Love is in the air

And on the door.

I made this wreath for our front door, it was just so sad after the Christmas wreath was put away. I had the styrofoam wreath waiting for a project idea, and the white yarn. The thing that took the most time was the wrapping of the yarn. Fire up Netflix and watch a show or two.

I cut out the triangles, added some gold stickers I had gotten on clearance a few months ago, and used some black and white bakers twine to tie it all together. The LOVE banner is just stuck on the wreath with pins so I can remove it and use the yarn-wrapped wreath for another occasion (with some sparkly silver snowflakes next January?). 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

DIY: Give Thanks Burlap Craft

Before I completely skip over Thanksgiving as a holiday for decorating, I thought I'd share a quick craft project I made for our entry. An important reminder to be thankful. 

I had this 6 in x 8 in burlap panel in my craft stash hoard that I'd picked up on clearance from Hobby Lobby a few months ago. 

And you know I love a good freezer paper stencil. I used Century Gothic Bold font in 130 pt. When you're printing for a freezer paper stencil, change the text outline to black (from none) and the text fill to none (from black) to save yourself some printer ink black gold.

Trace it onto the freezer paper and carefully cut out the letters, saving the insides on the "g", "e", and "a".

Set your iron to low and carefully press the freezer paper stencil onto the panel. I had no problem with adhesion except for the little inside of the "e". I just had to free hand that part. I expected bumpy letters because of the burlap but it actually turned out surprisingly crisp. I used regular black craft paint.

And the little flower embellishment was part of a two pack I found on clearance at Meijer for $0.95. I plan on using the other one to make a headband or hair tie for my little lady.

A simple Thanksgiving craft that you could keep on display year round! I've seen so many cute Thanksgiving / Give Thanks DIY projects lately. What are you making? 

DIY: Halloween Fun

Getting ready for Halloween? Some good Trick-or-Treat fun? My kids cannot wait this year. The little man just keeps talking about his "pumpkin bucket" and getting candy from our neighbors. I'll post about our little pirate and pink cat (her idea) next week. 

Today I'm serving up some Halloween DIY projects.

Who doesn't have one of these clear glass pumpkins? My grandmother gave me this one years ago. And I found this Looking Glass paint from Krylon on clearance at Meijer a few weeks ago. 

Following the directions on the can, I sprayed the inside of the pumpkin. It won't be safe for treats anymore, but that's okay. 

Before: 

And after:

I'm not in love. Actually, I don't like it at all. It looks as I thought it would and I'm just not thrilled with it. DIY FAIL. I think I'll try painting the outside white or cream, to make it look like a ceramic pumpkin. 

And here are our simple treats for school. I found these Annie's Bunny Grahams at Kroger the other day and snagged them as a non-candy option. I found the tape at Target and used my tag punch and baker's twine to make the tags (like I did for the favors at the Finding Nemo party). My daughter decided to decorate each one with spiders or pumpkins or ghosts. She loves to draw! Why make it complicated? 

Happy Halloween!

DIY: Big Sister Bag

Our niece is becoming a big sister around Thanksgiving. While my kids were visiting with grandparents over fall break, I had time to sit at my desk with my craft supplies and get lost. It was amazing. I decided to make something that would use up some of my supplies and be a useful gift for our niece. A bag to take to the hospital to visit her new little brother, for her activities and snacks.

I used a bag that I had in my craft stash and made a freezer paper stencil of "Big Sister". I love freezer paper stencils. The font is Century Gothic in 220 size. Simple but still cute. The flowers are the same clip art I used for my little lady's mended pants (some sized smaller) and backed with fusible interfacing to make appliqué so much easier.

After tracing the "Big Sister" letters onto freezer paper, I slowly cut out the letters while listening to a podcast, saving the insides of the B and G. I accidentally cut the inside of the E in "sister" so I free-handed it with my Pilot FriXion pen. Love those things! 

After I traced and cut out the freezer paper stencil, I carefully ironed it onto the bag, making sure the letters were firmly adhered for painting. I ironed on the flowers at the same time. 

