DIY

DIY lanterns and buckets – Oh My!

March 23, 2013 by Morgan 1 Comment

I have been suffering from Spring mantel envy.

I follow a few bloggers that are unbelievably talented in the DIY makeovers and are able to display them all over their mantels. Shannon over a Fox Hollow Cottage makes me green with envy with her creations! Amazing!

After a few hours browsing Pinterest and other blogs I decided to put my creative talents to work…I don’t have a mantel but I do have a kitchen island that during the spring and summer is unbearably naked. I looked at my ugly metal tin buckets(from last summer) and my brand new-to-me lanterns and went to work.

Here is quick DIY for those with mantel envy and a few without.

My naked lanterns and buckets were ready for a spruce. I have never liked the farm scene on the larger of the two buckets but I knew I would think of something.

We washed or wiped down both buckets and lantern and got the spray paint out. I used Krylon indoor/outdoor in both white and blue ocean breeze. The blue green was 4.37 at Wal-mart and the white was 3.47.

Got to work on bucket number one

Then the lanterns

Then my official helper and I hung out waiting for the second and in some cases third coat to dry….

He literally hung out

Took them inside and…..

I’m absolutely in love.

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: Decor, DIY, how to

Adventures in Pinterest

March 16, 2013 by Morgan 10 Comments

I have posted about my adventures with Pinterest projects in the past and they average about 50/50 in the success and failure rate. Each time I have one that is an enormous success and people are raving about my brilliance, I have another that is miserable and almost too humiliating to report.

In the last month I had three separate projects and the stats stayed true to form. One success, one failure and one right in between.

Failure:

I love art projects with my kids. I really enjoy trying new mediums and process to create. I ran across the Impressionism Crayon Art all done with an Iron.

Ours did not come out as pretty…. We broke our crayons into tiny pieces

and created pretty abstract-ish designs

applied the newspaper

and after I ironed..(but first the crayon “juice” was EVERYWHERE)

We tried to fix it. We melted individual crayons for the drop effect.

Now we are sending it to the Grandparents. They can’t say no to little children “artwork”, it’s illegal.

Success: Homemade Fabric Softener Ball

Jill over at One Good Thing has an incredibly easy DIY for homemade dryer balls.

Easy and it works. These are my balls. (insert immature joke here)

Success mixed with Failure: Boys bathroom scrub

Boys bathrooms stink. This is truth. No matter how much scrubbing and bleach will fully rid the bathroom of the stench. It will smell clean for awhile but soon afterwards the smell returns.

I found a recipe for a homemade cleaner (baking soda and lemon) juice that was supposed to get rid of the smell. The failure is the consistency.

You are supposed to make a paste and apply it to the floor and surround areas of the toilet region. The paste is crusty. Not really a paste…

It was horribly hard to apply and afterwords there was no scrubbing. It looked like this. Crummy. I had to vacuum up the stuff and scrub again. However, the smell hasn’t returned in over 4 days so…. smell success?

Projects with pinterest are adventures. Sometimes you get exactly what you want and other times you are left scratching you head thinking….Seriously?

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, Humor, Kid Crafts Tagged With: DIY, Humor, Kids Crafts, Pinterest

Clove Oranges – A Crafty Christmas

December 5, 2012 by Morgan Leave a Comment

This Christmas is becoming a crafty one…as in cool crafts.

I have decided to ditch the lame foam crafts that have made Oriental Trading what is today and focus on crafts that are actually homemade and attractive. I have never been a huge fan of the foam frames, sleighs, Crosses or almost anything made out of popsicle sticks. I don’t put them out for display and I DON’T hang them on my tree. You may call me a Grinch, uncaring, or even a bad word but if it takes my children a millisecond to create it then it wasn’t worth the time and there was no creative process involved.

And it probably looks like crap.

Crap = No Tree

I bring you the first of our homemade crafts:

Orange Clove Christmas Balls

Notice the robot. Courtesy of my five year old.

Finished!

They really smell great. I was actually wondering how they would smell and I was pleasantly surprised.

Not overpowering

Just right.

Our next endeavor is Cranberry Garland.

