DIY Scrap Fabric Wreath – St. Patty’s Day

Posted on April 29, 2015 by simplyschulze

After creating my very first DIY wreath last April (hey, I’ll have to pay it a special tribute this year for prompting twelve months worth of creative wreath making! lol), I was determined to try out a different style of wreath each month. Since I gear each wreath toward either the season or whatever holiday happens to fall within that month, I wanted this wreath to be St. Patrick’s Day themed. While browsing Pinterest for style inspiration I came across this adorable St. Patty’s Day Rag Wreath (pictured below) via The Magic of Ordinary Things blog. I immediately knew that this had to be my next wreath since scrap fabric banners are basically my favorite go-to party décor item of all time (check out my tutorial here). Additionally, I already had a ton of left over green fabric from the various DIY décor projects I had created for Baby P’s “Wild One” party so I was happy to put that to use and the rest of the fabric I found at my local fabric store on the sale rack and in the remnants bin. This wreath is now in my top three favorites (I’ll have to do a “wreath year in review” come April and rank them all, lol), mostly because it resembles my beloved scrap fabric banners but also because it is SUPER cost effective, coming in at just under $7.00!!! If you’re ready for a little more variety among your conventional DIY wreaths, this is super fun and different and can be customized to fit any holiday or color scheme, so dig into your scraps and give this one a try!

my inspiration via “the magic of ordinary things” blog

SUPPLIES

wire – since lovely home *eye roll* is the only one in the neighborhood without a storm door my wreaths need a fighting chance of standing up to the elements so I used about 3 feet of thick plastic covered wire that I found at Lowes (near the rope) this way the wire couldn’t rust and turn the color of the fabric, it cost about $0.30/ft. (so less than $1 to create a makeshift 12″ wreath frame). If you have a storm door or sheltered front door you can do what was done in the previously mentioned tutorial above and form a wire hanger into a circle.
fabric – the amount you need is entirely up to you and depends on how full you want your wreath to be and how many colors you would like to use. I used well over 100 strips, measuring about 1X6″ (as per the first tutorial).
duct tape

INSTRUCTIONS

Begin by forming your wire into a circle and securing it with duct tape (shipping or packing tape will also do). Mine was about 12″ in diameter.
Next, tie your fabric scraps around the wreath until it is completely covered and none of the wire is showing. You don’t even need to knot it, just a simple single tie will do! At this point you can embellish the wreath in any additional manner that you please. I added a mini St. Patrick’s Day sign that I found at Hobby Lobby for 50% off.

Finished product!

Click on this photo to check out my post on how I created my giant reversible “lucky” sign!

DIY Fabric Covered Photo Mat – Made from a Cereal Box!!!

Posted on September 7, 2014 by simplyschulze

Who doesn’t love free stuff? I actually have quite a few “free” projects in the works currently that I’m super excited about, but for now I’ll share this one with you as it was part of our gallery wall which I will reveal soon! This project actually happened by accident when I realized that the frame I was using wasn’t a standard photo frame and I was going to need to cut a photo mat to fit it. Since the piece of art (I shouldn’t say art, it was a weird picture of a cat or something, lol) that was originally in the frame had an ivory mat around it I was going to have J cut it to fit using a box cutter. Of course he misunderstood me (anybody else have an issue with their men having selective hearing when it comes to their crafting requests? lol) and cut the wrong part of the mat, rendering the part I needed useless. Boo-hoo! It was time to come up with a plan B, which I thought would be just to buy and cut a standard mat to size but then I realized that a standard mat wouldn’t fit this frame either (gahh!). Just as I was getting super frustrated and about to ax the use of that particular frame altogether, I remembered that I had seen a picture mat that somebody had covered in fabric by simply mod podging fabric onto a plain picture mat. Now, that still didn’t solve my problem of not having the right mat size, but if I thought that if I could only find a thin cardboard to fashion my own mat I could take advantage of my left over fabric from past projects. I knew that a poster board cut to size would work just fine but in the interest of not having to traipse into town to get one I thought to myself “what do I have in the house that is of similar thickness/material to a poster board?” and then it came to me – a cereal box!!! About a half hour and a little mod podge later I had myself another fancy photo mat (check out my first DIY photo mat here) that not only matched the fabric on our side-light window panels but was free!!! All it required was a little thinking outside of the “box”, so to speak (get it? cereal box, ha.ha.ha). I hope this inspires a free photo mat on your end (you need not use a cereal box like I did, any thin cardboard will do) and should you not have the need for a photo mat right now, keep this one in mind as a great DIY gift opportunity come the holidays!

I’ll have plenty of more frame projects in the works if I keep catching more adorable moments like this! These two melt my heart ❤

DIY FABRIC PHOTO MAT

SUPPLIES:

1 large cereal box or poster board of some sort
fabric of your choice
mod podge (I used matte finish but it doesn’t matter what you use)
glue gun & hot glue
foam brush
measuring tape
scissors

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: If you are using a cereal box break the box down by cutting along one of the corners so that it can lay flat like a piece of cardboard. Then measure and cut four strips of equal length or four pieces that can come together to form a rectangular mat since it wont matter what your pieces look like beneath the fabric as long as the shape of the mat is even (depending on the size of your box you may not be able to get four equal pieces but rather four pieces just long enough to overlap and connect to form a rectangle). If using a poster board simply measure and draw out your mat and then cut it out already formed.