I used some Tulip Soft Fabric Paint- Pearl that I had on hand, in Scarlet, to paint the letters. I peeled the stencil away almost immediately because I wanted to see how it looked. Squee! It looked so cute.

I actually followed the directions on the back of the paint bottle and let it dry for four hours before handling it. I did a backstitch around each flower and attached a button to the center of each one with embroidery floss.

I hope our niece loves her bag, and I can't wait to love on her little brother later this fall. 

(*This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.) 

DIY: Mending Holes in Knees

Our little lady has a problem with scooting around on her knees. Yes, she's 5 but that kid loves to walk around on her knees, crawl around during play, slide into an imaginary home plate for unknown reasons. So her pants all get holes in the knees.

She loves two particular pairs of pajama pants and didn't want to get rid of them when she got holes in the knees, so she asked me to fix them. You know, with my mama magic... My plan was to cut them off into bermuda length shorts. She didn't care for that idea one bit. So I took it as a personal challenge to figure out how to repair them myself, with minimal frustration.

I found this tutorial for reverse appliqué and I am amazed with the results. The first pair of pants I used a flower clip art shape that I found online and printed it large enough to cover the hole. The second pair (not photographed) is a pair of polka dot pants so I did a simple circle in a rose fabric scrap that I had. #makeitwork (One thing I miss about being cable-free-- Project Runway.)

This kid. How is it always her right knee?

Yep, that flower will cover the spot.

So I traced it using my handy Pilot FriXion pen-- which faded away when I ironed on the fabric backed with fusible interfacing.

See the tutorial linked above. And pin the heck out of it. Amazingly handy.

2 hours later. Seriously. This took a ridiculous amount of time. The circle was much faster-- not as many curves and I had the hang of back stitch by then. I do enjoy hand work though.

I've washed them a few times and it's held up well. Most importantly, she still has her comfy pajama pants and we fixed something instead of just throwing it away.

DIY: Halloween Wreath

The kids are more interested in Halloween this year so I decided to make a wreath specifically for Halloween instead of just fall. I already had a 12" foam wreath, so my little lady and I set out one afternoon to Michael's to pick out tulle and something fun to decorate it. I let her pick the colors and she initially wanted red and green and purple. Like Christmas gone awry. I had originally wanted all black, and somehow I convinced her to go with purple and black. I'm glad she insisted on a little color.

And I spotted the skull (more Día De los Muertos than Halloween) and she agreed that it wasn't too scary.

I started with 20 yards of each color of tulle and quickly decided to make my pattern of one purple loop and two black loops. So I had to pick up another roll of black tulle to finish the project.

I measured each piece of tulle to be roughly 24 inches, folded it in half, and then looped it around the wreath, knotting it on the outer part of the circle (as seen below). I found it easiest to just use a 12" ruler and let the roll of tulle rest on the floor while I measured and cut in my lap, cutting several pieces at one time so I could cut for a while and then knot for a while. Good to mix it up to rest your hands.

After I looped it through as shown above, I did a quick knot to keep the tulle on tight.

I really squished the loops together to get a nice pattern on the wreath. My daughter said that it looks like a witch's socks. I'll take it.

I used a black satin ribbon from my ribbon stash to attach the skull to the wreath and to make a little loop on the backside of the wreath to hang it on the door hook.

A simple and relatively quick Halloween wreath project. What do you have planned for your Halloween decor?

If you paint the nightstand, you'll want to redo the entire room.

After seeing Cassie's nightstand transformation, I was inspired to do my own. Our guest nightstand and dresser are blonde or honey wood from my husband's childhood bedroom. I like the simple lines but hate hate hate the color.

(The glare on the top of the nightstand is from a piece of plexiglass covering a collage of sorts that I change as I feel like it. Probably will leave the top of the nightstand collage-free, at least for now.)

I found the Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint in Everlasting (white) at Michael's. They also have it at Home Depot (where I ordered some in other colors for other projects in the house). I also picked up the Soft-Touch Varnish for durability and finish.

