The One Where I Hang Tough with all The Right Stuff!

Oh Joey! How did I love thee? Let me count the ways... It was like a million different and rather freakish ways people! At 12 I didn't want to be Donnie's "Cover Girl" or have Jordan love me forever! Nope, all I wanted was for Joey to sing "Please don't go girl" directly to me, while finding me so irresistible that he has the insatiable need to drag me up onto stage and kiss me in front of all the screaming fans! Of course then he would promptly ask me to marry him and have beautiful babies all named Joey Jr. I really thought this was my future ya'll! Some secret part of my soul believed this was all possible! I did not land me a New Kid but I did get my own little Joey (Christopher really)  who texts me at least once a month, "How you doin?" most of the time followed up with something a little more uncensored. My Joey adores me though and is certainly the best consultation prize I could have asked for. 

That's me on the bed with a stapler and a new clipping for that fantastic wall! 

The New Kids on the Block were my first boy crushes and to this day make me flutter just a little. Let's face it Joey has aged well and can still sing. The over forty Danny Wood can even make a woman swoon with the curl of his bicep! The man is buff and "Hanging Tough" all the way round with those abs and tight tooshie! Look him up if you haven't seen him in a while. 

Anyway you get the point, these guys were major heart throbs for me and a huge part of my childhood memories. Even some of my best adult memories include the NKOTB since I didn't see them in concert till my twenties. (Ruthann you already know! Donnie and you are bonded for life because of my Sharpie work. LMBO)   

I am about 25 here finally seeing NKOTB for the first time! See that Joey poster! 
20$ outdoor show by the way, in a super small venue! It was like front row most of the time! Lots of rather scantily dressed women screaming and men on stage tearing shirts off! Best show I have seen other than Prince. LOL 

But I am getting too excited talking about my New Kids so let's get to the crafts! 

Quick tip: *Set Pandora to NKOTB radio station it's awesome! It's a blend of 80s and 90s pop.

I have a huge craft room that has TONS of let's just say "character". My home was built in 1984 and still has some very original pieces retro "art". It sounds nicer that way doesn't it. I moved into a mustard and maroon kitchen and even had ceramic duck hangers upstairs! I could go on but that may be for another blog post probably titled The one where Joey wears tight pants by Sergio Valente.  

But I digress, here is my retro "art" piece that I will be restoring to some sense of glory today. Isn't she lovely? 

When I took over the 🎝🎝♫♫outdoor space as a craft room I decided to have some fun with these so called "art" pieces instead of replacing them. Plus let's face it I am a stay at home broke mom! As always my ideas pretty much stem from Pintrest. Someone on there had put flowers and all this pretty stuff on an old fan for a craft room. I knew I had to take it up a notch because the girly shabby chic look is just not my thing. This is what came to my brain! 

Here is your "Step by Step" guide to your very own NKOTB FAN! 

Supplies: 
A Fan 
Sandpaper or an electric sander 
Paint 
Mod Podge 
Scissors
Computer  
Old Pics 

Tune your music to the NKOTB "Step by Step" now for maximum enjoyment and results on your project. :) 

Step 1: We can have lots of fun! 
I found all my NKOTB pictures on Ebay. Did you know you can by pieces of old Teen Beat and Bop magazine for a reasonable rate. I paid about 8 dollars for 15 pages of NKOTB stuff! Not a bad deal. If you are into 1980's Muscle Magazines with Silvestor Stalone you can get those too! You are welcome. 

Step 2: There is so much we can do! 
Take the fan blades down and clean them well. You guys know they are dirty! At this step there is literally so much you can do! LOL  You can hand sand them or use an electric sander. Just buff off the shine so the paint sticks well. I did this by hand and it was way too much work. Use the electric! You can also leave them wood colored if you want. These would look super cool spray painted neon colors, but I didn't want to go to the store since both Sam and Frodo are home for the summer so I used what I had in my stash of paints. 

Sam and Frodo AKA Owen 

You also have the options to just cover the whole thing with your pictures. You need more than 15 8x10 sheets by the way if you choose to do that. I did not have enough. 

Step 3: It's just you and me. 
Well Joey it's just you and me...
At this step, cut out all the pics to fit the spaces and begin to place them on the boards. I trimmed all mine larger than I wanted and then down from there, even leaving some overhanging the sides with the plan of cutting them down later. My goal was to make it look like a 12 year old fan did this. LOL Don't be exact just have fun! 

Step 4: I can give you more! 
Now that you have the placement figured out and everything is right start gluing your pieces. Follow the directions on your Mod Podge bottle for this. 

Tip: Get something similar to a credit card to smooth things before you start!!! Bubbles will form!

Step 5: Don't you know that the time is right!!! 
You will know that the time is right for cutting off excess when the pictures are totally dry. I would say 2-3 hours at least. Once it is dry you can use scissors or an exacto knife to cut off the excess. You could also glue these around the blades if you don't want to cut them. 

Optional last step: You could get super ambitious and actually take the whole fan down and spray it too. It would look awesome. I am not that awesome. 

Hang your new fan blades and enjoy!!!