Ruffled burlap wreath.

Now that the chaos has died down a little around here, it's project time. I just completed this ruffled burlap wreath.

It's kind of a copycat of something I saw while browsing the craft store. That said wreath, though, was $40. This one cost me $3 (I reused burlap from the placemats and arch at our wedding, and already had glue for the gun, so all I bought was the foam wreath).

This was so easy to make. Pretty quick too! I may add some interchangeable rosettes or something for seasonal affect. I haven't decided. Let me know if you have ideas!



Step one. Cover the wreath in strips of burlap, fastening them with drops of hot glue.

Step two. Cut up a whole bunch of burlap squares, fraying the edges as you go. Choose any color burlap you want. Cut the squares any size you want, depending on how tight or full you want the wreath. Mine at 4 inches square.

Step three. Fold the squares. I tried folding every which way I could think of to add variation in texture. Sometimes I folded corner to corner and glued the point tot he wreath, sometimes I didn't fold them at all; I just glued them in place then manipulated it around surrounding pieces. There really is no way to mess up this part.

Step four. Glue in place. Ta daa!

Minty green accent walls.

The house is one step closer to being a home. Yep, we have been in there for almost two years and I'm still not done. Will I ever be? No, prolly not.

A couple weeks ago we painted the trim/floorboards on the main floor of our house (doing the whole thing was too intimidating of a feat). That part was boring compared to what came next. AN ACCENT WALL. I'm so sick of one tone, boring color paint across the house. Plus, I sort of love painting.

This wall runs from the living room into the kitchen. I decided to do the whole thing mint green (actual color is sea anemone by Martha Stewart, mixed by Behr, because it was cheaper).
 

 The living room wall.

 Another view of the living room wall, and how it runs into the kitchen.

 This is in the kitchen, on the way out to the garage. You can really see the color popping here against the white and tan.

 What else would I have done with all the leftover paint swatches, but frame them and hang it on my wall collage?

This is what our house looks like (well, before we moved in). The kitchen is so dark. Ever since I saw the cabinets with the black appliances for the first time, I have been slightly regretful that we chose those colors while we were building. So dang dreary, so I'm always trying to find ways to brighten it up (i.e. the potholder wall). This accent wall (paired with the new white trim) worked beautifully. It's much brighter in there now.

Chris likes modern, clean walls. One color. Nothing too exciting. But even he was thrilled with the outcome of this wall. I was shocked when these words came out of his mouth: "It might be fun to do a tangerine accent wall somewhere in the house."

YES.

Wrapping it up.

First and foremost, thank you, Pinterest, for being born and giving me endless ideas and a tidy little place to organize them. I love you so.

My xmas wrapping technique was a compilation of many ideas, some gathered here on my packaging pinboard. I didn't have time to do a lot of homemade gifts this year, so I was feeling like the presents needed a special personal touch. Brown butcher paper (recycled, easier on the environment) + paper doilies + dipped yarn did the trick. My grandma was especially excited about the wrap job.

My Martha Steward edger hole punch decorated the tops of the bags perfectly. 

That yarn (found at Ben Franklin Crafts in Kaysville) was dip-dyed in green and red. 

I did make a few felt flowers (because what is a Christmas without those?). I turned them into hair thingies for the little girlies in the family. And also maybe one big red one for myself. 

I hope your holidays were merry and bright!

Rain shower-themed bridal shower.

A few details from our shower-themed shower for Miss Amanda. Winter and I hosted and had a blast with all the DIY details. We gathered inspiration from this shower and other various places around the web. Photography: Purple Plum.

DIY sweet cinnamon pumpkin scrub

I'm playing with new sugar scrub concoctions for fall. Here's the latest. It's just fantastic.

Sweet cinnamon pumpkin scrub:

(use as a hand, face or body scrub)

 2 cups brown sugar

1 cup of organic cane sugar

2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup almond oil (get at the health food store)

original sugar image from La-Mimi.

Spruce up a gift bag.

Personalize a plain paper bag (can find them at dollar stores) by adding paper doilies (find them at craft stores). It's a nice way to make a simple gift special!

DIY: how I made my own wedding bouquet.

Since it's wedding season, I wanted to post about this. My mom and I made my bouquet (pictured above). The morning of my wedding. In about an hour. At first the idea seemed intimidating, but after searching blogs and DIY sites, I realized it's such an easy thing to DIY. Especially if you're like me and would rather pay less while getting the perfect personal result. So here's what we did:

1. Searched local markets for fresh flowers the night before wedding. I bought maybe three or four grocery store bouquets. (I didn't have wedding colors or a specific palette. I just wanted a variety of wildflowers in bright, lovely hues.)
2. We took the bouquets apart and plucked our favorite stems.
3. Then, we arranged the stems and began to shape the bouquet using just our hands and a vase as a guide. We picked a big, spiky purple flower as the focal point then adjusted around that.
4. Once it looked perfect, we wrapped (at the base of the blooms) the stems in thick twine. You could use floral tape and cover with fabric or anything really. The plain ol' twine worked perfectly for us, though.
5. Finally, to get that blunt stem look at the base, we cut them in one swift motion with a pair of giant garden shears we found in the garage. Worked out great. It held up great all night, too.

With the flowers leftover (what wasn't used in the bouquet) my mom made Chris a boutonniere. She used twine to wrap around the pin, concealing it wonderfully. Good job, mom!

With the rest of what wasn't used, we made simple little centerpieces by sticking the stems inside recycled bottles that I dolled up.

All in all, DIY floraling = a success! I highly recommend it. To see more of my wedding photos, check out the other blog. Hop over to this post to see more DIY from our wedding.

DIY dirty laundry room sign.

I picked my favorite colors and prints in craft paper, painted the wood letters' edges turquoise, modpodged and sanded. This was really easy and so much fun. I've been wanting it since we lived in our apartment. 

DIY rosette earrings.

These fabric rosettes are everywhere lately: clothes, pins, headbands, etc. I thought, why not make them into tiny post earrings? These mustard yellow ones stole my heart.

I also tried making them out of felt since I had lots left from my felt rosette mirror project. I think they're only okay.

Making earrings is so fun and easy. Just hot glue the post to the back of whatever!

Here are some fabric button earrings I worked on as lil gifts.

Unrelated (sorta): I found this stone at the store and turned it into a necklace. It reminds me of one Phoebe wore on Friends.