My Fabuless Life

DIY Friday - Mother's Day Edition

2013-05-10T10:01:00.003-07:00

I was looking through my Pinterest boards a few nights ago and realized I have a lot of really awesome "DIYdeas" that I've found, filed away and forgotten about, so I thought I'd start taking the opportunity on Fridays to share some of my favorite weekly finds, perfect for a little project inspiration right before the weekend. Since Mother's Day is on Sunday, the first DIY Friday installment will be dedicated to what else?
Last minute Mother's Day gift ideas {because if you're like me, your's still aren't completed}. And I'll give you a hint, one of these is what I'm working on for the mom's in my life.

{You can click on the source link below each picture to take you to their tutorial.}

Gold Leaf Paper Mache Bowls

They're gold leaf, they're polka dot. It doesn't get any better!

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Vintage Sheet Wrapped Picture Frame:

This would be an awesome use for all of those fabric scraps a lot of us have lying around and it's so customizable {Google says that's not a word} for mom! A little piece of child's artwork inside would make it extra perfect.

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Gold Dipped Vases

I almost always give flowers on Mother's Day. A little gold paint, an old jar and mom's flowers look super chic and she has an awesome vase she can keep.

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Painted & Gold Leafed Terra Cotta Pots

Basically I just want to make out with these. Is my obsession with gold obvious enough yet? If you haven't used gold leaf before, you're missing out. So. Fun. So. Fabulous! I'll be making a few for myself FOR SURE!

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Glitter Mason Jars

Because who doesn't need pretty makeup storage, or just more Mason in your life in general. And if you're thinking, but wouldn't the glitter get all over the brushes? That's what I thought too because it looks so loose and beautiful, but her method is pretty ingenious, simple, and keeps the glitter intact.

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You can find more mother's day gift ideas here & here.

Anyone else as obsessed with gold as I am? I really can't get enough!

Mother's Day Printables: Round 2

2013-05-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

So these are actually like round 2.5, but if you like a little more color, I've created a few, more colorful, last minute alternatives the original black and white versions. {Just click on the link at the end of the post}

DOWNLOAD MOTHER'S DAY PRINTABLES

You can find the original black and white versions here

Mother's Day Jo Totes Giveaway! CLOSED

2013-05-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is only DAYS away! YIKES!! Are you ready? Do you have a gift for that special Mom in your life? Well, don't worry, we have you covered! Hang onto your seats and get ready for a FABULOUS giveaway!

With Mom Day coming quickly, the Craftaholics Anonymous® Creative Team put our crafty little heads together and decided to hold a very special giveaway just for you! We are giving away 2, yes, not 1 but TWO Jo Totes! {are you jumping up and down yet?! Because we are!} We are so excited to offer you this special giveaway! Jo Totes make us weak in the knees, so we knew they would be the perfect giveaway.

If you're in love with these bags, wait till you see JoTotes' newest bag that we have the honor to introduce to you today! Behold the "Abby" bag!

It comes in mint or lilac and is available for preorder today on May 6th.

The lucky winner will get a Jo Totes for herself and one to give to a special gal in her life!

{The Rafflecopter may take a second to load}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GIVEAWAY RULES:

No purchase necessary. To enter, participants must like the facebook pages by using the Rafflecopter form above. This giveaway is in no way affiliated, administered or endorsed by Facebook. The giveaway closes on May 10th, 11 PM CST. The winners will be chosen via Random.org and will be notified by email on 5/11/13 and will need to respond within 48 hours to claim their prizes or other winners will be chosen. Winner must be 18 years of age or older and a US resident in order to win. Winners are responsible for paying any necessary taxes on winnings.

Disclosure: A HUGE thank you to Jo Totes for donating the prizes! We love Jo Totes and appreciate them sponsoring this giveaway.

Free Mother's Day Printables

2013-04-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm having a serious love affair with modern, clean & simple, black & white lately, so these free mother's day printables are right up that alley. They're perfect for cards to accompany a handmade gift, or framed as the gift.

The first was by request on my Facebook page a couple of weeks ago (thanks for the suggestion Sydney).

And the second...

was something for moms who are still here, or moms who are no longer with us, like mine. I'll be placing this one at the cemetery this year. Is anyone on Earth able to get through this book without bawling? Because I'm not.

*A little note: These were printed as 5x7's but placed in a 4x6 frame, so if you want the text to "fill" the frame a little more, print it one size bigger than the frame you'll be using.

