create: my hodgepodge fall wreath!

so about a month or so ago, I gathered some fabric scraps and made this simple fabric scrap wreath:
it felt off...lame...so i removed it from the wall last week and replaced it with this festive angel made from branches and berries (no, i cant take credit for it...thanks goodwill!)

but this weekend, i was inspired to finish my fall wreath in time for thanksgiving...i hunted through my craft closet and came up with this crazy, hodgepodge wreath that i just LOVE LOVE LOVE....

basically, i took my original fabric scrap wreath and hot-glued yarn poms and lotus pods around the interior....the yarn poms were SUPER easy to make (see a tutorial here...i left mine shaggy!) and the lotus pods i found at a local antique mall for $2....

so the berry-and-twig-angel has been demoted, and my super fun fall wreath has once again earned its place back on the wall....i know this may not be everyone's style, but i just LOVE the fabric scraps, shaggy yarn poms, and lotus pods together....

...to me this just screams HAPPY FALL!

create: thanksgiving table decor

so i know i am a little early...but i am in charge of table decor for our family thanksgiving meal this year, and i felt inspired this morning...i poked around the house for things to use, and here is what i came up with...and since i used things from around my home, it cost me $0!
i had these doilies from the Dollar Store that I had picked up a few weeks ago...i found the yellow color kind of obnoxious, so I used the back...the photo doesnt show it, but the yellow still shines through :-)

using a sharpie, i simply wrote out the word "thanks"....then using clothes pins that I had painted previously (click back to my chicken wire memory frame)...i clipped each doily onto a twig (that I pulled from a floral arrangement in our living room)...

the twigs are secured in mason jars (found in various places around our home)....i raided my kitchen cabinets for autumn-friendly filler....i came up with popping corn, beans, and lentils.....the jars are then each decorated with a little piece of frayed fabric (leftover from a wreath i made a few weeks back)

i think they turned out pretty cute! and the best part is, I can spell out "thanks" or "giving" or any other 6-letter word on the reverse side (clipping another doily onto the back) so that family on both sides of the table can enjoy the decor!

im sure as thanksgiving gets closer, i will be posting more ideas....i have about 5 tables to decorate....

happy friday!

love: painted pumpkins

i love pumpkins. but i hate the ooey-gooey-mushy-stringy insides....so when thinking of decorating for fall, i was delighted to come across these beautifully painted pumpkins....full pumpkin enjoyment without the mess of carving...enjoy!
i LOVE this...simple coat of spray paint, then design is carved into the skin of the pumpkin...

plaids and polka-dots....

numbers, bats, and welcome pumpkins....

Country Living's take on painted pumpkins....

use stencils from other crafty projects....

more stencils....

painted pumpkins with decorative nails and studs....

happy autumn!

love: the DIY tshirt necklace

my current dirt-cheap obsession: DIY tshirt necklaces...google it for a tutorial...there are a million out there...here are some of my favorites from Google Image....

the braided tshirt necklace:
elaborately draped with fabric beads:

classic, in charcoal gray:

beaded, studded, and layered with other colors:

classic style, yummy green color:

whimsical, with charms, keys, pearls added:

i LOVE this teal color:

two of my favorite fall colors:

i tried my first DIY tshirt necklace last night...nothing to blog about...but i did learn a few things that i will share with you if you are considering cutting up an old tshirt of your own and trying this out:

Basic Tutorial: take tshirt. cut straight line across it under neck and arm holes, so that the top is taken off and you are left with a rectangle. then cut rectangular piece into strips...stretch strips out so they roll up into themselves...fashion into a necklace. thats it!

1)if your tshirt is the same color inside and out, then you can cut your strips any way you like: up-and-down or across.

2) if its not the same color inside, then you need to cut WITH the grain (usually up-and-down)...

3) its best to choose a shirt without side seams...these dont roll so well...

4) it might be a good idea to stop at goodwill and grab a shirt that is XL or larger...i used a Large, and the necklace is of average length...if you want to layer it several times, a larger shirt will work better.

hope this helps! let me know if you make one! happy tuesday!

create: upcycled shipping crate

before: vintage international shipping crate that i found for $5 at my favorite STL antique mall (on Big Bend)...
after: add a little fabric, and becomes the perfect storage chest!

i saw this crate, and the $5 price tag, and i knew it had a ton of potential...after a little vacuuming out the cobwebs, it was prepped and ready for its makeover...

the exterior of the trunk is covered in all types of authentic shipping labels...like the one you see below...

here are my tools: some clearance fabric from Hancock's (sorry Hobby Lobby....i still love you, but you dont sell beautiful prints for $1.50 a yard)...my staple gun, scissors, and my DD chai latte (it was early!)

now i suppose if you are one of those have-things-well-thought-out-before-you-start types, you would measure the dimensions of the crate, cut your fabric to size, then proceed....i however, loathe accurate measurements, and thus I just took my fabric, began draping and stapling, cutting the excess as I went....

example A:

i started with the lid, moved to the large sides, then the small ones....here is a close up of one corner....i love the contrast between the worn, aged, imperfect wood and the lovely floral print behind it....

