DIY Christmas Decor-Part 1

Geez, I had totally meant to be able to get right back on the wagon and post all-week-long but life got in the way.  Or, should I say, more headaches and being 2 weeks behind on my schoolwork got in the way.  Ick.  I have fun things to show you but have not even had a chance to take pictures, let alone post about them!  I leave in the morning for work before it is light and when I come home, I hit the ground running to be a full-time mommy, wife, and domestic goddess. HA!

I was able to take a few pics the other day on a little project my hubby and I did.  You may remember my easy-sprayed-glittered snowflakes that the kids helped me with a while back?  I used those,  red ornaments in 2 sizes and types that I had on hand already, and some red and white baker's twine I  bought at Target last month.  I hung the snowflakes and red balls across the curtain rod that is on our front window in our dining room and voila! fun and festive look for very little cost and effort!  {tip on using baker's twine:  mine kept fraying...in order to stop it from fraying at the ends, dab a little white or craft glue at the end and it will harden clear and not fray!  woo hoo!}  Isn't it cute?  I love how it turned out!

Could you guess that the "table runner" on this table is wrapping paper from Target's dollar section? Score!

Sharing with:
Centsational Girl
Hi, Sugarplum!

Puttin' on the Glitz: Using Glitter Paint

While at the beloved JoAnn's today, I picked up some unfinished wooden snowflake ornaments and a bag of unfinished wooden stars ($3.99 for a bag 20 of small-ish assorted sizes).

The snowflake ornaments were $1.29 each but on sale for $0.77 each.  They came with a little red ribbon to hang them, which I took off because I am not going to use them as ornaments.

I bought a small can of silver spray paint for $3.99.

We gave these babies a coat or two of this paint, and let them dry.  Then we used glitter craft paint
in silver by none other than Martha.  I've used this paint before in another color and it has a translucent look to it that I love.  I let my two sweet youngest get in on the action and go over the snowflakes with this paint.

It's an amazing 67 degrees outside today in Ohio, so they could do this on the deck!  Didn't they do a great job?

We also sprayed the bag of wooden stars, let them dry and went over them with Martha's paint like we did the snowflakes.

I have plans for both the stars and the snowflakes and I can't wait to share how I incorporate them into our holiday decor!

I loved this glitter look so much, I had the kids then use the glitter paint to paint the edges of some cinnamon pine cones that I had.  It made them look like snow.  These pictures are before the paint dried, so it looks a little gloppy (is that a word?), but pretty none the less.

I love that we were able to create these easy, inexpensive projects that will be beautiful during the holidays.  Best of all, my kids were able to help create them.  Think of all of the ways you could use these!  As ornaments, hanging on mirrors or windows (which is what I am going to do with a lot of them, hint, hint...), adorning the outside of a gift you give.....the possibilities are endless.

What are you going to go glitter-ize now???

Sharing this project with:
Six Sisters Stuff
Tutus and Teaparties
Delightful Order

Paper Bag Flowers

I can't take credit for this cute and easy idea---the great gal in charge over at A Place For Us did a tutorial for a paper flower using a brown paper sack.  I made one of these recently and posted it in my Family Organization Station post.

I got to thinking how easy those were to make and how paper bags come in lots of fun, bright colors and how cute they would be as decoration in my daughter's room, at a birthday party, or other cheery event to hang around and add some prettiness.  Look at what I made using some favor bags from Target:

What's extra fun is that this came from one type of bag.  The sides are the wider striped print and the flap on the top is the more narrow stripe.   These bags come in a pack of 8 for about $3.50.  I used 2 bags to make one flower.

A Place For Us has a great tutorial, but I'll give you the quick run-down of steps.  First, cut off the flap at the top of this bag (obviously most bags like this don't have flaps like mine do, so you may not have this step if you are using regular sacks).   Then cut across the bottom where there is the crease.  Your pieces will then look like this:

These bags have the great stripe along the side.  I saw other colors and patterns of these bags at Target that would also be fun to use.

With the main part of the bag lying flat, trace a large leaf shape.  Cut out.  One end should be flat and the other pointed (dotted print).  You will have two of these pieces.  As you are cutting, the sides will fall out and you will have 2 leaf shapes automatically made for you.  (striped print)

Take each leaf shape and fold in half to make a crease so that the sides slightly bend up.  Using a glue stick, glue together the ends starting with 2 glued together, then the other two glued on top of them.

 Take the smaller leaves,  fold in half, and glue on top of the large leaves.

Since my sacks had flaps (sounds funny), I used them to cut even smaller leaf shapes, folding them in half lengthwise like the others and gluing them on top of the other "petals".

