Updates and Eye Twitches

Wow.  It's been over a month since I've blogged.  I feel almost as bad as I do when I go too long without going to the gym!  Funny how something silly and little like blogging, that's only meant to be cathartic, can become such a powerful force in your life.

I'll be honest and admit why I haven't blogged recently.  It's because I've been avoiding my feelings.  I've always been a journaler.  Yes, I made that word up.  But it's true; infact, I still have the journal that I kept when I was in 5th grade.  I love to write and to get my feelings down on paper (or in this case, on a screen), because it helps me work through my thoughts.  Lately, though, all of my thoughts and feelings are surrounding the fact that H leaves for Basic Training in one month.

I don't want to think about it.  I don't want to deal with the fact that in one month I have to kiss my husband goodbye, hug him for the last time until July.  I don't want to accept that I won't be able to talk to him every day, to cuddle up with him when it's been a rough one.  I want to pretend that he'll still be here.  So rather than think/talk/write about it, I push it to the back of my mind.  Doing this has caused a semi-permanent eye twitch, but I'd much rather deal with that than the reality of my husband leaving right now.  So instead of blogging, I pretend it's not happening, which means right now I have very little to blog about.

Life in general is good.  God has blessed us with a lot so far this year, including a full-time job for me at the Montessori School, H hitting his goal weight for his contract, and getting to spend a lot of quality time with our friends and family before he leaves.  Financially, it's been a good year so far, too, with our big tax refund blessing on its way.  Our families are doing well, our friends are doing well, and we are doing well, so the only feelings that I've had to work through are the ones that I'm pretending aren't there.  I know it's coming to a breaking point with those, however, and I'm waiting for that moment when I can't hold it back any longer and everything comes out (like emotional vomit) onto this blog.  Although maybe that's a post I'll write in my paper journal (yes, I do still keep one of those, as well!) because I have a feeling it will be more personal than I choose to share here.  Of course, there will still be a blog update, just maybe not as graphic as the one in my paper journal.

I know that as things get closer to his leaving, and as things get busier around here with the end of the school year (gosh, it seems so early to think about that already!) and with getting ready to move back to my parents' house, the postings here will become more frequent.  Also, I'll be bringing back my crafting, too!  Right now, with working about 45 hours per week, it can sometimes be tough to fit in a really good project.  But once H leaves and I need things to occupy my time/mind, the projects will be making a spectacular comeback! :)

Bear with me.
It's about to get emotional around here...

xoxo, M

12 Projects of Christmas: Joy Door Decoration

It's December 1st!  You know what that means... Christmas music playing in the kitchen while I bake cookies for our first holiday party this weekend!  I'm so excited for the holiday season, I seriously could barely control myself today--I got 3 of the 12 Projects of Christmas done today.  No joke!  Which is honestly kind of a good thing because we've got a very busy weekend ahead--including driving halfway home to meet my dad so he can give me our Christmas tree and ornaments.  Somehow I managed to grab the box with the branches and stand, but not the box with the pole and the ornaments...oops.

So here's the first of the 12 Projects of Christmas!
I'm really excited about this one.  I came up with the idea while walking around Hobby Lobby (easily my favorite store ever) and not being able to find a door decoration that I loved.  In their defense, the selection was pretty picked-over after the big 50%-off sale.  So I decided to come up with a plan to make my own, and it turned out absolutely beautifully!

"Why not a wreath?" you ask?  Well, we have a wreath that hangs on the wall in the livingroom that I love and want to see more than just when I'm coming and going from the apartment.  But mainly because our peephole is placed in just the spot where it will be covered by a wreath hanger no matter what I try...boo stupid apartment building.

So anyway, here is the tutorial for my Joy Door Decoration (ps. You can use any word, but JOY is perfect for the holidays and isn't so big that it overpowers the door or the decoration.  Feel free to use any word you like.)

First grab your materials:
2 complimentary colors of paint (I used the red and gold that matches our house and our Christmas tree)
1 1/2" wide ribbon in a complimentary color
20 inches of garland (I cut mine off of a 7' piece that was too long to use around our window)
4" wooden letters
Glue gun (not pictured)

Start by painting your letters.  I used 2 coats of the red paint as the base color...

and used the gold paint to do a faux plaid.  Please don't judge how unstraight my lines are--I know I need some practice, but you get the idea :)

Next, cut 3 strips of ribbon, 15 inches each.  The letters won't hang 15 inches down, don't worry--you need that extra length later on.  Use the hot glue gun to attached one of each strip to the back of each letter.

