DIY magnets

As I mentioned last week, daughter #1 recently moved into her own place.  Well, the air vent thingy in the hallway of her apartment is covered by a huge metal cover.  It doesn't look awful, it's painted to blend in with the wall. But, my creative self had an idea. Why not use it as a magnetic picture frame!?!  Get lots of cute magnets and the girls can hang pictures and notes on it, like most of us use our fridge for. Low and behold, she and her roommates loved the idea! Pretty cool, I can still impress twenty-something's!  Of course, she said "so mom you'll have to find me some really cute magnets". Again, my creative self said "I can MAKE them". I have all the stuff I need at home already. So, I left from painting the chevron wall (see previous post) and got busy gathering my supplies for an abundance of cute magnets. 

This thing. Perfect magnet board, FREE!

Here's what I used:

Magnets- I had buttons and strips

Large clear glass marbles/gems with flat backs

Scrapbook paper

Craft paint

Glitter

E6000 glue

Mod Podge-forgot to put that in the pic. 

I started with the marbles and some scrapbook paper. I picked a few patterns that I thought would look good, and laid the marbles flat side down on the paper to gauge how the pattern would look. Then I cut little squares of the paper making sure the part of the pattern I wanted could be centered on the marble. Then, I painted a layer of Mod Podge on the flat side of the marble and stuck it down onto the paper. 

Once the Mod Podge dried- you'll know when it's dry when you don't see any white through the front of your marble-I cut the excess paper off around the marble. Don't worry if you don't have perfect circles of paper, the marbles are forgiving in that way. Then I added a few extra coats of Mod Podge over the back of the paper just to get a good seal. 

This is a pic of the backs of the marbles while the Mod Podge dries. 

Here are the first ones that dried, by now I'm in love with them!

My girl is a glitter girl, so next I made some pink glitter ones. I painted the backs with Mod Podge, then sprinkled the glitter on them and pressed the glitter down well with my fingers, then just let it dry. 

After the Mod Podge dried on these, I sprayed them a couple of times with some spray clear polyurethane, just to harden the glitter really good. 

For all of these, my next step after all the paper and glitter was dry, was to put a dab of the e6000 glue on each one and press one of the magnet buttons onto them. Now, my magnet buttons had foam adhesive things on the back, I didn't remove those. I took off the paper that covered the sticky part, and just stuck them sticky side down onto the e6000. After a while, I noticed that the magnets weren't settling down into the glue well, so I put them all together on my table, magnet side down, and placed a heavy book on top of them. The added weight helped make sure the magnets adhered to the marbles well. 

And, here they are all done. 

I should note, the 4 gem-looking pink ones aren't the marbles.  I found this pack of pink gemstone embellishments on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and thought what the heck, stick a magnet on those too!  

Next, I moved on to the clothespin magnets. First, I painted them, front, sides and the insides with some craft glue the same color as the glitter I was using on them. Hey don't have to be perfect, I just wanted the background to be the same color as the glitter so it would blend better. 

After the paint dried, I put Mod Podge over the painted front side, the dipped it in the glitter. 

Then, set them out to dry. 

Once dry, I sprayed them with the clear polyurethane.  

She loves them, so I'm happy, happy happy!

DIY Chevron wall

My oldest daughter recently moved into her new place-again. She wanted a chevron wall, so I spent some time on Pinterest looking at ideas and tutorials. I saw several people measured, marked, taped off the pattern on the wall.  That just seemed very time consuming to me. So, I started shopping for a large wall stencil with the pattern she wanted. 

I found this one on Royal Design Studio for $11.00!  It's a large one, think poster size, so we had to move it and match it up multiple times. It was really VERY easy! 

 Here are a few pics of the process.

Blank wall, drop cloth in place, ladder ready and of course my Diet Mt Dew! You can barely see it behind the red Solo cup, but there is a can of Martha Stewart stencil adhesive spray-if you attempt a project like this GET THIS STUFF !  It was a life saver. I also used painters tape, but the spray kept the stencil flat against the wall and helped prevent leaking. 

First one done!  Here, you will see 2 of the mistakes I made using this stencil. 1) across the top, those little triangles I didn't need. I wasn't thinking how they would look and they were there on the stencil just for matching up the pattern as we moved along. 2) when I started the second section, I didn't match the pattern correctly, see how the V pattern isn't right, and there is that small white line of blank space?  I should've overlapped the stencil pattern to match the V, which I corrected on the next section. Since I'd made these mistakes early, and since we didn't have any of the base color that was already on the wall, I had to continue in the same manner throughout the process. Oh well, she has little triangles at the top (and bottom, to keep it consistent) and she has one section all the way down the left hand side of the wall where the pattern is off. I'm still impressed with this being my first attempt at a project like this. 

Here I've completed the wall, and we're letting it dry overnight. This took me approximately 4 hours-it could've been quicker without my frequent breaks to feed my bad habit, and without the time I had to take off to go pick my younger daughter up from school. I do not recommend trying to do this alone. Although my daughter didn't paint much, she was very helpful in holding the stencil, or the paint while I climbed up and down the ladder. And, handing me paper towels as needed, and that was OFTEN!  Here are a few pics of the wall completed with her furniture and decor added. 

