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DIY Painted Bag

29 Feb

Who doesn’t love a cute casual bag? The potential uses are endless…beach bag, grocery bag, gym bag, shopping bag, or even something simple — an anything bag. Every Spring I start seeing these cute bags around and think I should make my own rather than buying them, and it has yet to happen. Not anymore. I have conquered the DIY painted bag.

The Goods:

  • paint & sponges
  • canvas bag
  • freezer paper or painters tape for stripes
  • an iron
  • scissors

Do It:

  1. Iron out the wrinkles on your bag
  2. Cut the desired shapes out of your freezer paper or lay the tape for stripes
  3. Iron the paper into the bag, careful to seal the edges
  4. Paint your design
  5. Let dry and remove the freezer paper

Happy Leap Year!

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Love Is In the Air

12 Feb

Well I have put my distaste for Valentine’s Day aside and sent out of few cards and gifts, have heart shaped cookies baking right now in the oven, and got a couple cutesy things for around the house. See mom, all your holiday fun when I was a kid paid off. I wonder how the Hubby would feel about pink pancakes…

I might even wear pink or red on Tuesday! What a change!

Design swan, Some the Wiser, Martha Stewart, Etsy, Beautylish, FashionLuxx, and pinterest.

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DIY Curling Wand

6 Feb

I love curly hair. I often hear that you want what you can’t have, so it would make sense that I adore big, full, long, curls. Ah I try so very hard to work with what I was born with…Thank goodness for curling irons. For a while now, I have been eyeing the curling wands, but being as I have two curling irons, a straightener, a crimper {yes I said crimper}, and a blow dryer all shoved under my tiny sink, I couldn’t bring myself to buy yet another hair styling instrument. So I have been wrapping my hair around my closed curling iron, and it seems to work…minus the lovely line my curls have from the edges of the clamp.

A few weeks ago I saw this photo on pinterest and thought to myself, “oh course! this seems so easy”! So while the hubs was out of town last weekend I got out my curling iron and a screwdriver and got to work.

This was the easiest project I have ever done and to top it off, it works perfectly! No weird lines in my curls and its easier to store since it doesn’t have all the clamps and stands to deal with. If you are up for a little DIY work and over your regular old curling iron, give this a shot!

 

 

 

Curling iron how-to here, and top photo via Fashion Fever.

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Smile Summary

19 Dec

{love my scarf brought to me from Afghanistan}

{can’t get over the gorgeous sunsets this winter}

{paper heaven}

{gift tags made from this paper}

{sleepy fluff}

{text from the bachelor party}

{amazing night with two of my favorites}

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DIY Flower Vases

14 Dec

My apologies…this post has been a while in coming and I have been lagging. I guess I forgot about it because they really are so simple and easy to make. I used these lovely vases at my future sister-in-laws bridal shower which I wrote about in this post!

The Goods:

  • matte white {or any color you want} spray paint
  • twine
  • old bottles/jars {I used these and some DAV finds}
Do It:
1. Clean & dry your bottles
2. Remove the labels
3. Set up your paint area {I use the concrete out front and a paper grocery bag}
4. Wrap the twine around your jar
5. Paint {spray paint can be tricky…remember more thin layers are much much better than a few thick layers}

Voila!

See so easy, yet perfect for the vintage inspired decorator. Have you tried these? Or found any great uses for them around the house? I am hoping to make these soon!

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Seat Please

23 Nov

In light of getting in the Thanksgiving spirit I decided I would leave the baking to everyone else and turn to my crafty side for something to contribute. After some brain storming and careful consideration I decided to make place settings for the table. There are only going to be about 15 people at dinner, but who doesn’t like to be told where to sit? Just kidding.

Feeling all Martha Stewart-y I devised my plan…succulents, a bow, and the name. Should be easy. I did my best to not have to buy extra stuff and once again my piles of extras from past crafting came in handy. I stopped by my local flower shop, Bambi’s, and picked up mini individual plants.

Since I picked them up on my lunch break I had some time back at work to contemplate how to jazz them up. I decided on wrapping them in brown wrapping paper {kinda messy like}, tying a colored paper string around it and tagging them. It took a couple tries with the paper, a few more to figure out how the bow looked best, and some googling for an easy scissors only needed tag designs. All in all it was very reasonable, super easy, and I love the way they turned out! Can’t wait to see them in action!!


Anything special you are making for Thanksgiving?

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White Lace & Promises

15 Nov

I am still in a bit of shock that my baby brother is getting married in just over a month! It seems like not so long ago he was a chubby little tow head hanging out with his best friend, our yellow lab. Now so much is changing, he is a strapping young man who spends so much time working his 2 jobs for his best friend and future wife. This weekend we were honored to be able to shower her with love {and of course fun gifts} for the impending wedding.

I may have gotten a little obsessed, thanks to Pinterest, and had so much fun making these “lace” streamers, a bride-to-be banner, tissue pom poms, matte white vintage vases {hopefully I’ll get to the DIY for these soon}, and cinnamon roll pinwheels.

{Proud momma with her girls & girl-to-be}

So excited for their Christmas/New Year wedding! Now to prepare myself for all the fun to be had a the bachelorette party!

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Smile Summary

13 Nov

{my new office mate}

{tiny free testers — perfect amount of sweet}

{clutch heaven at Henri Bendel — idea for Santa??}

{future sis-in-law’s shower fun — post to come}

{hubby building an addition for our office}

{fabric for DIY pillows — post to come}

{new to me antique vanity display –post coming soon}

{cutest pup ever watching me work}

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Lace & Doilies

6 Nov
In just one short week my future sister in law’s bridal shower will be here. The planning began months ago, and yet somehow it has still managed to creep up on me. Thankfully, the other shower planners and I had already planned out some ideas before I went on vacation and got a job, so now I just have to actually do them.
Doily Streamers
Thank goodness for Pinterest and Martha Stewart! Between the two of these I think anything can look amazing! Last night, my amazing hubby was willing to sit with me, catch up on three weeks of Grey’s Anatomy episodes, and fold doilies! What a stud I have.
The Goods:
doilies {4 inch}
twine or yarn
scissors
Do It:
1. Separate all the doilies from each other
2. Fold in half, then fold in half again
3. Open them up, grab a pencil, pen or your finger and squish them up like a flower
4. Unfold them a bit and set aside
5. Cut your twine however long you would like it
6. With a big needle {or by clipping the bottom a bit and then by hand} string on your doilies
7. Hang and enjoy!
I’ll be sure to post a photo of them in action at the shower!

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Yours, Mine…Wine

3 Oct

With so many people on our family trip last weekend {about 25} we needed something to help keep all our glasses straight. I figured with my leftover paint from this project it would be super simple to make a name tag of sorts for the glasses. I grabbed my chalkboard paint, tape and glasses and headed into the garage!

I would can spell out the directions, but I think the photos are pretty self explanatory.

Voila!

Grab your chalk & wine it up!

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