Category Archives: DIY & DECOR

Chalk Paint – Tried & Tested (I finally did it!)

Posted on by

2

So, I did it! I finally broke down and bought some of Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint… So what did I think? Would I do it again? And most importantly, would I recommend it?

When it comes to crafting & DIY-ing, one of my main goals is to cut costs wherever possible, and painting furniture was definitely one of those items always up on the chopping block… Why would I buy special paint when I could just go out to my trusty garage and mix up some kind of creative concoction to get the job done? Well, chalk paint has been all of the rave lately, and I have a couple of friends who swear by it, so I finally decided to throw in the towel and try it!

And — dun, dun, dun… the results are in! I love, love, love it! And here are the reasons why:

  1. First of all, the color selection is amazing! They have a large variety of main colors to chose from, and then by mixing these you can easily create a whole new set of colors!
  2. It only took me two coats of paint for sufficient coverage. Yes — I said, TWO COATS!
  3. The piece that I painted was about 14 square feet, and I only used about 1.5 inches of paint out of the can! This fact significantly reduces the price-point of chalk paint. You will be able to paint A LOT of pieces from just one can!
  4. Chalk Paint can be used on a large variety of surfaces, ranging from wood and metal all of the way to plastic and fabric!
  5. NO PRIMING or SANDING required! Just another great benefit… (Just remember to use a little common sense with this one… Do not paint over peeling or flaking paint. Just give it a real quick sanding or wire-brushing first!)
  6. There are several different finishes that can be easily achieved with chalk paint. (Chippy-Rustic Look, Smooth Modern Finish, Two-Color Distressing and the Simple Vintage Look!)
  7. Chalk paint  has two different waxes to choose from to finish off your masterpiece, a clear wax or a dark wax… another super-feature of chalk paint — getting so many completely different looks out of the same can of paint!
  8. This wonderful product can also be used as an interior or exterior paint!
  9. I was able to use the dark wax instead of a stain to accentuate the grain in my unpainted wood — So easy!

So, in summary, if you have been contemplating Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint — I say… GO FOR IT! You will LOVE it! 🙂

Pretty Fall Foliage for Free!

Posted on by

 

 

 

2

This sudden turn of beautiful Fall weather has been not only super-refreshing, but super-inspiring as well! Last night, I decided to go for a walk to see what type of Fall foliage I could scrounge up for a lovely, homemade centerpiece… and boy, did I hit the jackpot or what?! The best part about my centerpiece is that it was free, and you know, I think it kind of looks super-professional, and I am super-proud of it! 😀

Every single piece of foliage used here is one — a weed and two — out of a ditch! Ditches are the best place to find a wide assortment of different plants, because lets face it, everything needs water to grow! See the big poofy-ball-thingies in the picture below, those are dried out thistle-heads… Pretty cool!
IMG_20151001_085103-2

One major faux pas that I made, was that I forgot to wear gloves… So picking those thistle-heads was slightly painful, but well worth it! Other than remembering gloves, make sure that you also watch out for poison ivy and poison sumac… both can appear quite pretty, but they are just trying to trick you! Stay far, far away!

IMG_20151001_085208I hope that you have enjoyed this post and now feel inspired to create your own Pretty Fall Foliage centerpiece! Enjoy!

 

Creating The Perfect Nursery For Your Little One!

Posted on by

Feature ImageCreating the nursery for your little one may sometimes seem overwhelming as you want everything to be just perfect! But it doesn’t have to be that way! It can really be made super simple, by simply just knowing where to start!

The first major steps to planning the perfect nursery are to pick colors and a theme…. yes there are soooo many choices out there…. How do you choose the right one??! Well…. I happened to stumble upon my theme by taking a trip to the local fabric store for something completely unrelated to the nursery!

While at the fabric store, I decided to take a stroll through the baby/kids’ fabric section, saw this beautiful John Deere green and pink fabric, and instantly fell in love! I immediately bought all of the fabric that was in stock on the spot! So if you are having trouble selecting the perfect theme for your nursery, I definitely recommend taking a stroll through your local fabric store! Whether you are looking for a boy, girl, or neutral theme, they will have LOTS of options to choose from!4As luck would have it, my super-talented Momma can sew! So she was able to make a beautiful quilt, a matching window valance, and a change table skirt!1So, since I was so easily able to stumble across my nursery theme, you might think that choosing the colors for the nursery was just as simple…. and guess what… it was! So how did I decide to paint the walls green and not pink, or white, or grey? I went out to my garage to see what I already had, and there just happened to be a can of green paint in stock — TOTAL SCORE!!! Well, almost total score… I only had enough paint to do three of my nursery walls… so, how did I choose the second color for the fourth wall? I went back out to the garage to check my stock pile, and found this nice neutral beige! To help tie it in and dress it up a little, I painted my special baby-to-be’s name and added a floral mural of the different colors of the nursery.2When decorating a room, I always like to do it “on a dime” and keep the budget to a minimum. To do this I like to have a nice combination of new and old. A trick that I use to ensure that all of my new and old objects go together, is to use many different shades of the same color.8The crib and change table were actually mine as a baby! The rocking chair is an antique from my parents farm, that I painted white and reupholstered, with super thick cushions, since I would be spending a lot of my future time in it! 😉 The ballerina teddy bear picture was also mine as a little girl, I just put it in an antique frame that I got for $2 at a yard sale and painted white.6For the mobile, I took and old used one and covered it in pink fabric. I then made little shapes, (a star, heart, tractor, butterfly and flower) out of left over material scraps. And then my crafty Momma had the brilliant idea to cover mini-canvases (from the Dollar Store) with matching fabric.<3 10And then on one special day, along came my very special, baby-girl, Miss Lacee Grace! <3 I couldn’t be more happy with how this beautiful nursery turned out!

DIY Rose Petal Air Freshener In A Mason Jar

Posted on by

6I recently celebrated my birthday — 29 and Feelin’ Fine! And to my amazement… My husband actually bought me flowers! [Side Note: Guys, if you’re reading this, buy your lady some flowers! Seriously, on any day — it will make her day! Or even pick some! LOL] They were beautiful red roses and they smelled so amazing, that when they started to wilt about a week later, I thought to myself — How can I make these last longer?! So, this is what I came up with! Not only does it smell SO good, it took like 10 minutes to make! Seriously! 😀

Step 1: The first thing that I did was remove the rose heads from the stems. Then I used my trusty Uloo and an old cutting board to chop them up.

Step 2: Next, I sprinkled some regular old table salt onto the chopped up rose petals. I then placed them into my mason jar.

Step 3: I then doubled up a small piece of tulle, covered the jar opening, screwed on the lid, and then trimmed the edges that poked out. I them wrapped a small string of pearls around the neck of the jar for “garnish”!

That’s it! Super easy & Super cute! Remember to give your Air Freshener a little shake every once in a while to revive the beautiful aroma! And, if you liked this post, you will LOVE my good friend Courtenay’s DIY Mercury Glass Mason Jar Air Freshener!

Wreath Decorating for Beginners! (In just 3 EASY steps!)

Posted on by

Ahhh…. Wreath decorating with faux flowers…. what can I say?! It’s really not that hard! (I promise!)…. Check out these 3 EASY steps for applying equal coverage to a wreath of any size!

Tick-Tock…. just pretend it’s a Clock!

Step 1: After selecting your faux flowers or fauna, trim the stems to about 4″. (I find that a small pair of side cutters works best for this!)Step 1Step 2: Start by placing one colour of flower at 12, 3, 9 & 6 o’clock. Follow up by placing the other flower colours directly beside those first placed flowers. Continue to do so until all of your flowers have been used!step 2Step 3: To add an extra POP! to your wreath, add large random flowers to about 10/11 and 5 o’clock. See?? Sooooo EASY!!!! 

Step 3

Related Articles:

DIY Harvest Wreath

How To Make The Perfect Bow

 

DIY Harvest Wreath — (In 4 Easy Steps!)

Posted on by
Feature ImageIt’s July, and if Harvest Season hasn’t started yet in your area, it will be soon! I am SO in LOVE with the way this Simple, DIY, Harvest Wreath turned out …. and to make it even better, I was able to hand-pick this wheat right off of the family farm where I grew up! If you are harvesting your own wheat out of the fields for crafts, you need to harvest it about 2 weeks prior to harvest season when the wheat is in the doughy stage. To tell if it is in the doughy stage, take a bite into it and if it’s chewy, you are good to go! Don’t worry if you aren’t able to hand-pick your wheat, it is available in most craft stores too! 🙂
 step 1Step 1: The first thing that you need to do is trim your wheat to have about a 2″ stem. If you are picking your own wheat out of the field, I highly suggest that you just cut off 2″ stems out there. And yes — I did learn this the hard way…. I had to cut each wheat stem twice! LOLStep 2Step 2: Tie your wheat into bundles of 3-5 heads. You could use any type of string that you have on hand, but I found that Florist’s Wire works the best! Just cut it into 1.5″ pieces and wrap around the wheat…. Way easier than tying a million little knots! (Don’t worry — you don’t have to really tie a “million” knots!)Step 3Step 3: Use a glue gun to attach the wheat to your macrame ring, or grapevine wreath, (I used a grapevine wreath because it’s what I already had on hand). You will want to start gluing at the top of the wreath and overlay each bundle on top of the previous one. Once you have done a full lap around the whole wreath, go back to the top and fill in any bare spots.Step 4Step 4: Use florist’s wire to attach your bow and hang your wreath! SO simple and SO beautiful!
Tip: If you need help making a bow, check out my good friend Courtenay’s simple instructions for making The Perfect Bow, over at The Creek Line House!