Download

Linking At:
Crafty Scrappy Happy / Liz Marie Blog / Whipperberry

Five Handmade Gifts for Mother's Day

2013-04-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm coming back up for air after SNAP, which, by the way, was AWESOME! I'll share more about it later when I can sort of get everything rounded up, but with Mother's Day fast approaching and while I'm getting some projects caught up, I thought I'd share some favorite past projects that are perfect for Mother's day and they're all projects that the kids can help with, which we know is always a big bonus in Grandma's eyes--at least around here. You can follow the links for tutorials on all of these projects.

And come back Monday for some new Mother's Day printables!

Painted Pots

Our project last year, which is perfect for the grandmothers. I actually took this one to the cemetery since I like to still do a little something special for my mom even though she's no longer here (my grandma brought it back to me after Mother's day was over, so now it sits in my kitchen). If pots and flowers aren't their thing, a piece of wood or canvas makes awesome displayable art--especially when you pick colors that will coordinate with their decor.

Dipped Cooking Tools

Seriously one of my favorite things ever. I'm not going to lie, I kept these for myself and every time I pull one out while I'm cooking, it makes me a little giddy--I get really excited about really ridiculous things :). You can also paint them the solid color and then let the kids decorate so mom or grandma gets to see it every time she pulls one out.

For the mom who likes things a little more glam, you can go with the mixed metals. I think my next set (yes I have several) is going to be of the NEON variety.

Wood Block Recipe (or Picture) Stand

If cooking isn't your mom's favorite thing, these make a great picture "frame." A piece of your child's art Mod Podged to the back side adds even more awesomeness.

Embroidery Hoop Art

An adorable frame-alternative for displaying a child's art. Hand prints would be great too.

Instagram Coasters

It's no secret that I am BEYOND OBSESSED with Instagram. It's borderline pathetic how many times a day I post and or check it. These are a great way to display all of those adorable photos. Enough said.

See you on Monday with printables!

DIY Towel Rack

2013-04-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Aside from the husband and I having a hard time getting motivated to paint and put all of our trim back up, getting the house back together post-renovation is moving along, and if you'll remember, the name of the game for this renovation was Bye Bye Blah Builder's Grade. As most of you are aware, the only, and I mean only upside to builder's grade is that it's cheap. Not thrifty. CHEAP. So replacing all of that cheap stuff can add up. That is, of course, unless you create custom on your own.

I was tired of the cheap, ugly, silver towel bar and hand towel ring that in addition to being ugly, was constantly falling off of the wall. Quality craftsmanship, what can I say? You know I'm a sucker for some plain old, raw, beautifully-stained wood, so I decided to build a towel rack that pulled some natural wood elements into the bathroom and was also a bit more casual than the stuffy "do-not-touch towels," which, with a three year old, always get touched and are never hanging straight anyway.

My new tile has me dreaming of a black + white + vintage floral bathroom with antique brass fixtures (still trying to bring the husband on board with the brass thing). I found my hooks, which I'm totally in love with by the way, at Hobby Lobby. There's something about the bottom part of the black one that just makes me want to kiss it! Since the outside hooks weren't going to be showing much under the hanging towels, I bought some less expensive brass ones for each end.

To "build" the towel rack: Cut a 1x10 (you can buy them in 10 ft. lengths for about $8 at the hardware store) to your desired length. I cut two pieces since I was creating both the hand towel and bath towel rack. Then sand all of the edges to smooth them out. I sanded a little bit extra to give it an old, worn feel.

Next, measure for where you want the hooks and MARK (with a pencil in the screw holes) where they would be going. Don't screw them in yet, because you'll use longer screws to screw in the hooks AND secure it to the wall. In case you're looking at this picture and wondering where Mod Podge and a fork come in, they don't. This is what three projects and my lunch going on at once looks like :D

Next I removed the old towel rack. Do you know how to do that? I didn't, I had to call my dad. On the underneath side of the towel bar, there is a little screw that you need to twist out and then just pull the towel bar off the wall. It's a tiny notch, so I used the end of a steak knife.

Once I knew where I wanted it to hang, I screwed it into the wall on both ends (about 3 inches in) and then also used the same long wood screws (1.5" I believe) to attach the gold hooks, and they were long enough to go into the wall to make it a little more sturdy for those times that a certain 3 year old decides it's also a jungle gym. The middle hook I just attached with some regular short screws because I felt like I had enough stability, but of course, you could use the long screws in the middle hook too. You'll notice one of the screws in the wood at the right side. I don't actually mind it since I've got sort of a raw look going on, but you could easily sink it in to the wood and cover it with some stainable wood filler.

