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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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My Newest Inspirational Shop – Revival Antiques & Accessories

When Courtney (The Joy of Decorating) organized the Raleigh group for I <3 Thrifting Day she took us to an “off the beaten” path shop. Tucked into an industrial zone off Capital Blvd. in Raleigh, you would miss it unless you were specifically looking for it.

Here are just a few of the inspirational photos I took on my visit to Revival Antiques & Accessories:

Old bead board or flooring pieces cut, painted and turned into a coat rack!

 

A pendant light made from corrugated cardboard!

Here’s a closer look at the cardboard.

Give me chippy paint or give me death! Okay, I know I’m being dramatic, but I seriously love anything rustic with chipping paint.

Decorative scroll embellishment on an armoire.

Just think how easy these ampersand pillows would be to make!

Hello, does this vignette remind you of Miss Mustard Seed? Me too.

Painted and numbered chippy buckets.

Another scale and a buggy wheel. Makes my wheels churn thinking what I could make with it.

I just love the detail on this drawer pull (and of course the chippy paint.)

Bare wire framed pendants are very popular right now.

I think I like the pendant even more because of the antique light bulb.

Antique cameras are sculptural and easy to decorate with.

I spotted this shelf made from old shutters.

Or you could turn an old shutter into a coat rack.

This armoire is too stunning for words!

If I owned this dresser, her name would be buttercup.

Old typewriter keys are just graphic goodness.

This tool caddy is adorable, but I bet it would be easy to make. I think I could use Julie’s (Follow Your Heart Woodworking) tool caddy tutorial that appeared on Funky Junk Donna’s.

A cute little nook shelf. Complete with (you guessed it) chippy paint and beadboard.

This birdcage photo display gives me a few ideas. How about you?

2nd only to chippy paint, I love blue bottles!

Little antique crates can be found everywhere at ReVival Antiques.

A buoy birdhouse! How adorable.

{Yawn!} That’s it for today, I’m ready for my cat nap.

If you liked anything you saw in this post, be sure to visit or contact:

Revival Antiques & Accessories
1505 Capital Blvd, Suite 14-A
Raleigh, NC 27603

919-833-3444
www.revival-antiques.com

Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post. Revival Antiques doesn’t know me, they didn’t poke or prod me to write this. It is just one of those places that I thought you might like to visit with me. So, I brought you along for the visual tour.

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Charm and Character – A House Tour

Today you have been invited to take a house tour at my friend Holly’s home. Holly is a good friend of mine, so luckily I didn’t have to beg too much for her to let us into her home. But, before we go in I want to tell you a little more about her. She wears many hats. She is a wife and mother of two boys first and foremost. But, she also runs Storywood Designs, a furniture refinishing business and Framed by Storywood, her Etsy Shop. She has a wonderful eye for color and design (which is evident in her furniture pieces and home décor.) When I first walked into her home, I knew I could live there and not have to change a thing.

Holly and her husband bought their 1980 home a few years ago. There were plenty of touches from previous owners that she worked with or covered in a creative way. I scanned the real estate flyer (sorry about the quality) to give you an idea what their house looked like when they bought it. The changes they made are phenomenal and yet they didn’t break the bank to do it.

Are you ready for the tour? Wipe your feet and come on it. Do you like the initial on her door?

She sells them in her Etsy shop!

Here we are in the living room, but this is what the room looked like a mere 3 yrs. ago:

And here is the living room today!

I know armoires are starting to go out of style, but this one is gorgeous with the cut out panels! If she ever tries to get rid of it, I’m grabbing it!

They painted the fireplace white and it really brightens up the room. See, I can appreciate a painted white fireplace, even though I repainted ours to look like brick.

I love all her fall décor. Especially the lit pumpkins on the hearth.
Beside the fireplace are sweet built-in cupboards and cabinets with wood countertops. It adds charm to the small niche.


Now we make our way into her kitchen  — my favorite room and the most stunning transformation. This was the kitchen before:


Get ready to catch your jaw before it hits the floor.





The pendant light adds lots of warmth and texture to the space.


Adding corbels under the upper cabinets was a genius idea for adding instant charm. I am itching to do the same thing to our kitchen cabinets. When I do, you can be sure I’ll share a tutorial.


Holly and her husband made the kitchen table. The wood was whistling for my attention the entire time I was photographing the kitchen. And with lines like this, how could I help but stare?




By removing many of the upper cabinet doors they made the kitchen feel larger and more airy.




Did you see those little decorative tiles? Would you believe that they had hideous country scenes before. Holly simply painted over the scenes and added a stencil! What a smart idea!



Just in case you wondered (because I definitely wanted to know), the base cabinets got a coat of white sage paint by Olympic. (Holly says that Olympic discontinued the color so Lowe’s had to custom mix it in their kitchen and bath enamel paint.) The top cabinets and walls are painted Benjamin Moore Lancaster White.
Setting out a little lamp adds some warmth to this corner of the kitchen.


The breakfast area has built-in benchs on two sides. The pillows make the space feel cozy.



One of Holly’s frames turned into a chalkboard:
Okay, right this way to the dining room.


I really want to display my blue and white china like she has done on this wall.


Adjacent to the dining room is her sitting room. Here is the before picture of that room:


She and I (well mostly Holly) just repainted the room a very neutral gray. I can’t believe what a big difference it made.



The china cabinet is a recent refinishing project that Holly just completed. The distressing on this piece is perfect!


Check out those layers of paint and glaze. Scrumptious!


And the bowed front and curved glass make this cabinet unique.


Speaking of distressing, here is another one of Holly’s tables that she refinished. This little table would make a perfect breakfast table or just a side table. It is for sale right now!

I’m jealous of her talent. Maybe I can convince her to take me as her understudy.
Thank you Holly and family for letting us tour your home. Your hard work really shows in your beautiful home.

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Trick or Treat Bags Using Elmer’s #GlueNGlitter and Recyclables

My kids like to raid our recycling bin. They make the most imaginative things out of milk jugs, strawberry pints and toilet paper rolls. In fact, my five year old has been making his own Halloween costume from paper bags and tape. So, when #CollectiveBias sent out a challenge to make trick or treat bags with Elmer’s Craft Bond Glue Spots and Elmer’s Foam Board, I knew right where to head for supplies: Walmart AND the recycling bin! I hereby invite you to join me (and my escort) as we gather the supplies for this project.

Materials:


Instructions:

Start by removing the handles from the paper grocery bag and then cuff the top of the bag by rolling it under two times.

Pick out two sheets of newspaper (I used the obituaries. Truly Halloweeny don’t you think?!) and bring the paper bag and newspapers outside and spray them with spray adhesive.

It is important to wrap the paper bag with the newspapers as soon as possible for a maximum bond.

Wrap the bag neatly like a present with the newspaper. Use clear packing tape to tack any loose edges down. Also add a strip of packing tape to the inside of the bag cuff for extra support for the handle (should your child bring home pounds of candy!)

Take out your sharpie pen and draw lines in a spiderweb pattern on the bag.

Set the bag aside and collect the orange foam board, x-acto knife (with a fresh blade), pencil and the letter print out.

Set the letter on top of the foam board. I usually line the edge of the letter up with the edge of the foam board for less material waste.

Press firmly with the pencil as you trace around the letter. When you remove the print out you should see an indented outline.

Using the x-acto knife, cut out your letter shape. Use a metal ruler to cut straight lines. If your knife starts to tug and pull at the foam board, put a new blade in.

Clean up any ragged edges with the x-acto knife.

Use a few Elmer’s Craft Bond glue spots to affix the Elmer’s foam board letter to the bag.

To create a little spider, glue two pom-poms together with another glue spot. If you have black twisty-ties you are good to go aren’t you special, you don’t have to color them. (I only had white ties so I colored them with the black sharpie.) Wrap four twisty-ties around the middle to create the spider’s eight legs.

Use another glue spot to glue the spider to the bag.

Print out a bat silhouette downloadable template and layer it on top of black poster board. Cut out a few bat silhouettes.

Use a glue spot on the center of each bat to glue them to the bag. Fold the bats wings up for more dimensional interest.

