Handmade Shower hostess gifts

This weekend was a wonderful whirlwind of blessings and fun preparing for Isla. I have the best friends in the world and can not say that enough. Twelve of my friends threw a baby shower for me and it was so much fun! I wanted to do something special and handmade for each of them to show them how much I love them and appreciate their support during this season of life. Here are some bags I created for my ladies and filled them with chocolates and homemade grapefruit lip balm. The bags are made of felt, embroidery floss and vintage buttons. Pictures coming soon from the shower, but it was beyond dreamy...handmade and dainty. Perfect in every way!

My Funny Valentine

I thought I'd get a little crafty this year with the valentine for my hubby and this is what I came up with. Easy as pie to make and a sweet way to show someone you love them in a handmade fashion!

Materials
pink or red felt
embroidery thread of any color
embroidery needle
toilet paper or cotton balls for stuffing
scissors

Start by cutting out 2 identical heart shapes. Thread your needle with the embroidery floss and sketch out where you want your letters on your heart with a pen or pencil. I just eyeballed it, but it may help to sketch it out first. Working from back to front, thread your needle in and out in the shape of your letters using a double running stitch. Once you're through with the letters, knot it in the back, so it will be on the inside of the heart.

Use a whip stitch to sew together both hearts at the edges. Once you have completed about 75% of the heart, stuff some toilet paper or cotton balls in to make the heart puffy. Complete the whip stitch all the way around until complete and knot off. This part was tricky so the knot wouldn't show, but I was able to tuck mine on the inside.

Think my handmade heart and some Olive & Sinclair chocolate will do just the trick this Valentine's Day!

xoxo

DIY Book Page Wreath

I came across a beautiful wreath made entirely of old book pages online and decided to make one for myself. It made for a fun Sunday afternoon DIY project! Here's my how-to instructions. The whole project cost me $15 and that was just because the punch was expensive. Well, I guess I should count the $0.25 I purchased the book for at a garage sale!

Materials
scissors
cardboard
1 book
Elmer's glue
EK Sucess Diamond Lace Slim Edger Punch



Begin by tracing a circle on your cardboard and cutting it out. Once you have your larger circle, trace a smaller circle inside and cut out the center to make the backing for your wreath.

Tear out all of the pages of the book. The edges don't need to be straight where you tear, as they won't show on the inside of the wreath. Punch along the edges of each page with the scalloped punch.

Fold each page into accordion shapes about 2-inches in width. Fold over the edge where the page was torn and glue the flap to secure the layers staying together. Glue that same edge to the outer rim of the cardboard circle. Continue this all the around the cardboard to complete your first layer.

Continue adding layers all around the circle until you have come to the center. Make sure you layer enough pages to add depth to your wreath. Once you come to the center layer, glue the inside of the flaps at the bottom of your pages around the inside circle so that it sticks to the back of the cardboard to cover seeing any of the backing. That's it!
Happy crafting!

Holiday Peppermint Lip Balm DIY

In my quest to save money this Christmas and make meaningful gifts, I made yummy peppermint lip balms for some ladies in my life. It was super easy and I love the way they turned out!

Materials
1 tablespoon beeswax pellets
2 tablespoons carrier oil (I used olive oil)
essential oils of choice (I used peppermint)
three 1/2 oz tins with lids
lipstick shavings in color of choice

This "recipe" above will make about 3 small tins, so multiply that by however much you want to make!

1. Heat beeswax and carrier oil in a bowl in the microwave until melted (about 1.5 minutes) or in a heat proof jar in pot of hot water.

2. Once pellets are melted, add in several drops of essential oils until desired scent.

3. Add lipstick shavings until you get the color you want. I used a red lipstick.

4. Pour hot wax into tins and let cool for 1 hour. Voila!

Rosemary Eucalyptus Bath Fizzies DIY

Christmas is expensive and I always appreciate gifts that are handmade anyway. So this year I decided to make some delicious smelling bath fizzies. I chose to make eucalyptus and rosemary, but any scents work! I love how they turned out and think they will make great gifts!


Materials
1/2 cup citric acid (found at Whole Body)
1 cup baking soda
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup cane sugar
food coloring (I used green and blue)
essential oils- eucalyptus & rosemary
mason jars or other containers
flexible silicon ice cube trays
small spray bottle

This "recipe" makes about 1 dozen larger fizzies or about 24 smaller ones.

1. Stir together citric acid, baking soda and cornstarch.

2. Pass mixture through a flour sifter into a mixing bowl. Add in cane sugar.

3. Fill spray bottle with water and several drops of food coloring. Spritz mixture lightly and mix to distribute color. Be careful not to saturate it. You only want it damp enough to be able to mold it in your hands. I ruined my first batch by making it too wet!

