Welcome to the FIRST EVER Ditto DIY challenge! HECK YEAH.

If you need a little refresher on what Ditto DIY is, you can check out this post. Here’s the gist: once a month, we’ll all use a drop-dead gorgeous haute couture home design photo as inspiration for a project we’ll complete in our own home. It’s a fun, non-intimidating way to practice making your home look more like what you drool over on HGTV or in design mags.

Ditto DIY is hosted by nine very different bloggers. (Some of us are DIY bloggers, some are deal bloggers, some are mom bloggers… you get what I’m sayin.’)

Participating bloggers include:

Darlene @ Fieldstone Hill
Ruth @ Living Well Spending Less
Cindy @ Skip to My Lou
Jen @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam
Edie @ Life in Grace
Rachel @ Surviving the Stores
Karin @ Trophy Mom Diaries
Lauren @ I am THAT Lady
Kelly @ View Along The Way
Melissa @ The Inspired Room

For the first challenge, we’re sharing our projects just to give you a feel for how this will work, because next month, we’re opening it up to all of you to link up and share how you were inspired by next month’s photo.

Soooo you might remember that the first Ditto DIY challenge is inspired by this photo:

As soon as I received this challenge from the lovely Darlene of Fieldstone Hill, I felt redeemed by the frivilous purchase I’d made a while back at Goodwill of a random wooden tray even though I had no plans for it. (Hoarding wins again!)

Later when I was getting supplies for this project, I saw this exact tray in a set of two at Michaels for $4.99, so if you’re looking for an inexpensive tray to work some magic on, this might be a good place to start.

This is a painted tray challenge, so the first thing I did was zap this guy with some high-gloss white spray paint.

I know what you’re thinking.

“STOP THE PRESSES!! You SPRAYPAINTED something WHITE?! Where’s the most-brilliant-DIY-blogger award so we can give it to you for this innovation and creativity?!”

I know, guys. I know. It’s exhausting being a revolutionary who’s way ahead of your time.

*Wordlessly high-fives Leonardo Da Vinci*

I did want to step it up a bit and I thought it’d be fun to have a tray that’s versatile and changeable to accommodate my fickle ways, so I headed to Lowes and had them cut me a piece of acrylic to fit right inside the tray.

I love this version because everything stays safe and sound under the sheet of acrylic where it can’t get ruined, but it can live right where you see it all the time, especially if you use the tray in a vanity or bathroom space. I love displaying family photos in my personal spaces, like nightstands or on a vanity.

Other fun things to display on an interchangeable tray:

• Wrapping paper for the holidays
• Colorful leaves in the fall or pressed flowers for spring
• Love letters, postcards, tickets from events
• Fun fabrics. (Great way to use those scraps laying around!)
• Your kids’ or grandkids’ art projects
• Any free printables you dig up on pinterest (here are a couple I’ve made)
• Giant photographs of cats. (I’m getting carried away now…)
• Receipts and mortgage payments (Okay I’ll stop!)

The beauty of it is it’s kinda like an easy-change picture frame, except horizontal, and it stores stuff.

So now that my tray was done, time to make a little vignette! I got carried away again. I was having fun and couldn’t stop.

See my new friend there on the right above? Her name is Matilda. I mean, obviously that had to be her name. She’s a highly controversial figure in my house, and we’re going to chat about her in an upcoming post. Not in a gossipy way, behind her back. I’ll turn her to face us.

Okay, SO! Your turn! Beginning next month (on Monday, June 3) we are inviting you ALL to join the {ditto} DIY challenge! Ready to see what the challenge is? (Hint: I think it’s going to be golden.) Head to Darlene’s site to get all the details, and I hope you’re here to link up your projects on June 3. Bloggers, you can link up here, and non-bloggers, post your projects on the Ditto DIY facebook page.

In the meantime, don’t forget to swing by and see what the other Ditto DIY bloggers did for their painted tray challenge.

Now I want to hear from you! What would you display on your tray? Do you create little vignettes like this in your home? Would you like to ask me where the flowers in my pics came from? (Hint: they came from my yard.)

The post Ditto DIY: Easy DIY Interchangeable Tray ($8!) appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

My new addition catches my eye…

But…

in these times for me, with tiny feet running barefoot down hallways, plenty of food in the pantry and blessings raining down unexpectedly at every turn… in these times we rarely struggle in any real way. These times are precious and good.

We are not often tested. We are not made to wonder where our next meal will come from, or whether our little ones will survive the night. I wonder what my faith would look like in other circumstances.

Have you heard the story of the hymn “It is well with my soul?” I always liked the song, but once I heard the back story, it took on a whole new meaning for me.