 

Classic Tire Swing

Posted on by
Classic Tire SwingAh, the Classic Tire Swing! It was actually my brilliant neighbour that came up with this totally nostalgic idea…. So credit to my good friend Courtenay of The Creek Line House for this one! 🙂 Step 1Step #1: Find an old Tire!
Finding the perfect tire is probably a little easier than you actually think! Tires are one of those things that are hard to dispose of, so people will often give away old tires for free… Yes — FREE!!!  One place to always check are the classified ads, such as Kijiji… And the second place to check is with farmers! Farmers often go through a higher rate of tires than the average household and they will probably have a much larger selection of different sizes and types to choose from!
Step 2Step #2: Drill a HOLE
The best way to drill the perfect hole into the tire is by using a Hole Saw, (aka: Hole Cutter)! The hole saw is centered onto a drill bit which will create a stationary point, while the teeth of the hole saw gently saw through, preventing large chunks from breaking of. Slow and gentle is the best way to use this tool!
Step 3Step #3: String up a Rope!
Finding the perfect branch for your new tire swing is SO exciting!!! But once you have found the perfect branch, you need to find the PERFECT ROPE to string up over it! I recommend choosing a rope with minimum elasticity, but that is still very strong and flexible. It is important that your rope is also abrasion resistant and will properly withstand the 4 Seasons! Here is a helpful link provided by Home Depot for choosing the perfect rope: Rope Buying Guide
Step 4Step #4: Fasten Tire, Enjoy & Smile 🙂
Fasten your tire by pushing the rope through the hole and then tying a giant knot — sooooo simple, right?! Then ENJOY!!!!! 

 

DIY Barn Board Flower Box

Posted on by

DIY Painted flower box Sign made with Barn Board

If you are looking for a really quick and simple way to update your backyard this spring, this DIY painted flower box sign is a very easy way to add a little bit of character to your backyard. 

DIY Painted flower box Sign made with Barn Board

The cute little shed in my backyard had already had a flower box under the window, but it was starting to rot and completely falling apart… Plus it was just a little boring! Therefore, I decided to build a brand new flower box.

Rather than spend money on new materials, I just used an old deck board that I found behind the shed. The dimensions that I used to build this box were (WxHxD), 24″ x 4″ x 6″. I chose the dimensions of my box based on the size of barn board that I had, but you can make your box any size that you like!

DIY Painted flower box Sign made with Barn Board

Don’t forget to leave gaps for drainage so your flowers don’t drown when there is a heavy rainfall. My dimensions actually worked out perfect so that when I centered the bottom board a 1″ gap was left on each side for drainage.

DIY Painted flower box Sign made with Barn Board

After my DIY flower box was all assembled, I needed to fasten my piece of barn board to it. To do this, I nailed the barn board to the front of the box with finishing nails.

This piece of barn board came from my parent’s farm, and I had been saving it for a couple of years for some weird, random, perfect project, such as this!

I then used stencils and white paint to write the word “Welcome” across the front, but you can write anything that you like!

DIY Painted flower box Sign made with Barn Board

Once it was dry, I fastened it to my shed wall, filled it with soil and then added some pretty flowers. That’s it! It’s amazing how one simple little DIY project can have such a large impact, and completely take your curb appeal to the next level! 

MORE GREAT POSTS TO CHECK OUT!

Easy DIY Mulch Garden that will Last for Years!

5 Tips for Growing a Successful Asparagus Patch!

Design and Devise your Dream Outdoor Space on a Budget!

DIY Bench made from a Head-board and Foot-board!

10 Pretty and Eclectic DIY Benches!

DIY Painted flower box Sign made with Barn Board

*This post may contain affiliate links.*