For the hand towel rack, I only used the long screws through the hook to secure it to the wall. It was sturdy enough that I didn't need any extras in the sides.

Also important to note, when you're using these longer screws be aware of where your electrical is! Luckily I had this epiphany right before I was about to screw my hand towel rack in--could have been a "live and learn" minus the "living" part. So, I used screws that were slightly shorter, but still long enough to go into the wall for the hand towel rack, since somewhere in the small space of that wall lies the electrical for the light switch and outlet.

There's a lot of work still to do (cabinet painting, mirror trim, light fixtures, door knobs...) but I can't believe what a big difference just changing out my towel racks made! (Of course I forgot to take a before picture.) And at about $15 for the entire project, it was cheaper than almost anything else I could have purchased and my favorite part: it's totally my style because I made it.

If you want to see how I made the "BATH" letters, which quite frankly, I keep walking into the bathroom just to look at, you can head over and check out the tutorial at The Golden Sycamore.

Linking At:

The 36th Ave / Crafty Scrappy Happy / Liz Marie Blog / Whipperberry

Crafting With Kids: Embroidery Hoop Art

2013-04-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

*This is a sponsored post

Since I spend a lot of time doing projects, I try to include my three year old as much as possible, and I don't know if it's something that runs in our blood or if she's learned it from watching me, but the child loves to create. One of her current favorites is painting and glittering anything in sight, and I love displaying her art around the house because it's such a fun, personal touch. So when Plaid Crafts sent us a box full of bright, springy-colored Apple Barrel paint & Mod Podge Washout, we were excited to get started on a new masterpiece.

I picked up three embroidery hoops in various sizes at my local craftstore for around $3 and used some canvas fabric I had left from a wreath project (you can usually find small quantities of it in the remnant bin at the fabric store). Instead of just the paint brushes that we usually use, we also used some foam spouncers to add some polka dot variety, which were a big hit!

Apple Barrel paints are great on almost any surface, so I had no trouble using them on fabric. I stretched the canvas over the embroidery hoop and secured it with hot glue in few places, since the word "gently" isn't exactly in my daughter's vocabulary and I didn't want it to pull loose as she was painting.

Then I let my little one (who has also recently developed a love of the "side pony") get to work. Since these paints wash off with soap and water while they're wet, I don't have to worry as much about the mess it makes.

I've gotten pretty good about calming my need to step in and ~~take over~~ direct things so they come out the way that I want them to--let's be real, we all do it--and it helps that Apple Barrel paints come in about a million colors, so I can choose colors that go with the room where the art will be hanging, and it fits right in.

To add a glittery touch, we cut a heart shape out of some cardstock and dabbed on some Mod Podge Wash Out. Given my daughter's recently developed love of glitter (what can I say, she's my child?) I LOVE that Mod Podge has created this version that's just like the original, but washes out with just soap and water (or the washing machine) so that I don't have to worry so much about glue getting EVERYWHERE. It also makes it easy to wash it out of my brushes so I don't have to buy new ones every time I use it--money-saving bonus!

We poured the glitter on, shook off the excess and we were done.

Before hanging, I just turned the outer ring of the hoop around to hide the spots where she had painted on it.

I think I'll actually be using these again for her art-themed birthday party this summer since they're simple and so inexpensive!

This post was written as part of a campaign with The Blueprint Social. All opinions are my own.

Renovation: Stick A Fork In It, We're DONE!

2013-04-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

Just a quick check-in before I resume regular posting next week. This post should actually be titled: My Husband Must Really Love Me & A Growing List of Things I NEVER Want to Do Again (but probably will), but that title is really long and actually sounds a little personal and disturbing if you don't know that it's in the context of a renovation. After a little more than four weeks, we are inches away from the finish line, so in true Jenn-fashion, I'm just stamping it "finished"--who needs baseboards, right? (We're actually doing them this weekend, but compared to the hill we've climbed, it's NOTHING.)

Let me just give my Academy speech here and say, I'd like to thank my dad and my brother for sacrificing two weekends of their life and their back and knees. My aunt and grandma who fed us. My sister who cleaned my house because I was too lazy and my house sends her OCD through the roof. And to my Instagram friends who listened to me bitch and moan about a project I got myself into. And most of all, my husband who not only puts up with my craziness, but allows it to flourish by doing these crazy things I talk him into, and may never be able to move again. Without all of them, this would not have been possible.

We were looking back at pictures the other day and my husband says just looking at these totally stresses him out.

I would have to agree, and it's already hard to believe that we were living in that--number two on my "never again" list, second only to PAINTING CABINETS. Holy job from hell! Definitely worth it, but painstaking (I'll post about it soon).