My cereal box! In the interest of pinching our pennies I opt for “crisp rice” instead of rice krispies haha

Step 2: Once you have your four pieces connect them so that your print side (if using a cereal box) is all facing one direction using hot glue to form the mat. Ignore this step if you have used a poster board and your mat is ready to go. Now you are ready to measure and add your fabric!

ensuring that it fits in the frame

Step 3: Measure your fabric by laying the fabric print side down (upside down) and laying your mat on top, use a pencil or pen to mark an area just a tad bit larger than your mat size or enough to be folded over the edges (I will explain in the subsequent steps). Once you have marked your rectangle on the fabric, cut it out using your scissors (this should be obvious but keep the rectangle in tact! To cut the center simply puncture a hole in the center of your fabric and cut along the insides).

Step 4: Place your mat so that the non-print side is facing up and lay your fabric cut out over the mat to make sure that it will line up correctly. In each of the inner and outer corners cut a small slit that extends from the edge of the fabric to the corner of the mat (this is so your fabric can be tucked underneath without puckering at the corners).

Step 5: Now you are ready to attach the fabric to the mat. Using your foam brush, brush a generous amount of mod podge onto the mat surface and then lay your fabric atop it and press down to secure. Some mod podge will likely seep through the fabric, this is fine, simply use your foam brush to brush it off so that it doesn’t form clumps. At this point your fabric will still be larger than necessary for the mat but allow it to dry this way before moving onto the next step.

Step 6: Once your fabric has dried for the most part, turn your mat upside down and use hot glue to attach your fabric’s edges to the underneath of the mat, making sure to pull it tightly so that isn’t loose along the edges and holds to the mat securely.

Step 7: Now turn your mat back over and add another coat of mod podge to the top of the fabric, ensuring that you are adding and even layer and are not allowing it to pool or clump along the top. Allow it to dry and you are ready to use it in your frame!!! Ta-da!!!

My DIY frame displayed on our gallery wall!

To see more of our family pictures from baby P’s 6 month photo session see this post!

DIY Felt Flower Wreath

Posted on August 23, 2014 by simplyschulze

Ever since I made my first DIY wreath this past Easter I was hooked and decided that I was going to try my best to create a different wreath for each month. Not only do I love switching up my front door but it gives me a fun project to look forward to at the end of each month (as if I don’t have enough projects going the rest of every month, haha). Since we are coming into football season and the holidays and I’ve got a full list of festive wreaths that I’m planning on creating come fall, I wanted to give one last crafty hoorah to summer with a fun floral wreath for August. I was inspired by a similar wreath I found on Pinterest and especially loved that with very few (and very inexpensive) supplies I could quickly and easily create a fun wreath to send the summer season out with a crafty bang! Before I get to the tutorial allow me to place some emphasis on how amazing fast this craft was – it only took me about 15 minutes to create the flowers and about 5 to attach them to the wreath (so about half an SVU episode worth of time, lol), which is good because according to my new-wreath-on-the-first-of-the-month plan I was already two weeks late in getting it up on display – better late than never! lol

DIY FELT FLOWER WREATH

*There are so many variations on this wreath, if your outdoor decor works on a particular color scheme you can easily adapt this wreath to fit it 🙂

WHAT I USED:

6 pieces of felt – I purchased a crafting variety pack of felt from Walmart for $1.99 (it came with about 20 pieces!). If you’re looking for specific colors your local fabric store should carry a ton at about 50-99 cents a piece.
10 medium-large buttons – a variety pack I also purchased from Walmart for $5.99 but if you have buttons laying around any will do!
12 inch grape vine wreath – I purchased mine at a local home decor store for $3.99
Scissors
Glue gun & hot glue sticks
ruler

WHAT I DID:

Step 1: I began by measuring and cutting your felt. This part is subjective, as your wreath may be a different width than mine and allow for larger or smaller flowers, but mine worked best with 10 flowers (3 large, 3 medium, 4 small). For my large flowers I cut strips of equal width and length (again, this is up to you), my large, medium and small length measurements were somewhere around 5, 3 and 2 inches, respectively. Then for the amount of flowers that you plan to make, cut a round circle of felt (about 2 inches in diameter) for each.

Step 2: Next I assembled all of my flowers by taking each piece of felt and folding it over to create a loop (these will be the “petals” of your flowers), then securing each with a dot of hot glue. Then gluing each petal onto the felt circle working in an overlapping/fan fashion. Once all of the petals were secured, I glued a button to the center of each flower.

Sorry for the gross finger pic, I’m a nail biter lol

Step 3: Once I had established the correct design, I glued each flower on one by one, using a generous amount of hot glue.

That’s all folks! It has been out in the elements for about a week now and is still holding up great even with a few rainy days and no storm door. Keep this in your pocket for next spring OR you can even adapt the colors to fit a fall scheme for the coming months!

DIY Shutter Shelf

Posted on August 23, 2014 by simplyschulze

As I’ve mentioned in my last few crafting posts, I’ve been scrambling to get our new house set up. After all, we’re only going to be here for under a year and I want at least a little time to relax and enjoy our time here before we pack up and move on again. This particular project has been a long time coming, as I purchased these shutters quite some time ago when we were still living at our Honey Tree house and still unaware that we would be moving in the next few months. My friend Lisa and I hit up “The Red Barn” which is, well, you guessed it – a red barn, lol but it’s also an antique/used furniture shop as well. Every now and then they’ll post items on our local Craigslist page and at the time Lisa was looking for small shutters to make shelves. It just so happened that the Red Barn owner did have the exact type of small shutters she was searching for but since he had three sets and she only needed two I decided to take the other ones, because for $5.00 a set why not! Since I didn’t have any purpose for them in our Honey Tree house they just sat in the garage with the rest of my back-burner project supplies and of course J kept trying to throw them out, convinced that I would never find a use for them, lol. As usual he was wrong (haha, just kidding .. or am I?) and when we moved into our new home on base I knew just the thing that was going to spruce up our ugly, empty kitchen wall – a DIY shutter shelf!

Now let me rewind a bit. Although I had seen shutters repurposed as shelves on Pinterest I wasn’t convinced that it was a project that I actually wanted to attempt until I saw how awesome my friend Lisa’s bathroom shutter shelf came out. I think what I love most about DIY and crafting is sharing ideas and inspiration for projects with friends and these repurposed shutter shelves are a perfect example of that :). After checking out Lisa’s shelf, I found that all I needed to do to create my own shutter shelf was purchase some brackets and mounting hardware, since I already had the paint and knobs (left over from my DIY Microwave Stand) on hand from other projects. The grand total for this project came in right around $18.00 which is amazing because if my memory serves me correctly the ugly, flimsy floating shelves that can be purchased at most homeware stores go for much more than that! Furthermore, after doing a little research I found that shutter shelves purchased via Etsy are going for anywhere between $45.00 and $100.00! So even if you don’t necessarily need a shutter shelf but have found some cheap shutters like I did, you could probably make a pretty penny by taking the time (not very much time, mind you) to do this project and sell it on Craigslist or Ebay – just a thought!

If you don’t have a lot of used furniture stores in your area shutters may be hard to come by, but if you do, I hope you give this project a try. It’s a super easy and fun way to jazz up any space in your home, and even if you don’t need a functional shelf they’re still fun to hold décor or pictures. Additionally, although these are inherently “shabby-chic”, with different paint or bracket choices you can adapt them to fit your décor style. Personally, my style is a combination of vintage pieces and modern finishes so the shabby finish on the shutters combined with the smooth modern brackets fit my décor perfectly! Here is my tutorial along with the products that I used to achieve this look, you’ll never believe how easy it was!

DIY SHUTTER SHELF

WHAT I USED:

1 pair of shutters (see picture below) – I found mine at a used furniture/antique store for $5.00! Mine were fairly small about 26″ long and 9″ wide (you can also use larger or smaller shutters just purchase brackets accordingly).
2 metal brackets – purchased via Amazon here for $12.58.
2 knobs – purchased as part of a set at Target (available 4 to a pack here for $12.99), I had two left over from my DIY Microwave Stand.
2 Keyhole Mountings – for hanging shelf (like these).
Chalk Paint – see this post to see how I made my own chalk paint. I used a sample size of Stone Mason Grey by Valspar, read more about my love for sample sized latex paints for crafting in this post.
Minwax Finishing Paste Wax in “Special Dark”
Foam Brush (or regular paint brush) – I found that a 1″ brush could most easily work between the slats of the shutters while painting.
Wood Filler – available at your local home improvement store, you can also substitute paintable caulk.
Sanding Block or Sand Paper
Clean Rag or cheese cloth
Drill
Screw Driver

WHAT I DID:

Step 1: I began by cleaning my shutters with a damp rag (mine were filthy!). Next I began separating my shutters by removing all existing hardware. I then used wood filler to fill any of the holes that were left from the old hardware.

Before

Before – gahhh cob webs eek!

Before

Step 2: Once the wood filler had dried, I returned to the piece and sanded those areas smooth and wiped the piece down with a clean cloth to remove any residue from sanding. Then I began painting my shutters. This was a bit tedious as you have to paint in between all of the slats. I painted one side then returned about a half an hour later to paint the other side, then repeated for a second coat (mine required two, depending on the original color of your shutters and the color of the paint you are using you may only need one).

After holes had been filled.

My favorite – little Valspar sample paints! Note, my very special paint stirring tool lol

Step 3: When your paint has dried, using a rag or cloth, apply an even coat of

Step 4: Once your shutters are painted and waxed decide how you want them to line up. Once you have decided, take your shutter that will be against the wall (the one that will be mounted on the wall, not the one that will be the functional part of the shelf) and using a drill, attach a keyhole mounting piece to each corner of the back of the shelf (mine were about one inch down and one inch in).

Keyhole mounting brackets.

