DIY 5 minute no sew valance

Now that Christmas is over and all of the decorations are down my house feels so very empty! Bring on the post Christmas blues... Nope! Not happening. DIY to the rescue- again!!! :-) 

For Christmas I made wreaths and hung them from each of the windows in the breakfast room. I never noticed it before Christmas, but the breakfast room looks completely bare without anything on the windows. So tonight I decided I was going to make curtains, well at least I was going to pin up the fabric to see what it would look like and to choose a color. 

Yesterday I bought two fitted queen size sheets from Goodwill (white & grey) that I was going to use to make a ruffle throw. I didn't want to hang the rod yet, so I just used push pins and pushed the fabric into the top of the window frame. I layered the fitted sheet over itself and used Jute to tie it up. Much to my surprise they look great!

 

There is no confusing these curtains for custom curtains, but if you are looking for a quick and easy spice for your windows, this is it! 

It was so easy that now I'm not sure I want to go through the trouble of hanging the rod and making the curtains. ;-) 

Ok, now that I have the curtains out of my mind,  time for some rest! Good night everyone! 

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Upcycled Grapevine Wreath

Ah... Chevron and burlap. My two favorite things! 

A few weeks ago I found a grey grapevine wreath at Hobby Lobby that I absolutely fell in love with, but I could not bring myself to pay $40 for it - so I decided to make one! 

Unfortunately, I had forgotten how thin the grapevine wreaths have gotten. I had a really hard time finding a thick wreath. Then today at this totally charming local second hand "Scrap Exchange" store I found a wreath in desperate need of a makeover. $5 and a can of spray paint later, I have a super adorable new addition to my kitchen!!! 

First, I stripped all of the old floral decorations off. As you can see from the picture I changed my mind and decided to go with Ocean Blue instead of grey, which I absolutely adore!!! I used Krylon spray paint that, to my surprise, dried in less than ten minutes (I only used one coat as I like the way it looks a little weathered). 

After it was dry I made a little bow using some scrap chevron burlap I had, and it was done! Less than 30 minutes!  

I am so happy with how it turned out!!! Can't help but want to make another one for the front door! :-)

Custom Burlap Chevron Pillow

Hellooooo!!! I know, it's been a very- very long time since my last post. Things have been a little crazy and I've been very crafty lately. But not to worry, I have taken lots of pictures to post. 

First, I want to show you my super adorable chevron pillow case that I made. 

I bought some Chevron Burlap from Hobby Lobby to make a wreath, but since Santa brought my new sewing machine early I decided to make a pillow case instead. ;-)

 

I used about 1.25 rolls of the Burlap. The pillow case took less than 20 minutes to make!!! Super easy pattern. I also had some scrap ruffle that I added as an accent! What's more adorable than ruffle and burlap?!? 

To make the case I cut four strips of burlap the length of my pillow (my pillow was 18"x18"). I left 1.5 inches extra for the inseam. First I sowed the four strips together (4 for the front). This is when I added my ruffle. Be careful to line your chevron pattern up before sowing. 

For the back I cut four strips, but made them 4" longer than the pillow, allowing for me to cut in half horizontally, after I sowed the strips together, making the envelope. Once I cut the four strips in half (that were sown together making the back) I hemed each side. And then sowed the front, back, top and bottom together. This is what it should look like- 

Turn it right side out, stuff and there you have it!!! Super easy and so cute!!! 

This project is really easy for beginners. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Happy day!!! (:

Wreaths... Wreaths... Wreaths...

HELP! - I am absolutely obsessed with making wreaths. I can't stop!!! Every time I drive by a craft store I have to go in and look at ribbon. 

My favorite thing about making wreaths is how fun it is to watch the wreath change. The finished product almost never looks like how I envision it when I start making it. I love tweaking it as I build it. Each one has its own character. 

The problem with being addicted to making wreaths is that I can only hang so many of them. Today I decided it was time to open the doors to my Etsy store again. Oh how I have missed selling things. 

I started selling custom clothing lots on eBay about 6 years ago, and became addicted to selling things. A few years ago we started going to storage auctions and bought a few storage lockers and that is when I opened my Etsy store. However, since we have moved until recently I have been too busy to sell anything. But today is the day. 

Here are a few of the wreaths that I made  - for ME :) 

This is one of my favorite ones. I bought the burlap by the yard and cut it into strips. I used a straw wreath form and wrapped the burlap around it. Fun and easy to make. I found the pinecones and acorns. 

Burlap Pinecone Wreath 

This is one that I made this week. Love the green and gold together! 

Burlap and Chevron 

This wreath was so fun to make. I found a yard of the Fleur de lis burlap and did not know what I was going to do with it. It turned out great to use on this wreath. 

Ok, so I have to say something about this one. This was the first live magnolia wreath that I ever made. This has to be the most beautiful wreath that I have ever seen, and I am proud to say that it was made by ME!!! :)

For this wreath I collected a lot, I mean A LOT of magnolia leaves off of our magnolia tree. I did not use a wreath form for this, instead I used floral wire and threaded the leaves onto the wire. Once I got the wire as long as I wanted I tied the ends together forming the circle. Very time consuming, but well worth it!!!

