Our New Headboard

dC made us a new headboard and nightstands (quite awhile ago now - I think April?) and it's taken me this long to pull our bedroom together enough to photograph his work!  He's a gem!  I think I'll keep him!

 

 I made this wreath from all of our many trips to the beach.  I get there with an empty bag and leave with a full one.  I love drift wood - I have many memories attached to the coast where I grew up.

More of my collection...

I love the driftwood stain he did on all of it! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Owl Towels

At Target awhile ago, I found some of their cloth towels on sale and have always wanted to decorate my own napkins.  The idea of this is not new - fabric paint, stamps or stencils, but I had a certain look in mind that I used my artistic dC to create! 

I love white owls, but not too many.  I have only a few here and there sprinkled throughout our house and would never want to overwhelm.  In an attempt to add more orange to our kitchen I thought it would be fun to have dC draw me my own owl, and then I could transform him into my new cooking pal!

dC drew me an owl, and I used the stencil techniques I've used in the past to transfer and paint the pattern onto the towels.  I realized he didn't have any distinct eyes, so I borrowed Fender's Angry Birds pencil to make them.  Shhhhh - don't tell Fender I used his pencil.

 

 

Then I just followed the heat setting directions for setting the paint so that they could be washed and dried.  I made some Ron Swanson towels and Storm Trooper towels too.  They are so fun I can't stand it!  Who doesn't want a little Ron with their bacon or tea?

 

 

This week I'm linking to:

Make your Own Feather Ornament!

While I was perusing the aisles of the ornaments this year I noticed in the white section these beautiful feather ornaments.   I also saw  They were about $6 which isn't bad for an individual ornament, but after making my feather tree last year, I knew I had the supplies left over to make it myself.  I wish I had the time to make more than one this year, but I thought I'd share how to make them in case you did! 

 

Here are the supplies you'll need:

medium Styrofoam ball

string or ribbon for hanging

white feathers of assorted lengths

white craft glue

hot glue and gun

a champagne flute (or something you can stand your ball on while you glue on feathers)

 

Begin by gluing the string or ribbon to the top of the Styrofoam ball.  My ball had a little divot in the top making it a perfect place for the string to sit in - this is where you'll want to use hot glue.  

 

 

Then get out your champagne flue (or something small that the ball can easily balance on) and sit your ball on top with the string facing straight up.  Though this is not exact, it does look nicer if the feathers are uniform.  Begin gluing the longest feathers to the bottom half of the ornament.  Look for feathers that naturally curve in.  They should be covering the whole bottom of the ball.

 

 

Once the entire boom circumference is covered, begin gluing another row of medium sized feathers above the others.  Continue in this way until the entire ball is covered.  Save the very smallest feathers for the top and glue them on neatly around the string.

 

 

 

Make ornaments of all different sizes and hang them all over your tree! 

Sugar Ornaments

As we countdown to Christmas one of the nights was to make an ornament.  I found a really cute post for sugar ornaments here, but to be honest they didn't turn out.  We made them and waited and they just crumbled when we tried to remove them from the cookie cutters.  So I reworked the method and wanted to share with you how we made them today!

What you'll need: 

 

1/2 c sugar

1 T glitter (I used mica snow)

2 t water

cookie cutters

parchment paper

rolling pin
string or ribbon

 

 

1.  Mix the water, glitter, and sugar together in a bowl until it is combines and sticks together when you pinch it with your fingers.

 

 

2.  Dump the mixture onto a piece of parchment paper and begin to press it down until you have a flat surface of the mixture.  I rolled it a bit with a rolling pin at this point to get it really level.

 

3.  Then I picked my favorite Christmas cookie cutters that I just recently found at the thrift store.  An owl, a tree, a reindeer and a mini ice skate and cut them out of the mixture.

 

 

4.  Using a toothpick make a small hole in the top for the ribbon to go through.

 

5.  Move them to somewhere safe to dry overnight.

 

 

 

6.  Once they are dry tie a ribbon or some silver string through the hole. 

Hang on your tree and enjoy!

 

 

Simple Thanksgiving Centerpiece

I hope you are all having a good time getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving!  My hubby dC cooks all of the time, but the Thanksgiving meal is when I get to step up to the plate and take over the kitchen.  It's exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time, so this year I have put together a really simple centerpiece that I wanted to share with you!

Remember the apple crate dC made me this last Fall?  Well, it's taking center stage as a pedestal for all the little treasures I could find around our house.  Pine cones, walnuts, putka pods ~ but you could use anything.  Moss or twigs from your yard, almonds - you name it.  Fender had a fun time helping me scatter everything around.  My white pumpkin that I found at the pumpkin patch is my favorite part.  Have fun decorating!

 

 

Happy Halloween!

 

I have always done a Fall wreath for our front door, but this year I wanted to do one for our kitchen.  This wreath cost only a few dollars and was super simple to make.

 

I got the idea when Fender and I were at the dollar store and he fell in love with the black crows.  I grabbed a few crows, a straw wreath and came home to get to work.

 

 

First I spray painted the wreath black.  It doesn't absorb completely, but it's hardly noticeable.  I pulled a few strands of the straw out to make the wreath more jagged.

 

Then I tried to attach 3 different crows, but it was too much and I ended up with one.  The dollar store crows have wires coming out of their feet, so dC helped me shove him on!  Fender named him "Headward."   I don't know why. but that's his name!

 

 

Can you spot a little bit of last year's Halloween crafts?

 

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Happy Easter!

We had a quiet Easter this year (no egg hiding or Bunny visits), so I decided to keep the table centerpiece just as simple.

I made two simple cake stands out of tin cans and old cake pans.  I got the idea from here and just deconstructed it a bit.

Then I topped them with egg cups and mini terracotta pots (that I painted white) filled with eggs straight out of the refrigerator.

I also used a overturned spring form pan to elevate a white pitcher full of flowers from my yard in front of driftwood from the Oregon coast.

Tea pots are topped with craft paper eggs that I picked up at the craft store for $1.50 each!

Hope you get to spend some time with family!

Happy Easter everyone!

What Came First?

When I started collecting "white" years ago, I began small with egg cups.  My grandmother had passed down her milk glass chicken candy holder (always full of sticky jelly beans) and I thought it would look cute to have egg cups as well!

Having egg cups kept me thinking of different ways to decorate with eggs each Spring.  A fun project that you can do with blown-out dyed eggs is to decorate them with blades of grass.  I made this one over 5 years ago and it still looks great!  You can follow Martha Stewart's instructions here.  Or you can do it for free by using grass from your backyard and a bit of watered down glue (as I did).

Feathery Friend

I've coveted Martha's feather tree since I saw it in her holiday issue in 2008.  Every time I walk by the feather aisle in the craft store, I think of it.  This Christmas I got a gift card to Michael's from my secret Santa and I couldn't resist.  It's most fun to get weird frivolous things (like 10 pounds of clay and feathers) than glue sticks and glitter when you are spending a gift!

Mine turned out a bit more soft and less uniform than hers (I'm sure her feathers cost more than $2.50 a bag too!)  But I love how it turned out and my favorite part is the improvised tip that I made.  If you venture into making a feather tree here's a quick little top that is super simple and costs pennies to make!

Take a super small Styrofoam ball (mine come in a mixed set of balls at the dollar store) and pierce it with a toothpick.  Cover the entire ball with glue...

...then sprinkle it with glitter...

...and stick the pick into the center of the top of your cone (I saved money here by making one out of card stock).

Then add your feather tree to wherever you need a little more snow in your life!

Rice Tree

Yesterday we had our first snow.  Only a few inches but we get really excited around here when it snows because it tends not to stick around (pun intended!)  So to celebrate the color white (my fave!), winter, and the fact that my Christmas decorations are finally safely put away, I created a snowy white Rice Tree tree for my mantel.  If you'd like to make one too, here's what you'll need to do:

What you'll need:

Styrofoam tree

Styrofoam circle

cheap rice (I used Minute Rice)

twig

hot glue gun

white glue

glitter

dried moss

small pinecones

1.  Begin by covering your surface and prepare yourself for rice being EVERYWHERE!

2.  Cover the Styrofoam tree in white glue and then sprinkle rice all over (it sticks best if you do it in thirds and let it completely dry in between)  You could use hot glue, but with white glue Fender could help me!



3.  Once the entire tree is dried, add a second layer of rice over the entire thing.  This just makes it look more bumpy and natural like a snow covered tree.

Here's our finished tree (hard to see white on white) and my little peeker.

4.  Then venture outside for a straight twig that you'd like to use for a trunk and pierce the twig into the base of the tree and into the base of the Styrofoam.

5.  Because the tree is so top heavy, you'll need to hot glue the twig in place with a BIG glob.  It hardens like plastic and makes the tree sturdy against the base.

 6.  Then cover the tree in white glue again and sprinkle with glitter.  You could use any color at this point. 

7.  Once everything is dried and in place, cover the Styrofoam base with dried moss.  Add small pinecones to the moss if you'd like! 

Place it on your mantel or anywhere that needs a little winterizing!