{Tutorial} | Boo Pennant Banner

This week I'm doing a fall series! There will be a few fall/halloween DIYs followed with a BIG giveaway!

While you wait for Friday (the day the giveaway launches), here's the first tutorial!

   

What you'll need: 

-Burlap

-Acrylic Craft Paint

-Jute String

-Fray Check (Or any other type of anti-fray stuff)

-Scissors

-Paint Brush

-Glue Gun

{Step 1} Cut out your pennant shapes. I just used a ruler to make sure my edge was straight on the first, then used the first triangle to make the others. 

{Step 2} Apply Fray Check to the edges of the pennant pieces. This keeps the burlap from completely unraveling. 

{Step 3} Paint your letters or whatever else you'd like one your pennants using basic craft paint. 

{Step 4} Using the glue gun, I glued the jute string to the backs of my pennants.

 

And there you have it! Now put this baby anywhere you want! Mine is quite small because I have plans to either use it on a wreath, frame, or jar, but I haven't made up my mind yet!

{Tutorial} | Bedroom Re-Do: Skylight Curtain

I feel a little silly writing this up as a tutorial because I don't know that it will be useful for anyone. BUT, I've convinced myself that there is someone out there with the same problem I have: An awesome skylight in their attic-turned-bedroom that is great for light, but also lets too much sun in during the day which makes it like an oven. Ok, so I know the light coming in through the window isn't the only thing making it warm up there, but it definitely doesn't help. Anyone?! No? Well, I'm sure this could be applied to any ordinary window as well.

Now you can buy expensive skylight curtains/blinds, but there was no way I was spending $100+ for the custom blinds that fit my skylight. It took me a while, but I finally found the perfect fabric. I'm going to ramble on about the exceptional day I was having when I found it for a second. First I went to buy a couch, then when I had picked out the one I wanted they informed me that I could pick out a free kitchen table set! FREE! So I was pretty excited about that, then I went to the fabric store. Found the perfect fabric and it was supposed to be about $7/yd. Well when I checked out, it was $3/yd! Then I won some CUTE crocheted slippers from Seven Alive! It was totally my day! Anyway, back to the curtain...

All I needed was some fabric, expandable curtain rods (the kind with the little springy things), and some thread. Easy.









To start, I measured my window. Mine was 24x45.5". I cut a piece of fabric that was 26x47.5 to add for the seams and curtain rod sleeves. Starting with the long sides, I folded over about an inch of fabric and pinned it to make a pretty edge (I'm still completely new to sewing, so forgive my "technical" terms). Once it was all pinned, I sewed right up the side. Easy peasy!

Then, I went to work on the ends where the curtain rod would go. Again, I folded over about an inch of the fabric, but this time being sure my curtain rod would fit.When you sew this time, make sure you sew close to the end of your folded over piece so that the rod fits.
 

Then, once all is sewn, slip in the curtain rods and hang it in your window! I can take it down if I want the extra light in there or in the winter when I want it to be warmer. If you want, you can sew additional fabric on the back to make it so that light doesn't come through at all. It's up to you!

On a different note, hop on over and join the Blog Hops!

{Tutorial} | iPad Sleeve

It's been so long since I've written a tutorial! The house projects aren't coming along as much as I'd hoped, but I'm getting there. Eventually, I will have things to share, I promise!

For now, I'm going to share a quick tutorial for an iPad sleeve. Now I'm still new to sewing, so I'm sure I'm not doing this the best way, or maybe not even the correct way, but it worked and I think it looks pretty good for my second sewing project ever!

My dad is impossible to buy for. So for father's day, it's always tough. This year I managed to come up with the idea of making a sleeve for his iPad since he didn't already have one. Now be forewarned, the fabric chosen isn't my usually happy, bright taste. My dad is Mr. Macho Hunter Outdoorsman so the fabric had to suit him.