J in action drilling holes for the knobs! Ignore his claw feet, eek! 😛

Step 5: Next, working with the same shutter, turn it over so that the part that will be facing out is facing you and measure equal distances for your knob placement, then drill a hole for each of the knobs and then screw them in.

Step 6: Now you are ready to attach your brackets! Using your brackets as a guide, mark where each screw is to be placed, then attach your brackets. That’s it! All you’ll need to do is mount your shelf on the wall using two screws that will fit your keyhole mounting hardware, see my finished product below!

I’ll update it once I decorate it but for now the shelf itself is decoration enough, I LOVE it! 🙂

DIY Dry-Erase Paint Chip Calendar

Posted on August 7, 2014 by simplyschulze

This project has me so excited and I’m not sure why since it’s nothing crazy. Probably because it’s the first step in finally getting my laundry room and family command center in order! I had seen something like this on Pinterest a while back and had decided against making it since we didn’t have the place for it our old home, however, now that we have a laundry room and soon-to-be family command area, I knew this would be the perfect addition.

So today, teething baby in tow, I headed to Lowes to fetch my free paint chips. Now, I’m sure the staff couldn’t care less about my taking thirty-five (that’s how many I needed) paint chips since they are after all, free, but I couldn’t help feeling that I was abusing my paint-sample privilege. I didn’t feel too bad considering I was purchasing other items, but I was sure I was going to get in trouble anyway, haha. At one point the lady at the paint counter motioned me over and said “I saw you over there and couldn’t help but notice …” and I was sure she was going to say “that you had a few stacks of paint chips in your hands, put those back”, lol but of course she went on to ooh and ahh over my squishy baby who apparently couldn’t stop smiling at her while I was busy abusing the paint chips. So proud of that baby P, already aiding and abetting in my questionably kosher crafting adventures! Anyway, moral of the story is, nobody cares, go nuts and take as many paint chips as you want :).

Once I got home this took me about 45 minutes to put together and since it didn’t require any hazardous materials I was even able to do it in the presence of baby P! The frame was a thrift store find that I had redone (aka hit with some spray paint) when we were planning on putting up a gallery wall in the old house (more on that later, as we’ll be putting up a smaller scale gallery wall in this house soon!), so the frame was essentially free which means that this project cost me ninety-seven cents (the cost of the poster board)!!! I can’t wait to hang it in my command center as part of my new and improved laundry/mudroom. Apparently we really needed this calendar too, when my hubby got home and I showed it to him he all sorts of questions about the events on it, none of which he knew were happening, lol. Here is my tutorial, it’s quick, easy and can be customized to fit any color/decor scheme!

NOTE: If you have a rotary cutter this project will probably take you significantly less time. Personally I didn’t care if my lines weren’t perfect but if you’re a stickler for a perfect job I would definitely consider using one.

Sorry that my pictures are so awful, I was so excited to post this I didn’t even hang the calendar which is why it’s leaning on a chair lol. I will post better ones soon!

Baby P watching our lawn getting mowed while I worked on the calendar 🙂

YOU WILL NEED:

35 paint chips – I used seven different colors, five of each color. You can do it the opposite or use all different colors if you prefer. Try to stick to lighter colors so that your dry-erase marker will show up well against it. I used the Valspar chips from Lowes since the little square at the top is perfect for inserting the date.
1 piece of white poster board – any other light color will do as well.
16X20 frame – based on the size of the paint chips I think this size works best.
Glue Stick or other crafting glue
Scissors
Ruler

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Begin by cutting your poster board to size. Then comes the tedious part – cutting all of your paint chips. I simply cut them down to eliminate any wording (for example the name of the paint and it’s code). This is a great project to do while watching a show!

Step 2: Line your chips up on your poster board, seven across and five down. Make sure you leave enough room at the top to write the name of the month and if you’d like, some room on the bottom to write “notes” or “monthly goals”. Once you are happy with their placement, use your glue stick to glue each one down.

Step 3: Along the top either write the days of the week or as I did, print them out and glue them on.

I chose colors that complimented our home’s color scheme, in case you’re into paint colors they are all Valspar. From right to left: Terra Cotta Red, Desert Rose, Roasted Squash, Hazy Stratus, Toasted Apricot, Urban Sunrise and Apricot Honey.

Step 4: Place your calendar into the frame and boom, DONE! Use a dry-erase marker to fill out your dates and happenings then display it proudly because you my friend, are a DIY diva (or dude, whatever lol)!

Easy Scrapbook Distressed Wooden Letter

Posted on August 6, 2014 by simplyschulze

This is just a quick little project that has done double duty for me in the way of both home decor and DIY gifting. I love it because it’s super quick and easy and can be customized to any gift or decor scheme, making it a perfect addition to a diaper cake to later be used in a nursery or as part of a gift basket to later be displayed in the recipient’s home! Any crafting enthusiast will most likely be familiar with mod podge and it’s seemingly limitless crafting applications. Personally I have used it as a sealer and glue as well as a top coat to many of my projects. This particular project simply involved mod podging a piece of craft or scrapbook paper to a wooden letter and sanding the edges a bit. From start to finish it takes about 10 minutes (not including dry time)! When creating gifts I love adding little extras that don’t cost a lot to produce so this is the perfect addition to any gift (I’ll give some examples below), this particular project cost a little over $2.00. I hope this one makes it onto your next diaper cake or gift basket!

