DIY Burlap Ribbon Card Holder

This is a super simple… and I do mean simple solution to all of those holiday cards that are likely piling up at your house right about now.  All you need is a frame (I picked mine up at a thrift store a while ago and gave it a quick coat of red spray paint… it was originally used as a photo booth prop at Owen’s first birthday), scissors, measuring tape, hot glue gun and two roles of burlap ribbon (picked up in the floral section at Walmart for about $3.00 each).

Begin by measuring each side of your frame so you can figure out how many strip of burlap ribbon you will need.  For my frame, I determined that I would need 5 strips in one direction and 4 in the other.  Cut your burlap strips, leaving just a little extra length on each end… just in case.  Then flip the frame over and mark off where you want to place your burlap strips.  I decided to start placing my burlap in the middle and working my way out… that way I could make sure that things were all even.

Shoot a small bead of glue down the top and bottom and attach your first set of burlap ribbons.  Repeat the process on the sides, weaving the ribbons over and under before fully securing them.

Once everything’s all glued down you can trim off any excess burlap that’s hanging off of the sides.

And that’s it!  I told you it was so super easy!  I think it maybe me 30 minutes to complete this project from start to finish… possibly less.  I LOVE the alternating patterns on the burlap!  I think it adds a little extra fun!

I stuck it up on the mantle beside the scrap fabric Christmas tree art I had made.  I can’t decide which is more fun to look at… the scrap fabric tree or the burlap ribbon card holder.  What do you think?

DIY Scrap Fabric Holiday Art

I found a massive, 23 inch wide embroidery hoop at a thrift store for just a couple of dollars about a month ago.  I used one when decorating my Christmas mantle last year and thought that it could be fun to add another one into the mix.  But I wanted to do something a little different this time around… something more than just a few simple, painted words. 

So I gathered all of the supplies that I thought I could possibly need to make some sort of Christmas art. 

 

I wasn’t quite sure what I would come up with, but I knew I’d figured something out… eventually.  After a bit of thinking and a little bit of Google inspiration I decided to make a scrap fabric Christmas tree. 

I cut a large circle out of some inexpensive muslin.  Then I began raiding my pile of scrap fabric in search of anything green or even semi-green to use for the body of my tree.  Luckily, I had some Ikat patterned fabric left over from a project a while back that seemed to be perfect for the job (p.s.  the “project” I’m referring to turned out to be an epic fail… the roman shades were beautiful, but definitely couldn’t stand the test of time… especially in a house with two young kids).  So I cut out the green and brown portions of the pattern and began constructing a tree. 

The next step was to some how adhere the fabric cut-outs to the muslin fabric.  Instead of gluing or sewing, I decided to go a simpler route.  I used an iron-on adhesive (Heat n Bond Lite to be exact).  This was a much simpler application because it allowed me to place each piece of scrap fabric where I wanted it and it allowed me to fine-tune things if needed.  It would have been so much more difficult to scoot things around just a smidge if I had been using glue or sewing.  Luckily the iron-on adhesive worked perfectly!  And this is the sweet little tree I was left with. 

I suppose I could have stopped here, stuck the fabric in the embroidery hoop and called it a day.  But I didn’t!  I decided to add to the charm even more by adding a couple lines of a very appropriate Christmas song… “Oh Christmas Tree”

Using Microsoft Word I printed out the words you see below.  I grabbed a fine-tip black paint pen, slipped the paper under the thin muslin and began tracing out my lyrics.

Once finished with one side I slid the paper over and did the same thing to the other side.

When I was all done I popped scrap fabric tree into the embroidery hoop and stuck it up on the mantle!  And I’ve got to admit… I’m in LOVE!!!  It’s adorable and fun and it fits the feel of this year’s mantle perfectly!

Circus Themed Party Favor Bags

I was so excited to celebrate Owen’s first birthday this past weekend!  But before I get to the details of the party, I want to share the super simple favors I put together using these circus-themed goodies. 

To contain all of the treats I used popcorn bags purchased from the Dollar Tree and upgraded them using ticket-shaped invitations found at a local thrift store.

I cut the invitations in half and used double-sided tape to stick the invitation to the front and back of the popcorn bags.

Once that was done I just dropped in the goodies and called it a day. 

Super cheap, super easy and most importantly super fun!  What more could any circus party need!

DIY Thumbprint Tree

I’m very excited that my sister Erin got married a couple of weeks ago!  As her matron of honor I tried to help with as many of the wedding preparations as possible.  When my sister mentioned that she wanted a thumbprint tree to fit in with the fall theme at her reception I happily offered to DIY one for her.

