Monogrammed Door Decor

Want to create a personalized letter for your front door? Or make a lovely wedding gift for a couple that will finally share a last initial?  The possibilities for this Yarn Wrapped Letter are endless!

You'll need:

Wooden letter - available at most craft stores
Yarn - I used two different rolls of complimentary colors, one solid, one striped
Acrylic paint that matches your color scheme
Hot Glue Gun
Tape
Decorative Do-Dads

 Before I started with the yarn I painted the letter in a light green just incase the yarn couldn't cover all the corners.  (You will note that for a quick paint job, I don't bother using a palette that I'll have to wash)

Take an end piece of yarn and tape it as close as possible to the edge of the letter. The tape will help hold the end in place until you have wrapped it.

If you will be alternating yarn rolls, you will want to wrap a section and stop. If you are only using one color you simply continue to wrap until the letter is covered. You may have to go back over some parts, especially if you have a funny shaped letter, like a G.

If you are alternating yarns, wrap a few sections of one color and then go back and wrap with the next yarn roll.

 The corners and curves can be tricky! For this curve I wrapped in a V pattern, alternating from side to side so that it almost made a braid.  Once a section was wrapped, I put a small dollop of hot glue to hold the yarn in place.
**HINT: If you plan to put your letter on a door that gets a lot of sun, take a piece of scotch tape and stick it over the drop of glue, this will prevent the glue from heating up and sticking to your door!

 Once you have your letter wrapped, get out your decorative pieces and start playing around with the placement. Remember that this will be hanging so try to keep the weight balanced so your letter isn't crooked. Once you have settled on an arrangement it is helpful to take a quick photo.  You will have to take the pieces off so that you can glue them down in the appropriate layers, so having a photo of the intended arrangement can be helpful!

Once your pieces are glued, tie a small bow around the top section of your letter so you can hang it from a hook. If you have a letter that does not have a centered top (Y, U, I, L) you might find that attaching a hook on the back of the letter is the easiest. 

Hope you love it!

M.

Charming DIY Bedside Table

I was in desperate need of a new bedside table after we rearranged our bedroom.  After looking briefly in a few different shops, I decided to look one more place...my parents basement.  I managed to find this beauty buried under some old boxes.

I'm pretty sure this table has been painted every color you can fit on a palette.  The height was prefect for next to the bed, and I loved the little drawer.  The next step was to head to Home Depot and grab some supplies!

 I grabbed a quart of Behr "Vintage Chic" paint in "Ozone" in a matte finish.  Then found this awesome crackle paint by Martha Stewart.  The color of the crackle paint is called "Oat".
  First I gave the table a light sanding to get rid of some of the old paint layers.  Then I painted the body of the table the Ozone blue.

  The crackle paint tells you to use a Putty knife to apply the paint to your surface.  This was much harder than I expected and found that I couldn't apply evenly with the putty knife.  I found it easier to use the putty knife to apply a thick layer of paint and then use a brush to smooth it on the surface.  The instructions say the thicker the coat, the larger the cracks. I thought I caked it on pretty thick, but my cracks were still pretty small.  I used the crackle paint on the drawer face and the table top.

The crackle paint gave this table the perfect amount of vintage chic.  Made complete with design magazines, a creepy wooden cat, and an Ikea lamp, this table is perfect!

M.  

Fast DIY Business Cards

 

The Problem: Need business cards fast!  The Solution: DIY!

A few weeks ago I was planning on attending a Crafts Fair.  I had ordered fancy business cards that were not going to be delivered in time and I really wanted to have a way to "tag" the wreaths I was selling and and have a way to spread my name. Also, let's face it, you feel pretty awesome when you can say "here, let me give you my card".  

I decided there was no time to have the cards done professionally, so I finally said "I can do this!"

First, I went to the store and grabbed a pack of Card Stock. I chose a multicolored pack that would cater to my indecisiveness and was more fun than a plain white pack

I had these two stamps that I've been dying to do something with, so I got them out.  If you're in a pinch your local craft store should have some basic stamps. If you have time, I definitely recommend browsing on Etsy!

  

Now, this is down and dirty business card making.  I am not proficient in the Adobe products (Illustrator/Photoshop), and my designer husband was at work, so I resorted to good 'ole Microsoft Word.  When you go to Word, start by figuring out what version you have  In Word 2003 or earlier versions, on the Tools menu, click Envelopes And Labels. In Word 2007 or later choose Labels from the Mailings tab.   On the Labels tab, click Options.  In the Labels Product list, click Avery Standard.   In the Product Number list, use 8371 or 5371.  This will allow you to use a business card template.   In the Address area, enter the address information for the business card.  

It will look something like this:

The only downside to using your fancy colored paper is that you will have to measure and cut the cards by hand.  I believe if you use the actual Avery Business Card Paper it is serrated.  The gridlines will not print so you will have to measure and cut your cards.  A standard business card is 2" x 3.5".

I made separate templates for my front and back and then reversed my printing so that the sides would match up.  

Once everything was printed, I took my stamps and got creative!

Here are my front and back views:

 DIY Business Cards just like that!  I love the multicolored cards and the charming stamps, they feel very "me"

M.

Fast, Fun, & Affordable Holiday Decorating!

The Holidays are expensive.  There's food, gifts, and travel arrangements to pay for. One thing that doesn't have to break your Christmas piggy bank is decorations, just DIY!  This is a quick tutorial to make a Holiday yarn wreath.  I won't go into detail about Yarn Wreath basics, those instructions can be found on my "Heavy Metal Letter Meets Pretty Yarn Wreath" post.

