SPD ~ Pin That! ~ Spring Wreath 2013

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it!

I have been soooo busy lately, that I haven't been able to join this link-up with Steph @BEAUtiful Mess and Katie @Keep Calm and Carry On. BUT...it is Spring (officially...even though Iowa weather doesn't quite get it) and I needed to make a Spring wreath for our front door. I mean, it's just tacky to have the Winter wreath up past the first day of Spring, right? Well, that's what I told myself. Plus! My parents were coming to visit and I wanted something warm and Springy looking on our front door. 

I perused Pinterest for quite some time (#duh) looking for some inspiration for a Spring wreath. I'll tell ya, I was not super impressed! In fact, I only found one Spring looking wreath that was even "acceptable" in my book. 

Here is the original pin...

Source: etsy.com via Kristen on Pinterest

I didn't think there was quite enough color on it, so after browsing through Hobby Lobby for about 5 seconds, I found the colored burlap. *Sigh* Now our door could be complete! All materials used in the making of this wreath came from Hobby Lobby (as will all other crafts since that's all we got!). 

Here it is...our Spring wreath.

(I have to make a few minor changes-straightening the left flowers and I think I will add more floral to the wreath overall!)

Materials:

• Stick wreath
• Moss
• Flowers and greenery
• Wooden letter
• Yellow burlap

Total Cost: $32.00

This wreath was pretty easy to make. The part that took the longest was hot gluing all of the moss onto the wooden letter! The hubs was trying to figure out what I was doing for quite some time with that part. Overall, I'm decently happy with it. I may make a few edits/tweaks, but this is what is on our front door for now!

SPD ~ Pin That! ~ Winter Maxi

  Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it.

 

Ok, this is my quit addition of SPD. And no, this is not my best one. I even contemplated just forgetting the whole idea. It's Thursday, and I have been non-stop this week! Monday was 7:30 am-9:00 pm (work then class), Tuesday was 7:30 am-8:30 pm (work then dance class), and Wednesday was 7:30 am-9:00 pm (work then tons of errands and gym). Yikes! I'm exhausted and have some much needed couch and DVR time coming up soon!

Anywho, here's my SPD for this week! This is also my first "fashion" SPD. Now, do I love clothes and fashion? Yes. Absolutely. Do I claim to be a fashionista? Absolutely NOT. I try. That's about it. Thank the stars for Pinterest though!!

Here's the original outfit from Pinterest...

 

Originally from here.

And here is my version. I love the originals yellow scarf, but I don't have one! So, I used my own colors!

And yes, I know this picture is teeerrrrible. 

The end!

Happy Thursday!

SPD ~ Pin That! ~ Our Maps Picture Frame

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it!

Yet again...it's Thursday! That means: Pinterest projects. Are we getting the hang of this yet? 

Thursday = craft displays!

And this week, my hubby has a nice addition to his office, thanks to Steph @BEAUtiful Mess and Katie @Keep Calm and Carry On. I love these two ladies blogs!

Anywho...back to my DIY for this week. My hubs had a "map" theme in his office. It used to be in his bachelor pad living room, but now that he has a leading lady (i.e. me - the wifey), the map theme has moved into his office. I saw this pin a loooong time ago on Pinterest and was saving it for the perfect time. 

I think this pin is Valentine's related. It's for my husband, it has hearts on it, and it's about our Love Story! Done deal. Valentine's Day DIY. Woot woot!

Here is the original pin...

Source: kayladanelle.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Kayla's original project of maps was for places that they have lived. I thought it would be perfect for B's room to show maps of:

1. where we were born (Iowa and Colorado)
2. where we met and were married (South Carolina).

I think this especially meaningful for us because we came from 2 different states, but both ended up in SOuth Carolina, where we met, fell in love, got engaged, and were married! 

 

Isn't God good?!? He brought us together because we were supposed to be together, even though we were born in very different places! God just amazes me sometimes. And let me tell you, I am very Thankful that God brought our paths together. I could not do this life without my best friend.

So, here's what I ended up with!

Materials:

• frame: Hobby Lobby, $10.00
• heart stickers: Hobby Lobby, $1.50
• maps (I printed these at home)

How To:

1. Print the maps that you would like to use. I used a website called, State Master,  "http://maps.statemaster.com."
2. Cut out the map and place a heart sticker on your city.
3. Place the maps onto the back of the frame using double sided tape.
4. Put your frame together and enjoy!

This project was very easy and I was so excited to give it to my husband for his Map Room! Yay DIY!

Happy Thursday and Happy Pinning!

SPD ~ Pin That ~ First Dance Lyrics

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it!