The man who wrote the hymn was a successful, wealthy lawyer in Chicago with a wife, son and four daughters. In 1870, he lost his only son to scarlet fever. One year later, every one of his real estate holdings was wiped out by the great Chicago fire. Realizing his family needed rest and escape, he decided to take them on vacation to Europe via a large steamboat set to sail across the Atlantic. At the last minute, he was held up by business and sent his family ahead of him with plans to join them in Europe shortly.

En route to Europe, the ship carrying his wife and daughters collided with another ship, sinking within 12 minutes and claiming the lives of 226 of its passengers. As the ship sank into the deep, cold ocean, his wife stood on the deck with her four daughters watching the water swallow the ground beneath them. Her last memory of the disaster was having her baby girl torn from her arms by the violent force of the water. All four daughters died that day.

Upon hearing the tragic news, the man boarded the next ship out of New York to go to his wife. As his ship passed over the place where the previous vessel sank, he stood on the ship’s deck gazing into the water that claimed his children. I can only imagine the turmoil washing over his heart as the waves rolled beneath him. He returned to his cabin and wrote the lyrics to this hymn.

What faith in the goodness of God! What trust, when all that had happened to him screamed not to trust. I consider the faith that would compel his pen to compose these lyrics… I want to soak up that perspective and pour it over my heart. To set my heart on ground so solid that no violent wind or wave can shake it. To consider the sovereignty of His plan even when it’s so far from what I might have chosen… I want to have that faith.

So here, in my home, where peace reigns and our hardest days are still gifts, I thank God and ask him for faith that doesn’t lean on an easy life. I ask for faith to give Him praise for who He is and not what He gives. I ask to see through the tearful eyes of a heartbroken man gazing over rusty railing into an angry ocean, so that I might say, “whatever my lot… it is well with my soul.”

And that’s why I’m so happy for this new reminder:

These letters are laser-cut out of eucalyptus and covered in canvas. I loved the canvas texture, but I wanted the letters to be the same color as my walls. I asked Jen if the letters were paintable, and she was sweet enough to send me a little ampersand to experiment with. You can really see the canvas texture here:

I wanted to see them hung up first to be SURE I wanted them blue. To hang them, I just stuck a couple of these bad boys right to the back:

Then I whipped out the trusty laser level to get them all aligned. Not gonna lie – hanging them straight and even was the hardest part by far. Once they’re in the right spot, you just stick ‘em, and the mounting squares work their magic.

Are the crooked letters bothering you? I know, me too. I knew I had to paint them first, so I wasn’t too worried about it at this point. I hope we can still be friends.

I loved them, but seeing them on the wall confirmed for me that I wanted them fade a little more. I wanted them to softly hum the hymn, not scream it at me, know what I mean?

I used a little foam brush to veeeeerrrrryy lightly cover the letters in some spare wall paint I found in the garage. At first I was worried because the color looked a little patchy. (You can also see where I touched up the wall paint. Lazy girl’s solution to the pencil marks I made when I was aligning the letters!)

But they dried evenly and ended up looking pretty fantastic. The edges are dark wood, so they help the letters pop just the right amount. Mostly it’s the shadows that catch your eye.

How do you feel about words as art? Are you going to have this song stuck in your head all day now?

P.S.: If you like this post, you might like my easy DIY verse art too!

Linking up to: TT&J, Thrifty Decor Chick, Home Stories A to Z.
Disclosure: I received free product from 163 Designs, but all opinions here are my own, of course!

The post It is well… appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

If you’d like to make your own DIY Greek key curtains, you’ll need a few things, but not much. I spent about $50 total for both panels, and that includes the blackout lining I added. If you don’t add lining, you’ll only be out about $25 for both panels, and friends: that is a freakin’ amazing steal.

Materials Needed:

• Ikea Vivan Curtain panels (Or other simple white curtains. These are $10 for two panels, which is outrageously cheap. I also love that they’re extra long and they hang with hidden tabs.)
• Grosgrain ribbon. I used a little more than three 18-foot rolls of this brand*. I bought three rolls, of course, and then had to hike all the way back to Joann for the last two feet of ribbon to finish. Don’t do that to yourself!
• Stitch witchery, like this*. One roll was EXACTLY enough for me.
• Scissors
• Iron
• Damp rag
• Small piece of cardboard to use as a template

*These are affiliate links, so if you click through them and purchase, you’ll be supporting VATW and I’ll send you virtual kisses. Thank you!

Step 1 (Totally optional): Hem your curtains

Ikea Vivan curtains are forever long, I think 120 inches. I had to hem mine to the right length… with a sewing machine. It didn’t dawn on me until this exact second that I should’ve just used the stitch witchery instead of sewing. Apparently, I am unintentionally masochistic.

