DIY Grapevine Heart Garland
Anthropologie is currently selling a grapevine heart garland for Valentine’s Day, and I thought I could make one for cheaper and put my own spin on the craft. I was right, for once, about the cheaper part. And I love putting my own spin on a craft, so this one was right up my alley. I did not consult the Crafting Constitution to determine if there is a rule decreeing that a garland must be composed of like-sized items. As you can see, the hearts on my garland are different sizes and don’t connect at the same point, but they are all strung together. I could hang it below the…
Five Ways to Decorate With Nuts for Christmas
Decorating for the holidays with natural ingredients is a hoot! This year, I have come up with five ways to decorate with nuts this Christmas. Three of these ideas are mine. Two are not. I consider the two ideas that are not mine to be crafts-in-waiting. There’s only so much time in a day. I can either buy something another maker has made if I really want it now, which is okay! I can also save the idea to make it another year. At my current rate of idea saving, I have enough crafts to keep me busy for the next 1,413 years, give or take a decade. Can you…
DIY Giant Plywood Christmas Trees
Decorating for the holidays? The thing your front porch is missing is giant plywood Christmas trees. They can be painted any color, made in most any size, and can fold flat for storage. That’s it. That’s my pitch. Blog post complete. Kidding! You know I’m chattier than that. To make giant plywood Christmas trees, you need to cut two isosceles triangles out of plywood. I might have had to Google how to spell isosceles, but I do know from high school that it’s a triangle with two equal sides and two equal angles. We used rough plywood, not finish-grade plywood, because no one is examining these trees up close. I…
13 DIY Fall Decor Ideas to Make When You’re Feeling Crafty
Most of us get the itch – the crafty one – and need to create something, anything! Today I’m rounding up 13 DIY fall decor ideas to make when you’re in the mood to be crafty. I’m sharing these now because I know as soon as Starbucks releases their pumpkin spice latte later this month some of you will ditch summer faster than a child’s ice cream cone melts on a swelteringly hot day. (P.S. Never order a little kid a cone. Always a dish of ice cream. Always. Thank me later.) These 13 DIY fall decor ideas are not listed in any particular order. I wouldn’t be able to…
Woven American Flag on an Antique Grate
I need a more succinct name for this project, but I’m thrilled to share my woven American flag on an antique grate with you today! If you live in a very old house or spend your free time rifling through dusty finds in architectural salvage shops (as one does) then you might have been lucky enough to come across an antique grate or two. They could be floor grates, wall grates, or window grates. They are all amazing, but the first question is how many of them does one person need? I have two. My husband thinks that is two too many, but I think he just hasn’t seen their…
Faux Chocolate Bunny – With Wood Rabbit and Gold Leaf
You can’t eat it, but the Faux Chocolate Bunny I made for Easter decor is pretty cute. Plus, you can decorate with it year after year. That real chocolate bunny you bought won’t even last a day. Let’s hop right to the how-to. Here’s what you need to make a Faux Chocolate Bunny: wood bunny (set of 2 in this pack) dark brown stain or paint gold leaf gilding adhesive or Mod Podge small paintbrush Polyurethane or Mod Podge for sealing How to make a Faux Chocolate Bunny: Step 1: Stain or paint your wood bunny. I used a honey-colored stain, but dark brown paint would work too. Here’s how…
Paper Flower Garland
Who’s ready for a party? This girl is because I have the happiest paper flower garland hanging up ready for a celebration. What are we celebrating? Longer daylight hours. Daffodils popping out of the ground. The new season of Reacher. A really good night’s sleep. Anything and everything is a cause for celebration these days. Those are the rules. Take your joy where you can get it, folks. Speaking of things that bring me joy, I have proclaimed loudly and often that I am not a garland person and, yet, I seem to come up with excuses for making garlands and hanging them up in my house. Need evidence? I…
Scrapbook Paper Flowers – Spring Fireplace Decor
Let’s talk scrapbook paper flowers and all the ways you can use them to decorate your home. I’m craving the color of spring flowers, but it still looks like winter in New Jersey. So, I do what I often do. Fake it till spring arrives I make it. This time, I used scrapbook paper flowers to decorate my dining room fireplace for spring. It looks like I’m ready for spring now, doesn’t it? I still have snow shovels by the front door, but that’s a little detail we don’t need to dwell on. What you need to make scrapbook paper flowers: Scrapbook Paper (I used this paper, but you can use…
Vintage Floral Easter Eggs Using Temporary Tattoos
Breaking Crafting News! I made vintage-looking floral Easter eggs using temporary tattoos. Yes, temporary tattoos…for that vintage look. HA! Until last week, I had lived my whole life not knowing that temporary tattoos can transfer to items other than skin. I saw a video of someone customizing sneakers using temporary tattoos. Do you know what’s related to sneakers? Not wood Easter eggs! But that’s where my brain went, and I needed to see if that technique would apply to Easter eggs. Spoiler: It works beautifully. This is a game changer for someone who can’t paint to save her life. Fake it till you make it, which is kind of the…
Reclaimed Copper Tile Tray
I have a DIY reclaimed copper tile tray to share with you today that has the coolest backstory. First, did you know copper tiles were a thing? Actual metal tiles. I did not until I found them hidden under some drywall in our kitchen! We could see a sliver of them and their glorious copper sheen when we replaced some trim. For many reasons, we did not demo the wall to see how many copper tiles were hiding back there or what condition they were in. Yes, this was disappointing in the short term, but now I know there’s something to look forward to – besides the extra work –…
