Wreath makeover for fall!!

I'm really excited about this re-do.  Yall remember this wreath?

Now it looks like this!

It was starting to look pretty shabby. Some gumballs were starting to fall off and the moss was looking really yucky.   So I set it in the garage for a couple weeks to figure out what to do with it. 

If I had the forsight I would have loved to have an extra wreath with the gumballs in thier natural color. That would have been perfect for fall.  Oh-well. I decided to go with gold and wasnt sure it would go on well over the blue but I gave it a shot and voila! It looks gorgeous. It did take quite a bit of spray paint though to get in all those little crevasses to cover up the blue. 

I started with gluing back on the gumballs that fell off.  Then scraped off the moss. 

Coincidentally my friend Lindsay dropped off a great bag of random fabric and scraps and inside was this great green color that would go great with Gold! (after reading this back to myself did I say 'great' enough?!)There's also a lot of other pretty patterns in there that I can't wait to find uses for. Thanks Lindsay!  So I cut strips of it and wrapped the M.

I also cut a new piece of burlap for the bow since the other one was so frayed. 

Ta-da!

So what do you think?  Have you already started decorating for fall? 

I've been Featured!

Linking up!

 













Ugly thermostat? No more!

Hey yall!  I'm so excited that I was featured on a fun blog called Bella before and after!



She featured my blog post about organizing my mom's built in hutch!

She does a top 10 of the posts that were linked up to her weekly link party so I was very happy she chose mine to be one of them!

Of course I browsed the other posts she featured and just LOVED the post from Michelle over at Dream Home DIY!  She jazzed up her thermostats by simply putting a fun photo frame around it! Here's hers:

Totally cute right?!  So I couldnt wait to do the same! Here's mine:

Every time I walk by it I'm so happy!  I hate where the thermostat is placed because it's on a wall that I keep wanting to do something with but cant because of this darn thing! And now it's got some flava! It would be really cute to hang more fun frames around it empty too. 

So let's start a movement! funk-afy your thermostat!

FABULOUS Idea michelle!

5000 hits! & Summer Outdoor candle Decor

Hey friends!  Today I reached over 5000 hits!   You know how sometimes you just blog and wonder if anyone actually reads it?!  My friends number has stayed at 28 for a while now so I was beginning to wonder if I was getting any new traffic!

A sweet friend of mine that I used to work with posted this on Facebook about wanting to start her own blog: "I am really starting to think about it Lytha Lee....I read Jessi Lynn Marx Blog all of the time and I love the arts & crafts and stories that she shares...it really inspires me to be a better me"   SO NICE!!  Hearing that totally inspired me.  I'm so blessed to be able to inspire others and share the gifts God has given me!  Thank you Ukema for the sweet words.  If you start a blog I look forward to reading it! :)

All that being said, I wanted to share a fun idea to bring a little ambiance to your outdoor world :)  I havent exactly been very crafty lately but when I pulled these candles out for the farewell party I remembered how easy they were to make! 

Its simply a beachy themed glass Candle holder

All you need is a large candle holder or vase, sand, seashells, and a candle.

I think it's pretty easy to see how it's put together so I wont go into detail :) Simply layer your sand and seashells and set the candle on top!

Put it anywhere you need a little extra "pretty".  I have a few of these, One is by my bathtub! The others I move around as needed.

So there you go! A super simple craft for any occassion :)

Linking up to:



 

From nature to nifty wreath!

Once again I've been inspired by another fantastic blogger out there :) B.E Interiors shared a fabulous idea for those annoying little spiky balls in our yard!  Making a wreath with them! You can see how she created it at her blog.  And here is how I did mine!

I purchased a straw wreath from Hobby Lobby and wrapped it with burlap.   She cuts the stems off with pliers but it was just as easily done with scissors.  I glued the balls to the wreath and originally wanted it to be white.

I thought it would look great for all the seasons and just interchange the ribbons each month.  But the white was not lookin that great.  It just looked washed out and boring. So I was really upset! my whole plan was shot! I didnt want a color that wouldnt be able to carry over into each season.  Then my wonderful hubby suggested a navy blue.  The shutters on our house are a navy blue so it was a perfect idea! And good thing I sort of "primed" it with the white first :) 

My version of this wreath includes a moss letter to go on the front.  I just purchased a wooden letter M at hobby lobby and a bag of decorative moss from wal mart. (It was crazy expensive at hobby lobby!)  I used spray adhesive to attach it to the letter.  Seriously love that stuff!

I used hot glue to glue the letter to the wreath.   So far it's not staying on very well with the hot glue so I'm going to have to think of a stronger way to attach the letter.

(UPDATE: I simply removed the gumballs from the wreath that were directly under the corners of the letter so the M was glued to the wreath, not the balls!  So it becomes inset and the other gumballs help keep it secure.)

And ta-da!  I used a strip of burlap to make a bow.  And dont you just love that blue!!! It's not quite as dark as I thought it would be but it's ok because I love love love it!

I think the burlap brings even more of a natural tone to it.  So let me know what you think!

And thanks Miss B.e.e for such a fabulous idea!

