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Handmade Holiday Decor eBook

Happy Day After Thanksgiving! I don’t know about you, but despite the week I had last week, I am very grateful and thankful for modern medicine and trained surgeons who can take all the broken pieces and put them back together again. Humpty Dumpty never had it so good!

My seven year old is thankful for something completely different. When asked yesterday morning what he was thankful for he said (very seriously), “My bottom.” I tried so hard not to laugh, and was able to utter a quick “Why?”. He replied, “So we won’t explode!” Oh the thoughts of a seven year old boy. ;-D

I hope everyone got their fill of food and family time! And most of all I hope you got a little R&R. You may be looking around wondering where Tool Tutorial Friday is. Well, I’m sorry to tell you that it is on break (no pun intended.) After all the stress from my son’s broken his arm last week, I decided to give myself a much needed reprieve from blogging. No worries though, Tool Tutorial Friday will be back next week as previously scheduled.

I hope you won’t be too mad and disappointed with me. But, seriously, you don’t want to sit here and learn how to use another power tool today! You want to take some time to unwind and enjoy your family, right?!

In the meantime, I do have the Tomboy Tools magnetic hammer winner: Roxanne Lucchesi!
She says, “I have been wanting to tell you how much I love your blog. And now I REALLY love it. It is so great that you are taking the time to post these tutorials. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them. I recently added a table saw to my collection of tools. Mind you, I have never used a table saw, but have always wanted one. Now you have empowered me to actually get out there and use it. Thank you!”

Thanks so much Roxanne, comments like yours are what make all the efforts I put into my blog worth it!

And a big thank you to my sponsor:

Laura from Tomboy Tools, who graciously offers a hammer a week for the Tool Tutorial Friday series. Laura is a super sweet mompreneur who also wants to empower women to take on their own DIY project. If you get a chance, check out the other tools she sells!

And, for you reading pleasure and gift inspirations I leave you with the Handmade Holiday Decor eBook! This is a fabulous ebook put together by the even more fabulous Myra from My Blessed Life and Mandi from Life Your Way. Just think about it! One ebook with all your favorite bloggers and holiday decor tutorials in one spot! There are a few of my tutorials (pages 12 & 24) inside along with some other fabulous bloggers:  Pink and Polka Dot, Creative Kristi, SAS Interiors, The Country Chic Cottage, Ten June, The House of Smiths,  The Inspired Room, The Idea Room, Serenity Now, Infarrantly Creative, Mod Podge Rocks and MANY more!

If the preview above is not working for you, click here if you wish to download your own PDF version of the Handmade Holiday Decor eBook.

Happy Holidays, y’all! See you next week!

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Coffee Lover’s Snowflake Gift Set using Martha Stewart Craft Stencils and Paints

Looking for a gift for those hard to buy people on your list? Or simply an inexpensive gift for your child’s teachers? I found the perfect gift while grocery shopping. Our local Kroger had Illy ground coffee and tumbler sets on clearance. Naturally I shoved everyone aside and grabbed as many as I could (not really, but I would have!) For under $8 each, it was a real sweet deal.

I thought the gift sets needed a little somethin’ special to give them holiday flair (or maybe I was feeling guilty that the gifts were just too easy and inexpensive.) With a little Martha Stewart multi-surface craft paint and Martha Stewart decorative snowflake stencils, I turned them into extra special holiday gifts.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

  • Tumbler and ground coffee
  • Martha Stewart craft supplies:
    • Multi-Surface Craft Paints:
      • Mother of Pearl
      • Wedding Cake
      • Summer Haze
      • Metallic Sterling
    • Holiday stencils
    • Holiday adhesive stencils
    • Roller tops
    • Specialty sponges
  • 3M ScotchBlue painter’s tape
  • Paint brush
  • Fabric
  • Baby wipes or wet rag

 

Decorating the Tumbler:

Clean the tumblers with soap and water. Let them dry.

Tape off the areas of the stencil that you aren’t using. Add more tape to the outside edge of the stencil to hold it in place on the tumbler.

Wrap the stencil around the tumbler.

Dip a specialty sponge into the Martha Stewart  multi-surface craft paint. Dab off any excess paint.