Filed Under: Christmas, Crafts, DIY, Kid Crafts Tagged With: Christmas, Crafts, DIY

Halloween Party Ideas

October 29, 2012 by Morgan Leave a Comment

There are times that life gets the best of you. Times that feel as if a sledgehammer has been taken to your knees and it is all you can do to regain your composure and continue on. That sledgehammer feeling has been a reality over here and it has taken me time and lots of prayer to get back into the grove. We are not completely through our hump so please forgive me over the next few weeks if I am not up to my posting norm…On that note….ONWARDS:

Halloween Party Ideas:

I have entitled this post as Halloween Party Ideas however please note that we do not participate in the evil/creepy/spooky aspect of Halloween. We keep our fall celebrations focused on kid and family friendly activities. Our recent Pumpkin Party is an example of such a par-ty and I have made a list of a few ideas for your next shindig.

1. Picture Station:

Many weddings and baby showers offer funny photo stations for their guests. We provided one for the kids. They LOVED it!

This “station” cost about 8 dollars to create. The orange back drop is from Hobby Lobby and was about 6 dollars for 2 yards. The felt was about $1 a piece as were the wood sticks. Yes, I made those mustaches from felt! I had the picture frame on hand and hot glued the sunflower to the side.

2. Monster Jars:

I posted about these earlier this month but they were so cute and easy to make.

These were four dollars to make. 2 glass candlesticks from the dollar store and 2 dollar store bowls, hot glue together.

3. Easy Decorations:

Don’t break the bank. I scrounged Pinterest and found a few DIY decorations that I could do with my kids and would look really cute.

This Hanging Spiderweb was placed over the kitchen table

These Tin Can Luminaries from Jolly Mom were fun to make and use.

We also hung twinkle lights (aka white Christmas lights) across the backyard for fun lighting for nighttime playing.

4. Fun activities that are fun to play and easy to plan:

We chose a decorate your own pumpkin contest. Each person brings their own pumpkin, decorates it, and then some poor unsuspecting parent gets judge them for a winner!

Try a glow in the dark hunt. Simply place a glow stick (smaller thick ones are the best) into a balloon and blow it up. Then go hide them outside and send the kids out to find them! We used the park across the street however the picture below shows an example of a glow balloon.

This party actually proved to me that I could come up with some fun ideas and decor without spending a ton of money. Give them a shot and let the fun begin!

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, Holiday, Kid Crafts Tagged With: Crafts, Decoration, DIY, Halloween, Holiday

DIY Hanging Spiderwebs

October 15, 2012 by Morgan Leave a Comment

I seem to have a thing for messy crafts. If it requires a lot of glue and drying time I can almost be assured to try it.

This Spiderweb Balloon craft came from the Better Homes and Garden website but they did not adequately describe the amount of effort involved.

Tutorial on:

You will need:

Cotton yarn

Elmers glue

Balloons

Hot Glue

Plastic spiders

Mix the Elmers glue with equal parts water

Cut LONG sections from a skein of cotton yarn.

Dip yarn completely in the water glue mixture and pull the piece through your fingers to remove excess glue

I recommend wrapping an end of the yarn to the knot of the balloon to get you started

Wrap around the balloon

Don’t be discouraged if it takes a few attempts to get the yarn to stay in place.

I used several pieces of yarn to get the entire effect.

When you are finished wrapping make sure you have a long string to hang the balloon to ensure proper drying.

After they are completely dry hot glue the plastic spiders

Then poke a small hole in the balloon and allow it to deflate. I recommend the slow deflation because I accidently popped a balloon and it pulled the yarn a little hard.

Your web should be complete!

Discoveries: Acrylic yarn does not hold the form well. Cotton yarn is the best. Younger kids will probably get impatient wrapping the balloons because it take a little bit of maneuvering to make the initial yarn wrapping stay.

I gave each spider web a quick spray with Mod Podge spray to ensure the web stays stiff but you probably don’t need to do it.

We are really happy with our results and they will look great for upcoming Pumpkin Party!

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, Holiday Tagged With: Crafts, DIY, Halloween, Holidays

DIY Holiday Pedestal Jars

October 10, 2012 by Morgan Leave a Comment

The holidays are approaching and the need to be crafty has hit me like a mac truck. Thanks to Pinterest the ideas and inspiration are overflowing.

