Tag Archives: DIY

May 15, 2012 · 9:49 am

DIY Burlap Table Runner

Happy May my friends! After having any incredibly uncomfortable night of sleep last night, I have realized that summer is officially here. While I know technically it isn’t official until late June, in Az the fact that we have made it to mid-May before my house won’t cool down at night is a true treat! With summer comes barbeque’s, festive holidays and let’s hope maybe a little mini-vacation! I decided to get a little crafty a few weeks ago in anticipation for all the patriotic holidays of summer. My dining room table was in need of a little pizzazz and I knew burlap would do the trick.

You can find a step by step tutorial on how this was made on SheKnows!

Happy Summer!

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January 20, 2012 · 9:22 am

A little DIY for your Friday

In case you missed it, I had a guest post on A Paper Proposal this week! I got a little bit crafty with some of my favorite things… chalkboard paint, wine glasses, and burlap. Head on over and see the final product!

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November 30, 2011 · 4:00 am

Hello Adorable.

For the week after a 4 day weekend, it is going by pretty quickly! For that, I am thankful. Kyle and I are trying to detox and eat super healthy for the next few weeks so we can ruin it all again at Christmas. We’re are eating things like beets and drinking dandelion tea, which is disgusting by the way. I load mine up with honey and lemon which likely voids any benefit but the stuff tastes like you are drinking an ash tray. Anything for good health right? All this talk of health food has me thinking about chocolate. And this chocolate is functional, adorable, brilliant really, and I am sure tastes good too.

From the amazingly creative Jordan of Oh Happy Day… chocolate place cards.

It would be hard for this situation to get any more fabulous. But alas, I think it does. With the holiday season upon us pies are everywhere. Why not go for a pie place card?

This adorable creation is from You Are My Fave.

Edible place cards– eco-friendly and delicious! What do you think?

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November 2, 2011 · 4:00 am

Wedding Wednesday: A Glamorous Texas Affair

So last week I told you guys about the incident at the bank where an elderly lady fell down, well I had been telling Kyle that he should call the friend who knew the lady who fell and also happened to be there, to make sure she was okay. I couldn’t get that little lady off my mind. On Friday he decided to go to the friend’s business to check up and she looked him right in the eye and said, “I need to talk to you!!” Fearing the worst, he waited around for her to have a free moment. Turns out the lady is saying that someone pushed her down the stairs AND went through her purse. Said purse wasn’t even in the picture as all she had in her hands were keys and her debit card! Can you believe that?! We are unsure if she is a bit unstable or if like so many others she is trying to capitalize on her unfortunate experience somehow. Either way I had to laugh because that was the last thing I expected to happen. Long story short, the lady is fine, bruised up but okay.

Moving on to today’s gorgeous wedding from Alex M Photography. I am in love with this wedding from the DIY details, to the personal and meaningful touches, to the Bride’s AMAZING Dress. I am obsessed with the bouquet and the cake, well the cake blows my mind. This wedding is gorgeous from top to bottom but the best part is, it was everything the couple hoped it would be and their love was infused in every detail. As I scrolled through the photos I couldn’t help but think that this wedding looked like a ton of fun to be at too. Without further ado, I bring you the bride, Lauren’s take of the big day.

We were engaged on July 15th, 2010 and got married on October 22nd 2011, in Longview, Texas at an amazing venue called The Belgium House with a beautiful gazebo and amphitheater style seating in levels. My husband and I met at Texas Tech University at homecoming in 2007 when his fraternity and my sorority paired up. We each got together when our fraternity brothers/sorority sisters separately did our chants, plus sang the Tech fight song. We’ve been together since!

My husband Blaine’s fraternity Kappa Alpha Order is known as “southern gentlemen” and we love Texas country, so we pictured a very simple, laid-back yet romantic country setting, very warm and comforting. Our ceremony and dance floor/reception was outside.