Live Magnolia Wreath - Charleston 

And here are a few more of my wreaths...

For the wreath below I used a wire coat hanger. I threaded the burlap onto the coat hanger, tied the ends together and added ribbons. Very easy wreath to make, and super cute! 

Simple burlap wreath made with wire coat hanger

I am sure there are many many more wreath pictures to come. If you have any questions on how to make any of these please let me know! 

... and I am off to find some more burlap. I have been searching for gray burlap. I want to make a gray and white burlap wreath for my door... Wish me luck!  -  TTFN! :) 

Christmas wreath. Decorating with burlap.

Hello -and Happy Halloween! I can't believe that it is Halloween already. Time has been flying by. Geez!

This week has especially flown by. I just realized that I have not blogged all week. Although, I am not sure that I am the blogging type of girl. I sure like to talk, so I thought that I would like blogging (lol), however it takes away from my time Pinteresting, hahaha! I am going to try this for a little longer. I don't have many followers so at least I am not letting anyone down. :)

Anyway, so I was in Albany, NY this week and they have a HOBBY LOBBY! I love Hobby Lobby. So many more fabrics and ribbons there then anywhere else. Especially burlap. I went shopping yesterday and found several of the ribbons that I wanted. I am in love with CHEVRON!!! :) With all of the ribbons purchased I just could not help myself. I had to make the wreath.

Burlap Christmas Wreath

Burlap bow

I am sorry that the picture is a little dark in the first one. I took it in my hotel room and the lighting here is poor. Yes - I said hotel room. And yes, that means that somehow I have to get this wreath on the airplane with me. I am not sure what I was thinking. Lol!

While I was at Hobby Lobby I stumbled across a Christmas decoration tree that I am going to try to make. It doesn't seem very hard to make. Last year I made several of these types of decorations. It was very simple. I saved some cereal boxes and cut them so that I could make a cone shape out of them. What a cost savings, not to mention a good way to recycle!

This is the tree. It looks like they just cut burlap and glued it to the cone. Then some glitter, they also sewed some little bells on, which I think is cute.

Burlap tree - DIY 

Cone Tree's 

I am going to try to make the cone myself, like I did last year. Luckily I did take some pictures last year that I can share. I love bragging about how I saved money by making something myself... lol! :)

Make your own christmas tree cone 

DIY Christmas Tree cone 

Burlap Christmas decoration 

Burlap Christmas Tree

I used several types of fabrics, all that I had left over from making wreaths. I just cut the fabric into strips and used my handy dandy glue gun and glued the fabric to the cardboard. I sprayed them with spray glitter. Everything I make has to sparkle...lol!

I hope you like the ideas. I will post pictures of my burlap tree soon. Now its time for me to try to fit this wreath into my luggage. lol!  TTFN!

My Savior - Our iRobot Roomba 770

Good morning! Finally, it's Saturday!!! Today I thought I would blog about my favorite new helper, and the reason that I actually have time to post a blog today. Hopefully I don't bore the few people that are actually reading this post! But this is too good to not share!!!

Meet "Sweepy"! 

iRobot Roomba 770

 When you are looking at an empty house you imagine that once you get your furniture in the house the space will feel much smaller. Well, this house is a monster.

When J and I first moved in it took about 2 days for me to start complaining about how much time I was spending cleaning the floor. Having a cat and a dog our hardwood floors start looking like carpet after just a few days... :) 

Long story short, recently I started traveling for work (which is temporary). The only thing that I asked my husband to do while I was gone was to keep the floors clean. After my second week of travel I returned home to a super clean house. I was so happy. And then I was introduced to "Sweepy".

Sweepy is an iRobot Roomba 770. There are several different series available, not to mention different brands. I have been thinking about getting a robotic vacuum for several months. A few of our friends have them and love them, which is why I wanted to blog about Sweepy. I was very skeptical about getting a robotic vacuum, even after hearing my friends brag about how well theirs work. I was most hesitant because of how much they cost. The cost range does vary widely, depending on the features. Ours was about $500, but has all of the features that we were looking for (AND WAS WORTH THE MONEY!!!!) You can easily google the features of the 770, but I wanted share some of our personal experiences so far. 

We have programmed Sweepy to run each morning at 9am. He automatically removes himself from his home base (charging station) and goes to work, right after we both go to work which is fantastic.

iRobot Roomba 770

Sweepy came with two "virtual walls" so that we can keep him out of certain rooms or areas if we choose to. In our house we clean the hardwood floors everyday, but we only vacuum the bedroom twice a week. The thing that I love most about that is that the vacuum automatically changes settings when it moves from hardwood to carpet or tile, and has a "Dirt Detect" system so that if it detects dirt it starts going back and forth in a smaller area until it no longer detects dirt. I find that it does this most around the doors leading outside. Sweepy runs for about 1.5 hours before taking himself back to his home base. There is a spinning side brush that cleans along the walls and in corners. This works great in our kitchen and bathrooms for getting the debris from under the cabinets.

iRobot Roomba spinning brush

The one thing that we still have to do each day is to remember to clean the garbage bin (oh and to sweep the stairs so that Sweepy can pick up the hair at the bottom :) . The garbage bin is surprisingly easy to clean. Our manual vacuum is a Dyson Animal (which I still love) but is not even close to being as easy to take care of as our Roomba.

iRobot Roomba brush and cleaning tool 

About every other day we clean the brush, which is super easy to remove. As you can see in the picture, the cleaning tool slides up and down the brush to easily collect the hair (Um, why did it take so long to come up with this super easy cleaning method???)  I am not sure how everyone else cleans the hair out of their vacuum, but usually it takes me forever, a pair of scissors, and maybe a few bandaids...lol!

