Category Archives: crafting

[TUTORIAL] DIY Book / Paper Christmas Wreath… thing

Changing things up on this lovely November Friday. I did this little project last weekend and I was actually surprised and how much I loved the way it turned out, so I thought I’d share it with y’all!

So, last weekend when I was at my in-laws after Thanksgiving, we did some shopping at a few “resource” type stores. Well, I came across this adorable recipe and wine cork paper wreath:

I LOVED it. But it was $50. WHAT?! $50? I thought, I could make this. Right? Right.

So, here’s a little tutorial for you. Oh, and this project? Cost me $0.75 cents. Yeah, really. (Now, not including the items I already owned).

Supplies Needed:

Glue gun
Book of choice
Twine / rope / cording
Piece of card board
Doilies or really anything you want to put in the center
Scissors
Duct Tape
Diet Coke*
*optional

The only thing I purchased was the book, which I got for $0.75 cents at a used book store. Now, I chose this book because it has colorful, thick pages… AND I have this exact same book and I read it growing up. But I couldn’t bear to tear the pages out of a book I’ve had since childhood.

So, I would say, choose a book that you feel okay tearing the pages out of. Hit up a used book store. Don’t tear up that childhood memory.

Plus, I not only love the colorful pages (which makes a colorful wreath), but I love that it’s a Bible story that I could even use throughout the year. You know, because the Message never changes. Right? Right.

1. Anyway, once I removed some of the pages, I started rolling the pages into a cone shape and then hot gluing the bottom of the cone like so:

2. On the square piece of cardboard, I just started flattening out the glued bottoms of the paper cones and glueing them down in a circular pattern like so:

3. Once I had a good base layer, I just started eye-balling it, filling in the gaps, and adding layers of paper cones to the bottom layer like so:

4. Then, once I got the layers to a level I liked, I needed something to go in the center. So, I took a couple extra doilies I had lying around (which I’d originally bought a long time ago at Michael’s for $1 a piece). So, I made the doilies into a flower and glued it to the center like so:

5. Now, to hang it… really any way will work, but I cut some twine and used a staple gun to staple it to the cardboard. That didn’t work as well so I just got out some trust duct tape and that did the trick… like so:

And voila! You have a complete wreath! You could hang it on your front door like so:

Tangent: this was going on whilst making my wreath. I die of cuteness overload:

In the end, I actually opted to hang the wreath on the wall in our living room. I have a live wreath for our front door, and this one ended up being the perfect touch for our wall!

So, have you done any similar projects lately? What would you love to make a wreath out of?

Happy Friday!

Also, don’t forget the First Annual triFABB and Poppy Magazine Holiday Party is THIS SATURDAY at Clothes Hound in Raleigh, North Carolina! Details below and on the triFABB website! Come on out! It’s going to be a BLAST! Wear your snazziest outfit. Sequins encouraged.

Click the image for more details:

[FASHION + PORTRAITS] Born to Rock Baby Shower

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You guys, this is going to be a long post. I am not sorry though because this post, while long, is FULL of pretty people and pretty things. So, check it out.

This past weekend, some girlfriends of mine from church got together and threw the SICKEST Baby Shower for our dear friend Emily. Emily + Dustin are expecting a baby girl, Austyn Blakeley in July. Emily + Dustin are both worship leaders at our church and so when I was coming up with a theme for the shower, “Born To Rock” I knew IMMEDIATELY would be PERFECT.

To start, I’m gonna get the boring stuff outta the way – my outfit for the shower!

[i wanted to look cute, but also be comfortable since i knew i'd be running around and setting up. hence why i went for my trusty pink cowboy boots rather than heels. i would have DIED in heels. plus, the pink boots went with the theme.]

[typical.]

[my attempt at being "couture"]

[i am a dork.]

Outfit Deets:

Dress: JCrew (Summer 2010)
Necklace: JCrew via eBay via Hong Kong
Belt: Target
Bangles: Jewelmint
Boots: eBay (worn in my wedding! )

Okay, now the outfit part is over with – let’s get on to the party details. Again, the theme was “BORN TO ROCK” – so, we just went with it.