So, of course, on Saturday when the floors started going in and the end was in sight, some serious happy dancing was in order. And thank you in advance for not judging my lovely outfit.

And I wasn't the only one happy dancing. Someone realized she had a giant new "stage" for ballet performances.

I've obviously got lots to post about now that we're done, so I'll be back soon with the full rundown.

How to Make An Overhead Projector & "Welcome Sign"

2013-03-29T09:49:00.002-07:00

Necessity is the mother of invention right? Head over to Craftaholics Anonymous today and see how I MADE MY OWN OVERHEAD PROJECTOR after the real thing broke and a fun, personal welcome sign my fellow Always Sunny fans can appreciate.

MFL on Etsy also has a deal going on right now for $3 for a few of our favorite prints. Head over and scoop them up at AndRuby.com !

Easter Egg Containers

2013-03-26T01:58:00.001-07:00

Holy Easter sneaked up on me! I was painting cabinets today and realized that Sunday is Easter. Where did March go? Luckily I realized today and didn't wake up Sunday with a child wondering why the Easter bunny hadn't come to visit. In fact, today was the first time I've even mentioned to her that the Easter bunny is coming on Sunday. A Target trip is in order tomorrow for this mother of the year.

Anyway, since there will be a lot of Easter egg dyeing going on this weekend, I wanted to share a cute quick Easter egg container upcycle perfect for holding all of those colorful masterpieces, or as a place setting at an Easter table.

Cut a section of a large, flat egg carton off with an exacto knife. The beauty of this is that you can make it any size you want.

Get some paint, a paint brush, and your egg carton and paint it.

That's it. Simple as that.
Perfect for an Easter place setting or...

To display all of those colorful masterpieces:

And since I promised earlier this week, here's the full Easter vignette.

Linking At:

The 36th Ave

Renovation Realities - Yep, It's A Lot Like The Show

2013-03-25T00:04:00.000-07:00

Do you watch Renovation Realities? I'm proud to report I have yet to go into crazy bitch mode (anyone else ever amazed at how rude and demanding some of those women are? Not that I'm judging.), and things are actually going pretty smoothly--none of those really stupid faux pas--I know you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I do feel like it's taking FOREVER and I'm sort of in hell right now. This hell to be exact:

Your eyes do not deceive you. That is, in fact my toilet in my living room. Classy.

Any of you organizing pros, avert your eyes here. I have limited cupboard space, and organizing it is obviously not my strong suit.

There were a few highlights this weekend, like my tile that I am SO IN LOVE WITH! My husband would probably tell you this was the low-light of the weekend--not fun work.

And my dad and my little brother ROCK for coming and helping.

Basically the point of this little rant and picture show is that I don't think I'll be around here much this week. I've got a fun project over at Craftaholics Anonymous on Friday, but other than that, I'll probably be hanging out in the Instagram world until next weekend when everything finally starts to get back in order. Catch ya on the flip side ;)

Sweet & Simple Easter Garland

2013-03-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

I may currently have no floors in my house, but that didn't stop me from a little Easter decorating. I think Easter may be a close second to Christmas for me when it comes to holiday decorating. I love that it's all about pastels and florals and everything springy and adorable.

I threw this simple banner together in about ten minutes. I used a 6x6 pad of paper from My Mind's Eye, so the coordinating was already done for me. Then I just cut out some 4 inch bunnies on my Cricut {I've sort of rediscovered my love of that little machine lately}, and strung them together, along with some white craft pom poms that reminded me of a little cotton tail.

Quite honestly, this little garland has me thinking of tweaking my daughter's room decor just a bit so I can fit it in, and I think it would be perfect for a baby's room.

I'll be back soon to show you my full Easter vignette. And guess what! It's set up on my rarely-seen-here entry table, not the "mantle." I'll leave you with a peek. {Those little bunnies were so cute, I couldn't use them only once.}

Linking At:

Liz Marie Blog / Crafty Scrappy Happy / Whipperberry / A Little Inspiration

Etsy Shop Prints

2013-03-21T14:55:00.001-07:00

If you follow MFL on Facebook, you know that we are now offering a "Print & Ship" option in the Etsy shop. Now, rather than purchase a "printable" which you print yourself, we will do the printing and shipping for you. Prices start at $12.00 + shipping. Prints can be purchased in sizes 5x7 up to 16x20 and the quality is beautiful. I just thought I'd show you what you can expect when you order a print from us. I'm REALLY excited about this new option, and there's still a little time to get the bunny print in time for Easter -- or your little girl's room {which is where it hangs in our house}.