So, if any of you were thinking about getting a robotic vacuum - DO IT!!!!!! Don't wait another day...lol!  It has been one of the greatest purchases we have made! It saves countless hours vacuuming each week.

Fall decorations

I really started blogging so that I had someplace to post all of the crafty things that I like to make, yet for some reason this is my first crafty DIY blog (ok, so I have only been blogging for two days -  I may be exaggerating...lol) 

Well, in this post I am not really adding many things that I made, however I have some cute decorations. 

I am absolutely in love with white pumpkins!!!  For some reason this year it took me forever to find them,  but as they say, if you look hard enough... :)

I bought the larger white pumpkins at Target. They are not expensive, but they really are made to be painted. I left mine plain.  The small white pumpkins are REAL!!! They are so cute and perfect. I looked all over for real mini white pumpkins and finally found them at Harris Teeter (grocery store), in the produce section, 2 for $1! I had to by several of them to place around the house. The oil lamp and owl I found at Goodwill. I LOVE that place!!! The green pumpkin I found at JoAnn Fabric's. It was only $4! They had several cute fake pumpkins. I bought the burlap and cut it down for the table runner. The flowers are actually sweetgrass roses from Charleston S.C. You can buy these at the market in downtown Charleston. Wonderful local handmade souvenir.  And what table is complete without milk glass vases? :)

 Adorable owl and perfect pumpkin!

 I had to give you a few closeups. Cute lil guys!

It took me about two weeks to complete the table decorations. I kept adding things, so much so that J said that we were not going to have a place to eat if I didn't stop...lol. The last thing that I made is this cute candle. I found the candle at Goodwill for less than $1. I had some twine so I decided to make a twine wrapped candle like the ones that they sell at Pottery Barn. All I did was place a little bit of glue at the bottom of the candle and glued down one end of the twine. I then wrapped the twine all the way around the candle. Once I got the twine as high up the candle as I wanted it, I added a little glue to the candle and glued the end of twine down at the top. Super easy! 

Please let me know if you have any questions about how to glue the twine to the candle and I can upload some close up pictures. Fun and easy project! 

Post St.Baldrick's hair weeks 5-10

Ok, so I have finally uploaded my pictures from my phone to my computer. So, below you will see my week 5-8- post St.Baldrick's event hair growth. The pictures really don't show much, but I am telling you - these are the weeks when I started putting gel in my hair...lol! J (my husband) was like "REALLY??? Your hair is not long enough for you to need gel". Um, yes it is! I mean seriously - after you have not had hair on your head for weeks. This is LONG hair!!! Notice I finally felt more comfortable with my new hair - only one ribbon!!! :)

Post St. Baldrick's hair  week 5-8

About this time, around week 4 or 5, I decided I missed my hair and that I wanted a Wig. My friend Jeremy O. knew just where I could find one!!! We went to what I would call a wig shop - I swear they had like 5000 wigs. Jeremy said that I HAD to have a lace front wig. 

Finally! 

I feel like myself again!!! I love it! So nice to get out of bed, shower, makeup and wig. And its stunning!!! Gorgeous wig! Look what a difference the wig makes! The fabulous selfie with the green shirt on was taken five minutes apart. HUGE difference!


Week 9 and 10 have been great.  My hair is finally starting to feel like a style, and I am wearing hair products that I actually NEED to keep my hair from standing straight up! Lots of compliment from people that have no idea that I have not intentionally cut my hair to look like this... Its natural!!!  lol! Soon it will be time for my first haircut!!!

Post St. Baldricks Week 9-10

I'm thinking that in the next week or two I am going to go for the PINK look. I mean, how many times in my life am I going to have hair this short??? And I cant wait to dye it blonde again! 

What do you think??? 

My hair after St.Baldrick's. The growing stages...

One of the fun things about shaving my head is watching it grow back  - oh and to finally see what my natural color is. OMG, It is dark!!! Not sure that it will stay dark, but for now - I am a brunette! However, I have confirmed - blondes do have more fun... lol

Before I decided to shave my head I looked on the internet for growth pictures from someone else that had shaved their head, a girl of course. I found it very difficult to find therefore I decided that I would be taking lots of pictures and posting them. Sooooo....

Week 1-4 

Yes, I like bows. I felt very naked in the beginning. The red headband in the week 2 picture is from headbands of HOPE.  headbands of HOPE  help raise money to fund research for childhood cancer. Please click on the link above to find out more. 

First six weeks- 

Week 5-8

Week 11 -

Week 14 

Week 15 

Week 18 

First few months!!! 💗