FREE Fall chalkboard printables

I have some really awesome fall chalkboard printables to share with you today.

But first I have to tell you what I did on Sunday. I jumped out of an airplane. And by jumped, I mean I didn't scream no when I got to the door, and the man strapped to my back jumped. OH. MY. GOODNESS. HOLY. SMOKES. GOLLY. GEE. I have no more reader-appropriate interjections that I can share with you. I'm just saying, that was ONE OF THE COOLEST THINGS I'VE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE. Ok, I'm done with the caps now. Sorry. But seriously. So much fun!

Don't mind the terrified look on my face. I was loving every minute of it. Well, actually this was still when I was convinced I was going to die. But I didn't!

What did you all do this weekend? We really try to enjoy our time here in paradise -- spending our weekends hiking, adventuring and on the beach -- since we know it's limited, and this is something that's been on my husband's Hawaii bucket list. I was less than enthused about the idea of it, but I'm so glad we finally did it!

Now to the fun stuff! Even in this endless-summer state, I wanted to celebrate fall. October 2nd marked two years since we moved to paradise. The first two years living here I spent decorating the house for everyday use. Then I redecorated because I realized the first time I had no idea what our "style" was (Also, I learned to build furniture which meant I had to get rid of all the pressboard that we initially purchased.) I didn't have the extra time (or money) to spend on seasonal decorations. But this year, I'm decorating for the holidays! And I'm so excited!

So, my seasonal decorating begins with my namesake, AUTUMN. I actually strongly dislike Halloween (Blame my mother for that one. Although teaching 7th grade for 30 years would certainly make ANYONE hate a holiday that revolves around candy.) But I love, love, love FALL. Cool weather, apple cider, football, the most gorgeous colors on the trees, and everything pumpkin and apple. 

As I started decorating, I knew I wanted to create a fun chalkboard, but I'm not very good at actually drawing in chalk. So I decided to make a printable of a little saying I wrote, and then I got carried away and made a few more to share with you!

Keep reading for the free printable files!

DIY napkin holder

Hey guys! I have a super simple project to share with you today. It's probably the easiest project I've ever shared. The only difficult part is cutting out the notch to grab the napkins, but if you don't have a jigsaw or just don't want a notch, just skip it. It will be fine without one!

Materials:

- 23 inches of 1x3

- 5.5 inches of 1x6

Tools:

- Saw of some sort (you only have a few cuts to make, so you can definitely use a hand saw if you don't have a power saw)

- Jigsaw (if you're cutting the notch)

- Glue and Nail gun (or hammer and nails)

- Sander/sandpaper

*This napkin holder will fit small party napkins (5x5). You'll need to modify to fit larger napkins.

Cut list:

It works out well that the small size party napkins are about 5"x5". So cut your 1x6 at 5.5," leaving you with a square, since your 1x6 is actually 5.5". It also leaves you with a little room around the 5"x5" napkins.

Then cut 2 - 1x3s at 5.5," and 2 - 1x3s at 7."

Glue and nail one of your shorter 1x3s to your bottom (your 1x6).

Then glue and nail your other 5.5" 1x3 to your base piece too. You still with me? I know it's complicated stuff!

Garage update {part 3}

Today I'm sharing the final part of my garage update. I am so happy with my new workspace. It's happy and efficient, which is what I needed! If you missed the first two parts, find the first part, including my favorite large pieces here and find how I made a fancy workbench, chalkboard labels and a matching work apron here.

I finished up with a miter saw cart (yeah, it's fancy too!). I put wheels on the bottom of it as well. The wings are so helpful since I work alone so often. It's so nice not to have to use my foot to catch the board falling off the other side of my saw.

Here's the plan for it: of course, from the ah-mazing Ana White. Find them here, and make sure you check out some of the other brag posts. People do such great things! 

I love how it has a shelf on the bottom for a scrap bin and trash bin.

And no, I couldn't resist painting it turquoise chevron. I like pretty things, okay?!

I used these hinges, one set on each side, and 3" casters (with brakes!) from Lowe's. 

You might all remember when I made these sawhorses. I used them, and used them, and as you can see, used them. 

They got a little dirty. I had also found some unfinished sawhorses on the side of the road, so I decided to repaint all of the sawhorses to get a fresh start!

I know it won't last long, but don't they look so nice and clean?!

Hope you are all having a great week! I can't believe it's already WEDNESDAY! See you soon!

Garage update {Part 2}

Last week I shared the first part of my garage update. I have a few more pieces to share today, and even a few more for later this week! This project really took me forever...