Wrapping the wreath form in yarn can be pretty time consuming, especially if you are doing a tight wrap as seen above.  If you want to save some time, you can do a loose wrap as seen below:

Back to our tightly wrapped wreath! Once the form has been wrapped in yarn, it's time to start decorating!  Think outside the box, do you have anything around the house that you can use? Any old mismatched Christmas balls that you don't need on your tree? An old Christmas broach that is to cumbersome to wear on your Christmas sweater? Perfect!  I use an assortment of store bought and found items for my wreaths.  Start by placing the items on the wreath. Play around with the arrangement until you like what you see. Then get out your glue gun and commit to placement!

 Hot glue can be messy.  I had this terrible blob of glue that was visible under the "C" in my Peace piece.  Don't fret! It's a perfect opportunity to add something! An ugly spot of glue is nothing a cute fabric flower and some sparkly leaves can fix!

Once you are satisfied with your arrangement, all that's left it to craft a quick loop so you can hang your Christmas cheer! Tie a piece of yarn around the top of the wreath and fashion a loop.  I secure my loop to the back of the wreath with a dab of glue.

 

And just like that, a fast and affordable Christmas wreath!

Happy Holidays!

M.

 

Quick DIY Halloween Costume

Do you need a last minute Halloween costume? This quick DIY will have you looking spooky in no time!

What you'll need:
        Witch's Hat (I got this one at a craft store for $0.99!)
        Glue gun and glue sticks
        Assortment of fake flowers, garland, and any other funky pieces
        Newspaper

First, crumple up some newspaper and stuff it into the point of the hat.  We are going to make the hat pretty heavy so adding some newspaper will add some stability. Next, find a flower with a long wire stem.  Pull the flower off the stem and put it aside for later.  Slide the stem up into the hat and use some glue to secure the stem to the inside of the hat. I set the stem along the seam of the hat, the stem will act as a "backbone" for the hat.  I also added a few drops of glue to keep the newspaper ball in one place.

 Grab your glue gun and start gluing flowers, grasses, and other decorations to your hat!

 A little hint about fake flower bundles:  An individual stem from a bouquet can be made into a fuller bunch of flowers simply by sliding up from the bottom of the stem.  I did this for most of my pieces so that each piece had more body.

All ready to pass out candy!

Have a crafty Halloween!

M.

DIY Wedding Guestbook

October is the best month to get married. Yes, I am bias because I got married in October, but it's true.  The leaves changing colors, the cool air helps keep the bride from being a sweaty mess, it's the perfect time of year for nuptials.  We had a DIY wedding. It was time consuming, stressful, and messy, but I am SO glad we did it because it represented us and and everything we love!
One of my favorite DIY projects for our wedding was our guestbook.  We didn't want a traditional guestbook and we wanted the signing process to be creative, fun, and efficient.  We decided to make cards.  The card allowed multiple people to signs at once and once the wedding was over, it was a joy to go through and read what people wrote. 

My amazingly talented husband designed the cards and we brought the file to our local Kinkos and had them printed on a heavy card-stock.  We fit two cards to a page, saving money and space, and all we had to do was cut them and buy a nice pen!

To keep our cards safe, we found a vintage tin book at a thrift shop that fit the cards perfectly! It was the perfect piece!

Even a year later, opening this up and flipping through the cards brings a smile to my face.  It is such a special memento of the most amazing day!

-M.

Creative Cat Door

Meet Betty, a cute, cuddly, ball of feline fun.  I ADORE this cat.  So what's the problem? Her litter box. Specifically, the fact that wherever we put the litter box, our darling dog manages to find it and indulge in a snack...

To summarize: 1) we LOVE our cat 2) our dog enjoys eating "kitty crunchies" 3) we need a litter box solution

The solution was to put a cat door in one of our closets.  This could have been a quick fix of cutting a hole in the door and installing a prefab cat door, however, we have these beautiful solid wood doors in our home that we could not bear to chop.  Solution: Buy a cheap, hollow door for $20 and chop a hole in it!

Before my husband and dad cut the hole in the door, we creatively measured the size of our slightly obese cat.  Once the hole was cut we were able to stain the door.

This MinWax PolyShade stain in Antique Walnut was the closest match to the other doors in our house.  Make sure you give the stain at least 6 hours to dry before working on the door.

 Starting to look pretty good!  Now it's time to make the cat door.  I went to home depot and bought a piece of decorative trim and asked my dad to cut four sides to make a frame for the door. I used a spray primer before adding color.

 I found this awesome decorative paint by Martha Living.  I wanted something funky and decorative but not too bold that was an eyesore.

Once the paint was dry it was time to attach the frame to the door.  Because the cheap door was hallow, we decided to use glue instead of nails because we did not want to splinter the wood.  Elmer's Carpenter Wood glue worked great. 
***Make sure you do NOT attach the top piece! We will need it later when we attach the fabric flap!

Set the frame in clamps so that the glue dries while the frame is tight. While you wait for the glue to dry it's time to make a cloth door!

Disclaimer: I am NOT a seamstress! My sewing skills are minimal. My stitches are not straight. But hey, this is for a cat door and I don't think little Betty will judge me.  

I chose a fabric that was complimentary with a dash of character.  After measuring the size of the door opening, I added a 1/2 inch and folded over.  After I had ironed the folds, it was time to sew.  

Once the flap was done, we used a staple gun to attach the fabric flap to the top frame piece that we did not attach earlier.  Once the flap was stapled, we just had to glue the top piece to the door. 

Once the decorative door is dry, all that's left is to attach the new door to the door frame.  We used the hardware from our old door so we didn't have to buy any new hardware.

My work here is done.

M.