My husband and I have been having fun working on projects together and creating things from wood pallets we got from a friend. A couple weeks ago we made shelves that came out pretty good. You can look at the project here. Then we made a sign with our family name on it that I really like. You can look at that project here. This last weekend we made a bench. He actually made it and I took pictures! We needed a bench with a place for shoes for our entryway. We have white carpet, so I try to enforce the "take your shoes off rule" and it's easier to have people do this when there is a place to sit to take their shoes off and a place to sit to put them back on. The bench serves this purpose and I really like the way it came out. I do want to make a cushion for it that I'll get around to making and posting soon. Here is how it looks right now. Here are the steps my husband took to make the bench. Because we have made the shelves and the sign using wood pallets, they are all broken up. He cut the section above to begin with the seating portion of the bench. He hammered the ends to another piece of wood to create a somewhat ladder. He filled in the wide open spaces with pieces of wood … [Read more...]
Fabric Flowers
You have probably come across these rolled fabric flowers on Pinterest or maybe you have seen them in a store. They aren't the easiest flowers to show you how to make. I tried to learn how to make these through a tutorial I found on Pinterest and couldn't quite follow it. So, I'm going to try to show you the most basic way I found to make them. I apologize the pictures are terrible. I'm on vacation. I took these the night before I left and rather than wait until I get home to re do the pictures, I thought I would go ahead and post them now. Step 1 I would practice with some fabric you don't care about. I cut a two and a half inch strip of fabric about a foot and a half inches long. You can play around with the length of the strip of fabric. The longer the fabric, the larger your flower will be. Step 2 Fold the strip in half. Step 3 Fold the end of the fabric to create a ball shape. This will be the starting point and center of the flower. Use hot glue to secure it. Step 4 Twist the fabric around the ball. As you twist, use hot glue to hold the twist in place. Continue around and around until you are satisfied with the size of the flower. Glue the end of the fabric to the … [Read more...]
Wood Pallet Sign
This last weekend my husband and I worked on another project using what was left from the wood pallets we used to make the pallet shelves a couple weeks ago. We decided to make a wood pallet sign with our last name on it. This wasn't hard to do. My husband did what I would consider the hard part. He pulled three pieces of wood from the pallet. He measured the wood to the length we decided would fit well on the wall. He cut the wood according to the measurements. He nailed three post on the back of the sign to hold the three long pieces together. He applied two coats of dark red spray paint. Once the paint was dry, he sanded it to give it a rustic look. I picked a font I liked from my computer (I used baskerville font, size 600), printed out the letters, then cut them out. As you can see, I messed up the e. Using a pencil, I traced each letter on the sign. This part was a little tedious but not too bad. Next, I painted the letters an eggshell white color. I had to go over the letters a couple times. This is what the wall looked like before. There was a framed collage of pictures. Here is how the wall looks now. I'm going to do a post on the chalkboard I made that is below … [Read more...]
Pallet Shelves
Pinterest is full of awesome ideas for using wood pallets. I had never really heard of wood pallets before I started looking at Pinterest. Or maybe I had and just not payed attention. Anyway, ever since coming across these great ideas on Pinterest, I've been wanting to make something out of wood pallets for a while now. Where do people get wood pallets? I had no idea. I asked my friend whose husband is a contractor and he brought 3 wood pallets over that were in really good shape. Once I had the pallets, I had to figure out what to make. I've been wanting to put shelves up in our living room, so I thought we could try and make pallet shelves. And if they didn't come out good, we could just buy them. So I recruited my husband to help me make shelves from wood pallets. I shouldn't say, "to help me" . He did all the work! First, my husband used a hammer to take apart the pallets. He laid the wood out that he would use for the shelves. He used two slats for the top shelf and four for the bottom. He measured how long the shelves would be and cut the wood accordingly. He cut smaller blocks of wood to use as support for underneath the wood slats he put together for the bottom … [Read more...]
Decorating with Succulents
Have you ever tried decorating with succulent plants? I think succulents are cool to look at. They grow well in containers, are low maintenance, and add color, beauty, and interest to any room or space. They aren't expensive either which I like because I'm not good with taking care of plants. You may even have some in your yard you can use. Of course succulent plants look beautiful in an outdoor garden, but have you seen succulent plants incorporated in mixed flower bouquets or table arrangements? Try bringing some of the natural world indoors to make things interesting in your home. Or add succulents to flower arrangements for table centerpieces. Below are some pictures of ideas for decorating with succulent plants. Line up various size hurricane vases with candles and pieces of succulent. This is a quick and easy way to decorate a table. Simple and understated I love this idea from thesweetestoccasion.com of using a succulent plant as escort cards and as a gift for guests. This is a beautiful table arrangement for a wedding or baby shower from acharmingoccasion.com Another beautiful arrangement for a wedding from bearflagfarm.com. Since I found so many great ideas … [Read more...]