[so, these were the invitations i designed. i wanted them to look like a "band flyer" - i designed them in photoshop and then had them printed at kinkos! it was super easy and i loved the way they came out. (i blurred out the details obviously haha)]

[my A-MAZING sister made the cake for the shower. she made the cake for my wedding and when i asked her if she would do the cake for the shower, i was PUMPED when she agreed. and it was SO awesome (not to mention SO DELICIOUS). you can check out my sister's stuff on facebook!]

[i lost my pin almost right away]

[my friend ariel put these swag bags together - they had DELISH cakes pops, DIY hair bows, and sweet bracelets in them!]

[in lieu of a guestbook, we had a guitar case for "tips" - guests wrote tips to the new parents about parenting, love, and life! it was a hit!]

[emily has been craving breakfast foods throughout her pregnancy, so we had BREAKFAST foods galore! jackie pitched in and helped to get the coffee and paper plates and my friend dani worked SO hard and made ALL the food.]

[you know, just posin']

[so many wonderful gifts! austyn is so loved already!]

[my friend ashley came up with all the baby shower games - she did such a great job finding really fun games for us to play!]

[time for me to cut the cake!]

[some other fun shots from the party]

[seriously, how cute are they?]

[the beautiful mom to be and ashley!]

[our game planner!]

[yeah. i had a piece of cake with black icing. woops. i am awkward.]

[it takes A LOT for me to post this on my blog. those onesies should be carolina blue, but i'll deal for now cause i love her.]

[swag bags!]

[the gang]

[emily and her mama are so pretty!]

[the party planners and the mom to be!]

[seriously, how pretty and awesome are my friends? these are some of the most wonderful, godly, caring, selfless women i know.]

[the mom to be and me]

[and this is what i love about her! hahaha doesn't take herself too seriously.]

so then, we decided to have an impromptu “maternity portrait session” – note: i am no professional photographer. i just love taking photos (always have) and emily is a pretty dang good model! i’m so glad she’s allowing me to share some of these GORGEOUS photos.

Enjoy:

[beautiful]

[emily (and dustin) play the guitar - so this was only appropriate...]

[i want her eye color!]

[gorgeous]

[emily could seriously be a model]

[my attempt at being artsy]

[how gorgeous are they? such an amazing couple! these two love the Lord and are going to be amazing parents]

[dustin cracks emily up all the time]

[oh my gawsh]

[hahahahaha bellies!]

[beautiful]

[austyn is going to be so loved]

phew. okay. that was a LONG post. i know. but wasn’t it AWESOME? what was your favorite part?

pin your favorite photos! comment below and tell me what you loved the most! oh, and ALL the photos from the day are going to be up on my Facebook page later today!

thanks for sticking with me. i’m so blessed by amazing friends!

xoxo, all for now.

OH, and one more thing, I made a “baby shower” playlist that played in the background of the party and I kept getting questions about what songs were on it – here’s the playlist for those who are curious:

“Baby Baby” – Amy Grant
“Baby I Want You” – Amos Lee
“Baby” – Brandy
“Hey Baby” – Bruce Channel
“Baby Blue” – Dave Matthews Band
“American Baby” – Dave Matthews Band
“Beating Heart Baby” – Head Automatica
“Baby Be Mine” – Michael Jackson
“Little Bitty” – Alan Jackson
“I Wonder” – The City Harmonic
“Born to Run” – Bruce Springsteen
“Born for This” – Paramore
“Sweet Child O’ Mine” – Guns N Roses
“Always Be My Baby” – Mariah Carey
“Baby I Need Your Lovin” – The Four Tops
“Baby I Love You” – The Ronettes
“Baby Love” – The Supremes
“Baby” – Justin Bieber
“Baby It’s You” – The Beatles
“Be My Baby” – The Ronettes
“Baby, I Love Your Way” – Peter Frampton

Oh, and yeah, I’m out of control and ALSO made a little video of the day! I’m an amateur, but thought I’d share it anyway.

