Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Valentines Day Banner tutorial


My amazing friend Kami hung this banner over her door at Christmas, that was so cool, so I just had to copy her, and hang one over my door for Valentines Day. Kami, are you reading this? When are you getting a blog???

 This cost less than $5 to make, and took less than 20 minutes.

You will need:

Wide Burlap Ribbon. I got mine at Hobby Lobby on sale for $5, and used about half the roll. It is really wide, like 5 inches.
Pink Burlap, or felt, or whatever you want. I used about 1/4 yard, and got it at Hobby Lobby.
Yarn or String. I already had mine on hand.
Something to mark your fabric with... I used a Galaxy Marker from Bennion Crafts. My mom used to use soap back in the day???
Mini Clothespins - I already had mine on hand, but you can get them at Hobby Lobby. 

You could sew instead of glue, but I was feeling rather lazy.

 

 You decide if you want to sew or not. The clothespins won't be necessary if you sew.


 Cut a heart out of paper, and place it over your burlap ribbon, making sure it seems the right size for the ribbon you found. Use your galaxy marker (or soap) to outline the hearts on the pink burlap.


 Once you have traced the hearts, go ahead and cut them out. I cut out nine.


 Cut your burlap into strips making sure to leave enough on top that it can be folded over the yarn/string and still look nice. I left an extra inch.


 Hot glue or sew your hearts onto the chevron burlap. I hot glued - wasn't in the mood to get the sewing machine out.
Fold the top of your chevron burlap ribbon over the top of the yarn, and secure in place using a clothespin - no sewing or gluing necessary.


 Hang it wherever you want. Wasn't that EASY!?!


 I love having it hang over my front door, and yes, we have extra tall doors, because we have 9ft ceilings on our main floor, so the hubby won't hit his head and be extra happy about my banner, (in case anyone was concerned).


Be sure and come back for a full tutorial on my arrow pillow on my front porch.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Monday, January 28, 2013

Valentines Day Target (tutorial)

 
In my quest to have Valentines decor that is a little different this year, I decided to make a target, complete with Cupid's arrow. Admittedly, I am a bit obsessed with arrows this season, and this is another great way to tie the arrow theme in.

This project cost under $9!!!
(for what I had to buy.)

You will need:

Wrapping paper - I got mine at Target in the dollar section for $1
Scrapbook paper - I already had mine on hand.
Craft paint - black and cream
Mod Podge
Hot Glue
Random sized plates and bowls

 

Instructions:

1) Lay out your supplies.
2) Trace a circle onto your wrapping paper, the size of the wood.
3) Cut out the circle. I cut mine a little smaller, because the wood was bigger than the wrapping paper.
4) Lay a plate that is 1" to 2" smaller  over the wrapping paper, trace a circle, and cut it out. This will make a large hollow circle. I did this, because I wanted the paint to show through.
5) Cut your next piece of paper using a bowl that seems to be the right size.
6) Cut two more small circles, using more round objects.
7) Paint the side of your wood black, and the top of the wood cream with craft paint.
8) After the paint dries, mod podge the circles into place.
9) Make your arrow out of the dowel, by painting it however you want, and gluing feathers on the end. I cut the point at an angle, but it is not necessary, because you can cover the point with a heart. 
10) Hot glue the arrow to the center of your target, and you are finished!




I hope you enjoyed this fun, inexpensive and easy Valentines Day craft!
Head on over to Home Depot, and get everything you need!

See the banner above? It took under 20 minutes to make, and was SUPER inexpensive, like under $5.

The tutorial is coming, so come back to visit!

Here is a peek at the rest of my porch:

This pillow was so easy to make, and cost me NOTHING!!! The tutorial is on it's way as well. You won't want to miss it!

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Quiver and Utensil Arrows

This darling quiver and arrow utensil arrow set is sure to please any little cupid on your list. It's easy enough, that your little lovelies can even help you make it. 


With it's fun colors, and unexpected functionality, it's sure to bring added whimsey to any Valentines dinner table.


All you need is :
Felt, 1 sheet for each quiver. You can find it at any craft store. You can get the sheets at about 4 for $1, that's cheaper than scrapbook paper.
Tape, use anything you have... I had 2 kinds of duct tape, painters (blue) tape, and masking tape.
Feathers, I don't know why, but I have a hoard of these.
Ribbon and/or rope.
Plastic utensils
Stapler

I literally thought this idea up, and went through my craft stash. If you were a little more planned out, you could do it with darling washi tape. And, yes, I thought this up at bed time, so the photos were taken when the light was not the best.


