Simply DIY 2

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...

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. ...

Each year around the beginning of December, a few teacher friends and I get together and make homemade jam and apple butter.  Then we can the jam and apple butter and give them out as gifts.  Due to scheduling issues this year, we couldn't do it together.  Luckily I had my sidekicks to help this year - Kerry to help can and Stout waiting patiently for any apple butter goodness to fall on the floor. I made the apple butter in the crock pot, using applesauce and other ingredients, and let it cook slowly for about nine hours.  Yum!  Then I canned it with the help of my trusty assistant, Kerry.  After the jars cooled off, they were ready to be dressed up for gifts.   Typically I cut out circles of cute holiday fabric with pinking shears to decorate the tops of the jars...but  then I found this  idea  on Pinterest and loved it !   I thought this was a genius idea and it saves a lot of time.  I didn't have to trace out ...

If you haven't noticed, I like making crafts.  Not only do I enjoy making things for myself, I get really excited when someone asks if I can make them something.  Even better…when I make someone for someone and they like it!  Last year for Christmas, my sister, Emily, asked for a memo board and this year, she wanted another one!  I've made many memo boards, but surprisingly not one since I started this blog.  There are plenty of other tutorials on how to make a memo board, but I thought I'd still share mine. Everyone's is a little different.  Of course, you can find memo boards in the store, but they are usually over $15 or $20.  Not only can you do them on the cheap, you can make it just the way you want it! Tools: Scissors Staple Gun and staples Needle Pliers/wire cutter (to pull out staples if needed and to cut floral wire) Ruler Materials: 16 X 20 inch canvas (usually purchased at Michael's with coupon) Quilt batting cut 16 X 20 ...

Last week I was looking at my shoes in their respective shoe boxes and decided that it looked too disorderly: It was time for some reorganizing.  Some of my shoes were already in  plastic shoe boxes  from Target, so I figured I'd keep them all the same.   I went to Target and purchased a few more shoe boxes (about $2.50 each) and anxiously awaited my Christmas gift exchange with my friend Mary Rae who purchased the rest!  I really like the purple latch on the sides, but you can find simple and cheaper ones at the dollar store. Source Even though the shoe boxes are clear, I wanted a way to label the front of each box.  I'll be looking at the boxes head on and not from the side, so it makes more sense to be able to read a description of the shoe than to pull each box down until I find the one I need.   I remembered the self-stick chalkboard sheets that I used to make a  chalkboard frame  back in October and figured I could use ...

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...

Pinterest is at it again.  While browsing Pinterest during my daily hourly look through, I found this pretty fall wreath : Since it is on Etsy, I started to look for an online tutorial on how to make a tulle wreath.  I've never seen one before, so I wasn't sure where to start.  Google makes searching for things so easy and I quickly found this  tutorial.  It was very helpful. I got most of my materials at a store called WOW Outlets in Pennsylvania while visiting my family (yes, another trip to PA).  The foam ring is 11" .  I originally started with a 12" ring, but felt it was too big.  I had almost the whole wreath covered with tulle, didn't like it, and took it apart for the smaller ring. I got some of the tulle at the same store, some at the $1.00 section in JoAnn's, and had some cut from a bolt at JoAnn's.  I also purchased some gold ribbon as well. The flower, leaves, and scarecrow are all from fall decorations I had ...