YOU WILL NEED:

1 wooden letter (I purchased mine at Walmart for $1.97)
1 piece of craft or scrapbook paper
mod podge (glossy or matte, whatever you prefer)
black foam brush
Sanding block or sand paper (medium grit)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Begin by laying your scrapbook paper print side up and placing your wooden letter right-side up on the paper. Using a pencil, trace around the letter.

Step 2: Next, cut out the letter that you just traced, it does not need to be perfect, you will be sanding off any rough edges later in the process.

Step 3: Using your foam brush, apply a generous coat of mod podge to the back of your scrapbook paper letter then carefully place it onto your wooden letter, adjusting it so that it lines up as closely as possible. Use your fingers to gently smooth the letter out, pressing the paper onto the wood. Use a tissue or paper towel to wipe any excess mod podge from the edges. Allow to dry, this will probably take about an hour but may be done in as little as 20 minutes. Be sure to wash out your brush so that you may reuse it later!

Step 4: Once the letter has dried, use your foam brush to apply another coat of mod podge to the letter atop the scrapbook paper, this will seal it. Be sure to brush any clumps of mod podge off of the sides of the letters. Allow another hour or so of dry time.

Step 5: Once the top coat has dried, use your sanding block to sand the edges of the letter (focusing on the top edges not the sides), this will give it a distressed look and really make it look like the paper is painted onto the letter. Once you are happy with your level of distressing on the edges you are finished! If you feel the need you can apply another coat of mod podge or if your paper has lifted at all on the edges you can apply some mod podge to those specific areas.

This quick project helped me add a little something extra to the two gifts below!

Here it is as part of my “Whale-of-a-Time” Diaper Cake. Since I forgot craft paper at the store that day I decided to improvise. Since baby Brian’s room is whale themed I simply printed the lyrics to “Baby Beluga” on some blue card stock that I already had.

Here is a “J” I made for baby Jackson as part of my friend’s baby shower decor. She had been a huge fan of my Spring Chevron Wreath so I made her one as a gift and at her shower we displayed it with the “J” on the door as part of the decor (I also made her a welcome burlap mini banner to go with it). Oh, and check out my tutorial for DIY fabric flowers if you like the ones on this wreath!

DIY Hostess Gift – Fresh Lemonade

Posted on July 8, 2014 by simplyschulze

When life gives you lemons … make an adorable hostess gift!!! Since I’ve been cooking up a storm and my last two posts have been recipes, I wanted to make sure I threw a craft up on the ol’ blog since I have SO many that I’ve yet to post! This particular DIY gift I put together as a baby shower prize for a shower that we threw to honor one of our dear friends who was expecting a sweet baby boy (I say “was” because the sweet little baby has since arrived and is just perfect). This gift is adorable, cheap and so simple to put together. If you are heading to a party or BBQ and are not the cooking type or simply don’t have the time or the will to whip something up, this is the perfect substitute – your host will love it! There are so many ways to personalize this, adapt it to different drinks and add your own special touch. The etching was my way of jazzing up the plain old Walmart pitcher (see my glass etching tutorial to see how simple it is to do!) but is by no means necessary to create this adorable gift! You can make this on the cheap (using Walmart/Dollar Store components) for around $15.00 or so (if your dollar store carries glass pitchers then the cost would go down significantly, mine didn’t so I went the Walmart route). Personally I am always looking for new ideas for hostess gifts and have had many “crap! What do I bring!?” moments, so hopefully this helps you out should you ever have one 🙂

HOW I DID IT:

Glass Pitcher – I purchased mine at Walmart because I happened to be there already, it cost around $8 or so. If you have a cheaper option go for it!
Hand/Tea Towel – Dollar Tree
Spoon – Dollar Tree, the plan was to include a wooden one but they didn’t have any at that particular Dollar Tree, so I got a 5 pack of these white plastic spoons of varying sizes and used the longest one.
Lemons – Just use however many will fit in your pitcher, I bought a value pack of lemons from Walmart which came with about 10.
Lemonade Recipe – I Googled a lemonade recipe and printed it out on a recipe card to stick in the pitcher and titled it “The Perfect Lemonade”.
Etching Supplies – Optional, but it’s a great personal touch. See my etching tutorial for supplies needed. Since I did not know who my pitcher was going to I simply etched “Drink.” on the pitcher, but since your recipient will be known, you could always do the first letter of their family name.

The assembly is self explanatory if you take a look at the picture. You could also do a DIY pitcher of sangria or orange juice, the options are endless especially once alcohol is added to the mix, haha. Check back for other variations on this DIY hostess gift as I’m sure this will become my go-to when I don’t have time to cook!

DIY 4th of July Burlap Wreath

Posted on July 2, 2014 by simplyschulze

Hi everyone! I know I have been just awful about updating the ‘ol blog these past few weeks but between moving and heading back up north for a mini family vaca I have been all over the place! Good news is that I am back on the grid lol, and prepared to pollute blogland with TONS of new posts including my hubby’s surprise 30th birthday bash (a whiskey and cigar themed party, a huge success btw) which I had to keep off the blog until now, as well as some new crafts and recipes I have been working on in between organizing the house and ripping my hair out in frustration over moving haha.

