Oh, the projects…

March 15, 2012 By

Oh, the projects I am dreaming of now!

Look what my UPS man dropped off tonight:

I currently have no idea how to use this machine, and to be perfectly honest, I’m a little intimidated. There are a lot of bloggers in blog land who have used the Silhouette machines to create all kinds of awesomeness, like this and this.

I’ve seen numbers and quotes on stairs, and for some reason that idea really intrigues me. I could label every bin in our house. I’m thinking a house number decal on the door would be fabulous. Oh, the wheels are turning.

But first, I have to figure out how to use this baby! Stay tuned for lots of fun pictures to come.

Maybe.

 

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DIY project – Christmas card display

December 15, 2011 By

FYI – The pictures in this post aren’t so great; I switched the lens on the camera and had gotten used to the other one! I’m working on my skills, though, so hopefully the pics will be less blurry/crappy next time!

I LOVE getting Christmas cards. I literally open them on my porch so I can see them all right away. During the Christmas season, I’m seriously disappointed if there’s not at least one card in the mailbox each day! I like to look at the cards all month, and I also love to go to other people’s houses and look at their cards. Is that weird?!

For years {like since college!}, I’ve displayed my Christmas cards in this gold star basket that I picked up Pier 1.

And I was perfectly ok with that basket until I started seeing all kinds of fun ways to display cards on the internet. Earlier this week, I saw on Pinterest {imagine that!} that someone, somewhere had covered pieces of foam board with fabric and then pinned their cards to the boards.

Genius. Customizable. Affordable.

Lo and behold, I was on the phone with Beverly on Monday while I was on the way to her house {what? you don’t talk to the person whose house you’re going to?!} and told her about the idea I stole/found. She had a piece of foam board I could have, so I stopped at Hobby Lobby to get some fabric and voila! Today, I hung my new Christmas card holder.

I think it would be *really* cool if you had the wall space to hang several of these together so you could see all of the cards. I’d have a hard time taking them down after the holiday!

The total cost? Foam board, glue sticks, ribbon and hot glue gun burn on my index finger = $0. Fabric = $6. I don’t know how much fabric I used because I had the lady at HL roll out some of the fabric and I tried to remember how big the foam board {even though it was IN my car!} and said, “yeah, about that much please.” And it only took me 10 minutes to put it all together.

Tell us – How do you display your cards? 

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{Changes} Creating a Magnetic Chalkboard Space

August 5, 2011 By

We live in a very charming {and small} home, and I’m always looking for beautiful, functional ways to maximize our space. There is a swinging door between our dining room and galley kitchen, and for obvious reasons {ahem, the toddler!} we keep it open at all times. A few years ago, I decided to make use of the space by hanging one of Ikea’s nifty magnetic strips on the door and displaying invitations, recipes, and such.

But after being part of the blogging world, I realized that I could make *much* more use out of the door. Some of my favorite bloggers {here and here} and my absolute favorite magazine endorsed magnetic primer and/or chalkboard paint to make things a little more fun and interesting. And, I’m totally embracing the idea of using what we have but making it ours. None of this waiting around for our ‘dream’ home; there’s no reason our first home can’t be exactly what I want!

SO, once I convinced the hubs that this would be a super fun project, he went with me to buy the supplies and I invited my mom to a painting party {with one roller – thanks, Mom!} while Jim was at work one day. I cleaned the door, let it dry, then used painter’s tape to frame out the panels. I had read from Jen that you needed more than the three coats of primer suggested on the can, so I went with eight, just to be sure.

After the multiple coats of primer, I was ready to get started with the chalkboard paint. I put on one coat and then Jim put the final coat on the door last Saturday while I was running.

And now, we have a fun and functional space to display our invitations and family calendar and Molly can use the bottom to draw while we’re hanging out in the kitchen. **Confession: We haven’t actually used the chalkboard function of the door yet. I don’t know what I’m waiting for…

I think it looks great! Now if only I can convince the hubs to raise the cabinets to the ceiling {I hate that space between the ceiling and the cabinets, don’t you?} and redo the backsplash, including installing a fun little shelf for display and spices. I’ll keep you posted about that project.

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A labor of love: My Easter egg wreath

April 13, 2011 By

Last Easter, I wanted to make an Easter egg wreath, so I bought the wreath form but never got around to buying the plastic eggs. After Easter, I bought eggs on sale and put them in my spring decorating box and was so pleased with myself that I had everything I needed to make the wreath. Fast forward to this year:  I realize Easter is coming, we’re i the middle of  stalled redecorating/reorganizing project, and I can’t find the wreath. I’ve got the eggs, mind you, but no wreath form. So I finally go back into the attic, pull out multiple boxes of Christmas decorations, put them back in, look in a closet, and finally resgin myself to the fact that there won’t be an Easter egg wreath this year, either. The next day, in a moment of clarity, I remember that I put the wreath form *on top* of the purple storage container that houses my spring decorations and realize that it must have fallen off and is indeed in the attic.  So back up the stairs I go, pull out the Christmas boxes again and magically find the wreath form.

Then it takes me three more days to get motivated to actually start making the wreath.

And then I realize I don’t have enough hot glue sticks OR Easter eggs.

So after acquiring said items, I start making the wreath and realize that I didn’t put the eggs close enough together and then it’s time to get Molly from school and then we have an appointment and then…well, you get the idea.  So the unfinished wreath sat on our very limited  kitchen counter for a few days.

Until yesterday. I finally finished that sucker. Molly loves it, which is the only reason I made it in the first place.

Last night, I wanted to get a picture of the wreath before it got dark, so as we were getting ready to read Molly her bedtime books, I grabbed the camera. She saw me get the camera and ran after me, calling “Cheese!” Obviously we don’t take many pictures around here.

When I asked her what she thought of the egg wreath, she said, “Cute!” {But I think she’s the cute one!}

So now that that project is complete, I guess I should get around to finishing one of the other 2 zillion half-finished projects.  What do you think?  Have you made a wreath like this before? What else do you do to decorate for spring and Easter?

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