My {updated, clean and organized} garage

I spent the beginning of the summer cleaning, organizing and decorating my garage. I had to work on it between projects, and it's still not the perfect workshop, but it's working a lot better for me these days.

My first step was cleaning out my scrap pile. I hate to get rid of anything I might use at some point, but I really needed the space. So I went through and tossed anything that was less than 18" long. Thankfully, we have a few friends that have fire pits in their back yards and they took the extra wood off my hands!

I also bought a new (used) workbench from Craigslist. It has a few drawers, a vise, a cabinet with a shelf, and a metal pegboard back. I use the pegboard more for the magnetic-ness (that's totally a word, right?) than for the peg hooks, but I use those too. It's nice to have a place to hang random things that I use all the time like safety glasses, gloves and my to-do lists. The extra storage and workspace is great too!

Golden pecan & dark walnut farmhouse table {finishing}

Hello! Happy Monday! I'm spending a few weeks in Colorado with my family, but I've had so many readers ask how I finished the straight-leg farmhouse table and bench I built a while back, that I decided to share it with all of you. 

This was my first time mixing and layering stain, and I was sooooo nervous! Stain is something you can't go back on. With paint you can paint over and fix it, but if I didn't like the stain I would have to strip the whole thing and start again. As in, RE-sand the entire table top. I've already told you how much I despise sanding, right? I really didn't want that to happen on this table. Good news, it didn't! I was so happy with the way this entire set came out.

Want to try it yourself? Here's what I did...

Supplies:

- Golden Pecan stain

- Dark Walnut stain

- Paintbrushes

- Rags 

- Sealant (I used Rustoleum polyurethane in semi-gloss)

My table was built out of 2 x 10s. Just the untreated ones, I think they're Douglas Fir. The process is all about layering. I painted my entire base black before I started staining.

Straight leg farmhouse bench

Today I have the bench plans to match the straight leg farmhouse table I shared yesterday. Following the same basic concept as the table, the bench is so easy to build too! It ends up being about 61 inches long, 14 inches wide and 18 inches tall.

Supplies:

1 - 4x4 @ 6'

4 - 2x4 @ 8' (plus a small piece of scrap wood, about 7-10". If you don't have one lying around, ask at the hardware store, they might have a chunk they can give you!)

2 1/2 inch screws

wood glue

finishing supplies

Tools:

Saw

Kreg Jig

Cut list:
4 - 4x4 @ 16.5" (legs)
2 - 2x4 @ 52 (side stretchers)
2 - 2x4 @ 5" (end stretchers)
4 - 2x4 @ 7" (supports)*
4 - 2x4 @ 54" (top)
2 - 2x4 @ 14" (breadboard ends)*

*Measure to fit!

Measure and cut all your pieces. This is when I do a basic sanding job, because it makes it a little easier to get to all the hard to reach places. I make sure to sand any markings or gashes down with a 80-120 grit sandpaper. It also gives me a good idea of the flaws in my lumber, so I can hide them on the inside.

Also, sanding is my VERY least favorite part of every project, but it's so important! It makes it a lot easier for me to do a really good job if I break it up. I do a basic job with 80-120 grit sandpaper when I have all my boards cut, and then sand a few times while building. Obviously, I still have to do a final job with 220-320 grit paper, but it makes the end go faster!

DIY straight leg farmhouse table

Look at this beauty! I kind of want to start singing every time I see it. I love how this stain came out, it has so much depth. More on the stain later, this baby is a breeze to build too! Slightly based on Ana White's farmhouse table, this one has 4x4s as legs and a nice, thick planked top with breadboard ends. It can be finished with antique white legs, a stained top and then distressed to create a true farmhouse look, or you can go with sleek black legs and a semi-gloss finish (like I did here) for a little more modern look.

I'm sharing how to build it yourself today!

DIY french cleat

So epic blogger fail. I promised you I would be back Friday to show you how I hung my mirror, and I failed. I would bore you with excuses, but I'd rather just share!

All you need is a piece of 1x3 or 1x4. Cut it to whatever length you need. Since my mirror was about 35 inches long, I cut mine at 32 inches.

Pottery Barn Eagan Mirror DIY

Hey! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Ours wasn't too exciting, but I did finish a project and I'm so excited to share it with you!

Have you all seen the Pottery Barn "Eagan Mirror"? It's beautiful. But it's crazy expensive, and way too big and heavy for the house we have now. I decided we needed a smaller version of it for right inside our front door.