Our colors were chocolate brown, ivory, and gold. I gave my bridesmaids a great site called aria.com where I chose a mocha brown for their dress color and then let them choose which style dress they wanted, it turned out looking amazing with the guys tan suits and brown ties.

My flowers were all ivory garden roses, hydrangeas (dusted with brown eyeshadow – so pretty!), coffee break roses, and some curly willow branch. I had a really hard time choosing a dress (I graduated with an Apparel Design degree) and just couldn’t decide till I found the perfect one about 4 months before the wedding. It was sweetheart neckline with a low back, all ivory french alencon lace, fit and flared, and then I paired a gorgeous flower belt with it for some flair. I got so many compliments on it.

We had a candy bar, beer in keg boxes (like mini fridge), and gold champagne fountain. My cake was made to look like my dress (bottom tier mimicked the lace, 2nd tier to look like my belt, top to look like pearls and my grandparents topper). Blaine’s cake was made to look like a bucket of beer – there is a popular hangout in Lubbock where all the Tech students hang out to drink and eat nachos called Chimy’s. The cake was a bucket of Chimy’s Coronas..our friends from Tech LOVED it, and we received a call from Chimy’s to hang a picture of it in the bar. I either made/painted/crafted/re-did/or garage-saled a majority of our decorations. We did do personalized koozies for the groom’s table (all Tech themed), cocktail and dinner napkins, and beer cups. My mom is a god-send. She researched and got so many budget-friendly decorations that really made a difference. She always knew exactly the right font for the napkins or the perfect accessory for the registration table. We were on the same page through the entire process. It turned out to all flow as wonderfully as I’d imagined! Plus, the east texas weather was impeccable that night. 

Ok so even with all of these gorgeous details, my absolute favorite part of their wedding is still to come and it involves the Bride’s Grandparents. As a Bride who incorporated her Grandparents into her big day, these next photos had me in tears…

The cake topper was on my grandparents at their wedding. They recently celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on September 5th, and I loved the thought of using it. At the wedding we thought it would be perfect if they cut and served each other cake just as they had so many years ago. It was a really special moment.

How sweet is that?!

What advice would you give to other couples?

My only advice to those couple’s while planning is not to sweat the small stuff. My amazing mother-in-law told me this the day before the wedding. Remember what’s important. Forget whats not. Keep in mind what the day is really about..and not if the fountain isn’t connected correctly and still in the wrapping.

Thank you so much Lauren for sharing the details of your wedding day and a BIG Thank you to Alex for sharing all the gorgeous photos! Congrats to you!

Images submitted via Two Bright Lights.

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October 19, 2011 · 6:00 am

Newlywed Living: Budget Makeover

Happy Wednesday Lovelies! I had to endure the dreaded trip to the dentist yesterday. Dentists are a bit like cockroaches, no one has to tell you they are scary, you just inherently know. Right? This trip wasn’t so bad though and for now my pearly whites are cavity free. A few weeks ago I gave you a sneak peek at a major painting project the hubs and I undertook. It was essentially painted wall paper and although it was a TON of work, the results were worth it. Although my office space isn’t quite finished, I have been dying to show you the progress that has been made so far. As newlyweds, we are on a budget like I am sure many of you are. While we all want our living spaces to feel like us, it isn’t always practical to do a room makeover. I actually like to work on a budget because it forces you to be even more creative and it seems much more satisfying. My goal was to transform the space for as little cash as possible and I am proud to say, so far I have been successful and of course, I even helped charity a bit a long the way! Let me show you a few before shots…

I apologize in advance for the lack of photography skills but it is what it is.

I bought a solid wood door from the Habitat for Humanity Restore. If you’ve never been to one, you should definitely visit whether you have a creative project like mine or any other home improvement project. They have tons of building supplies and home goods from toilets, to cabinets, to light fixtures. The proceeds help fund housing projects that they complete. Cost- $25. I also purchased a piece of finished glass that covers about 3/4 of the top for $5.00. That is WAAAAAY cheaper than a piece of custom cut glass would cost and it’s not really necessary to have the entire door covered anyway. This photo is actually of the underside of the desk, I used the other side as the top because is much more detailed. It also had no paint on it. After cleaning it up, I did a crackle finish to give it an aged look.

