DIY Headband Stand

I have seen a few different kinds of headband stands and knew I wanted to make one for my girls to keep their headbands under control! I took a little bit of a different approach and wanted to share my tutorial with you:

Supplies:

Candle sticks

Round containers to cover

Burlap

Spray Adhesive

Glue Gun

Gem (optional)

I had these 2 metal, thick candle sticks that I bought years ago on clearance. They were a grayish color that wasn't my favorite, but I knew with a little spray paint, they would be perfect. I sprayed each candle stick with Rust-Oleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze.

While they were drying, I prepped my round containers. I bought oatmeal contains but they ended up too small for my candlesticks so I found something else in my pantry. My husband had Performance Drink Powder in the containers below. Luckily, they were almost empty so I took the labels off, put the labels on a large ziplock bag and dumped the rest of the powder in the ziplock bags!! I thought he might be a touch mad, but he didn't mind! Whew!! :)

Then I started wrapping each container with the burlap. I made sure to have a nice seam in the back and fold the ends under. I glued the seam down with hot glue. On the bottom, I put a line of hot glue around the entire bottom and glued the burlap around to the bottom. I cut off any extra to make it as flat as I could. Then the top...this was a little bit more tricky as I knew this side would be visible. I played around with it for a little to get my desired look. I just bunched the burlap together and then hot glued everywhere to keep it down. Here is a close up for the top:

After each container was wrapped in burlap, I hot glued it to the candlesticks. Here is a shot of the seam in the back:

The very last step was to glue a charm on the top to cover the burlap edge on the top. This gem was actually just found at Walmart awhile ago! 

Cute, right?! 

I love how they turned out. I love the difference in height the candlesticks give. And best of all, I was able to use things I had around my house!

Vinyl Star Wall In Playroom

Doesn't this just look dreamy? I purchased a set of vinyl stars off of Groupon a while back. It was a great deal and come with 120 star stickers. I could actually pick out the color of stars I wanted too. I knew I wanted gray and white with pops of red in my girl's playroom so I choose the silver stars. I was nervous about applying them to the wall. (that's why I've had them for so long and JUST now got to putting them up!) But it was super easy. I first had to figure out the spacing. I just measured my wall and guessed that I wanted about 9 inches in between each star. I divided my wall size by 9 and came up with my measurements. I ended up doing 9 rows and 12 columns with 9 inches in between each star. I used a tape measure and measured each star placement and added a small dot with a pencil. Then the fun part...adding the stickers to where I put those dots. It was fun and my girls loved helping! It was a super easy but a little time consuming to measure all the star placements. Overall, I would do it again to another room. I love the look it gives the playroom!

Source List:
Vinyl Stars - Decomodwalls.etsy.com through Groupon
Teepee - The Land of Nod
Pillows - Target
Rug - TJ Maxx
Desk - Vintage

Fixer Upper Style Wall Decor

I LOVE Fixer Upper and everything Joanna Gains creates. But honestly, I think her store is a little pricey. Her cotton stems are $9 each, plus shipping! I just couldn't get myself to pay that. So when I heard Hobby Lobby started carrying them, I was beyond excited. I headed to my Hobby Lobby and luckily for me, they were 50% off too! They rang up $3 a stem! Score!! I bought this metal wall hanger at a yard sale for around $3 and I spray painted it with Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze. And then it sat in my office for the longest time until I figured out what flowers I wanted in it. I actually wanted to get the cotton stems for it, but again, I couldn't get myself to pay that price. So it sat and sat and sat until today! I love it and it gives my kitchen that perfect Joanna Gains touch!

DIY - Pottery Barn Inspired Mummy Pillow

 I saw this adorable mummy pillow in the latest Pottery Barn catalog and thought, I could make that! Although Pottery Barn does have much better photographers, my pillow above looks just like theirs below and didn't cost me the $32.50 that the Pottery Barn one would! And it's so easy to make too!

 I found some extra white cotton fabric I had laying around. After measuring, I decided to make it 14 inches square before sewing.

