Allison: Hidden Potential

Hello, again!  I'm just going to come right out with it: this post is going to be lame.  I know!  I'm not supposed to admit that, but it's almost noon and I haven't even started it yet.  That's not a good sign for me.  I usually try to have mine mostly done the night before I post.  But this has been a very pregnant week.  I'm SO SICK of the heat, and I'm feeling HUGE and my motivation has been a little low to be overly creative.  I've also been rushing to finish Norah's quilt, so there hasn't been a lot of free time for other crafting.  With that intro, I don't really expect you to stick with me for the rest of this post, but I'll assume a few of you will.  :)

One reason I really like Pinterest, is because it gives me "access" to countless creative people.  Through all their projects and pins, my perspective has begun to change a little when I look at ordinary objects.  I've started to be able to see their "hidden potential".  I've already shared a couple of projects that illustrate this point, like my revamping of an ordinary Wal Mart frame in this post.  The project I'm going to share today has been years in the making.  I originally bought this little shelf from Big Lots at least ten years ago when I was living in Utah.  Since then, it has moved many times with me, and spent a lot of time in storage or in the garage.  I never took it out of the box, but just knew that I'd use it someday.  This is a problem of mine; just ask my husband.  I always think I'll be able to use something eventually.  But in this case, it actually turned out to be true!

I kind of forgot to take a picture of the shelf before I painted it.  :)

When I decided that Isla's room needed a little sprucing up, I instantly thought of this little shelf.  Mostly because I could hang it out of reach of her curious hands.  But her room doesn't have much black in it, so I knew the color needed to change.  I'm a big fan of spray paint because it's relatively easy to use and gets the job done quickly.  So I sprayed it white, and added a little scrapbook paper as backing for the pictures, and presto... a completely different looking frame that matched my little one's room.  I love it now!  Isla also loves to look up at the pictures and I've enjoyed having a little shelf to display decor that Isla can't get to.  Did you miss my tutorial on the flowers?  Find it here.  I wish I could take credit for the adorable wooden blocks, but my friend, Lindsay, made those.  I love them!

So here's your creative challenge of the week:  Look around your house for things that you love, but aren't currently using.  Is there something you could do to tweak it enough to make it functional or more appealing as a decoration you'd display?  I know we all have stuff like this in our houses, we just need to see the hidden potential.  Thanks for letting me share this week, and taking a break from a more detailed post.  :)  Until next week, keep on crafting!

Allison