Flaps

Last, with a scrap of the dotted paper, I made a circle to glue in the center.

Isn't it cute?  I love how it turned out.  I made 2 and hung them on my daughter's wall.

I am totally going to be on the lookout for seasonal paper sacks that will be coming out soon to make more flowers.  You also could use scrapbooking paper and make paper leaf shapes and do the same thing.

Sharing this project with:
Southern Savvy Style
Sugar Bee Crafts
Brassy Apple
I Heart Naptime

Beverage Cart Pinterest Challenge!

On my last post, I picked three contenders to try to link up to the Pinterest Challenge.  I picked the one that  1)took the least amount of time and that  2)I already had the items needed on hand.  Sounds lazy, I know, but I am planning my daughter's 7th birthday party this weekend here at my house and have many other things going on, so I needed it to be that way to make the Tuesday deadline!   However, I do plan on painting my pottery and stenciling my dining room wall (see last post for those inspirations).  I already bought my stencil and paint and got the wall prepped!  From tutorials I have read on this project, I know it's a loooong process so I didn't try to break my neck (and hand) doing this one yet.  However, this month of July is sacred for me being a teacher because the month of August will be busy for me getting my classroom ready!  I still plan on doing projects and as many posts as I can in August but stenciling a wall probably won't be on the schedule.  So my goal is to do that this month, cross your fingers for me on that.

Anyway...back to my original topic...I chose to do the beverage cart as my Pinterest Challenge.  Here was the inspiration picture that I chose from Pinterest:

Pinterest

Remember, my metal cart came from my parents' basement laundry room and was holding their detergents and supplies.  I know we had this cart in our laundry room even as I was growing up, so it's been around the block.

Here is what the cart looked like when I took it from my parents' house.  This is after I swept major cobwebs and nastiness off of it just to put it in my car.  It had major rust on the bottom shelf.

All projects seem to go more smoothly when you have a cute 7 year-old helper in her PJ's, don't you think?

I ended up taking the cart apart so that I didn't have to tape or try to cover the chrome handles and sides.  I want this cart to primarily go on our enclosed back porch (see recent post on that project here)
and I wanted it a fun, punchy color, so I decided to go with this bold red.

I love that the cart is on wheels.  I plan on using it to put drinks on when we have company, plants on when we don't , and everything in between.  I have never had a cart before, so who knows?  Eventually it may turn into a mobile office.  :)

Here it is painted and put back together:

And for right now, I decided to embrace the season and make it a fun cart to go on the porch.

 I plan to use it this weekend to hold all kinds of fun for Riley's birthday party.  I can't wait to post some pictures of that soon.  I have never hosted a kids birthday party at my house before, so we'll see.

Be sure to stop back soon to see my painted pottery, stenciled wall, and birthday shenanigans.

Also, make sure you check out not only my Pinterest Challenge beverage cart, but the tons of other inspirations here.

Linking up to:
NOT Just a Housewife- Show Me What Ya Got
Centsational Girl-Pinterest Challenge
Young House Love-Pinterest Challenge
Ten June-Pinterest Challenge
Shabby Nest-Frugal Friday
French Country Cottage-Feathered Nest Friday
It's A Hodgepodge Life-It's a Hodgepodge Friday
I Love Pretty Little Things--Friday Pretties
Romantic Home--Show and Tell Friday
Sassy Sites--Feature YOU Friday
Savvy Southern Style-Wow Us Wednesdays

I'm Up For the Pinterest Challenge

The other day I stumbled upon a challenge on one of my favorite blogs:  Centsational Girl.    She and some other amazing bloggers ( Sherry of Young House Love, Katie of Bower Power, and Michelle from Ten June) are hosting a Summer Edition Pinterest Challenge.  What a brilliant idea!  We all love and admire so many things on Pinterest, pin ideas, and then, if you are like me, never get around to trying many or any of the brilliant ideas you have pinned.  This challenge makes you pick a great idea you've seen and try it!  I love a challenge and this one will give me the kick in the pants I need to try some new ideas I have pinned or seen on Pinterest.

I have started my search and have narrowed it down to 3 possible contenders.  Currently, my dining room walls are a creamy vanilla color.  They are newly painted.  I posted about the wall collage I did in there on this post.  Even though I love the fresh, simple wall color and my collage, I want to give that room and wall a little more presence.  I was thinking of stenciling this wall.  I would use a color slightly darker than the wall color and one that has some sheen to it.  I love the look of this stencil and project on Pinterest by none other than Centsational Girl!:

 {Centsational Girl} via Pinterest

Isn't it lovely?

