Peek into my home. Letter Wall

A peek into my home..

This letter wall was a cinch to make and cost me under $20. Score!

And I also just happen to LOVE the look.

  I bought a ton of wood, Styrofoam, and chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby and went to work.

Most of the letters I left as is; they coordinated nicely with my muted color scheme but a few of the letters I spruced up a bit.

Here is my favorite one of the bunch..

For this one, I just gathered small twigs, trimmed to size with scissors and hot glued the twigs on.  To soften the dark brown color of the sticks, I painted a thin layer of cream paint and gently wiped some paint off.

Pretty easy, wouldn't you say?

Here's another letter from the wall.. 

I just hot glue dried beans onto my letter for an interesting texture. 

I also picked up some silver thumb tacks from the dollar store and stuck them into a Styrofoam letter for a cool metallic look.

You can decoupage with fabric or scrapbook paper, paint, wrap yarn (have you seen those? - adorable) or glue just about anything on your letters to make your letter wall just right. The possibilities are endless.

Add an adorable baby and you have yourself  an instant photo background. : )

  I would LOVE to make an entire feature wall filled with letters in my entry.  Perhaps one day.

 Loves,

Amber



Cake Topper Love. DIY

Who knew a little paint and a dollar store nicknack could make such a killer cake topping? 

Love how this turned out!

Do you?

Here's how you do it..
First, pick up a nicknack, plastic toy animal, or other statue and some paint ( I used acrylic paint for the doggie and spray paint for the rhino below).  Make sure you get the right kind of paint for your cake topper. If you have a plastic animal, get plastic spray paint (you can find this at any home improvement store).  Paint or spray a thin layer of paint on your nicknack and let dry. Repeat, repeat, repeat until your nicknack is the perfect shade.

If using on top of a cake, place a piece of cardboard cut to size under the puppy so you don't get paint on your yummy frosting : )

Oh, and for a video on how to make the ruffled frosting check out this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHYX0qXDVy0 
It is way easier then it looks!


Loving this spray painted rhino bookend in aqua.

Up next:
a pair of elephant bookends in raspberry.
I can't wait!

Watch out dollar store, I'm head your way for more.

Hope you Enjoy!

Loves,
Amber

$7 Paper Wreath Tutorial..

I am choosy with my crafts.  I prefer crafts that are affordable (meaning I could not purchase one at the same price it takes to make it), not overly time consuming, and does not look homemade.  This one fits the bill just perfectly.

Now, I did not come up with this idea.. I've seen them sold everywhere.    But I thought this is certainly worth sharing incase you haven't seen it!

My $7 Version of a Paper wreath.... 

  It is large (26 inch circumference) so it is perfect for covering an empty wall or hanging on the door.

This is not a detailed tutorial just some quick notes on how I made my wreath.

Supplies:
-Styrofoam or hay wreath.  I used hay.  Cost: $3 with 1/2 off coupon. (gotta love those coupons!)
-Hanging wire or rope.  Cost: free, I had some hanging wire left over from some photos I hung.
-Thrift store book.  Cost: $1  You could also use scrapbook paper or some other colored paper if you want it to have a different look to it.
-Paint for page edges. (if desired) Cost: I had on hand so free.
-Glue gun & glue sticks.  I went through a whole package of glue sticks. Cost: $3 with coupon.


Here's basically how I did it:


First, I painted the edges of my book pages a brown color.  This gives the wreath a bit more interest.  Let that dry.

Second, I wrapped the hanging wire around the wreath and formed a loop so that I can hang the wreath when it is all finished. 

Next, I ripped a page or two out and curled it like so...
I curled one side..

then the other in the other opposite direction.

We are going to start by gluing this to the back of the wreath to give the wreath a fuller look when it is done.  I  flattened the bottom and hot glued the flattened part of the paper to the back of the wreath (with the curled edges out).  Repeat until the back of the wreath has one layer of glued paper around it.

Next, turn your wreath over fold another sheet of paper, but this time fold the bottom like so...

Hot glue the folded bottom to the wreath close to your first layer.   Keep doing this over and over and over and over until your wreath is filled.  This takes a long time.. so you may want to watch your favorite show while ripping, curling, folding, and gluing. : )  Also, a pen or pencil end may help you avoid burns.  Just use the end to hold the paper in place while the glue sets. 

Give your wreath a good once over and fill in any sparse spots with more rolled paper.

That's it.
Easy, cheap, and beautiful!

Free Downloads..

 I just love a good nursery, almost as much as I love the little squish who gets to sleep in it. : )  My vision for the Little One's nursery was cheery, bright, and simple.  I was inspired by this beauty from Domino Magazine:

 

I love, love, love everything about this.. don't you?  While this was too masculine for my Little One, I wanted to take a few design elements from this room and incorporate it into mine.

 With probably a tiny fraction of the budget used above.. I came up with this:

Bright, happy.

Homemade crib bumper and skirt made from IKEA fabric.  Colorful sheet was thrifted (still with tags on!).  Black frames were found at the Dollar Store.. (GASP!!) and were filled with a cut up black and white bird print gift bag and fabric.   (anyone want to give me a hint on hanging perfectly straight photos...anyone??)White Home Depot shag carpet completes the look. 

Now on the other wall we have this cheery wall display:

 The frames I used $3 frames from Michaels and painted them white.  Those cheery yellow photo mats came white from the Dollar Store (2 for a $1, I might add!!!).  I just painted them with acrylic paint. Isn't that easy?

Now here's the fun part..

Here is a 100% free download for my Little Lamb drawing & my Love one Another print. : )

Hooray for Flickr!


Love One Another graphic print:
Love one another

Little Lamb drawing (drawn by yours truly):

Little Lamb

Have a Cheery Day.. and ENJOY!

Loves,

Amber

Tissue Paper Flower Tutorial

So I've recently discovered the pure blissful-ness (for lack of a better word!) of tissue paper. Tissue paper is inexpensive and found everywhere. What more could you want? : )
Here's a recent project:

The possibilities are endless with this quick and easy tutorial.
Wouldn't this make an adorable Valentine's wreath? Or a maybe a hanging flower ball? Oh, or a flower filled tree?

Here is how you do it.
You will need:
-Styrofoam ball, wreath, or tree (I did a Styrofoam ball cut in half that I stuck in a ramekin.)
-scissors
-tissue paper in color of your choice
-straight pins you know, the ones with the colored ball on the end (these will be the flowers center so pick a color that coordinates with your flower)

Cut tissue paper in small flower shapes. I folded the tissue paper and cut out a ton of flowers at once.


Layer three tissue flowers on top of each other then poke the pin through all three layers.


Poke the pin and flower into the Styrofoam ball or wreath. Repeat, repeat, repeat until desired fullness is achieved.

Now, wasn't that easy?
Here's an action shot: