Tag Archives: DIY

Microwave Stand Re-Do – Using Homemade Chalk Paint

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If you’ve read any of my other blog posts I’m sure you can gather that I love re-doing furniture, so naturally I was pretty sad when we downsized to a smaller home last month, as I took this to mean that there would be very few opportunities for me to re-do new pieces without any space to put them. Thankfully I was wrong! Although we did give up some square footage when we moved on base, I am finding that we still have the need for some smaller furniture items to re-purpose as storage/organization pieces, so I will still have plenty of DIY-ing in my future after all.

This particular project was actually born out of necessity, when in the midst of our crazy fast move, I realized that the new house had no microwave! I had forgotten that in our former home, the microwave was a permanent fixture and would not be making the move with us. I figured, no problemo, I’ll just buy the cheapest counter top microwave Walmart has to offer (“Westbend” I hear that’s what the rich people are using these days, right? lol). I did just that, and of course wound up with a defective microwave, so after an annoying second trip back to Walmart which involved having to schlep a giant box and a cranky baby P in 100 degree temperatures, I finally got a microwave that worked. The next problem was, with my new kitchen being fit for a dollhouse, every inch of counter space already taken up. Now I was going to need somewhere to put my super fancy Walmart microwave, lol. 

I started trolling Craigslist for microwave stands and almost immediately found one that looked promising at our local thrift store. When I went to pick it up the following day and the girl showed me to the piece, I was upset to see that it was not what I was expecting at all. Contrary to the picture online, the actual product was about two feet tall and wasn’t real wood, I nicely let her know “ummm, m’am, this is a night stand” lol. Thankfully she showed me something similar that was the correct height, real wood and the same price as the ugly night stand, it even had some extra storage underneath – sweet!

Now, since I know you don’t care about my microwave drama, I’ll get to the actual project, haha. I have always been a huge fan of chalk paint – in theory, but have never actually used it mostly because the good stuff like Annie Sloane is just way too expensive for me and because of my prior successes with re-doing furniture using latex paint, I’ve never felt the need to try out chalk paint. That being said, after two of my crafty friends both re-did pieces using DIY chalk paint, I knew I needed to give it a shot, especially because both of their projects came out beautifully! I figured the microwave stand would be a great trial piece, after all, I’m hoping that when we finally settle down our home will once again have a built in microwave so this piece would just be temporary.

The verdict on DIY chalk paint? AMAZING! Not only is it super cheap to make, it works great and by applying a furniture wax to seal the piece as opposed to a polyacrylic or gel top coat as I normally would, I eliminated a lot of drying/painting time on the tail end of the project. I am so grateful that I tried this out, even more grateful that it came out better than I could have hoped and most grateful to my friends Lisa and Courtney who I texted (and by texted I mean annoyed, lol) the entire time to make sure I was doing it right haha. Here is my tutorial and description of what I did, including the products I used, hopefully this inspires you to try out chalk paint on your next furniture re-do! 

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Color is “Farmer’s Market” by Valspar, available at Lowes.

REFINISHING USING DIY CHALK PAINT

WHAT I USED:

  • Sample Size 8oz container of latex paint – purchased at Lowes for $2.98 each, I used two because I wasn’t sure how much paint I would need for the project. I probably could have gotten away with using just 8 oz, as I did have a lot left over. Check out my post on my favorite products for refinishing furniture on the cheap to hear me rave about these little sample size paints, lol (really though, they’re the best). NOTE: Adding the chalk to the paint tends to lighten the color a bit, so try going a shade darker if you are trying to maintain a particular hue.
  • Calcium Carbonate – Fancy name for powdered chalk, haha. There are several different ways to make your own chalk paint including mixing paint with plaster of paris, but this method is non-toxic and according to my friend who has tried both, the calcium carbonate works best. The ratio is 1 part chalk to two parts paint. I purchased my Calcium Carbonate via Amazon here for about $10.00 with free shipping. 
  • Black Foam Brushes
  • Sanding Block or Sand Paper
  • Black Satin Rustoleum Spray Paint (if repainting the hardware)
  • Wood Filler (if you need to patch any gouges or holes in the wood)
  • Minwax Paste Finishing Wax in “Special Dark”  – purchased via Amazon for about $13.00, this will last you a long time. I chose to use the hard wax because it is easy to apply and once you have buffed the piece it is ready for use, as opposed to a gel or poly top coat which requires multiple coats and lots of dry time. The Minwax paste wax is also available at your local home improvement store in a variety of colors.
  • Rags (for applying and buffing finishing wax)

HOW I DID IT:

before picture

  before picture

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Step 1: I began by removing all of the doors and hardware from the piece. Since I was going to reuse the hinges and screws I cleaned them off and hit them with a coat of black spray paint and set them aside to dry.

