Simply DIY 2

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 ...

First off…I can't believe my blog has reached 200,000 views !  When I started this back in January, I wasn't expecting many people outside my family and friends to view the blog.  Luckily, I was wrong -  Thank you to all my readers! Speaking of readers…I've been pretty bad at making posts in recent months.  November was such a busy month and December is no better.  However, I did have some time to complete a quick little project that I have been meaning to do for almost a year. When we cleaned out my Grandmother's house over a year ago, I found some pretty cool skeleton keys bunched together on a book ring.  I nabbed those quickly and knew exactly what I wanted to do with them - place them in a shadow box!  Last weekend, I popped over to IKEA with my neighbor and purchased a white one (among lots of other things…don't tell Kerry!) I dug through my endless supply of scrapbook paper and found jus...

Another one of our weekend travels brought us a little further south in VA.  A few weeks ago, Kerry's brother was married. His brother and now wife asked us to help take photos of their wedding.  I like taking photos.  I am very far away from being a great photographer, but I like to try.  I just need more practice.  So I took this as an opportunity to practice and to test out some props that I had seen in other wedding photos - chalkboards.  Chalkboards are so popular now. I see them in paint form, frames, and labels.  I figured I could incorporate one into their photos. I stopped over at my favorite craft store, Michaels's, and purchased an off-white frame and self-stick chalkboard sheets: All I did was peel apart the back of the chalkboard adhesive and stick it to the matte of the frame. Then I taped it to the back of the matte just to secure it. And that was it ! Nice and easy framed chalkboard.  No painting necessary and ...

I like to hang pictures around the house.  I have a set of  brown frames  in my living room and a set white ones that are in my stairwell going up to the bedrooms.  I mostly buy the same types of frames (I like a certain brown one from Kohl's and the white ones from Ikea), but I will occasionally find another type that I like too.  Whatever frame I find, there is usually one thing that irks me....when I have to hang them on the wall with the hardware that they come with.  It's usually the sawtooth hanger or a teeny triangle that goes on the nail.  I don't really care for either of them because they aren't typically centered on the frame. I do like the way professional framers put the wire on the back. It makes it easier to hang and helps make it more even. So whenever I have a frame that needs wire, this is what I do: You'll need a staple gun, wire cutters, some type of sturdy wire (I use floral wire which does the trick), and rubber pads (op...

I'm going to start this post off with a tribute to my Grama (one of the best cooks I know) that passed away last week: “If God had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn't have given us grandmothers.”  ―  Linda Henley I was blessed for 28 years to know her and she will be missed dearly.  She was a fantastic cook and an even better Gram.  On that note, as my mother and I were taking a trip down memory lane and rooting through some random stuff in my Gram's home, we came across some old mementos.  My mom found the memorial prayer funeral cards for her grandmother (my great-grandmother) and I found some old "vintage" McCormick extracts.  I told my mom that I could frame them and make them fancy.   So this is what I did: I went to Ikea and bought two frames, one brown and one white. For the funeral cards, I looked through my scrapbook paper and found appropriate coordinating colors for the cards and frame.  I cut them to the size ...

Since we moved in last May, I've been trying to find something to go above our headboard in our bedroom.  When we first moved it, I hung a small watercolor of lily pads that my grandmother painted, but that found a new home in our guest bedroom months ago.  Since then, it's been boring and bland: I've been looking for ideas and haven't found any that I felt was "the one" for the bedroom.  But then one day, with a coupon in hand, I went to visit Michael's craft store.  It's been a while since I've browsed there, plus I needed to find a candle for my Gram.  So off I went with my friend in search of a candle, when I saw THE PERFECT solution to my headboard problem: The frame + the print came together.  They were naturistic and earthy, the right size, and the perfect colors for our room.  And at...wait for it...$6.99 EACH (plus my teacher's 15% discount) I couldn't pass them up.  I purchased them and off I went to hang them u...

So everyone who knows me, knows my love of pictures and photography.  I love looking at, scrapbooking, and taking photos (and I strive to take better ones - someday I'll be there).  But until then, I will still enjoy all the ones that I take as well as my family's and friends' photos.   In the new house I have two photo walls that are a work-in-progress: One on the middle floor living room (brown frames)  and one at the top of the third floor steps (white frames-which will eventually spill over into the stairway).  After searching for the best way to hang up numerous pictures, I found some tips and started to hang.  Tip 1:  Typically, frames that are the same color or type are visually appealing.  Too many colors or shapes can be distracting, so the best combo would probably be to keep the frames the same color and use different shapes/designs (or same shapes works too).  You don't want to use different colors, even with same shapes.....