Make your own Wire Photo Holder

I have been eying the wire photo holders from Pottery Barn Kids for a while, dreaming of one for my daughter's room. Well, I was at Home Depot today (looking for something completely different) and saw the rack with various gauge wires. I had so much fun with the Floral Wire Pumpkins that I thought I could make my own wire photo holder. I have to say it was not as easy as it looked. Perhaps if I was willing to solder them, I could do it without a problem...my husband can do this so I might be getting him to help me with this one night. I will keep you informed.  So with only limited tools, I was not able to do the exact photo holder I wanted but I am still happy with the end result.

I used 19 gauge wire and started bending it into figure 8s.

I did this over and over again until I thought I had the length I wanted.

I stretched out the wire and flattened it by hitting it a few times with a large rubber mallet on a mat on the floor.

My daughter's room is pink with bright lime green accents, so I decided to spray paint it bright green. I personally liked the Oil Rubbed Bronze but this wasn't for me.

(Don't mind the photos in the loops, my daughter picked them)
When it was dry I tied a not so fancy ribbon (This will be changed when I can find some nicer ribbon).

The photos slip into the loops.

This took maybe 30 minutes from start to finish and the end result is approximately 10 inches around. Total cost was probably $0.50 since the entire roll of wire was $3 and I barely used any of it.

If you want to do little extra with this, you can make the loops in to hearts really easily. I might do one for my room this way, but we will see.

 

I have done a second version of this. Please see this page for the larger square version.
Enjoy! Stephanie

DIY Foaming Soap Refill

I love Bath and Body Works! I love their candles, their gift baskets and I especially love their foaming hand soap.  Unfortunately, my kids love the hand soap too. I swear we can go through an entire bottle in just over two weeks..I am starting to think they are bathing with it and not just washing their hands!  So, I knew that my love for these hand soaps would have to go unsatisfied if I could not find an economical solution.

The wonders of the web pointed me to many different sites (including a favorite Not So Idle Hands) discussing methods and recipes for refilling these jars at home!  I have been doing this for a few months now and have perfected my recipe. So here goes for those of you out there who feel the same way. 

Materials needed:
Empty foaming soap dispenser
Body wash or dish soap in your favorite scent (I have only tested this out with 'clear' body washes and not creamy types)
HOT water (not boiling but really hot)

Method:
If your soap dispenser is a little gummy around the spout (like mine), give it a rinse to clean it off.

If you are picky like me, I tend to buy the refill soap in a similar scent and color as the original soap in the bottle (i.e. lemon, ocean, melon, etc.)

Pour your body wash/dish soap into the empty jar. I use approximately 1 inch of body wash or to the "T" on the side of the bottle.  For dish soap I use a little less because it foams far more. There is no exact science for this...if you use more soap, the suds are thicker.

Run you tap until the water is extremely hot. Decrease the flow of the water and slowly fill the jar, leaving approximately 1 inch on the top to allow room for the pump.

 

Carefully stir the soap and water until it is mixed. Do not shake.
Pump a few times until you feel warm suds and then you are done!

Enjoy.

I will be honest with you, I have used Bath and Body works Shower gel for this so the scent and the pump match. This is more expensive than using other shower gels or dish soap...but this is great for those of you who still want the scent but want to save some money. If you can buy the shower gels when they are on sale for buy 3 get 3 free you will save a lot. I think I should get 5 or 6 refills out of each shower gel!

 

 Next confession, I almost screamed with joy last time I was at Bath and Body Works as I noticed for the first time the lemon scented kitchen foaming hand soap (I am sure they have had it for a while but it is new for me).  You ask why...well my husband came home with two of these from Costco!

The 'new' bottle on the left has been refilled so you can see it is a little brighter in color but I am not complaining...we are using up the massive jugs of Sunlight dish soap one pump at a time.

Personalized Fleece Blankets

I love to sew. By 'sew' I mean easy, not complicated, straight line and maybe a zig zag stitch sewing.

So when all my friends and family were having kids of their own, I really wanted to make them a unique gift that was personalized but not too difficult. You always see the baby blankets with the child's name embroidered on it but I only have a basic sewing machine that does not do any sort of embroidery.   I got the idea to stitch a child's name to a fleece blanket at a local craft fair about 10 years ago.  It looked simple enough, so I thought I would give it a shot.  Well, it is extremely simple and the reaction to these blankets has been amazing.

Materials Needed:
Non-pilling fleece blanket (the blankets I use are large..probably double bed size. You can use crib size or any other size you want)
Fleece fabric in accent colors
Permanent clear drying fabric glue
Thread in color of blanket and every color of accent fabric

Method:
Start with a pre-made fleece (non-pilling) blanket. I personally love coral fleece but any type will do. 

For the design use lighter weight polar fleece in matching colors for the design.  I cut all the letters, shapes etc. out and lay them out on the blanket and move them around until I get it exactly how I like it.  There is no right or wrong with how they need to be placed...you will know what looks right. Be sure to use the right side of the fleece. Some time it is hard to tell but other times it is really easy.

Use a permanent fabric glue (that dries clear) and lightly secure all the design/accents pieces onto the blanket.

