{everyday life lately}

snuggles

 late summer weather

organizing the kitchen

customizing onsies for Hannah

 washing and sorting cute baby clothes

breakfasts with hubs and putting together our little home

Hopefully soon I can share a home tour!

{make do monday...on Friday?}

This has by far been one of the easiest, yet my favorite, project I have done in awhile! And I have been craftin it up! Let me tell you! Nesting is in full force over in these parts! You may remember my thrift haul post yesterday, where I showed you the rose picture I bought. This is what I did with it!

First I want to mention that this is not  completely original idea. It was inspired by this little lady. So, to get started you will need:

1. an old painting you dont mind messing around with

2. acrylic craft paint on the color of your choosing

3. paint for your frame if you want to paint it

4. brushes

5. your template...I found mine here but you can always make your own

First I printed out my template and before cutting it out I reenforced it with clear contact paper. Then cut out the deer and lightly attach it to your painting. I used a double sided tape but make sure to check that what you use won't wreck your painting! Because the deer antlers are pretty thin, I had to paint carefully as to not get paint under the template.

When you paint be sure to move from the inside of the template out with your strokes. If you paint toward the template the ends will lift and you won't get a crisp line.
I also painted the brown frame it was in, white for a nice bright contrast. Let your masterpiece dry, and carefully peel off your template. Mine wasn't totally dry when I did this part and it was fine. So if you are like me and totally impatient, go for it!

So, that's really all there is to it! It is one of those projects where everyone sees it and thinks your brilliant until you explain how easy it is :) enjoy! Have a great weekend guys!

{major thrift haul madness}

Last week marked, possibly, my greatest thrifting victory of all time! My friend Georgia and I went to "the bins" at one of the areas largest thrift stores and scored big time! Wvery meticulously packed our cart and betwen the two of us, everything was $20! Not to mention, she paid for everything! This magnificent load of treasure cost me $0! Can't beat that!

Among my favorite items were...a huge roll of kraft paper, some cute wrapping paper, a beautiful green ceramic planter, really cool vintage looking tins, and wait for it....a HUGE roll of woodgrain contact paper! I literally gasped when I found it!

There were so many cute odds and ends! I got this realy neat yellow glass planter thing, which I love. Some cute old measuring spoons, a whole loads of picture frames which I have plans for, and another "hobnail-ish" candle stick holder...now I have 3.

I literally must have found almost everything that has been on my thrift list, in one trip. I got a few cute plates,  an amazing white platter, and a white colander to plant something in. 

But I think one of my favorite finds of the day was this vintage rose "paint-by-number-ish" picture and frame! Check back tomorrow to see what I did with it! It's pretty cool if you ask me!

Apart{ment} of my heart: summer wreath

Some of you may remember the fall wreath I made awhile back...well up until about 2 days ago it was still on my front door. Needless to say I was a little sick of it and wanted something a bit more seasonally appropriate :) I dug through my craft closet and just threw one together out of the things I already had. I really liked the finished product and it was super fast and easy!

I just started with a simple straw filled wreath. They come wrapped in plastic and I have learned from experience that you do not want to unwrap them or else you will have a fat mess on your hands. 

First I took a scrap of one of my favorite vintage sheets and cut it into strips to wrap around for my base. I probably used about 1 yd of fabric. I just rough cut the sides...no measuring, no precision cuts. Just kinda winged it. Instead of hot gluing like I normally would, I used sewing pins, that way i can always re use the wreath if I want to. It was also much faster and cleaner.

 When I made it all the way around the wreath I hide the pins under a flat of fabric for a clean finish. 

 Then I cut out felt circles in various sizes and colors. I tried to layer them so they gradually got smaller and I could stack them into funky little flower like arrangements.

 Add on a few little hand cut leaves...

 Then I used white pins to contrast the black felt, and secured the flowers to the wreath in an arrangement that I liked!

 Lastly I looped some grey yarn at the top so I could hang it and...done!

 I really like how it turned out! Everytime I walk up to my front door it makes my heart happy :)

If you make one I'd love to see it! Have fun!

{the haps.}

{Hey guys! Not much happening around these parts...just cruising along as usual. Running a bit behind on baby bump digest as we have been experiencing technical difficulties. Hopefully I'll have you all caught up soon :) Later today and through out the week I'll be sharing a few diy's that I have been working on...a.k.a. ways to put off doing school work! I also have some fun Apart{ment} of my heart posts to share since my nesting is raging full force :) In the meantime check out this cute blog I am recently obsessed with!}

Apart{ment} of my heart: oh, hello!