Linking up to:

Fabulous Friday!! Romantic Getaway in our backyard!

We used to have a hot tub on our side patio.

It came with the house which was so awesome!!  But we only used it a handful of times before it started to have technical issues and because it was such an old model nobody could fix it.  So we had to get rid of it!

Recently we got a gazebo from some friends of ours for FA-REE!!

And the concrete Jeremy painted that sweet pattern using a concrete stain.  Then we got some outdoor furniture to put under it!

SO IN LOVE with this!  Alas it is the south and mosquitos are the worst! and it's only spring. So off to the store I went to get the mosquito netting thats made to go around it.  I didnt love the idea of ugly netting around our pretty gazebo. So I added some sheers to it that were originally used around the gazebo at our wedding! So when you pull the mosquito netting open they are gathered and secured behind the sheers! I only had enough sheers for the front and back of the gazebo but that's alright it's just for looks :)

ahhhhh :) And did you notice the pillows are different?

I pulled out all the pillows that used to be on our bed but had just been taking up space in my closet because I was tired of taking them on and off every day! haha! I think they look way better than the red and green ones that came with the set. No they are not made for outdoors but I can put them in the deck box if I know it's going to rain.

The beautiful chandelier :)

I moved the original pillows to the swing and the patio set.

I think it really makes the other furniture more cozy! 

So again here's the before and after!

Linking up to:

There's a leprechaun in our house!

This is quite possibly the cutest craft I've ever done!  Ever since a friend of mine from Mommy and me showed me this link about a mom putting fabric on her sons walls with starch I have not been able to get it out of my mind!   What an awesome idea!  So I googled some more to get a little more info and make sure it really does not ruin the walls and for real it's true.  Also I talked with my mom about my idea for a St. Patty's theme on the wall and she reminded me of when we were younger and she starched some of my brother's t-shirts to the wall in his room! Oh Yeah! 

So my idea was to put some shoe prints and a little leprechaun on the wall for Caden.  I got him interested in "the wall" by knocking on the spot where I intended to put the leprechaun and saying "hello? is anyone there?"  We did this a couple times yesterday and right before bed we did it again and Jeremy was on the other side saying "hello!" in his best leprechaun voice :) Caden wasn't sure of what to think of that! Then he went to bed and I got to work starching my fabric to the wall. 

I sketched out my leprechaun the day before and made a list of the different color fabrics I would need to get from hobby lobby.  I dont have a stockpile of fabrics yet since I'm fairly new to being able to do fun crafts :)  When I was working full time my spare time was spent cleaning the house and working on the yard or pool, and of course spending time with Caden!  Now that I have the blessing of being able to stay home I can get creative! So here's my sketch.

I purchased some liquid starch from Wal-mart. I followed the directions on the bottle for HEAVY.  Which was just a mixture of half starch, half water.  I only mixed half a cup of starch to half a cup of water and had extra some liquid left over when I was done.  You can also create your own starch by using cornstarch but it includes corn starch, water and then adding boiling water.... honestly just using the liquid starch is so much easier. 

For the leprechaun I just drew and cut out the pieces individually.  I didnt stencil or anything I just did it free hand to the scale I wanted.  I'm really impressed with myself for how well it turned out! haha!  I didnt take pictures of those steps because I was trying to hurry and finish cutting them all out before Caden woke up from his nap.  (sorry!) 

But when you're ready to put your fabric on the wall you paint your starch mixture onto both sides of the fabric then stick it on the wall wherever you want! If you need to make adjustments it's easy to just peel it off and replace it.  Just wipe the wall with a sponge and water where you misplaced it and it's no biggie.  I've read that some people who are using large pieces of fabric spray starch thier fabric first and iron it so it becomes nice and stiff and apparently easier to handle when painting the starch on.  But I was using small pieces so it wasn't difficult. 

So here's Caden checking out the shoe prints on the wall.  I started them from the front door.  I made sure to keep his gaze away from the leprechaun when we came down the stairs so I could capture pictures of his reactions :)

Trying to take a clover off the wall!

Hey who's that?!

Checking him out

After knocking on the wall again he started clapping :) hehe!

Then he gave Mr. Leprechaun a hug! It was SO CUTE!  I did not even say "give him a hug". I'm so glad I got a picture :)

Close up of our little visitor.

The shoe prints along the wall.  I almost tried to do actual green footprints but I didnt want to mess with drawing feet. And then I would have had to make my leprechaun barefoot and I liked the boots better.

close up of the shoe prints. I also cut out little clovers to make it more st. patty's themed. Those were the hardest part of this whole project.  I couldnt get the clovers to look right! plus cutting them so small was a challenge.

hopping from wall to wall.  It would have been cute to have them going across the floor too but I dont think you can do this on the floor..... hmmmm that might be interesting to test out sometime on a hidden corner and see if it sticks, or hurts the floor. 

Anyway when you're done with your decor you can just peel it off and wipe the wall with some water and you can move on! I know this to be true because like I said my mom did this in my brother's room. 

There are so many possibilities with this. It's so awesome!!  I have tons of ideas! I only hope every project turns out as well as this one!

Let me know what you think!!

Linking up with: