Shutter + Christmas Cards

A little shutter made its way into our Christmas decor this year! 

 

This faithful little shutter sat un-painted and hidden for the past two years because I couldn't figure out what to do with it.  I even moved it into our new house hoping inspiration would strike one day. A can of red spray paint and glitter blast brought this bland shutter to life. Now it's home to Christmas cards from family and friends. 

We have the perfect spot for the shutter(s) on our landing. I was so excited to keep cards on display showing off cute pictures of family and friends.

Shutter number one is filling up! It's almost time to bust out the second shutter.

Happy Holidays!

A Bench for Bruce

Yes - I'm sitting on the toilet. Awkward.

Let's just take a minute and remember this bathroom. 

Yuck!

Our first house project was ripping down the dreadful wallpaper in this master bathroom. You may remember this post.  I'm standing by my previous statement: Please don't ask me to help you tear down wallpaper. Please! I beg of you. 

Along with the wallpaper, we invested in new faucets, hardware for the drawers, and a new paint job.  My original intention was to spruce up the bench that came with the house. Unfortunately, we thought it would be a good idea to use that bench as a step stool during de-wallpapering and it was destroyed. Oops.  

R.I.P. brass bench. You lived a good life. 

Since then, I've been hunting for a NEW bench. 

My hunt was unsuccessful. 

Yesterday, I was walking around a flea market in my hometown and this bench popped out to me. It pleaded with me to save it. 

$10 later... it was saved!

I started by peeling off the existing cushion. The cushion had been repurposed three times before and had enough dust in it to fill my garage. 

It. Was. Gross. 

I gave the bench a new paint job with spray paint. Then, I picked up a yard of fabric at Jo-Anns, a foam cushion, some batting, and rewrapped the plywood that came with the bench. 

The highlight of this experience was investing in my first staple gun. My crafting possibilities are endless now - thanks to my new ($12) staple gun!

Here's what it looked like in the bathroom before it's little makeover:

And after it's 24-hour makeover!

Let's be honest... 

We all know who is going to take over the bench. The boss - Bruce. 

Did I mention we got a cat? Oh yes, we have a cat now. 

Meow

Hmm.. what shall I staple next?

Pistachio Inspired Tables

This weekend, my handsome fella' and I tackled a little furniture revamping project. To date, this was officially our second project together. Inspired by our favorite power couple, Chip and Joanna Gaines, we decided to give these end tables a second life. 

Here's a peak at the end tables prior to our project:

Fun Fact: Both tables fit quite nicely in the backseat of a Ford Fusion!

First, we decided to give each of the tables a good sanding because.. well... that's what every tutorial told us to do, so it seemed like it was necessary. How's that for an explanation?

After standing in the spray paint aisle for way-too-long (my fault.. couldn't decide on a color), Scott said, "go with your gut!" So, my gut said, "Pistachio!" Therefore, we went with the color "Pistachio" by Krylon. As were were painting and the color came to life, I fell more and more in love with the color! 

Named after my favorite snack: Pistachio!

After a few coats of paint (and another trip to Wal-Mart for more paint...then a pit stop at Home Depot...and online search at Menards..) our finished project was sitting pretty in our garage. 

Chip, our official project observer, gave the tables his stamp of approval. 

Have you painted furniture before? Do you sand? Prime? Spray Paint? Share with me your tips!

My next furniture project involves a sofa table I purchased on Craigslist and chalk paint. Off to the garage I go to soak up this beautiful weather and my final hours of spring break!

Soaking Up the Last Ray - A Bachelorette Bash!

A few weekends ago, I had the great honor of hosting a bachelorette bash for my best friend and SOON to be Mrs.! And I thought....

Thanks to PrettyPaperParties and her adorable Etsy shop, I was able to get the word out about the par-tay back in April. I highly recommend working with Brooke while party planning. She was great to work with and very flexible when I forgot a thing or two...

After what seemed like an eternity (yes, I'm mildly dramatic...) it was finally bachelorette weekend! Before Abby arrived, I decorated the house with a few bachelorette goodies including this banner:

Using free templates... YES FREE! .... from PrintablePartyDecor.com, I printed the backdrop for the banner and topped it off with letters cut from my Cricut. Notice anything missing? Yes, a few rings and the word the didn't make the trip across town. Oops! I had time to fix it. 

Waiting for Abby when she arrived into town was a little gift bag with a personalized t-shirt from DearAddieWomen's Etsy shop. It was the perfect gift to kick off the weekend! Plus, she shipped the shirt within a few weeks to me - talk about great service!

On Friday evening, we started off the weekend with a Mexican-themed Honeymoon Shower. All of the ladies showered our bride-to-be with honeymoon themed gifts and a rousing game of Bride Scattegories. It was fantastic! Plus we had a piñata and delicious bikini cookies... 

Another Etsy favorite was Rachel Carl's shop. (Visit her Etsy shop here) I ordered these adorable, and personalized, straws back in April and had been anxiously awaiting their debut! 

