This winter has felt exceptionally long and I’ve been in a funk lately (missing the warm breeze and SUN!). Whenever I feel this way I always turn to words. Writing, reading, quotes, poetry… you name it. If you follow me on Pinterest, you probably noticed my quotes board has exploded the last few weeks.

While I was wondering around Michaels doing some happy shopping (hehe!) I came across the display of words for jewelry and got inspired to create. The hard part was deciding how to arrange the straps and getting them to stay in place while I tied the ends up! I think it turned out pretty well. In hindsight I would have added another braided or some single smaller straps below the word to balance out the one on top, but I think it’s not too shabby for my first leather bracelet. I’m hoping it doesn’t fall apart on me!

Last year when I saw this hand-print ornament on Pinterest I knew I had to try it for the little one. Since I didn’t have any embossing tools I went with paint. [These were actually made last year... I never got around to posting about them and when I did it was way past Christmas! Baby was about 7 months at the time. Looking at the ornament this year, his hands were so tiny!]

I recruited hubby to help since I figured making it while baby slept would probably be the easiest. He’s such a deep sleeper – he didn’t stir at all when I picked him up from the crib or when I painted his hand multiple times! It took about 8 tries to get a “good” print where all his fingers and hand were imprinted.

Of course we couldn’t let the baby have all the fun…. Little Peanut made one as well. Hers was done in one shot. Of course it was easier since she was 3!

I also wrote their names and the year at the bottom with a sharpie.

She (Mandy of http://www.asortafairytaleblog.com) has a full tutorial posted on her blog here.

I love taking photos with Instagram because even blurry ones can be salvaged with a filter applied. Check out my blurry pics:

My mom loves photos of the kids, but normal 4×6 prints weren’t going to cut it for Instagrams and I’m a little too frugal to use the many Instagram photo printers out there. Being the crafty type I wanted to DIY it. I remember seeing How About Orange’s DIY pantone chip magnets and thought a fun twist would be to use photos.

While browsing the craft store for magnetic backing and the paper glaze I came across some wooden squares and added those to my basket thinking they would make a nice sturdy base. Plus I have a bad track record with cutting foam board (which I was going to use instead).

Here’s what I left the store with:

- Adhesive Magnetic Sheet (used for photos)
- Aleene’s Paper Glaze
- Wooden squares (1.25 inches, 3 packs of 5)

Using iPhoto I printed the pictures 6 up. Select your photos, choose print, select the contact sheet theme. Change the number of photos in a column to 6. This size will give an almost perfect fit on the 1.25 wooden squares. Cut the photos to size leaving a small white border around the edge. Following How About Orange’s suggestion I taped them onto the wooden squares using double sided tape. Then spread the Paper Glaze on top. (I’d recommend doing a test to see how much glaze to use. My first attempts were too thick and the glaze was still cloudy on some parts. Oops!)

I noticed little bubbles in the glaze and used a toothpick to smooth them out. You can see the magnet of the stuffed dog has a big air bubble on his head (oops again!) After drying overnight I attached the adhesive magnetic sheets. Cut to size then peel and stick. Here’s the back:

And the fronts:

Because I took the photo straight on you can’t see the glossy surface but it’s there, I swear! It’s not as puffy as I would have liked but another coat probably would do the trick.

They’ve held up pretty well. I made these for Mothers Day and gave each grandma 6 and I kept 3 for us. The kids like to play with them… not sure why, maybe it’s because they like to look at themselves?!

Total the cost wasn’t that bad, I tossed my receipt but think it was under $10 to buy all the supplies. I had a 40% off coupon as well.

I’m sort of a tin can and glass jar horder. One of our laundry room cupboards is filled with em! Last night I finally pulled them out to do some crafting.

My garden is almost blooming and with it being wedding season I got a little romantic with my tin can vases!

Love, cherish, adore, XOXO are stamped onto the fabric. The fabrics are bleached and non-bleached muslin cut with pinking sheers and wrapped around the cans. I went the lazy route and taped the fabric on but I think hot glue would be better for handling.

