More Monogrammed Wreaths

I was inspired by the Yvette's monogrammed wreath and decided I needed one for my front door as well.



I covered a plain cardboard letter J with burlap,



Then wrapped a frame with some scrap fabric. So simple! It's the perfect pop of color for my dull front porch (outside is really not my thang...but I'm working on it!).

Scrap Fabric Cuff

Here's a little project you can do with some simple fabric scraps.  This:

Plus this:

Can turn into this:

I love my new cuff! I found the vintage trim a few months ago at one of my favorite Land O' Lakes thrift stores.  The center fabric was a remnant piece of home decor fabric from Joanns and the base fabric was left over from my dish towels.  I covered a button with the same blue fabric and made a little loop to hold it together.  This entire project cost me less than $2 and took less than an hour.

Scroll down to see where this and our other projects are linked!

Curtains Two Ways

Curtains are one of the easiest and fastest ways to warm up a room. Naked windows can be great when you have a fantabulous view, but for the most part, windows need a little dressing.



Sewing curtains is just 4 straight seams all the way around! You can do it in 1/2 and hour or less.



Four little seams go a long way (and save a lot of money!).
Or even easier...use something that is already made.



You all saw Yvette's tea towel curtains, this is my take on the same concept. An ode to my hometown (Tampa) makes its home in my Nashville powder room. I used some twisted sticks I found at JoAnn's to create a unique and inexpensive curtain rod.



These curtains meet all the criteria for a great DIY project: easy, affordable and fun. Plus they make me super happy when I look at them!

DIY Placemat Clutch

I remember stumbling upon a tutorial for a clutch made out of a placemat a few months ago.  This weekend, while browsing my local World Market I came across some really cute placemats on clearance for just $1.98.

Placemat before....

 

Placemat after!!

I lined the placemat with a remnant piece of home decor fabric and some fusible interfacing for stiffness.  (Let's just say that during my first attempt at this clutch I used neither a lining fabric nor interfacing and it was a floppy mess!)

I attached magnetic clasps (as you can probably tell, the top clasp is a little off-center...don't be lazy like me and make sure you measure!!)

 

Funky clasp aside, I think it came out pretty cute.  This whole project cost me less than $5 and took about an hour.  

It's just the right size for my wallet, cell phone, keys and a lip gloss.  It's perfect for dinner out with hubs, or when I need to run out of the house for a minute and don't feel like lugging my usual 20 lb bag.

 

What do you think?  Easy peasy, huh?

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see where this and our other projects are linked.

DIY: Easy Mini-Chalkboards

I love a little spot to jot down a note, or thought. I made these mini-chalkbaords for under $2 each!



I purchased the wooden pieces at Michael's for $1 and used scrap ribbon. For the little clothes pin on the second one, I cover it in a scrap of ribbon tape.

To make your own:

*Lightly sand your wooden shape.
*Drill two holes in the middle of the top section.
*Spray with chalkboard spray paint.
*Once dry, thread your ribbon thru holes and tie together at ends.

DIY: Pretty Laundry Bag

God bless the laundry room! If you have ever lived without one in your home (as I did for years),
I know you feel me. I am not one who is going to put a chunk of change toward beautifying a laundry room. I keep it organized and whatnot but I don't ever think anyone will stop to "oooohh and ahhhh" over my laundry room. That being said, I DID need SOMETHING to jazz it up a bit.



Rather than a regular old basket to toss dirty clothes, I opted for a pretty little bag I could hang by the washer. It was super simple, so I thought I would share how you can make one of your very own!

Here we go.

To make this size* bag you will need:

(fabric A) 34" x 31"
(fabric B) 6" x 31"
sewing machine
thread
iron
ribbon
ruler
clothes pin
scissors

*you can adjust the fabric size to suit your needs

Step 1:

With wrong sides together, match fabric A and fabric B along the raw edges along the 31" cut. 

Pin, sew (5/8" seam allowance) and press seam open. 

Step 2:

Now roll the top edge of fabric B over 1/4" and press (fig A). Then roll it over once more, this time 1" and press (fig B). This will be the channel for your ribbon tie.

Step 3:

Sew along the bottom, inside fold of your 1" channel. Next, edge stitch (or sew along the top folded edge of your channel.) Clip the ends of your sewn channel with pinking shears to prevent fraying.

Step 4:

Fold your joined pieces of fabric in half right sides together and sew from top to bottom, using a 5/8' seam allowance. Your bag should now be a circular shape. Keep the bag folded, sew along the bottom edge, using a 5/8" seam allowance.

