Fabric and Jute wreath.

Last Saturday we had no plans so we were all just hanging out playing legos and such so I decided to throw together a little craft project.

I found a Dollar Store green wreath form in my stash left over from my Christmas ornament wreath. I didn't do a tutorial because I was totally freaked that it wouldn't work out. And I can't have another jute tree debacle on my record.

So I took some jute/twine and started wrapping and gluing every 10 or so turns. It took forever. And when I say forever, I actually mean forever.

Then, I took some linen samples that were sent to me from a designer (Hi Shelly!) to use on my chair that I ended up using a drop cloth for.

I just held on to one end and twisted them around and then started making wrapping them. It's really one of those things that are hard to explain, but once you start doing it, you just make it up along the way and it works. Right. Easy. Uh...sorry, There are tutorial out there. If you want me to do one, let me know. I'll make something up.

Here's how it turned out:

I'll give you a little hint as to how I work. On some of the flowers I rolled them first and then just shoved the glue gun in to some of the little crooks and crevices to get them to stick together. Easy? Lazy? Smart? You be the judge.

I love it. I am totally thrilled with the way it turned out. It was a totally free project. Except that I initially had to buy the jute and the wreath about 6 months ago, but that doesn't really count in my book.

I know what you're saying..."if she loves it so much, why isn't it hanging on her bee-utiful twenty-five dollar front door?

I went to hang it on the wreath hanger on the front door and I couldn't. No wreath hanger. Huh. I have no idea where it is or where it went or how it got off the door. So, there it sits. On the stairs. Until I can remember to pick up a new wreath hanger somewhere.

Love. It.

Craft Closet Makeover

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Yesterday I showed you our office makeover: (BTW, that bulletin board is going somewhere else!)

Today, let's talk craft closet. Ugh.

We made a trip to Ikea a little while back and picked up a drawer unit a small shelf/drawer and lots of boxes.

Then we made a trip to Home Depot (again, they really should pay me...) and had them cut some shelves for us. We have the tools to do it, but really, it is so much easier for them to do it for us.

We, and of course when I say we, I mean Tom, measured everything and hung up all the shelves. I supervised. I did put the cabinet and the shelf storage thing together!

Then I put everything in the pretty white boxes and filled the jars and put the toys away and labeled all the pretty white boxes...

And now, we have a pretty storage closet to hide all our stuff. I will probably paint the closet at some point, but right now I'm just enjoying being organized!

Oooh...look how pretty it is! So, that bottom drawer unit and the two plastic containers came from Ikea. The two drawer pull out shelf came from Ikea too. As did all the white boxes. The glass containers came from everywhere. Target, G-dub, garage sales....You can use whatever kind of glass container you want, I just think they are convenient and available.

I think it turned out great. I've got lots of room, some things hiding so we don't have to see them and toys that are constantly played with easy to reach.

The bottom drawer unit is full of craft stuff for the boys...they love to draw.

And you are getting a sneak peek at our new doors!

Love this closet. I know, it's the little things. Do I think it's pretty? Yep. Bonus points if you can tell me how many times I said pretty.....

Ornament Wreath

Okay. I finally finished this stinkin' thing.

I started three weeks ago when we got all our Christmas stuff out.

It's not the wreath on the hanger that was all the craze last year....this is different. New. Better. (If I do say so myself!)

I haven't done many crafts this season, I've been trying to just "BE" instead. Are you buying that? I just couldn't find anything that I was dying to do....Well, there is one thing that I'd like to do, but it involves finding a very large ladder and some birch branches, and attaching lights to those branches, so it's on hold for the moment.....

Here's one that I did, and if I hadn't been putting it off, it would have been finished in one evening of sitting in front of the boob tube.

I took a dollar store wreath form, that I bought for, well, a dollar. And a four packages of mini ornaments from Target. They were 5 bucks a container. I used three and a half containers.

So, this wreath cost about 20 dollars. If I'm being technical. A little pricey, but totally worth it, again, if I do say so myself...


My glue gun and I were friends through this. No burns. I just started putting them on and went all around filling in where needed.

When I was ready to put the ribbon on I took two push pins and attached it to the wreath. I also glued the ribbon to the wreath, just to be sure it would hold.

 I love it. Ignore the half painted window, divert your eyes. Just stare at the wreath, and those absolutely beautiful and ingenious mason jar lights.

I love it. I may leave it up. All year. Just like the moss one from last year, that stayed up until, June, or yesterday, whatever.

So fun. So festive. Just perfect to "BE".

Halloween Bunting

Just thought I'd share this cute little project I did using my Cricut cutter.

I love bunting. Anyone else? 

All I did was cut out a bunch of tags on some Halloween paper. And then I cut out some little houses with the letters of "trick or treat" inside each house (that's for a different project! Stay tuned.) but I used the left over letters for this project. 

I then just mod podged the letters to the tags and strung it on some jute.

