Tag Archives: diy

Weekend Recap

My holiday weekend was pretty low-key… it was so nice to have the extra day to look forward to! Why can’t every weekend be a 3-day weekend? Sigh… I really think we’d be a happier, more patient society if we just had a little more time to relax!
Anyway, my weekend included a bridal shower, a trip to the mall, and a trip to Panera. Oh, and watching pretty much *all* of Season 2 of Downton Abbey. I realize I’m ridiculously behind… please! No spoilers!!!

We also scoured a bunch of furniture stores in search of good President’s Day deals. We ordered a sofa for our bonus/game room upstairs! And I forgot to snap a pic of the upholstery/pillow fabric combo. Ooops. Guess you’ll just have to wait until it gets delivered in a month 🙂 Aaaannnd, we found a dining room table that we love! But I think our checkbooks would appreciate it if we wait a month or so to make that purchase.

And lastly, and I know, most-excitingly, I organized my growing washi-tape collection. (I was kidding about the “most-excitingly” part.)

Check back tomorrow for a washi-tape diy to see these puppies in action!

DIY Valentine’s Bookmark

Need a last-minute Valentine idea? How about a bookmark!

What you’ll need:

– scrapbook paper

– cardstock

– ribbon or yarn pom (optional)

What to do:

Measure and cut both your scrapbook paper and cardstock to the same dimensions; the ones I made are about 6-inches x 2-inches.

Glue your scrapbook paper to your cardstock. Add any extra shapes, letters, whatever you please. I “embellished” mine with some scrapbook paper hearts I made with a paper punch.

If you want to add a tassel, yarn pom or ribbon, use a hole punch at the top of your bookmark, and thread through.

Add a little hand-written note on the back to your special Valentine <3

What’s your favorite romance novel or romantic story? Mine is clearly of the Jane Austen variety 😉

Weekend Recap

A rather uneventful weekend, but sometimes those are the best!

The hunt for crown moulding began. Holy Goodness! Wood trim is expensive! And since we only want to do every room on our first floor… we’d better start saving. Or maybe we should just do the powder room??

I started playing around with some more chalkboard-inspired art, this time using some colored pencils I found in my old art box from high school art class. Good thing pencils don’t dry up over time! Also rediscovered a sleeve of oil pastels… I forgot how much I liked drawing with those… may have to pull those out in the near future and see what kind of damage I can do with them.

And lastly, I made up a batch of soup for lunches this week. Variations on butternut squash, with carrots, shallot, garlic, curry powder and a dash or so of red pepper flakes. #yum!

How was your weekend? Did you start/finish any projects? Or experience eyes-bugging-out over the cost of crown moulding at your local Lowes?

Valentine’s Day Mantel

I held out on the “winter” decor as long as I could, but it’s time to transition our fireplace mantel to Valentine’s Day!

I kept a few of my favorite things from my Christmas/winter scheme, like the mercury glass pillars and the natural elements/twigs (spruced up with a few sprigs of red); then added the awesome red mercury glass Target clearance items, a blown-glass flower, and some red-and-black books for height and color. I also brought Edgar back into the mix. I mean, elephants are a symbol of love and affection, right? No? Oh well. Call it a new tradition, then.

Full Disclosure: I fully intended to add a lovey phrase to the red wrapping paper background inside the frame. But the stars, err Cupid?, were against me. I had a phrase all picked out and typed up. I played with font sizes until I got them big enough to show up. And then things started to fall apart – when I tried to print them, the pages were all out of whack, thus splitting one letter onto two pages. When I finally got that sorted out, our printer was out of ink. Or rather, out of black ink. And would only print in blue. Bah! Call me lazy, accuse me of not being a finisher. I don’t care. I’m fine with the hit of red as it is. And who knows, maybe I’ll find renewed energy, and a black ink cartridge, over the weekend!

Are you a finisher or an un-finisher?

Lovey-Dovey Chalkboard Art

The chalkboard bug bit again!

This one was simpler than my Christmas endeavor. Once I knew what I wanted to write, I cut scrapbook paper to size, lightly wrote the words in pencil, and then went over it with white acrylic paint and a fine brush. Easy-peasy.

Have you tried your hand at chalkboard type?

Update: linking up to these parties: