Stairway Decor - Giant Frame

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am obsessed with frames. Especially empty frames. I just love the look. Some people don't understand it. Originally, I had my living room wall covered with empty frames. People just didn't understand it. Kept saying the dumbest things, like 'oh is that picture of your non-existent kids' or would keep asking what I was going to put in there. It became so annoying that I took them down and downsized to a small corner behind my tv. Now there are limited to zero questions, thankfully.

So naturally when I saw an example of this on Pinterest I fell in love. I had collected a bunch of  random things from the years from thrift stores and yard sales. This was the perfect opportunity to display all of my findings. I went to Home Depot and picked up a package of casing/molding for $17. I cut the pieces into two five foot and two four foot pieces. I cut the corners at 45 degrees.  Then painted it black. I put some of my favorite things it there and hung them on the wall.

I absolutely love it! So excited for others to see it!

Baby shower diaper motorcycle gift

I have seen so many different versions of a diaper cake including a big wheel, 4 wheeler and motorcycle. My boyfriend's brother is having a baby boy so I thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to make a motorcycle just like the baby's father has.

I used this blog tutorial here, http://www.sweetaprils.com/2011/08/diaper-motorcycle-tutorial-diy-how-to.html?m=1

It's a fantastic tutorial with a list of supplies needed also. I messed up and purchased burp clothes instead of receiving blankets but it worked out anyways!! I just had to use two burp clothes for the one receiving blanket that connected the wheels. It turned out pretty good! Very practical too!!

Sorry for the car picture!! I forgot to take some while I was making it! 

Easy quick cheap friend/coworker gift

My boyfriend is having a company holiday lunch and he wanted to give his coworkers a little holiday cheer. So we purchased some 6 packs of beer and decorated with some holiday cheer.

Indoor play tent

I loved having indoor play tents when I was a kid. My two favorites were my Popple round tent and my fisher price house tent. Loved them so much I made some tents for my nieces and nephews this year for Christmas. I posted earlier about the play tee pee for the older kids, but here are some tents for the younger ones.

Ella just turned 3 and I think she is goin to love this.

And Charlie just turned 1 and walking all around so I thought it would be fun for him too. His is green chevron. It's pretty simple to make. I purchases the fabric for Joann's and the wood from Lowes and Home Depot. 

Can't wait until they see them!!

Merry Christmas!!

Over sized gift tag door hangs

I found this amazing blog that made some over sized gift tag door decorations, http://thatsmyletter.blogspot.com/2012/11/w-is-for-wood-tags.html. They are amazing and the blog is super helpful with dimensions and cut lines. Jaime, the blogger, is way more talented then I am and she hand painted her tags. So my less than artistic self, used my Circut mini and purchased a Cursive font cartridge for $11 (digital cartridge because it was cheaper) and cut out some stencils to use for the gift tags.

My mom asked for these for Christmas but she wanted to be able to use them for an entire season not just the holiday times. So she wanted, 'The Drum's' instead of 'give thanks' as in the blog above. 

My boyfriend cut them for me and they turned out great. I cannot paint so I cut out some vinyl and added some craft glue because it would not stick to the wood. They look great. I just need to add some clear protective cover and tie the jute rope and viola!

Merry Christmas!!! 

Shabby Chic Picture Frame Wall Hanging

For Christmas my siblings and I pick names out for our gift exchange. This year we picked my brother and sister in-law's names. My brother is very hard to buy for but I got him a Google Chrome Cast because he is a techy kind of guy and I know that he will have fun playing around with that. Then I got them a gift card for dinner and a movie along with a night of babysitting from us. They rarely ever go out on dates and I know that my sister in-law would love that. So then I needed something small as a gift for my sister in-law. I saw something similar to what I made on the web and decided it was perfect. They had just gotten family photos professionally done for their Christmas cards so the picture was not difficult to find.

I went to Michael's and bought a shabby chic picture frame, a wooden letter 'D' and some burlap florets. I had some wood that I had been 'weathering' and found it to be absolutely perfect for this gift. I put it all together and this was the end result. I am in love with it. I hope that she liked it!

Shhhhh..... Christmas Gift, Play Teepee

If you live in the same house as Lyla and Jacy STOP READING!! 

Well, I'm not sure that is going to work but it's worth a shot. I cannot wait until after Christmas to post this project because it is that amazing. I have looked high and wide for a simple diy play teepee tutorial that makes sense to me, but none have tickled my fancy. So I am making one myself. Don't get me wrong there are so many amazing teepee tutorials out there. I read a ton and learned a ton but none of them were the size or consisted of the material that I was using.

Purchase List:

-6 - 1x2x6 Pine boards ( or really any type of wood. I purchased all of these at Home Depot for less than $12)

-1 - 6x9 painters canvas (about $10 from Home Depot)

-Rope

We used a 1/4" drill bit and drilled holes 1ft down one end of the pine boards. Then inserted the rope through the holes and tied it up for the teepee to stand. This is probably one of the hardest parts that should be the easiest, getting the teepee to stand on it's own. My tip- just get it to work somehow. 

I then created a pattern for the 6x9 ft painters canvas for the outside. This is where the other tutorials were lacking detail, in the detail. There are some patterns out there but they are for the smaller teepees. However, I wanted a 6ft teepee designed for a 3 & 5 year old to grow with, not outgrown in a month. So here is my pattern.

Be careful because you will need every last piece of that fabric. Measure twice and cut once. There are 2 pieces labeled A because you will need at least 4 sides for this teepee. My canvas was about an extra 1-2"

longer than normal but that ended up being perfectly ok.

We ended up just using 5 of the poles and wrapped the tee pee around and let the extra fabric hang and connected it with safety pins. Plan to give the kids some markers so they can decorate it as they see fit.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!

P.s. More diy gifts to come :-)