I love when I can get many projects out of one!

I know you are all staring at that half painted window in the background. One thing at a time, right?!

Painting rocks.

Painting does rock! But, I'm talking about actually painting rocks....the things on the ground that end up in my kids' pockets.

I know you all saw these:

(Pottery Barn)

And I know what you were all thinking....

I read the description. Umm...16 dollars for 4 rocks. Comes with a piece of chalk to personalize each rock. You mean I have to do the work to get it to look like that?!

Are you kidding me? So, you know what I did. Of course I did. How could I not. And I know that you are all going to do it too. That's what DIYer's do. 

I know it is only September. But, I had to get it out there so that those of you that haven't taken the first steps to doing something can see that this is THE EASIEST project out there. Seriously. My one year old can do this. 

Gather rocks. Put your kids to work, I did.

Wash them off. I used a vegetable brush to get the dirt off. It worked great.

Dry them.

Spray them with chalkboard spray paint (You can get it at Home Depot or Menards, or Lowe's, or Ace).

Dry them. Rub chalk all over them and then wipe it off. Then write on them! After three words search google for other Halloween words...

 

Put them in a pretty jar. 

Nevermind that there are still fake snow flakes in that jar. Just neveryoumind.

This project cost me NOTHING. I got the rocks from the yard, I used extra chalkboard paint I had on hand and of course we have chalk. 

Easy. And it took about 15 minutes. 

Come on PB, you knew we were going to hack you. Try again.

This is a great and easy Halloween project to do, I know it's only the first of September (Yikes!) but I'm linking this to my friend Kellie's Fall Festival...cause she's cool. You'll like her. Go see.

Here's what I've been up to.

Painting this:

And these, and the piece that goes with them:

And trying to do something with this crap:

(umm....I just don't know if that's a fail yet or not.)

And trying this out:

(Smoked pork butt. We like to say "pork butt" in our house. Tom cooked it...All. Day. Long. Seriously. I'm not a fan of pork, but  (ha!) I tried it for Tom's sake. Flavor, good. Texture, not so good.)

That's what I've been up to. Can't wait to show you the results of photos one and two! Photo three, eh, I'll show you if it works out....

Late night thinking turns out great...

The other night I was thinking about the contact paper chalkboard....Yep, they have it. I couldn't find it anywhere. But, a few months ago I bought this, thinking I would use it sometime.

Then, I had this stuff...you know, contact paper....

So, I put the two together. Two coats. Done.

And then I found this gorgeous picture and proceeded to spray paint right over it....

And this is the end result:

Right on the kitchen wall. The boys came up with a list of things they want to do this summer and we're checking them off as we go. So fun!

I had some left over chalk board, and still have some that I'm deciding what to do with....but so far, I've done these:

I'm in love. So easy. So cheap. So using what I had around the house. LOVE IT.

Giant Paper Ball

I've been wanting to do a craft and I thought this would be quick and easy. I think I am going to hang these up around the house for Tiny G's big birthday weekend. so I wanted to get an idea of what this would look like and how many I think I will need. I think it is fantastic and totally easy. Well, relatively.

Here's my version of the ginormous tissue paper ball.

Gather necessities. Tissue paper. I chose white green and blue.

Fold about 10 sheets of paper accordion style. So it ends up like this:

Then trim the ends. For this one I did a pointed end. And then wrap one of those wire thingies around the middle. All I had was purple. Ah, oh well. Use what you have. I'm sure something else would work too. Bubblegum wrapper. Floss. Jute. Hair tie.

Then spread it out and start pulling the sheets apart.

Be careful not to rip the sheets of paper. Be so very gentle with the very fine tissue paper. It's sensitive.

And there it is in all its glory. I think I'm going to hang them from the ceiling from fishing wire. Love it!

Ooohh....look at those walls....notice anything? I'll fill you in tomorrow.

Makin' Crayons

On Friday night, yep, that's right. Friday Night. We're wild and crazy around here. I pulled a craft out of the air right before I fed the boys hot dogs on a stick for supper. The boys were thrilled - with the craft and the supper. They thought I was the crayon God.

We were cleaning out the kids' craft cart and there were a ton of broken crayons. So, I took those silly useless crayons and we turned them into magical crayon disks.

I have no idea what temperature it needs to be at or how long they were in the oven. I know, I'm such a loser. But, I would guess that if you put them in at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, they would be melted.

Here's what it looked like:

Now. If you were fancy, you would have some cool William Sonoma silicone shapes, but, we're not fancy around here - so, if you're fancy use those, because that would be cool. But, this is what I had on a Friday night....

Don't mix them up after they are melted or you won't get the fun mixture of colors - you'll just end up with that ugly purple/black/brown....Let them cool before popping them out of the tin....see, we're a little fancy with some sparkly crayons in there...

Don't they look happy?!

What did you do on Friday night?