The paint went on smoothly with a brush, and after a bazillion three coats, there was enough white coverage for my liking. I think if I was going to a color instead of to white, it would take fewer coats to get satisfactory coverage. The paint dries very quickly and I was able to do all three coats in a few hours last night.

Ta-to-the-da!

I might do different knobs, but for now these will do. I fancied up the existing wood knobs with a little Grecian Gold Rub 'n Buff. That stuff is magical!

Tonight after dinner, I applied one coat of the varnish. If the nightstand were in a high-traffic area, I would probably do another coat of varnish for added durability.

Of course, I can't change one thing without changing another. Or all of the things. We redid our entire dining room once because of a clearance set of 4 plates I bought to hang on the wall. (Think "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake..." Seriously, Mr. Making It Bright could have killed me. Good thing he supports my "make it pretty" endeavors.)

My goal is to makeover the guest room/office. Here's the plan.
1) Paint the nightstand (white)
2) Paint the dresser (white)
3) Paint the door leading to garage (navy)
4) New IKEA curtains with navy pompom trim!
5) Paint walls (from their current yucky, institutional yellow/beige to white, making the bed wall an accent wall in a color other than white... Last on the list because one entire wall is our giant shared desk and mounted shelves that need to be decluttered and cleared before we can paint.)

---------
Where have your DIY projects taken you? Started with a simple change and ended up with a whole makeover? How do you update the furniture in your home?

Making It Pretty

My 17-year-old self would not believe that I've become so interested in making things look pretty. That angsty kid would be rolling her eyes at my latest "ooh, so shiny and pretty" tastes. That's the good thing about life-- you're allowed to change.

In the last few years, I've found myself reading more home/lifestyle blogs and becoming more interested in pillows and paint colors and fabrics and shiny knick knacks, particularly if they're from Nate Berkus' line at Target. 

Now don't think that because I enjoy these books and "make it pretty" blogs that my house looks anything like this. Far from it! I've got two kids and two cats creating messes everywhere I look. But a girl can dream, and enjoy a few little corners or items that evoke this aesthetic.

(*This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.)

Hakuna Matata

We had a yard sale on Saturday. In preparing for the yard sale, I went through the house on Friday night and grabbed every sit around that didn't have a specific spot in the house that I didn't absolutely love. My golden spray painted lion didn't make the cut.

But then when we were putting everything out on tables in the driveway too early on Saturday morning, I just couldn't part with him. His mates are a golden giraffe and elephant, who currently appear to be grazing on some faux plants in the dining room. (Cue "Circle of Life" which our little lady has been singing as "Circle of Light" in the car lately.)

After the yard sale, we went to Habitat for Humanity ReStore to look for a cheap headboard for our son. Score, and for under $10. (Expect an update in a few weeks with the transformation using chalky paint.) And then I happened to see a stack of 50 cent bricks on our way out.

And the wheels were a turnin'...

Golden lion + brick painted white = perfect book end!

The brick was pretty rough looking, but for 25 cents (yes, apparently they were on sale!) I could make it work. I picked the smoothest side for the lion's throne. And my Target dollar spot lion had a few spots in his beard mane that needed another hit of gold.

A little spray paint and E6000 glue and time.

I used some cork self-adhesive shelf liner that I had for the bottom so the brick wouldn't scuff up our shelves. It seems to be adhering fine, but if it starts coming off, I plan to switch to white felt.

And then I realized that I had put together this project from inspiration from two projects from blogs I follow. See Cassie's elephant bookends here and Jackie's gilded menagerie (the reason I have all three dollar spot animals in my home today) here.

His name is Mufasa and he cost less than $2.

------------

How have you transformed items with spray paint? What combinations of items have you put together to make a new functional or decorative (or bonus points for both!) item for your home?

Thankful Thursdays

Today, I am thankful for:

1) healthy grandparents who can enjoy Goose. I'm talking about my own grandparents, Goose's great-grands. They came to visit for the day and wore the kid out.

2) long summer days full of sunshine.

3) a sewing machine that works, and a stack of socks to turn into DIY babylegs (check out this tutorial).