I think curtains look best hung high and wide, like this:

Step 2: Prep

Lay out your curtain on a large flat surface, preferably surrounded on the perimeter by large piles of toys, and iron it.

Then cut your cardboard square. This square will serve as a template to make laying out your greek key design GOBS easier. (I’ll explain how in a sec.) My square is about 4 1/4 inches on each side. I used that size because when I hemmed my curtain, the bottom hem ended up being 4 1/4 inches wide, and I thought it might look nice if the ribbon runs along the hem line on the bottom.

Your square will be used to measure how far away from the side of the curtain panel your ribbon goes, and how big the design in the corners is. Here’s my little square. Isn’t it adorable?

Okay, stop ogling it. You’re making it uncomfortable.

Step 3: Iron on your ribbon

The short story is that you’re going to cut little lengths of ribbon and stick them to the curtain using your iron and stitch witchery.

The longer, detailed story is this.

Line up your stitch witchery and ribbon together, like this (but with the ribbon on top) as you lay it out.

You’ll use your cardboard template to know how long to cut each piece and where to lay it on your curtain. My little square, again, is 4 1/4 inches on each side, and this is how I used it to lay out the curtain:

My little diagram is not perfectly square or to scale, but you can see each square on that grid is 4 1/4 inches, which I measured out with my little cardboard buddy.

ORRRRR if you’d rather use measuring tape, go for it! It felt TONS easier to me to measure out my design with the little cardboard template. Measure one cardboard square from the top edge and lay out your top ribbon, then measure one square down, etc. (If you’d rather use measuring tape, check out the “one quick note” at the end of this post.)

Let’s talk about the corners/intersections.

When I first started this project, I thought I would fold the ribbon over on itself in the corners, like a mitered corner, but I didn’t end up loving how that looked. I couldn’t get it to lay quite flat enough, and it was also really hard to make it perfectly 90 degrees. This was my first attempt, but I ended up undoing it because it looked like a kindergartner’s craft project.

The method that worked best for me was to cut small lengths of ribbon and just overlap the ends.

Cut your first length of ribbon and seal the edges to prevent fraying. I don’t have pictures of that because I completely forgot to do this step. But you should, because it’s the right thing to do*. You can hold the edge of the ribbon on your iron set to medium heat, or hold it over a candle just until it seals. My curtains will fray faster than yours, and you’ll totally win the best-curtain contest.

*I used to work at a company where, when an executive wanted to justify their decision and couldn’t do so with logic, they would declare that it was “The Right Thing To Do.” I quickly learned that you do not question when something has been declared The Right Thing To Do. You cannot argue with that reasoning.

Using your little cardboard square, measure out where the first strip of ribbon goes. You can start where ever you want, because this is America. Unless you’re reading this from another country, in which case these rules are void where prohibited. I measured three cardboard squares down from the top and one square away from the side and started there. Set the ribbon on top of the piece of stitch witchery.

Once it’s exactly where you want it, cover it completely with a damp cloth.

And place a hot iron on top of the damp cloth. It will make the most deliciously satisfying sizzling sound as you hold it there for about 10 seconds, and if your iron came from your wedding registry eight years ago and has been horribly abused, you might notice an odd fishy smell, and decide it might be time to replace it. Or maybe that’s just me.

Continue laying on pieces of ribbon and ironing them to stick to the curtain until you’ve finished one corner.

Then turn over the corner, lay the rag on top and iron the back. Just set your iron on top of the damp rag and leave it still for 10 seconds. Don’t move the iron back and forth. This is your ten seconds of sweet relaxation: soak it up.

Now check to make sure everything stuck. If some pieces are loose, you might have missed them with the iron, or your rag might’ve been too dry, and you should repeat those spots until everything is secure.

Continue around the curtain panel just like this until you’re all done! It took me a long time to figure out the process and how to measure it all with my first panel, but once I figured out all the stuff I just told you, the second panel went much faster, maybe two episodes of Mad Men.

Step 4 (Also totally optional): Add blackout lining

I picked up this lining from Ikea. It’s $25 for two panels.

These panels hang with back-tabs just like the Vivan curtains, or they also come with little clips to clip them to the back of the Vivan curtains. At first I tried just hanging them on the same curtain rod, or with clips, but they hung wonky and did not look cute, so I decided to sew them to the curtains permanently.

I have no idea what the “right” way is to do this, or if there even is one, but this method got the job done. In my book, minimally functional = fantastic.