Welp, it's Thursday...again! And that means it's time for SPD: my weekly excuse to craft/DIY/decorate/cook/etc., etc. I'm suuuuure that my hubby appreciates this link up... right babe? Yep. That's what I thought. 

This has been one loooong week.We had our Super Bowl party on Sunday (stayed up late cleaning up), both of us were sick on Monday (the hubs even missed work! *shock**gasp*!), I was better by Tuesday...B, not so much, the Bachelor was on for TWO nights this week, Wednesday we had a meeting with our StateFarm agent-but other than that it was normal, and that brings us to today (i.e. Thursday)! Whew!

So, this week I picked a pretty easy DIY. Obviously, this was orginally found on Pinterest, but this specific pin came from Etsy. Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE Etsy. It supplied almost my entire wedding. Love, love, love it. I also love the fact that Etsy is compiled of small business owners. Great!

Anywho, here's the original pin:

Source: demfab.com via Kristen on Pinterest

The frame has the lyrics of the First Dance. Isn't that sweet? Our song and First Dance is Tim McGraw's, "My Best Friend." Our photographer used our song's lyrics in some of our "Day After" photo shoot (see below), so putting the lyrics up in our house was something I wanted to do!

We have one of these photos hanging up on a wall, so I wanted to add the Song Lyrics Frame to the shelf. Smart, right?!? (I'll assume you answered "Yes!" with enthusiasm).

So, here's what I came up with...

Thank you Etsy for the idea. Normally, I would order from you, but this one was a little too easy for me to copy! And I'm sure I saved some money by doing it myself!

Happy Pinning!

SPD ~ Pin That ~ Wedding Card Album

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it.

It's Thursday! And that means the "Pinteresting" link-up with Katie @Keep Calm and Carry On and Steph @BEAUtiful Mess! 

So...since we moved into our house 2 months ago...we're still doing a little bit of unpacking from the basement. I FINALLY found the wedding box, so I was able to pull out our giant stack of wedding cards! Our wedding was a big day, so I didn't want to throw out all of those special cards. They weren't looking to particularly pretty in a baggie either. I had found this pin (see below) while wedding planning and thought it was such a great idea. Over the summer, my cousin-in-law, Sarah, made one o these albums for her baby shower cards. I loved it! So, I made sure to save all of our Wedding Shower and Wedding cards. 

I made the Wedding Card Album first and will finish the Wedding Shower Card Album today! It's such a cute way to keep and display all of those sweet, thoughtful cards!

Original pin: via @Something Turquoise (I added the link so that you could see the tutorial!)

The process was pretty simple, and it took me about an hour? Maybe? It didn't take long. I'm a perfectionist, so that's what probably took me a little longer than most! I would definitely use this Something Turquoise's tutorial. Very good. Here's how mine turned out...

My only problem...I need a bigger ring! We had tons of cards, so my ring turned out to be a little too small. Once I get a bigger one, the cards will fit much better in there! Even the hubs was impressed!

Happy Pinning!

 

SPD ~ Pin That! ~ Burlap Clip Frames

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it.

It's Thursday...#duh. That means it's time for the link-up with Steph and Katie!

I have been wanting to do this DIY for quite some time now. I saw it on Pinterest months ago, fell in love with it, and this week, I finally DID it!

Who does not love hanging up pictures and burlap? Oh yea, and a monogram?!? *raises hand* This girl does! We have an amazing photographer that we used for everything wedding ~ GetzCreative Photography. I am dying to hang up, like, every picture that they took. Love them! Their pictures are ALL over my blog, obviously. Check them out here (engagement), here (wedding), and here (Day After session). Also, if you want ot check out Getz's blog, click here or their website, click here.

Anywho...here is the pin that I found on Pinterest...adorable right?!? I'm sure tons you have seen this.

The blog that the picture and tutorial came from is @Craft Warehouse. Love it. I think it's one of my new favorite crafting blogs! Woohoo! Just what I need....yea.

So, I tweaked the materials just a little bit so that it would fit the style of our house. As much as I LOVE the barnyard wood frames, they just would not fit into where I wanted to hang them. This is what I ended up with! I was pretty pleased with the end result and it filled up a space on the wall that really needed to have something precious hung on it.

 Eventually, I am going to put this monogram in the middle frame. I have to order it from Etsy and paint it when it comes, but eventually this will be on there! It's a 6" wooden monogram! How precious?!?

