Welcome wreath tutorial

 I've been meaning to post this for a while, but have had no internet due to the storms that came through Alabama last week.  Storms isn't really a strong enough word - but I'll leave my thoughts on that for another time!

I'm a big fan of decorating but hate to change things each season. I just took down the Easter decorations yesterday!!  I hate the idea of changing what's on my front door every month or so.  Actually, I love the idea, but just can't seem to actually do it.  So, I thought it would be fun to make something that I could easily change each month, season or special occasion.  Here it is:

Here's what you need:

A wreath
piece of scrap wood
sand paper
paint (chalk board and color of your choice)
ribbon
chalk
drill and drill bit
two dowels
patience (I hate waiting for paint to dry)
misc. items to change it out as the times change - (burlap, paint, letter stickers, ribbon)

I started with these supplies:

I very carefully measured out where I wanted my holes - and marked the spots with a pen and then went outside to drill.  And by 'very carefully' I mean, I eyeballed it and used a piece of ribbon that was laying around!!

Next I drilled two holes.  I don't have a fancy work place to do any drilling.  I just go out on my front porch, hold the wood down with my feet and drill over the edge of a step.  It works for me, but does tend to make a mess. 

See, two holes!!

Next, I sanded the edges just to smooth it all out.

Next, I spray painted with my chalkboard paint.  I did several coats, as this type of wood just soaked up the paint.

Once it was dry, I gave it a day and then chalked it up and wiped it clean.  It was ready to go.

I picked a mid sized grapevine wreath, grabbed my ribbon and chalkboard plaque and got to work.

Cut two pieces of ribbon - I didn't measure, just cut about 18 inches each. I found that a satin ribbon worked better here - I got a tighter knot and prettier bow.  Simply thread your ribbon through one spot on the wreath, through the back and back around to the front, double knot it and thread one piece of ribbon through the hole in the plaque and then tie a simple bow.

Now, pick your next spot and thread the second piece of ribbon through, double knot and thread through second hole and finish with a bow.

Now your plaque is attached and you could just simply hang it up, write a message and be good to go.But if you want to personalize it more, keep reading!!


I decided to attach two dowels (which I quickly spray painted with my favorite Krylon Ocean Breeze Blue.  You could pick a more neutral color, but this is my current fave, so I went with it!!) I simply applied hot glue to the bottom of each dowel and stuck it in behind the chalkboard plaque.  Then added a bit more hot glue to the top part of the dowels to attach to the wreath.  You can see in the photo that I didn't hot glue at the very top of the dowels - that's so you have some room to wrap your ribbon around the top.

Now, I can change out my decorations easily by tying on a different item between the two dowels.  For my wreath right now, I painted a little bunny face on a piece of burlap.  I stitched a second piece of burlap to the back (starting at the bottom, going around the ears and stopping about an inch from the first stitch) and stuffed the bunny head with some cotton batting and finished off the bottom with a few more stitches.  I used the hot glue gun to attach the little bunny head to some ribbon (about 3 yards long) and then tied the ribbon on to my two dowels.

Here's the Easter/Spring wreath:

Here's another idea to hang from the dowels - a little Welcome sign!  We have friends that we hang out with most weekends - this would be a fun way to great them next time they come over. 

The options are endless! You could cut out some flowers from the burlap, add some paint, or leave them plain and attach them to some ribbon and hang it up!!  I could string up some ornaments at Christmas or snowflakes would be cute, too. Birthday banners would be great, too.  Looks like I need to whip up some more things and have them ready to go for every occasion! I love that I can leave the same wreath up all the time and just add one little item to the top to dress it up.

Thanks for checking out my tutorial!!  If you make one - come back and leave me a link!! I'd love to see your version!

Lisa

Want to see my new favorite accessory for my house?

Go check out The CSI Project today and you'll see how to make this:

My post will be up later today - so check it out!!  So honored that the CSI Girls share my tutorial on their site!! 

Thanks for checking in and Happy Monday!!
Lisa

A little Easter fun

Wow - two days in a row - wonder how long I can keep this up!

I mentioned yesterday that I had a fun project to show - it's nothing spectacular, but I had fun making it and wanted to share.  I've seen a million fabulous ideas on blogs for Easter decorating.  I have a storage container full of stuff, but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to pull out all the same old things again.  I picked a few favorite pieces and then starting thinking of what I could come up with that was 'new' to me.

I really love banners and garland and I have the perfect spot to hang them - in our entry way from the foyer to the dining room, which currently is more like the toy room.  At any given time, you'll find Power Rangers or a Bat Mobile under the table and possibly Winnie the Pooh hanging out on top of the table.  Anyway, I love the idea of hanging something in that doorway to greet me each day.