Okay, back to the wreath. Being that we were heading out of town just one short week before Independence Day, I knew I had to eek out my 4th of July wreath if I wanted it to be displayed leading up to holiday. This was not my first burlap wreath rodeo, I had tried my hand at it once before for my Easter wreath (a post that I am yet to get around to lol) and was super surprised at how easy it was to create given how impressed I was with the final product. So while J did his best to wrangle baby P (who is crawling lightening fast these days and getting into everything) I managed to get this wreath done in just about 20 minutes! I will give you a run down of the specific products I used but obviously it is not necessary that these items be used, as the thing I love most about burlap wreaths is that there are a variety of ways on which to elaborate on such a simple idea and that they can be adapted to fit any color scheme or holiday. If you’ve seen one on Pinterest and are hesitant to try it out, don’t be – it is almost impossible to mess up. I know a lot of the written explanations for weaving the burlap can be confusing but if you YouTube “burlap wreath tutorial” you will find a much more helpful guide to making one, I promise! Happy 4th of July everyone, please watch some fireworks for me, baby P goes to bed at six so chances are I will not be watching any aside from what I can see from my porch lol.

baby P looking adorable right before he started slamming the bouquet violently then trying to eat the petals lol.

4TH OF JULY BURLAP WREATH

WHAT I USED:

18″ wire wreath frame – I purchased mine for $2.50 at a local craft store specific to my area but you can get them on Amazon for around $5.00 or so.
2 rolls of red and blue chevron wired burlap ribbon (10 ft. each) – I purchased mine from Walmart for $3.47 per roll but a Google search revealed that it can be purchased just about anywhere, lol.
1 roll of plain burlap ribbon 5 1/2″ X 15 ft – available at any craft store.
white satin 1″ wired ribbon
Flag Print Faux Daisies – these just happened to work perfect and were available at Walmart, however, any red/white/blue flower combo would work or even a bow instead!
1 white wooden letter

HOW I DID IT:

Step 1: I began by weaving my burlap into my wreath, I will refer you to YouTube for the tutorial on how to actually weave the burlap in and out of the wire frame so as to not embarrass myself with an explanation that will make no sense, haha. I will say, however, that I did work by weaving the plain burlap for a few loops, then exchanging it with the chevron ribbon and I worked in “sections” of burlap instead of weaving the whole 15 feet through at once because that would have taken FOREVER. I would just work it through for a few feet then cut it and start over in the next section, since my chevron ribbon was wired it was easy to secure it even though I was not using the whole roll at once.

Step 2: Once I was done weaving my burlap and chevron interchangeably. I wove my 1″ white ribbon through the wreath in no particular pattern. This was simply to be the “white” in the red/white/blue holiday color scheme, the wreath looked perfectly fine without it.

Step 3: I cut three of each print of daisy from the bunch and stuck them through the wire frame, weaving the stem through the three metal bars so that the flower would remain secure. Then using a piece of twine I tied the wooden “S” to the wreath right atop the flowers.

inspecting the flowers again lol

Step 4: Once the wreath was complete, I took a few minutes to “poof” my loops and rearrange my flowers so they looked just right!

finished product!

This wreath cost me right around $15.00 to make and just out of curiosity I did a quick Etsy search for a “4th of July Burlap Wreath” and almost spit out my drink when I saw that the average wreath was going for an average of $50.00 plus shipping – WHAAAAAAAAT???!!! NO, NO, NO, people, you are getting ripped off, especially because you can buy almost all of the necessary components for one of these wreaths at Walmart. Furthermore, if you make a plain burlap wreath you can simply adjust it to each holiday or season by adding embellishments (a big benefit of the burlap wreath is that it is not permanent, if you mess it up or want to change it simply unweave and re-do) so potentially you can have the best wreath on the block time and time again for just around $10.00 for the year. So please, to keep me from having anxiety over thinking of people swipin’ that credit card for a $60.00 burlap wreath, at least attempt to make your own! Friends don’t let friends pay good money for cheap crafts lol.

Easy DIY Nautical Frame – Made For Under $1!!!

Posted on May 24, 2014 by simplyschulze

So with J gone for fleet week (*sigh* it has only been seven days and it feels like foreverrrr already), I have been keeping myself busy with baby P but also, of course, with TONS of crafts, haha. Earlier this week I found an adorable beachy frame on clearance at our local craft store and picked it up for J’s Mom (with all the running around for my niece’s b-day I wasn’t able to get my MIL a Mother’s Day gift, just a card), who loves beach themed decor so my plan was to put a picture of baby P from one of our recent beach trips in the frame. However, when I printed the picture I wanted to use, the store cropped it wrong and I ended up having to use another, but being the weirdo that I am, I couldn’t bring myself to throw out a picture of baby P even though it was basically useless (wow, I am a FREAK lol). In an ah-ha! moment I had the idea to use it in our guest bathroom, which is beach themed and a little gallery wall where baby P’s beach photo would fit perfectly (check out our guest bathroom update saga here). In my mind the project was going to involve rope, a picture frame and some of those baby clothes pins I had picked up for a party craft I am making in the near future, but to save myself the running around looking for rope (especially when I probably wouldn’t use it again, defeating the purpose of this craft being essentially free), I decided to just use twine I already had at home and instead of a frame I purchased a dowel for $0.59 to create my own “frame”. So, yesterday during P’s nap I whipped up this little picture frame in about 15 minutes, but the ease of this craft isn’t even the best part. The best part would be that when broken down, this craft costs about $0.75!!! Baby P looked on in delight as I hung it as part of our little bathroom gallery wall this morning and I just know our guests will love seeing it too :).