The banner looked even cuter with the bride-to-be (and the word the... oops) posing in front of it!

#lastray

The rest of the weekend was spent soaking up the beautiful Missouri sunshine at the Lake of the Ozarks and a delightful night out on the town. 

A great weekend - one for the memory books to say the least!

Bringing DIY to my Classroom

To say that our classroom was filled with Christmas cheer this week would be a mild understatement. For one of our activities, I had my students create an ornament with their big 'ol 5th grade smile tucked inside for their families. Last year, I made a few ornaments for my own tree that you can read about here. It was fun bringing the spirit of DIY to my classroom and equally exciting having my students create a gift for a family member - now I'm just hoping that gift made it home and found its way to a tree. :)

For the project, we used a ball-shaped ornament, and a photograph to roll up and stick inside. The end result was pretty stinkin' cute. 

Stuffing the Ornaments

What holiday crafts did you complete with your students?

Happy weekend! 

Crayons + Pumpkins

AT LAST!

Fall has arrived in Missouri and I can officially not feel weird about wearing sweatpants and scarves throughout the day. Today, I had ample time to get my creative juices flowing after much neglected DIY time. 

My carving skills are inadequate, so I've jumped on the painting pumpkins bandwagon. My pinterest was filled with images of chevron and polka-dotted pumpkins and melted crayon pumpkins. I decided to give it a whirl this afternoon. 

The Finished Product

Fancy, huh? It definitely brings more color and creativity to my living room. 

Earlier this week, Chip and I decorated the front porch and took a few glamour shots. He's such a photogenic pup!

Have a great week!

P.S. Have you heard the news? The Missouri Tigers AND Kansas City Chiefs are 5-0!! Great start to the football season. MIZ!

Back to School!

My morning started at 7:00 blasting "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" by Travis Tritt. The lyrics of that song rang true all day long (except the growing a beard part...and the rice in the microwave... oh, and that tattoo. I suppose it's more of the message of the song that rang true. hah!) and I'm still on cloud nine after meeting my new students today. I had several former students come in and visit too - I was handing out hugs left and right!

This year will begin my fourth year of teaching and I'm still as giddy and excited as day one. I think that's a good sign! It's going to be a great year. I can feel it. 

C'mon in, folks! It's time for another year! 

Thanksgiving in July

This summer, a friend and I decided to tackle some holiday crafting because time always seems to slip away in November and December. Brilliant, right? Right!

I was inspired to make a cute little craft after seeing the adorable blocks my friend made for her husband for Father's Day. I packed my bags and went on a shopping spree in Hobby Lobby to find 4x4 blocks, scrapbook paper, and whatever else inspired me. Sadly, I was only able to find small wooden blocks opposed to the 4x4 size I was hunting for. After realizing the miniature blocks were my only option, I snatched them all up and headed towards the scrapbook paper. 

As I was searching in the scrapbook aisle, I decided to go with a autumn/turkey day theme and settled on the phrase "Give Thanks" to Mod Podge on my blocks. (Imagine me standing in the aisle thinking deeply about what phrase would fit on the ten blocks I picked up. It took some deep thinking.)

To start the project, I used my Cricut to cut out the 2x2 scrapbook paper squares. I glued paper on each block and put about two layers of Mod Podge on top. On the chevron side (as you can see below) I glued my turkey day phrase. As long as you don't look closely, the project looks very cute and crisp. If you begin to look closely, you'll notice I made boo-boos all over the place. Oops!

Next time I tackle another block project, I will paint the blocks before gluing on scrapbook paper. Instead of trying to cover each side in paper, I will rely on paint to make it look fancy. I spent ALL day waiting for these puppies to dry so I could continue working. I managed to get caught up on my DVR recordings though! 

Sprucing up ABC Blocks

Anyone who follows my blog knows that I'm slightly obsessed with my niece and nephew. They are the peanut butter to my jelly. Before my nephew was born, I made him a baby blanket (with LOADS of assistance). I wanted to give Libby a handmade gift as well, but I wasn't sure what to create for her. On Pinterest, I stumbled upon an idea to spruce up baby blocks. Check it out here. I loved the idea of using Dr. Seuss images, but I wanted to make things a little more personal. Libby loves looking at pictures, so I put pictures of family members on the ABC blocks. Very personal and modge podged with love!

Before:

 After:

Heres'a close up of big brother BDE on the "B" block. 

To make the blocks, I downsized images of family members to fit on one side of the blocks. I put a layer of modge podge to glue the image down. After it dried, I put two more coats of modge podge on top of the image. I allowed for plenty of time in between coats. I didn't want the pictures to smudge. 

She was a big fan of the blocks at the party!

Let's just say, Libby was a big fan of everything at the party. Her mama is quite the party planner!

Have a great Thursday!

Seamstress Quest

If you've been a follower of my blog for sometime, then you know about my quest to become a seamstress. Keep in mind, this quest is far from being over.  It's been roughly a year (yes, a year) since my sewing skills have been sharpened. In the past week, I've made two pillows for my living room. We're bursting with pillows over here and I LOVE it. 