so here is my finished crate! i think i am going to use it at the foot of our bed to hold blankets/bedding, etc....you never can have too much [adorable] storage space!

create: silverware hooks

if you have been a faithful reader of my blog posts, you may remember seeing this ABC-silverware hook-business in one of my earliest posts....the photo in that post was blurry, dark, the hooks had yet to be put to use....these days they are sitting pretty in our kitchen, holding an array of vintage pot holders and oven mitts...
here is a close up of the hooks....basically, i scoured my goodwill for beautiful silverware pieces (forks or spoons...knives are too thick to manipulate)...used two pairs of pliers and broke off the head of the utensil, bending the remaining end into a slight curve....once bent, i arranged them on my ABC board (another goodwill find) and glued them down with Gorilla Glue (sealing all the edges in the back with hot glue)....

i had tampered with boiling the silverware prior to working with it, but i found it didnt make much difference....patience, a little arm strength, and a steady hand made the most difference...also, i found that the older the silverware, the more likely it is to be made of a pliable material....these days i dont know if i could bend my ikea spoons if i tried!

this is totally unrelated to silverware hooks, but isnt this little basket of apples adorable?... call me crazy, but i have found that the more adorable my fruit looks (piled in a basket vs. hidden away in the crisper drawer) the more likely i am to eat it....silly, i know, but it works for me :-)

happy friday! eat an apple and bend your own silverware hooks this weekend!

create: cheap bookcase makeover

on the same note as the mid century table that i made over earlier this week, here is a project from a few weeks back using decoupage and book pages....

if you were perched in my windowsill, this is the view you would have of the living room wall.... (yes, i am perched as i take this photo)...the sign that hangs above our doorway is the one that i painted and used to direct guests into the parking lot at our wedding....a lasting memory from a lovely day :-)
we were desperate for bookshelves (my husband and i = massive book hoarders)...so we finally broke down and bought these cheap ones from Target...i liked the espresso color, but the construction left a little to be desired....so i grabbed a duplicate copy of Jane Austin's Emma, ripped out the pages, and decoupaged the interior of these cheap Target shelves... in addition to the decoupaging, i overloaded the shelves with fun junk like candles, decorative balls, quirky little figurines, etc.... above this bookshelf hangs this AMAZING antique bubble frame photo of my great grandmother and her brother...

a close up of the 2nd book shelf....you can see the book page background a little more clearly....and do you notice those silly president busts from an earlier post? i think they look quite dashing on my bookshelf :-)

as you may notice in the first photo, i hung these fun grapevine baskets on the sides of each bookcase, filling them with yummy red and orange foliage (hurray for autumn!)

another close up of the Emma pages....a fun bookend (hobby lobby, 60 cent clearance find) and decorative ball (salvation army)...and a copy of "Godless Morality", if that interests you :-)...i suppose i should have chosen some less weighty reading to photograph...

president truman hanging out with a few votives from my "crazy-awesome-vintage-votive-holder" collection...and a copy of Winnie the Pooh...also the Jesus Storybook Bible...this is our "kid section" if you hadn't noticed...no "Godless Morality" here :-)

so thats just about it....a simple bookcase makeover....thank you Jane Austin. thank you President Truman....thank you cheap Target bookshelves....

P.S. one last plug for the Jesus Storybook Bible: do you have kids? do you own this? if not, RUN out and SNATCH up a copy....im telling you, this is the most amazing child-themed story of salvation i have ever read....as in: i cant make it through one story with out losing it and crying all over the place...your kids will think you are nuts for becoming so emotional over a children's book, but its AMAZING. i just thought i would let you know :-)

happy thursday!

create: mid century side table revamp

So our friends Todd and Juliette (their blog love:stl here) gave me this mid century side table that they found out by their apartment dumpsters... it was dusty, worn, and covered in blotches of random white stuff (i hope it wasnt bird poop!)...but it certainly had potential. I was excited for the opportunity to glam it up and pass it on to someone else....share the dumpster-treasure love, i suppose :-)
So first step: sand. wash. dry. then i covered the table in a few coats of gloss black spray paint...because the faux wood veneer business was so worn, black was really my only option...i tried and failed to use a lighter, more burnt orange shade...but the table was having none of it...so black it was!

then i broke out my decoupage and used these pages from a 1909 copy of the Sears-Roebuck catalogue...a $1 find at Dunaway Books on South Grand...i loved these pages because they were so worn and water-damaged that they gave a great multi-dimensional feel to the table....

once decoupaged on to the table, i finished it with a few coats of triple-thick gloss sealer...making it waterproof, shiny, and ready to adorn someone's living room!

*one last plug for Dunaway Books....scour their shelves, and you will find vintage and antique books that, due to their damaged condition, are priced anywhere from 25 cents to $1! A great find for crafters like me that simply want to tear the pages out of the books anyway! If you stop in, peek at the children's books....so many amazing vintage storybooks with beautiful artwork just waiting to crafted into something amazing!