A Short Sunday Project

I still had a few other areas of the house I wanted to add a little "spring flair" to. One of them is the table/IKEA shelf my ginormous tv sits on.

My friend Rachael gave me this flower shaped charger sometime last spring, and I knew just want I wanted to do with it. I dug some yellow polka dot ribbon out of my bins, grabbed my glue gun, and went to work framing the center. I then just added some simple glittery alphabet letting in the middle.

The yellow candle was a housewarming gift from my friend Jess, and the candle stand was my free with purchase pick at Bath and Body Works a few weeks ago.

Tada! 

An essentially free new decoration that took less than 15 minutes. 

 (See my ginormous tv in the background?)

Spring Mantel

A whole weekend of spring decorating, and my mantel still needed some serious help! I decided to take an extra trip to Hobby Lobby on Saturday to see if anything caught my eye. I purchased a few items to take them home and see how they looked, but I wasn't in love with anything I bought. I then decided to just head over to the dollar store for fun. I picked up a few more items but still wasn't sure what direction I was headed. I came home and put everything I thought about including on the table. Here's how my thought process began:

Hot mess, huh?

I slowly started getting rid of some things and adding to other pieces. I went out into my garage and found a container I was looking for with extra decorations. I liked the "SPRING" banner and the burlap and ribbon runner, so I knew I wanted to stay with those items. After some re-arranging, here is what I came up with:

(Yes, I'm that OCD to have my books in descending height order.)

I like it! Those teal tins are from the dollar store (imagine that?!) as well as the moss. I made the paper flowers last year for my sister-in-law's wedding shower, and the candlesticks and candles I already had. The gray pitcher I found on a Target clearance rack for $5.19 a couple weeks ago, and the hydrangeas are from Michael's. Total cost was a little under $15!

Spring Decorating Continues

After the wreath went up, I had to figure out what to do with my "mantel". I loved the colors I used, but the orange color was a little off from the more pink color of the burlap I had purchased, and I just couldn't deal with that. I still wanted to use the beach glass color again, however, so I painted the inside of a pickle jar my mom gave me and added the orange hydrangea stem and the burlap. While I knew this wouldn't work for my "mantel", I still loved the look!

It now sits in the center of my dining table!

(Yes, I know I need to iron the gray cloth napkin under it- I'm just lazy sometimes.)

(That comment was particularly for my mom. Sorry, mom, I know better. I'll iron it next time.)

Spring mantel coming in my next post!

Spring Wreath

As soon as I got home from the store, I began working on my spring wreath. Wreaths are some of my favorite things to make, but they are definitely a process. I usually spend an absurd amount of time working through the items I want on the wreath, paint some things, cut, place, etc....all to then decide I don't want to use anything I just created :)

This wreath was no exception. I cut some burlap pieces into pendant shapes and painted "S-P-R-I-N-G" on each piece, but I decided not to use them (look for those later). I really loved the colors of the hydrangeas and the paint I came home with and wanted to incorporate both. I then remembered I had a "Welcome" wooden sign I had picked up at a discount craft store for around $.50. I quickly painted it in the beach glass color. The grapevine wreath I actually got from Goodwill for $1.50. It was the perfect size. Hydrangeas were my most expensive item (they were $6.99/stem at Michael's), but I got them while they were 40% off! I added a burlap bow at the top, and that was that!

Here it is on my living room floor, pre-attachment :)

 

I love the way it all came together! 

And my door is so bright and cheery. Perfect for the still mostly cold days.

Spring Is Coming!

Anyone else so excited for warmer weather? I know I am!

I went to the store tonight and purchased these items. Stay tuned to see what comes of them!

Oops!

Yikes, I've been a bad blogger! 

To be fair, I've been house/cat sitting for the entire month and haven't been at my house. Thankfully, I moved back in tonight! There is just something about being in your own home, no matter how humble it may be, that immediately lifts your mood. It's good to be back!

I also starting coaching softball at the beginning of this week. My plate is pretty full, but I'm determined to practice excellent self-discipline for these next few months and keep plugging away at the many different things I have my hands in! 