I started off by scouring Google for images of thumbprint trees.  Fortunately, there was no shortage of inspiration images available out there.  I spoke with both Erin and her fiancé, Matt, to see what their thoughts were on how it should look.  Once I had a rough idea of what I wanted to create I opened up Microsoft Publisher and working on a draft. 

I printed my draft and copied it in black and white onto a transparency, which I then shot onto a 24” x 36” canvas that I had purchased for 50% off at a local craft store.

Using a pencil, I lightly traced the outline of the words and tree.

I used a basic, black paint pen to fill in the words along the bottom.

And then I painted the tree.

In the end I was left with a canvas that looked a little something like this.  Not bad if I say so myself!

The tree was placed in the foyer at the reception hall to be used in place of the traditional guest book.  It was a big hit and by the end of the night Erin and Matt were left with a tree filled with the thumbprints and signatures of their dear family and friends. 

Teacher Appreciation Week

Bailey’s been attending the same pre-school since she was just 6 weeks old.  And over the past 2+ years she’s had some wonderful teachers and made some great friends!  She absolutely loves being at school!  Just look at her class picture from this year…

…doesn’t she just look like one of those happy-at-school kind of kids?  Well she certainly is!  And who wouldn’t be with these sweet teachers and adorable classmates (in case you’re curious, Bailey’s best friend/boy friend, Colin, is the cutie on the end in the yellow shirt)!

So, in honor of teacher appreciation week (this past week) we did a couple of things to show our appreciation for the wonderful teachers in Bailey’s life.

For starters, Bailey was given a piece of paper to decorate and return to the school as a gift for her teachers.  So we pulled out some foam letters (left over from my DIY kitchen word art project) and washable paint… and Bailey went to town (despite the fact that there was a giant baby bump all up in her work space)!

After the paint was dried, Bailey and I removed the foam letters.

The budding artist was pretty satisfied with her work… and so were her teachers when she presented it to them the following morning!

The next token of our appreciation was some “Thanks A Latte” cards that Bailey and I put together for each of her four teachers.  All it took was a few Starbucks gift cards and left over card stock from Bailey’s birthday invitations.  Unfortunately, due to a crazy work week, Craig being out of town and the fact that I’m 8 months pregnant, I didn’t have quite as much energy to invest in the teacher gifts as I have had in the past (see past teacher gifts here and here).  But in spite of all this, I still think they turned out pretty nice!

I also whipped up a breakfast casserole for a pot-luck style breakfast that us full-time parents hosted for the pre-school staff on Friday.  I was given back an empty dish at the end of the day, so I’m assuming that the food was a success.

Anyway, to wrap this post up Bailey, Craig and I would like to send out another big “thank you” to all of the teachers in our lives!  We appreciate you all very much!

Kids Mirror Gallery Wall

As you know, Craig and I have been gradually working on transitioning Bailey’s nursery to a shared room for her and her soon-to-arrive brother.  The first step in this process was the addition of a newly painted twin-sized bed.  After moving in the bed and rearranging the rest of the furniture in the room we were left with this.

A giant, blank wall over the dresser/changing area and Bailey’s new big-girl bed. 

At first the thought of filling this space was completely overwhelming.  Whatever we chose to do would have to be large enough to fill the wall while still being bold and fun enough to feel right in a kids room.  Not to mention we didn’t want it to cost a fortune.

So, I began racking my brain.  I kept thinking that I wanted something fun and colorful.  I considered doing a wall of books (as seen here), a frame collage (as seen here), an art gallery wall (as seen here), or a wall of old board games (as seen here).  But none of those ideas really felt right.

Then I remembered the pile of thrifted mirrors I had been collecting over the last several months in hopes of creating a mirror gallery wall somewhere in the house similar to this…

…or this.

And I thought that this could be the perfect solution to the giant-green-monster-of-a-wall in Bailey’s room!

So, I covered the mirrors with newspaper and laid them out in the yard (with a block of scrap wood under each one) so that they could be sprayed with a coat or two of primer.

After they were all primed it was time to divide them by their desired colors and let Craig begin painting. 

I carefully removed the newspaper and used a razor to scrape any random paint splatters off of the mirrors.

Then came the fun difficult part… deciding how to arrange the mirrors on the wall.  For this I relied on the giant stack of magazines in our recycle bin.  I cut and taped together sheets of paper to represent the approximate size and shape of each mirror.  Then I played around with the arrangement by taping them to the wall, stepping back to take a look, and adjusting things as needed.

Once I settled on an arrangement I was happy with I began adding the mirrors.

In the end we were left with this…

I just love the way the mirrors fill the giant void that had previously been on that wall!  Not to mention how they help to bounce the light around the room! 

Not too bad for $25 worth of thrifted and yard-saled mirrors and some already-owned spray paint!  Now… it’s time to get down to business and get the rest of the room pulled together!  This baby is going to be here before we know it!