 {I've been in desperate need of some new art all over our little apartment, but especially in the bathroom. A few months ago I bought a couple of huge quilting hoops. They are basically huge embroidery hoops. The one I used for this project was 23" in diameter. The only other materials needed are material to embroider, embroidery floss, a needle, hand drawn pattern and a washable marker.}

 {First I used a pencil to sketch out my design. I just wrote oh, hello in cursive. Then, outline your design in sharpie so it will show through your fabric. I wanted to spend as little as possible on the project so I used 1 yard of muslin, which I purchased for about $2. Muslin works really well because it is thin and was really easy to trace onto. If you are hanging this piece on a dark colored wall you may want to consider a thicker fabric. Mine will be on a white wall so it didn't matter.}

{Once you have your pattern how you want it, just trace it onto your fabric using a washable marker. You can usually find them in the embroidery section at most craft stores. Then just pop your fabric in your hoop and start sewing away. I would suggest using a smaller embroidery hoop rather than trying to juggle the huge 23" hoop :) If you need help with embroidery stitches there are lots of resources online but I will also be posting a tutorial for a basic split stitch which I pretty much use for everything!}

{and its pretty much that simple...enjoy :)}

{succulent love}

{One super simple and inexpensive way I have found to spruce up my space, is to have lots of plants. I love succulents in particular, because they are easy to take care of and you can usually buy the little potted succulents for under $2. Plus there are tons of different kinds. This last time i loaded up on new plants, I almost sprung for a cactus but I might be a little afraid of them!}

{One really important thing to remember when keeping succulents is to make sure they can drain any excess water. I am lazy and usually leave them in the little plastic pots they come in, then just use any cute little pot like things I find around the house. I used mini teacups, a candle votive, and a few actual pots that I had on hand. Also be sure to not over water them. I typically just put a little water in the teacup and set the plant pot with drainage holes in the water and it just absorbs it all. This also allows  the water to make it to the roots.}

 {I love to wake up to my little plants :) They make me happy! I have them all sitting together in top of a shelf in the bedroom under the only window in our whole apartment! Yes, we have one window...and skylights, but just only window...ehhhhh!}

{So have a great day and go get some plants!}

{some new favorite things}

 {late night snack of sugared strawberries with vanilla bean ice cream...yum}

{my new thrifted mug! I'm totally in love with it! It is the perfect shape and color!}

{also my new thrifted sugar bowl! I am really into yellow now all of a sudden!}

What are some of your new favorite things?

{make do monday: diy sugar shaker}

{diy sugar shaker}

{The other day at the thrift store I found this cute little Osterizer mini-blend container and lid. I got a fun idea and decided to turn it into a cinnamon and sugar shaker for making cinnamon toast! I love it! It turned out so cute, so I thought I'd share! I had a lot of help from my Daddio! He did all the hard work :) My Dad is an architect and he is very precise when he does projects! First he laid out a template in AutoCad and printed it out. Since most of use don't have or know how to use AutoCad, you could also use a sharpie to mark where you want to make your holes.}

 {I'm not sure what size drill bit we ended up using but one that's fairly small but you also what to make sure it won't be to big and you end up with a flood of sugar...not that that's so bad :)}

 {Again, my Dad has a great set up for these kinds of projects, so we used his drill press for this project, but a normal drill would work just fine as well.}

{If you used a template, layer it on top of your lid and drill on the spots indicated, or on the sharpie dots you made. I chose to make my holes to the side so as not to drill right though the cute little chef fairy girl!}

 {After you drill your holes you end up with some rugged edges that are pretty sharp and would probably end up collecting a lot of sugar crusties.}

 {Use a dremel tool with a flat grinding stone or abrasive wheel to file down the rough edges and smooth everything out.}

{My lid had a wax-y ring around the inside that collect a lot of the metal shards and dust, so if yours has that you will want to scrub it out really well to get rid of as much of that as possible.}

 {Look how cute! :) My Dad is a genius! When I was little my Dad used to make cinnamon toast for me and there is a real science to it! Let me tell you! Check back Wednesday and I'll share the top secret family recipe!}

Hope your Monday was great! I spent my morning in jury duty...eckk...hopefully I won't have to end up serving! oh please oh please!

.:ali::.