Burlap Banner Tutorial

Hey there!!

Recently I took you guys on a little tour of my cheaply inexpensively decorated fall home.  One of the stops was my fall mantel.  It really makes me happy every time I walk in our family room.  Even when the pumpkins I so artfully set up are scattered all over the floor.  Can you tell I live with little people?

The banner that I added was super easy to make.  All I needed was a good movie, and what better movie to get me in the fall/Halloween mood than Hocus Pocus?!? Love Love Love that movie!!!

This was way easy to make.  So it hardly needs a tutorial, but I'll show you the steps I took to make mine anyway.

You'll need:

1 Burlap.  I bought 2 yards at Walmart.  1yd is enough, but I have plans for my leftover.

2. Some pretty ribbon to hold your pennants together.

3. Stop Fraying (I'm pretty sure glue would work too)

Things I already had on hand: Card stock, Marker for tracing, acrylic paint, hot glue gun

I started by printing my word.  One letter per page on card stock.  Sorry, I can not for the life of me remember the size, but I used Century Schoolbook for the font.

Next, I created a card stock template for tracing pennants.  Mine was 8 inches across the top and 12 inches down each slanted side.  I had to play around with sizing to be sure my letters fit.  Next I traced a pennant for each letter.  I chose autumn because I feel like fall wouldn't have been long enough for the size of my mantel.

Once the pennants were all traced, I cut each one out.  Be ready for some serious sweeping and vacuuming, as there will be strands and burlap particles all over.

Then, I immediately applied this Stop Fraying solution.   I used this entire bottle.

TIP: I used a paint brush to help spread it along the edges.

While I waited for the Stop Fraying to dry I cut out each of my letters.  I wish I had one of those awesome Silhouette cutting machines, but I don't.  So very carefully I cut out each letter, be very sure to keep the surrounding paper in tact.  I laid my letters out on my pennants one last time to ensure they all fit nicely.

I used double sided tape to hold my letter templates down while I sponged on my brown acrylic paint.

Mostly I only had to do one coat, but there were a few I went back over.

Once they were all painted,  I lined them up.  I left about a fingertip's worth of space between each one.  

Last I used my hot glue gun to glue on a pretty crocheted ribbon I picked up from Hobby Lobby.

I have since fixed my rose, that appears to be unraveling. 

After I had hung my banner I decided it needed a little something, so I made cute little ribbon roses.  I hot glued them on, then added a small brown pearl accent to the tips of each pennant.  I had those in my stash.

I finished a little before the movie went off, but missed the ending due to the fact I was staring blissfully at my new banner.  Sigh... I'm in love.

Laundry Room Reveal

Originally Posted October 2011

Last week I was pretty quiet on the blogging front, but for a very good reason. I have completed my new and improved laundry room. It was a lot of work (isn't everything with two very small boys?), I mean ugly work. You know, the kind of work when your sweaty, your hair is in a messy pony tail, you've got hubby's old paint cover t-shirts on. Yes... It was ugly work, but soooo worth it. I am in love with my new space. Come on, let me give you a tour.

This was the view from the door... Remember?

Booooooo!

This is what my space looks like now. I breath a little happy sigh whenever I enter now.

I chose to go with Behr's Burnt Almond. I had hopes of maybe Honest Blue because we had some left over from another project, but it was flat and I needed a semi-gloss. I also toyed with the idea of pink stripes because I love all things pink... But my husband (who is not into pink as much as I am) shot that idea down pretty quickly. Pshhh, like he even does laundry... Anyway, we have Burnt Almond in our main living areas so I knew I would love it.

When I first decided to re-do my laundry room, I really thought about how to make it as functional as possible. I knew it needed to be easy to clean, and organized. I also wanted to make sure I could neatly and nicely find a home for everything. Enter baskets! I found these baskets at Walmart. They came in sets of three. I bought two sets... I used some of the extras in other areas of my home.

I replaced the wire shelf with this Lack shelf from Ikea.  While I was at it, I lowered it to make it more functional for me.  I'm actually 5' 7" and I still had to get on my tippy toes to reach the other shelf.

I also made this valance from some curtains we weren't using.  I just cut the bottom off and used hemming tape because I'm not a big sewer.   I added these cute flowers made from an old t-shirt. I followed this tutorial from Delightful Order.  I adjusted mine a bit for the size I wanted.

I knew I wanted to use glass jars to hold my borax, lol... I typically store clothespins with my craft things. But this idea from Delightful Order was so cute, they have a new home in the laundry room.

My little painted jar vases are one of my favorite additions to the laundry room. I made different shades of pink with some leftover paint from my craft room. After the jars were painted I just wrapped some hemp cord around the opening, and used hot glue to hold it in place. I think they add the perfect touch of femininity and are perfect for holding my roses. They were super easy and wallet friendly too.

I added storage over my sink because (in my very humble oponion) sponges laying on the sink looks sloppy.  My bloggy friend MeMe gave me the great idea to save cute jars and paint the lid to hold things. I think I'm going to keep the loose change I find in one, and possibly sewing things in the other. No, I'm not a big sewer, but I can replace a button or fix a sock with a hole.

I found lots of cute missing socks ideas on Pinterest. I made this one using chalk board spray paint, a dollar store frame, and my new favorite craft purchase... Chalk ink markers. I tied the ribbon to little screws I put in the wall and used my clothespins to clip some socks... Is it crazy that only my husbands socks ended up here.  

