Trash to Treasure: Fall grapevine tree

Fall season has officially begun. The temperatures are dipping. There's a cool chill in the air. We've pulled out our long sleeve shirts and sweaters and are ready for some apple cider . . . .

Sccreeeecccchhh!!!!

Ha! I wish! It's still like a million degrees here in Arizona and I'm sweating just sitting here typing this.

Really, in all fairness, it IS beginning to cool off a tad (like from 115 to 99), and I think our summer hybernation will soon be over.

But I grew up in the mountains and Fall was (is) my favorite season. So even though it's kind of a pseudo season here, I still like to decorate and celebrate :)

I picked up this small grapevine tree from the Goodwill for a couple of dollars months and months ago.

I've given it many makeovers, but this is currently my favorite one.

A happy little Fall topiary. So sweet :) I'll show some more pics of my Fall nesting tomorrow.

Birthday Fun

Upper Respitory Infection.

Ever had one? Yeah, me neither. I kept thinking I had an extra nasty strain of the flu. But nope. Just a mean infection. So I've been condemned to the house all week and haven't had much time to make anything (sniff, sniff).

So I thought I'd share some simple things I did for my little girl's first birthday last week. We kept everything simple, but pretty and fun.

We started with some cut flowers from our yard. We do this every time we have visitors from out of town, or a get-together. We are lucky enough to have these beautiful flowers blooming year-round.I didn't get a picture of the rest of the table, but we just did a white tablecloth with some pink tulle laid down the middle and tied with a bow. Oh, and confetti. Just a sprinkle.

Then I made a pink and brown Happy Birthday banner strung up with some jute twine. This was my first paper banner and it ended up being more work than I'd originally planned. Lots of configuring and cutting and yada, yada, yada. I think I could whip one up now without any problem. But since I already have this one, I'll pretty much just use it for both of my girls birthdays for the rest of their lives. Yes, even their sweet 16. Sorry girls . . .


Can't forget the cupcakes. This was my first attempt. I'd give 'em a 6 1/2 out of 10.


This was my favorite. I strung up some more jute twin across my shutters in the kitchen and hung up vintage birthday cards and pictures. I painted and glittered (is that a word?) some clothspins to hang them up with. I had lots of fun with it. And I have something similiar I want to do for Halloween. I'll let you know if it turns out :)


It was good that I kept myself busy with decorations for the party, so I didn't have to be too sad about my baby turning 1. I hate that they grow up so fast . . .

Be Grateful Sign

I know it's a bit early for Thanksgiving, but I still wanted to post about this great tutorial of Joy's that she gave last year.

When I first saw her sign, I just fell right in love with it. I ADORED it. But it was just a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and I didn't get my rear in gear in time to make it last year. So I made sure I was on top of things this year and made one of my own. You can head over to Joy's blog and read her awesome tutorial if you want to make one too.

I did just a few things differently than Joy. She suggests tea staining the tags to get a similiar look as hers, which I did end up doing. Just get some cheap black tea bags from Wal-Mart. Dunk the tags (I also used a small sponge brush to soak the paper), let them dry a bit, then squash them between some paper towels and heavy books while they dry out. This is what my tags ended up looking like before adding anything.

Oh, and I did age them with a brown stamp pad BEFORE tea-staining them.

Also, I didn't add the decorative trim to the bottom. Other than those things, I tried to follow her tutorial pretty closely so mine would look as beautiful as hers :)

Here's a close up of some of the tags.

Here are some other helpful tips:

The tags and sticker letters can be found at the craft store in the scrapbooking section. I got the medium-size tags (about 4 1/2 inches tall).

The upholstery tacks I just got at Wal-Mart by all the other nuts and bolts.

I cut my board to 26 1/2 inches long and it was about 5 1/2 inches tall.

The spray paint I used (recommended by Joy) was Krylon Satin Black and Rustoleum Colonial Red.

Not only is the sign just too cute, it was also a lot of fun to make. Thanks again Joy!

P.S. Fall wreath behind the sign . . . $3.00 at the Goodwill (where else?)

Pink Frame

My sister just had a beautiful baby girl! I'm just so dang excited to meet my new little niece. But in the mean time, I wanted to make something for her room to send as a gift.

I picked up this frame from who knows where . . . Goodwill, yardsale, hand-me-down? I'm not really sure. But it has been in my "to do something with" pile for awhile now.

Just a simple, chunky, wooden frame . . .

That got all dolled up in pink and brown (her nursery colors) for a sweet new baby girl :)

What do you think? I hope she likes it . . .

BABY

Someone asked me the other day if I'm always working on something . . .

Oh my goodness, yes!

But in a very good/bad sort of way . . .

Why bad you ask? Because my craft room (or "the stuff room" as my daughter likes to call it) looks like a tornado just went through it . . . and because I often look like a bag lady with paint on my hands and in my hair . . .

Good, because I'm always involved in creating something that makes me smile :)

Like this little project that my friend asked for some help with. She's expecting a new little one ANY day now, and she wanted something to fill a large wall in the nursery. She had the vision, and I just helped make it happen. I just painted four white canvases the colors used in her nursery.

Then for the letters I just printed them out on plain paper, carefully cut them out, and used them to trace around.

I just trace them with a pencil and follow that with this paint marker (Wal-Mart, craft section by the paint).

Then I filled in the lines with some antique white craft paint. They looked great just like that, but my friend wanted a little more somethin' somethin'. So I just antiqued them with some brown glaze.

Wanna do your own glazing? Jen gives a great tutorial.

I think they are just so cute! And you could do a million different things with this same idea . . . initials, names, designs. Lots of possibilities! Plus, I often see the canvases 50% OFF at Hobby Lobby.

She'll kill me when she finds out I'm showing this, but she made the most darling memory board to also go in the room. Love it!

Little white chair

A friend of mine is revamping and reorganizing her kids' rooms. So she's been on the lookout for a little chair to use in her daughter's rooms. She came across this perfect little one at the Goodwill the other day (careful Linds...it's addicting!) and asked for my help in the paint department.

We used one my favorites for the color (Rustoleum Heirloom White) and then shabbied it up with some sandpaper.

The only problem . . . now I want one :)