ARROWS

It's as easy as it looks... Simply wrap the tape around the end of the utensil, to hold the feathers in place, and you are finished...


 Easy Peasy.


 QUIVER

Cut your felt to size, by cutting 3 to 4 inches off the bottom (the bottom is opposite the feathers in the photo above). This will vary depending on the size of utensils you are using. See in the photo above, that the arrows are engulfed by the felt? I simply laid them where I thought they should go, leaving room for the staple on the bottom, and cut off the excess. I used pinking sheers for variety. Cut the ribbon to the same length.


Lay the ribbon on the felt, having it slightly displaced, by 3/4" .


Flip the ribbon under the felt, and staple.

Note on the stapling. Don't be shy. Hit the stapler hard and fast. if you are doing it softly or slowly, your staples won't go all the way through, and you will be annoyed when you unpick the danglers.


It will look like this.


Flip the other end over, and staple the ribbon down.


Next, lay your rope or ribbon (handle) where you want it. Tie knots on the end, to ensure they won't pull out when it's lifted by the handle.

 

Staple it in place.


 Now, fold the side that is wrapped with the ribbon over, and staple the whole thing in place, by sticking the bottom of the stapler in the middle of the quiver.



Staple the bottom shut. Wasn't that easy? You could probably do this with hot glue as well.


Now for the fun part... Time to put them on your table! 

For the place mats, I simple layered a piece of  8 1/2 x 11 piece of scrapbook paper on top of a 12 x 12 sheet.
The white plate comes from a regular, cheap pack of paper plates.
The heart plate 8/$1, plastic heart drinking cup 4/$1, and paper treat cup 6/$1 are all from Wal-mart. I love them!!!
I already had the paper straw.


Look at what you will see if you sit across from one of these adorable settings...


And... Have you ever wondered what my photography studio looks like? We are high tech, with dollar store foam, and tons of natural light!


If I make more of these in the future, I will probably sew them, but this is a nice alternative for those of you who don't feel the love when it comes to sewing. Another variation is that you could make the quivers, using paper instead of felt. You could even make the feathers using paper instead of real feathers. I am looking forward to having something we will use year after year, as part of our Valentines Day meal tradition, so I am happy with the felt.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tribal Heart Tutorial

 

I saw THIS T-SHIRT on pinterest, and thought it would be a great piece of Valentines Day decor.

If you remember my REINDEER ART TUTORIAL, I used the same paint markers and basic technique. They are called galaxy markers, and you can find them at Bennion Crafts.

What you will need:

A piece of wood or canvas
Craft paint and a brush
Paper, scissors, and tape
Paint stirrers of a ruler

I got my wood at Home Depot. It is a piece of 12 inch by 6 foot common board pine. They cut it for me while I was there. I love Home Depot.


Place your paint sticks or ruler on to mark the border.
 

Draw a line around the perimeter with a white galaxy marker, and fill the rectangle in with paint.


 Cut out a heart in the size you want. This took me a few tries, because the wood is a rectangle, and the heart needed to be longer and more slender.


Once you are happy with the size of your heart, cut it out of a piece of card stock. I used a 12x12 sheet. It is not necessary to use card stock, but I feel like it makes things easier.


 Center the card stock over the painted area, and tape it down.


Take your paint stick or ruler, and start making patterns in a straight line across the heart using your paint marker.


I wanted this to be all about the family, so I snuck my kids names in on different lines.


 Now, you are finished and ready to pull the stencil off.






 I felt like it needed a little more, so I painted the sides green.


It is now sitting in my family room, and I love it so much, that I think I am going to keep it up in my home past February.


Wasn't that easy? You really could do this with kids. Now you have a personalized piece of art that you can cater to your taste and the color scheme in your home.


I love it. I think I might make a few for my girlfriends.

Guess what else I have been obsessing about this month??? Arrows. I have made some darling ones, and the tutorial is coming up. Be sure and check back. You won't want to miss it!

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Picture Frame Molding on Studio 5

I had the awesome opportunity to have a segment on Studio 5 last week, and thought I would share it with you here. I got to share my lovely picture frame molding. It was a fun segment, where I also shared ideas for decorating the top of the molding. Take a look.


I had fun prepping for this segment, and got to work with the lovely Mindy Dunyon on this one. She is great, super easy going, and helpful. Cody the camera guy was super nice. Makes me feel extra cool when someone comes to my house to film me or something I have done ;) Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and will give a wall treatment a try in your home. It will make such a huge difference!