I also (gasp!) still have my Valentine's Day decorations up! Look for an update this weekend with some new decor for spring. I'm excited to show you what I've put together so far!

Who's ready for Valentine's Day?

Even though I'll be house/cat sitting for the next month and won't be home much to enjoy them, I just had to get some decorations out for Valentine's Day. They're just too cute!

Besides the $5 I spent on ribbon for the garland and the $1 I paid for pink felt for the wreath, I didn't spend a dime! Just used things I had around the house. (Red hots were left over from 4th Week of July Party- yeah, I wouldn't recommend eating them either.)

I took my purple vases down and placed them in other parts of my living room, keeping their winter stems in them. I used the black candle holders I had on my Christmas table with their white candles. I then replaced the white, silver, and gold pine cones with red hots in my mason jars and added a tea light candle. The garland is serving as a runner over the burlap, and the wreath makes a nice focal piece for the table.
(Did you see that? I didn't even complain about not having a mantel.)

I also couldn't help putting up this month's free printable. It's just so cute!

Get yours here.

What's your favorite Valentine printable?

Valentine's Day Argyle Heart Wreath

Some days I'm okay with imperfect. Not frequently, but it does happen. Especially if I'm not making it to sell or for a gift!

Today my friend texted me a picture of a cute wreath she pinned on Pinterest. I laughed because I had also posted a similar pin! I got home from work, had some free time before my volleyball game, and decided I was going to see if I could replicate it. I only had to run to the store for one missing supply, everything else I had on hand! Fortunately, I already had a smaller grey wreath that I needed to upcycle. I removed the previous decorations very carefully, cute some cute pink and red hearts-no template, just free-handed, hence the imperfections ;), and got to work hot gluing them to the wreath! I then wrapped some sparkly white yarn I had leftover from a Christmas wreath to create the argyle look. Overall, since the wreath was already wrapped, I think it only took me about a half hour and my only cost was the pink felt I had to run to the store to pick up. 

Not bad for under $1!

And here it is on my front door.

Valentine's Day Garland

The bestie asked me to join her to run errands today. I've limited my budget for the month of January, so when she asked me to join her at Michael's and Hobby Lobby, I knew I was pushing my luck ;)

I saw this adorable garland at Michael's made out of scraps of ribbon, felt, and fabric. I immediately fell in love with it! It was $14.99, and I could've used a 40% off coupon, but I decided against it. We then traveled to Hobby Lobby and I found the cutest wired, checkered burlap ribbon. It was 50% off, so I paid $5 and some change for it. 

I got home and found plenty of materials to make my garland. Here it is!

Not bad for $5 and some change!

(and time...quite some time, actually)

A little closer look at the pieces I used.

Decorating for January.

Happy New Year! 

I'm excited for what this year may hold, 

and I'm excited to continue sharing more and more with you all. 

So remember how I said I was going to come up with some decorations for January that I love? Well, I did! But first, I had some sad news. The shelf I hung back in the fall to make up for my "lack of mantel" was terrible. The wall it hung on in my ever so humble place of living was too bowed for the shelf, so it was learning forward to the point that nothing would stay on it! I literally had to sticky tack my Christmas decorations to it. I decided that was too much of a hassle because I also couldn't put any thing with significant weight on it. I decided to take the shelf down (sniff sniff), and just leave the table I brought in for Christmas decorating in the room.

I covered the wall then with two upcycled canvases covered with a pretty, grey damask fabric I found. They conveniently covered all the holes in the wall that the shelf left ;)

I scored those white candleholders at Target in their after-Christmas clearance for 50% off. (I'd been eying them all season!) I also scored the gold and snow-covered branches in Michael's 70% off Christmas clearance. The cute printable in the middle was part of a set I downloaded from here. It says "It's a good day to have a good day." A good reminder for those of us in the cold Midwest!

As you'll notice in the second picture, those white candles had to go. I replaced then with cuter, silver pillar candles. I just didn't like the white ones. 

Enjoy!

After-Christmas Decorations

Who likes what their house looks like after they take all the Christmas decorations down? 

No one. 

(Okay, except maybe my one friend who considers her Christmas decorations "clutter" and takes them down as soon as possible.)