 I took my fabric and folded it in half and quickly pinned it so the fabric didn't move while I cut. I measured and marked my lines at the top and cut.

 Then I simply cut the fold to make 2 separate squares.

 Then I took my left over material and ripped 1.5 inch strips. To get the right look for the mummy, they need to be ripped. I used my first strip to measure the rest. I cut a small snip in the fabric and then ripped them apart. My girls actually loved helping me with this part!

 I had about 10 strips that I cut just a tad longer than my pillow squares. I also went through each strip and made sure they looked ratty. I pulled more strings off and really made the edges raw.

 After my strips were ready, I started laying them out on ONE of the white squares. Make sure you leave room for the eyes. 

 Then I pinned the second white square on top of the square with all the strips. And very carefully pinned the whole way around. I used a lot of pins so the strips wouldn't move around. *NOTE: your mummy design is in the inside. Once you turn it right side out, it will be correct!

 After everything is pinned, I sewed the whole way around the pillow leaving a 3 inch gap so I could turn it right side and stuff the pillow. I also left a 1/2 inch seam allowance to make sure all my strips were under my stitch and to make my pillow a nice 13 inch square pillow!

 After sewing, I cut the corners off each corner. This helps make the pillow corners nice and pointy. And then I also trimmed the extra fabric off the make it looked clean and so the pillow wasn't bunchy when I turned it.

 All cleaned up and ready to be turned right-side out!

 Next I used some black felt and more of my white fabric to cut out 3 circles. I then quickly hand sewed the small black circle to the other 2 circles and then sewed the group of circles to the pillow with a quick stitch around the black part of the eyes. 

 Then I stuffed him and hand sewed the hole on the bottom.

It was a super easy craft that my girls really enjoyed helping me with! And since I had all the materials on hand, my little mummy pillow was free which is awesome compared to the $32.50 price tag the Pottery Barn pillow has!!

DIY - Getting Organized with Barn Wood!!

Our home has a long hallway to the garage and not any space for a normal mudroom. So I had to come up with something else for my girls to throw hang their backpacks and jackets. I was about to throw this long, narrow piece of barn wood away, because I couldn't think of anything to use it for. Then it hit me...this would be perfect if I just added some hooks!

 I had previously bought these cute little hooks in Lancaster, PA at an iron store. I had them for years and finally found the perfect spot for them. I simply attached the iron hooks using small screws and then using anchors and larger screws, I screwed the barn wood to the wall. That was it! I didn't sand it. I didn't stain it. I loved the natural look so I left it as it was. It was a super easy project that I LOVE. My girls now have a place to keep their backpacks and jackets, and they are no longer on the floor! The lesson learned from this is to never throw away thing away! Ha! 

Hopefully, this inspires you to use what you have or that random piece of wood in the garage for your next project! 

How To Fold a King Size Pillow Case to Fit a Queen Size Pillow

Like I mentioned in THIS post, we have a tall bed. Proportionally our queen bed looks better with a king bedspread as it hangs a little lower on the sides. But that means the king pillow shams don't fit our queen pillows. 

 But there's always a way around it! Sit the pillow upright and tuck the backside of the pillow sham into the pillow case, covering the pillow as in the photo below:

 Then take the front part of the pillow sham and tuck that into the front of the pillow case like the photo below:

 Pull the ends tight and your done! you could add a few buttons on the inside for a more permanent solution but I just keep them folded like this on our bed!

DIY Pottery Barn Style Headboard and Bedskirt

I had noticed this gorgeous bed at Pottery Barn for a while. I loved everything about it. I love the material. I love the nailhead trim. I love the shape. Everything...except the price tag! Then when I saw this blog post on a tutorial on how to make a headboard from a drop cloth, I knew I could do it.

Here's my version (Don't laugh at my lack of photography skills. I promise to work on it!!)

Tenth Ave South has a wonderful step-by-step tutorial on the headboard! It was the same one I followed when making ours. I altered the size to fit our bed but that was the only change I made. I used the drop cloth she recommended and the nailheads she has a link to. It turned out perfect! My father-in-law had extra wood for us to use so I ended up only paying for the foam, batting, drop cloth and nailheads which totaled roughly $100. Not bad for a headboard that looks identical to the Pottery Barn version that retails for $800! Plus there was enough material left over to make a bedskirt!! 