Materials:

-3 wall frames, HL, on sale $10.00

-burlap roll, HL, $10.00

-wooden letter, HL, $2.00

-4 small magnets, HL, $3.00

-small clips, HL, $2.00

-black and tan spray paint, HL, $2.00

Directions:

1. Spray paint the glass from the wall frames tan.
2. Hot glue the clips to 2 of the magnets. Spray paint them black.
3. Hot glue the other side of the magnets to the spray painted glass and spray paint those tan also.
4. Cut the burlap the shape of the glass. Hot glue the edges of the burlap to the glass. Make sure it is very tight!
5. Hot glue the letter to one of the frames.
6. Put the magnetic clip on the other frames and clip in a picture. 
7. Hang your DIY!

The original tutorial used magnetic clips...store bought. I could not find them anywhere! The hubs and I looked in about 5 different stores. We finally gave up and I made my own. I would look at the original tutorial, however. She did it a little bit differently than I did!

Happy SPD Day!

Pin That! ~ DIY Love Notes Chalkboard Frame

 

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it! ~ Also known as SPD.

I love Thursdays...and this link-up with Steph@BEAUtiful Mess and Katie @Keep Calm and Carry On! This has been the best link-up idea yet...an excuse to make Pinterest crafts/foods EVERY week! I seriously love these two adorable ladies! At this point, my husband is considering buying stock at Hobby Lobby since I spend so much money there every month! Woops! But our house suuuure does look good! Can I get an "Amen, Hallelujah!" ?!?

My husband and I...love notes galore! Our love note affair started way back when while we were dating. It actually started on a sticky note! Brad or I would leave each other love sticky notes in places that we would find them throughout our work day. Some of the hiding placed included in a binder, a lunchbox, a planner, a book, my purse!, etc. I don't remember who started it, but not a week has gone by where there is not a love sticky note or message somewhere in our house or our possessions! We probably should have invested/bought stock in the "Post-It" company since we use SO many sticky notes!

So this is something I have been wanting to do for a while...I just had to wait for the right sales at Hobby Lobby! Come on, you know what I'm talking about. Those 50% sales are how we get all this crafting done! 

Here are my "pinspirations"...

 And here is what I came up with!

I am also planning on hot gluing a red and white damask ribbon...as soon as I find it!

Materials:

-8x10 wall frame, Hobby Lobby, $10.00

-Chalkboard spray paint, Hobby Lobby, $2.50

-Scrapbook Stickers, Hobby Lobby, $5.00 total

Directions:

1. Take the glass out of the frame and spray paint it with the Chalkboard paint. Use at least 3 coats and let them dry well!
2. Place the stickers where you would like them on the painted glass.
3. Put the glass back in the frame.
4. Write your spouse a love note!

I used a wall frame because I wanted to put it in a stand, but you could use a regular frame as well!

Happy Pinning and Crafting!!

Pin That! ~ Burlap Winter Wreath

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it!

It's Thursday!! And after a few weeks of non-stop movement and a blogging hiatus, I am back and joining Steph @BEAUtiful Mess and Katie @Keep Calm and Carry On! Love this link-up! 

Since Christmas is over and it is not ok to leave up Christmas decor...it's time for the winter decorations! Any excuse to make a new front door wreath right?!? 

I have been loving and obsessing over the burlap wreaths. Burlap is definitely in right now! Who doesn't love some shabby chic? Well, this southern girl sure does!! So, my DIY was a Burlap Winter Front Door Wreath! and obviously it was monogrammed...

Original Pin from @Top This Top That. Isn't this adorable?!? Ahhh burlap...you are so cute!

This project took a little playing with at first, but I think it turned out great and ended up not being too hard!!

 

Materials:

-16 in. wire wreath (Hobby Lobby) - $3.00

-3 rolls of burlap (15 ft. each) (Hobby Lobby) - $5.00 each (mine were 50% off!)

-large letter (Hobby Lobby) - $2.00

-ribbon (Hobby Lobby) - $2.00

-winter embellishments (Hobby Lobby) - $7.00 each (mine were 50% off)

I followed the tutorial and even looked up a tutorial on YouTube to make sure I was doing it correctly. I tied my ribbon, attached my monogram and winter florals, and voila! Winter Burlap Wreath for our front door.

Happy pinning!!

Pin That! ~ Candy Cane Blossoms

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it!

Yep! Today is Thursday...yet again. The good thing is Thursday are the link up day for "Saw it. Pinned it. Did it." with Steph @BEAUtiful Mess and Katie @Keep Calm and Carry on!

This week I was a little rushed to complete this post since we are hosting Brad's work Christmas party at our house...um, TONIGHT! So, I used one of the cookie recipes that I made yesterday for this post. They also happen to be new for me, something I found on Pinterest, and a new favorite!! They are Christmas cute!

