Spread Christmas Cheer

The best part of the holidays is decorating, and one of the best parts of decorating is crafting the decorations.

Where I live we have a big sliding glass door in the kitchen. I knew I wanted to add something to the door as far as decorating so I searched pinterest.

That's when I came across this free printable http://atsecondstreet.blogspot.com/2010/12/merry-christmas-banner.html

I printed this off with 4 on a page. I then cut them out which probably took the longest. 

I found this twine at target for $1 and the cardboard ornaments from Hobby Lobby for $1.50 for a large pack.

I glued on the letters to the ornaments. Then strung them on the twine and hung them up!

A Touch of Gold

My bathroom at my new apartment has absolutely no storage so I've had to purchase a lot of random pieces to store everything. I bought a small 5 drawer tower that holds all my make up and hair stuff.
I also bought 2 glass containers that hold cotton balls. I decided this weekend I wanted them to look a little more put together.

Sparkle and metallic has become very popular lately. So I went off the the walmart spray paint section and bought a can of rustoleum gold paint. I already had the white primer on hand.

I took out the drawers and just painted the main part of the storage tower. Then painted just the tops of the glass container. I started off with 2 coats of white primer letting each coat dry for 30 minutes in between.

Then I added 2 layers of the gold paint also letting each coat dry for 30 minutes.

I love the little pop of color and shine they add to my bathroom and some how pull everything together. Because who says you can't be chic on a low budget?

Positively Pink

I have now painted 4 coolers and I have to say I think this one turned out the best. I’m slowly getting better at it the more I paint them.

This cooler was painted and put in a silent auction to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness. After hours of scanning pinterest and the internet I came up with 4 great designs to each side. I bought the cooler from Target. I went with the igloo cube cooler. I have the same cooler and love it. It’s the perfect size just for me and it has a small compartment on top to put a few belongings like keys.

After finding the cooler I sanded a lot and then primed it really well. I used the paper to trace method to get the outlines on the cooler and paint the designs.

The two with the design backgrounds are the front and back. Then the other two are on the sides. I decided to go with a small just square type of pattern on each side of the designs to keep it cleaner looking all the way around.

Pink Pumpkin for the Cure

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month! Which means any and every way I can wear pink or spread the awareness I do.

My mom works in a hospital and is a Mamm tech so I decided to make her some pumpkins to put in the waiting room for the month of October.

I bought both these pumpkins at Target. The black one already came sparkly and was only $1. The white one was I think $8.

I painted the white one pink. Then glued some pink ribbons together and put them on the pink pumpkin. I free handed the word Hope and glued on some rinestones. For the black one I just added some pink ribbon to make them go together.

Cornhole Boards

I'm the TKE Sweetheart so I'm always trying to come up with small things for the guys. I decided to take on one large project and make some cornhole boards.
I can not take credit for the boards. I had someone make them for me. I just did the prime, paint and seal.
I started off by giving the top of the board a white coat. I knew I wanted to leave the tops whit so I gave them a good coat. Then painted the sides black.

After that I started to paint on the details. I had an "engineer print" made at Staples that cost $1.50 a piece. I laid this on the boards and stenciled on the design which made it so much either than trying to free hand.

After that came a lot of detailed painting and then a million coats of sealer...because these are going to boys and I know they will leave them outside over night at some point in time.

Every bathroom needs a sign

It's safe to say that I'm not Pinterest a lot. So when I came across a really cute bathroom sign I was all for it being in my new bathroom.

Here is the sign. It was on sale on Etsy but has since been sold.

I love Etsy but if you're even a little bit crafty you can buy/make some stuff on Etsy for less than half the cost people sell it for. So that is exactly what I did...made my own.

Bought the canvas from Michaels with a 40% coupon for around $5
Paint on hand
Polka dot stencil on hand

I started off by painting the canvas a coral color.

Then I roughly stenciled on the dots. Since it's just circles the stencil didn't have to be perfect. I mostly wanted it for the spacing.
I took the back of a paint marker dipped it in the paint and then dotted it on the canvas. It was really easy!