Add stickers (or pre-punched paint chip stars using Elmer’s Glue-All multi-purpose glue) to the bag.

I incourage you to decorate your bag anyway you like. Bust out your craft supplies for inspiration.

If spiders and bats aren’t your thing. How about spooks and spirits?

To add the handles, follow the directions on your grommet kit. 1. Punch a hole in the bag at the top of the bag using a hole punch. 2. Insert a long grommet through the hole. Lay a short grommet on top. 3. Hammer the grommets together using the metal rod tool that came with the grommet kit.

Cut off the sleeves from a t-shirt. Cut two 2.5 – 3″ wide strips. Then stretch the sleeve loop in opposite directions. This will make the shirt material roll.

After you have stretched and rolled the sleeve loops, cut them at the seam. Then thread each end through the grommets on the bag and tie a double knot on the inside of the bag.

Now gather up your little trick-or-treater and give him this unique candy collection bag! My sons’ had the biggest smiles on their faces. Definitely worth the effort to make these bags.

This eency weency spider is my favorite!

Way more personalized than these generic plastic pumpkins, don’t you think?!

Which one is your favorite? I can’t decide, because I love them equally as much. Spook or Spider?

Eeeeeekkk, we can hardly wait for October 31st!

Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer’s #gluenglitter #CollectiveBias #CBias. The ideas and opinions shared in this post are purely my own from my own crazy creative head.

Follow up: Well, my youngest loves his bag so much that he told me, “Mom, we should decorate every side with a different holiday.” And that is exactly what he did today during quiet time. I just want to stop time and keep him five forever!

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Make Your Own Terrarium and Save Hundreds of Dollars

Make Your Own Terrariums

 

Terrariums are making a comeback in home décor. Gone are the octagonal mirrored terrariums. They have been replaced by sleak apothecary jars, tall cylinders and lidded glass vessels (to name just a few shapes.)

Twig Terrariums has an amazing array of beautiful ready made terrariums or DIY kits for sale! Some of them have stunning details, right down to a little miniature person inside the lush world. The terrarium below sells for $200.

If you want to create your own version that is a little more budget friendly, it isn’t hard to do. In fact you can get some plants from a local nursery or as close as your own backyard!

Materials:

  • Glass container (with or without a lid)
  • Small decorative pebbles or pea gravel
  • Potting soil
  • Live Moss
  • Terrarium plants (small shade loving plants)
  • Potting shovel
  • Water

1. Clean your glass container with soap and water and dry it.

2. Add a layer of gravel or decorative pebbles to the bottom of your glass container.

 

3. Add a layer of potting soil. No need to level it.

 

4. Collect your plants and think through the plant placement in your head.

 

5. Gently remove a plant from the pot.

If it is root bound (all the roots are wound tightly around the bottom) gently tease some of the roots free and break apart the roots at the bottom of the plant.

 

6. Insert your plants into the soil.

Put taller plants at the back and the shorter ones in the front so you can see all the plants.

 

7. Cover the soil with moss. You can cut or tear pieces to fit flush with the edge of the terrarium.

8. Fill your terrarium and let the water soak in. The water should reach the top of the rocks. Check the water level a few times a week and be sure to refill when the water gets low. If your terrarium has a lid you won’t have to water as often as a lidless variety.

 

9. Add any decorative embellishments like these faux mushrooms (tutorial HERE)…

…or my sons’ favorite, a little plastic dinosaur!

Terrariums make the perfect year round accessory. I have them prominently featured in my living room along with some other natural elements.

This version was made entirely with plants that I have growing in my shade bed. Small ferns, arugula and creeping ground covers. Plus, I added a few round pebbles for visual interest.

I might pick up a tiny person or two at a hobby shop next time I’m near one. Anyone seen any that look like the characters in “Land of the Lost” heh, heh, heh!


In the meantime, I’m loving my cost effective terrarium. Yes, terrarium singular, because the cylinder terrarium was a gift for our friends who dog sat for us.


I almost wouldn’t be surprised to see a fairy take up residence in one.
I’ve been busy working on some more projects to show you, so hang tight and check back soon! 😉 In the meantime, I hope you have a fabulous weekend and are enjoying Fall!

 

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