Simply DIY 2

This is Kerry - I've decided to take over Steph's blog for a post and talk to you about something near and dear to my heart.  No, I'm not talking about Stephanie - I'm talking about good old classic Nickelodeon television.   If you were born in the mid 80s, you were a  kid of the 90s  and know exactly what I'm talking about. Growing up, I religiously watched Nickelodeon Guts.  For those who don't know what Guts is - it is American Gladiators for kids…except with Ghostbuster Mike O'Malley hosting, and "Mo" refereeing.  Kids would compete in various events with the finale being the  Aggro Crag ,  Mega Crag , Super Aggro Crag (ok they seriously renamed it enough times).  The Aggro Crag wasn't just any ol' event - it was a treacherous mountain climb (28 feet) with rock avalanches (foam boulders), nuclear flying crystals (glitter), and strobe lights.  The winner of the game got a piece of the "radical rock" and hoisted it above th...

On September 13, Kerry and I celebrated our five year anniversary.  I can't believe that we have been married for that long !  We actually aren't big gift givers for our anniversaries and we usually try to take a trip to celebrate.  In the past years, we've gone to Arizona, Tennessee, Colorado, and this year we went the Lone Star State - Texas ! So, the suggested gifts for five years is wood or silverware.  We really don't need any silverware and I couldn't think of any furniture needs either.  But while I was in Texas, I did some shopping and spotted a block of wood with some twine that was used as a picture "frame."  I figured, why buy it when I can make it, DIY style. Materials: 8X8 wood block canvas (got mine at Michael's) Brown paint Modge Podge Thick twine or hemp cording Tools: Paint brush Staple gun Glue gun and stick Hand sander (or a piece of sand paper) First, I painted the front, four sides, and part of the bac...

This post is SOO long over due.  I started this about a year ago, before last year's school year… The end of August brings me to setting up my classroom.  I got this little idea from my school's fantastic art teacher. She has sets of IKEA plastic dishes connected by fish string and hung by color above her tables. So I just borrowed her idea, got myself some IKEA dishes, drilled some holes, added some fish string and got some pretty cool ways to group my students by colors.   I just attached the fishing string to a paperclip and shoved them in between the ceiling tiles.   Each color hung over either a row or a group of student desks…depending on how talkative  well-behaved my students were at the time.   I actually never got a chance to stand on top of a chair all last year to take a picture, so you won't actually see a final result - but it was a great way to add color to the room and divide my students up. How do you divide and label y...

Hello again !  We are finally getting some nice, warm weather down here in Virginia !  So glad !  Here is another post about my spring break projects.  This one is about our master bath.  Even though I put up a new  shelf and word cloud  in our master bath, above the bathtub was in dire need of some artwork.  See how bland looking this is???  This big, blank wall has just been begging for something to cover it since we moved in and I haven't been able to find the right piece of art…until I came across this gorgeous picture: Source It was love at first sight.  I knew that I wanted to attempt to make this for the bathroom using sea blues and greens to match the teal in the word cloud I made a couple of months ago.  Plus, I think that blues and greens are soothing and calming.   So, I gathered my materials and went to work. Materials: Canvas (any size you'd like - mine was 24 in. X 30 in.) Painter's tape P...

This summer will be our third summer in the new house.  Each year, I start a beautiful garden in the back with hopes of a fruitful harvest and each year (well, just the past two since we've lived here) I get  squash  squat.  Actually I do get a zucchini or two, but my tomato plants rot from the bottom and only a handful of beans will grow.  It is a pretty pathetic site.  This year, I am set on not letting it happen again.  I've decided to take a different approach this year.  Beans in the back up against a trellis, tomatoes in the front, and lots of potted veggies, like lettuce and bell peppers.  Also in pots will be my herbs - but I always grow some hearty herbs in a pot...I suppose you can't really mess up herbs (Hopefully I didn't just jinx that). I have already started my garden in the little newspaper pots  like I did last year, in hopes of planting them into the garden in a few weeks.   By the way, Punxsutaw...

Boy, did spring break go by fast ! If you celebrate Easter, I hope you had a wonderful weekend full of family, candy, and eggs. I'd like to make a quick post about some coasters that I made.  This is a fairly popular project around the internet and it is easy to do.  Last year I made a bunch of these as Christmas gifts but now I'd like some for our house to use outside when we entertain. Materials:  Scrapbook paper with the design of your choice (I've also seen people use pictures, maps, or pretty cloth) White 4.25 X 4.25 inch tiles (got mine at Lowe's) A foam painting brush Mod Podge Sealing spray Cork Tacky glue Cut your scrapbook paper into 4 X 4 inch squares.  Then brush some mod podge on the tile to "glue" the paper on. Place the paper on the tile and carefully smooth it out with the brush.  Make sure there are no air bubbles in the middle. You might also need to hold down the corners and edges for a few seconds so t...

Let's just say that my DIY'ing has been put on hold for a while due to being busy…duh.  So before my spring break started, I made a long list of things that I wanted to do around the house + crafting.  I have been pumping out projects like crazy ! Some projects are gifts for friends, so I won't be able to post those until later, but others are for our house.  Once they are complete (some have been put on hold a little more since it started snowing…not so springy here) I will share ! Come back later this week for some finished projects! ~Stephanie

Last year, when I made some cute  Easter hand towels , they caught my cousin's eye.  So she asked me to make her some for this Easter and I did:  ^ Towels before snap and button. I purchased two towels last year when they were on sale and cut them in half, thus getting four hand towels.   This is the post about the very first time that I made the hanging towel.  It gets a lot easier to make them after you do a few of them.  The longest part is tracing and cutting out the "handle" parts.   I am still  sewing snaps  instead of making a button hole because: 1. I still don't know how to sew a button hole and 2. I like the snaps better.   So, there you have it.  A little spring action for you.  I've been lucky enough to have a couple snow days, but used it to clean instead of craft.  It sure is nice being a teacher ! Now you can Do It Yourself Too ! ~Stephanie

Finally, I have found something little to hang on our bedroom walls !  I'm sort of hesitant when it comes to hanging things up on walls…well, bedroom walls.  A big wall, like our stairwell wall , is easy to decorate since it's one wall with a bunch of frames.  But having to decorate FOUR walls in one room makes me a little anxious.  Having to make it all flow together and look good is what makes me a little nervous. Back in June, I hung up some pictures above our bed.  That was easy because it seemed like a perfect space to hang some frames: However, I have a bunch of wall space that still needs some love in our room.  Since it still makes me a little nervous about what and where I should hang, I figured I'd tackle a small area.  This little wall next to our bathroom door seemed like a good spot to hang something…b aby steps. The other day, as I was browsing through Pinterest…again…I found the idea to frame fabric. ...

Have you ever had some nice gifts from Christmas, wedding, or birthday that you want to put in your house, but just haven't found the perfect place for it?  Well, Kerry and I have been married for almost five years now and we received two pretty shelves as gifts from family friends…we did register for them…and they have been sitting under our guest bed since we moved in.  Now, give me some slack here - we did rent for our first three years of marriage so it was  pointless  hard to hang things up. Well, I was inspired by a friend to get a move on figuring out a place for at least ONE of the two shelves.  It now has a home in our master bathroom.  Above the toilet was a nice, blank wall that needed some decor love, so I figured that would be the perfect spot for a shelf.   To hang up the shelf, I spread some painter's tape across the back from hole to hole.  I made sure that the top of the tape and the top of the shelf were ...