MIYM - Christmas Cards

I'm a little late with this weeks MIYM but we were gone visiting friends all weekend. However, before we left home on Saturday, I started creating my Christmas cards for 2010. Here are the 4 that I have done so far. Most all of the cards will be exactly like these. 

 For these cards, I used leftover patterned paper from my December Daily and cut it into squares. The top left and bottom right squares are popped off the card with foam adhesive squares. I tied a ribbon around just one square, used a rub-on sentiment and then stitched around the whole face of the card. Very simple and fast and yet this is probably my favorite Christmas card I've made! 
I would love to see your Christmas cards for this year!

Make It Yourself Monday - Witch Hat & Ghost

Good morning! I'm here this Monday with another Halloween project! This one is going to take a little more elbow grease and tools than last weeks but it will be so cute that it's worth it!
These cute Halloween decorations will require some scrap wood (any size will work, I had some 1x12 scraps), a jig saw, sand paper, paint and ribbon. Mix it all up and what do you get?! A witch hat and a ghost!

I'm know I'm not very good at taking "in progress" pictures but I promise I will get better at that! In the mean time, here's the link where I got the idea. Mary Berry Boutique I drew my pattern onto my wood and then cut them out with the jig saw. Next, I sanded down the edges and painted them. When they were dry I sanded the edges again to give them a country rustic look. Then I simply tied on some cute ribbon and ta-da! Cute Halloween decoration! Thanks for stopping by and come back next week for more creative ideas! Oh and please share a link if you've used any Make It Yourself Monday ideas as inspiration for your own projects! I'd love to see what you've done!

Make It Yourself Monday

Good morning blog readers! Welcome to my 3rd week of Make it Yourself Monday! It's October and I still haven't showed you any Halloween projects so this week is finally going to be a Halloween craft! I have tons of ideas saved on my computer that I have found on other blogs, design websites or magazines and I'm going to start creating some of those ideas! This weeks project inspiration comes from Not So Idle Hands. These glowing pumpkins were so easy to do and I already had the supplies around the house!

These are my finished pumpkins glowing in the dark! 

I put them out in the entry way on top of the new shelf that was last week's project which you can find here. All it takes for this project is some old glass jars, tissue paper, modge podge, a foam brush, green paint and a string of twinkle lights. I had some crystal bulb twinkle lights that I think give them a great sparkle effect! You can find the full instructions at the links above. Here's my jack o' lantern project in progress.

The messiest step is applying the tissue paper using modge podge. I found it was best to let the jars dry upside down so that the paper didn't rip off the bottom. Here's another look at the finished glowing pumpkins only with the flash on so you can see them better. I love how the twisted light cord can almost look like pumpkin vines!

Thanks for stopping by on another Monday! Hopefully this project has inspired you to get crafty with your halloween decor! These glowing pumpkins would be a cute project to do with your kids too! Have a great day and don't forget to enter in the giveaway below! Entries close on Friday!

Make It Yourself Monday....ummm...I mean Tuesday!

Hi! I'm back! Sorry that the project didn't make it up on Monday but here it is on a Tuesday instead. This project took about a week to complete but it saved me tons of money. If you're like me, you don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on furniture all the time and your house definitely needs some furniture here and there. Ana White, founder of Knock-Off Wood, has created tons of plans for her readers so that they can build their own furniture at a fraction of what it would cost in the store. For this week's "Make It Yourself Monday", I'm sharing the very first piece of furniture that I've built from Ana's site. You can find the plan for this bench here. 

 I started out with just 1x12s and 1x2s from the lumber yard, a circular saw, a drill, screws, nails, a hammer, a square, pencil, measuring tape and some sawhorses. I built the entire thing in two evenings so I'd say a total of 4 hours. The staining and polyurethane takes a lot longer because of the wait time in between coats. I used a dark oak water based stain and a satin polyurethane. Make sure you use a pre-stain because I forgot that step and probably would have been happier with the outcome if I had used it. I'm also planing on putting baskets in the top cubes for gloves, hats, scarves and one for all of my flip flops. Ana, has all the details of the build in her plans and there are a lot more plans in her catalog. Right now, she is having a Homemaker of the Week contest on her blog and I would love it if you would vote for my project. Just click on the image below, find my project and click the heart. I'm so proud of my first handmade furniture and there are so many more projects on my to-do list! So, I'm sure there will be more furniture in store for Make It Yourself Mondays!

http://ana-white.com/2010/10/homemaker-of-the-week-week-2.html

Make It Yourself Monday

Hi fellow bloggers and readers!!!

I'm starting something new here on my blog. You've seen my scrapbook pages, so you know I like to get crafty but what you don't know is that I love being crafty with so many other things as well! So, every Monday I'm going to share something that you/I can make ourselves! It might be decor related, a craft or even a recipe here and there!
With the fall season upon us, I've started pulling out my harvest and fall decor and started searching for great halloween ideas! Here is the project that I tackled this weekend and the first project I'm sharing for Make It Yourself Monday! 

 

For this fall wreath, I used a grapevine wreath form and stuck in pieces of fall leaves and floral stems. Chad's mom gave me some indian corn that I wired together before I made the hook to hang it from. I want to add in some berry stems and some pine cones maybe. With the grapevine wreath I can pull out the stems and change them with the season and change the whole look of the wreath. I also bought a smaller wreath and put the leftover stems in it for the inside of the entryway.

  This wreath is hanging over something very cool but I can't show it to you yet! You'll have to come back next Monday to find out what it is! In the mean time here is another picture of some fall decor in my kitchen. I want to get a console table to put underneath the frame for our keys, phones, mail and stuff but for right now I love that frame!

 Thanks for stopping by and come back next Monday to see more projects!