The printable option is still available, though we will most likely be phasing it out in the next few months.

Farm Animal Silhouette Prints - New in the Etsy Shop

2013-03-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Since we're in the throes of a renovation at my house, I've been thinking a lot about changing up decor a little around here when it's all done. I've wanted some "meat" prints for my kitchen for a bit and creating a few seemed to be the perfect way to avoid painting my cabinets for just a bit longer. All of these prints are available separately for $8.00 each in my Etsy shop and color can be customized for an additional $3.00. I'm pretty in love with these ones, hope you are too. I'll be printing a few in large sizes to put above my kitchen cabinets.

Kitchen Cabinet Color: What's Your Vote?

2013-03-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that my house is currently smack dab in the middle of a pretty major project.

In fact, it's officially no longer a project, it's a RENOVATION because it's essentially going to change the look of my entire upstairs. You know that phrase you hear all the time, "good bones"? Well that was basically our house when we moved in. I loved the open layout, but the tile floors and the color of the cabinets (and banister) were an issue for me from the day we laid eyes on our house. We knew that eventually it would all be going. And that's just the beginning of the list.... The carpet also quickly became part of the must change list when we realized what low quality it was and how horribly it held up to traffic (it was also about 5 years old when we moved in).

So, as of this week, we've ripped up almost all of our flooring and will be laying down new wood and new tile in the bathroom. I've said before, hell is paved in builder's grade, and I've never been more sure of that statement after having ripped up the tile from hell (that's for another post down the line).

So, to the task at hand. My floors are gone and we're waiting for the new ones to come in, which means it's cabinet painting time, and I'm torn. At first, I was going to go with what else? White. It's neutral and lends itself to my ever changing color whims.

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Then I saw this, and grey started becoming a serious option. Just about as neutral as white, but not quite so stark and would make my new white backsplash pop.

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Then I saw Allison's kitchen, and paired with the dark knobs, grey was quickly becoming the front-runner.

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Then, last weekend, I was watching an episode of Kitchen Cousins and I saw cabinets similar to this: (unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of the actual Kitchen Cousins kitchen)

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I am in LOVE with this color green, but my shoulder angel is telling me it's probably not the best option for a house we'll most likely be trying to sell some time down the line.

There's this options that's a little more neutral and that I love almost as much--sort of a given considering my love of all things minty and aqua-y. I'm a little stuck.

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So...what do you think? White, grey, or green?

Decoupaged Tissue Easter Eggs

2013-03-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

Oh that beautiful, evil Michael's "Impulse Aisle"-- they really call it that--let's hear it for honesty I guess. On my last "quick" trip to Michael's I came across a $1 aisle full of vintage floral goodness and everything half off! So, I scooped up like 10 of everything, not really knowing what I was going to do with it all, but knowing that I would figure something out. Among my finds were a few packages of tissues, which I decided to Mod Podge onto some Easter eggs. (I bought a few packages of these tissues, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of them in the future.)

You'll need:

Tissues or tissue paper

Plastic or paper mache eggs (I actually prefer paper mache, but this was what I had on hand)

Mod Podge

Paint brush for Mod Podge

Soft paint brush for dry brushing

The tissues I bought were three ply, and I found that they stuck much easier if you pulled off the extra layers. So, pull off the extra layers.

Tear your tissues into small pieces. The torn edges will hide the seams better and make it easier to work with on the round egg. I found that if you leave straight edges, you can exactly where you've laid each piece on.

Brush your Mod Podge onto your egg. Another note: I did my first egg in halves. The result is MUCH better if you just leave it put together and decoupage over the seam.

Gently lay your pieces on and then delicately dry brush them down. They don't need to be stuck all the way, you'll take care of that next. Also, the tissue is VERY delicate when the Mod Podge is sticky, so don't rub very hard when you're sticking them down.

The next step gets a little messy. Dip your finger in the Mod Podge and then rub it over the egg to finish gluing down the tissue. I've found that this method works much better than a brush for round surfaces, like the egg. Make sure you keep plenty of Podge on you finger though. Once you've used it all, your fingers will start to get sticky and tear the paper.

And you're done, let it dry. Again, I know this shows the eggs done in halves, but it really is better to just do the whole thing without taking it apart.

I mixed my new eggs in with a few that I did last year with scrapbook paper and book pages--I used the exact same method for those.

