DIY Jute Bucket Makeover

Last summer my mom bought this plant and I suggested we make a fun DIY Jute Bucket Planter to hold it. We started out with an old bucket she had lying around. First off I used a beige spray paint and painted the bucket a solid color.

Next, I pulled out the jute and hot glue gun and started wrapping around the jute using the hot glue to tack it down. I used the same process for my Jute Glass Vase makeover. 

This process takes a little time...but starts looking so cute!

This top area was a little tricky so you just have to go slow and be patient around these textured areas.

{Spring-ify}

First off, I apologize to anyone who has sent me emails the past week, I just haven't had time to respond but will try to get to it today I promise! I even got an email from my mom asking if my hands were broken cause she hadn't heard from me in a while. :) So sorry I haven't been around much but you know how it is when life comes callin'.

I wanted to quickly share a few fun spring decor items I am displaying in my home along with my spring printables. I found this piece of wood at the flea market for $.99 and thought I would try my first painted sign.

I sanded it down with my sander and went to town on the edges for some dimension.

  I painted it with the same sample of blue paint that I used on my OJ Bottle vase.

Then I printed out the some letters in a font I liked and cut them out by hand and taped them to the painted wood and stenciled with a pencil.

 I got a little paintbrush and filled in the letters with flat white interior paint and let it dry for a day. I went back with my sander to roughen it up a bit. My only regret is the oak wood texture, pine would have been better but it still turned out quite cute.

I also updated my frame that I switch out for holidays. I added some carrots I found at Hobby Lobby a few months ago.

Click here to see her during the fall, valentines, & St. Patrick's day.

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Homemade Valentines

These are just the cutest Homemade Valentines and I am here to share an easy tutorial so you can make them. These make a great Kids Valentine Craft as well.

Yesterday we made some cute homemade valentines. I made something like these years ago with friends and we took them to the local children's hospital. We called ahead to make sure it was okay and we used stickers in place of candy for those who had dietary restrictions. It was fun and fulfilling!

First I printed out a heart because I cannot freehand. Then I traced it on colored cardstock. I also traced the heart on this lace vinyl pictured below.

This is lace vinyl I found at Joanns. It's pretty affordable and adds a little something extra to the valentine. In the past I used white cardstock for the back and hot pink vinyl for the front, but they told me they no longer carry the pink vinyl so I went with this.

Cut it out and hole punch so that you can thread ribbon through the holes.

Thread Ribbon through, I used a few different methods for this. I did a few in and out like what is pictured, and a few wrapped over and back through around the edges (see final pic for example).

Before you completely close off you heart, add a few piece of candy(I used hugs and kisses cause that is what I had but something flatter might work easier!) or stickers or whatever inside and then close them up. I tied the loose ends together in a big bow at the top of the heart. Now you can write love notes on the back and you're good to go. Super easy and affordable. Aren't they just the most adorable homemade valentines?

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Red Heart Paper Quilling

I am loving how this Paper Quilling Heart project turned out. Let's just say there have been way too many snow days lately. This week has just been crazy and I feel like I haven't even got anything done! The other day we were stuck in the house while it was dark and rainy, so I decided to try paper quilling. I wanted to make a heart. I took some pics along the way of my first quilling project, I didn't really know what I was doing but I still had fun and liked how it turned out. Pardon the lighting, I had no natural light so I strapped on the external flash and went to town.

First I used cardstock in a deep red color I liked. Cardstock is a little tricky because of its stiffness but it is the only red I had on hand (besides kids construction paper) I cut them into 1 inch wide strips roughly because I wanted some good dimension for my final project.

I started at one end slowly rolling the paper tightly until it was all rolled.

They ended up looking like this. When I let go of them they loosen and each take on their own little personality.

I decided to use a little hot glue and dabbed a little on the end to keep the rolled paper bound.
I set up all my rolled circles together and put them in a heart shape. I kept rearranging them until I got them how I liked them. Notice the very bottom one is different, I squeezed the very bottom of the circle to elongate it. After I had them how I liked them I started using a little hot glue to glue them to each other. One thing to note: Using a craft glue of e6000 would probably be less obvious, I wasn't as careful as I should of been so if you look close you can see evidence of the hot glue. 

I thought these could be so cute on a valentine card, hanging up, as a garland, or even just sitting out. I really loved how the look turned out. Okay, moving on. :)

I went to the basement to find something to put my heart on. I am working on crafting with what I have and re-purposing items already in my stash. I found this little wood plaque that I had previously painted black to use for a different project that never happened.  I just got some flat white paint and painted over the black. I should have used primer, but I didn't, so after like 3 coats we were good to go.

I did a light sanding on the edges just to add some personality, and you can see that some of the black started showing through which looked good.Then I just lightly put a few dabs of hot glue on the back side of the heart and stuck it on. Didn't get a picture of that step but I'm sure you get the picture!

Final product. Note to self: be more careful with the hot glue next time! If I had my sillouette (I'm still dreaming of one...think of all the cool stuff I could make!) I would have possibly added a little vinyl to spice it up a bit.

I'm so Lovin' this...it doesn't hurt that it was free since I had everything I needed to make it work.

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Kid's Chair Makeover

So I found this kids chair at the flea market. I thought it would be a great chair for my playroom area, as well as a fun photography prop chair for kiddos. The only problem, was I hated the bright glossy harsh yellow color. It didn't start out this way. I started sanding off the hideous yellow and found many colors underneath!

Now, I forgot to take a "before" I started sanding it down and remembered halfway through...so hopefully even though I had sanded it a bit (I am kind of digging the sanded distressed look though...I might sand my final product eventually) you can see the brightness of the gloss color shining through. It was just so sharp and school-bus-ish. (nice description right?) So I let this chair sit in my basement in a corner for several months, and then finally decided to get some paint and get after it. I bought primer, and then went hunting for the perfect shade.

Yes...as you can tell I wanted to keep the yellow, but just tame it down from school bus to light soft yellow. Some might say a buttercream color...hmmm butter.

Now, you may be like my husband and not tell a difference, but in person...it is there trust me and heck it made me happen even if it was subtle. Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me happy :)! I even tried it out on one of my photo shoots this week, whatdya think?