The original picture that prompted this idea, isn’t my squishy baby sweet?

YOU WILL NEED:

NOTE: If you find a cheap thrift store picture frame you could use that in place of the dowel, simply remove the glass and begin the instructions at step 3. Also, this does not need to be beach themed, you can wrap the frame in whatever material you would like and then embellish with something that suits your style!

A dowel (round or square, whatever your preference)
Hack Saw (or any saw, if you are desperate you can use scissors if you dowel is skinny enough)
Sand Paper (optional)
Rope or twine
Glue Gun
Mini Clothes pin (available at most craft stores, if you are making a larger version of the frame you could use a regular sized clothes pin)
Ribbon (optional, you could just use more rope or twine in it’s place if you’d like)
Sea Shells or Beach Glass (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Take your dowel and measure and mark the lengths of your frame size. I chose to do a 7″X7″ square frame since I only had a small amount of space available on my wall. Then use your hack saw to cut the four pieces and then sand off any remaining wood pieces or roughness on the edges (no need to make it perfect, you will be covering this anyway). NOTE: If you are desperate, just hack at your dowel using scissors until you weaken it enough to snap it with your hands, it will be uneven on the edges but you can sand them. Ghetto option I know, but I know some peeps don’t have saws and I like to be an equal opportunity crafter, lol!

Step 2: Arrange your four sides in a square as if they are lincoln logs (two on the bottom and two on the top overlapping). You can also do one under the other or glue the corners so that the frame will lay completely flat, it is up to you but personally I liked the way it looked using the lincoln log method. Use a dot of hot glue to attach each of your four corners.

Step 3: Now, beginning at a corner, use a dot of hot glue to attach the end of your rope or twine to the frame. Then apply a small line of glue to the frame and working a few inches at a time, begin wrapping the rope or twine tightly around the frame. Work quickly so the glue does not dry before you press the rope to it. Continue this process around the body of the frame until it is completely covered.

Step 4: Once you have finished the frame, decide where you want your picture to fall within it, then cut a piece of twine long enough to reach across the back width of the frame, securing it at either end with a dot of hot glue.

Step 5: Now, cut two pieces of ribbon, twine or rope of equal length (you will use these to hang the frame), the length depends on your personal preference. To attach each piece, place a dot of glue at each of the two top corners of the frame and secure an end of each piece. Tie them at the top in a bow or knot and it is ready to hang!

Step 6: The last step is optional, but if you wish you can embellish your frame. I used a single seashell attached with hot glue at one of the lower corners. Hang your frame, high-five yourself and if you’re a Mom decided what you’d like to do with the other 45 minutes of naptime! 🙂

Don’t forget to check out my post on our guest bathroom update, where you can view before and after pictures of our bathroom and all of our decor 🙂

DIY Little Man Onsies with Interchangeable Bow Ties

Posted on May 18, 2014 by simplyschulze

Who doesn’t love a tiny little baby boy dressed up like a man, right? I for one, LOVE dressing baby P up like a man (he’s looked like a little mini man ever since birth, kind of weird and cute at the same time lol), and even before I had met my little guy my Etsy shopping cart was filled with cute little onsies with tie appliques and little bow ties. Only problem was, I quickly realized that at between $25 and $35 a pop (for a onsie, really? lol), my full blown little man wardrobe was going to have to wait until I hit the lotto, haha. Luckily, I was able to find a few little man onsies on clearance and be gifted a few others (a lot of them are featured in his monthly and holiday pictures) but I still was left wishing that there was a cheap way to get my hands on some more little man clothes!

Flash foward a few months, some friends and I are planning a “little man” baby shower for one of our girlfriends who is expecting a little boy. I thought it would be so cute to recreate the adorable onsie clothesline that my girls had displayed at my shower, but with little man themed onsies. Obviously the same problem of these little man onsies being so damn expensive presented itself once again. So I began to wonder if there was a way I could actually make these myself, without them looking like crap, that is (haha) – it turns out there was! Since I don’t sew other than by hand (learning to use my sewing machine is on my long list of things to do lol), it never occurred to me to make these onsies myself, but after a little research on Pinterest and inspection of items I already had, I was able to come up with my own variation of a little man onsie using, cheap fabric, hot glue and my limited sewing skills. So with limited expectations I got to work and was absolutely thrilled with the result of my project and definitely had a few “holy-crap-I-made-this?” moments throughout lol. Not only will I be able to use these at my friend’s shower, but I now have a home-run of a gift for any of my family and friend’s future baby boys (or girl for that matter, these can be hairbows too, say whaaaaat?!). I also plan to make hundreds (okay, maybe not hundreds, but a lot lol) of these for baby P until he no longer wishes to wear bow ties (which hopefully is never since he is a little man, lol), starting with the one he will wear for his Father’s Day picture.

