Tag Archives: DIY

Thankful Tree

I am truly thankful for my wonderful family, who filled my house with love and laughter this Thanksgiving.   Have you thought about what you’re thankful for this year?  It’s never too late to give thanks. . .

Over the years, I have seen many variations of ‘wishing trees’ and ‘thankful trees’ and thought it was time to create one of my own.  This was such a simple way to decorate for Thanksgiving.  It also served a very meaningful purpose to allow the family to share what they were thankful this year.

Thankful Tree

Supplies:

  • Large Twigs- I got mine for less than $7.00 in the floral department at the Market, or you can cut from a tree in your yard
  • Decorative Paper cut into leaf shapes- I made a template to get a uniform shape and used three different papers in the same color scheme
  • Thread or String to attach the leaves- I used thread and created a hole in the top of each leaf with a needle for a more discreet look
  • Vase & Decorative Rocks- Make sure to weigh down your vase with decorative rocks if your twigs are top-heavy 

Give Thanks. . .

My favorite thankful quote was from my Mom.  She wrote: “I am thankful for the family Thanksgiving traditions that my Mother and Mother-In-Law ingrained in us”.

Over the years, we have held onto many family traditions, and as our family has grown and extended, we have taken on new ones as well.  We are all creatures of habit, and the traditions that have been handed down can extend the legacy of those that started them and are no longer here to share in the joy they bring.

Peacock Bridal Shower

Finally, a follow up to the Bridal Shower Invite I posted at the end of March.  The peacock themed lingerie bridal shower went off without a hitch, and was a great celebration of one of my best friends who will be getting married this summer.  I co-hosted with the Mom of the bride and the shower was held at her house, so I took full advantage of the time I didn’t have to spend cleaning my own house and got extra creative with crafty decor.

Peacock Feathers & Cupcakes

Shower Invite

Once we decided on a color scheme and looked around for party supplies and paper to make the invites, it was clear that we had to go all-out with a peacock them.

Bridal Shower Invite

I found this great geometric paper, which is remenicent of the jewel toned pattern in a peacock feather.  No need to buy pricy invitations when you can easily print them on card-stock at home and add specialty paper and ribbon to tie them into the color scheme.  For these, I used a strip of colorful paper to the left and wrapped one simple ribbon around the seam for some interest.

I also made a recipe card to go in each invitation envelope.  Guests were instructed to fill out a great newlywed recipe for the bride-to-be and bring to the party.

Recipe Keepsake Book

When guests arrived, I gathered all of the recipe cards and compiled them into a special recipe keepsake book that I made ahead of time.

Recipe Keepsake Book

To make the book, I used chip board (which is basically a scrap-bookers term for cardboard), and wrapped each page in coordinating paper.  I punched holes to the left, with my

Inside Cover

industrial strength hole punch, and used 3 ring bindings to hold it together.  To keep the hinge of the rings from shifting, and for extra flare, I added coordinating ribbon tied to each ring.  In the front cover I put the Bride & Grooms initials, and the back had the Bridal Shower Invite pasted in so she will forever have it.

Newlywed Recipe Book

Everyone brought a recipe card, and even some guests that couldn’t make it were nice enough to mail one in ahead of time with a nice message.

The bride-to-be loves to cook, so this was a great activity that made sense for her shower and didn’t require wrapping ourselves in toilet paper wedding dresses and strutting our stuff down the living room runway (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Magnet Favors

The Mom of the bride came across a great idea to create square glass magnets with coordinating patterned paper and give them away as shower favors.  Her inspiration came from Sabby in Suburbia and Simply Modern Mom.

Magnet Favors

She purchased square glass tiles from the craft store and we used colored pattern tiles she found from The Hourglass Studio on Etsy.  She printed them on photo paper and we cut out the ones that were relevant to our color scheme.  We used E6000 glue to attach the paper tiles to the glass and glued the magnets to the back.  To package them, she attached washers to cardstock and each magnet stayed in place on a washer.  Cello bags with coordinating paper and ribbon finished them off.

Fabric Backdrop

In order to make a statement with our color scheme and have the food and decor ‘pop’, I decided to construct a large fabric backdrop to hang on the wall, complete with the bride and grooms initials.

