Because we need another initial in our house

It's time to share a little project I created months ago! Because there's no time like the present to share some crafty love. It was one of those things I started & then let sit until a few weeks before hundreds of strangers came trapsing through our home. Nothing like a good old fashioned home tour to kick you in the ass to get things done, right?

My poor husband. We have more letter 'K's' in the house than he cares to think about. I had a growing collection of these letters long before we got married, and then hit the jackpot when I took on his last name. A first and last name with the same initial? Blows my mind. And drives my husband nuts.

So I did what any good wife would do & bought another letter K. This time for the front door. I'd seen a lot of these on Etsy, but figured they were easy enough to make myself. Which, if you know my mom, you know I'm turning into her. Growing up we'd see something we liked and she would say "I can make that". That's annoying for a teenager to hear, but as an adult it's music to my ears. Lucky for me my mom is still in her "I can make that" mode, and her daughter has followed in her footsteps!

Anyhoo, here's what you'll need:

A craft letter (I got mine from Joann's)
Sheets of felt (in my case, the more the better...you never know when you'll screw something up)
Thick twine (again, I found mine at Joann's)
A fabric doily (also from Joann's...you're sensing a theme here, no?)
Ribbon

The process was pretty simple. I started wrapping the twine around the letter and securing it to the back with a glue gun. Yep, every single layer of twine was secured with glue. I found it was best to glue on the backside, that way if I made a mistake it was pretty much hidden (or in our case, only visable to us through the glass door). Luckily the twine was so thick you really can't see any glue...one point for Katie! This process was surprisingly fast & easy. I worked on it for 2 nights, but total labor was probably about 1.5 hours. You know, the perfect amount of time to mindlessly wrap twine while watching The Bachelorette.

You can see things got tricky somewhere in the middle, which required lots of trimming and glueing on the front (gasp!). But see, no visible glue...so really, this project was a win-win for me. I'm just happy our last name doesn't begin with a Q or X. Things could be worse.

I used the felt to make rosettes. I didn't take the time to take photos of this process, but I used this tutorial that I found on Pinterest. This one was for paper rosettes, but it works exactly the same for felt (to keep the flower intact, I just secured the end with a little glue). SO easy.



via

And the final product! I wadded up the little fabric doily and shoved it in between the felt rosettes (again, securing it with a dab of glue). Crafting it not always glamorous or methodical...sometimes methods like "wadding" and "shoving" are necessary evils. 

The ribbon was attached with glue and straight pins for extra security. The bow is tied to a little nail at the top of the door (which all of our seasonal stuff gets attached to). I wasn't sure if one little nail would hold this baby in place, but it stood the test of time when people were in & out of our home for an entire day. Again, I can't begin to say how easy this project was. I don't know how much I spent in the end, but I'm guessing it's far less than the $35-40 + shipping price tag that I've seen out there.

And the fact that we've added another letter K to our collection? Well, that's just priceless.

DIY cake stands

I'm back to share my mini-tutorial for the cake stands that debuted at the husband's "Yay! You have your MBA!" surprise party this past weekend. Honestly, this project was so easy, I'm not even sure why I'm sharing the deets. But for the 3 of you who are interested....you're welcome.

I found these fabulous ikat plates at HomeGoods. They were so fabulous that the lovely sales girl almost convinced me to buy the whole set. And then I realized bringing home an entire set of plates "just because they're cute!" probably wouldn't go over so well with the husband. Anyhoo! Moving along.

The next step was thrifting for the bases, which ultimately turned up nothing. So I went with these large candle holders from HomeGoods (I loved that they were substantial enough to hold their own against the plates).

But sadly, these babies just weren't meant to be. After several coats of glossy spray (and no primer...although, I'm not sure that would have made a difference), these things were a disaster. They had drip marks & uneven coverage. You'll have to trust & use your imagination here, because I was too devestated by the results to take any "after" photos. Not to mention it was one day before said party & I hadn't a clue what my next step was going to be (aside from opening the garbage can & inserting stupid, disasterous looking candle holders...and then crying).

So I frantically drove myself to two separate Michaels (forgetting my coupons...but of course!) before locating these lovely wooden candle holders. I figured paint would take to the wood base of these much better than the stupid, glossy ceramic ones (which were taking up residency in the garbage can). Sorry, no can do on the before pics...we were t-minus 12 hours until go-time and I had to get my paint on! But here's what things looked like after 3 coats of glossy yellow paint...

Ah, much better! I went the easy route & attached the base to the plate with super glue. And after it dried, I realized a more temporary solution (possibly velcroe?) would have been a better idea. In the end, it was all a moot point, since the husband ripped the plate from it's base when tossing the old cupcakes into the garbage. And whoever said the husband doesn't have brute strength just doesn't know what they're talking about!

Anyway, I give to you the lovely after....

And with some party treats...

This project was so easy & something that can be used for a variety of entertaining needs. Sort of like tonight's book club that I'm hosting. Which means I've gotta bolt....I'm off to get my entertaining act in gear!

Happy hump!

DIY planters

Happy post-weekend to all! So I know I promised photos of a little DIY project I gifted the husband for his birthday last week. And then that thing called life got in the way. Don't you hate when that happens?! So instead of rambling about how busy I am (and my need for a good glass of wine right about now!), let's get to the details!

I started out with some simple planters from Lowes...

A little chalkboard paint for "labels"...