Linking At:

Liz Marie / The 36th Ave / TT&J / Crafty Scrappy Happy / Its Overflowing / Whipperberry

Today I Am Grateful {Printable}

2013-03-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

This week one of my sorority sisters very unexpectedly lost her 18 month old baby girl. It would be impossible to put into words what I've felt this week for her. Never have I felt so deeply for someone suffering a loss. As she and the picture of her sweet baby have been constantly on my mind, the thought kept running through my head, "Today I Am Grateful for..." and lists of the small, simple things would flood my mind. All the pointless stress and minutia of the daily grind has seemed to melt away as I've been reminded just how precious life is, how quickly it can change, and that I should simply be grateful for today and for all the blessings I have. The have-not's don't matter. It's unfortunate that it sometimes takes tragedies to remind us to stop comparing ourselves, stop sweating the small stuff, and rejoice in our family and blessings, but this week as I thought constantly "I am grateful..." I decided maybe it was something I should put in my home as a daily reminder, and I thought I'd share that daily reminder with you. Go squeeze your loved ones a little tighter, and please send up some good thoughts, prayers, love for this couple.

*Free printables are for personal use and MFL followers only, so please take a moment and follow via your method of choice {located in the sidebar}.

Cream Background Download

Damask Background Download

Linking At:

The 36th Ave

Put a Bird On It Spring Mantel

2013-02-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

I'm soooo not a St. Patrick's day person, so I'm excited to finally take a holiday break and do a little seasonal decorating rather than holiday. I mean seriously, doesn't it still seem like we just finished Christmas? Admittedly, Easter will be sprinkled in here and there shortly, but it will be touches, nothing crazy. My original plan was to go with lots of soft color, but true to my form, the neutrals and white just seemed to work their way back in and any color I used just didn't seem to fit.

If I had to pinpoint what it is I LOVE about spring, it's trees full of blossoms, that smell of snow melting in the warm sun in early spring and the rain that follows, the sounds of thunder, and the sweet sound of birds chirping after the cold, quiet winter. Apparently birds were what was on my mind when I pulled all of this together, because it started with the printable and took shape from there. (By the way, the double "with" on the printable has now been fixed--your version will be error free.)

I filled a Mason jar with some plastic eggs from Hobby Lobby's floral section. And underneath the eggs? Yarn trimmings from some pom poms. I like to think that I'm not that big of a hoarder, but I was trimming the poms over my lap one night, I just thought the trimmings were so cute and shabby, so I put them in a jar.

The other jar is filled with birdseed I've had sitting around because, much to my surprise and my husbands dismay, this stuff causes weeds in our lawn like nobody's business. For the sake of our lawn, I've been forbidden to feed this stuff to the birds anymore. Soooo, I'm not a hoarder, but I couldn't throw away bird seed. Perhaps I'm in denial.

This rose was another Hobby Lobby purchase that I looovve. I actually bought it so I could recreate some down the line, but it worked perfectly here. Some driftwood from one of my favorite vacations provided some unexpected filler for the thrifted milk glass vase.

The owl was purchased on clearance after Christmas at World market, and I topped off a shabby bird votive holder with one of my super simple twine balls.

We just finished another snow storm, so for now, it looks like my Spring will remain limited to the indoors. Is your weather warming up yet? We're hitting the 40's this weekend, which is going to feel positively tropical! You Texas, Arizona, Florida, etc folks...I'm JEALOUS!

Linking At:

The 36th Ave / Liz Marie Blog

Free Spring Printable

2013-02-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

*Sooo...this is me blushing. It was brought to my attention that the original printable had a typo (can you find it?). The download has now been fixed, but please excuse the picture below where it has not been changed :-) *

As you may have noticed, I'm totally digging on vintage florals and woodland creatures for Spring. You know, that Spring that's coming...someday...I hope. I didn't want something that just said "Spring," but something that gave off that springy vibe. So, I combined one of my favorite sayings with some spring colors and vintage floral wallpaper. As with most of my other prints, I tried to create something that wasn't just spring specific, but can be used wherever, whenever. I'll be back later this week to show you how I incorporated it into my spring "mantel." Enjoy! {Downloads after the jump}

*Free printables are for personal use and MFL followers only, so please take a moment to follow via your method of choice located in the sidebar.

Download Pink

Download Green

More Spring prints available in the Etsy Shop $5.00/each

Linking At:

SNAP / The 36th Ave / Be Different Act Normal

DIY Project Board

2013-02-25T09:11:00.003-08:00

My *hopefully* solution to all of those random project ideas that I can never seem to remember when it's time to get down to business. I'm over at Crafaholics Anonymous today sharing my DIY Project Board (or calendar). Head over and check it out.

And in case you missed it, some fun new Spring inventory was added to the Etsy shop this weekend!

Spring In The Etsy Shop

2013-02-23T22:37:00.000-08:00

I desperately need some Spring in my life. So this weekend as I laid sick on the couch, watching yet another snow storm, I put together some new Spring printables that, I have to admit, I'm pretty in love with. They're all available in my Etsy shop for $5.00 each and print up to 16 x 20.

Here's the one I chose to put on my entry table {more on that to come}.

I also got the Easter bug way back in the beginning of February {thanks Pinterest}, and have been trying to wait until closer to Easter to release these prints, but I couldn't wait any longer. I really love them, hope you do too. And what started out as some chocolate Easter bunny inspired prints, I think turned into something that can be used all year {I have one hanging in my daughter's room}. I can't wait to decorate for Easter with these. They're also $5.00 each and print up to 16x20.

Drop Cloth Scrap Bulletin Board

2013-02-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

What do I love? Ten minute projects! What do I have? Drop cloth coming out my ears! Okay, so apparently there's been too much Dora going on at my house. In fact, every time we go somewhere lately, my daughter yells "Where are we going?" about 30 times and expects you to be just as excited with your response as she is. Oh, and if you're new here {hello and thank you} and wondering why I have so much drop cloth, you can find out here.

Anyway, being that my daughter's room is technically supposed to be a "ballerina room" I wanted a way to display her first pair of ballet shoes--and they're just so darn adorable I wanted to look at them all the time.

I had plans of doing just a standard little hanger with a piece of old wood and knobs, but then I walked in my office and saw this basket full of leftover scraps of drop cloth and an old canvas. Lightbulb!

So for this project you'll need:

*drop cloth (or fabric of choice) torn or cut into strips

I like the shabby edges, so I tear

*a canvas (my canvas is one of the thick ones)

*a glue gun

First I laid my strips out to see where I wanted them to overlap and how many I needed.

Then put glue on each end of the strip and glue it to the outside edges of the canvas.

Like this.

Then I finished off the edges with another strip. I liked the look of the sides like you see above, but since I was using strips I already had, some of them weren't long enough to cover the canvas, so I had to cover all of the sides with another strip of fabric. Hope that makes sense.

I hung her ballet shoes with the glitter clothespins I made, added my favorite pair of her baby shoes, and voila!

I love this so much I think I'm actually going to make another one to hang pictures and messages in my kitchen. And since it's on a canvas, you could use pins or thumbtacks instead of clothespins as well.

Linking At:

Whipperberry / Crafty Scrappy Happy / TT&J

Dress Up Your Child's Art and Decorate With It

2013-02-12T22:15:00.001-08:00

My daughter's room, which has been in process for almost a year, is finally moving along. The biggest to-do for this room has been to get some art on all of the bare walls. We started with the gallery wall and a chalk board wall. Then, aside from the recent little update of the gallery wall, I've sort of been on a ballerina room hiatus until last week, and in my rediscovered productivity, I made three pieces of "art" for the wall above her pink armoire, or Big Pink as she has nicknamed it.

The first one I'm sharing with you is this large piece that my daughter actually created mostly herself. I have loved this quote since I came across it on Pinterest. In fact, I still drool over the original, but I wasn't really willing to fork over the price, so I decided to customize one of our own.

Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of the process, they have disappeared somewhere, but it's really simple. I bought a very large canvas on sale at Michael's and craft paints that coordinated with her bedroom colors. Then I drew a cloud shape on a piece of contact paper, cut it out, and stuck it on the blank canvas to keep a blank slate for me to "write" on after the little artist was finished. Next, she went to town:

For the quote, I used freezer paper to stencil. And let's talk about freezer paper and canvas for a minute. I love the freezer paper stencil method for lots of things, but for canvas NOT SO MUCH. {If you're unfamiliar with freezer paper stenciling, you can see what I mean here.} First, canvas doesn't have a hard backing, so it's a little hard to iron down well, especially where that stupid piece of wood goes across the back, middle to stabilize the frame. Second, most of the artist canvases you buy at the craft store are treated, so they already have a somewhat slick finish. Again, not so great for trying to iron down the freezer paper. So...were I to do this project again, I would have used contact paper or vinyl, which is basically like a giant sticker. It's sticky but removable so it seals down to the canvas tight enough that your letters don't bleed. I'll keep it real here and tell you that my letters did bleed. A lot. And I initially thought I was going to have to come up with a fix. However, since this project was children's art, and I wanted it sort of shabby and whimsical, I actually ended up loving it. And I did sit and scratch very lightly with a razor blade around some of the letters to fix some of the "bloodier" ones.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the letters are stenciled on with gold craft paint. They ended up shimmery and antiquey and I totally heart it. You can see we also covered the entire thing in clear glitter to make it just a little more fun and fabulous.

These don't just have to be used in their room either. Something like this would make an awesome and inexpensive piece of large scale art for a living or dining room. I'll be back later this week with a how to on the baby shoe display and the wood piece, which I promise you, is not staying a big blank piece of wood.

Linking At:

Whipperberry / Crafty Scrappy Happy / TT&J / Beneath My Heart

You Asked: The Eloise Art

2013-02-07T00:14:00.000-08:00

You've seen peeks of her here & here, and every time I do a post about my daughter's room I get lots of questions and comments about her Eloise. It is far and away one of my very favorite things in my home, so I love that she's loved by you too.

This print is a prime example of when you can't find what you're looking for, make (or in my case, "commission") it yourself.

I grew up with a mom that lived to read and LOVED children's literature, so I have lots of favorite characters. In fact, my dream home would include a library where I can cover the walls with prints of all of my favorites. Anyway, back to the point, Eloise has been one of my all-time favorite ladies for about as long as I can remember. My mom adored her, and Eloise made us laugh together, which makes it even more special. So when I was pregnant, and found out I was having a girl, I knew she had to be in my daughter's room. I looked everywhere for an Eloise print to buy. Literally, countless hours of internet searching. Nothing. So my ever-so-talented step mom offered to do a print for me.

My fellow Eloise enthusiasts may also notice that she's not in her usual black jumper. The copy of Eloise that I own is a 50th Anniversary edition and has a bunch of extras in the back. One of them is this gem:

If you read the bottom, it's Eloise in Dior. I loved it from the first moment I saw it! I loved the girly frills, the soft pinks, the ridiculous opulence of designer for a six year old (which I guess isn't so ridiculous if your name is Suri Cruise) everything...right down to that pudgy, little girl belly sticking out. And basically, that's the back story of my Eloise. Do you want one? Because you can do it yourself.

If I have you discouraged that you can only have one if you have a connection to a super talented artiste: don't be. Because though my step mom is incredibly talented, you really can do it too. I'll admit that the paint part may be a little tricky, but she can be drawn using the good old overhead projector method. Blow up your image on a copier, find yourself an overhead projector (or make your own), and trace away. And I would bet that most of us know someone who's handy with a brush, so bake them a cake or grab a bottle of wine and call on them for a little favor. I hope this answers all of your questions, and if it doesn't, feel free to ask away in the comments. My canvas is 16x20 by the way.

Simple Geometric Art

2013-02-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

I have a list of furniture projects and room makeovers and other big projects that is growing by the day, but lately I just can't seem to get myself motivated to do anything beyond quick projects I can do in front of the TV. I blame it on this endless winter. Seriously, I'm feeling like Spring and Summer may never come. So I bring you yet another very simple, very quick project.

I know this is another heart project, but this one is actually for the gallery wall in my daughter's room and could easily be done in any shape you want. As it happens, this ended up something completely different than what I set out to do.

I originally started out with all of this and had planned a piece with lots of different flowers in different textures and fabrics, but after trying for about an hour to get it to look the way I wanted to no avail, I abandoned the original plan and...

...simplified. I had some grapevine wire which was originally intended for another project FAIL. And that's about all you'll need. Grapevine wire (found on the floral aisle of your craft store), a piece of fabric, a canvas, needle and thread/string. Frame is optional.

Wrap your canvas with fabric.

Print or draw your shape on paper and cut out the shape to use as a template, unless you're more talented than me and can just freehand it. (I got my asymmetrical heart on Pic Monkey.)

Use your template to bend your wire into your shape. This wire is pretty stiff and may require a little husbandly help to hold it in place while you bend. Once shaped, it holds though and you can resume working on your own.

Grab a needle and thread and tack your heart down to the canvas with a simple stitch--I'm not a sewer, so I'm not sure what the technical name would be for this stitch, but I think you get the idea here: up and down, as close to the wire as possible. As you can see, I tacked it down all the way around and then went back and added some "filler" stitches.

If you've been around here a while, you may recognize this wall and though it's undergone a few changes, I have to be honest and say that the jury is still out on it. Something about it just isn't feeling right to me. But I am loving this new little piece of art, so I'm sure whatever the fate of the wall, the picture will still have a home in the room somewhere.

Linking At:

Crafty Scrappy Happy