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this is a very technical process, lol, I just stuck the screws in an old box so that the spray paint would only get the tops and not coat the threads.

this is a very technical process, lol, I just stuck the screws in an old box so that the spray paint would only get the tops and not coat the threads.

Step 2: I gave each surface of the piece a quick sand. I know people say that when using chalk paint there is no need to sand, but I just thought it couldn’t hurt and because I needed to repair a little damage to the top with some wood filler and would ultimately end up sanding anyway I went ahead and did it. I’m sure if you choose not to sand your piece will turn out fine! 

Step 3: After sanding I wiped the piece down with a wet rag and then a dry one to remove any dust particles. I then applied wood filler to the aforementioned spot of damage and smoothed out using a paint scraper. After the wood filler had dried, I returned to the piece and sanded it flat.

area where some of the wood had chipped off and it was uneven

area where some of the wood had chipped off and it was uneven

where I applied the wood filler before smoothing it out and sanding it down

where I applied the wood filler before smoothing it out and sanding it down

Step 4: Next I mixed my DIY chalk paint by pouring my two containers of latex paint (I used satin finish because sample sizes are only available as such, some people will tell you to use a flat paint when making chalk paint but from my friend’s experience, satin finish works better anyway) into a container along with 8 oz of calcium carbonate and mixing together until all large lumps had dissolved. The stuff is going to be thick like pancake batter but don’t worry, this is what you want! 

Step 5: Paint your piece as you normally would, using even strokes in the direction of the natural wood grain. Unfortunately, although it is said that chalk paint only requires one coat, I found this to be false in my experience, as did my friend Courtney (not sure about Lisa). It may just depend on the original color of the piece you are painting, but as you can see in my pictures, even with the dark red going over the light oak wood, I still required three coats, although I probably could have gotten away with two but I had the extra paint and some areas looked lighter so I figured what the hey? Good news in the multiple coats department is – dry time is significantly less than with non-chalk paint, I was able to return to my piece within a few hours and add a second coat. Pay attention to the humidity in your area though, some people say that you can paint after just one hour of dry time but I was working in my garage in high humidity so I allowed about seven hours.

Step 6: Once your piece has dried, inspect it for lumps or bumpy areas. If there are any just sand them down a bit. Some areas had a little dried white grit from where the chalk didn’t dissolve in my paint, so I just sanded them down and dabbed a tiny bit of paint on the spots. Now you are ready to wax!

Step 7: I chose to use the “special dark” wax because I wanted to add that “antique-y” look to my piece and I also found that in doing this the color of the paint was darkened back to it’s original hue, whereas it looked a lot lighter before wax. Confession: I was too scared to apply the wax myself for fear of ruining the piece, so I made J do it, lol. Use a rag (we used old t-shirts) and begin applying a thin coat of the wax all over your piece making sure to rub it into the grooves and edges. Allow it to sit for 15-20 minutes then using another rag, buff it out (as if you were waxing a car). The wax dries pretty quickly so if you are doing a very large piece I might suggest working in sections. Also, the wax is potent stuff so I’d recommend either working outside or in a well ventilated area. Once you have buffed your piece you’re finished and your piece is ready to use, just reattach your hardware and you’re good to go!  

hubby in action, applying the wax!

hubby in action, applying the wax!

how we have it set up for now

how we have it set up for now

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inside storage area, I didn't paint the inside just the edges, I ran out of painters tape on my last project so I actually used shipping tape haha, worked great! Probably wouldn't recommend it on your walls though!

inside storage area, I didn’t paint the inside just the edges, I ran out of painters tape on my last project so I actually used shipping tape haha, worked great! Probably wouldn’t recommend it on your walls though!

The knobs were purchased at Target of all places! $12.99 for a pack of four, about what you would pay if you purchased knobs individually at Lowes or H.D.

The knobs were purchased at Target of all places! $12.99 for a pack of four, about what you would pay if you purchased knobs individually at Lowes or H.D.

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The total cost of this piece was around $50.00 (the original piece being purchased for $35.00 with the addition of paint and new knobs). We are LOVING it, it fits in with our kitchen so well and matches our DIY menu chalkboard that we have displayed in the living room. I am also delighted to report that even with one of baby P’s favorite activities being slamming doors into furniture, it hasn’t even gotten a scratch! 🙂

mischievous squishy baby knocking the door into the furniture, he knows he's being bad look at that little face! haha

mischievous squishy baby knocking the door into the furniture, he knows he’s being bad look at that little face! haha