Once the glue is dry, space out your ribbons about 3 inches apart from each other and tie them on to the garland's main wire.  Make sure to leave about a 4 inch tail.

Next, cut 3 more pieces of ribbon, about 12" each.  Fold the ribbon to create a "faux bow" like you see in the picture.  You don't want to actually tie it, just fold it over.

Next, lay your faux bow on top of the knot where you tied the letter ribbon onto the garland.

Fold the extra tail of the ribbon over the faux bow (see, told you you'd need that extra!)

And tie the tail to the main part of the letter ribbon.

Repeat the faux bow with all three letters.  It should look like this:

Next, cut a small piece of ribbon (about 3 inches) and create a loop, then hot glue it to the back of the garland where the middle letter is tied.  This will give you a way to hang it.

Here's the final project, all hung up on our (ugly) apartment door!

I know it looks like the "Y" is hanging lower, but I think that's because I was on the stairs looking up at an angle.  When you look at it head on, all the letters hang evenly, but you can play around with bending the garland and the length of the ribbon to make it work for you.

Here's the money breakdown:
Garland: (already had it)
Ribbon: $2
Letters: $3 ($1/each)
Paint: (already had)

Total cost: $5 (this will be more if you need to purchase the garland or the paint, of course)

I also recommend if you're going to hang it outside to spray the letters with a sealant to make sure it doesn't get any weather damage.

Happy Holidays!  Stay tuned for 11 more Christmas projects to come!  :)

xoxo, Melissa

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12 Projects of Christmas!

Hi friends!

Gosh, I can't believe it's almost December!  Where has this year gone?  I'm excited, though--I LOVE Christmas!  The decorations, the baking, the music, getting together with family and friends, and of course I love to give gifts to those I love.  This year, with the economy being so tight, I've decided to go more of the homemade route for gifting, which got me thinking...

What can I do on my blog to promote all the goodies I"m going to be showcasing and tutorialing?
::lightbulb::

This year will be the first annual 
"12 Projects of Christmas"!

 

Between December 1 and December 24, I will feature 12 different projects that are Christmas/Winter-themed.  Some might be decorations for the house, some might be for gifts, and some might be for plain, ol' delicious Christmas cookies.  In theory, I'll post 1 project every other day, but let's be honest---there might be one day with 3 projects and a few days with none, but I'm going to be as consistent as possible.

I'm really excited!  A good friend of mine commissioned me to do a big project for her boyfriend's present, so that'll be a big project on here, plus I have a few more up my sleeves...so excited!

Please make sure to click the little blue "join this site" button on the side so you can get all the wonderful projects between now and Christmas (and feel free to Pin any project you see!)

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas (okay, I know...still a little early...c'mon, I'm gettin' excited here!) :)

Tutorial: Upcycled Fridge Organizer

For the past year, I have been sitting on this couch with a view directly into the kitchen.  Not such a bad thing, especially since I love to cook and bake.  What is a bad thing?  My direct view of my overly-cluttered fridge.  I keep seeing it, and thinking "ugh, I have got to fix that."  Here's my direct view:

 Ew.  I hate clutter, and my fridge screamed "AHHH THERE'S TOO MUCH STUFF ON ME!!"  I couldn't stand it anymore, so today I decided to do something about it!  I didn't want to spend any money, though, so I decided to upcycle :)

Get your stuff:
-Empty snack food boxes
-Spray adhesive
-Scissors
-Magnet roll
-Paper

 First, cut the flaps off the top of your box.  Then, trace your box onto the paper.  I wanted to roll it around the edges of my box so it was as close to seamless as possible.  I made sure to leave a little overlap on the sides, and I traced where the edges were so I can line them up.

 I also made sure there was a little to wrap over the edge at the top.  You can see that it didn't totally cover the box, so I cut one more side panel to cover it.  On the bigger box, I had to cut 2 sides at a time.  Also, I cut a panel to cover the bottom of the box. 