The second contender that I have is spray painting pottery.  I currently have several pieces that were inexpensive but are dark in pattern or color.  Although I loved them when I bought them, I am now re-thinking their use and the room I want to put them in.  I love the thought of using a fun color of spray paint and making them all a uniform color and putting them all beside each other on a shelf.   There is a great {easy} tutorial I found on Pinterest via the wonderful blog House of Hepworths.  Here is a pic of the painted pottery featured on Pinterest that I am dying to try:

House of Hepworths via Pinterest

Pretty, huh?  

My last contender is creating a beverage cart.  The other day I nabbed a very old, rusty, and nasty metal cart from my parents' laundry room that has been around since circa 1975.   I would love to sand it down, then prime and paint it a fun color to put on our porch.  When not being used as a beverage cart, I would put plants or other pretties on it.  Here is an inspiration cart that I saw on Pinterest:

Pinterest

I think I can do that!

This is similar to the cart I have.  I would love to also add some hooks or a small towel bar on the side(s).

I am excited to try these simple projects.  I may end up doing one or all three for this Pinterest Challenge!

If you would like to join the challenge, click the link and head over to Centsational Girl to get all of the info!  Your project needs to be posted by Tuesday, July 10, so hurry on over!

Pinterest Challenge

DIY Burlap Wreath

In my last post, I created a summer mantel, that I liked, but well, didn't get to hang around for too long.  However, we do have plans for all of the summer-y items and the burlap wreath that I created in another spot that we are working on.  I think the wreath turned out pretty fun considering I had no idea how to even attempt getting wide, awkward burlap to look good.   I started with a simple wicker wreath from the Dollar Store.  I tucked one loose end into the wicker and started wrapping the burlap around tightly, overlapping as I went.

This took about half of the 30 ft burlap roll that I had.  Then I started the next piece by using a glue gun to glue one loose end to the wreath from the underside.

Each time I loosely wrapped it, I put a generous amount of glue to hold the loop where I wanted it and pressed down.  Ouch!  Burlap has holes in it, so then did my fingers...

When I got around the wreath and the "loops"  were fairly even going around,  I glued the end piece on the back.  When this was done, it looked like this:

Fairly happy with the results, I added the finishing touch of the burlap rosettes I found at Michael's:

There you have it.  My DIY burlap wreath.  I might try more in the future and try mixing burlap with another material, but am happy with this first try.   Have you used burlap in any projects before?

This project is linked up to Debbiedoo's linky party!

Message Board Magic

A while back I saw a great idea for an easy message board in a magazine (I think it was Fresh Style).  I was amazed at how I never thought of this idea before!  Taking any frame you have +  putting pretty scrapbooking paper behind it=cool message board!

Let me show you the easy steps:

Take a frame you have or buy one the size you want.  If you want it for the wall, you probably want at least a 11" x 14" frame.  You could also use a small one for a message board for your desk, just make sure it is the easel-type that can stand up.

You will need a frame, paper, paper cutter, and some kind of paper adhesive, preferably something you can spread, not glue dots.  I used Scotch's Craft Glue Stick.

Next, take the back off the frame and remove the cardboard, board, or other attractive pictures (if new).   My frame I used was so old all I had to use was the board.  Find scrapbooking paper that matches the colors or theme of the room it is going to be in or just pick something you love.

Turn the cardboard or board over and trace onto the paper.  Cut out the paper.  Then, adhere the piece to the board.  I used a craft glue-stick.  You can piece different papers together if the frame is larger than your paper.

Now, put your board/cardboard back into the frame and admire your easy memo board!

You can write a message, quote, To-Do list, anything!  A dry erase marker works perfectly on it, and easily wipes off to change what you have written.  You can attach a dry erase marker to the top or side of the board with a small piece of velcro.  Magic!

You can also add embellishments, such as ribbon or chipboard letters to add a little pizzazz.

Here are a couple more examples I whipped up:

This was an old frame I had, it's about 16" x 16".  I used two different kinds of scrapbooking paper since one was not large enough.  I also used rick-rack to go over where the different papers met to cover the seams.   I slightly distressed some chipboard letters and voila!  An easy, inexpensive message board.

This frame originally looked like this:

But I quickly gave it a coat of acrylic paint, sanded it a little, and stenciled my daughter's initials on scrapbooking paper.  So now it looks like this:

These are so easy to make and also would make an inexpensive little gift!  You could even make one for a new mother to have in the nursery to write down the last feeding!  Or as a teacher gift!  If you end up creating your own message board, be sure to send me a pic so I can see it!