Valentines Decor?

I'm not even going to talk about how I'm the worst blogger ever. I'm just going to post a new project and try to be more dedicated than I have been. Forgive me, followers! I still heart you!

I saw this project posted eons ago and filed it away in my head.

At one point, I even purchased the wood to build my own.
I never got around to it, though.

This is the view from my front door when looking directly to the back of my house.

The little wall over the stairs has never bothered me before, but a couple of weeks ago I suddenly decided it was the perfect place to hang something. I was putting my Valentines decor out at the time, and all the "Love" themed pieces must have reminded me of my Beatles inspiration piece.

The wood I had in the garage, however, was far too big. Instead I picked up a 2 gallery canvas's at JoAnn's.

For my letters I created a custom document in microsoft publisher that was the same size as my canvas (24x12) and played with the size and stretch of the letters until it fit the way I wanted it to. Then I turned those letters light grey (so as not to waste too much ink) and moved them to a standard letter size sheet of paper to print them out. 

Then I cut the letters out and attached them to my canvas with a regular old glue stick. 

(I started by just doing one canvas. That way, if it didn't work, I'd only ruined one, lol)

I love this reverse-stencil technique - and using a glue stick to make the paper stay works perfectly. It peels off without too much trouble but stays well enough if you don't jostle it around.

Anyway, I sprayed over the entire canvas with black spray paint. Two light coats.

When it was completely dry, I peeled the paper letters off. They came off surprisingly well. So, instead of printing and cutting out an entire new set of letters, I reused these ones. They were a bit curled, but I pressed them with my iron between two towels and they were perfect.

The letters stood out as extremely white and the black was just a pit too perfect for my taste, so I took some fine grit sand paper to it. Then I diluted some bronze paint and rubbed it over the canvas, giving the letters a bit of color and softening the black.

I love the result. The question is, is it Valentines Decor, or not?
I'm leaning towards not. I think I'll probably keep these up all year long.

Before and After:

Now I just need to replace those hideous sconce's. Bleck!

Bow Tutorial

A few weeks ago I posted a Bow Holder project I had made for all my daughters hair bows. I mentioned then that I would post a Hair Bow Tutorial at some point in the future...
So here it is!

There are a lot of ways to make hairbows - mine probably isn't the best/most professional/easiest way. It's just the way I do it - and it works for me! My daughter is VERY (over)active, and these stay together for her - so I must be doing something right!
Type A: The Boutique Bow

To start I cut two lengths of ribbon based on what size I want my bow to be. I singe the ends with a lighter and fold them into loops. I use hot glue to attach mine - a very tiny bit! Otherwise you won't be able to gather the bow in the center.

(I used to use sewing glue, but found that hot glue holds about a millions times better and dries about a million times quicker)

Put one loop inside the other and turn them so they make an X

Then cut your additional ribbons. For this bow I used 1 wide organza ribbon and 4 coordinating gross grain ribbons (2 of each pattern.)

Again, I singe the edges with a lighter, then layer the ribbons on top of my X.

I use super thin floral wire to wrap the middle as tight as I can get it.

At this point I added another ribbon - it felt like it needed some more pink.

Then I choose a coordinating ribbon to use as the center wrap and attach it with a dot of hot glue.

I attach the barrette to the back of the bow with (yep!) more hot glue - then wrap the ribbon over it.

And there it is!

Type 2: The Pony Bow

I just learned how to make this style, and I love it. I actually purchased one from Gymboree so I could examine it closely. Mine are just as fabulous as theirs are, and are SO MUCH CHEAPER.

Start with several pieces (I used 10) of coordinating ribbon in different widths and patterns cut to about 14 inches long.

Make sure they're nice and flat - I use a 1/2 inch flat iron to smooth mine out.

You're going to choose two "main" ribbons to become your T for the bow. One will be the bottom, the other will be the top. They should match each other.
Start with the bottom ribbon and begin crossing ribbons over the top of it.

The goal is that no two ribbons sit directly on top of each other - so you can see them all when it's laying flat - but you want to keep them pretty close together or the ribbons don't fall as pretty when it's in the pony tail.

Once they're all laid out how you want them, sew them together. You don't have to use a machine for this, but I did.

Sew it in an X, so you're sure to get all the ribbons.

Then you take your elastic, stand it up right and use your second "T" ribbon to attach it.