Rocks for drainage...

And the finished product!

Okay, so the husband may have had an inkling he was getting the gift of herbs for his birthday. Especially after a lively discussion of sorts the weekend before (one of us may have been pouting & the other one may have raised their voice to get their point across...just saying). But I bet he never imagined there would be chalkboard paint involved! And no, your eyes don't deceive you...I have yet to officially "label" our herbs. Apparently, when you throw away props--including the chalk--from your wedding photobooth, there will in fact, be a shortage of the stuff when you really need it the most. In the meantime, we'll play the "Which Herb Is This?" game until I take the time to actually label the darn things.

And yes, the husband loved his DIY herb planter gift. The same gift I used that very night to make dinner, in fact! Which, for those of you wondering, went surprisingly well. Even if dinner itself was just so-so. I guess you can't expect too much out of a recipe that calls for low sodium marinara, right?  

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Photobooth folies

So I took a little break from the blog. Truth be told, we've been a little busy around here. And not with anything house related--which would certainly explain my abscense. We spent the better half of almost 2 weeks doggy sitting for my in-law's two dogs. Which, for anyone who's watched someone else's dogs before, you know it involves a lot of "don't do that", "where are you going", "stay out of the garbage" nonsense. At that point, I'm way too exhausted to think about anything house related. So let's not discuss what's gonna happen when I birth a child. Anyhoo! Moving along...

Awhile ago I mentioned I was working on a little project. A project that finally involved developing some wedding pictures from the big day that was nearly a year ago. With our first anniversary less than 3 months away (where did time go?!), I figured it's about time to get on it once & for all. That goes for our photobooth pictures. Which most of our guests never thought would see the light of day....

Yes, that would be the husband & his very boring (can't you tell?!) groomsmen in the second photo. And no, these particular friends & family didn't sign waivers to be featured on the 'ol blog. When you step inside the photobooth (ahem, some too many at once) you waive any rights to be outed here. Even if you're picking your nose, grabbing a boob, or have something in your teeth. Just sayin' folks.

Anyhoo! Back to the task at hand. The first order of business was developing the photos:

Step two...find a frame! In this case I went with a standard white frame from Target. I ended up altering the matting to fit more pictures than the 8x10 opening would allow. I realized I had way too many fun photos (we hang out with a lot of comedians).

The end result was an epic disaster. My exacto knife had enough! The matting had ripped & was uneven...ugh, a total mess!

So, goodbye Target frame...hello, $8.97 sale frame from Joann's! The original matting was a multi-picture, so I tossed that. The frame was a mess--think lots of scratches & dents, as well as some mysterious dirty fingerprints that wouldn't go away. Eww! No wonder this thing was on sale! So out came the white spray paint...

And the end result was this....

The husband thinks it looks like a collage I made in college & hung on the 'ol dorm room wall. And I sort of agree with him (shhhh, let's hope he won't read this post!). For now this little project hangs over the wine fridge in our dining room, and is the best way I know how to display these photos for now. Anyone else have a better idea how to display something of this nature?

Hope you all had a great weekend! Now that the doggies are gone, we'll be getting back to work & I'll be posting a bit more. Afterall, I won't need to stop 18 times to tell someone to stop eating the cat's food!

Weekend recap

Another weekend behind us & it's back to the grind! From now on, I think it's time to insist that weekends become 3 days long...2 days are not enough! Ah well, let's get to a recap shall we?

...I've entered into a somewhat human state again (a heavy emphasis on the "somewhat" as I'm just not quite there yet). Although, I did manage to pass whatever this is along to the husband, who isn't fairing so well today. Colds be damned--we can't seem to win around here!

...I finally received my House Beautiful subscription this weekend! For those of you who've already perused the March issue, can you believe all the pink goodness? Flipping through the pages has me itching for an all pink house! Okay, maybe not the whole house, but at least one room. Which would require the husband to move out, as I'm sure he wouldn't be as jazzed about all that pink. I'm sure you can't tell from the picture, but ironically, my subscription comes addressed to the husband. Well, if that doesn't give our mailman cause for question, I don't know what does...

...Our 7 year-old niece stopped by for a craft day on Sunday. Which is just the kick in the rear I needed to get on that 2011 resolution of 'scrapping once a month' (along with 'go to church more', 'develop wedding pics', 'finish the kitchen' and 'practice staying calm'...all of which have yet to be accomplished, thank you very much). Although, I must say, we don't get much crafting done when she comes over. She spends a lot of time perusing through my endless supplies, she talks (a lot!), plus we took a pretty significant pizza & Disney Channel break at one point in the day. I did however finish up two shadow boxes--one from our wedding, the other from our honeymoon--that have since found a new home in our kitchen.

...which brings me to the final piece of the puzzle--we (meaning me) painted! We're not totally done yet, as I only accomplished the pantry (on a Friday night, no less...yes, we lead a pretty exciting existence around these parts). Since I painted at night, it was hard to decide whether or not I liked the color. I went back & forth several times, all the while interjecting phrases to the husband such as--"so...would you say this color is 'retro chic' or does it look more like baby food?" and "if I don't like this in the morning it's all your fault for choosing this stupid color". I'm happy to report that we both woke up the next morning & liked what we saw. It's not a color I would have normally chosen (well, at least without a push from the husband), but I applaud myself for stepping outside my beige box for once!

Hope you all had a great weekend!