It’s still a million degrees here and I don’t expect cooler temperatures to be the norm for another few weeks.  We’ve had a few days of some cloudy, cooler weather and I can’t wait until we don’t have to run the A/C all the time.  But, in the meantime, I’m bringing Fall in where I can.  Here’s an easy (although slightly time-intensive) idea.

Here’s the How:

1)  Supplies:

– Felt in Autumnal colors (gold, brown, yellow, orange and red are a few ideas)

– Straight Pins

– Scissors

– Hot Glue Gun

– Leaf Template (I used THIS set from enchantedlearning.com)

2)  Print out the templates and cut them out.  Pin the templates to your felt and cut them out.  Repeat in each color for however many leaves you want.  I only did one of each design in each color.  I also did some smaller ones too.  Leaves are all different sizes, after all.  Our table is relatively small (only about 4ft long) so the 15 large leaves and half a dozen small ones were enough.  This is the time-intensive part.  Park it on the sofa with a good chick flick during nap time and go to town.  That’s what I did.

3)  Plug in your glue gun.  Lay out the leaves on your table.  Arrange them until you have a layout you like.  Glue the edges of the leaves together with a little dab of hot glue.

4)  You could also make this into a garland.  If you decide on that route, you’ll need two things.  1. More leaves (unless 4 ft is long enough) and 2. you’ll need to secure your leaves better than you would have to for a table runner.  You can see on the left side of the photo that a brown leaf fell down behind a gold one.  I would glue it to the orange one on the very left edge if I were to use this as a garland.  And just so you know what a garland would look like:

Easy, cute and simple to store (and repair, if needs be).  Happy Fall!

Krista

Pin It

My father-in-law has a piece of property that is kinda his pride and joy.  He has spent countless hours fixing and repairing and clearing and mowing and building and in all ways improving this piece of property.  On this property is an old train station he has turned into restrooms (which makes camping on this property a whole lot more inviting).  In this train-station-turned-restroom building were some old windows.  Yeah?  See where I’m going with this?  So, he gave me a handful of them and I have wanted to put one in our bedroom.  Above our bed.  But… there where a few issues.  One of which is the paint that is one them… It’s probably lead-based.  That’s a no-no for pregnancy, so they’ve been off limits since the end of May.  Also, they are HEAVY!  I have this (irrational?) fear that it would fall on our heads in the middle of the night.  That’s not an awakening I want to experience… so, I concocted an idea…

I’ve had the materials for this project for a few months now and it finally got done after I tripped over them one too many times.  It was the kick-in-the-pants (bruise on my shin) that I needed to find the motivation to get this done.  I love how it turned out!  And it’s secured to the wall, so I’m worry free.  Now, I just need to figure out what to put in this awesome faux window.
  
Here’s the How:
1)  As mentioned above, this was a “just get it done” project.  I don’t have a lot of process photos.  I apologize if this ends of being confusing.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.  You can click on the photos and view them larger.

Supplies:
These will make a 3×4’ window.
– One piece of 8ft pre-primed moulding board
– One piece of 6ft pre-primed moulding board
– Four 3/8”x36” square wooden dowels
– paint in your desired color
– nails and hammer
– staple gun and staples
– wood glue and wood filler

2)  Begin by cutting both moulding boards in half and then cut the corners to 45 degree angles, so they form a square when put together.  The photo illustrates how the moulding pieces should fit together.

3)  Paint the moulding your desired color and let them dry well.  I did three coats of paint.

4)  Measure the inside length of the short side.  Mine was about 30” long.  You’ll need to divide that in half and then subtract the width of your dowels.  I had two dowels, so 3/8+3/8=3/4.  So, I cut two of the dowels into 14 and 1/4 inch lengths.  Leave the other two alone.
 
5)  Flip the boards over and use the wood glue to glue the corners of the moulding together.  I actually ended up using LocTite glue.  It held the weight better and dried faster.  But, that’s your call.  Use the staple gun to secure the corners with a couple staples.

6)  Take the two long dowels and place them 15” away from your side boards.  Secure them with nails or staples.  All of your staples should be on the back of the frame.  I did staples because that’s what I had on-hand.  I did two staples per dowel, securing it to moulding boards.

7)  Take your 15” pieces and slide them into place between the dowels, making the long rectangles into small rectangles.  Secure with more staples and wood glue.  Fill any cracks/gaps between the moulding and dowels with wood filler.
  
8)  Drill small holes in your moulding pieces.  Nail your window to the wall.  Step back and admire.  Ta-DA!  Bask in your beautiful faux window.  And welcome to my dilemma of what else to put on the wall.  =)




Krista

Pin It

If you follow my Pinterest Boards, you  know I’m obsessed with these little babies.  I love them!  Vintage, functional, and just all around lovely!  So, I’ve been scouring thrift stores for just the right soap dispenser top.  Of course, it came with the bottle too, but I’m not sure what to do with that yet.  For now, it’s sitting on my counter…

Here’s the How:

1) Supplies:

1 pint size glass jar (you could totally up cycle some other jar you already have too…)

1 soap dispenser top (the part you pump)

drill and drill bits

2)  This was soo easy I almost didn’t take pictures.  Good thing I hit a snag, huh?  Ok, first start with a small drill bit (I used a 3/32 bit) and drill a hole in the center of the jar lid or the seal, if you’re using a canning jar.

3)  Gradually increase the size of hole by using a little larger drill bit.  I used a 9/64 bit and then a 13/64 bit, followed by my 1/4 bit. 

And then, I hit my snag.  I didn’t have any larger bits than 1/4” and my husband had the tool box with the big bits in it.  So… I took my little bit again and drilled small holes all the way around the diameter of my circle.  The hole has to be large enough for the soap pump and straw to fit inside.  It wasn’t pretty, but it worked and you can’t see it with the soap dispenser assembled.  If I’d had the right sized bits, this would have taken like ten minutes (instead of half an hour).

4)  After I got my hole drilled big enough, I put the soap pumper through the hole and used LocTite glue to secure it to the canning jar seal.  Let that dry well and ta-da!  All finished.

Krista

Pin It

A few months ago, I saw these on the Pottery Barn Kids site:

Source

Krista

Pin It