After a two coats of the white dot paint. I let it dry completely. Then laid out how I wanted my words. I very lightly wrote out the words on the canvas. Then used a paint pen to actually write out the words and make the font as think as I wanted.

It now hangs above the towel rack and adds a great pop of color to a very white bathroom.

Book Shelf Revamp

I just recently moved into a new duplex so I ended up buying all new furniture for my bedroom and getting rid of all the old random pieces I had when I was in college.
I bought a new chevron bedspread from Target that I love. It's a teal, yellow and gray pattern. All my furniture is black.
I need something to put my TV on and a place for some storage so I went to Target and bought a cheapo bookcase.
While putting it together I realized that it just had the cheap backing and I wanted to vamp it up a bit.
I primed the backing white and then painted it the teal color to match my bedspread.

I love how it turned out and gives a little pop of color.

The Best Birthday Gift

Max's Birthday was at the end of July so I decided I would paint him a cooler as well.
I started off with his 2 favorite things, TKE and the Packers and then filled in the side with stuff from the Chive and the flag.

Happy Birthday America!

Everyone knows you have to wear some form of red, white and blue for the 4th of July.
Can't find a shirt you like? Thanks to pinterest I was able to make one.
I started off by cutting out stars on freezer paper and ironing them on the shirt. Then put tape down for the stripes.
I used fabric paint and start splotching it on with a sponge.
I decided to leave it not perfect so it looks a little worn.

Let it dry for 24 hours and then wash. Then you're ready to represent America!

I spent my 4th of July on the lake with the boyfriend. Who doesn't love a beautiful sunset before some awesome fireworks.

Fruit Pizza, Mini Style

One of the best parts of Summer is the fruit that is in season.
I'm not much of a fruit person ( I would take vegetables any day) but on a hot day I could eat a lot of cold fruit in the sun.
Every month we have a pot luck day at work so I decided to start the first one by making mini fruit pizzas.


I bought sugar cookie dough and backed it on the back of a muffin pan. It only has to bake for about 10 minutes. Some turned out betters than others. It was a major trial and error process to figure out how much dough was a good amount. You could add more dough if you wanted them to be more like bowls instead of a pie form.

Then let them cool and ice with cream cheese and sugar. Then add your fruit. And you're done! Hello cute easy dish.

Cooler Painting x2

I've recently gotten into the whole cooler painting trend. I made my brother one for Christmas and painted the top of my cooler a while back. I finally got around to finishing my cooler up.

Mason Jar Upgrade

Mason Jars are all the rage right now. If you have Pinterest you know exactly what I am talking about. People are finding creative ways to decorate them, bake in them, drink out of them and even color them.
So when I found a plastic mason jar with lid and straw at Marshalls for $5 I was beyond excited.
Of course I knew I wanted to do some sprucing up to my mason jar but wasn't exactly sure how.

Well after a few hours on Pinterest and Etsy I decided on ordering an anchor monogram decal from Etsy to put on the side of the jar.

After following the really easy instructions I put on the vinyl decal and instally loved it.
This will be perfect for the lake this Summer.

DIY Screen Print Tank

I have read several posts on Pinterest that show a DIY version of screen printing a shirt.
I finally decided I was going to try this out.
All you need is:
Freezer paper
Exacto Knife
Iron
Shirt
Fabric Paint

I started by tracing out my design on the freezer paper shiny side down. The shiny side is the side that will stick to the fabric. When I went to the game on Saturday I saw a guy wearing this shirt and thought it was awesome, so I went with that desgin.

Then you want to carefully cut out the design.
Next you iron on the freezer paper with the shiny side down. I ironed on mine alot because I didn't want any of the paint to bleed. I also made sure to iron on the little parts of letters really well.
I used white fabric paint and a piece of a foam brush. I cut it off to make it easier to dab the paint on.

Here is after one coat. I would let it dry about 30 min to an hour before you put on another coat since you want it build.

One I was done with my 3 coats I let it dry over night. The next day I pulled off the freezer paper. For the smaller parts of the letters I used a tweezers to get them off.

I can't believe how great this turn out! I'm sure this will be a staple in my Summer wardrobe.