Here is a craft/decor idea that cost me five dollars and will be perfect for a few upcoming casual events. I found it on Pinterest from The Celebration Shoppe.

Supplies:

2 glass candles holders – $1 at the dollar store

2 glass bowls – $1 at the dollar store

Stickers of your choosing. We got ours from the Target dollar section

Hot glue the bowl to the top of the candlestick

Apply the stickers to the front of the bowl

Finished! The stickers wash off easily with warm water and a sponge.

They are now ready for candy and will be used again for a different party.

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, Kid Crafts Tagged With: Crafts, DIY, Halloween, Holidays

How to make a Muppet Wreath

October 1, 2012 by Morgan Leave a Comment

It started out as a great idea.

But now I am not so sure.

I like an aspect of the wreath but I am unsure with the final result.

Either way, here we go.

DIY Muppet Halloween Wreath*

Here is a way to spice up your decor this Halloween and if you are really talented yours will look better than mine.

Supplies:

Styrofoam wreath

Two styrofoam balls (I bought eggs and then halved them)

Craft paint

Hot glue

3 Muppet Boas

Straight Pins

Paint your eyes on the balls and allow to dry

Begin wrapping the fur around the wreath. Hot glue the end of the Boa to the underside and begin wrapping.

Hot glue random wraps to help it stay in place

After all have been wrapped

Now comes the part that I am torn on and I will probably change in the coming weeks.

I attached the eyes with straight pins. I pushed the flat end into the ball and the sharp end into the wreath. This way the eyes stay in place but can be removed easily.

Eye options

After placing the eyes in the fur my husband pointed out the obvious.

Something is missing.

So I added teeth

Hmmm…Still not sure….

The teeth are made of felt and are only held in place with a few straight pins. This will allow me to remove them quickly without destroying the fur.

I am undecided on the final product however I really do like the wreath.

Another option for this type of wreath is to use feather boas. They look fantastic however they are fairly pricey and I am pretty cheap.

I hope you give this a shot and if your result is much better than mine, which I don’t doubt it will be, feel free to send me a link!

*No muppets were harmed in the making of this wreath

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, Kid Crafts Tagged With: Crafts, DIY, Halloween, Holidays, Kid Crafts

Frame makeover on a budget

August 16, 2012 by Morgan Leave a Comment

This year, so far, has been a year of memories. So much so that I decided that this would be the year that I would actually print out many of the pictures I took to capture said memories.

I chose the photos.

Got Online

Added strategically chosen photos to cart…and…

Clicked order now.

Viola, Pictures!

Then I realized why I had not ordered pictures before. I have no frames to display them in. None. Zero. In fact, I had gone through the house months before judging each and every picture to see if I really wanted to keep it in the frame. Did I really still like this person enough to immortalize them on the wall? Sadly, a few were removed and replaced with new fresh faces.

Anyways, I decided to hit up Goodwill in hopes of a good frame or two. I was in luck and found one that would work after it had a makeover.

I found this gem….

Someone had purchased this white frame from Target and hot glued on various buttons.

I popped them all off with a flat head screw driver.

I then sanded most of the white paint off.

Then added a coat of grey primer that I have been using on a kitchen table I have been working on.

It took about 10 minutes.

I found some black paint and Mod Podge and went to work and…

New Frame!

This frame cost me about an two hours of work and 3.00 dollars.

I love successful a redo.

Now to find my pictures.

Supplies needed to redo:

Sandpaper

Mod Podge – Matte or Gloss

Paint color of your choice

*All the how to instructions are in italics..

There you go. My most recent Do It Yourself.

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: DIY, how to, Mod Podge

Jackson Pollock inspired paintings for children

July 3, 2012 by Morgan Leave a Comment

I love art. I love the history and the reasoning behind it. I have a degree in Art History and if life had happened differently my youthful dreams of working in a gallery may have become a reality. However, that is in the past and in my present reality I can try to encourage my children to have an understanding and perhaps a passion for it.

Today we created our own Jackson Pollock pieces.

The boys loved having no real direction other than create.