 Next, I used the stencils to stencil "bills" onto one box and "misc" onto the other.  I figure that about covers the majority of what clutters up my fridge front!  Once again, stenciling while taking a picture is not easy. 

 So here are my boxes post-paper and paint:

 Next I cut strips of the magnet (the kind with the self-adhesive on the back) to fit across the box back so it will work on the fridge.  I cut one strip for the top of each box and one strip for the bottom of each, just to make sure it was strong enough to hold.

 So here is my fridge, sans clutter!  I also took a small tin that H had lying around and put paper around the sides and the lid with a magnet on the back to hold all the purple magnetic words so it's a little cleaner.

 Here's the close-up of my upcycled fridge organizers!  Turned out so good, and best part?  FREE!

Breakdown time:
Boxes and tin: Free (well, I mean, I paid for the food that was in them...)
Magnet roll: Had it
Spray adhesive: Had it
Paper: Had it

Total cost for these nice new fridge organizers that match our kitchen decor:  FREE!!!  :)  Gotta love that!

Now I don't hate looking at my fridge so much--what a good feeling! 
So go ahead and give it a try!  Let me know how yours turn out!

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Tutorial: Pumpkin Pennant (no sew!)

It has been waaay too long since I've posted!  I've been actively crafting, but just haven't had time to upload and post, for which I apologize.  I wanted to post the craft I did last Wednesday on last Thursday evening, but then H proposed to me so I was a little busy that evening :)  I crafted this week too, but this is finally the first day I've had to post it!  So here it goes:  last week's craft!

Pennants are very "in" this year in the crafting world, and I've wanted to do something pennant-y lately, but wasn't sure what to do.  I had some burlap and some orange quilt squares, and I've been in a full-blown Fall mood lately, so I decided to put the two together.

Voila!  Pumpkin Pennant!

Okay, so first gather your materials:
Burlap
4" x 4" fabric squares (I did my all different prints, but you can do them all the same if you like)
Pumpkin pennant pattern (I provided the link to the pattern at the bottom of this post)
Twine
Brown acrylic or fabric paint
Paint brush
Letter stencils
New-Sew iron-on fabric adhesive
Iron and ironing board (not pictured)
Bobby pin (not pictured)

First, figure out what your banner will say.  I chose "happy harvest" which has 12 letters, so I cut out 12 pumpkins.  Make sure they are small enough for each one to fit in your pennant shape.

 Next, use your pennant pattern to cut out 12 pennants.  This pattern allows for room to fold over a hem at the top, but you can resize it if you want larger pennants.  As it is, these pennant pieces are about 3 inches tall when finished.

 Next, I laid out each pennant piece and figured out how my pumpkins would lay on them.  I didn't want 2 patterns next to each other in a row, so I made sure that showed in my layout.

 Next, I cut pieces of the No-Sew and laid it out on the back of each pumpkin.  Side note: I love no sew.  Seriously.  If I could No-Sew an entire wardrobe, I would never purchase a sewing machine.  Ever.  Make sure you get a little piece for the stem, because that will come up easily if you don't. 

 Next, iron each pumpkin onto each pennant piece.  Make sure to follow the directions on the No-Sew so you put your iron on the right setting. 

 I also folded down the hem flap at the top of each pennant piece (so that it folds over the back, not the front by the pumpkin) because this will make creating the hem loop easier. 

 Once I had ironed on all the pumpkins and ironed the hem on each one, I ironed my hem down.  This was tricky.  You have to cut the No-Sew thin so that it only hems at the bottom of the flap.  You're creating a loop to thread the twine through so they can hang.

 Iron your hem.  Yay No-Sew!

 So now that I had them all hemmed, I laid them out again in the order that I want to hang them. 

 Stencil time!  I got out the handy-dandy paint and put one letter of each word on each pumpkin.  Do you know how hard it is to take a pic and stencil at the same time?  I just make it look easy ;)

 Okay, so now the hard part--how to thread the twine through the burlap.  I don't have good needles, so I had to get creative.  Hence the bobby pin.  I tied one end of the twine to the bobby pin and used that to thread it through the hem I created with the folded/No-Sewed flap.

I learned quickly: thread the last letter first.  I started with the first letter and about 3 letters in realized my mistake.  So thread it backwards :)

 Here it is all laid out after being threaded.

