DIY Burlap Wreath

My neighbor and I decided that we will have craft night once a month now. Our goal is to find inexpensive DIY projects and go to town on them.

We've both been drooling over burlap wreaths all over the place lately and decided that it couldn't be too hard. So we made our own!

It was a little bit time consuming, but very inexpensive. The only thing I'd still like to do to it is make a fuller bow. I think that will make it a thousand times better.

The only materials you need are:

1-2 wire hangers (depending on the size of wreath you want)

Burlap cloth

Ribbon.

all you have to do is unwind the hanger. Make it into a circular or oval shape.

Cut burlap into strips about 3 ft long that are about 3 inches wide. Then weave the burlap through the hanger. I'd recommend not doing it in a straight line but actually maneuvering through the burlap for a better looking wreath. If you have any questions, just ask and I'd love to answer them!

We spent $10 on BOTH wreaths and we already had ribbon and hangers.

That beats the wreaths at Target going for $30.

Christmas Gifts!

For Christmas, we do secret santa at James' house. It's not really secret but we draw people out of a bowl and we are in charge of getting them a gift. For the last couple of years, we always get two of the men so I never really get to play with my creative (and girly) side and usually end up getting gifts at REI.

This year, however, we got two girls! So I put my creative thinking on and thought of a fun (and usable) gift. I didnt want to give them something they were going to put on a shelf and never use or something that wasn't completely their taste. So I remembered that all my sisters in law love greens and they love cooking (or at least I think they do) and made them little baking kits.

I LOVE kits. I'm huge on presents that have an actual purpose. I love giving movie-watching kits, dinner-making kits (great wedding gift), rootbeer float-making kits, you name it. It may be a "thing" of mine but they are great.

I went out and got them each a pan that most seemed like them to me, bought cute jars, and made jar mixes- one Apple Crisp Mix, one Brownie Mix. Then I made them each an apron, and to tie it together, I put in a spatula with it. Also there were intructions on how to make the mix.

Anyway, they seemed to love it and made me super happy to have given them something they liked.

If you are interested in making an apron...well, I cant help unless you come over. I did it all in my head before I turned it into reality so it's still there. All you need is 2 yards of fabric (different ones that go together), and a cell phone so you can call me on your way over!

Baby Room: Window Treatments

After brainstorming on what to do for the windows in the baby's room, I came across a couple of blog entries like this one and this one to make pelmet boxes. They looked so easy to make I had to give it a try.

This is what I had to buy:

2 42'' foam boards

duct tape

hot glue gun

batting

1.5 yards of fabric

exacto knife

First I cut the front of what the box would look like. These boxes I cut out are about 14'' long and about 42'' wide.

Then I cut out some pieces for the back of the box that will allow it to hang from the wall. The long ones are 3'' long and 42'' wide and the small ones are 3'' long and 14'' wide.

After I had everything cut out, I taped them with duct tape to make the shape of the box. I put the piece of board on top so that it can rest on the curtain rod and I don't have to screw anything to the wall.

Then I cut out the batting and fabric and laid it out under the box and started gluing it to the foam board with the hot glue gun.
After a lot of burnt fingers from the hot glue gun and a lot of creative pulling and tugging of the fabric, I came up with this final product. To make it stay up, I actually put a couple of drops of hot glue on the the ends of the curtain rod and pressed on the top of the foam board that goes directly above the rod to keep it in place. Tadahh! hope you liked it!

Antique Fabric

Remember my July list? Well, I still haven't gotten #3 done, but I wanted to show you this beautiful fabric. We bought it at an estate sale around our house. They had so many great antique pieces for a very affordable price (it was an old lady's house who used to collect EVERYTHING and died), but James wouldn't let me collect "garbage." Dang him. But it's hand painted on linen and very delicate. And you want to know how much I bought it for?? .50 cents! I really need to get on this! Pillow here I come!

Ooh Ahh

Found this little project on this awesome blog and I totally want to do it.

I dont have nearly enough decorations for Christmas.

Anyone want to join me?