DIY Holiday Wreath

Hey everyone!
I can't believe that there is only 15 days left until Christmas! Jason and I finally got around to going and picking out a tree and bringing it home and decorating it this past weekend. As always, it turned out beautiful and the pups are already sleeping underneath it waiting for Santa to visit!

Here's a picture of Jason and I while picking out our tree :)

And here is our tree…

While Jason was trimming the bottom of the tree and taking off some branches, I was thinking that it couldn't be all that hard to make my own wreath for the front door from the extra branches that he was taking off. For the last couple of days those extra branches have been sitting in our fire pit in the backyard and today I decided to bring some in and give it a try…

First, I put our painters cloth on the dining room table since the branches were wet and also to help make the cleaning process easier.

Next, I went to my closet and took out a metal hanger. If you use the dry cleaners often, they almost always return your clothing on these metal hangers.

You must take the hanger and unravel it. Try your hardest to make it into a circular shape like so…

Once you feel as though you have it how you want it, tape the two ends together… I just used scotch tape but any sort of tape should do the trick.

And now you have a metal circle!

Since my circle was done, it was time to take the branches and begin cutting them into pieces.

I had to think for a few minutes how I was going to get the beaches to stay on the bent hanger and I ended up deciding to use zip ties. I'm sure some sort of wire would do the same trick as well.

I just kept putting more and more chunks on. I didn't worry about the extra zip ties sticking off because I would just go around at the end and cut them with the scissor. 

Once I got all the way around, I decided that I wanted to hang it on my front door to make sure that I was going in the right direction…

After seeing it I knew I needed to keep adding to it to make it thicker…Once I felt it was full and I spread the branches, I made a bow and stuck it on. This was the final result.

For my first wreath ever and supplies that I had around the house I don't think it turned out half bad! I'm no bow expert so maybe I will end up putting an already made one on it… who knows!

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo, 

Paige

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Hey everyone!
I hope that you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving with your families! I know that this year it felt like i had more to be thankful for then normal… My family and handsome boyfriend were top on my list!

Here is a shot of us all at the dinner table :)

(Sorry mom, love you!)

With Christmas being right around the corner, it is totally normal that I can't wait to decorate the house and create new DIY Christmas crafts! So lets get to it… I am totally obsessing over burlap lately along with my two older sisters so I knew that I wanted to incorporate burlap into my craft. For an early Christmas gift my mom bought Jason and I a gorgeous hutch for our dining room so I wanted to make something specifically to go on it! 

I went to the dollar store and purchased three picture frames

Next, I went to my computer and printed out a jumbo letter "J" a snowflake and letter "Y". If you haven't caught on, it spells JOY with the snowflake as the "O". I made sure to print them on thicker computer paper so they would last while I was tracing them onto the burlap.

Once printed, I cut them all out and traced them on burlap…but first I traced the glass from my picture frame on the burlap so that I knew when I was tracing the letters that they would be centered.

I traced them with a silver sharpie marker also purchased at the dollar store!

Once they were all traced and I cut the squares out, I wanted to put them in the frames to make sure that I was on the right path!

Here's how it looked so far…

Now it was time to paint them… I just used paint that I had around the house, nothing in particular. It was actually paint that I had used to pain our trim when we moved in to our house (bye bye pink 70's trim!)

I chose a very tiny paintbrush to paint inside of the letters because I had never painted burlap and wasn't sure what to expect. It was totally the way to go and I recommend it if you take on this DIY!

Once they were painted, I set them in front of the fireplace to dry quickly!

Once dry, I put them back in the frames!

I love, love, love them! It was so simple and took no time at all to make. Finally, it was time to put it on the hutch!

It is still a work in progress but it's coming along nicely. I just need to purchase a couple of new knobs for the drawers and some garland to spruce it up a bit. I hope you guys love it as much as I do!

xoxo, 

Paige

DIY Dog Bowl Pallet Holder

Hey everyone!
I know it has been a while since my last post, but I am happy to report that I was offered a full-time job that has taken up most of my time (not that i'm complaining!) so I haven't gotten around to a new post for some time. Don't worry though… I think this post is pretty awesome and will make up for it!

I am Pinterest obsessed and have always loved the posts where people use old wooden pallets and turn them into furniture for their pets. Being that I have two German Shorthaired Pointer pups, I was determined to give it a try!

While I was driving down the road I had noticed that someone had put this out to be picked up as garbage. I figured that it would be the perfect pallet for my project. I wanted a pallet that was more on the weathered side so it had more character.

The first step is to pull the pallet apart. This step is exhausting! I made the bad decision of doing it in a dress so the picture below is of my brother in law helping me out (ladies, I highly recommend some help with this project… I needed some muscles!)

Finally, you will have your pile of pieces. Just getting the entire pallet apart is an accomplishment! 

(This is not all of the pieces that you will get once it is all apart)

After discussing it with my family, we decided that since all of the pieces were not the same width that it would be best to measure them all out to 3 inches and use the table saw to cut them evenly. 

You can see how much you will be cutting off in the picture above… That is ok though because the final product will have a much cleaner look.

For the top, we used four pieces of three inch wide planks so that it would be a total of one foot. After you have all of those pieces cut and put to the side, you will take some extra pieces of wood and measure around it to create the border. My phone died at this point so I was not able to take pictures of this step. I do need to make a second one for my other dog so when I do I will be sure to upload pictures for you all!