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Monday, January 7, 2013

Picture Frame Molding Tutorial

When my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I knew just what to tell him. I wanted a wall treatment. I have drooled over wall treatments for a long time, but hadn't found the time energy, or an excuse to put one in my home. My friend Lisa has the same floor plan as me, and she recently added board and batten, with a small shelf in her hallway. She displays her kids art work, photographs, and other decorative items on her shelf, and I admire it every time I visit her home.

While I like the board and batten look, I don't feel like it fits the style of my home (and existing moldings), so I opted for squares below with a shelf like wainscot on top.

This is what we ended up with, and I am crazy about it!!!


Happy Birthday to Me!


Four years ago, I started painting the doors and moldings, but got distracted, and this space sat unfinished and neglected. Yes, I said four years. Should I admit that? Yikes!


 I had some old photos up, and the thermostat is in a random place! I didn't love ANYTHING about the space, except my children's faces in the photos. When I look at the photos of how it was before, I can't believe I lived in that for so long!

We pulled from multiple sources when deciding how to do this wall treatment, and I have documented many of them on my pinterest board.

Here are some basic instructions, and a few tips that really helped us.

First, we decided the moldings we wanted to use. I wanted primed, and chose a 1 1/8" pine panel mold for the squares, and what they call a 4 1/2 inch MDF "crown" mold for the top. 

TIP #1
Instead of adding a board, a small traditional crown mold, a shelf, and a quarter round to the bottom (4 pieces)... why not just pay for, cut, and attach one piece that has it all? The 4 1/2 inch "crown," mold I chose is what people use as molding above their doors in many homes. You can see it below. That is one piece, not four.


I got all my wood from, Burton Lumber in Layton, UT. If you call, ask for Curtis Robinson. He is the one who helped me.

Decide how high you want your top rail to be, and mark the walls near the studs. Look at the stud in the blue shirt. Isn't he just dreamy?


 Cut your board to size, and round up helpers to hold it in place. With a brad gun, secure it into the studs, using the marks you made on the wall before, as a guide for where to put the brads.


Looking better already.

 I painted next. I didn't want to paint before the wainscot was up, because I didn't want to go too high or too low without actually seeing and getting a feel for the molding in the hall before I painted. My, what a difference paint makes!


It took three coats in some places, but this is not a step you want to skip. It will save you work later.


The next thing we did was measure the size of each area where we wanted a square. We ended up needing nine squares. I felt like a four inch gap around each square was perfect. Meaning... four inches between baseboards and bottom of square, four inches from the side of the wall to the side on the square, four inches from the top rail to the top of the square, and four inches between each square. I just used a tape measure for that part, and handed my husband a sheet with the cuts I needed. He is SERIOUSLY the BEST! I didn't want to break up squares for doors, and not all my squares are the same length, but they are all the same height, so he cut 18 pieces the same height for the sides of all nine squares, and the tops and bottoms varied.

My husband made a jig for all the pieces, to help them all be the same size. He said he found a tutorial on youtube about how a jig helps you achieve perfect cuts.

When it came time to attach them to the wall, it was a two person job. We measured, and attached the bottom (middle inf it was a three square wall) piece first, then one side, and finally the other side and top were held and attached basically at the same time.

 

Be warned... Your walls are not straight, or level. We had up to 1 1/2 inch difference in some areas where we attached three squares. We made it as level vertically and horizontally as we could, and I don't think anyone would even know the areas where we had the issues unless we pointed it out.


We went over everything again with the brad gun to be safe, and then the real work began...
 

I think the painting prep work is the worst part. We filled all the holes, and I started to caulk. It was such a mess, and I was getting a little annoyed. 

Tip #2

My husband told me he had seen on youtube that if you spray the area you are going to caulk with windex first, the caulk will go only into the crack where it needs to go, and no where else, and will be way less of a mess. I was skeptical, and had finished three squares by the time he told me, but decided to give it a try. I was SO SLICK, literally. We finished the last six squares in no time, with way less mess, and a much more professional looking result. I am glad I listened to my husband. Are you reading this honey??? I admit it; You are right!

The whole project took us 2 1/2 weeks, because we started right before Christmas, and were very busy.


 It used to feel claustrophobic and tired. Now, it feels fresh and open. This wall treatment has added so much to my home, and I even find myself sitting in the hall reading to my baby, instead of going into his room.


I hope you are feeling a little inspired, and will add a little DIY character to your home. You can do it! My fabulous husband did such a great job with this, that I think he is now on board, and we are excited to plan and tackle the next project. A little hint... I am hoping to put a little crown mold and maybe a full wall of squares in the formal living room.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa
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