little reminders

Knock Knock! Hello!

 I am one of those germaphobe people that ask guests to take their shoes off when they come into our home. I am sure I am not the only one and I am sure there are other people who think I am nuts.

My desire for cleanliness amped up once our baby was born, as I could not get past all those icky things that we all walk on every day (spit, dog poop, roadkill-you may think roadkill, come on!? But think about all the animals that are run over each day, the tires that squish over them and then as when we cross the street, it gets on our shoes. I know gross, right?!!!).

Also, when we moved into our new house in a developing town almost 2 years ago, from our old house in a small town, I could not believe the numbers of solicitors that came to our door, ringing the doorbell, making the dog bark and waking up my napping baby. Alas, I made a sign. It was not a pretty sign.

This is the 2nd one that has been up there. I changed it once the first one got ratty and baby started crawling.

Alas, the computer paper, blue painter's tape sign is not cute in the least. Which led me to finally make something a little more attractive and a little more permanent.

I got a stack of these wooden plaques at Michael's a few weeks ago for about $5.00 and I got a sample jar of wall paint at Home Depot for 50 cents when I was debating about painting my half bath ceiling (makeover photos to come). I painted the plaques, used letter stickers that I've had for literally years, and Mod Podged over them to ensure weather resistance.

Then came the fun part!

I have a basket in my craft nest with all sorts of doodads and miscellany. Let's start from the top.

No Solicitors sign:

The fish came from a broken anklet I used to wear in high school. I have used the fish in a few of my paintings before as a tag on a cat's collar, so I've got a lot of use out of this anklet.

Friends Welcome sign:

The silver "Friends" doodad came from a Dollar Store photo album that I took off and replaced with a home made title of "my baby" for a little brag book I carried with me when my baby was first born and I had to go back to work (everyone wants to see your baby's photos when you come back to work and if you don't have photos-watch out!). The key is just some random key to a little lock I must have had at one point (since there were two on the ring, I must have had the lock right?)

Shoes Off Please sign:

The little round "Thank You" medallion is from a wedding favor.

I put it all together with a little silver bead cord and glue gun and hooked it to the window with an adhesive hook from the Dollar Store (9 for $1). I went there looking for suction cup hooks (since hubby found my collection of all-things-hooks, even my expensive Command hooks, and threw them away when we moved and he was de-cluttering) but they did not have any.

Cute huh? I save everything (and it drives my husband crazy!) but look at all the great things you can create with all the saved stuff! It's free and it's recycling-one of my favorite words! This whole thing cost only a few bucks and it gets the point across in a much cuter way then type on a page and painter's tape, right?