All that is missing are flowers! Edit to add: No longer missing flowers.

We had a little bridal shower for my co-worker and they really added to the table spread. I especially love the color combo of the flowers (got super lucky that they’re in bloom early this year!)

Little Peanut spent a lot of time in the kitchen at our old house (due to lack of play space) and we invested in quite a few magnetic toys to keep her entertained. The new basement playroom has plenty of room but no magnetic surfaces. Inspired by this popular Pinterest pin I set out to find something similar and came up with this:

With little luck finding the right oil pan I stopped by Home Depot and asked for metal sheets. For some reason I kept thinking they came as large as plywood and wasn’t sure how I’d cut it down (much less bring it home!), but sure enough they come in nice manageable sizes in the plumbing section. I got the largest one I saw – 24×36 inches for $10.

Once home I realized we’d have to cover the edges to prevent little fingers from getting cut. First I thought about duct taping around the edges and then covering with fabric but that idea was scratched when wasn’t sure how to make the fabric taut. Then one day (about a month later!) while browsing Michaels I saw their large poster frames and it hit me- duh, frame it! Of course I had to make an additional trip since I didn’t know the exact dimensions of the metal sheet. There are quite a few styles to choose from but I went with the basic Michaels frame – $15 on sale!

I brought it home and took out the glass. If you’re careful you can remove it with out breaking it. There is a little double sided tape on all 4 sides to hold the glass on. You guessed it, I was not careful, it broke all over and startled both kids and hubby! I had no plans for the glass but it would have been nice to keep for later. The metal sheet turned out to be a wee too big for the frame but a pair of decent scissors fixed that problem. Less then 1/4 inch was cut off the width and height. It is easy to cut, just don’t use the good scissors!

It still needs to be hung but I’m thinking it might survive propped up as long as they don’t get too rough with it. It was also intended for the Little Peanut but the Little Guy seems to be enjoying it more (I guess he is the right age for the toys we have. Oh and don’t mind the little scar on his nose. He’s been feverishly trying to crawl, got a little rambunctious and bumped his nose on the ground. Good news is he is now crawling, bad news is he is now crawling. Hah! )

Hours of fun for under $25!

One more DIY playroom accessory crossed of the list. Infinite amount more to go.

Cooking. Sometimes I love it sometimes I hate it. I’m more of a cook out of necessity person but I do enjoy a good cooking session now and then. Our old house had a great built in spice rack. Our new house… not so much. See..

I stuck them all in the cabinet and could never find anything. Plus look at all that wasted space at the top! A search for just the right one became futile and eventually I stopped looking. Little did I know all I had to do was look in the cabinet NEXT to the spices!

Add in a little tape, glue and cardstock and voila — spice rack.

Here’s how you can make your own.

Gather your materials:

-Tape (I used blue painters tape because that’s all we had)

-Glue (I used spray adhesive because again, that’s all I had)

- 12×12 cardstock. At least 2 pieces depending on the finished size of your rack.

-empty boxes (I found the ones with about a 2″ depth worked best for the sizes of the spice bottles)

-scissors

Determine how to stack the boxes to fit your spices.

I had a few of the shorter (2 inch?) spices so I laid one flat and stacked one on top to form an L shape. The red box goes under the blue one. It’s a little hard to see since I taped it up already in this picture.

Cut and tape the boxes together

Once you found the right combo, cut the boxes if needed and tape together. My boxes weren’t the same height so I had to cut one down. I taped a stabilizing piece to the open end so it wouldn’t collapse.

I also taped over the open end so nothing would accidentally slip in.

Unless you plan on moving the shelf around a little tape around the bottom will do.

Cover with cardstock

Measure the front and top sides of the shelf and fold your paper to size. Cut the width if needed. Sorry no photos of this step but here’s how it will look after.

