DIY: Large Heart Stencil

I am slowly trying to get Miss Lucy's "Big Girl" room decorated...very slowly as it turns out.. ;) ha! Life with two kids is so different! But we are loving it! Anyways, this was such a simple and fun project. If you know me (or are probably starting to see..) I love accent walls! They are (usually) easy and leave a big impression.
For this project I just cut a large heart out of cardboard, traced it all over the wall, then filled it in with paint. Pretty simple! :)

BEFORE:

If you look closely you will see that I snapped a chalk line directly down the middle of the wall. This helped me line up my hearts--I started in the center and worked my way out. You could draw a line for each row if you want to be really careful. 

Sorry for the blurry picture, its hard to work and take pictures! :) I simply placed the heart on the wall and traced around it, I used a pencil but would actually recommend chalk so that you don't see any lines after painting. 

I used my pencil as a guide for even spacing since I didn't want to pull out a tape measure every time...

The pencil lines are hard to see, but you can see my first row of hearts centered on the chalk line and then I went out from there. 

Once I had stenciled the whole wall I went back and filled in the hearts with paint! 

Ta-da!!

I added a few random gold hearts for an accent color :) 

 Lucy loves it! Hahaha! her fake smile and "cheeeeeeese"  :) 

....and yes, she broke BOTH arms...!!!

Now to refinish a dresser and add some photos to the wall!! It never really ends, right?? :)

Easy {and FREE!} Heart Wreath

This is a super easy project that is perfect for Valentines Day! All you need is a bundle of sticks, hot glue and gun, and some rope or burlap.

With my new red door (that I love!), I needed a Valentines wreath that wasn't red or pink. This was the perfect solution; easy and adorable!

I went for a walk on the one sunny day we had and gathered a bunch of sticks for this project :) 

Use your sticks to form the outer shape of the heart, using your glue gun to secure the sticks together. 

Start adding more sticks, going mostly across the heart and securing with glue as you go.

And just keep adding sticks until you get it as full as you want! 

And you are done!! 

I used rope to hang mine, securing the rope on the back with glue.  If I had remembered that I had burlap I may have used that instead, but I still love it!! :) 

DIY "LOVE" Scrabble Blocks

This is a super easy, cheap, and cute DIY that is perfect for your Valentines Decor!

Supplies:
wood- I used a 2x4 that I already had out in the garage
Stain
Sandpaper
Black paint and thin brush
black permanent marker
"L O V E" and the numbers 1 and 4 Print out

Cut your wood so that each block is square.

These were easy enough that I did two sets at once

Stain the blocks the color you desire, I just used Minwax Weathered Oak, so it just barely tinted my wood. I wanted it more natural looking. 

Can you see the slight difference?? :)

Let the stain dry for several hours or even overnight. Print off the letters "LOVE" in the size and print you want, as well as the numbers 1 and 4. The font I used was Segoe UI, my letters were size 200 and my numbers were size 72. I did all caps; simply type it in Word and print it out in black. 

Cut each letter and number out, place it on the wooden block where you want it. Now use a PENCIL and outline the letter. Put some pressure on it when tracing :) When you remove the paper you should see a faint line, simply fill in the letter with black paint and a thin paint brush! The numbers were small enough that after I had traced them I just used a permanent marker to fill it in.

And you are done!!

Project Nursery: Pom-pom Backdrop DIY

I am finally getting started on the Nursery for Baby Girl #2!! Don't worry...my due date is only less than two months away.....   ;)

I wanted the nursery to be bright, colorful, and fun. A lot of my inspiration came from Pinterest (of course..) and all the pom-pom projects that are floating around!!

Link

Link

My house colors seem to be grey and blue but I wanted to add some brighter colors as well. So I started looking for fabrics with red and yellow as well and I ran into this one and fell in love!

Link

Ok, now that you have seen some of my inspiration, lets get to the tutorial for this adorable pom-pom backdrop!!!!  *side note: this is the first project I have completed so the rest of the nursery is still a mess!! Sorry :) 

Supplies:

Yarn-color(s) of your choosing

Scissors-use sharp fabric scissors is you have them

Toy ring, or other semi circle object  (see pictures)

Large Fork

Stick

Thread and large needle

Hot glue gun with glue 

For the smaller pom poms I used a large serving fork (about twice the size of a regular fork) and used This Method I found on Pinterest, super easy! 

For the large pom poms I needed to find something bigger. I found some tutorials where you just wrap the yarn around one of your hands, but I tend to need both hands ;)

I discovered that one of my daughters' toy rings would work perfectly! I wanted something circular but it also needed an opening to make it easy to get the yarn off---it will make more sense when you see the pictures! :)

Okay, here we go!

Wrap yarn around the ring, keep going until you have a pretty thick stack then cut the yarn.