4. Pack molds with mixture and let them sit overnight to dry.

5. Next day: press fizzies carefully out of molds and place in mason jars for packaging.

DIY mirror project

Jeremy and I decided to make our own mirror for our master bathroom. We've been giving our bathroom a makeover lately. We went to an old salvage yard and bought some door jam wood and found a cheap mirror at Southern Thrift and voila! Pretty funny process though of figuring out how to make something like this, but we like how it turned out!

Giving Bedside Tables New Life

Recently, I got a little tired of drooling over the DIY project section on Design*Sponge and decided to give it a whirl myself. For those who don't know, like me until recently, DIY stand for Do It Yourself. I had no idea!

I found a pair of bedside tables at Habitat For Humanity Homestore that had potential for only $40 for the pair, a steal of a deal. I thought I'd see what I could do with them. After many pep talks and picking the brain of my best friend Talitha, who has refinished many pieces, I jumped right in. Here are the tables when after I stripped them.

Supplies used:
paint stripper
scraper or stripping brush
2-3 sand blocks (medium and course grit)
1 quart espresso colored primer
1 quart Martha Stewart paint in Custard color
lint free rags or pieces of old t-shirt
2 mini-rollers (5 in or so) with handle
1 2 1/2 inch brush
wood filler (if needed)
new knobs

I decided to do a dark espresso primer underneath a beautiful Martha Stewart paint color called Custard, then give it a distressed look by sanding the edges to make it look worn and old. And of course, what re-finished piece of furniture is complete without beautiful knobs from Anthropologie?!

First, I had to strip both pieces with paint stripper. This was NOT a fun part. That stuff stinks! I was able to strip one piece to the wood, but the other had a layer of paint that just wouldn't budge. So, I just had to paint over it with the primer. Once the pieces were stripped, I cleaned them well and sanded them to remove any access paint and smooth the areas. I also used a wood filler to fill any areas that were dented or where unwanted holes were and sanded those areas. Then, I vacuumed out the pieces entirely. I painted them inside and out with the primer I chose, which was a dark brown. Once that was dry, I started coating them with the custard color. I gave it two coats since the primer was dark and showed through some on the first coat.

Once the second coat was dry, I was able to take a sanding block and distress them. I wanted them to look worn, so sanding the edges and corners let the brown show through the yellow. I especially sanded on the edges of the drawers since those get used the most and would likely have the most wear. Thank for the tip on this Talitha!

I picked up these pretty knobs at Anthropologie for the tables. Probably the most money I had to spend went to these babies, but they really brought it all together!

So, here is the finished product! I think they turned out great and make a nice addition to our bedroom! Plus...no more books on the floor!

Move Over Martha- shower decor

...Ok, well not really. I am NO Martha Stewart, by any stretch of the imagination! But, I did study her crafty ways when I was took on the challenge of throwing a baby shower for my best friend who is having twins! Since the momma-to-be is having a boy and a girl, I needed to throw a fun and unisex shower, so I hit up Michaels to get some inspiration and supplies. Here are some of the decorations I came up with and it was actually fun to do!

Hanging Tissue Pom-Poms

These were just so fun to make and really added a lot to the vibe of the shower. I made a few big ones and several smaller ones and hung them at different levels. Of course, I was too busy running around at the shower to actually take pictures when they were hung (Doh!), but I snapped a few after I made them for you to check out. Check out Martha's How-To for these poms to make them yourself.

1. Pick out what colors of tissue you want. I chose yellow, gray and white for the shower.
2. Stack 8 pieces of 20''x20'' tissue and fold into 1-inch accordion folds.
3. Wrap an 18-inch floral wire (cloth covered wire) around center and twist off.
4. Cut ends off of tissue either rounded off or pointy.
5. Separate each layer of tissue carefully so it doesn't tear.
6. Attached clear fishing line to end of floral wire and hang!

Here is Martha's pic of the actual making of (which I forgot to take) and my finished product below:

Owl Shaped Cut-Outs

Of course Martha has a whole section at Michaels of different shaped craft punches. Once I laid my eyes on the embossed owl punch it was over. Plus, I believe the upcoming kiddos will have an owl on a wall mural in their nursery, so it was meant to be.

Here is a pic of the adorable punch I bought, and a link to where you can get one.

Polka Dots on Twine

I found a delicious color palette of card stock that fit the shower perfectly, so after making the owls, I decided to try making a long strand of twine with different colors of polka dots on it to string up around the room. It was a little time consuming, but fun and turned out really great! I just drank a bottle of wine, grabbed the Elmers glue and scissors and went to town. My sweet friend Kat also helped with these! Thanks Kat, don't think I could have done these without you!

1. Fold paper in half.

2. Find a bottle or something to trace circles to make uniform shapes and cut out.

3. Separate stacks of different colors so you can alternate on strand.

4. Glue one side with Elmers, then place both sides around twine and press til dry.

5. Keep going and alternate colors!