I have no idea why this photo is so blurry, I must have been shaking with excitement. Anyway, I also bought this super ugly and nasty arm chair for $5. I knew a little spray paint and some fresh fabric would do wonders for it. A little note, buy a spray paint primer and use that first. The first can of spray paint I used was essentially a waste as it pretty much just slid down the sides of the chair.

The finished  look so far…

Um, how fabulous does my ugly chair look now?! I love it. I spent about $35 on fabric which was used to cover the chair and also became curtains for the room.

The desk is a tad bit high which makes typing a bit uncomfortable. I am working on a way to remedy that but for now I just put a pillow on my chair. I LOOOOVE the size of the desk. It is massive which provides plenty of workspace and ample room for cute decorations, pictures and anything else I want to stack on top.

We used two super cheap book shelves as the legs which is perfect as it works for storage too. They were $15 a piece. I was a bit nervous that they wouldn’t withstand the weight of the super heavy door but so far so good. I painted each end with chalkboard paint so I could use it to jot notes and just to provide a bit of fun to the plain black siding.

I covered a lamp I already had with burlap so that it would work in the space. It formerly had a red shade. I decorated with things I already had around the house including a few things from our wedding.

Those hard cover books were free, I got 4 total. I picked them up in the free bin at our local library, removed their paper covers and now they look cute on the desk. I may cover them with fun paper or fabric at some point but for now, they work just fine. I picked up a few other paper back books that no one would ever read to rip apart and use the pages for decorations down the line. I hope to make some paper flowers and some art out of them eventually.

I swear, I didn’t take these photos with my phone… Anyway the total for the desk, chair, decor, and wall treatment has been right around $100 and the transformation is huge. It proves that with a little creativity you can transform your space without spending a ton of money. I’d still like to get some fun and colorful art or perhaps some motivational prints to hang over my desk. I’ll keep you posted with my further progress!

Have you tackled any DIY home projects on a budget?

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October 6, 2011 · 6:00 am

Burlap Thursday: Strings of Lights

When I laid my eyes on these adorable burlap covered strings of lights for Halloween I was instantly smitten. Halloween decor can get tacky really quickly but these little ghosts and lights are a perfect blend of festive and appropriate for a kid-free home that doesn’t want to deck out the patio with orange lights and zombies. Unfortunately they are sold out at Pottery Barn but you probably didn’t want to pay $40 for them anyway. You could make these EASILY with some globe lights and burlap.

They were also selling this variety that spelled out Happy Halloween. It too is sold out but again, it looks like a relatively easy DIY.

What do you think? Could you make that? Of course you could make it say anything and it doesn’t even have to be for Halloween. Happy Fall or something of that nature would be cute too!

All images via Pottery Barn.

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September 29, 2011 · 4:00 am

Burlap Thursday: DIY Wreath

So I decided to get a bit crafty this week for Burlap Thursday and try my hands at creating one of the burlap wreaths I see all over Pinterest. My kind of crafts involve minimal steps, minimal supplies, ideally things I have on hand, and no need for perfection. This wreath fit the bill in every single way.

You’ll Need:

  • One wire coat hanger or thick wire
  • Strips of burlap
  • Ribbon, leaves, other embelishments

1. Unbend the hanger and create a circle. The burlap will hide any imperfections in symmetry so just get the kinks out as best as you can.

2. Cut your burlap into strips. If you have a long piece of burlap, you could feasibly just use one really long strip. I used several strips about 1-2 inches wide and about 10 inches long. They do NOT have to be the same. Remember, no perfection in this craft!

3. Weave the burlap on the hanger. The more strips you add, the fluffier it will look and the more it will hide the hanger. Just keep on adding them until you are happy with the look.

