DIY photo frame wall art - Cheap way to add a modern twist to any room!

I always check out the photo frame section of the thrift store whenever I go, because I can ALWAYS find cheap decent frames for as little as .50 cents. Most of them are chipped or nicked or a really bad color. 

Nothing a can of spray paint, a drill and a glue gun can't fix!!

Besides the obvious redo of just spray painting the frame and using it for pictures, I wanted to do some frame art for the Yellow and Gray room.

I laid out my frames in what order I wanted them once I was ready to hang it - be mindful of how it may sit against the wall. Make sure your supporting frame (the one that will be hanging) is the bottom layer and has a good hanging bracket. Build the other layers on top of that.

Once I figured out how I wanted them to go, I took them outside, spray painted them in the 3 colors I wanted (to match my room) and then let dry. 

Once all the pieces dried, I got out the drill and some screws and attached the frames to each other.

In hindsight, I probably used the wrong kind of screws, and some of my frames were REALLY hard to get through, and I ended up cursing a lot. in some places it split my frame and took off some spray paint, but a quick touch up fixed that.

Once it was screwed in place and attached, I took back outside and blasted it with a clear coat of spray, just to give it a little shiny look.

When it was dry and I went to take it inside, one of my not so good screws came out and I decided it might be best to reinforce the screws with a little hot glue.

You can never have enough uses for a glue gun!!

Anyway, once everything was dry and NOT going to plop apart on me, I centered it on my wall, screwed in a screw and hung it up, I had to play with the balance a little just because of awkward shapes, but it worked perfect!

I LOVE it!!!

Slip cover style headboard cover - Easy DIY to change up a room!

Greetings from a rainy and very cold GA!

Schools are closed again today (We had some of this nasty weather a few weeks ago) and I have been busy putting together my grey and yellow room. I've been home and prepping for a new job, you would think I would have a lot of time to post, but really, I feel like I have less time!

Anyway, I'm going to be posting a few updates for my room!

First up: Slip cover headboard!

Above is a quick before and after photo of the bed. The bed itself is a queen and an ugly brown color. I found a really good deal on some clearance fabric at the store, and even though it was a little more than I wanted to spend, I just LOVED the print.

Plus, I didn't want to paint - I HATE painting things like this - too much detail and I don't have the patients for it lol

I did however fail to take pictures of the actual sewing part of this project. BUT, it really is as simple as sewing 3 sides and a quick hem.

I measured out the width and height of the headboard and added in the posts that added about 2 inches on each side, plus 1 inch for a seam allowance. I was SUPER lucky that my measurements for the height was EXACTLY the width of the fabric (45") so I didn't have to make any more than 1 cut (I got 4 yards because I was doing the foot-board too). I got a cheap grey fabric for the back, and some rolled batting to give the headboard a little cushion - You can however make this as thick as you want, but I just wanted a little padding.

I laid out my fabric as solid, print side down, then the batting. Pin. Sew the sides and top - I double seamed mine because it was going to be a tight fit and I didn't want any pulling apart.

Once I did that, I turned right side out, pointed my corners, slid on the headboard and made sure it fit ok. I pulled off again, then did a quick hem along the bottom. I did have to trim a little of the batting so it did't puff out, but no one would see it either.

And there you have it - a very quick and simple slipcover for head or foot board. Stay tuned for the other elements in the room!!

DIY Pillow Box Favors - Pink Zebra Baby Shower Favors

My friend needed some help with her baby shower, and needed some ideas for favors. I wanted to find something quick and easy, something that people would actually want; and who doesn't want chocolate?

I found a PDF file online and with a copy machine just created a template in which 2 pillow box outlines would fit on an 8x11 sturdy printed scrapbook paper. Since her theme was pink zebra, I did 10 boxes in a zebra paper and 10 in a sparkly pink.

Once I printed and cut, I scored the edges and folds, and used a paper/scrapbook glue to seal together. I filled with 4 or 5 heart shaped chocolates and closed up the box.

With my Cricut machine, I made several tags and the letter K (the baby's first initial) and glued the letter to the tag. I found some sparkly glitter ribbon and used this to attach the tags and tie to the boxes.

Everyone loved the little touches of this, and everyone really enjoyed the chocolate! If you wanted to do a "sturdy" box, you could use card stock, but I found that this paper was a good weight.

In total, I spent 15.00 on all materials (including the chocolate). It came to about .75 cents per favor. 

Here is the print out I used - you should be able to save and then adjust size to your specifications.