I had to use two sheets. One to cover the top “shelf” and one to cover the front of the bottom “shelf.” You can see in the photo it wasn’t long enough. Oops! What’s the saying? Measure twice cut once? Once you get everything cut to size spray the underside of the cardstock with spray adhesive and stuck it on.

Tada! I didn’t do the sides because honestly who’s going to know besides me?

Here’s a close up. There is also a rack on the left but there was still pasta in the box so I didn’t want to cover it just yet.

Now cooking is a little bit less stressful!

My sister in Texas has this toy playhouse that her kids have outgrown. It would be perfect for my kids right now but the cost to ship it up here would have been way too much. After she mentioned it again during one of our phone conversations, it got me thinking about making a playhouse for my kids. It just so happened that I had a large box from an elliptical machine in the basement. I never got around to tearing it down to recycle and good thing I didn’t!

And so my creative juices immediately started flowing. I turned into “architect” and started the blueprint for the house: roof (if you look carefully you’ll see  a “skylight” – compliments of the box manufacturer), windows, garage and door.

Using a box cutter, I trimmed the side flaps of the box and taped them together to form the roof. I then outlined where the door and windows would be and cut them out. TIP: Use your tallest child to measure the height! Next, I used leftover paint from my son’s room and painted the house outside to minimize the mess and to allow for proper ventilation. It didn’t take too long for the paint to dry before I started “laying brick”. Here, I just cut design paper into brick sizes and adhered them to the house using spray adhesive. I also used spray adhesive to glue on fabric for the roof.

After the brick laying/spraying, the really creative projects began! I used fabric strips to line the edges of the doors and windows so that it wouldn’t be too rough for the kids. I used two large Lego pieces (with my son’s permission) for the door knobs. For the garage door, instead of making it function like a traditional door where it would open from the bottom, I decided to make it open and close from the top. That way I wouldn’t have to figure out a way to keep the large flap open and also avoid the chance that it could fall down suddenly altogether. I actually thought my son would take issue with the inaccuracy of it, but he seemed just fine. The flap being at the bottom actually allows for another area for them to spread out and play. I also “planted” some flowers, hung a paper wreath and added the U.S. flag in front for some curb appeal!

For some final touches, I hotglued buttons to the corners of the windows (I was going for that craftsman window trim look), framed some of the kids’ pictures and glued it to the interior for some added decoration. I decided to keep the walls blank so that the kids could draw on it…finally some walls they’re allowed to draw on

There are quite a few more ideas that I haven’t gotten around to yet like making a ceiling fan (made from cardboard – my kids LOVE fans), adding a carpet piece inside and hanging window curtains. One addition my son requested were electrical outlets so that he could “plug” in his vacuum (talk about creative!). So I drew it right on the house and poked a hole in the cardboard with a pencil. It worked out marvelously!

All and all, I was very pleased with the way it turned out. My son saw the initial frame but didn’t see it again until I was finished. Seeing the look on his and my daughter’s face when I revealed it was priceless and made the project totally worth it. The best thing was that I only spent $15 on the entire project. The only items I purchased were spray adhesive, the fake flowers and a paintbrush.

As with any house, be prepared for some home improvements. My little girl is quite a destroyer but I found that kids stickers are great for patch up work! So, it may not be the state-of-the-art playhouse with all the bells and whistles, but it is one-of-a-kind and certainly has more character than I’d ever be able to buy off the shelf.

My 7-month old daughter has really taken to my wedding pictures that hang above my headboard. She’s been staring at them for months and I wonder if she really recognizes me in those pics. Ah, I looked so young and stress-free back then…it’s amazing how a husband and two kids can really age a person. Well, I guess the six years since those photos were taken have something to do with it as well!

Anyway, those pictures got me thinking about my wedding dress. No, I really didn’t have the urge to try it on (I know I would be sorely disappointed not to be able to get it passed my thighs). Rather, it was my ultimate, do-it-yourself project…I MADE my wedding dress.  I opted to go that route because my sisters had made theirs and I thought it would add that special touch, and I would be guaranteed that it fit like a glove!