Some suggestions if you try this yourself:

-lots and lots of paper towels or wash cloths. Keep a couple of wet ones close by for your hands and for any drips. I found my hands were covered in paint because each time I placed the stencil I had to press it down to make sure it was flat. And, of course, since my hand had wet paint on them I inevitably got paint smudges where I didn't want them. 

-have a helper

-read and re-read the instructions that come with your stencil. I could've had a flawless wall had I done better at this. 

-accept imperfections!  I love it, she loves it-EVERYONE loves it, even with my mistakes! 

-if possible, have on hand some of the base paint color that will help cover any mistakes if you just HAVE to correct them. 

Now, go find a wall to paint and enjoy!  I'll be using this same stencil in out throne room eventually. 

DIY Spring wreath

My mom is moving tomorrow, she just bought a new townhouse. I'm helping her move, but wanted to give her a little housewarming gift. I made this wreath with her favorite flowers, hydrangeas, and her favorite colors. I hope she likes it!!

I made the burlap wreath awhile back, used it for St. Patty's day.  For mom's wreath, I added the bright green burlap ribbon. Since the regular burlap was already woven into the slats of the wire frame ( pretty damn tightly, I must say), I decided to just tie the green burlap ribbon on with some green twine-yea, green. Some I picked up in a little 3-pack from the dollar store "just in case" I might need it. 

In this picture you can see the long green twine tails hanging over the sides, I learned the hard way that tying twine is easier with longer pieces, so I just go back and cut the ends off so they can't be seen. 

I had these huge hydrangea flowers I'd used in a vase last summer, I just chose 1 of each color and used them on the wreath, along with the leaves. 

I cut the stems off leaving only an inch or so on each bloom, the leaves slid off the stems.  Then I arranged them how I wanted and started gluing them on with my glue gun. 

Love how it turned out!

The colors match her home and decor perfectly!  

DIY Simple Easter egg door hanger

As part of my seasonal decor, I usually have a small something that I hang on our coat closet door.  I like having that little bit of fun as I walk down the hall to the kitchen , or I can see whenever I have to get a jacket or scarf or whatever. 

April is my Easter month, so I made this cute little Easter egg hanger to put on the door. Using my Cameo, I cut an egg template for the hubby and he cut an egg out of some of our wood stash. 

This pic is me testing his cut against the template from the Cameo, he done real good!  (Yes, I'm aware that's not proper English, but it fits so oh well). 

Next I spray painted the egg white, I used 2 coats to make sure it was completely covered. 

Awhile back, I found this wonderful chevron painter's tape by Frogtape. This stuff is awesome! Expensive, but worth it. I got mine at Walmart for about $12. I've used it for 3 projects before this one, and still have half the roll left. So, still more expensive than regular painters tape, but saves a lot of time. 

I taped out my pattern on the egg, then used some acrylic craft paint to paint the chevron pattern. 

I wanted the hanger to be simple, so I used grey craft paint-well, actually I used grey and white. The grey I had was darker than what I wanted, so I lightened it up with some white. I used several coats letting each one dry completely. Next, I cut a design with my Cameo in black adhesive vinyl and put it on the egg using transfer tape. 

This pic is close up, so you can see its not perfect. There are a few places on the left side of the egg where the grey paint bled through and the grey acrylic paint is too thick along where the edges of the tape were. I blame this on my rugs to get this done and not taking my time to paint it carefully. I should've used lighter coats of the grey, or used a grey spray paint. But, I love it's "perfect imperfections", so I'm happy. 

Next the hubby drilled two holes in the top-and, yes, as I told him I should've asked him to drill the holes BEFORE I painted it, but oh well. I used two brads and a length of chain from a planter hanger kit to hang it. 

The brads fit and cover the holes perfectly, so my drill-after-painting poor decision turned out ok. I love how it turned out. Exactly what I was going for. Simple, classy, and FREE!  I had everything I needed to make this. I still may add a bow, but for now I'm enjoying the simple look. 

DIY gel air freshener

I use essential oils and fragrance oils around the house for a lot of different things. One of my favorites is country clothesline, which I use for my dryer balls. With 3 dogs, a teenage athlete and lots of cooking comes a smelly house!  I hate it when my house stinks!  Air fresheners are NOT cheap, so I thought I'd try a DIY option with some of the fragrance oils. So, using some gelatin, water, country clothesline fragrance oil and food coloring, I came up with these. 

I recycled containers, for the most part you should use glass because when you pour the mixture into the container it will be hot. I wanted to try this plastic container that was already designed for air freshened with a lid that has holes in it. So far, so good as you can see, no melting. Yet. The color came out a VERY deep purple, which is fine for me, but if you want a lighter color use minimal food coloring. I overdid it just a bit. 

Here is what I used:

The Country Clothesline oil is what I use for my dryer balls, so I had it on hand already. The food coloring I also had. I bought the large box of Knox gelatin at Walmart for $10, and used only 4 packets. 