Give this craft a shot! If you have zero sewing skills you can still make it work, I promise! If you need more of a reason than how adorable a little man onsie is then here’s another – a onsie and six interchangeable bow ties cost me about $3.00 when you break it down (compared to an average of about $22.00 per onsie on Etsy, usually including only one bow tie), so cost-wise it’s a no-brainer!!! NOTE: I also plan to make a matching bow tie for J, I just have to mess around with the bow tie tutorial to figure out fabric measurements for an adult bow tie but once I do I will post my own tutorial!

LITTLE MAN ONSIE & BOW TIE

*The use of Velcro or Nylon snaps is totally up to you, if the child is over six months and you know how to sew by hand I would suggest the snaps, as they are less easily removed by the child, lol. Velcro is still fine though, I found that baby P was more interested in the buttons than the bow tie.

MONEY SAVING TIPS:

Hit up your fabric store’s remnants bin, a 12X12 square of fabric that cost under $1.00 was enough for me to make about 6 bow ties!!!
Since you don’t need anything fancy use the cheapest brand of white onsies you can find, I believe Walmart carries a Gerber brand 10-pack for around $8.00.
Use cheap buttons, this works well anyway since cheaper buttons will be more plain and you want the color/style to work well with multiple bow ties.

YOU WILL NEED:

White Baby Onsie
Hot Glue
Fabric of your choice
2-4 buttons of your choice (amount depends on size of button)
Needle & Thread
Sew on Velcro or Sew on Nylon Snaps (if you are not planning on sewing at all, you will need to use Velcro)
Fabric Adhesive (you only need this if you are not sewing at all, make sure the label says “washable” meaning the item can be run through the washing machine after the glue has been used)
Ruler or Measuring Tape

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Use this bow tie tutorial to create as many bow ties as you want. I used the hot glue method and wherever it said to iron I didn’t (I’m lazy, lol) and my project still came out great. Important Note For Nylon Snap: If you are planning on attaching a nylon button adapt the previously mentioned tutorial to include the following instruction for attachment of the nylon snap. When you are gluing the smaller 2.25X2.25 piece in half place a very small dot of glue on each end and the middle (as opposed to just putting a whole line of glue down the seam), you want a space near the end where glue will not obstruct your needle once hardened. When securing your small piece to bow part of the bow tie, use a dot of glue to secure the one end, then using a needle and thread, sew the half of your nylon snap to the opposite end, so that when you pull it around and secure it, it will be facing out on the back of the bow tie where you would snap it to the onsie (see blue gingham bow tie pictures). Important Note For Velcro: If you are attaching velcro simply follow the instructions for construction of the bow tie to the end, once the bow tie is complete, use a dot of hot glue or fabric glue to attach a piece of velcro to the back of the bow tie. Here are some pictures I took as I went about making my bow ties.

this is the washable fabric glue that I used to apply the velcro

I used velcro dots but if it is cheaper to purchase velcro in a roll or larger piece you can just cut it yourself. The nylon snaps are shown as well, I chose these as opposed to metal snaps because they don’t require a special tool to attach them to fabric.

Velcro placement

nylon snap method

nylon snap placement

Other bow ties not shown on onsies.

Step 2: Once you complete your bow ties, you are ready to work on the onsie. For Nylon Snap: Find the center of your onsie, I placed mine about 3/4 of an inch down from the top of the neck, but use your own judgement as to what you think looks best. Use a needle and thread to attach the connecting piece of your nylon snap to the onsie. For Velcro (No-Sew): Find the center of your onsie, I placed mine about 3/4 of an inch down from the top of the neck, but use your own judgement as to what you think looks best. Use your washable fabric glue to adhere the connecting piece of velcro to the center of the onsie, it will probably need to dry for about 24 hours. Do Not use hot glue for this part, if you do not use a machine washable glue your velcro will probably fall off in the washing machine. I used a few stitches to secure my velcro after I glued it for further security but if you are going with the no-sew method that is fine too.

Plain white onsie

nylon snap placement.

Step 3: After attaching your velcro or snaps, you can work on the buttons. Use a measuring tape or ruler to mark the areas on the onsie where you would like to attach the buttons. I used three buttons for medium sized buttons and two buttons for larger buttons and placed them about two inches apart (measuring from the button center). Use a needle and thread to attach your buttons. If you are not sewing you can absolutely skip this step, the onsie looks just as cute without buttons! I suppose if the onsie is for a newborn or very small infant (aka one that doesn’t have the capacity to pull the buttons off and eat them lol) you could glue the buttons using washable fabric glue, however I have not tried this myself, if you do attempt it let me know how it holds up!

ones10

Ta-da!!!!

Enjoy your onsie!!! For care turn inside out when running through the washing machine, and for best results hand wash and hang dry when possible.

My squishy baby rockin the onsie!

He seems to be happy with it 😛

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