DIY Scrap Fabric Banner

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Let me start by saying I am in love with this craft. This is the quicker, shabby-chic version of a traditional fabric pennant banner (if this isn’t quite your thang, check out my DIY no-sew fabric pennant banner tutorial or my DIY rustic burlap pennant banner tutorial). I plan to come back to this craft time and time again, especially for holiday and party decor. I have seen these done before, however, never had a reason to attempt one until it came time to throw my friend a baby shower and of course I got way carried away when it came to decor and decided that this would make a great last minute addition. Using scrap fabric left over from the wreath I had made the mama-to-be (I will post about the wreath and the shower itself soon!), I was able to create this adorable scrap fabric banner in about 20 minutes! I think my favorite thing about this banner (aside from the fact that it was free to make since I reused left over supplies), is that while it is simply strips of fabric tied to a string, it is a great way to tie all of your decor together by incorporating all of the colors in your color scheme. This would also make an adorable addition to a nursery, I will absolutely come back to this idea for any future nurseries I may be decorating in the distant future! If you have an event coming up and are looking to add a little something extra, just dig around in the depths of your fabric scraps and chances are you can throw something together with scrap that you already have. If you are making this with no fabric on hand, no problem – hit up the remnants or clearance bin at your local fabric store or Walmart, you can often get close to a yard for under a dollar which is much more than you will need for this project anyway! I hope this inspires your next holiday or party decor project and remember not to throw away any of those fabric scraps along the way 🙂 

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The banner as we displayed it at the baby shower over a chalkboard with baby’s monogram!

DIY SCRAP FABRIC BANNER

YOU WILL NEED:

  • Fabric – the amount and color will depend on your color scheme and the size/length of your banner. There is no limit to the kind of fabric either, mix textures and prints and get creative!
  • Twine/Ribbon/String – to tie your scraps around, I used left over twine from another project but a ribbon of a complimentary color would have been nice as well!
  • Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Begin by cutting your strips of fabric. Whether or not all of your strips are the same width and length is up to you. When cutting my strips I started with one fabric and cut a bunch of the same width and length, then moved onto the next fabric and cut them about the same width but a different length from the original group. 

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Step 2: Lay out a piece of twine or ribbon, the length will depend on how long you want your banner to be. Make sure you leave enough slack on either end for hanging.

Step 3: Fold a fabric strip in half (as shown) and lay it across the twine or ribbon, then pull the two “tails” of the fabric under and through the “loop” (see picture), pulling it tight to form a knot. 

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Step 4: Continue in this fashion, after each knot is made slide it down so that it fits snugly against the one before. I arranged mine in no particular order but you can follow a pattern of colors to make the banner look more uniform if you wish. 

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Finished product! This would be great to hang above the crib in a nursery, I know my hubby was too paranoid to let me hang anything heavy over baby P (even wooden letters lol) so this would be a great worry-free piece of decor! 🙂

DIY Hostess Gift – Fresh Lemonade

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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.

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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

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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.

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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:

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  • 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.

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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

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!

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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. 

“Whale-of-a-Time” Diaper Cake

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So lately I have been super intrigued by diaper cakes. When making gifts for friends and family I love to get creative with the items I am gifting rather than simply sticking them in a gift bag with a card. Diaper cakes lend themselves perfectly to this idea of creative gifting, so while you may just be plucking items off the registry like everyone else, you can still present them in a way that is fun and unique and will most  certainly be remembered by the mama-to-be! First let me say my original inspiration was of course, Pinterest but also my friend Courtney of Wildly Domestic who has made some absolutely fab diaper cakes, definitely check out her blog section on diaper cakes as that is the tutorial I used in creating mine. The idea for this particular diaper cake came about because my sweet friend K of about 15 years is expecting her third baby boy!!! Sweet new baby boy Brian is going to have a whale themed nursery, which I think is just the cutest. After creating this diaper cake I couldn’t wait to share it because after my trial run with a two-tier cake this past weekend this was my first real attempt at a diaper cake! I also decided that I love the whale idea for a baby boy, it’s kind of along the same line as owls (check out baby P’s nursery for some owl-inspiration), and if you’re like me and not into characters or sports themes whales could very well be the boy theme that you’re looking for! Again for some super involved diaper cakes see Courtney’s tutorial above, this one was thrown together in the midst of our big move so I didn’t have time to make it as snazzy as I wanted (actually J came home from making multiple trips to the new house with household items while I was supposed to be packing/patching wall holes and came home at 10pm and was like “ummm are you making a diaper cake?” .. umm yea, is that not what I’m supposed to be doing? lol). Another word to the wise, these are NOT cheap to ship lol which I learned the hard way, so make sure you leave enough time to ship it standard post, unlike me who shipped it out two days before I needed it to arrive haha.

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Baby P helping me ship the giant box at the post office!

WHAT I USED:

* I just kind of got some items together and made them work with the cake and you can do the same, there is no need to use exactly what I did. I would suggest using diapers though because uh .. diaper cake lol.

