting Tutorial";

• I just typed up my message in Microsoft Word (making sure to hit the "tab" key at least twice between each letter)
• Cut the letters out in triangle shapes, free-hand, but I might try a template next time
• Folded down the top 1/4" of the letters (which was the bottom of the triangles)
• Placed the fold over a bit of yarn, and scotch-taped it
• Tied each end of the yarn onto two shish-kabob sticks
• Stabbed each stick in a cupcake
• Set it.... and forget it!

Quick and dirty, and less than ten minutes. Srsly! I didn't bother to make 'em two-sided, but it can be done. What's your cake bunting method? Probably a lot nicer than mine.

Happy 25th to my little brother.