So here's what you'll need:

1. Half a yard of fleece fabric.
2. Half a yard of another plain fabric, I just used some scrap that I had on-hand.
3. Batting, nothing too expensive or anything, just there for some extra protection.
4. Thread.
5. Velcro
6. Sewing Machine.

Seeing as this was a present and I didn't have an iPad at my disposal to use as a guide, I called my mom and had her measure it for me. He already has this rubber case on it, so my dimensions will probably vary from yours. His iPad, with cover, was 10 3/8" by 8" and about 5/8" thick. I cut my fabric and batting into two rectangle pieces. One 15x11 and the other 13x11. The longer piece will include a flap to use to velcro the sleeve shut.

 

Once you have your three layers for each side, line them up and pin them together. Then sew three sides together on each half. Leave the side where the iPad will go into the sleeve unsewn for now.

Instead of just stitching up the side like the rest, take the unsewn ends and fold over and sew. This leaves a prettier edge since you'll see that part when you open and close the sleeve. 

 

Now you're ready to attach your velcro. Trust me, do this NOW. I made the mistake of sewing my two halves together and then trying to add the velcro. Boy did I regret that! Haha.

Attach your velcro to the top outside of the sleeve. I don't have pictures of this step because I waited until I was finished, but here's what it should look like. Just pretend the rest of the sleeve isn't sewn together yet ;)

 

Once you've done this, you're ready to sew it all together. Place the two pieces face-to-face so that the inside fabric is on the outside. To do this, make sure you have the two pieces positioned how you'd want them to look on the outside. Sew your three sides together. Just to be sure, I found a book that was exactly 8" wide and used that as a guide as I was sewing to ensure the iPad would fit. But if you have an actual iPad to work with, you should be fine!

 

Flip it inside out and viola! You have an iPad sleeve, a very manly iPad sleeve anyway...

Also, don't forget about the Summer Link Party! Head on over and link up your favorite summer-related post!

Herb Planter Revisited | {Tutorial}

My very first post was of my herb planter. Because I only had one follower and very few readers, I wanted to bring it back since it's getting to be that time of year again (not because it's easy to re-post something that already exists and I don't have the time to do anything new...geeze, give me more credit than that! ha).

Herb Planter

First, this was completed long before the blog was even thought of, so the step-by-step instructions are majorly lacking.

You'll Need:
1 Metal (or thick plastic, as long as it's sturdy) stake/rod or pipe of some sort, at least 4' long. The diameter should be small enough to fit in the drainage hole of a clay pot.
1 Large pot for planting
3 (or more, depending on how long your stake is) clay pots, 8" pots should do
Plants/Herbs
Potting Soil

Step 1: Begin by securing the stake/rod in the large planter. It may be as simple as placing it through a drainage hole in the center of the planter (which was the case for ours). Keep in mind, if you do secure the stake by placing it in the drainage hole, make sure there is adequate drainage left. If this was the only hole, you might need to drill a few extras. Anyway, a snug fit is best, but you're going to be filling the planter with potting soil, which will help hold it in place. You may want to put a few stones in the bottom to help hold it in place.

Step 2: Fill the larger planter with potting mix and make sure that the stake is in the middle of the planter and standing up straight.

Step 3: Slide the clay pots onto the stake by feeding the stake through the drainage hole on the bottom. They should stack up. Depending on how long your stake is, you should be able to fit 3 or more pots. Once the pots are stacked up, I rotated them so that they all faced in different directions.

Step 4: Fill small clay pots with potting soil and this will hold them in the position they are in.

Step 5: Plant your herbs (or flowers, or whatever else your heart desires)!

This is the size planter I used. This is a different one (no stake obviously) but still the same size. The square shape made it nice for planting around the stake.

Forgive my sad-looking parsley, he's about 3 years old... But this shows the stake coming up through the pot. A healthy plant would cover this up.

One more view, this shows a little more of the base planter. We have it stuck inside of a larger planter on our deck right now, making it hard to show the entire thing. However, it is pretty when left standing alone.

{Jewelry} | Wish Necklaces

I normally don't do two posts in one day, but I've been home sick and honestly a little bored. So I worked on a simple project that I've been wanting to do for a long time! Wish necklaces! 

Thanks Adrianne for making my picture pretty :) Visit Adrianne at Happy Hour Projects!

Here's where I got all of my supplies:

Beads: Bounty of Beads

Wish Charms: Sparkling Sisters Jewelry Supplies

Glass Vials: Pegasus22 or Mindy Mae's Market

Dandelions: My yard :) 

Throw it all together and you've got an adorable little necklace!

Interested in winning the second one? Together with Happy Hour Projects, we are giving away this necklace and some fun Wish Bracelets! Go HERE.

{Tutorial} | Jewelry Shelf

I've been putting this project off for far too long. I've had all of the supplies for some time and I just haven't gotten around to doing it. In fact, my first Mindy Mae's purchase was the knobs that I will use in this project. When the girls over at Mindy's asked me to share a tutorial using their products, I knew this was the perfect one. Here's what I came up with:

Want to make your own? Here's what you'll need:
1. A piece of wood. Mine was 36" in length and 9" wide. Luckily, my dad does custom woodworking for a living. I have an unlimited supply of the stuff.
2. Candlesticks. I used one 6" candlestick from Mindy Mae's Market.
3. Knobs.
4. Craft paint.
5. Sandpaper.
6. Wood glue.
7. Drill, a few screws.
8. Hanging hardware.

Like I mentioned before, my dad owns a woodworking business. So I took my piece of wood that I found in the barn and went to his shop. Using a table saw, I cut the board into two 18 halves. I liked the 9" width for the top of my shelf and trimmed the other half to be about 4 1/2 inches in width. I now had two pieces one 18X9 and another 18X4.5. The dimensions are really up to you, though! The remainder was cut into small triangle pieces, which I'll talk about later.

Note: The triangle pieces are not attached yet, just sitting there. Sorry it looks a little confusing!

As you can see in this picture above, there's a lot more detail. My dad, the all-knowing perfectionist when it comes to woodworking came in to inform me that there's all sorts of things I could do to make sure this thing would never come apart. That's where the groove and the small triangle support braces came into the picture. I'm almost certain this is overkill, but I wasn't going to shoot him down while he was trying to help. The important triangles are the two that will brace the shelf against the wall, preventing your shelf from being too top heavy and falling forward.

Anyway, I secured the two pieces together and added the triangles for support using wood glue. If you do use the triangle support pieces, be sure you aren't placing them where your knobs need to come through. I spaced each of my knobs so that the two on the ends were 3" from the end and then put 4" between each knob.

Allow this to dry for a few hours. When everything is secured, you can drill your holes into the bottom piece. You could do this before, it doesn't really matter. Again, I spaced each of my knobs so that the two on the ends were 3" from the end and then put 4" between each knob.

Once the holes were drilled, I began painting the wood. I started with a coat of dark gray. Since it's just the base coat, it doesn't need to be perfect. I watered it down a little so that a little went a long way. Once this layer has dried, then you can apply your white (or whatever color you'd like) on top. Once this is dry, you can distress it using the sandpaper. I used this same technique on the candlesticks, only I used a blue color as my top coat.

Last, I attached the knobs. This is part of the reason I designed this the way I did. The knobs stick out in the back, making it difficult to hang flush against the wall. With the wood put together as I've done, you don't need to worry about this. Should you alter it a bit, you'd just need to cut off the excess part of the

 

Then, attach your hanging hardware and you're finished!

 

This project was featured over at Turning This Into That! You should go over and check out their blog full of tutorials! There's also another great jewelry hanger that's a lot simpler than this and looks amazing!

Two more things! 1)Don't forget to enter the craft competition! See here for details! 2)Curious about the cigar box on my shelf? Click here to find out what it is!

Daily Chalk Board Calendars

Have you all heard of Mindy Mae's Market? If not, you want need to check them out! They're a daily deal site that sells mostly craft supplies for a super discounted rate. But what I love even more is following them on Facebook. Nearly every day they play games with their followers, which includes things like "I'll Take It!" where they post a picture and a price (that usually includes shipping!) and the first to say "I'll take it" get its for the stated price. Dangerous as it may be, you should follow them on Facebook. You won't regret it!

So why am I talking so much about Mindy Mae's? Well I'm fairly certain that any craft I do in the foreseeable future will use something that I've purchased from them. Recently they were selling these adorable 4x6 chalk boards and I just couldn't resist. I bought seven of them so that I could put them on my fridge and make a weekly calendar. Here are a few of my favorites:

Some of the supplies I used included craft paint, doilies, fabric scraps to make rosettes, felt, and magnets. VERY simple :)
Finally, I am teaming up with Mindy Mae's to bring you an awesome contest and a chance to win a gift card to their shop. I can't wait to post the details, but be sure to check back soon or follow on facebook or twitter for full details!

{Valentine Exchange} with Annalea from Make It Give It!

It was all I could do not to post this as soon as I made it, but I wanted to wait until Annalea recieved it so that I didn't spoil the surprise. As part of Happy Hour Projects Valentine Exchange, I was paired with Annalea from Make It Give It.

In all of my excitement, I forgot to take a picture of the complete package. So I have my tutorial pictures and some pictures of semi-finished projects, but maybe Annalea will have pictures of the finished project.

The package included a homemade candle in a major jar, Valentine's magnets, a birds nest necklace and a cute jute tote as the giftbag.

I'll start with the magnet tutorial for these little guys:

All you need is a few simple things:

1. Glass tiles

2. Scrapbook paper

3. Stamps, letter stickers, or you can draw them by hand. I used stamps.

4. Mod Podge

5. Magnets

6. E6000 glue or Superglue

{Step 1} | Paper
My tiles were 7/8" square, so I cut my paper using my paper cutter to fit the tiles. Simple.

{Step 2} | Stamp
Stamp, stick, write, however you want to do it. Or don't write anything at all. It's up to you.

{Step 3} | Glue
Using Mod Podge, brush on a litte to the face of the paper and attach to the back of your tile.

{Step 4} | Attaching the magnet
Now you would think this would be easy. This step required a lot of trial and error for me. One, be sure to cover the BACK of your paper with Mod Podge before trying to attach the magnet. If you don't, the glue will bleed into the ink and make your magnet look like this (Sorry for the blurry picture):

Also, don't use hot glue, it won't stick. I made this mistake too. E6000 or Superglue work, though. Not difficult, but you have to use the right materials. Do this, and you have a set of magnets!

Now on to the candle!
(Cut off the string and you have the finished product... sorry!)

You'll need:

Parafin wax (I used about 3 boxes)
Old crayons (for color)
Candle scents
Glass jar
String for a wick
An old coffee can or double boiler
Embellishments

{Step 1} | Decorate
I used some jute ribbon, jewelry wire, and pearl beads to embellish my jar.

{Step 2} | Candle, melt the wax.

Place the coffee can inside of the pot with about an inch of water. Bring it to a boil and place the parrafin and piece of crayon inside the coffee can. You don't need a lot of crayon to get the color. A small piece will do. Add in a few drops of candle scent of your choice.

Once melted, pour into jar. Take a piece of string and dip it into the wax and then, using a stick for support, drape it into the wax.

If you want a layered look, allow the wax to completely dry before adding more. If you want the candle to be all one color, you can melt it all at once. To fill this jar, I needed about 2 and 3/4 blocks of paraffin.

To top it off, I sprinkled a little glitter on top. That's all there is to it! Be sure to visit Annalea at her blog, below!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!




Also, a big thank you to Adrianne from Happy Hour Projects for organizing this! :)