  • About 80 Size 2 Diapers – I used Luvs because I was able to order a box of 216 for $32.99 via Amazon Prime (umm what?! I know, awesome! I’m not lying, see link here). I know Luvs are not everyone’s preferred brand but I do use them on baby P (during the day, when I use them at night I will ultimately end up doing a 3am outfit change, no fun!) when I’m feeling the money pinch so I feel like I can promote them here lol.
  • Cake pans (6″, 8″, 12″, 16″) – If you don’t have cake pans they are not necessary, just a helpful guide. You can still form the “cake layers” without the use of a pan it may just require a little more balancing and manipulation but you will wind up with the same result, I promise.
  • Wooden Dowel (Optional) – Because I was going to be mailing the diaper cake I wanted to use any extra reinforcement I could get, I just cut a dowel I had to the height of the cake. If you are going to be transporting the cake yourself, you can just thread something through it (as I did with the towel).
  •  Round Cardboard Cake Bottom or Cardboard cut to size – I opted for the latter option because all my Amazon purchases yield lots of leftover cardboard, lol. If you would like a prettier option Walmart and Michael’s sell cake bottoms for cheap. I wrapped my cardboard in blue wrapping paper.
  • Ribbon – regular wrapping ribbon to hold the diapers in their cake form (my friend Courtney uses large rubber bands but I didn’t have any on hand) and to decorate the top, 2″ ribbon to wrap the edges, 1″ ribbon to wrap around the entire cake and feed through the cardboard bottom for further reinforcement (I reused the ribbon that the receiving blankets were wrapped in).
  • 2 Receiving Blankets – Purchased via Amazon in a pack of 4. I split them up and used two for the diaper cake and included the other two in another gift (SO many babies happening lately!)
  •  3 Bibs – Pack of 3 via Amazon. I purchased them because the one had a whale on it, they don’t lend to the functionality of the cake. I wrapped the other two around the top of the dowel on the top tier of the cake to help hold it in place and prop up the towel on top.
  •  Soft Sole Whale Shoes – Available via Amazon. They have other animal options as well, super cute and seem to be great quality!
  • Whale Rattle – Purchased via Amazon. I purchased it on clearance but now the price has gone up to $10.00 (for a rattle!?? what?! lol) I would do an Amazon search for a whale toy to yield something more budget friendly.
  • Whale Towel – By Carter’s. Purchased at Walmart for $5.99 but it is also available here on Amazon for about $7 more.
  • Wooden Letter – I purchased my unfinished wooden letter at Walmart for $1.97 and my plan was to cover it in scrapbook paper (see my tutorial for an easy scrapbook wooden letter here), but didn’t have time to run to Michael’s. Instead I simply used my laser printer to print out the lyrics to “Baby Beluga” on a blue piece of cardstock and used that in lieu of scrapbook paper (please check my tutorial first if you plan to do this for instructions on use of laser printer vs. inkjet printer).

 

WHAT I DID: 

*Since I was supposed to be packing not crafting, I didn’t take the time to take step-by-step pictures but thankfully Wildly Domestic’s blog will offer you a much more detailed and informative tutorial than I would have provided. I will describe to you as best I can what I did.

  1. I began by using my cake pans to fan out the diapers, fold facing out, arranging them as best I could. Once I had them arranged to my liking I used a piece of ribbon to tie the diapers together.
  2. After all of my tiers were complete, I fed the length of the hooded baby towel through the layers, leaving the whale hood visible at the top. I also stuck the dowel down the middle for further reinforcement.
  3. I then cut a piece of cardboard in a circular shape to fit the bottom of the cake and cut a small hole in the bottom of the cake and fed the end of the towel through the bottom, manipulating it so it would lay flat (not cause the cake to sit crooked) and used shipping tape to flatten the excess towel on the bottom of the cardboard.
  4. To  prop the hood up on top, I wrapped the two non-whale bibs around the top of the dowel and draped the hood over them.
  5. Working with bottom and second layer, I wrapped the receiving blankets around the layers and tucked them under to secure them. I used a piece of clear shipping tape to hold them in place (I think my friend Courtney uses pins but I didn’t have any and knew the decorative ribbon would end up covering the tape anyway). See Wildly Domestic’s tutorial on “fondant style” diaper cakes for further instruction on how to fold and wrap the receiving blankets.
  6. I then took my 2″ ribbon and cut four pieces of the necessary length to wrap around each of the tiers. I would hold one end tight in place over the diapers and then use a dot of glue on the ribbon to attach it to itself at the back.
  7. Once you are done adorning the layers with ribbons you are ready to add your embellishments. I wrapped a piece of blue ribbon around the tail of my whale rattle and secured him around the middle of the top and second layer. Then I used a mini clothespin left over from another project to hold the shoes in place on the ribbon and a piece of twine to attach the letter “B” to the ribbon at the bottom layer. For the whale bib I simply used its velcro to attach it between two layers and folded it under so the whale image was showing at the front.
  8. After all of the embellishments were added I stuck gift basket shredded paper between the layers (I didn’t use any adhesive, just stuck them in there). I also cut a hole in the bottom of either side of the cardboard edges and fed a 1″ piece of ribbon through each hole underneath the cake and tied it at the top (this was not necessary but since I was going to be shipping the cake I wanted to make sure it held together).
  9. Finally I tied a bow around the bottom layer at the front and attached some gift ribbon to the top and used scissors to curl it!

