Time for B: Completed craft project

So, rather than just tell you the news you already know, that I'm awesome, I thought I'd show you the project that made me awesome yesterday. Yesterday my son was sick and so we stayed home and watched movies all day long (and I did 8 loads of laundry and this project)

A year or so ago I redid my downstairs, we call it the movie room. i painted and purged and got new couches (fake leather that I could afford and that wouldnt bother my sons allergies). I came up with this brilliant plan of using a headrail for vertical blinds to make my fabric curtains slide back and forth nicer (we have fabric curtains everywhere and my sons think its a contest to see who can tear the rods out of the wall first every time they open and close them.

pretty huh? :)

My darling sister installed the headrails for me and I dutifully sewed curtains with little ribbon tabs that fit into the blind clips:

See the picture on the left camouflaging the speaker?

Then my windows stayed that way for the next year. I new I wanted to make a valance to match these pictures that hide my wall speakers:

This shows a little of the wood and the hardware holes.

But I didnt know what to use. I didnt want to buy large pieces of wood but I didnt have any to spare either, until my bed broke. I saved the side rail pieces to use and made my husband take out all of the nuts and bolts etc... (which proved incredibly difficult)

On to the fun stuff, here's how I made my fancy new valances.

STEP 1: Cut scrapbook paper and lay it out til it looks good.

STEP 2: A girls best friend, Mod Podge is used to glue the paper on the wood.

I also glued the edges and made corners like this. I trimmed off extra with scissors.

STEP 3: To match my picture it needed to look aged. I used a black ink pad and an old washcloth and rubbed ink heavily along all edges and lightly over the entire valance. See my black fingers?