Dollar Store Ornament Wreath

Sorry--It has been FOREVER since I posted!

We have had a rough few weeks as of late.  My Father in Law passed away a few weeks ago--so I haven't had the time, nor did I feel like posting.  But we are doing better and I did just complete a fun project with a friend the other day that I am IN LOVE WITH!  So I thought I would share it.

It is nothing new to blogger land.  In fact you have probably seen them EVERYWHERE.

I got my ideas from HERE, HERE and HERE.

So I went to the dollar store and picked up some round plastic ornaments.  Then my awesome friend Tiffany and I hot glued all the tops onto the ornaments so they wouldn't pop off during construction.

Here's Tiff wielding her gun:

And of course I didn't remember to take any other pictures of us assembling the wreath--I was just too darn excited about how it was coming together.  But the gist of it is that you unwind a wire coat hanger--or find some thicker gauge wire and shape it into a  circle.  Then you string the ornaments onto the wire. 

You just keep adding ornaments and try and cluster them how you like them by rotating them around the wire.  It is important to do the positioning of them while you go as they get much harder to move when they are all sandwiched together.

You finish stringing them till you have the desired size you want.  Then you twist the ends of the wire together at the top and add a bow and a loop for hanging.

And this is what it will look like: 

I hung it on the side of my entry way and then decided I really wanted it on my door.  So I went and bought a wreath hanger and so then it looked like this:

But then--our door decided it didn't like the door hanger and wouldn't close properly.  So then I went to the store and bought some knifty little suction cup hooks that I could put on my glass window to hang the wreath.

So now it looks like this: 

And as a bonus--my door now closes!

And by hanging it on the door--I was able to do a little more decorating. 

Do you remember this little tree from HERE?

Well--I think it looks SO CUTE all deocrated with some more dollar store ornaments.

All the ornaments and ribbon and everything cost me about $8 at the dollar store.  And it was such a quick and easy project to do.  Honestly--the hardest part of the whole project was finding a wire coat hanger!  So if anyone has any wire coat hangers hanging around--I may be able to make some more of these babies! 

A Super Purdy Project

So a few weeks ago--I was contacted and asked if I would like to test and review a Purdy Paintbrush Kit!!!! 

As I am still pretty new to blogland--I questioned how I could have been chosen for this great honor.  And in fact--I emailed the gal back a couple times making sure that I had the facts straight--that she was from a legitimate company--and they wanted to SEND ME A FREE PRODUCT--and I got to use it and then blog about it?  (I am not SO NEW to blogland that I hadn't seen other blogs about just this very thing--but little old me?) 

All I could say was YESSIREE!!!  SEND ME FREE STUFF!!!

So I waited--half thinking that it really was just a joke--UNTIL THIS Purdy little thing arrived in the mail!

And I knew JUST what to do with it. 

I have a front porch.  And it is a cute little porch--except that it has fallen into disrepair (bad owners!).  I have been putting off painting if for SEVERAL years now.  So it looked like this:

and this:

I know--seeing it now on the computer screen--I am so ashamed of myself!  How could I have let it get THAT BAD?  Well--obviously it could no longer be ignored.  Something had to be done.

So here is the part where I tell you about how I painted my poor little porch with my AWESOME NEW PAINT BRUSH! 

Oh wait--First I had to open the paint can.  And this was NO SMALL CHORE mind you.  This can had been in our garage--also for SEVERAL YEARS--waiting for me to get my rear in gear going on this project.  So it was like CEMENTED shut.  Tight like a trap.  You get the idea.

So this handy little 6 in 1 tool was SUPER awesome to have.  Usually I have to hijack one of my hubby's screwdrivers and mutilate the lid of the can--usually so badly that it can never be closed normally again--just to get it to open.  This guy did the job without so much as marring the lid.

Next I laid out all my paint stuff on a garbage bag. 

I always do this so that I can easily pull and scoot around the bag with the paint tray and all my tools and not get paint everywhere.

Then I also laid out all my spill and splatter catchers. 

You may use drop cloths--I use old towels and LOVE using them.  I have never spent the bucks for an actual drop cloth--but have often used the big rolls of plastic (which I hate by the way).  The towels work SO GREAT because they are easy to move around--they don't fly up in the breeze and get stuck to whatever you are painting--and they are ABSORBENT!!!  So if you do happen to dribble on them they just absorb it--and it is no big deal.  ALSO if you happen to get paint on something that you didn't want to get paint on--you can use the corner of the towel and wipe it up real quick before it dries.  JUST DON"T MAKE A BIG SPILL--because it probably would soak thru.

Ok--enough about the towels.