Bring to boil 1 cup of water.  While waiting for the water to boil, pour about 30 drops of essential oil and a few drops of your choice of food coloring (if you want) into your container. When the water is boiling, whisk in 4 packets of gelatin until dissolved. Then add 1 cup of cold water and whisk. Next, pour into your containers carefully.  I actually poured from the pot into my measuring cup, then into my containers, just because the measuring cup has a wider mouth than my containers and it has the pour spout. Stir with a skewer or chopstick or Popsicle stick...something disposable. And, that's it. Let them cool and firm up, then place them in a closet or small room. These work best in smaller spaces. 

I put this one in our coat closet, and it works great!

DIY dishwasher detergent tabs

I tried these a couple of month ago and love them!  Dishwasher detergent tablets are way too expensive in the store.  After browsing Pinterest, I saw a few posts about the DIY version.  I tweaked a few ingredients, and here is what I came up with-

1 c Borax

1 c Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1/2 c Lemi Shine Original 

3/4 c lemon juice

Mix the dry ingredients first, then add lemon juice-carefully. It will look like this

Do not be alarmed, it will thicken up and be less foamy. Keep stirring slowly to make sure all of your dry ingredients are saturated with the lemon juice. It should have the texture/consistency of sandy dough, not too wet, not too dry. It should form easily into a ball, like you used to do when you played with Pla-Dough. 

Then, spread a sheet of wax paper on your work space, and moving kinda quickly start forming balls and mashing into squares or rectangles. Keep in mind the size of the soap dispenser in your washing machine, you'll want these to fit. **As a side note, I saw several people use ice cube trays as molds for these, you can choose to use them, or a candy mold or whatever.  I chose to free-hand 1-because it was free, and 2- because I'm impatient and I didn't have anything to use as a mold on hand. 

If you choose the free-hand method, you'll likely end up with something like this. This recipe made 40 tabs, mind you they're not very consistent in size-my hubby helped and his idea of small and my idea of small are slightly different, but oh well. If you find you've made your tabs too big for your soap dispenser, don't try to break them, they're tough little jokers. Just toss them in the bottom of the dishwasher, they'll still work just fine. 

Allow them to dry completely, usually 3-4 hours, but if possible leave them overnight. Store them in an airtight container, and treat yourself with the money you saved going DIY instead of buying pre-made. 

Yup, I re-used the Cascade canister. 

I've made 2 batches of 40 each of these now, and I still have enough ingredients to make at least 4 more batches. With the exception of the Lemi Shine, I'll have to buy more of that before I do the other ingredients. 

These work super well, dishes are nice and clean. The dishwasher even looks and smells cleaner. The box of Cascade that you see cost me approximately $23, so that's about .27 each. My DIY version cost me .06 each. May not seem like a big difference when you look at the per piece price, but when you think of it like this, 85 for $23 or 85 for $5.10. Almost $20 in savings. Well worth it for me. 

DIY Easter egg wreath

My Easter wreath...

Easter is coming soon, despite what the weather outside is like. I mean really, an ice storm in the middle of March?  In the south!!  

So, to try to get my mind on warmer thoughts, I decided to start my Easter decor. I wanted an Easter egg wreath, one that was cute, easy an above all CHEAP!  Since I was covering the whole thing in the plastic Easter eggs, I didn't see the point in buying a wreath form. I decided to cut a wreath form out of some cardboard.  So, back to the hoarded stash of old boxes in the garage I go!  I used the lid from our ash pail for the outer diameter, and a mixing bowl for the inner diameter, traced them and cut them out with a (very dull) box cutter.  Looking back, the width of the cardboard should've been just a bit, maybe 1/2 inch larger, meaning I should've used a smaller bowl to trace my inner diameter. It really needs to be about 2" wide to fit 2 rows of the eggs on the first layer, but I made do. Here's the wreath form along with my other supplies:

Next, I dumped all the eggs into my mixing bowl while the glue gun heated up. Then I just started gluing the eggs onto my wreath form:

I alternated the direction of the eggs to get a more uniform circle shape. There are small gaps where you can see the cardboard between the eggs, I'll cover those with Easter grass a little later. Here's a pic of the first row completed and where I started gluing the grass in the gaps:

I glued the eggs closely together so getting grass into the gaps required a thin tool, hence the old fork you see in the bottom left of the pic. Had I planned ahead, I would have first glued a layer of the grass around the wreath form BEFORE I started gluing on the eggs, so learn from my mistakes. ;-). Still, it wasn't difficult, so no worries. 

A close up of the grass in the gaps, just a dollup of glue, then smush the gras together making it as small as you can, only a few strands works, and the stuff it in the gap.  I used the fork to push it down into the glue really good. 

Then, I just kept gluing eggs on in a semi-pattern until it looked full enough. 

Then, I filled in the gaps again with some more grass.

The strands of the grass were extra long, so I did a little trimming, cutting it down to where it just barely stuck out, I didn't want it hanging out and down from the wreath. 

I'm not much of a bow maker, luckily I found this one pre-made at Michaels. 

It clashes with my red front door, but oh well. I still love it!