First, I hemmed the lining to be about 8 inches shorter than my curtains. Then, I turned my curtain panels upside down and laid the lining on top of it, aligning the top of the lining to the bottom of the tabs on the curtain panel, like this.

Pin it there, then sew a line straight across the top of the curtains. I put the lining in that spot so that the seam where I sewed the lining to the curtain would go right on top of the manufacturer’s seam on the Vivan curtains, and you don’t notice it at all from the front.

By the way, another thing I didn’t love about this lining is that it’s this really dark gray color. If you hang it up by clipping it to the Vivan curtains as intended, you can see the dark gray lining right through the curtains…?? What a weird design. The other benefit of sewing them on myself is that I could turn it so the lighter side faces into the room and it’s not so visible through the curtain.

The Glansnava lining is exactly the same width as the Vivan curtains, so just pin the sides together and sew right over the manufacturer hem on both sides. Don’t worry about sewing the bottoms together. It’ll hang nicely with just the top and sides sewn together.

This is what the bottom looks like. The lining is a few inches shorter than the curtains.

By the way, all I even know how to do on my machine is a straight stitch, so this is basic junk, y’all. Make your lining shorter than your curtains, then sew the two pieces together on three sides. The end.

Step 5 (NOT optional): Hang ‘em up and love them til you die.

It’s The Right Thing To Do.

One quick note.

If you’re not digging the idea of using stitch witchery and would rather just sew the ribbon onto the curtain, by all means. I bow to your greatness. My friend Kimberly at Swoonworthy made a similar design on roman shades, and you can see how she sewed the ribbon on right here. If you’d rather use measuring tape to lay out your ribbon, she also did that method, and you can follow along with how she did it.

Have you ever customized your own curtains? Have you ever run out of materials JUST before you finished a project?

Don’t forget to pin this pic so you have the info later!

If you’re looking for other ways to customize your own curtains, check out my tutorial for how to sew your own lined curtains with hidden tabs…

Or here’s my tutorial for DIY striped curtains with paint.

Linking to: Savvy Southern Style, TT&J, Thrifty Decor Chick.

The post No-sew DIY Greek Key Curtain Panels appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

But I would’ve spent $6 if I hadn’t been a ruthless, cold-hearted negotiator.

Not really.

Kinda.

But not really.

By the way, at least where I live, this is PEAK yard sale season: right now, for about the next six weeks. (Here are some yard sale shopping tips. And if you’re throwing a yard sale, some tips on that too.)

Andy brought these home for me yesterday.

Hello, they’re basically screaming in my love language. And emanating happiness all over my house. There’s joy shooting out of each bud like laser beams. I love spring.

And yard sales.

And any good deals. And writing posts where I keep waiting for the point of the post to come to me, but it eludes me. I love you guys. I wish I could send you tulips. Not roses though, not that you don’t deserve it, just that roses send a different message and you might think I’m coming on too strong.

I’m glad we had this talk.

Let’s see what deals my lovely sponsors have for us all this month!

Decorator in a Box

NEW sponsor with a super cool idea! Decorator in a Box is a service for the DIY homeowner who wants a little help from a professional designer but without breaking the bank. Who WOULDN’T love that?!

Get more info and start the process right here.

Change of Art

If “things” could make you happy, my pretty, easy-to-change Change of Art picture frame would bring lifelong joy. I seriously love it every single day. THIS is the way all frames should be made: take out the art without removing the mat or glass, and it levels it self when you put it back on the wall.

MAGIC, right? Click here if you missed my post about how these work. Best invention ever! Check out Change of Art and order your own gallery frames right here.

Warehouse Fabrics

How do I love thee, beautiful fabrics at Warehouse Fabrics? Let me count the ways…

Belvedere Designs: Wall Quotes

If you’re looking at a giant blank wall and thinkin’ it’d be nice to be able to fill it with something unique and beautiful… solution found, friends. Belvedere Designs does some beautiful vinyl wall quotes, like this “Family Rules” version:

Craftsy

Craftsy always has some cool free classes going on, like this quick & easy bags class, which is free and available any time.

One Kings Lane

Vintage, eclectic, one-of-a-kind home decor I can shop for from my comfy perch on the couch? SIGN ME UP.

Compassion Int’l

Compassion International is an advocate for children, to release them from their spiritual, economic, social, and physical poverty.

Andy and I have been sponsoring and exchanging notes and gifts with our Compassion kids for *years.* It’s a top-notch organization that does amazing work! (In fact, my “sponsorship” with Compassion always has been – and always will be – unpaid, as a way to support the organization.) Come look into the faces of these kids who need to be sponsored.

Hope you have a great weekend, friends!

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