On to the main event:

 The Paint Brush (which I forgot to take a picture of before painting).  Dun da da daaa:

Ok--so in ALL HONESTY--this paint brush is REALLY AWESOME.  I have never used a quality paint brush before.  I have ALWAYS bought the cheapiest ones possible--because that is just how I roll--CHEAP!  But I must confess that I have always had a Love/Hate relationship with them.  I love the price--but HATE the way that they leave really obvious brush strokes--and even worse--THEY LEAVE THEIR STRAY BRISTLES ON MY PROJECTS!!!!  I still have a couple bristle hairs stuck to THIS and THIS and THIS.  It makes me crazy!!!

So this brush really, honestly was AWESOME to work with.  (And I am not just saying that because the company gave me free stuff!)  I was able to get a nice clean edge on my boards without taping off the whole bottom of the porch--and it is BRISTLE FREE!!!  Exhibit A:

 (And YES--we need to sand and refinish the floor boards next--ONE THING AT A TIME!!)

I still preferred a small roller to do all the roundy parts of the banisters (which--I think whoever invented the roundy banister should be shot--talk about difficult to paint in every nook and cranny!)  But I used the paint brush on a lot of the straight edges.

And even though painting this puppy took two coats and a ton of time (actual painting time and time waiting for a sunny day here in the Northwest) it definitely went better by using a quality paint brush.

So here are some afters of my FRESH WHITE porch:

Now to tackle the floor boards...or maybe that can wait till next spring.

A Little Piece of Ribbon Goes a LONG Way

So--maybe you might remember--a little while ago I bought this little tree to hang on my front porch.

I loved it in the store--but when I hung it up--it was missing something.  So I scrounged around and found this PATHETIC piece of ribbon for it--(Sadly--it was the best I could do at the time).

Exhibit A:

Blah, Blah, Blah!!  BORING!!

I LOVED the tree in the store--but it was just missing something as it hung there on my house!!  And I was starting to think that I had made a mistake in buying it!  I really was NOT HAPPY with it.

So I decided to try a new ribbon to see if that livened things up for my little tree.  I bought some fun green limey green ribbon at Walmart--and let me tell you...I AM SO HAPPY!!!

Exhibit B:

All of a sudden the whole world makes sense!  And I am once again IN LOVE WITH MY TREE!

I know this is really such a LITTLE thing in the grand scheme of life--but sometimes isn't it the LITTLE things that really make a BIG difference?

Now I think it just brighten's up the whole entry way to my house!

And just because I love Before and Afters...Here We Go:

Before / After

Aaah.  I will sleep better tonight.

2 People, 2 Days, 2 Story House Make Over

My Wonderful Inlaws live in an older 2 story home that was in need of a new coat of paint.  So my hubby volunteered our services to help them out (as they are physically unable to do the job themselves).

So we loaded up the kids this last weekend and drove the 5 hours down south to their house for a fun filled PAINTING WEEKEND EXTRAVAGANZA!

Now--you will have to excuse the lack of BEFORE pictures--as once we got there and realized the job ahead of us--we got IN THE ZONE pretty darn quick--which meant paint brushes, spray guns, and rollers were in hand and NOT my camera!

But here is the only before shots I got (and actually there is new color around the garage doors--I told you we got in the zone--I'm lucky to have gotten these shots):

As you can see--it was BROWN.  Brown, Brown, Brown--Which just so happens to be his parents favorite color. 

So we encouraged them to change it up a bit for fun and for re-sale value.  We suggested a nice tan color with brown trim.  His parents experimented with a few different tans--and finally settled on one (with a little more peach in it than I had expected--but I still think it turned out nice).  And so they bought all the paint and on Friday morning--my hubby and I became painters.

We taped, and sprayed, and rolled and brushed, and sprayed and painted and brushed some more.  It was THE HARDEST JOB I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY WHOLE LIFE!!!   The siding was old and so it didn't except paint super well--and it was VERTICAL siding which had an inch gap between all of the planks which made it IMPOSSIBLE to paint all of the surface edges inside that one inch gap!!  We had a lot of dripping and frustration do to that DARN VERTICAL SIDING!!!

Anyways--we worked like DOGS for 2 days straight in the million degree weather, dripping our blood, sweat and tears into this house (a little much?  Maybe--but we did work our butts off I tell you!)--and this is what we have to show for it:

Even the shed got a new look (My hubby's mom painted this--and we did the Trim)

In the end we even did some landscaping to give it some more curb appeal.

From an untrimmed Bush:

Trimmed into a fun looking tree:

So one last look.

Before:

After (minus the trimmed bush--I guess I took this picture before we trimmed it):

And now all that is left to do--is the trim work.  Eventually this house will have nice brown trim around all the windows and doors.

Yippee!!  It is DONE and it looks GREAT!!