Pounce lightly and straight onto the stencil. (If you come at it from an angle some of the paint may seep under the stencil or move the stencil.)

Gently remove the stencil and reposition it in another location on the tumbler. (Be careful not to overlap the first snowflake.)

Fill in areas between the larger snowflakes with small self-adhesive stencils.

The specialty sponge is too big for these smaller stencils, but you can use a paint brush to paint inside the stencil.

Repeat until you are happy with your decorated tumbler.

 

Snowflake Gift Bags:

Squeeze some craft paint into a Martha Stewart roller top (best invention EVER!)

Tape the stencil onto your fabric.

Gently roll the roller top back and forth over the stencil until the desired amount of paint comes out.

Remove the stencil and let the paint dry.

Repeat the snowflake design randomly throughout the fabric.

Sew a little box bottom drawstring gift bag, using the snowflake fabric. I think the snowflake themed coffee gift set will be a big hit! (Holiday decoration, thrifty, re-useable, and come on…who doesn’t LOVE coffee?!)
This was a very easy craft to create. You could decorate with any stencils you like. Think how cute a stenciled monogram would look on the tumbler.

I will probably include a note mentioning that the tumbler design will last longer if washed on the top rack of the dishwasher.

 

 

 

 

 

Disclosure: I was provided the craft materials and a small payment in exchange for writing this tutorial. The ideas, tutorials, and opinions are my own.
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The 10 Minute Tooth Fairy Pouch

10 Minute Tooth Fairy Pouch


Things happen fast in my family. So fast that I can barely keep up. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably saw that I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the hospital with my youngest son. I looked away for an instant and he managed to climb 6 feet up the outside of the slide. As I turned my gaze back to him I watched as his body fell to the ground. There was no doubt that he was broken and in severe pain. Hours later confirmed that he had broken three bones in his arm (one at his elbow, and both forearm bones at his wrist.) He ended up having surgery, five pins inserted into his arm, and an overnight stay at the hospital. Needless to say, my week has been fraught with worry and concern for him and his pain level. I think for Christmas I’m going to make him a bubble wrap suit!

Just last night my seven year old lost his first tooth! Yup, it has taken him a while to push that little baby tooth loose. But, low and behold he lost it last night in his sleep. Pretty Handsome Guy tracked the runaway tooth down this morning only to have it go missing again tonight when we needed to present it to the tooth fairy. We searched high and low but can’t find it. Do you think the tooth fairy came early to our home?

My son informed me 30 minutes before bedtime that I needed to sew a pouch for the tooth (and the money that comes with a lost tooth.) I said “okay”(because Mom always has to deliver when a little one has a request.) Then I asked how big and what color. He showed me with his hands and said that the pouch should be red.

After a quick scan of my craft supplies I grabbed a red sweater that I had already felted in the dryer, a piece of white craft felt and a red button. Then I whipped up a little tooth fairy pouch in 10 minutes!

Materials:

  • Felted red sweater
  • White craft felt
  • Red thread
  • Red button
  • Scissors

Cut the sleeve off the sweater at about 7″.

Turn the sleeve wrong side out and stitch the bottom of the sleeve together.

Turn it right side out and cut a “U” shaped notch out of the sleeve on one side.

Flip the sleeve over and round the corners of the longer side of the sleeve.

Cut a tooth shape out of the white felt.

Pin the felt tooth onto the center of the sleeve (on the long side.)

Carefully move the short side out of the way and stitch the tooth onto the sleeve using a blanket stitch or another decorative stitch. Leave a small opening at the top of the tooth.

Hand stitch a button onto the other side of the pouch.

Cut a small slit into the rounded flap of the long side and slip it over the button.

Slip your child’s tooth into the tooth pocket on the front.

The tooth fairy will dutifully leave money (and maybe a note) inside the red pouch while your child sleeps.

My son told me that he heard the tooth fairy leaves more money if you draw her a picture. I’m not sure how much she leaves for non-existant teeth though. I hope we find that tooth!

 

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A Dry Erase Message Board from a Cabinet Door

Happy Monday morning y’all! I’ve been working like a busy bee this past month. So many projects! I need to clone myself so one of us can work on the projects like this dry erase message board and the other can write the posts. (Luckily I had an extra hour yesterday thanks to switching back to standard time.)