[FASHION + DIY Gifts] Mother’s Day Weekend Adventures

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You guys. I am tired. My weekend was SO fun, but I am tired. Now, I’m not complaining, I’m merely making a statement of my tiredness.

I had the day off of work on Friday and I felt like such a rebel. I consciously didn’t make my bed. WHAT?! I am a bit OCD about making our bed every day. And Friday, I was heading to Burlington to meet my sister and nephew for lunch and I took one look at the bed and said, “Nope. I’m not making you.”

As my husband so appropriately said, “You’re so metal.”

He’s so sweet.

Anywho. Saturday was JAM PACKED. I helped to throw my friend’s baby shower and it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E. Seriously. It was so awesome. I had a blast. And the girls who helped me put it all together were amaaaazing. I’m gonna blog the whole thing this week. You can bet your boots das right.

Saturday afternoon, hubs and I headed to Newton to spend time with his parents. Dinner, visiting, and whatnot. Sunday (Mother’s Day) we got up – went to church, bible study, and then came back to the house for some grilled chicken and corn-on-the-cob. Nom. Nom. Nom.

My mother-in-law (or mother-in-love, as the card I gave her stated) wanted some impromptu family photos – so these are my only “Sunday / Mother’s Day / Church FASHION” photos from the weekend:

[this is me, my MIL, and hubs. my FIL was the photographer - hence why he wasn't in the photo]

[me and hubs]

[in case you were curious - my dress was $13 from Old Navy last fall, cardigan is from JCrew, belt is from Target, and necklace is from JCrew via eBay via Hong Kong.

husband is sporting: a shirt from Old Navy, Jeans from Old Navy, and Old Gringo Cowboy Boots - those were his "wedding boots" as he likes to call them.]

[below is husband and his mama. aren't they adorbs?]

[this is random, i'm aware, but this lonely magnolia was blooming on the magnolia tree at his parents house and i just thought it was so gorgeous]

now, what did we do for mother’s day gifts? well, we did a couple little things – but we knew we wanted to make her something nice – and what’s more nice and sentimental than wedding photos? oh yeah. so, i did a little remix of my DIY wooden photo boards.

If you wanna see how I did the other photo boards, you can check them out here.

Now, here’s my DIY photo gift board remix.

I wanted to do stacked frames. So, I got plain wood cuts from Hobby Lobby.

I got SIX total – THREE 7×9 cuts, ONE 11×9 cut, TWO 5×7 cuts.

I printed ONE horizontal 5×7 photo and TWO vertical 4×6 photos at Walgreens. That way they’d match up. Now, I did print them in color cause I liked these shots better in color than in black and white.

[I got spray paint. Now, I have now used both Krylon and Rust-oleum spray paint. I will NEVER get Krylon again. It is horrible. I've had bad experiences with Krylon dripping and getting watery and pooling before but I thought it was a fluke. Nope. No fluke. Rustoleum just goes on so much smoother and takes a lot less coats to get the job done. Krylon takes SO many coats and it doesn't even fully cover. Blech. Anyway. This is was I used, and I just dealt.]

[Spray paints your boards. And if you're using Krylon, like I did, it will take you all day to let it dry and repaint. Let it dry. And repaint.]

[Once your boards are dry 17190281098 hours later after using Krylon (haha!) get your Mod Podge and photos ready]

[Put a coat of Mod Podge on the wood itself, on the back of the photo, lay the photo down and get it centered, then coat the whole photo on top and get it nice and covered. Now, remember, the Mod Podge goes on cloudy but dries clear.

Also, I learned this, BE CAREFUL when doing this to color photos (especially glossy color photos) - I started to notice the Mod Podge turning a hint of pink and was taking some of the color off the photo. Thankfully I caught it in time, but just be careful.]