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Baby P’s Nursery

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“Whoooooo” has the best nursery of all? Baby P!!! This week has been crazy to say the least, J returned from fleet week (yay!) and most importantly I was able to snag us a beautiful house on base, ya know, so we won’t be homeless when we close on this one in just a few short weeks! Since we will be moving very shortly and will need to rearrange it, I am excited to share baby P’s original nursery, as it is my favorite room in the house!

Before we found out if we were having a boy or a girl, I began brainstorming ideas for a nursery for our little babe. Since I had been hoping for a girl (sorry baby P, don’t worry I’ve changed my mind, haha), I hadn’t given much thought to a boy’s room at all but ironically, once I stared looking, I realized that I wasn’t really in love with any particular girl items but was quickly becoming obsessed with the idea of an owl themed nursery for a boy. After picking out a bunch of owl items I actually got a little sad thinking that I might not get to purchase any of them if the baby turned out to be a girl, haha! Once we found out that baby P was in fact a boy, I had SO much fun bringing his owl themed nursery to life, mostly thanks to my sweet family and friends who spoiled unborn baby P rotten. We kept the room pretty simple but I think it turned out so cute and although owls are getting super popular they are still more popular with girls than boys for some reason, so if you’re in search of a boy-themed nursery but are like me and don’t necessarily care for characters or typical sports themes, owls are a great option! Since I was too lazy to change the wall color of the upstairs bedrooms upon moving in, I was lucky enough to have the color work with nursery theme that I chose, so all that we needed to do was decorate (I will provide sources for all of the items below). I hope you love baby P’s nursery as much as he does 🙂

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Baby P enjoying his room at 7 months (in an owl PJ outfit no less!)

SOURCES

Crib // Catalina Fixed Gate 3-in-1 Crib in “Sun Valley Espresso” available via Pottery Barn Kids for $549 (mine was purchased as a gift using a 20% off coupon so it came in at around $495 after shipping costs).

Dresser // Craigslist find for $45.00. See my post here on how I refinished it using gel stain. The changing pad was a shower gift along with it’s light blue minky cover and the basket I purchased at Michael’s for about $5.99 using a 40% off coupon.

Bookcase // Thrift store find for $5.00. See my tutorial on refinishing laminate furniture which features this very bookcase! The “Parker” wooden letters were purchased at Michael’s for $3.99 a piece using a 30% off of purchase coupon, if you are looking for a cheaper option see my post on easy scrapbook wooden letters here!

Green Owl Lamp // Purchased at Hancock Fabrics for $11.99 (sale item, woo-hoo!) but it is also available here. The lampshade is part of the Sweet JoJo Designs owl collection which matches the bedding purchased here via Amazon for $25.99 plus shipping.

Owl Bedding // The owl bedding set I chose included the comforter, crib bumpers, throw pillow, toy bag, diaper holder, fitted sheet, two widow valences (that I ended up not using) and the crib skirt. The set is by Sweet JoJo Designs and available here via Amazon for $179.99.

Owl Mobile // Purchased via Amazon as part of the Sweet JoJo Designs “Night Owl” collection. Available here for $42.99.

Owl Curtains // The curtains are part of the Sweet JoJo Designs set purchased via Amazon but available at Target for $49.99 for a set of 2 panels. We ended up trading out the curtains for blackout curtains once daylight savings rolled around, but I plan to try my hand at lining the owl curtains myself once we move into our new place so be on the lookout for that post!

Brown Glider/Rocker // Purchased via Amazon for $160.00. I thought this was a great deal as it was a prime item so shipping was free and it included the ottoman which many didn’t. I’m so glad I decided to puchase it becuase

Floating Shelves // Purchased from Home Depot in espresso for about $24.00 a piece, but no longer available. The “BYOB” sign and feathered owls were all gifted to baby P from generous friends :).

Owl Tree Poster// This was an activity at my baby shower which doubled as a guest book, each guest was to sign a leaf for baby P. The poster was purchased via Etsy from Peachwik, it was originally a listing for a wedding guest book but the graphic artist was kind enough to add a baby owl so we could use it for the shower instead!

Three Owl Fabric Wall Hangings // Purchased via Amazon as an accessory to the bedding set for $22.99 for the set.

“Grow Wise Little Owl” Decal // Purchased from wallartsy via Etsy for $32.00.

Owl Tree Decal // Purchased from StickitDecalDesigns via Etsy for $69.00.