Thankfully, there are very talented people on the internet who post wonderful directions for sewing. I've posted the links below. :)

To create an envelope pillow seen below (left) follow this tutorial here. 

Next, I created another envelope pillow but added a fun felt flower on the front. Thanks to V & Co. for posting a fun tutorial here. 

Today is my niece's first birthday! Tomorrow I will be posting pictures of the gift I spruced up for her. 

Happy Hump Day!

Sending Love in a Box!

If you've been a follower of my blog for some time, you may know that I'm an aunt to the cutest and sweetest niece and nephew. Now, I don't live in the same town as them but I'm close enough to pop over for dinner or invite myself over for the weekend. That's something aunts do, right?

This year, I wanted to surprise BDE and Libby on Valentine's Day with a gift. My original plan was to ship a box full of goodies in the mail and have it arrive on Valentine's Day. Since I was making a trip home to celebrate my Dad's birthday, I decided to present the gift in person! (Sorry Post Office.. you'll get my business next time). I had intended on making BDE wait until Valentine's Day to open the present, but I quickly realized that would have been cruel and unnecessary punishment for a 3-year old.  I have so much to learn.  

Inside the box, I stuffed loads of candy (you're welcome, sista!), onesies and dresses for Libby, and Jake and the Neverland Pirate goodies. Did I mention my nephew is a pirate? Yes, he's a pirate. On top of the gifts, I cut out several hearts on my Cricut and dumped them in the box. 

BDE made sure to bypass the paper hearts and get to the stuff that mattered ... like tootsie rolls and skittles. I can't blame him, those are my favorite candies as well. :)

He dug through the box and found his Jake goodies, but I had to reel him back in to find Libby's gifts. After, of course, he stood inside the box. 

Even though I won't be able to spend Valentine's Day with my favorite little ones, at least I was able to shower them with love in the form of paper hearts, candy, and coloring books - all wrapped up in a box.

What Valentine's Day plans to you have in store?

It's O-FISH-AL!

I love how holidays provide perfect opportunities to give gifts with good puns. I wanted to give my students a cute little Valentine with a clever pun attached. Now, I can't take credit for the pun, but I can take credit for the execution! 

Happy Superbowl Sunday!

DIY Ornament or Two...

This year I decided to add a personal touch to my Christmas tree. To make my tree a little merrier and brighter, I felt it needed a DIY touch. Plus, I love things that are sentimental and mushy. Which means... I had a blast making them. To make the ornaments, I used glass ornaments purchased at Michaels.   

Picture/Photograph Ornament

Using the glass ornaments purchased from Michaels and some photos I snagged from an album, I made two ornaments of fond 2012 memories. One for me and one for my bf! Along with the photograph, I stuck some crinkled white, red, and green paper inside the ornament. That was much easier than adjusting the photo. This idea came from Life of a Thrifter's blog here. She gives more detailed instruction than I will. Basically, you roll up the photograph and use tweezers to adjust the photo instead. Along with the tweezers, you're going to need high levels of patience and skinny fingers for when things go wrong. Let's just say, this took a couple of tries. I had to take a break because my frustration levels were getting high. 

For the second ornament, I destroyed (literally) a few pages from my Mizzou Alumni magazine. I took pieces of the magazine with great photographs and words and cut them into strips. Then I rolled the strips around a pencil and stuffed the curled paper in the ornament behind a photograph. I also cut up a few football tickets to add to the ornament. 

Scrappy Mod Podge Ornament

I grabbed my final glass ornament and scraps of fabric and started mod podging! There was no rhyme or reason to my layering, I just went for it. The end result turned out bright, lumpy, greenish, and kind of wonky. Just my style!

Of all of the ornaments on the tree, I think that this one is my favorite. I'm sure you can see why!

Happy Tuesday!

A Chalkboard Christmas

First, I must apoligize to Thanksgiving. Mentally, I have already moved onto Christmas. My house, too, has already moved onto the winter holidays. It's not you, Thanksgiving, it's me. 

This two day work week mentality has my crafting juices flowing. My grades were exported on Friday (hip hip hooray), so I'm ready to enjoy this week with all of the people that I love the most! One of my many projects this afternoon were chalkboard creations. I purchased these little wooden cut outs at Michaels today and gave them a new look. 

Several hours later, I gave each one a cute little holiday quote. It seemed appropriate to write something about chilly weather on the snowflake. If you're getting technical, it's really not cold outside. Actually, it's quite wonderful outside right now. But, we're not technical here. 

For the bell, I picked a quote from my favorite Christmas book, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Because you know, in Who-ville they say the Grinch's small heart grew THREE SIZES that day!

Lastly, I gave an old poster a new look with, yes... you guessed it! chalkboard paint. Now, proudly hanging in my living room is a quote from one of my favorite movies, Elf.  Buddy the Elf provides a lot of my motivational quotes around the holidays. He's a wise 'ol elf!

 Happy Sunday!