diy coasters.

another pinterest craft.  i decided to make these for a few christmas gifts.

everything was purchased at lowes, with the exception of the card stock/scrapbook paper.  the guy at lowes was seriously so helpful.  i explained what i was doing and he said that two other people had been in asking for similar items.  so, he lead me right to what i needed and even reminded me that i was going to need the little felt pads to put on the bottom...pretty good, right?

rather than buying the reallllly plain and cheap $.89 tiles, i went for the box of 8 for $4.50.  they're a little more substantial and i liked the look much better.  oh ya, this link, tells you to use resin?  well, the lowes guy didn't know what i was talking about, but said any waterproof finish would do.

attach 4x4 card stock with mod podge.  then apply 2-3 coats of waterproof finish.

add your felt pads.

these were my favs.

the purple one is for a coworker who requested one.

...

diy chalkboard wine glasses.

found these on pinterest.  duh.  link here.  i made them for my step.mom, who is a wino.

first, tape it off with painter's tape.

step two.  don't do this.  i started without priming them and this is how the paint looked.

so the real step two is to use a spray primer f i r s t.

then finish the chalkboard paint.

a few other tips:

--i couldn't find it, but spray chalkboard paint would have probably been more handy
--spray primer was easy as pie
--if you only have regular chalkboard paint, be patient.  it will smooth out with each coat
--buy $1 glasses from the dollar store
--be v e r y careful when pulling off the tape.  i went too fast on the first one and it peeled some of the chalkboard paint off


...

d.i.y day.

so this is what i did yesterday.

a.  a little gift for my friend, katie, whose first anniversary is today.  the colors are totally her.  but my oh my was the 'b' tricky to wrap.  too many nooks and crannies.  and ps, i bought a glue gun yesterday.  i'm kind of amazed that i have not owned one up to this point.

b.  in keeping with the rosette theme, i put this together.  i went back and forth about which type of wreath to make.  this one, or a burlap one.  so i bought the burlap too and i'm just going to do both....eventually.

 and hey...why reinvent the wheel and put together a rosette tutorial when i can just share the one i used [but modified].  instead of drawing a spiral, i cut the felt into circles and then used scissors to cut a spiral.

 

h is for hudson

my sister.in.law, tara, is pregnant with her first little turkey...

due thanksgiving day!

my mother.in.law, tara's aunt, marissa (from paige's paradise), our sister.in.law, denise, and i threw her a shower at my house.

we didn't exactly have a theme, but it kind of ended up being...

h is for hudson.

the color scheme was taken from the nursery.

invites by my other s.i.l., sarah.  cute, right?

this greeted our guests.  paper mache 'h' from joann's, diy paint job.

and how cute is he? (ps, marge, this was your balloon)

diy banner.

card stock + paint + ribbon

tissue balls [in nursery colors...too cute, huh?]

little 'h' onesie cookies.

made by "the cookie lady", sue.  if you live in the area, i recommend! only $5/doz.

diaper cake by my step.mom, beth.

diaper cake topper.

a last minute centerpiece.

we sprinkled some baby photos of tara and adam around.

bring a book in lieu of a card to start baby's book collection.

super fun sixlets.

me, s.i.l. denise, marissa (tara's bff), tara and m.i.l.

she's such a sweet person.  love you, tara...

if you've read my short story, then you know just how close in due dates tara and i were.  i can't help but get frowny when i think about sitting in our kitchen and the amount of excitement in the air when we told tara and adam we were expecting too.  and how happy it made me to know we'd have too little cousins almost exactly the same age...who would, no doubt, be close.  that we'd have each other to go through every up, down and around of our pregnancies.  

and in those moments, i pray for patience and dwell in hope that god's got a plan 
even better than the first one.  

undoubtedly, our family will have a lot to be thankful for this thanksgiving. 

{ jake and i are so excited to meet our first nephew.}

diy funkins and thanks.

look what my cousin, crystal, did over at  

budget beautiful bungalow.

such a great idea for fall!

p.s. thank you for your prayers for patience.  i think they worked today because i had a better day....keep 'em coming. 

p.p.s. i made a consult appointment with my obgyn.  just to talk through some concerns.  maybe i'm crazy.  but just making the appointment made me feel better. 

open your heart.

today is my mom's 56th birthday | long story short, i ordered something on etsy and then something happened to the person who had the shop and the gift wasn't going to be completed for a few weeks.  obviously, that would be really late.  so, instead of working that out...i just decided to make something similar on my own at the painted zebra [a paint.your.own.pottery place].  i actually kind of like this idea better.  mom gets something made by moi and i get a little no thinking time.  i love the painted zebra.  i'm not sure why i didn't think of this in the first place.

needless.to.say, the gift will still be late.  that's okay though...

if you know my mom even a little, you might know her phrases "love your hair, hope you win" and "open your heart".  i really can't explain them but she says them pretty dern regularly.  so.  i've already made her a coffee mug with "love your hair" on it and my idea was to make her a catch all/trinket/jewelry holder that says "open your heart".  so that's what i did.

dish | light gray

writing | black 

dots | black, gray and green

do it yourself

much to jake's dismay, i didn't work this summer.  so i've been the one with the "honey-do" lists.  i've been ironing jake's work clothes, keeping the house clean, watering the lawn during these scorching missouri months and, lately, taking poor remy lou to the vet.  somewhere in there i've found a little pool time  :)  just a little.

but i've also found some time of a few diy projects and here are some of them:

i originally heard this quote as part of a song that you may have seen on youtube.  the father/daughter duo is insanely precious [watch her say, "one day i'm gonna whistle?"].  it's actually a song by edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros.  anyway, i loved the quote then saw it in a painting on pinterest...so i copied!  that's just a canvas, some stencil letters and paint.

got the idea to make my own burlap table runner from a blogger [i can't remember who; i'd love to give credit].  i bought the burlap at hobby lobby for $5.99 and ended up having so much leftover that i was able to make lots of things for the cute as a button shower i threw.  i had no idea how many colors burlap comes in.  i opted for natural burlap color, but maybe down the road...

this was a rainy day thing.  i had the houndstooth card-stock.  i found the letters at hobby lobby on clearance for $1.  i like the idea of decor with scrabble letters, but i didn't want to use my game pieces or purchase another game to use them.  but now that i think about it, i bet someone sells just the letters.  oh well.  this was my rainy day variation.

i didn't do this over the summer.  this was an earlier diy.  but i thought i'd share.  it's card stock and black twine.  frames from ikea.  it took me some time to get over the fact that it says "hers" first and then "his" [not sure why], but i also couldn't put "his" on my side and "hers" on his side, nor could we switch spots in bed, so...this is what i ended up with :)  my sister.in.law did something very cool over her bed with the same frames, involving her weddings vows and pictures.  love the frames.

i also made a few "special date framed calendars" for myself and a friend in order to pay homage to some important dates.  you can see mine here if you scroll all the way down.

and finally, check out what my friend at blue heeler designs made me.  we also saw this on pinterest and i loved it.  she replicated it for me!  [someday i hope to be able to link the words blue heeler designs to this blog...come on, aud!].  i can't wait to print it, frame it and find the perfect place for it!

i hope to get one last diy complete before school starts.  and that is a homemade headboard for my guest bedroom.  i've been scoping out fabric and other ideas on pinterest, but i don't know exactly what i want to do yet.  i also have grand ideas to make some neat things for my cloffice before school starts.  we shall see!