Crochet Owl Stuffed Animal // Purchased from YouHadMeAtCrochet via Etsy for $36.50.

Large Brown/Blue Owl Stuffed Animal // Purchased from OneCraftyKing via Etsy for $26.00.

For the nursery we obviously threw caution to the wind when it came to budget as baby P was our first and we were just so excited to create this nursery, thankfully we were so blessed to have many of the expensive items ($69 decal!! wth!? lol) gifted to us which helped a lot with the cost. Wait to see how we recreate baby P’s nursery in our base house coming soon! 

DIY “Little Lady” Hair Bows

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I feel like with all of the “little man” projects I’m churning out I need to give a nod to my girls, don’t worry ladies I didn’t forget about you! Here is a quick tutorial for my “little lady” hair bows, which are so easy to make and are just the cutest little gifts for that special baby girl in your life. Also, this would make a great baby shower activity, I will explain below. Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I am obsessed with bows, and even on the 30 side of 20, I still think wearing hair bows is acceptable. Since I couldn’t let J steal all the glory with the matching bow tie set I made for him and baby P, when I tested out this little hair bow, I made mine to match one of P’s little man onsies as well – so cute. As for the tutorial itself, it is basically identical to the “little man” bow ties with slight variation depending on what size hair bow you would like, but lucky for you, the hair bow making process is much easier than bow tie as all you will be doing is gluing it to a clip, barrette or hair band. That being said, if you are planning on making these as a gift an adorable idea would be to make a bunch and display them on a personalized hair bow holder (yes, this actually exists, lol, check one out here.I will definitely be DIYing my own version of one of these if my friends ever stop having boys, so be on the lookout for that!). Hope you have as much fun making these as I have wearing them, you’re only as old as you feel (eight, I feel eight lol)!!! 🙂

YOU WILL NEED:

  • Fabric  (this is a good way to use up fabric scraps or hit up your fabric store’s remnants bin since you need so little.)
  • Glue Gun
  • Scissors
  • Small Plain Hair Clip, Barrette or Headband (all of which are available at the dollar store, Walmart for right around $1.00, so if you’re going the clip route, your cost will be a few cents per clip!)
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I chose to use these clips since I was making them for myself. If you are making them for a “little” lady, purchase the fabric covered version.

 

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1:   Use this bow tie tutorial to create as many bows 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. Quick note about sizing, the bow in the tutorial will be about 3.5″ across (give or take), so for an infant this would be fine on a headband but way too big on a clip. If you are looking to make a smaller bow I would change the measurements to 5X3 and 1.5X1.5 for the two fabric squares. Once I play around with this a little more I will give exact measurements and pictures but as I’ve mentioned, all my friends are having boys!

Step 2: Once your bow is complete use hot glue to secure it to your clip or hairband and there you have it! It took me under 5 minutes to complete a bow so you could definitely churn out about ten in a half hour’s time and have a great gift! NOTE: If you want to attach the bow to a hair tie just stop at the step before you glue the smaller piece of fabric (center) or the bow and instead, glue it so that the underneath of the bow wraps around the hair tie (hair tie is inside of the bow).

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Fun Idea: Remember when I said this would make a great baby shower activity? Precut the squares of fabric for your guests and set them up along with a glue gun and several different options for barrettes, clips, hair bands and hair ties and embellishments. Give a quick tutorial to your guests and then allow them to make their own hair bow creations at their leisure throughout the course of the party. SO much fun and super cute, you could even present them to the mama-to-be on a hair bow holder.  

  

check out my post on DIY hair bows to see how I made my matching bow!

check out my post on DIY “Little Man” Tie Applique Onsies to see how I made baby P’s matching onsie!

DIY Little Man Onsie – Part II Tie Applique

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With several new squishy babies coming into my life in the near future, courtesy of my sweet friends, I am in full baby shower planning/gifting mode. I recently posted my tutorial for DIY Little Man bow tie onsies and am delighted to report that I’ve successfully completed another version of a no-sew “little man” onsie, featuring a fabric neck tie in the form of a fabric applique. This onsie was even easier to create than the first and only requires four items (one of which is an iron, so it doesn’t count lol), no gluing, no sewing, just cut, iron and DONE. If I haven’t already captured your attention with the appeal of a three step process let me tell you this – I spent about $6.00 on supplies for this project (not including the onsies themselves, as I used a pack I already had) and that $6.00 investment has the potential to yield up to twenty onsies (if not more)!!! I will reiterate what I said in my bow tie post, and that is, for a few bucks you have a grand slam of a baby shower gift for any “little man” that may come in to your life, not to mention they make ADORABLE decorations in the form of a onsie clothesline that mama-to-be can keep after the shower (see below). If you are looking to give a meaningful gift that is easy and cost effective, look no further! Of course I adapted this tutorial from the hundreds on Pinterest, and will the include the link to one below in the event that you do want to do a bit of sewing.