Felt Bows for Baby
Felt Bows are another simple do it yourself project. As I've said before, all the DIY projects I do are simple. There isn't much to them. This is what makes it fun for me. I don't spend hours trying to make something. If it's going to be too complex or take a lot of time, I would rather buy it. But simple projects like these felt bows are fun. I get a lot of gratification out of making flowers and felt bows for my baby and friend's babies and I think you will too. The other point I want to make is that I get inspiration from Pinterest, magazines, catalogues, and when I go shopping. Most of the things I make are not totally original. You have probably seen them somewhere before. I usually change something about the project to make it a little different from wherever I saw it. Back to felt bows for baby. You will need scissors, felt, a needle and thread, and then you can attach it to whatever you want with hot glue. I attached mine to hair clips. Felt Bows for Baby {Steps} 1. Click on the link below to get an idea of the 3 shapes you will need to draw to make felt bows Steps {Note-these shapes are not perfect. They will give you the general shape.} 2.Draw the 3 shapes onto … [Read more...]
Drop Cloth Baby Banner
After browsing around on Pinterest and looking at cute little girl's rooms, I was inspired to make a baby banner for my little girl's room. This was a simple project to do, but I have to admit, it was time consuming. I prefer quick projects with immediate results like the clothespin magnets I posted the other day! However, I did have fun making the banner, especially once I saw the results. I decided to use drop cloth to make the baby banner. When I say drop cloth, I'm referring to the material painters use to protect the floor. In a previous post I showed you how to make a drop cloth table runner. I like using this material because it looks a lot like linen and it is sturdy. Drop Cloth Baby Banner Supplies you will Need to Make Banner: enough drop cloth or whatever fabric you choose for front and back of flags (I made 10 flags) scissors pencil ruler or some sort of straight edge (I used a magazine) hemming tape or ribbon sewing machine, needle and thread, or fabric glue stencils or you can make your own paint and brush Steps to Make Drop Cloth Baby Banner 1. Measure out one flag. As you can see above, I used a magazine to measure the sides of one flag to make … [Read more...]
Clothespin Magnets
Clothespin magnets are another very simple do it yourself project. This is the kind of project that would be fun to do with young kids. It doesn't take many supplies and there isn't any skill involved. It's a quick project so they won't need any significant attention span and they can see there results right away. Plus, they can pin up their projects with them. If you don't have a stainless steel refrigerator, maybe you have a fridge in your garage you can put the clothespin magnets on or I like a magnetic board. All you need are clothespins, magnets, hot glue, and whatever you want to decorate them with them. I used buttons and rhinestones. You can paint them or cover them in glitter. They look great however you want to decorate them. There is not much too this. Glue a magnet on one side of the bottom of the pin. On the other side glue whatever you like to give them some spark. These took about five minutes to make. Sometimes it is fun for me to do a quick and easy project like this. I get some sort of gratification out of little DIY projects (even if they are this basic)! I think they look cute. At Christmas time I use clothespins to clip and hang my cards to a chain … [Read more...]
Sweet Baby Shower Idea
A friend of mine is getting ready to have a baby shower. We were discussing baby shower ideas which made me reflect back to my own baby showers. One sweet baby shower idea is to have each guest fill out a list of wishes for your baby. I included a PDF at the bottom of this post with the wish list my mom made for my baby showers. She placed a list for each guest at their place setting with a cute pencil (it was sort of a pain sharpening all the pencils but they looked cute!). Everyone filled out a wish list for baby before we ate. Later my mom put them all in this book she gave me. It makes for a sweet baby shower idea and a gift my baby will have forever. It's also fun to look back and read the sweet messages your friends and family left for your baby at her shower. I love this book my mom put together for me from Sophia's baby shower. It's a pretty vintage looking book with clear pockets on each page. My mom made this emblem for the cover page. Each guest filled one of these wish lists out for Sophia. Each card was placed in the book. I have the book for Sophia to read one day when she's old enough. Wishes For Our Baby wishes for our baby (boy) … [Read more...]
Shadow Boxes & Baby Clothes
I love the way shadow boxes look, especially with baby clothes in them. Shadow boxes and baby clothes are a great way to add art with meaning to your baby's room. Shadow boxes can also display your baby's keepsakes beautifully. Last time I was at my mom's I took a picture of this shadow box she has on the wall above the baby's crib. It gave me some inspiration to make my own. I haven't gotten around to making one yet but I found a few more shadow boxes I like and thought I'd share them with you to maybe inspire you to make one. Shadow boxes look really great with any sort of keepsakes or memorabilia in them {not just baby clothes}. This shadow box with a baby sweater is from my mom's house. She put some pink and white checked fabric in the back and pinned a cute little Polo sweater in it. A shadow box from Pottery Barn Kids. I love the silver plate, spoon, baby shoes, and picture. It's so simple. This another shadow box from Pottery Barn Kids. This is cute for a little boy's room. I love the hand print. This is from Restoration Hardware Baby. The simple pink dress in the white framed shadow box looks so pretty in this little girl's room. Another shadow box from … [Read more...]