Cut another piece of yarn--about 4-6 inches and tie it around the middle of your yarn bundle. Slide yarn off the ring, and tighten it with a knot. It will look like this:

Simply cut all the loops and fluff it out. Trim any longer pieces. 

 And keep going! You will soon have a nice little pile :) I just worked on it over a few days while I was watching TV at night, ha! I did about 5 big and 5 small pom-pom in each color.

 Next step: Go on a walk, ha! :) 

I wanted to secure my pom-poms with a branch, so we went looking for a nice stick! :)

Unfortunately I did not take pictures for the rest of this tutorial :(   I am so sorry! I just got going and forgot! But it is super easy!

Measure the size of backdrop you want. I wanted to cover most of the space behind the crib, my size was a 4'x4'.

Layout your pom-poms on the floor, measure out the desired width and height then start arranging all your pom poms! I did 5 rows across. 

String your pom-poms using a big sewing needle and thread.

Hot glue your pom-poms in place: I just put a dab of glue on either side of the pom-pom where the thread came out. That way when you go to hang it your pom-poms will stay in place and not slide down.

Use thread to attach each row to the stick. I tied the thread around the top pom-pom and then around the branch. 

And you are done! Just hang the branch where you want! ...to hang ours, we drilled a small hole in the middle of the stick, then simply hammered a small nail through it into the wall.

Step back and enjoy!! 

Easy Summer Centerpiece: DIY Table Runner and Painted Bottles

I am addicted to change. It's true. You will see that more and more as you are following me, I am constantly changing things :) This means I have to find easy and affordable ways to decorate and redecorate my house. One of the fun ways to change things up is your table settings/centerpiece. This is a super easy DIY; cheap, and fast!

We splurged the other day and bought the "good" Rootbeer ;) And as soon as I saw those glass bottles my head started spinning with ideas.

 You will first want to clean them and take off the label. The easiest way is to just soak it in a tub of warm soapy water. I just let them sit in our sink for a few hours.

Once they have soaked for awhile the labels will peel right off.

After you have removed all the labels, let the bottles dry. Now you are ready to paint! I used a foam brush and just normal wall paint. I had a bunch of the small sample sized paints in many colors to use. 

I did 2 coats of paint on each bottle, letting it dry for at least 10 minutes in between. I did not paint the very top until the final coat of paint. That way I could hold onto the bottles without any problems.

..after 1 coat of paint..

..2 coats of paint.

Now for the Table Runner. I just used a piece of linen paint drop cloth. Cut it to size and hem the edges. To paint the polka dots I used a ping-pong ball and just normal acrylic paint.

Pour paint into a shallow cup or on to a plate to make for easy dipping for your ball. Dip one side of the ball into the paint, then stamp it onto fabric. I did a slight roll while holding the ball on my fabric to make my dot bigger.

Continue stamping until the cloth is covered in polka dots, I did a random pattern.

...you might want to be better at ironing your runner first...ignore my wrinkles... ;)

Let it dry for a few hours before use.

Tutorial: Stenciled Curtains

Today I am going to share with you my super easy way to stencil curtains....without painting!!

That is right, no painting involved.

I bought the Merete Curtains from IKEA and  I love them! They are nice and thick, super long, and only $25 a PAIR!! However, with white walls and white curtains my husband thought it was a little boring :) I have been debating forever over what to do with them, stripes and what color, a stencil, ribbon trimming, etc. My biggest fear though was painting them. I have heard so many different responses to fabric paint. Some people love it and it turns out well; others hate it, saying its hard and crunchy. Well I didn't want crunchy curtains....
When I finally did decided on the stencil I wanted I was thinking how much easier it would be if I could just trace it on. It would be so much faster and easier than multiple coats of paint! So I went about googling it and found out about Fabric Markers! They are easy to work with, don't change the texture of the fabric, and you can wash them! I was delighted! And soon went about stenciling my curtains.

I found the template for my stencil here. I just printed it out, traced it on some cardboard, and cut it out, using the cardboard as my template. At first I did just one single stencil, but soon had the idea to do multiple at once...making it a TON faster and easier to keep straight.

Fabric Markers are $2.50 at Joann's. For my 4 curtain panels I used 3 markers.

You will want a large flat surface to work on, I used a large table out in our garage.

Have fun! Here are pictures of the process!

I started in the middle of the curtain, just to make sure it looked even. The main thing you need to worry about is staying straight!! I often took a step back to make sure everything was lined up correctly.  

Like I mentioned above, I first started out with doing a single stencil at a time.

It took awhile, so I soon made another template with multiple. It made the job so much faster and easier! 

I love how they turned out! They add just a touch of character to the room but aren't too overwhelming! And for the price you can't really beat it!