Tag Archives: crafts

10, 10-Minute Harvest Crafts

Leaf Garland

I haven’t been my usual play-in-the-leaves-I’m-so-happy-it’s-fall-crafty-self this season. My allergies have been out of control this year. I’ve felt as if I’ve had a cold for weeks. I’m loaded up on (prescription) drugs and all I’ve wanted to do is hide out under the covers and binge-watch Downton Abbey. Sorry to be so boring and whiney, but I never thought I’d be so happy for my least favorite season, WINTER.

But it’s against my personal rules to decorate for Christmahanakwanzika before Thanksgiving. Although this year Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving! I still can’t bring myself to decorate with menorahs or boughs of holly just yet. (If you’re wondering my family traditionally celebrates Christmas, but I like to celebrate all the holidays.)

To try to excite myself for the nearest holiday, Thanksgiving or Harvest day (whatever you celebrate) I mustered up enough energy to make a small fall garland. I also spent hours browsing Pinterest for the best, easy harvest crafts. Because sometimes you’ve only got enough energy for a 10 minute craft and some Pinterest browsing. Am I right?

10. Leaf GarlandFall Garland

My attempt to make the trailer a little more festive. Probably not the brightest idea, since I’m probably allergic to leaf mold, but what can ya do. Anyway to create this easy-peasy craft, I sprayed leaves with clear spray paint, let them dry, then tied them to some twine.

9. Glitter, falling leaves

boxwood-clippings_diy-falling-leaves-garland_2-e1379949094746This 10-minute craft from 6th Street Design School is so elegant and easy. She was a smarty and used fake leaves to create her garland!

8. Pinecone birds

pinecone birdsHow cute are these pinecone birds from World Market? Technically, there’s no DIY instructions for these, but they look super easy to make. Sprinkle a pinecone and a foam ball in glitter. Attach them together, add eyes, a beak and feet. And voila! You’ve got perfect placeholders for Thanksgiving dinner.

7.  Little Mouse

Fall-crafts-how-to-create-pictured-with-leaves-Little-mouseI cannot get over how cute this little mouse is from Kiddie Foodies. I’m dying to make this with my niece.

6. Leaf Paintings

Leaves painting_thumb[1]Another easy one to do with kids. This time found via the blog, Au Pair Link Taranaki. I had painted with potatoes and fish (?!) as a kid, but never with leaves. The results are super pretty and dare I say, frameable?!

5. Fall Leaf Centerpiece

fall centerpiece

This fall leaf centerpiece from HGTV is whimsical and elegant. And again, they don’t use real leaves, do’h!

4. Twig Flower Pots

twig flower pots

Twig flower pots! Why didn’t I think of that? Nini Makes has a great tutorial on how to make them on her blog. I think they’d also be cute on a smaller scale as votive holders.

3. Pinecone Door Hanger

pinecone door hanger

How clever is this pinecone door hanger? Easy and cheap is just my style. You could even change out the colors for different holidays. Click the link above to see the how to on The New Witty’s.

2. Acorn Vase

Acorn-VaseII love how pretty and FREE this crafts is. Eclectically vintage has it going on.

1. Painted Acornspainted acornsAnd last, but certainly not least are these glamorous acorns from Decor to Adore. We’ve got these giant acorns at my work with prickly tops. I’m dying to get out there with the squirrels and do this craft.

What crafts have you been craftin’ lately? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

 

 

 

 

 

How to Make Four Types of Pillows

How to make 4 types of pillowsWhen I imagine a wealthy person’s bedroom (I’m a creep) or a fancy hotel, I imagine a room overflowing with pillows. Maybe I watched Elvis’ Harum Scarum too much as a child. (Side note: If you haven’t seen Harum Scarum, find it and watch it immediately. At one point Elvis karate chops a tiger. I kid you not.) What I’m trying to say is pillows are the ultimate luxury and I basically want my bedroom to be a pillow pit.

But alas, my pillow tutorial plans were foiled by the rain. My tutorial photos looked like they were taken in a old folks home. (Sorry, old folks.) I only had the chance to take finished product pics in the sun. But that is ok! Because we live in a magical Internet age where one can find tutorials on anything and everything. I even used the tutorials I’m linking to as a reference in my own magical, pillow-making journey.

1. Closed Pillow: This tutorial from HGTV shows how to create the easiest pillow of the bunch. But like the name says, the cover stays closed, so washing is a no-no.

2. Open-ended Pillow: It’s the closed pillow, but you leave one end open. Do ya’ll really need a tutorial for that? I also sewed a bit of lace on the end to finish it and create that grandmama-look.

3. Envelope Pillow: This beginner DIY from a fellow Melanie shows how to make a beautiful, polished, washable pillow case. I love her precision!

4. Zippered Pillow: I adore this tutorial. It’s in-depth without being overwhelming.

Let’s get crafty, ya’ll!

love,
melanie

Rolling Pin Re-do

Rolling Pin

I’ve caught the spring cleaning bug early this year and I couldn’t be happier about it. This weekend I deep cleaned the carpets and sorted through closets to determine what we can sell or donate.