Step 5:

At the bottom corner, where the side seam meets the bottom seam, pull the fabric away from itself and match up the seam lines. It should form a triangle (see below).

Use a ruler and pencil to mark a 3" line from one side of the triangle to the other. You will use this as your guide to sew along.

Sew along your drawn line, then clip the excess fabric 1/4" from the seam.

Repeat this step on the opposite side of the bag. Note: Since you folded the bag in half there will be no seam along the this side so you will have to use your judgement on where the seam would be.

Step 6:

Turn the bag right side out.

With your ribbon still on the roll, attach a clothes pin to the free end of the ribbon. Insert the clothes pin into the channel at the top and begin to tread the ribbon through the channel. Once the ribbon is out of the opposite end of the channel, pull it out far enough that you will be able to tie it in a bow and clip off roll with scissors.

You are finished!

For a touch of fun I stamped the words clean and dirty on clothes pins and used them to clip the bag to the shelf in my laundry room.

 

Want to see more fun ideas for you home? Scroll down and visit the fabulous parties that we link this and other projects to!

Le Bain: Powder Room Sign Redo

Here's a quick little project I tackled over the weekend.

I had a little wooden sign that was cute, but just didn't have a place in my new home.  I painted it Annie Sloan's Old White and then attempted to use my super-awesome (sarcasm!) freehand to write Le Bain (the bath). 

Don't judge my poor excuse for a drop cloth, nor my choice of dog food. I'm on a budget people! ;)

I then traced the letters with Glidden's Deepest Aqua.  I got a 2 oz. paint tester at Walmart for less than $3!  When it was dry I used clear wax to set the paint.  I finished off my little sign with a fabric rosette made from the same fabric as the curtains and voila:

As much as I like my new sign, it confirms how badly I could use a Silhouette!  This is definitely another project in the "it doesn't have to be perfect..." book. 

Scroll below to see where this and other projects are linked.

Grape Vine Monogrammed Wreath

One of the things I love the most about Richmond is its proximity to the wineries in Charlottesville.  Last weekend, Hubs and I celebrated his birthday in Charlottesville and were pleasantly surprised when we stumbled upon a relatively new winery.  Stinson Vineyards has an absolutely gorgeous tasting room and property and their wines are fantastic to boot.

While I was there, I picked up this adorable little wreath made from grape vines.

I had a million and one ideas as to what I wanted to do with it, but like most of my projects, I choose one idea and run with it, for better or worse.

I decided to make a monogrammed wreath, but I knew that it would not hold the weight of a wooden letter.  I am not lucky enough to own a Silhouette, so I printed out a large letter M from MS Word and traced and cut it out of a piece of cardboard.

I then traced the letter on to a piece of scrap fabric.

Eight months after purchasing my very first jar of Mod Podge I finally opened it and attempted to Mod Podge the fabric onto the cardboard letter.

While the Mod Podge dried I made a couple of fabric rosettes from some other scraps. When the letter was completely dry, I trimmed off the edges where the fabric and cardboard didn't line up correctly (and there were quite a few). 

I couldn't decide quite how I wanted the wreath to look, so after a couple of tries I ended up with this:

I will admit, it's not as awesome as what I had envisioned, but I dig it nonetheless.   One of the things we AquaSeventy6 girls live by is the mantra that design doesn't have to perfect to be wonderful to us.

Scroll down to see where these and other projects are linked.

Thrifted Chair Revamp

Yesterday I showed you what my $5 Goodwill find looked like when I brought her home. Oh, you don't read the blog everyday?! Well then, I will show you once more.



Truth be told, I bought 2 of these chairs ($5 each) with the intention of doing a "His and Hers" set for my husband and I. But after the ups and downs of revamping this little lady I think I am going to need a break to recover from the hot glue burns and the back pain (from leaning over for hours).

All painful creative injuries aside, I think the end result was worth the rocky ride.



I have been pining for this fabric for months now. But I promised myself I would not buy any until
1. I had a project to use it for.
2. It was on sale.

Well the stars aligned and 1 + 2 = my new chair.



After taking the chair apart and removing the pleather (for the record there were about 6,325 staples holding that junk on) I started to wrap the metal frame in macrame cording. Seventy-five yards of macrame cording to be exact.


Then I covered the cushions in my rockin' birdie fabric and used only 2,476 staples. Yay me!
The chair is the finishing touch to my little corner of the family room. I think it is the perfect compliment to my lamp and desk!



And I found the perfect use for another one of my vintage windows -
sassy little wipe off board!