One of the reasons I’ve been so busy is that I will be giving my first demonstration at the Raleigh Habitat for Humanity ReStore this Saturday at 1pm. If you are in the area, I’d love to see you. Here is the address and more information about the  ReStore. I will be demonstrating how I turned a truly nasty greased wall cabinet into this charming shoe storage bench.

I’m not the type who can throw something away, so when I removed the cabinet doors to make the shoe bench, I decided to salvage them and make message boards. The first one was transformed into a cute chalkboard frame.

The other one was turned into a — you guessed it —  a dry erase message board!  And of course (because I love you), I’ll share with you how I made it.

 

Materials:

  • Cabinet door (pre-primed and painted)
  • Plexiglass cut to the interior panel dimension
  • Scrapbook paper (choose a light color that dry erase marker will show up on top of)
  • 4 Nail head trim tacks
  • 3 Cup hooks
  • X-acto blade
  • Metal ruler
  • Sharpie marker
  • Drill and bits
  • Scrap of wood
  • Hammer
  • Needle-nosed pliers
  • Dry erase marker
  • E-6000 glue

1. If you haven’t already: clean, prime and paint your door. It isn’t necessary, but if you want to give your cabinet door a new look, go ahead and paint it any color you like! The sky is the limit on color. I used American Accents Antique Black.

2. Now, cut your scrapbook paper to fit inside the cabinet door panel. As always, be sure you are using a fresh new x-acto blade and a metal edged ruler.

3. Next mark a dot 1/2 inch from the corners of the plexiglass.

4. Drill a small hole through the plexiglass at each dot. Use a drill bit that is slightly larger than the nail on your nail head tack.

5. Lay your scrapbook paper into the panel, then rest your plexiglass on top of the paper. (I purposely didn’t glue the scrapbook paper so I could change it out when I want a décor change.)

6. Set a nail head into each corner hole in the plexi. Hold the nail with the needle-nosed pliers as you hammer each tack into the cabinet door.

7. If your tacks go through the back, flip over the cabinet door. Set the piece of scrap wood (red arrow) under the nail head and hammer the point of the nail to bend it to the side (so no one gets poked!)

8. Use a ruler to mark where you want your cup hooks mounted. Pre-drill holes for your cup hooks using a drill bit slightly smaller than the cup hook screw end. Then screw them into the holes.

9. Attach D-ring hooks to the back of the door.

10. Attach a dry erase pen to the board using string. Or if you find a marker with a magnetic cap, you can glue a magnet to the board using E-600o. Now you can hang the marker back on the board when you’re done writing a message.

11. Hang that cute little dry erase board up on the wall! Did you see this and this tip for hanging frames that have two hooks? Genius!

That is how you can make a custom dry erase board out of an old cabinet door! I love how it matches the bench colors and can match anything I want it to by changing out the scrapbook paper. Shoot, I could probably put photos behind the plexi too!


Okay, so who is coming out to join me on Saturday? Please don’t let me show up and give a talk to the crickets. 😉


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Guest Posting at Positively Splendid – Swell Noël Gift Idea

Hey y’all, I spent the weekend clearing out our garage, painting it and building custom storage. If there was a nook in that garage, I utilized it! Like the storage underneath my router table, I added shelves and casters and now it is a rolling power tool storage and router table. Ha! I’ll give you some tutorials at a later date.

In the meantime, my friend Amy asked me to participate in A Swell Noel, two months worth of DIY gift ideas for the holidays. There are some fantastic bloggers participating and sharing their best gift tutorials! You should take a peek.

While you are there, I will show you how to turn a pile of this…

…into these!

Aren’t they adorable?! I mean the kids, of course ;-).

In other news, if you missed my post on Friday, The Tool Tutorial Friday series just started. We learned how to use a miter saw. AND, Tomboy Tools is giving away a magnetic hammer. All you have to do is comment on my Tool Tutorial Friday post to enter to win.

Did you remember? This week is Trick or Tip Week! I’m teaming up with some other great bloggers to give tips all week! Friday will be a link party where you can share your own tip or trick!

Jenna at SAS Interiors is waiting to share her painting tips with you, so head over to her blog.

I hope you’ll join the fun.

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