I know there are a few other tutorials about how to copycat the Pottery Barn "Eagan Mirror," but none of them were exactly what I wanted. I wanted something smaller and I wanted it to hang flat against the wall.

Here's how you can make your own --

'Family' board and batten shutter

I've been needing something above my TV for quite a while. I have a fairly big wall that the TV stand and TV are on, and since I can't wall-mount my TV or paint my wall, it needed a big statement piece.

I love the board and batten shutters as decor idea, so I'd been trying to think of a way to spruce up a basic homemade shutter to hang horizontally above the space. Once I decided what I wanted, this project took less than 2 hours, and about $20. Not bad for a huge statement piece that makes the room.

DIY clothespin picture frame

 

Anyone else have about a million pictures on their phone but none on their walls? I'm awesome at taking pictures. I can click that button like a pro. But that's where it ends. I mean, they get sent straight to my computer, organized and saved -- thanks to a lovely combination of Apple products -- but there they sit. For months and months.

I have good intentions. I really, really do! But then there's life... it tends to get in the way of trivial things like updating the photos on my wall. So I've been thinking about starting 'Project Life.' (I would love to hear what you all think about it!) And I thought a good test of whether or not I would do well with 'Project Life' would be this photo frame. Fits 4x4 photos (which I have a plethora of) and easy to change out. Just a little clip! Since I have an ever-growing puppy, nephew and all sorts of other adventures to capture, I'm hoping this is the answer!

You can build one too! For about $4. Whoop!

Wooden chalkboard pennant banners

Did you guys catch my Fourth of July pennant banners? If you missed them, keep them in mind for next year!

I spent yesterday un-decorating (and cleaning up! Whew!) from the holiday weekend. I always feel like my house looks so boring after a holiday. So I had to put up a little something else.

I loved my Fourth of July pennant banners so much I decided to stick with the same idea but in .... da da da dummmmmm... CHALKBOARD! Yes!

I used the same process (find the full tutorial here).

Never, ever, have I ever...

Wait, I mean never, ever, did I ever... think that I would be here.

There are some days that I can't help but wonder how I got from point A... to living in Hawaii. And building furniture, and then writing about it as my JOB. (Well, maybe someday it will pay me money. But that's not exactly my focus right now. I'm just loving doing what I'm doing, and living in paradise.)

Being a military wife means living a lot of places you never thought you'd end up. We've been married just over two years and have lived in two different states. Oklahoma for 6 months, and now Hawaii for about 18 months. When I was 5, 15 or even 20, I never thought I would move much farther than Colorado. Maybe some other state that touches Wyoming. Not across the ocean to Hawaii though.

I promise I have a point. All the moving is a fun part about our lives. And remembering the other places we've lived and where we were in our relationship is fun. That's why I decided to make a reminder as part of our decor!

I've seen a few different ways of representing places we've lived, but none of them were quite right for us. That's when I came up with these.

 

They're wooden boards with the states 'stained' onto them. All the places we've lived: Wyoming, where we were both born and raised; Colorado, were I went to college; Virginia, where the husband went to TBS; Oklahoma, the first six months of out marriage were at Ft. Sill in Lawton, OK; and now Hawaii. It's kind of a bummer Wyoming and Colorado look so similar though!

I started with a scrap chunk of 1x6, and cut it into 7.5 inch pieces. Since we've lived in 5 places, I cut 5 boards.

Then I went to my Cameo Silhouette and cut an outline of each of the five states I've lived in out of vinyl, making each state about 5 inches wide. I also cut out 5 tiny hearts (about 1/4 inch).

I used transfer paper to move it onto my boards. 

Since I was planning on using stain, and I knew stain would really want to leak under the vinyl, I used my blow dryer over each of the states to really make the vinyl adhere to the wood.

Then I stained them! And got really nervous it wouldn't work!

So I patiently waited... and waited... and waited. And then I carefully peeled the first corner up... And it worked! Hooray!

So I gently peeled each of them off.

Then I added the little hearts to the city (or close to) where we lived.

 

Then I sealed them with my favorite, Rust-Oleum 's polyurethane.

Then I added a sawtooth hook to the back of each of them.

I hung them up and they're done! They go so nicely next to my 'Distance means so little when someone means so much' sign. I love how every morning when I get my coffee I'm reminded of all the fun we're having on this adventure! Yes, we have two coffee pots. No, I don't want to talk about it.

Thanks for stopping by!

For pictures and updates between posts find me on Facebook or Pinterest! And if you don't want to DIY, you can buy it here in my Etsy shop.