[After your Mod Podge is totally dry (the length of a movie - i.e. a movie hubs and I watched) you can either use Polyurethane or Gloss Sealant to seal your photo boards. For my previous project, I'd used Polyurethane. For this I tried the sealant. I'm not sure which one I like better yet. They both work just fine. Anyway, seal that photo board!]

[Now, let it dry completely (preferably overnight). Now is the time to get ready to get your stackable frames, well, stacked. I had hubs help me with this part getting the frames centered and marked.]

[Because I am a BEAST with a hot glue gun, I took over this part. Now, you could probably use Gorilla Wood Glue for this, but I love hot glue. So I used hot glue. And I hot glued that mess RIGHT ON.]

[Now you gotta get it so you can hang your photos up. This time I didn't wanna risk them being flimsy, so I opted NOT to get the hammer-in ones, so husband helped me get these on and centered.]

[And voila! Now, obviously they're not hanging on a wall cause the in-laws weren't sure where to hang them yet. But I thought they came out great! What do you think?]

Anyway. Sorry, I know that was a long Mother’s Day recap post. I hope you had a great weekend. What did you do? Did you do anything fun? Post your links in the Comment Luv section of the comments with a recap of your weekend. Or you can just tell me about it. Anyways.

xoxo, all for now.

DIY Neon-Toed Shoes

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You guys, remember when I showed you a preview of these little diddies last week? Well, I got a bunch of questions and a bunch of requests to show you how I did them!

Well, it’s here, yo!

Now, the DIY neon-toed shoes are not really new. I’ve seen other tutorials out there – but I wanted to try it on my own and switch it up a little bit to make them a little bit more casual than dressy.

Also, I wanted to try it on the cheap to make sure it worked before I went and bought other shoes to try this little DIY on.

Anywho.

Here’s what I did.

[here be mah shoes. i got these from wal-mart for $5. quite literally $5. i know, wal-mart shoes for $5 dollhairs. hard to believe, right? *this is me being sarcastic* sure, these shoes look boring and nerdy and ordinary. and they are. but wait.]

[now i used some painters tape i had around to tape off the areas of the shoes i didn't want spray paint to get on. pretty self explanatory. but seriously, over cover. you can't be too careful when taping the shoes].

[I got some Rust-oleum fluorescent neon yellow spray paint and spray painted those bad boys. NOW HERE IS THE KEY: do light, sweeping motions back and forth. DO NOT spray too long directly on the shoes or else the paint will run and pool. mist the shoes. you can mist the shoes for a while, but don't over do it. also. be careful of wind. i wasn't so careful and messed up a little bit but was able to fix it quickly.]

[now let the shoes dry in a, well, dry place. then get your sealant. i've had this clear acrylic sealer for a while - i think i got it from Michael's or maybe even Wal-mart in the crafts section. it's like $3 or $4.]

[spray a couple sweeping clear coats of the sealant when you spray painted the shoes. again, do it in light sweeping motions. you don't need to do much, but make sure it's fully covered.]

[let your sealant dry and then remove the tape and BAM. you got some sweet new kicks.]

[i couldn't wait to see what they looked like on so i went ahead and tried them on that night. now, this obviously was a different outfit than i was planning on wearing them with but i kinda loved it. i mean, it was also nighttime so i didn't get to wear them out (also cause they were still wet) but i was pumped to get a preview.]

[seriously, i know they're $5 Keds-looking shoes from wal-mart, but i'm kinda loving these. now i want to get a bunch more pairs and and a bunch more colors and have a pair to match all my outfits hahah!]

[I can't wait to show you the outfit I wore the next day with my new AWESOME neon-toed shoes!]

oh, heck, here’s a little preview:

I’ll have more tomorrow AND some shots from spending some time with sweet friends this past weekend!

SO, what do you think? Would you do this to your shoes? Have you tried this? Have you bought shoes like this? I’m seriously digging these. Anywho.

Happy Monday!

xoxo, all for now.