Fabric Backdrop

I’m so glad that I made this, as I’m sure I’ll be wrapping a different fabric around it and using it at my house for other parties down the road.

Wooden Frame

First, I measured the space above the table that I planned to hang the backdrop above.  Then, I measured my car, to make sure I could actually transport it.

With the help of my hubby, we constructed a simple frame from inexpensive trim (even less expensive because my dad just happen to have this on-hand).  We nailed in extra support at each corner, and that was it!.

Staple Fabric to the Frame

Next, I laid my fabric, face down, on the floor and centered the frame on top of it.  I used a staple gun and stapled the fabric on the back side of the frame.  I did one side, and then pulled the fabric tight and stapled the other side.  Repeating the same for the top and bottom sides.  One suggestion is to double check that your pattern looks straight.  I measured the distance of where the design elements hit on each side and tried to even it out as much as possible before stapling.

I picked up the jumbo letters at my local craft store along with some acrylic paint.  Unfortunately, they don’t make an ampersand symbol, so I had to get creative and make my own ‘and’ symbol out of a ‘B’ and another strip of wood.  I tied a coordinating ribbon around each letter and stapled the ribbon to the top of the frame.  We were able to hang the frame on three nails, without adding any fancy hanging wires.  The frame set directly onto the nails.

Mediterranean Spread

This was an afternoon shower, so for lunch we chose to do a mediterranean themed menu.  It was probably one of the easiest shower menu’s I’ve had the pleasure to contribute to in a while (maybe because I only had to make a few things).

Mediterranean Spread

We divided up menu items, which made it easy to pull it together the morning of the shower.

Antipasto Platter

The Mom of the bride made Marinated Shrimp, Roasted Red Pepper Crostini’s, Chicken Souvlaki Skewers, Greek Salad, and Pita & Hummus.  I made a Feta & Tomato Orzo (a Rachel Ray recipe), and a large Antipasto Spread including a variety of olives, greek cheeses, salami, prosciutto, roasted garlic, peppers, two tapenades, and roasted vegetables (I outsourced the roasted veggies to my Mom who is an amazing cook and of course they were a hit!).

Dessert!

Mom of the bride found these amazing corset shaped cookies, which were done with peacock details to go along with the shower theme.  These were a great dessert and also doubled as a second party favor since they were packaged in a cello bag to take.  We spent hours ‘ooh-ing and ah-ing’ at the amazing frosting detail.

Corset Cookies

I made mini chocolate cupcakes to round out the dessert choices.

Chocolate Cupcakes

To save time, I used a box mix for the cake, but I added mini chocolate chips along with my Mom’s secret box-mix trick.  She told me to substitute 2/3 of the recommended water with cranberry jelly.  The cranberry flavor made the chocolate taste even richer and they were super moist.  I may never make chocolate cupcakes from scratch again.  Of course, I had to make buttercream frosting from scratch; there are some things you should never take a shortcut on, and that is one of them.

To top off the 3 tiers of cupcakes I made round tags on appetizer skewers (which are slightly longer than a standard toothpick) with the bride and grooms initials.  I printed the initials from my computer and used two sizes of circle punches to get the uniformed shapes.  I’ve tried cutting circles the old fashioned way and it never works out.

Other Party Details

We had extra peacock ‘flare’ all around the party, like feather arrangements, and pretty peacock napkins, as well as peacock colors of deep teal & purple throughout.

Instead of the typical bridal shower activities, which were not fitting for this bride, the Mom of the bride hired a Mehndi Henna Tatto artist.

Mehndi Art

Mehndi Art

‘

We weren’t sure how many people at the shower would want to get a henna tattoo, but we were pleasantly surprised that almost everyone participated.  The artist even did a peacock tattoo for one of the guests!

This was such a fun theme, and all for a beautiful Bride-to-be!

G & B = LOVE

Bridal Shower Invite [Sneak Peek]

It’s been too long since my last post, so I thought I would share a tid bit from one of my current projects.  There’s been no time for fancy meals at our house this month, as we are ‘knee-deep’ in a guest-room redo, a backyard face-lift (involving lots of concrete and heavy stone), crazy work schedules, and to top it off I am co-hosting a bridal shower for one of my best friends.