*P.S. I love to DIY, and I love that you want to as well! Please remember that all designs, files and tutorials are for personal use only.

Nail head art

 

This project has been on my to do list for a while now. I really wanted a sign for my garage/workshop/office/reception area, but I didn't just want to get one printed. I wanted something that would represent both sides of my business, graphic design and woodworking. I wanted to use my logo, but look sturdy enough to 'belong' in the garage.

I've seen a few pieces of art that use nails and string between the nails to make a shape, so that was my original intention. But then I thought about it a little more, and I figured if I got nails with a big enough head, I wouldn't have to bother with string, since string might detract from the look I wanted anyway.

The project was a little more time consuming than I expected, but well worth it in the end. It still didn't take me a total of 2 hours, so not too long, just longer than I thought.

Supplies:
- Scrap wood, how much you need depends on exactly the size and shape you need. (Mine is about     20"x 20", so I used 1x3s and 1x4s to make a large square. Check the scrap bin at your local hardware store)
- Paint for the background and then paint for the nail heads (I used acrylic craft paint for my undercoat and nail heads since you don't need much!)
- Nails (I used these from Lowe's)

Total cost for this project? About $4! Sweet! I had most of the stuff I needed, but even if you have to buy a little wood and paint, you can still make it for under $10.

 

I just started with some scrap 1x3s and 1x4s. I laid them out and made a square, then I drilled some holes with my Kreg Jig, and screwed them all together. I tried to make sure none of the 'seams' lined up so they wouldn't make one big awkward line.

 

Then I flipped it over and painted it a dark turquoise (my business color). Once that dried, I went over it with an off white that I had lying around. We're sticking with cheap here! I sanded down the edges and where the boards joined together until the turquoise and some of the wood showed through.

I printed a large version of my logo and taped it to my board. Then I started nailing! 

 I tried to make them even, but wasn't precise about it...

It was good practice on nailing straight too. If any of you have a teenager that you want to entertain for a few hours, you could enlist their help!

Here it is all nailed! I ripped the paper off. (And got so excited I forgot to take a picture.)

Then I took my acrylic paint and using a fairly small paintbrush, I painted all the nail heads. This is the part that actually took the least time. Didn't it turn out great? I couldn't wait to hang it up!

I drilled a hole in each corner, and used some twine to hang it over my workbench. Don't you think it would be just great in a little boy's room with his initials? Or the shape of a train, or a car, or both! The possibilities are endless!

I also made a few small chalkboards to help me stay on track and organized in the garage. I had door fronts from a TV stand screw up. (I'm sure you've never had any of those though!) I painted them the same, dark turquoise underneath and then off white on top. I distressed them too, and then painted the inset part with Rustoleum's chalkboard paint that was given to me. (I used 2 coats, following the directions on the can.)

Thanks for stopping by! For pictures between posts, find my on Facebook or Pinterest. And, if you don't want to DIY, you can buy from me on Etsy! 

*P.S. I love to DIY, and I love that you want to as well! Please remember that all designs, files and tutorials are for personal use only.

Fourth of July chalkboard printables

I couldn't resist one more little Fourth of July decoration. I made chalkboard signs! Yay!

I took a piece of 1/4" plywood and cut it to just a little bigger than my sign sizes. (I made one that is 16x20 and one that is 8x10.) If you choose the 8x10 you can just print it at home! I sent mine to Walgreens to get printed since I had a bigger one, and they are a little shinier than I wanted but I think they still turned out great!

I stained the pieces of plywood dark walnut, waited for them to dry and then simply used tacks to attach them to the pieces of plywood. (I did have to cut the tacks off on the back since they were a little too long.)

 

I used the lyrics from one of my favorite songs, 'Chicken Fried' by Zac Brown Band. There's one specific verse that applies perfectly to the Fourth! 

I made a few different versions for you! There's the 'Chicken Fried' one I used, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a horizontal one that just says, 'America: Land of the Free, because of the brave.' Love that saying too!

All you need to do is right-click (or control click if you're on a mac) on the one you want and just go to file: print. I would print it on something a little thicker than regular paper, maybe just plain white card stock. Cut it out and you're good to go! You could even just put it in a 8x10 frame.

As always, for pictures and updates between posts, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AutumnOstlundDesign and if you don't want to DIY, find me on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/AutumnOstlundDesign

*P.S. I love to DIY, and I love that you want to as well! Please remember that all designs, files and tutorials are for personal use only.