Once the glue is dry, do a zig zag stitch around all the glued on designs to secure the edges of the fabric and to give a finished look.  The setting I use for the zigzag stitch is wider (6.5 width) and longer (1-1.25 length) than recommended by my machine.

Use the bobbin thread in a color that matches the blanket (so the blanket looks ok on the backside) and then the top thread to match each individual design piece.

I don't know if this will make sense but I start sewing the fabric that is the furthest back in the design first so that I can go over the start/stop points with the next color.  The constant thread change is time consuming but I think it is worth it.

Note:I have tried in the past to use Fusible webbing/Wonderunder to adhere the design but it does not work.   I also do not use anything else between the blanket and design.

Here are a few of the many blankets I have made in the past. I am sorry the images are not great, I never planned on posting them on a blog :) .

 

 

Let me know if you have any questions and I can try to explain better.

Please see the Parties I've Linked To page for some amazing Linked parties I have participated in.

Spray Painted Vent Covers

When we renovated our powder room recently and after my husband was finished I went to put the old, dingy, white vent cover back into the floor and thought it was ridiculous to replace everything in the bathroom including the floor and not replace the vent. So I went out and bought a beautiful oil rubbed bronze (ORB) vent cover and stood back and admired it. Yes, it was beautiful but I realized it was almost the exact color of the door handles I spray painted a few months before.

So I got a wonderful cheap idea...spray paint my horribly beaten up metal vent covers throughout the rest of the house! I would have loved to pull out the one I had just installed and returned it but it was in the vent really tightly and wasn't going anywhere.

I got out my ORB Krylon spray paint (personal favorite) from my huge collection of spray paints and removed the vent covers.

All our vents are on the outer walls of the rooms and don't get very much traffic so I did not sand them.

I started by removing the movable flappy thingies (yes, that is the technical term) used to close the vent.  To do this work on one side of the underside of the vent and gently push back the piece of metal that the two flap posts are inserted into. Once both flaps are removed from one side, they simple slip out from the other side.

I spray primed with gray spray paint first. Always spray the underside (or unseen side) first.  This will allow the top to dry without any marks.

Once the primer is dry, do three light coats of spray paint. Again, start on the underside and be sure to get in all the cracks.  Flip over and do the top with three light coats.

Once dry, install the flaps carefully back into the vent.  Mine could only go in one way so be sure the flaps can move and close the vent before installing them.
Before and After :

I have not had any chips on these as of yet and they look so much better.  All new vent covers for a $5 can of spray paint!

Thanks.

Window Covering for Front Door

 When we moved into our new home we were left with some pretty horrible front door curtains. Oh how I hate the bright gold door handles and am so happy I painted them!

My options were pretty slim as to how to fix this problem. My dream solution was to purchase the beautiful wrought iron window inserts, easy to install but the design I love runs a few hundred dollars each. So as you guessed I could not justify it, especially since I had far more pressing design issues to tackle (like the peach and green colored floor tile that I cropped out of the front door image). Second option was the plastic film that you stick to the window. I tried this and I could not get all the bubbles out. Plus it was hideous and it made it so you could not see out the window to see who was at the door. My third option was to replace the hideous curtains with other curtains. Although I did not like this option it did seem to be the only one I could do at this time.

I decided I would use the Ikea Anno Inez panel curtain as my fabric. It was just slightly wider than my window, so I would not have to have a seam on either side of the panel. Each Ikea panel is approximately $10 and I was able to do two windows with it.

The end result, I think, looks like custom blinds because it has no seam on the side but see what you think.

To save even more money, I decided to use the lovely bright gold hardware from the existing curtains. I had Heirloom white spray paint on hand so I gave it a quick cover and they looked so much better.

I measured the distance between the two curtain rods, added approximately 2 inches to each end (4 inches total) for seam allowance and a pocket for the rods.

This fabric is stiff and I was able to fold under the fabric and press the seam with my finger to create a fold.
I folded the fabric around the rod and create a pocket.  I sewed the one side and then pinned the second using the same method.  NOTE: Be sure to test that the curtain fits into the hardware on the door before sewing the bottom seam (believe me double check even if you know the measurements are correct...I didn't check one and since I wanted the curtains to be tight it didn't fit.).

These curtains give me the privacy I needed, allows a lot of light to come in, had a slight pattern (which I love) and most importantly allows me to see out the window when I am close to it.

   

Cinnamon Stick Solution

Have any of you purchased those lovely smelling cinnamon sticks only to get the home and have no idea what to do with them?  Well, that is just what I did a couple of weeks ago.

I was in Walmart and I fell prey to the aisle of cinnamon smelling pine cones and sticks.  The pine cones you can easily throw in a nice bowl but what do you do with the cinnamon sticks. So after a week of staring at them laying on my table I decided I either had to do something creative or get rid of them.

Well my solution is extremely easy and not too creative but it did clean them up.

I took the cinnamon sticks and put a hair elastic around them. Make sure you keep the bottom flat so they stand.

 

Tie a raffia or ribbon bow around to hide the elastic and you are done.

Enjoy.