The Year of 23

Last year at this time I was about to turn 23 and thought it was going to be terrible. I don't like growing up and becoming for of an adult. But now a year later I have to say 23 has been the best year of my life so far! I wanted to share a little bit of what happened.

In December I became the Sweetheart of Tau Kappa Epsilon.  I can't even begin to explain how much of an honor this is. All the guys in Max's voted on me to become this. Then at a special Christmas lunch they name who it is and all get down and serenade you with a Sweetheart song. I was completely shocked and so honored at the same time.

In January I went on a beautiful vacation with my family to Bonita Springs, FL.

I went to some amazing concerts. I saw Luke Bryan with my best friend and Jason Aldean with my boyfriend and some friends. Both of these were great and now I know why ladies love Country boys.

In March I got lavaliered by my boyfriend. This is a big honor because it means you are giving away your letters for the girl to wear knowing that she is the one for you. Then the house has to accept and then they all sing to you.

 

There is no way I can list everything that happened in my year of being 23. But what I can say it's going to be tough to beat this year.

She Sells Sea Shells

In January I went with my family to Bonita Springs, FL. It was BEAUTIFUL!! We went to a bunch of islands and ended up collecting a lot of shells. I knew I wanted to do something with these shells so I could look at them every day and remember how great that trip was.
I bought a blank craft frame from Walmart. I started off by laying all the shells out on the frame how I wanted them then just hot glued them down. The hot glue has actually held up really well.

My mom also had some small jars that we put sand and shells in. So now every day at work I can look at a little piece of Florida!

St. Pats

St. Pats was HUGE at my school in Rolla which means I have a lot of green decorations to go along with the celebration. I passed down a lot of stuff when I graduated so I wanted to make something I could bring to work and hang out to spread some green around.
Items needed:

Foam Shamrocks - got at dollar tree
Letters L U C K - Hobby Lobby $1.50 each
Ribbon - on hand

I started off by painting the letters in 2 different shades of green.

I just free handed all of the painting with some stripes and then made the dots using the back of a paint brush.





I got a pack of 12 foam shamrocks from dollar tree. They were pretty thin so I glued two together and put them at the top and bottom of the letters. Glued everything on ribbon and added a circle to the top of the ribbon to make it easy for hanging.

I'm pretty excited with how great this turned out and now I have some St. Patricks charm to look at at work!

Go Pack Go!

Tomorrow is Valentine's day!! I made Max a Valentine's gift straight from the heart this year. He got his own room at his fraternity so of course it should have a Packers sign, right? There was no one I would do anything Cubs.
I did this method exactly how I did the anchor one.
I painted the canvas a gold color. Then printed off a Packers logo and traced it onto the canvas. Then add some dark green and white paint and some paint splaters and I'm done!
I'm pretty sure he will love it but if he doesn't he at least better act like it :)

St. Pats is just around the corner!! Less than 30 days....so my next project will be to make something simlar to this. I'll let you know how that turns out.



Anchor's Away

I know I haven't posted in a while but I was busy with holidays and everything then I went to Florida.
Florida was AMAZING and insanely warm, in the 80's everyday.
Now that I'm back in Missouri facing this cold weather I am really missing Florida. I decided I needed to make so new art for a wall in my room. I have been thinking about it for a while and finally came up with something I like. This is only one part of it....I'm making the rest right now and will post later.

I has a new obsession with this quote from the bible: We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

I took a blank 11 x 14 canvas and painted the background. This was pure luck with how well this turned out. I just started mixing paint. I would add some white or more green or blue to turn it certain hues and paint. I love how awesome it all faded together. Then I printed off an anchor stencil online and traced it onto the bottom.

I put a few coats of paint on the anchor and let it dry. Then I printed off a quote online that I wanted to put on the top part of the canvas. I then colored with pencil all over the back of the quote. Laid the quote down on the canvas and traced over the words with a pencil. When I took off the paper it left a pencil outline of the quote on the canvas (which you can kindof see in the 2nd pic).

I then decided I wanted the quote to be in red. I traced over the words with a red sharpie which actually worked A LOT better than a paint pen would have. Noted for the future.

I am THRILLED with how well this turned out.

I'm making another painting to add next to it when I hang it on my wall. I will post that as soon as it is finished.