The bridal shower and the guest room makeover are, by far, my favorites on the to-do list!  I’ll be posting about both in full-detail when the time comes.  But, until then, all I have for you is a sneak peek at the Bridal Shower Invite I created for my wonderful friend (slightly ‘fake’ info on the pictured invite… I’m sure all my readers are extremely trustworthy, but you can’t go posting personal info online these days!).

Bridal Shower Invite & Coordinating Recipe Card

The colors of the shower are chartreuse green, purple, and blue.  If you read the invite, you’ll notice we have asked the guests to bring a recipe on the enclosed card.  These will go into a little recipe book at the shower made from coordinating paper for her to have as a keepsake.  I am co-hosting with my friends mom, and we are well on our way to planning a fabulous party!  You’ll have to wait till the end of May to see the results though…

:)

Monochromatic: White

I love all things monochromatic, and recently was inspired to create an all white grouping for an empty corner in my bathroom.  In order to pull this grouping together, I had to get a little creative with spray paint.

All White Grouping

If you’re thinking about spray painting dark-colored items white,  I would highly recommend limbering up before-hand.  My right arm and wrist have never felt so sore, and I definitely strained a muscle in my back while painting.  Be prepared to put in some elbow grease!

Before

I recently saw some white-painted twigs in the floral department of the ‘fancy’ grocery store near my house and thought I could probably make them for less.  I found decorative twigs for $5.00 at Marshall’s which I thought would be perfect to transform for this grouping.  I also purchased the little owl and the apothecary container at Michael’s craft store during one of their 30% off sales.  I filled the glass container with a few left-over decorative balls I had from a previous project.

The white picture frame and white coral came straight from my parents storage basement.  I figured they might as well be stored somewhere they can be appreciated and get some visual attention.

The candlesticks I’ve had for several years.  They were very dark and somewhat gothic looking before.  They were almost on their way to the Goodwill pile in my garage, when I swooped in and rescued them for a white-wash revival.

For better results with spray painting, I recommend using a primer first.  If you’re painting twigs, the primer will keep them from absorbing too much paint, so you’ll need less coats, and your arm won’t get as sore as mine!  I ended up doing 2 coats on my twigs with regular white  spray paint, and once I noticed the paint was soaking in too easily I went and got a can of primer which did the trick.  After using the primer, I did another 2 coats of white spray paint, and it covered easily.

After

I placed this grouping next to the tub in my master bathroom.  Nothing makes me happier than taking an evening bath next to this simple grouping of white.  Call me boring, but this soft white look is easy on the eyes.

White Bathroom Grouping

Magnetic Menu Board

I came across this super-cute idea on a blog link through Pinterest, and I couldn’t resist making one for myself!  I used a smaller frame and attached magnets to the back so it can stay on the side of my refrigerator with a magnetic dry/erase marker next to it.  The hubby and I have been focused on eating out less and sticking to our weekly meal-plans, and this is a great visual reminder to keep us on track.  I can’t tell you how many times I have left a perfectly good cut of meat in the refrigerator a couple days too long, and then into the garbage due to not sticking with the plan.

Magnetic Menu Board

This was so easy to do, I feel like I should make one for all my friends.  I made a “Menu” board for myself and a “To Do…” list for my Mother-in-Law.  (Click here for the blog I found it on)

Menu or To Do. . .

All you need is a picture frame, a sheet of scrapbook paper, letter stickers and/or ”thickers” or wooden letters, and a dry/erase marker.  Add magnetic strips if it’s going onto the fridge like mine.

The directions are simple:  Cut out the paper to fit inside the frame and arrange your header out of large stickers/thickers/wooden letters.

Paper & Frame

Add stickers for the days of the week.  I did only the first letter of the day since my boards are smaller, but if you are making a large board, spelling it out looks great too.   Seal up the frame and attach sticky magnet strips to the back (found at your local craft store).  The glass works just like a dry erase board, so every week you can update your menu or to do’s.

The side of my frige was plastered with Christmas cards, and this was the perfect excuse to make a new ‘clutter-free’ rule.  Nothing on the fridge except for the menu board from now on.  It’s cute and it serves a purpose in the kitchen.  Next year, the Christmas cards will have to find a new home.  Maybe that will be my next DIY craft project…

On the Fridge - In Action