But not me! I'm determined to work on some decorations that I love to have up for the month of January! So look for something soon...I'm working on it, and here are some of the elements below. 

A Little Mantel Love

Today I went over to my sister's house for lunch and ended up helping her decorate her mantel for Christmas. I do have a little mantel-envy due to my lack of mantel (I know, I whine about that a lot...I'm sorry).

All of the glassware she had somewhere around the house, and we filled them with ornaments and some silver and white filler from Michael's. The cute little "let it snow" sign in the middle was in the $1 bin! Her super cute skate stockings were a gift from her sister-in-law from Canada. 

The best news about this mantel? All she has to do is take down the stockings, and it can stick around until Valentine's Day!

'Tis The Season

Christmas decorations make me happy!

Decorating for Fall.

Happy Fall!

I FINALLY got a shelf up in my living room to serve as a mantel substitute. (I don't have a mantel- I'm pretty sad about it.) I threw some pumpkins up there with some leafy garland, a few mirrors with wooden frames, and a new block letter set I made. I also made the wreath below to hang on the front door. So excited to finally be able to decorate for my favorite season!

 

Polka Dot Pumpkin

One of the things my friends got for me last week was a pumpkin from the farmer's market. I know, kind of a weird request for my birthday, but we were at the farmer's market...and I just wanted it, that's all. When it's your birthday, you get what you want, right?

I came home and spiced it up a little bit. I used a round foam brush and acrylic paint to make the dots, and then I used a white Sharpie pen and free-handed the "A". I had to do a couple layers of each for it to really stand out, but I think it turned out pretty well. I then added a cute bow on top and set it out on my front porch!

 

 

Football Season is Here!

I'm a big OSU fan. I wanted to think of some ways to decorate that weren't generic or used the usual OSU symbols. In other words, I wanted to use my crafty creativity to come up with something different! So I pulled out some white letter stickers, scrapbook paper, wooden blocks, Mod Podge, and ribbon and was able to come up with a cute letter set to sit on my shelf throughout the football season!

I also made a couple yarn wreaths for the craft show coming up.

GO BUCKS!

Welcome Yarn Wreath

Getting a head start on some items for my craft show coming up in the fall! 

I used a multi-colored yarn (no, I did NOT wrap each color individually like one friend suggested) to wrap the wreath and then a coordinating deep purple for the band. I popped that daisy flower off a stem and hot glued it to the wreath. The welcome sign is made of wood. I sprayed the wooden sign with spray adhesive, placed it upside down on a piece of scrapbook paper, and used an Exacto knife to cut the paper to size. I then used a small file to smooth the edges and added a layer of Mod Podge to keep it smooth. I like how it turned out! I also think it could be used for spring, fall, or both!

Desk Makeover

In preparation for my upcoming move, I've been working on putting together some pieces for my bedroom. I scoured Pinterest for some DIY furniture redo tips and was inspired!

My brother brought this desk over a while ago in exchange for the beautiful roll top desk I was originally going to paint. (He thought it was a crime- I didn't see a problem with it.)

 

  

Here is the finished product!

I purchased the white and brushed nickel pulls from Lowe's, and the zebra print knobs from Hobby Lobby. I never realized how expensive knobs and pulls are! I could have gone with a more generic look and been able to buy them in a pack, but I couldn't resist adding a little zebra flair. Even with 50% off the knobs from Hobby Lobby, I still think I spend about $20 on knobs and pulls and $10 on paint and primer. The desk was free, so I guess $30 total isn't too bad! I also had PLENTY of paint and primer left over, so it will be used for other projects.

Storage Canisters

Storage canisters can get expensive. I wanted to personalize them anyway, so I tried to make them as cheap as possible! I purchased the jars at Hobby Lobby while their glassware was 50% off. (Make sure it says on the bottom that they are food-safe containers. This isn't true for all of them! They also need to be air-tight.) I then set to work on my Cricut machine. I used the "Old West" cartridge and cut out each letter. It was a little tedious, especially applying them to the jars, but I love how they turned out! I love leaving them out on my kitchen counter for their own decoration!