Spray Painted Pillows

Why YES, You may think by the title of this post that I have taken a trip to the LOONEY BIN!  That I have finally taken my spray painting obsession hobby just a little TOO far! 

But wait till you see this:

Now are YOU a believer too?

I found THIS post over at V and Co (boy I love that gal--she has got CRAZY awesome taste and talent!  If you have not ever been to her blog--you MUST go DIRECTLY to her blog--after reading mine that is--and see all the awesome stuff she does!  Luv her!!) 

Anyhoo--She had this tutorial for spray painting up some awesome pillows.  And since I LOVE spray painting--and I also happen to be in the market for some pillows that I want for my living room and NOBODY on this planet seems to be selling what I want in pillow form OR in fabric!  (I decided to start on my outdoor patio pillows to practice first before I attempt the living room ones).  So I believe it was destiny that  we found each other I found her blog!  Now I can MAKE EXACTLY WHAT I WANT!!!  And for PENNIES!!!  Really once you start this process and see how easy it is...the possibilities are endless!

***I am adding this little side note because I have had MANY questions regarding the WASH and WEAR of these pillows.  SO--as far as washing--I have washed them--laid them flat to dry--and ironed them on the non painted side--and they come out PERFECT!  And as far as the WEAR of the fabric--It does make the fabric SLIGHTLY stiffer--so instead of soft cotton fabric--it feels more like an uphostery weight fabric.  I have rubbed and scuffed and scratched at the paint--and it does not flake or chip off  in any way.  Again--I used a light weight COTTON fabric.  If you are unsure about your fabric--you can always do a test piece first before you go full throttle ahead.***

OK--so I am going to show you what I did to create MY new outdoor pillows.  I had just purchased these old ones at a garage sale--but thought that it could use something brighter out here. 

The black ones I think will look better in the winter. So I decided to make covers for these same pillows and then I can have a winter and a summer look!

So this is what I started with:

Some Freezer Paper

Some Spray Paint

Some White Cotton Fabric

Painters Tape

Scissors 

First I measured my 3 pillows and cut out the fabric in squares to match--mine happened to be 15".  So I cute 3 squares at 15" and then 6 of 15" by 10" for the backs (the 2 smaller pieces get overlapped in the back to create the opening for the pillow to go through).

Next I traced around different size cups onto the non shiny side of the freezer paper to get my circles for both my circle pillows. 

Then I cut them out and laid them onto my fabric to decide on the pattern.

(Sorry the next few pictures are SO BAD--I am still without my camera and relying on my phone camera in BAD lighting without a flash!!!  AAARRRGGG!!!!)

So for the first pillow I wanted a grid of circles--so I found the center of the square and pressed my first circle there SHINY SIDE DOWN (The shiny side is the GLUEY side) and then measured up an inch and added another circle.

Then I moved on to the next rows and did the same thing until the square was full. 

Then it was off to the garage for some paint!

Just regular spray paint--again--notice the spray painting trigger!  LOVE THAT THING!!

I applied 2 light coats--trying to keep it as even as possible.

When I thought it looked good--I just peeled off the freezer paper.

Then I sewed it up into a slipcover and now it looks like this:

SO CUTE!!

Next I did the striped one using painters tape.

I just placed a clear ruler on top of my fabric and then followed the straight edge while laying down the tape every half inch. 

Because I wanted to try 2 colors--I then taped OVER every other whites space so that I could then paint those stripes a different color.

Then I spray painted the first color over all the white stripes.

Then I took off the second layer of tape and then repositioned it over the lines I just sprayed (once it had dried).  And then sprayed the second color over those lines.

When I took off the tape I realized that I must not have pressed the tape down well enough after I ripped off the tape after the first painting--because the second color bled through quite a bit. 

But after looking at it for about 2 seconds--I realized that I LOVED IT LIKE THAT!!!  The bleeding kind of gives it a fun water color look--which I think adds some dimension and whimsy--AND by loving it I don't have to REDO it!!  (There are advantages to looking on the bright side of things when mistakes happen!)

And now it looks like this:

The third pillow was almost identical to the first--I just did the circles in a more random pattern and used different size circles.

Cut out the freezer paper circles.  Iron them on:

Spray Paint:

After a second coat--peel off the paper:

Make it into a pillow:

And THAT is how I made all of these BEAUTIES:

I LOVE how they turned out!  And I LOVE how I can now have different pillows for the different seasons!  AND it only cost me a couple cans of spray paint--(which I didn't even use that much, so I have lots left over for other fun projects!)

And NOW that we all know that we can SPRAY PAINT FABRIC--THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!!!!!

So in REVIEW:  Here You Have it:

My Winter Look:

My Summer Look:

I'll just say this once again,

SPRAY PAINT MAKES ME HAPPY!

Linking up to the parties listed in my LINK UP LIST found HERE.