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here is squishy baby P sporting the onsie!

 

DIY “LITTLE MAN” TIE APPLIQUE ONSIES

YOU WILL NEED: 

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  • White onsie or t-shirt
  • Fabric of any choice (this is a great opportunity to use up scrap fabric or hit up your local store’s remnants bin, as I do. The green gingham fabric featured below I purchased for $0.79 and it is a little less than a yard in length and 12 inches in width, enough for MANY onsies or bow-ties).
  • Heat ‘n’ Bond Iron-On Fabric Adhesive (any brand will do, if it says it is suitable for patches or appliques you are good to go, I purchased mine at Walmart for about $3.00 and it is enough for tons of future projects so you are getting your money’s worth for sure!)
  • Tie Pattern (the pattern is printable and available in two sizes, use the smaller for onsies and the larger for toddler boy t-shirts. If you don’t have access to a printer feel free to make your own pattern).
  • Scissors
  • Iron

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Take your fabric and cut a piece just large enough for your tie, then do the same with the Heat ‘n’ bond adhesive (this way you can maximize the amount of supplies remaining for future projects).

Step 2: Turn fabric upside down (so back is facing up) and place fabric adhesive side down on fabric so that the paper liner is facing up. Place your iron over the paper backing and hold down for about two seconds, repeating over entire area until adhesive is fused to fabric.

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Step 3: Now, trace your tie pattern onto the paper backing and cut out. It is optional to cut the top of the tie pattern in a circular fashion to fit the neck of the onsie, I did so but it looks fine either way!

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Step 4: Peel off the paper back from your tie and place it adhesive-side down on your onsie. Hold the iron over the fabric for about 8 seconds, working in sections until the entire tie is fused to the fabric. That’s it, little man onsie complete!

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Step 5: A fifth, and optional step, would be to stitch around the onsie as shown in this tutorial (and in most tutorials). As I’ve mentioned before, while I am planning to learn how to use my sewing  machine, I currently only sew by hand and to stitch the tie by hand would totally defeat the purpose of this being a quick project, haha. Don’t worry, it looks fab without the stitching as well!

NOTE: Turn inside out when washing, when possible hand wash and hang dry. 

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Completed onsies!

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they had some NY Giants fabric on clearance! Little P will be look fab come football season! Go Giants!

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check out my post on DIY hair bows to see how I made my matching bow!

check out my post on DIY hair bows to see how I made my matching bow!

Updating Our Master Bathroom

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Crazy thing happened this week … we accepted an offer on the house!!! So exciting and sad at the same time, because although putting the house on the market was a good decision and I’m excited to move on base, I’m getting graduation goggles about selling it given all of the memories our little family has made here so far. That being said as long as nothing falls through on the buyer’s end we will be peacin’ out of this bad boy by the end of June, so I better get all of my house transformation posts up before I’m categorized as creepy if I’m technically posting pictures of somebody else’s home, haha.

In my post on refinishing cabinets I spoke a little about my our master bathroom update but would now like share the whole project in detail! Again, most of our updates were cosmetic as we wanted to create the most change for the least cash. This was our final major house project and we were in a race to get it finished given our very important deadline – the arrival of baby P! Now, I’ve spoken before about how I’m a true believer that with a little paint and the right decor you can create a transformation that is budget friendly but will still rival that which would be made by an actual renovation. We applied that idea here as well as in the guest bathroom where a few small changes resulted in a complete revival of an old dingy space. Since this was our last major project, our vision for the space changed many times between the date we purchased the house and the time that we actually got to the project. Originally we came in guns blazing prepared to paint, rip out the vanity, install a new tub surround, basically change everything until we realized that with limited knowledge on how to do the aforementioned and seriously limited cash preventing us from hiring professionals to do it for us, our vision was going to have to change drastically. We decided to ax the idea of installing a tub surround and simply give the old tiles a real good scrub down instead. Still stuck on the idea of replacing the vanity, we held off because that was going to cost us a pretty penny and with paying as we went along (no credit cards) and other house projects in the works, the master bath remained on the back burner. As P’s due date drew closer, we wrapped up a few  other projects and finally decided to tackle the bathroom, going with plan c if you will, our third and final game plan – replace the toilet, repaint the vanity, replace the vanity top, paint the walls, decorate, DONE. We were super motivated to get this done, especially since we had been showering in the guest bathroom for months given the sorry state of our on-suite bath, my big pregnant self even did all of the painting and decorating while J was at a job school in Norfolk because I was too antsy to wait to get it done, haha. Hope this inspires some DIY in your life, remember say no to renos and difficult transformations, chances are you can fake it with some paint and great decor!

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it is purely coincidental that I am wearing the same shirt in the two pictures taken over 6 months apart haha

 

WHAT WE DID:

  • Replaced the vanity top.
  • Repainted the vanity cabinets. We decided to repaint the vanity given our frustration over having replaced the other two and wishing we had just gone this route in the first place.
  • Removed old mirror and replaced it with a new beveled edge mirror.
  • Replaced the toilet.
  • Painted the walls.
  • Hung a wine rack that we repurposed as a towel rack.
  • Hung a 5-hook rack for hanging towels.
  • Hung a shabby-chic towel ring.
  • Hung two DIY “paintings”.
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me picking up the 5 foot vanity in my Kia Soul haha

SOURCES:

  • Vanity Top // Purchased at Lowes, available through special order (since we were replacing a custom size we needed to order a custom sized top). It cost us in the neighborhood of $500.00, which was a little less than it would have cost us to replace the whole vanity and floor tiling (but a WHOLE LOT less work).
  • Beveled Edge Mirror // Purchased at Lowes, available here for $41.97.
  • Toilet // Purchased at Lowes, available here, for $139.00. Since it is a dual-flush it is supposed to conserve water.
  • Paint // Color is “Montpelier Ashlar Gray” by Valspar.
  • Wine/Towel Rack // Purchased via Amazon for $34.50, available here.
  • Five-Hook Rack // Purchased at Target, available here for $23.79.
  • Towel Ring // Purchased via Etsy from “midwesterntreasures” for $26.50.
  • Shower Curtain // Purchased from Overstock, available here for $24.49.
  • Square Grey/Yellow “Paintings” // DIY project, I simply inserted a piece of fabric into a $4.99 frame from Michael’s (I will write a post about this soon!).

 

Since the bathroom is attached to the master bedroom which has a grey and yellow color scheme we carried that into the bathroom as well. Sorry I only have one set of before pictures but you’ll still get an idea of how awful it was, don’t worry haha.

 BEFORE

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AFTER

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We estimated this project to have cost us around $850.00 when all was said and done. Although it seems pricey it sure beats a remodel and since we did everything over the course of several months and only purchased items as we had the money to do so, this helped a lot. 

DIY Rustic Burlap Pennant Banners

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As usual last night I was up way too late crafting, but I was excited to get these done and off of my to-do list. I have a few parties coming up and I knew these burlap pennant banners would add a little extra something to the table displays and make for a great piece of decor to have on hand for future events. There is nothing too special about these and as I’m sure you’ve seen on Pinterest they are extremely popular, lol. However, since I used cheap store bought stencils for my project, I thought my tutorial would be worth sharing as I noticed that a lot of tutorials as that you create your own stencils which is just way too time consuming for my lazy butt. I would say more but there isn’t much else to say, just easy breezy party decor at it’s finest! Hope this tutorial comes in handy for your next shindig, I will be posting pics of how I use them at each event at a later date! Happy Memorial Day everyone, thank you to those who have served, past and present and of course, to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Squishy baby says thank you to our troops!

Squishy baby says thank you to our troops!

 

DIY RUSTIC BURLAP PENNANT BANNERS

NOTE: If you’re interested in making these with a different fabric check out my post on DIY fabric pennant banners, great for parties or photo backdrops!

YOU WILL NEED:

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  • Burlap Fabric (the amount you need will depend on how many letters are in your words, I was able to get over 30 large squares out of 2.5 yards)
  • White Acrylic Paint
  • Paint Brush
  • Large Alphabet Reusable Stencils (available at Staples for about $7.00, I will be using these for several projects so it was a good investment, alternatively you could print your letters out on paper and use an X-acto knife to cut them out and create your own stencil)
  • Glue Gun
  • Twine or Ribbon

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Create a template for your pennants in whatever shape you would like, I chose a rectangle with an inverted point at the bottom. The measurements will depend on the size of your stencils but if you are using the large 5″ ones as I did, I found a good measurement to be 7.5X7.5 inches.

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Step 2: Using your pattern as a guide, cut out as many pieces of burlap as you need. NOTE: I did not care about fraying as I though it added to the rustic look, however, to keep your piece from fraying you can spray it with a bit of fabric stiffener or brush the edges with mod podge and allow to dry before going on to the next step.

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Step 3: Using your stencils, holding each steadily in place paint your letters onto the burlap and set aside to dry.

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soooo many letters! lol

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Step 4: Once letters are dry (I allowed mine to sit overnight), lay out a piece of twine long enough to accommodate the letters with slack on either end for tying the banner up for display.

Step 5: Apply a line of hot glue to the top of each burlap square and fold it onto itself, pressing down to create a firm seal. The spacing of the letters is up to you, I did not measure it out, just eyeballed it. Once you are finished your banner is ready for display!!! Check back to see how I display mine 🙂

Fun idea: If you want your letters to be interchangeable simply do not glue them to the twine but rather use a small hole punch to punch two holes along the top of each pennant and weave the twine through or use mini clothes pins to hold them to the twine!