4. When you are finished, bend the ends of the wires together. Use this as the top and add a ribbon and any embellishments to cover up the wire. You can add any other decor to the wreath as well. Hang it up and enjoy!

Happy Fall!!

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August 18, 2011 · 6:00 am

Burlap Thursday: DIY Table Runner and Placemats

Of course we have all likely seen burlap table runners in weddings or events (I actually have one on my dining room table-shocker) but they are generally made from sheets of burlap fabric. Perhaps there is some lace on the ends, some ruffles, or a monogram painted on. Burlap is relatively cheap and it would be super easy to make your own runners. However if you want something a bit different and likely a little more durable, you can create runners and place mats out of jute webbing. Jute webbing is essentially like a burlap ribbon but it is often used for gardening so that means it can stand up to outside elements. The problem with burlap fabric is that once you cut it, it can quickly unravel unless you sew the edges. Webbing is already bound on the edges meaning it won’t fall apart. *A little side note-burlap and jute are the same thing. Burlap is made from the jute plant. Many times you will see what looks like twine referred to as jute but it is really just another version of the same type of material.* Anyway you can find the webbing at garden or craft stores and it is pretty inexpensive. I found it here for $.99 a yard and it has a cute little red detail in it. I found these adorable weaved runners and mats and thought they would made a great addition to any wedding, patio table, or even great gifts!

It looks SUPER easy and something that you could pay a pretty penny for if you bought them in the store. The best thing about customizing a table runner is that you can make it the exact length needed for your table. I can’t tell you how many runners I have purchased that are either too long or awkwardly short. I hope my family is getting exciting about receiving these suckers for Christmas! You can find the full tutorial here.

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August 15, 2011 · 6:02 am

DIY Doily Wreath

Hello Friends! How was your weekend? On Saturday, Kyle and I spent the day with our friends who were moving into a new home about an hour away. It just so happens that they also have 9 month old twins and moving is hard enough without adding two babies to the mix. We offered to go over and watch the little ladies while they directed movers, unpacked, and worried about getting organized. We definitely got the better end of the deal and we had a great time playing with their babies all day. (Plus it was great birth control!) Then in an interesting twist of fate, they had an extra dresser that didn’t end up fitting in their room and they asked if we wanted it. We were in major need of a dresser as we have little to no bedroom furniture and our tv has been sitting on a plastic tote since we moved in to our new house in April. But… it wasn’t exactly our style. It is a solid, oak dresser but it was light colored wood. We decided to give it a little makeover so that we could not only have a great functional piece of furniture to add to our bedroom but something we loved too. We made a stop at Hobby Lobby to get some fun knobs and then to the hardware store for some paint. After a sanding job, three coats of paint, a bit of distressing, and new knobs, it looks fabulous and is a great addition to our room! I love what a little paint can do, never judge a book by its cover! You can make just about anything that has a good structure look cute with just a bit of effort.

Since I had the DIY bug this weekend, I thought you might want a fun and easy project to dress up your wedding or your home. This DIY Doily wreath with lights would be gorgeous during the winter, or a nice touch at any wedding. You could even tea stain the doilies if you don’t want that crisp white look. You can thank Martha Stewart for this craft…

I think I’ll be making one of these, what about you?

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August 4, 2011 · 4:00 am

Burlap Thursday: DIY Topiary

Ok, this burlap project is the Bomb.com. Yeah, I said it. And I reserve that only for exceptionally fabulous things. It is no shocker that I love burlap, if it is, your power of observation is majorly flawed but I also love topiaries. This DIY burlap version brings a little whimsy into this classic decor piece.

{Via The Goodey Knot}

The fact that this photo also includes an assortment of milk glass pretty much seals the deal that is truly is the bomb.com. Don’t you agree?

All the details and a full tutorial are here.

Have any great burlap crafts or decor? Send them my way, I’d love to feature your fab burlap finds!

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