You will have two pieces of wood that look like this piece above. These are the pieces that you want to cut and use as the legs. 

Once it is all screwed together, you will need to measure where your food bowls will go. We used a sawzall to complete this part. You want to make sure that you cut out the perfect circle because you don't want your bowls falling through!

This was during the measuring process to make sure that the bowls fit!

This is the finished product. I am absolutely thrilled with the way that it came out! It adds to the rustic charm of our house. Be sure to put a coat of polyurethane or some kind of water resistant coat on it to protect it and make it last longer!

Gunner loves his new dish holder!

So what do you guys think? I love the idea of reusing pallets for furniture!

xoxo,

Paige 

DIY Candles!!

Hey everyone! I don't know about all of you, but I know that when one of my favorite candles burns out completely I am devastated! I love burning candles! I just feel that the look and the smell make everything so much better! Once a candle burns out I always make sure to save the wax. I collected wax for about two years with the anticipation of making my own candles out of it.

This was the wax that I saved!

Another thing that I save along with the wax is some of the glass jars. 

One day when I had nothing going on, I decided to give it a try. Instead of having to make a trip to the nearest craft store for a candle wick kit which is 30 minutes away, I decided to go to my local hardware store and purchase cotton fiber twine. 

I figured if I dipped this into wax and let it dry that it would serve as a wick.

SUCCESS!

After I dipped it, I let to dry on a paper plate. I made sure to dip it in a white wax so when it melted another candle the color wouldn't mix with the candle as well. 

I took a pencil to keep the twine centered while I pureed the hot wax into the jar.

For the picture above, I decided that I wanted to try and create a red, white and blue candle in a mason jar. After I poured the red in, I put the jar into the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden up the wax. 

I then repeated the steps with the white and the blue. BUT I did not actually have blue wax collected to make the blue nor did I have the colors to mix to make it. What I actually did was take an old white candle and melt it with a blue crayon.

This worked perfectly to make the blue wax that I needed!

After finishing the red, white and blue candle, I did the same thing in order to create other candles. At the end of the day, this is how all of my candles turned out.

This was a very simple DIY project and far from messy. I feared that I would have hot wax splashing all over my kitchen and it would dry fast but that wasn't the case at all. And also, don't go running out to buy cheap pots for this. I used the ones that I had in my kitchen. After you pour your melted wax into the jar completely, just take a paper towel and wipe out the inside. Once I was completely done for the day, I just threw the pot in the dishwasher and it was as good as new!

And for all of you who are wondering… the twine does an amazing job as a wick and the entire ball of it was less than $5.00! It is also totally acceptable to buy pre colored wax and wicks from a place like AC Moore or Michaels.

That's all for now! Have any of you tried to make your own candles? Was it successful or a huge fail?

Let me know!

XOXO,

Paige 

DIY Mirror Frame!

Hey everyone!
I have been hard at work with this new project that I am about to share with you. Last fall, my neighbors were cleaning out their house to prepare for their big move to the state of Florida. While they were cleaning out their house they had asked me if I wanted three giant mirrors. Even thought I said yes, I really had no idea what I was even going to do with them. For the meantime they were placed in our garage. 

(Don't mind the fake deer in the background ;))

After almost a full year of deliberation, I finally decided that I wanted to take on one of the mirrors and give it a frame. Since Jason and I moved in to our house two years ago, I have wanted to put a big mirror at the end of the hallway to make it feel bigger. 

First, I enlisted the help of Jason because he was off of work for the day. We went and purchased three pieces of white pine wood that were 8 feet long. They were 1in x 6in. They were also tongue and groove. 

We used the handy dandy rip saw to help us out with this project. 

First we measured out the mirror and decided that we wanted to make our cuts on a 45 degree angle.

(Such a handyman!) 

With all 4 pieces cut, I decided that I wanted to beat the wood up a little bit to give it a worn and older look. I chose a screwdriver while Jason chose a crowbar.

After all 4 pieces were cut and roughed up, I filled the groove side of the wood with glue.

I purchased this glue right a Sears but I am sure you could find something similar at any local hardware store!

Once all 4 pieces had glue, we slid the mirror in to groove as well.

To be sure that they would stay in place, we put clamps on all four corners.

With the clamps holding the wood in place, we secured wooden "L" shaped brackets on each corner for extra strength.

Once all four corners were complete, we gave the glue a few hours to dry.

Once the glue was completely dry, we decided to use some silicone to secure the mirror to the wood.

It's a pretty simple process!

Once all was said and done, we gave it some time to completely dry. But this is what it looked like!

After a couple of days, I decided that it was time to pick out a stain. This was what I chose.

Before applying it straight to the mirror, I tested it on a piece of scrap wood to make sure that I was happy with it. I was!

I took an old rag and decided to apply it to the mirror that way instead of using a paintbrush to avoid streaks. 

After two coats of stain, this was my final product! I absolutely love the way that the stain highlighted the marks that we applied with the crowbar and screwdriver. The knots in the wood also give it another level of character!

It is not hanging on the wall yet because we have to move a light switch first, but you get the picture! It turned out so awesome that my sister wants one for her housewarming gift! 

This by far has been my favorite DIY project because it beats purchasing a mirror for an absurd amount of money at the store. It is also nice to look at it and know that Jason and I put it together as a team and it is now in our home!

What do you guys think?

xoxo- Paige