Candy Cane Blossoms

Original Pin...

Source: kiurl.co via Claire on Pinterest

Aren't they pretty?!? These cookies turned out so cute and they were pretty easy! And thanks to my ABSOLUTELY AMAZING HUBBY!, as of last night...I own this baby!!

No lie. I called my husband yesterday at 4:30 in an absolute tizzy. "Babe! I need you to stop at the store on your way home from work. My hand mixer just broke! The engine is dead. Stupid cheap crap!"

About an hour later...in walks my husband...with a KITCHEN AID in his arms!! Holla! I about fell out. Dead. Slain. Now ladies, this isn't the base model. My husband spent a pretty penny on this baby. A girls kitchen dream!! Now my life is complete. Oh yea...and it's red. Done deal.

Anyways! Back to the cookies. They are awesome.
Ingredients:

• 1 bag Hershey;s Kisses brand Candy Cane Kisses
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Red and Green colored sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove wrappers from candies (approx. 35)
2. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.
3. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in red and/or green colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 - 1o minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Yields approximately 35 cookies.

 Happy Baking and pinning! Woo!

Pin That! ~ DIY Necklace

Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it.

Well, today is Thursday (#duh)! and that means 2 things: 1) today is "Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it. and 2) tomorrow is FRIDAY and I don't have to go to work. That also means that I will be sleeping in. This girl has not slept past 7:00 am for going on 3 weeks now!! That's right people -I am sleep deprived, which can be a very scary thing.

Anywho! On to my project this week! Since we are finally settling in (and I'm almost done decorating for Christmas), I felt that it was time to break out my crafting crate and get to work on a DIY project instead of cooking/baking. There was a DIY necklace I had seen a while back that I was ready to try. 

Here is the original pin via this cute blog...Nestled. I know follow this blog. I love fashion and DIY, so this blog was great!

So...I tried it out! The tutorial on Nestled is veeerrry good, so I am not even going to pretend I know how to explain this! It really wasn't that hard though. It took me, maybe 30 minutes? The hardest part was getting the washers where I wanted them. The only thing I would change...the size of my washers and texture of the ribbon. I would get larger washers and textured ribbon. Overall, I love it! In fact, I will be wearing it tomorrow.

Ta-da! Cute right? Well...I thought so. Brad saw it and said, "??...It's washers and ribbin?" Yes dear. Don't question my crafts and fashion! :0)

Happy Pinning!

Pin That! ~ DIY Christmas Front Door Wreath

  Saw it. Pinned it. Actually Did it!

It's Thursday!! and that means its time for my Pinterest project link up with Steph @Beautiful Mess and Katie @Keep Calm and Carry on. This is one of my favorite posts each week! Mostly because I have an excuse to DIY or bake/cook!

This week...I was going to do a DIY necklace...buuuut since we are still in the middle of unpacking and there are about, oh, 8 bagillion things going on in our house right now, I decided to do a DIY front door Christmas wreath! This worked out since I was planning on doing one anyways AND the fall wreath reeeaaally needed to come off our front door! Shame on me...I know.

So, this wreath was mostly from my imagination, but I did get a few ideas from Pinterest. Here are some of the wreaths I saw on Pinterest that I got my Pinspiration from!

 Cute right?!? And who doesn't LOVE a monogram? Um, this Southern girl!! Obviously.

So, I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures of my process. Sorry... I really need to work on that. BUT! Good news is...*drum roll* everything Christmas at Hobby Lobby is 50% off right now!!! Yes, ladies...it is. My mom told me while I was talking to her on the phone and I happened to be out running errands, so Hobby Lobby was my next stop!

And here is what I made! :)

DIY Christmas Front Door Wreath

Materials:

• plain wreath - Hobby Lobby, $5.00 (50% off)
• Christmas garnishes - Hobby Lobby, $10.00 (50% off)
• Wooden letters - Hobby Lobby, $7.00
• red and white paint - Hobby Lobby, $5.00
• bow- Wal Mart, $5.00
• glue gun

Process:

1. Paint the wooden letters. I painted the large "B" white first, then used painters tape to tape off the stripes. Paint stripes Red. Paint other letters white.
2. Hot glue the monogram letters together. Then hot glue the monogram on the wreath.
3. Arrange and hot glue the Christmas garnishes onto the wreath around the monogram.
4. Hot glue the bow.
5. Hang up and enjoy! I sure do love a Monogram ANYTHING! Haha #southerngirl for sure!

Well, that's it! The painting is what took the longest. Everything else was very easy to put together!

Happy Christmas decorating!!