I used an off-white raw silk left over from my sister’s dress. I opted for a two-piece to allow for better movement. The bodice was adorned with lace that I hand-beaded and the skirt was A-line with a hand-beaded hem. I was fortunate to borrow my sister’s train vs. make it since the silk came from the exact same bolt. I think from start to finish, my dress  took me about two months to complete with all the bead work.

I had two receptions (one in Dallas and the other in Minneapolis) so I really got good mileage out of that dress. Just wondering what I should do with it now – sell, donate, save for my daughter?!

Every time I go to the store (Target, Marshalls, Bed Bath and Beyond, Ikea etc) I look at the plethora of storage boxes. Canvas, leather, paper, wicker, plastic… the options are endless. The problem? None of them fit the spaces I want to put them in (10×10 and 10×14) or were the wrong color. Then a few months ago I discovered Make It and Love It and her tutorial on making storage boxes from recycled cardboard.

I immediately started saving diaper boxes so that I could make my own. It was slow going because I only got two pieces from each box (5 are needed for one box) but just last week we upgraded the Little Peanut from her portable crib to a full size. When I saw the box it came in- storage boxes started popping up in my head! I finally would have some more storage that I so desired (so I could cram even more crafting materials into the house!)

Ta da!

The first box (above) was slow going but turned out pretty nice. I used a box cutter and got some crooked edges. For the rest of the boxes I got a little smarter and used a small hand saw that we have. It worked so much better- the crooked edges were gone!

Instead of using fabric for the fronts I used scrapbook paper. The paper tore a little around the handle area so what better way to cover up the tears then with some bias tape? I did a mitered corner to give it a more finished look. It was just Mod Podged on so there are a few gaps where the tape meets up at the corners.

Next time I would sew the tape up into the square first before attaching it to the box and also use less Mod Podge because it made it pretty stiff. I would have liked a softer handle. The sides, inside and bottom were left raw. The second and third boxes I was able to get the paper around the handle without tearing so I skipped the bias tape.

Currently I’ve got three boxes but have plans for more once my arms are done being sore. The dilemma now has become where do I put them?! They look pretty nice lined up in the closet (second pic), but then I could use them in the bookshelf in the living room (first pic) for toys. One works well under the sink for storing toilet paper too (third pic).

Eventually I would love to make some with covers (and a tie ribbon) for our media stand to house our Wii accessories and games. The ribbon would be to keep the Little Peanut out of the box because she loves to dig through stuff!

I once gave a friend a birthday card that said, “A fun party is one where you leave with your underwear on your head, but a GREAT party is when you leave with someone ELSE’S!” Ok, so this tip isn’t about underwear but it is about parties and head-wear.

This was a last minute addition to my little girls birthday decorations. It didn’t even occur to me to have a birthday hat for her until the afternoon of her birthday. Luckily I had everything on hand to whip one up!

Here’s the lowdown:

1. Cut a half circle out of 12×12 cardstock. The half circles radius should be at least 6 inches.

2. Roll into a cone and mark the front center and where the edge overlaps.

3. Use a pencil to write/draw a message on the front where you marked the center. In my case I made a big 1 and BIRTHDAY underneath. I added a little glitter to the number to make it stand out.

4. While waiting for the glitter to dry, make the topping ribbons. Two types of ribbon in various colors will add a lot of interest to the hat. Cut about 6 strips into 4 inch lengths. Tie in the middle and then tape the tails to the inside center so that it will stick out of the point.

5. Use glue or double sided tape to hold the hat together. Place a heavy object inside the hat, with the glue/taped side down to secure.

6. Punch two holes on the sides for securing the hat on the wearer. I used ribbon but think elastic would have been a better choice.  Attach the string through the holes.

7. Using double sided tape, tape a 1/2 inch width ribbon to the rim of the hat.

These would make great New Years Eve hats too!