I used the same method and materials to make some wall cute wall art.  BTW, do you see the red handle from my mop sitting there in the corner.  I need to keep it there, when the dogs drink they make a huge mess and I need it close, also the floor get s mopped once a week.  I just haven't been able to figure out a place to put it.  I thought of hanging it but the hole in the handle is awkward and won't hang right on the hooks I have.  Any ideas out there?

Latoya over at the Scott's crib made some super cute wall art using toilette paper. I borrowed that idea and made some fun wall flowers. Perhaps I'll add a how to later this week. I added a few for some cute accents around the space.

And one more pic just because I love it so!

So that's it, hope you enjoyed my little tour (well, I guess that was an exteamly long tour).  Now for my next project... Hmmmm, I'm thinking some mudroom love.  What do you think?

I'm linking to:

Making the World Cuter Monday

Balloon Wreath Tutorial

Okay so remember Munchkin's Awesome Disney Cars party.  Well as promised here is the first tutorial from that party.  When I was in my party planning stage, I was scouring the web for anything cool and these wreaths kept popping up (no pun intended).  See for yourself... do a google image search for balloon wreath.  Anyway... this is how I made mine.

 Things I used:

300 Floral pins  (I got mine from Walmart) You may want more or less depending on how puffy you want it, or if you want to add any extra fun things.  (Note.. I did not put balloons all the way around.. just the front and sides.)

Balloons (I suppose close to 300)

14in Straw Wreath.. I had intended to get a bigger one but that was the only size at Joann's (that day?) I am so glad I didn't go bigger... I'd have never finished.

Pipe Cleaners (or chenille stems for you fancy folks)

Here's What To Do:

Put the kids to sleep and turn on your favorite show.

Then use the pins to push the balloons into the wreath.  So this is the first time I've worked with straw wreaths and I began to take the plastic off and it started falling apart so... learn from my mistake if your a newby... DON'T TAKE THE PLASTIC OFF!!

Repeat this step until your thumb hurts... put it away, start again tomorrow.

Continue.. until the kids wake up.. Put it away.

Take it out for the third time and finally finish.  I suppose you could be all super mom and do it in one day... but I didn't... hehehe.

Please note... this is not finished... lol.

To complete add fun spirally pipe cleaners.   To make those just wrap around a pen or pencil... 

slide it off...

bend it in half and voila'... Stick them where ever! 

TA-DAAAAA!!!!!!

After I finished I thought of other fun things to do.. like adding some of the theme characters or small numbers for age.  You could get really creative with this.  By the way, I threw that bow together.. and couldn't do it again if I tried.

Hang in on the birthday honorees door for the week leading up to their birthday for a fun tradition.  Munchkin loved waking up to find it hanging there.

Rainbow Fish Craft

     

The week before last we did Rr is for Rainbows. We did lots of fun things including reading the story The Rainbow Fish (of course) then making cute rainbow fish out of coffee filters.

You'll Need:
A coffee filter
Washable markers
One wiggly eye
Glue
Tin foil
Water

Start by coloring patches of color all over your coffee filter. Use bright colors for best results (yellow doesn't show up well on the brown coffee filter).  Once your coloring is complete use a spray bottle to wet your filter. I let Munchkin shake An old sippy cup full of water on the filter (this worked fine).

 Once your filter is saturated the colors will begin to run together (I had to help it a bit with my finger).  Let it dry completely.  The colors will be much lighter.  Cut it into the shape of a fish.

Then add scales with the tin foil. I put little dots of glue and let Munchkin add the tin foil. Last add the eye and draw a small mouth. Done.  Aren't they cute?

Happy Birthday Munchkin

Munchkin turned two last week.  The time is flying at lightening speed.  He's really into cars, trucks, and trains, pretty much anything with wheels.  Since he's only two and mommy gets to decide, I went with trains (mostly Thomas and Friends).  As soon as I decided on a train themed birthday, I started researching any and everything I could about train parties.  The result: an awesome party, that my little man loved.  Although he probably won't remember it when he is older.  All the hard work, time, and money spent was totally worth it.

The first thing on my list of things to do was make a train cake.  After days of searching the web, I stumbled on an idea for a cupcake train.  I combined a few ideas from different sites and came up with a cool cake that the birthday boy and guest loved. Last year I made him a basketball cake.  Both ideas came from parenting.com .  The directions are easy to follow, and they have lots of cool ideas.  This is my finished product.  It took way longer than I thought to actually decorate and put together.  I used graham crackers and royal icing to hold to the cupcakes.  I made my own cream cheese frosting since I don't like any of the canned varieties. Chocolate Twizzlers and crushed Oreos and more graham crackers made the track.  I finished it off with coconut flakes dyed green.

While searching for really cool train cakes I got an idea to make a cardboard train for the kids to play in.  I pieced it together with used diaper boxes (we have tons in the garage) along with leftover boxes from Christmas.  Lots of tape, glue, paint, and even some paper mache' later... I had a Thomas look alike I dubbed the Munchkin Express.  I love that the only cost was paint and red duct tape.

I decorated the party room with train signs, and a train track on the floor.  All of these ideas can be googled.  I found myself getting carried away with all of the cool things to try or even thinking I can do that better and for way less money.  This train party became my obsession.  Great for the outcome, not so great for my body.  I stayed up till 4am every night that week except one only to wake up to feed my Little Bear at 5.  

FYI - the electric tape I used left a shadowy residue on my carpet.  I had to scrub it off with my Oxy Spray (love it).

It was all totally worth it.  My little guy had such a good time at his party.  I'm already dreaming up ideas for his next party... I hope he still likes race cars next year : ).