I marked where I wanted it and sewed the first side without the elastic in it.

Then I slid the elastic back in and sewed the second side down.

And that's it.

Here it is in my daughters pony tail. I love this style of bow! It's so sweet - but a little more "grown-up" looking :)

Indian Summer

Autumn is my favorite season.
I love the cooler temperatures, the changing leaves and the football. Usually I can't wait to pull out my Fall decorations and put them up.
This year, though, I'm reluctant to let go of Summer. Luckily, Mother Nature agrees with me. It's been close to 90 every day this week! We are definitely having an Indian Summer.

While I'm wasn't really feeling my fall decor yet, I felt like the Summer stuff was a bit out dated. So I came up with an Indian Summer theme. My Summer decor this year was yellow and turquoise. I decided to keep the yellow and replace the blue with red. Instant change.
You've seen the faux-sew pillows.

Sunflowers are EVERYWHERE right now, so I thought they'd work well on my porch, too. I used the super-fake looking artificial ones. Normally I hate silk flowers, but these are so fake they don't even look like they are trying, and that makes me like them more. (for today)
I also added a brown bottle (de-labeled and scrubbed) with 3 sunflowers stuck inside it.

The rest of the sunflower bush got hot-glued onto a foam wreath, which I then stuck in the middle of a fall wreath that I've ripped most of the good stuff out of. I like the way it looks, simple, but beefy :)

My favorite part is the "Indian Summer" sign that I made - because I wanted the theme to be abundantly clear. I used a scrap piece of beadboard and a scrap piece of hardboard.
Spray painted the beadboard red and covered the hardboard in yellow patterned scrapbook paper. Then I had lettered the words on using a sharpie. Hot glued the whole thing together, drilled a couple of holes and strung a ribbon through and the whole thing was done (even with paint drying!) in about an hour.

I like the porch. It's summery and autumny all at once.

Tomorrow is October 1, though, and I'm planning to put up the Halloween decorations then. When they come down, my Fall will go up. This Indian Summer look is fleeting, but it was a fun change to make.

Now...if the weather will just hold out a couple more weeks, maybe I can get one more outside project in.
Don't you think this window would look fab with shutters on it?
 

 Me, too!

My Mod Podge

In honor of the Mod Podge Mayhem linky party I'm helping to host this week, I thought I'd post one of my own mod-podge projects!
I use Mod Podge all the time, actually, it's just rarely to make anything that's cool enough to post about. I, for instance, have never covered a pair of SHOES with modge podge.  How freakin' cool is that???

Anyway - this is supposed to be about my project.
Which happens to be part of my kitchen redecorating project...which I've totally slacked off on posting about. I'm going to finish that up next week, I promise. So stay tuned for that.

Anyway - (again) - as part of my kitchen redecorating project I went on a beautifying rampage. My mantra was "everything must be pretty!"
And we all know...can openers (though necessary) are not pretty.

Rather than screw around with (and take the chance of destroying) a perfectly good can opener, I decided to disguise it.
I started by building a backless, bottomless box out of the cabinet centers that I had removed for my custom cabinet project.

I gave it a quick coat of cream paint so that the paper I chose would have a light background

Then I cut the paper and applied it with Mod Podge. A coat underneath to adhere the paper, and two thin coats on top to give it a somewhat waterproof finish.

I love the way it looks. It's so cute!

And it's super easy to slide to the side so I can use the can opener.

It's been sitting on my counter, right next to my sink, for 7 months and it's help up beautifully! I was a bit worried about steam or spray from the sink ruining the paper, but it's stayed perfect.

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

Recently I added a new folder to my "Favorites"
I called it "To Make"
I'm adding crafts to it like crazy - it's going to be my favorite favorite folder :)

This darling soap dispenser is the reason I created my new folder - and it was the first thing I made from it, too. I just love it so much!

How cute is that?

It's been made by several people, but I went ahead and used Heather's instructions from HeatherBullard.com. They were well written and easy to follow - a huge bonus!

Start with a soap dispenser you like, a mason jar, a drill with whole saw attachment and some epoxy.

Cut the top off your soap dispenser, leaving the threading intact. Measure and drill a whole into your mason jar lid for your bottle top to fit through. Then epoxy them together.

I went with a purple soap. It's blackberry-vanilla scented. Or something.

Anyway, it's lovely! I absolutely adore the way it looks - so cute and fun!