I went through the massive amount of plastic eggs and picked out eggs with a hole in each end, all the same size and then grabbed my new favorite spray paint - Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze - and got busy.  I spray painted all the eggs with a few coats (and found a million other things to paint but that's for another day).  So once they were all dry (I'm so impatient) I strung them together.  I wasn't crazy about the end result.  I cut the string and started over, grabbing a bowl of cotton balls.  Yes, cotton balls!  I just thought the idea of Easter eggs and bunny tails together would be cute - so I restrung them.

I saw someone post about colored doilies and I went out and found some of my own.  I decided to make a little doily banner to go along with my eggs.  Here's the end result:

And a close up of my eggs:

I love that the eggs are all the same color and I really think the bunny tails are fun!!

Thanks for looking.  More projects coming up soon!!

Linking up to:

Lisa

A great, cheap idea

So - did you see my tutorial at The CSI Project?
Here it is and I'm SO SO SO excited that they shared my tutorial with their readers!!



Today, I want to show you how to make this cute calendar.

Here's what you need:

4 pieces of scrapbook paper ($2.00)

adhesive (dry and/or spray) - on hand

Exacto knife - on hand

Popsicle stick or craft stick - on hand

buttons or flowers, brads, scrap cardboard - any kind of embellishments really - on hand

and this cool thing: ($1.00)

 

I found this at the Dollar Tree in the teacher/classroom area.  I thought it was a really good base to use for this calendar idea I've had for a while now.  

Here are the steps I took:

1.  Take the board apart by using scissors to pop the silver back off.  2.  Decide where you want your holes to go and cut them out.  (I just increased one of the existing holes and cut a new one in the spot I wanted)

Next, you want to trace the back circle on the paper you want as your background and cut it out.  Then you want to sand the side you are attaching the paper to since it's sort of shiny, to make sure the adhesive really sticks! Then spray your adhesive and attach your paper.

Next, you want to follow the same steps for the top circle.  After you trace, cut, and adhere, you'll want to cut out the holes you added.  I did this from the back and then flipped it over to make sure I trimmed it enough. Oh, see that hole down there - go ahead and use your knife and poke the hole through the paper.  You can do that on both circles.

Now I used a circle template to trace my circle needed for my days of the week.  This part can be a bit tricky.  You want to make sure your circle will fit in between the two holes you've cut. I traced the circle and cut it out (you can use a bowl or anything round).  Find the center and poke a hole through the paper.  I used the silver pieces and put everything back together to make sure it all lined up right.  (Back circle, paper circle and top circle) While it was all together, I traced the shape of my long skinny hole for my days of the week. I did ten spots, just trace one, slide the circle and trace the next. You could print the words and glue them on paper, but I just wrote them myself.  After you trace them, take it all apart again and glue or write your days of the week. Then erase your pencil lines.

Now,  we need to attach a popsicle stick or craft stick.  The one I had was a weird one with this circle on one end, so I just made it work.  You'll want to put adhesive on one side and attach it to the BACK of the days of the week circle.  You'll use this to spin your days, so I let it overlap the circle.  I used a scrap of paper to cover the large circle on the end, just for an added touch of color.  If you are using a regular craft stick, you could use a flower or buttons on the end to make it stand out.  I did play around with it a bit to make sure that no matter which day we were on, the popsicle stick wouldn't block the number of the date.

 

 Next, stack it all together and add the silver pieces we popped off earlier. At this point, I wrote in my numbers.  I just started with 1st, and turned until you could no longer see the print and did the 2nd.  My 31 numbers fit just fine!! Now, we are ready to decorate.

 

  I wanted to have a spot to change out a photo and the month.  I attached two photo corners and added a picture.  For the photo corners, you can just cut triangles and adhere them so you can still tuck a picture under the corners, or just attach a picture you really love and don't worry about changing it out. Next, I found a cardboard bookplate and covered it with paper.  If you don't have one, you can draw it out on cardboard and cut it out.  Then cover it with paper.I attached the bookplate with some brads.

Once I had everything attached, I decided the small silver piece that held everything together wasn't big enough to me.  I used a giant brad instead. The small piece held it all together, but sort of got lost on that polka dotted paper, so the brad is a bit better to me. Then it was time to personalize even more.  I used a strip of paper to make a flower, then dug around through my stash to find a few more things.  This is really the part where you add your own touches - so whatever you have or like is fair game!!

And here's the finished product again:

My total cost was really just the $1 plus tax.

The paper was in my stash, but if you are making one to match a specific room, or as a gift, you may want to buy just the right paper.  I had the buttons and flowers in my stash as well.  The spray adhesive was purchased for another project so I had it on hand.  You could still use a regular dry adhesive, or even a double stick tape.  I'm all about using what I have on hand and not spending too much on my projects, especially if they are just for me!

This would be really cute as a teachers gift.  You know they always get the themed gifts but this would be nice for them to hang by their desk - just for them.  You could also use it as a countdown to an event.  Instead of the month inside the bookplate, you could put VACATION, BIRTHDAY, etc. and then 'days until' inside the day of the week spot, and just use the same numbers for the days.

Thanks for checking out my tutorial!!  I hope you find it an easy thing to make for yourself!!

Lisa

Valentine's stuff

I spent a little bit of time today making my home all 'valentiney'.  I know that's not a word, but ya know........

Anyway, I have this fabulous room divider that came from a hospital - back before curtains were hung from the ceiling.  I love it.  I got a wild hair in the late 90's and painted sunflowers on one side.  Thank goodness I didn't do both sides!!!  So this is the 'good' side - sans sunflowers!!

I have four different layouts hanging on it and usually switch them out pretty often.  Right now the ones hanging are either in the valentiney colors, or about love, or from Valentine's Day.  I made a little heart garland to hang across the screen, too!

 Here's a close up of last years Valentine's layout and a shot of the garland.

 

Here's a few other things:

I need to move that picture over a bit, don't I? 

Cardboard, giant cupcake wrappers, a glue gun and a glittery word! Love it!

Lighting wasn't as good as I thought - here's a little letter, a candle, a little ruffly tree and there's a little mailbox, too!

That ^^ up there - is my favorite thing.  Took a whole roll of crepe paper practically and a small styrofoam ball with some ribbon.  I would like to make a million of these!!

And then I played around and took a picture of myself:

Not great, but ya know................

Linking up:

 Thanks for looking!

Lisa

 

It's no where near spring but......

I feel as though I've been spring cleaning lately.  Last week, I finally took the plunge into the guestroom/scraproom/laundry-station/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-room.  It's been a disaster for a while.  I can't really remember how it started.  I haven't done much creating this year for myself or our home.  I did lots of showers (baby and bridal) and a wedding and lots of gifts, but nothing just for me and for FUN.  I think I just got so tired of making things (I procrastinate so I'm usually in a time crunch) that the room became just a dumping ground of sorts.  Thankfully, we've had no sleep over guests who needed the room.

Anyway, I just got tired of it.

So, last week I started really cleaning out and up and all that jazz.  We were pretty much shut down for several days due to an ice storm.  What better time than then to jump in and get going?  I found several projects that I had started and failed to finish, several I had gathered supplies for and failed to start, and some things I must have just given up on!!

Here's the start of one project:

This cereal is seriously delicious but sadly, no longer on my current diet plan.  I ate it for a while - I saved the boxes.  The weren't your typical cereal box - they were harder cardboard - similar to what baby formula comes in and had cute lids, too.  I thought they would be the perfect size containers to hold sheets of stickers - letter stickers, to be more specific.  I covered four of them in just plain craft paper, added a patterned paper trim to the top and filled them up!!  I then covered another container, made out of the same material, the same way.  They all coordinate so nicely.  I opened a Crystal Light container today and those folks must have caught on to the fact that craft girls like to cover their containers with paper because the plastic wrapper just slides right off.  No scrapping of labels or anything.

I also had a few boxes laying around that I had for shipping.  I cut one in half and made two magazine holders.  I covered them in the same manner as the cereal boxes and now have a complete set.  The bad news is I used all my patterned paper, so no more matching containers.  I'll have to come up with something else!!

Here's a look at the sticker holders and a pencil cup:

 and here are the magazine holders - not perfect, but free:

 a close up, just because:

Now here's the rest of my organization - none of this worked before in the set up I had. Now, I love it!!

In the closet - these drawers have things organized by colors, haven't labeled yet, but I will (remember I'm a procrastinator):

 These are almost all full of punches - one basket is sewing supplies, one is scissors, one is adhesive - the rest: punches!!

 Fabric, tissue paper and vinyl:

 I have two of these and they were full of mismatched chipboard, plastic, etc - letters.  I never dug through them, so I dumped them in the trash.  Drastic? Maybe.  Necessary? Absolutely!!  I need something specific to put in the other.

 This is what happens when your supplies are organized:

You can be creative again!!
Awwwwwwwwwwww.

Linking up to this:





Lisa