As I was sorting through our kitchen gadgets, I was looking at my sad, plain rolling pin and wishing it was a cute, vintage pin with colorful handles. But instead of throwing my perfectly useful pin away for a new (or old) one, I decided to paint the handles.

Rolling Pin Spray PaintRolling Pin & Spray Paint

This project couldn’t be easier. Grab a spare can of spray paint and paint away! The best tip I have from this project is to cover the parts of the pin that you don’t want to spray in tin foil. Tin foil easily wraps around hard-to-cover-areas without the struggle of paper and tape.

spraying rolling pinI (ok, George) sprayed the handles twice, but the brand of spray paint will determine the amount of times you’ll need to spray to ensure there is no wood showing through the paint.

How do you “upcyle” your old junk?

love,
melanie

Male Teacher Appreciation Gifts

This collage shows different male teacher appreciation gift ideas like pens, supplies and gift cards.

Being married to a male-identifying teacher and being around male instructors all day as a librarian made me think: Male teachers kinda get left out when it comes to gifting. There are tons of ideas on Pinterest, but most of them are geared towards female teachers. So, I thought to myself, “Self! We need a good reference for male teacher appreciation gifts!” Here are a few teacher appreciation gifts that folks of any gender will love.

Continue reading →

Easy Wedding Favors: Printed Brown Bags

Wedding favors on paper lunch bags

During the wedding planning process, DIY projects were not high on my list. I did manage to carve out some time to do a few easy and inexpensive crafts though. And I plan on sharing a few of them with you! I was super pleased with the way my wedding favors turned out. So, I’m sharing the how-to on those first!

For this project all you need is a little photoshop know-how, paper bags and a printer. (I would recommend a top-loading printer. Although it is possible to do with a bottom-loading printer. I have just found the top loading printers work better with the bags.)

wedding favorFirst, we designed our logo in Photoshop. We used the image of George and myself on our wedding invites too. Your design doesn’t have to be anything as elaborate as ours, a monogram would look nice too. If you don’t have Photoshop skills, you could even create your design in Word and then change your printer settings to the size of the bag.

Next, we changed the dimensions of the image in Photoshop to the dimensions of the paper bag and did a couple of test prints. After printing each bag, we added a can of RC Cola and a Moon Pie. In the South, an RC Cola and a Moon Pie is known as a working man’s lunch and both George and I have fond memories of eating Moon Pies and drinking RC Colas as kids.

Finally, we punched two holes in the top of the bag, looped a ribbon through and tied a bow. Quick, easy and cheap! Done!

**A helpful hint is to buy more bags than you need and be patient! If the bag has any kind of small tear or inconsistency, the printer may eat it. Just keep calm and carry on!**

Questions? Leave ’em in the comments!
love,
melanie

How to Make Giant Tissue Paper Flowers

field of flowers

I have very little patience for craft projects. If a craft project takes more than 15 minutes, I have no interest in it. So, when I decided I wanted a little decoration to spice up our Spring brunch table, I knew just the project. Seriously you guys, my elementary Spanish teacher taught us uncoordinated elementary schoolers to make these. You can make these too. DIY your face off.

Supplies

  • Tissue paper (6 sheets per flower)
  • Floral wire
  • Tape (floral tape looks best, but I used regular ‘ol masking tape)
  • Scissors (optional)
  • Watercolor paint & a brush (optional)

folded tissue paper

Step 1: Lay out 6 pieces of tissue paper on top of one another and face the short end of the paper towards you.

Step 2: Fold tissue paper accordion style, back and forth, as if you were folding a paper fan. Folds should be about 2-3 inches wide.

Step 3: Optional: Round the edges of the tissue paper with scissors. I didn’t round my edges because I’m a rebel.

tissue paper flower wire detail

Step 4: Gather tissue paper together in the middle with one hand.

Step 5: Take wire and wrap around middle tightly, but not too tight. It will make it difficult to pull the petals out if it is too tight.paper flower petals

Step 6: The hardest part! GENTLY pull the pieces of tissue paper apart to form the flower petals. Do not man-handle the tissue paper! It will tear. I know from experience 😉

Step 7: Wrap tape around the bottom base of your petals to ensure the wire is tightly secured to the flowers.

Step 7: Blammo! You’re done. Continue to Step 8 if you want to color your flowers. If you’re not a fancy man, stop here.

painting flowers

Step 8: If you want a bit more detail to your flowers, you can paint the edges with watercolor paint. This technique is really hard to mess up. Just grab a brush, dip it into some watercolor paint and lightly brush the paint onto the petal edges and in between the petals. Optional: Feel like you are under the Queen of Heart’s orders to paint the roses red!

Step 9: Let dry.

tissue paper flowersStep 10: Not optional: Frolic in a field of flowers.

Got any questions? Leave ’em in the comments.
love,
melanie