 I played around with the spacing and decided that 2 different banners would be best.  Right now, they are just tacked up above the TV, and I need to figure out how to make the ends look pretty.  Any ideas?

So there ya go!  Make your own pennant!  It's a little bit longer of a project; took me the better part of an hour and a half, but I think it's worth it.  It's a nice addition, and can be left up all Fall since it's not specific to Halloween or Thanksgiving.  But you can make yours say anything you like!!

Breakdown time:
Burlap:  $0.75 ($2.99/yard)
Orange quilt squares:  $4 on ebay
No-Sew: I had this (because I don't ever not have it!)
Paint: Had it
Stencil: $1.99 (but it's reusable!)
Twine: Had it

Total cost of this project: $6.74
But it would have cost upwards of $10 had I bought it at the store already made :)
Success!

Download the pennant template here

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Tutorial: Upcycled Cookie Sheet to Message Holder

Confession:  I have ugly pans.
Burnt, stained, tarnished, ugly pans.
But we're just starting out creating our family and our home, so that's totally okay.  Unfortunately, when the finish starts to come off on your food, it's time to get new ones, no matter what stage of life you're in.  No bueno.

What to do with the old pans, though?
I saw an idea on Pinterest but their pan was shiny and new-looking.  Mine was...well, ugly.  There's really no nice way to say it.  So how could I take this basic idea and make it even better, so that my not-so-shiny and new-looking pan would still work?

I do love paint...

So today's tutorial is how to upcycle a cookie sheet into a magnetic message holder.  If you don't need to cover up an ugly cookie sheet, go check out this pin (and while you're there, follow me on Pinterest!), but if you want to find a new use for an ugly old pan, check out my tutorial.

First, get your materials:
-Cookie sheet
-Scrapbook paper
-Spray adhesive
-Spray paint (for a primer)
-Contact paper
-Colored paint (not pictured)
-Painter's tape (not pictured)

 See how ugly my pan is?  It's soooo ready to be upcycled!  The first thing I did was clean my pan using steel wool to make sure the primer will adhere to the pan.  Make sure it's really dry before you paint it, or else your pan may reject the paint.  Then I primed my pan with white spray paint.  Once it dried I sprayed it with spray adhesive and attached my scrapbook paper.  **Make sure you do all of this outside or in a very well-ventilated area--outside is best because the spray adhesive will make everything it lands on very sticky**  I didn't take pics of these steps because they seem pretty self-explanatory.  Here is my pan after it's been primed and papered:

 Next, I used painters tape to tape off the edges--I wanted to do the inside sides one color and the outside edge another to create a double frame.  If you want to do it just one color, you don't really need the tape.  Anyway, I taped off the edges and painted the inside sides deep red (our kitchen is black and white, but our livingroom that connects is red, so I wanted to tie them together).

 I did 2 coats of red paint to make sure it was evenly covered.  Once it was all totally dried, I peeled off the tape and painted the top edge black.  See how pretty it all looks together!

I plan on using my board to hold recipe cards, coupons, grocery lists, etc. and want to hang it above my counter.  We tend to get a little messy, so I thought it would be a good idea to cover the paper with contact paper, that way if it gets splashed with anything it can easily be wiped off without ruining the paper.

Next, measure out the inside of the pan so you can properly cut the contact paper.  You'll want to note if your corners are square or rounded, because you'll need to cut the contact paper to fit the corners.  Carefully smooth on the contact paper so you don't have any bubbles or wrinkles.

 I'm going to use 3M removeable mounts to hang this on the wall, but here it is sitting on the counter.  With a couple magnets, it will hold your recipe cards, coupons, reminders, notes, etc. and it can be done basically free or super cheap (depending on your stock of crafting supplies)

Here's the breakdown: 
Pan = already had it
Paper = $0.50 ($0.25/page x 2 pages to cover my pan)
Spray adhesive = $5.99 (but will be used on a million other projects)
Paints = already had them
Contact paper = already had it
Magnets = already had them

Total cost of a "new" kitchen magnet board: $6.49

Success!  So if you have an old ugly pan or two and a need for more magnetic space in your kitchen, or anywhere in your house really (think: kids room, near the door, office, etc.), go ahead and give this a try!  Let me know how it goes, and feel free to leave some love and feedback on this post!