Christmas Wreath

DIY Christmas Wreath

Cost: under $20!!

• Base wreath: $10.00
• Ribbon and ornaments ~ $1.00 each (Dollar Store)

I made the bow by making loops and securing it with a glue gun (burnt my fingers lots though!).

If Paint Chips are Free...

... Then why is it when I pick some up for a craft, it FEELS like stealing? I convince myself and my husband that we are repainting a few rooms in our house as an alibi. And I get CRAZY nervous if a worker is watching me - I have even walked over to the paint can section to convince everyone (who I think maybe watching me) that I AM considering buying paint. I need to chill...

Well that was a side note to what I actually wanted to talk about... I’m currently using an old receipt as a bookmark but I have really wanted something “prettier” – so I’m making paint chip bookmarks!

Duration: 30 mins - 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy peezy (… lemon squeezy)

Supplies

• Paint chips
• Stamps
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Ribbon
• Paper cutter

Steps

1. Cut down your paint chips to bookmark size - remove parts with writing and round the corners.
2. Stamp away!
3. Hole punch the top, feed the ribbon through and using the scissors, curl the ribbon ends.
4. You’re done!

I went a little nuts, and I made one for each of my family members. And on some, I added a little shimmer to make them all fancy-like ;)

I have an Organization Fetish

A bit creepy, right? My husband is absolutely boggled by my fascination of lists, calendars and clear storage bins.

Well, since my husband never seems to know what's going on and when, I decided to make a dry erase calendar for our kitchen. I saw something on Pinterest using paint chips, but I used scrapbook paper because I just have WAY too much of it.

Supplies

• Cheap frame with glass (or plastic) front around 19x16 in size.
• Poster board cut to fit inside the frame
• Dry erase markers
• Scrapbook Paper (or paint chips!)
• Glue

Steps

1. The optimal size of squares for my 19x16 frame measured out to be 2x3 inches big (I considered that my squares will be 5 down and 7 across, and that the very edges of the poster board will be hidden behind the frame).
2. I cut out 35 2x3 inch squares and 7 2x1 smaller squares (to label the days of the week).
3. I placed all squares on my poster board to make sure the calendar was centered and fit nicely.
4. I glued everything down!
5. I also added stickers to label the days of the week, but you don't have to do this (you can just use the dry erase marker).
6. Put your poster board into your frame.
7. Your done!

Enjoy!

I Love Fall!

EXCEPT for my allergies... I am lost in a fog of sneezes until the first frost. But regardless, I decided I would kick off the fall season with a wreath.

I wanted to keep it simple AND cheap, so I hit up the dollar store and snipped out a couple Micheal's coupons. My wreath took me an hour and a half and ~$12 to assemble (I'm fairly thrift, but I bet you could even do it for even less!)

Supplies
- Twine/Vine Wreath; I grabbed it from Micheal's on sale for $4.99 CAD (woo Canada!)
- Approx 5 Steams of fall leaves/flowers; a dollar each from the Dollar store.
- Glue gun and sticks

Steps
1.) Cut the stems of leaves into smaller more manageable stems.
2.) Let the creativity flow and start arranging and gluing down the stems!

Pretty simple - and I only burned my self on my glue gun twice *highfive*!

Ha ha - you can see my reflection in the picture... ah well...

It turned out better than I had imagined - I came home from groceries later that day and I caught myself was oogling my own wreath! It add a really nice touch to the front of my house.

Bedroom TV ... BLEW UP

“Oh lord jesus there was a fire!” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFEoMO0pc7k&feature=related

Ok. Maybe there wasn’t a fire... but my husband was woken up by the stench of burning plastic and a room filled with white smoke.

Our 25+ year old TV had died.

Suspiciously, I had been on a business trip at the time, and my husband has been eyeing up new TVs. BUT regardless, it was time to upgrade our bedroom TV aannndd the ugly 70’s TV stand I had inherited from my grandparents.

I had been tossing around the idea of replacing it, but had this inkling to paint it.

I know... it’s a cardinal sin to paint over wood (I still haven’t mentioned to my father what I had done), but it doesn’t match our bedroom, its borderline hideous and I was just going to get rid of it anyway – so why not experiment?

Supplies

• Latex Primer
• Latex Semi-Gloss Paint - color of your choice!
• Sand Paper (Grits 80, 120, 180)
• Paint Brush

Steps

1.  Evenly sanded the entire TV stand with 3 levels, starting with the coarse grit and working finer. 
• 80 - Course
• 120 - Medium
• 180 - Fine
2.  Gave the TV a good wash down, making sure there was no dust in any corners and etc. This is important when you go to paint.
3.  I evenly added 2 coats of primer.
4.  I also needed 2 coats of volcanic ash paint.

Problems

• I wish I had gone darker and bolder!
• The paint kind of feels tacky/sticky – I might research the types of paints to use on furniture next time.

Despite the problems, I am super pumped about our new-ish TV stand… and I guess about the new TV too!

One day, I went absolutely mental.

So. One day, I went absolutely mental.

The spark had happened that day when I was dragging my lawn bags to the curb. I had gotten about half way done when the garbage collector had come, and then left. I stormed into the house, and I completely went off the deep end - I was inconsolable for hours. It wasn't because the garbage collector happened to be a bit a head of schedule that day, but it was the boiling point resulting from having too much on my mind and too much on the go. I had lost myself.

Who was I?

I was an accomplished and driven young professional with a degree in mathematics; but, I felt unsteady with the career I had chosen . I had purchased a house with a fixer-upper yard, which seemed to become more chaotic faster than I could keep up with it. I had a morgage and too many bills, a car in dire need of repairs, a wedding requiring some planning, and a lovely finace in school.

I felt I was failing. I had no direction, no sense of who I was or what I wanted to accomplish with my life, and no real outlet to how I was feeling.

I started sewing 8 months ago in the little free time I had. I enjoy picking out fabrics, experimenting with new techniques and designs. It has all been quite tharapeutic and I have been crazy-free since I have started (I have even enrolled in design and decor classes).

My intentions for this blog is to share my random projects; my inspiration, what worked or didn't work, and my overall thoughts of past, on going and upcoming projects.

Cheers.