Our bed it very tall...which I LOVE. My husband and I are tall so it works perfectly for us. We have drawers under our bed which it why it is so tall. I love the extra storage that provides but it also means I have to custom make a bedskirt because no one sells one to fit our bed. I've made one before so I kind of had an idea of what I was doing. I used a fitted sheet and put it on the boxspring. I then measured the top of the boxspring to the ground and added roughly 3 inches and then measured the width and made sure to measure around the curve of the corner of the bed. I then used the extra material from the drop cloth and cut 3 rectangles the sizes I had measured. I finish off the raw edges of the material on my sewing machine but left the top edge raw. I could have finished it off but I knew it would be under the bed and the only person who sees that is me. :) I then pinned each of the 3 rectangles on the fitted sheet while it was on the boxspring. This makes it easy to see where the bedskirt hits the ground and make sure it is straight. I added a lot of pins to keep it in place. I then took the fitted sheet off the boxspring and sewed the drop cloth to the fitted sheet. 

This is a tad tricky as it is so large. I just bunched up the bedskirt part to fit through my sewing machine and made sure to grab the fitted sheet and pull it to the side so it didn't accidentally get sewn under the bedskirt.

 Then I put it on my bed and added the mattress and linens. 

I love the way it looks. I love how it hides the drawers under our bed. I love how it matches the headboard. And of course, I love the price!!

Now my next project is to make of those nightstands! :)

Wall Collage Ideas & Tips

Here are a few ideas of wall collages and a few tips as well:

Start with what you already have. I had the large canvas and the long canvas so I played around with the layout on the ground until I figured out something that would work with what I had.

Use large pieces to make statements and smaller pieces to add variation.

A long hallway is perfect to showcase some of your favorite photos. Don't be afraid to use different textures!

Using a big statement piece like this mirror really makes this fireplace standout!

Stairways can be intimidating. Lay your frames on the ground and figure out the design on the ground first. Measure the same distance from the stair to the bottom of where the first frame will go. Use that measurement as a guide for all the other frames so the angle is the same as the stairs.

 Play around with the design until you love it!!!

DIY Whiteboard Makeover

This was such a quick and easy DIY craft that anyone can do it!! Years ago I purchased simple magnetic dry erase boards from Walmart similar to the one in the photo below or like THIS. Since moving into our new home, they just sat in my office not being used.

 I'm not even sure where the idea came from but I knew I needed a way to display all the cute announcements, cards, etc that we get from friends and family. And since the dry erase boards were magnetic, I thought about just covering them with some cute fabric and using magnets to hold the cards. 

 I bought some cute fabric and first tested the material and magnets to make sure my magnets were strong enough. I simply laid out the fabric on the board and made sure my magnets held up a card or two. Once it worked, I laid out the fabric and my boards. Since I wanted them side by side on my wall, I wanted my fabric to match up. I made a mark on the wrong side of the fabric of where the top of the boards would lay on the fabric. Then while the boards was still laying on top of the fabric, I simply cut the fabric out leaving a inch (or more) border to wrap the fabric to the backside. Then I got out one of my favorite products EVER! My 3M Super77 Spray Adhesive that I've had for 8 years and it's still going strong! Love this stuff. I took my fabric to the garage and sprayed one coat of spray adhesive to the entire backside of the fabric. 

 Then I carefully laid my dry erase board on top of the fabric using my marks as guides. I started laying it on the fabric at the top then flipped it over so I could straighten it out and get any bumps out. Once the front was nice and smooth, I made sure the fabric wrapped around the side and to the back. I pretty much folded the fabric in the back like I was wrapping a gift. 

I let it dry overnight (although I don't think that was needed) I only did it because this was a late night project, and I wasn't going to pound nails into my walls late a night and wake up my kids! The glue dries pretty fast. Once it's dry you can hang it up and enjoy your super easy DIY boards!!