DIY Abstract Grey and Yellow Canvas Art

I found this painting online and fell so in love with the texture and colors (I'm digging this grey and yellow room re-do!!) and I could not afford the price tag that came with this one...

So, Instead, I made my own! What do you think?

Not too bad, right? I think this cost me about 6 dollars to make....The original (my inspiration) was running about 120.00

I am VERY happy with my version!!

Handmade Cake Pops

I wont bore you all with the details of how to make a cake - its simple and the directions are on the back of the box - just in case - there is anyone here who has not made a cake before.

So go ahead, make your cake, and while its still warm after coming out of the oven, come on back and i'll give you the next steps.

So here is your work list of what you need:

Cake mix
frosting (canned or home made)
pop sticks
parchment paper
melting chocolates
Sprinkles or non-perils
a piping bag or ziploc baggie
mini cupcake liners

ok, so when I make my cake pops, while the cake is still warm, I start to crumble it as fine as I can so that there are no clumps or hard cake pieces - this will keep your balls from being clumpy in the long run.

After I have crumbled into smallest pieces possible, I add about 3/4 a can of frosting - its really up to you the flavor, but I try to keep my combos together. For these, I did a red velvet cake and a cream cheese frosting.

The frosting gives a nice smooth moist feel when you eat the cake pop, one thing you don't get when you use the pop maker!

I bought these pink and white stripe stiff paper straws from amazon, but simple white pop sticks from the craft store are fine too - its up to what you need.

After the frosting has been mixed in, take about 1 tablespoon of cake mix, and roll into a ball in your hand. I keep a moist piece of paper towel near by to wipe my hands and keep them moist so that the cake doesn't stick to my fingers.

I put the balls on parchment paper and pop them into the freezer for about 2 hours. This sets them nicely and makes the stick insertion really easy.

Once you have your cake balls have been chilled, prepare your chocolates. You will need a small amount to use with the stick insertion so do this one first.

HINT: If you add a little cooking oil to the chocolate as your are melting it, it makes the chocolate really smooth and the perfect consistency for cake pops!

How I get my sticks in, is insert the stick first, withdraw and then dip into the chocolate, swirl, tap and re-insert into the cake pop. This will (mostly) get chocolate into the pop so that when chilled, the chocolate hardens and doesn't let the stick fall out.

Do this for all the pops and then put back into freezer for about 30 minutes.

Prepare your other chocolate colors in microwave safe dishes - its easier to use a "tall" container when you have to dip the whole pop in to cover.

When covering the pops, you can use a spoon to help cover the pop, or use a deep glass to make sure you get coverage. tap GENTLY and rotate pop on the edge of glass to get off any excess. Place back on parchment paper when you have done all of them, and put back into freezer for another 20 minutes.

Now, if you want to do basic chocolate covered cake pops, you can stop here - just take from freezer, put in fridge until its time to eat or display. If you want to do some fancy scmancy stuff, here are some ideas...

the above I made to look like "leopard" spots (kinda sorta, maybe?) and just used a ziplock baggie to do my chocolate dots and white accents. 

The other was a simple white with sprinkles that I added about a minute after I coated it.

These ones I used white non-perils and just put a little warm chocolate on them just in the places I wanted them to go.

The other is white chocolate with a zebra stripe of chocolate.

Ta-da - here they are at the baby shower, which was a pink and black zebra theme! 

DIY Skyline Grey and Yellow Canvas Art

This was a great project!!! I am finally getting around to decorating my guest room and I am going with the color pallet of Grey and Yellow. I saw this peice of art doing a google search and fell in love with it! I knew it was an easy DIY so want to share the finished product!

Here is the finished product of my creation:

And here is the original that gave me the idea, which I found in a google search:

I started with a blank canvas and 2 paint colors (yellow and black) and a small paint brush. I let my 5 year old artist come out and starting at the bottom of the canvas, drew my buildings, making sure to have windows for the "yellow" lights on inside...

I seriously am in love with this and can not wait to finish up my room so I can hang it on the wall!!

Keep Calm and Bake Wall Art

Do you see a theme in todays posts? :-)

I love my new Cricut...I have endless possibilities!!

As an avid baker, I just throught this was an AWSOME way to remind myself its just life and every day is a new one!!

This was a mix of cartridges of Wall Decor and More and George Font - I just LOVE how it pops against my brownie walls!

CTRL ALT DEL wall art

My husband loves the CTRL ALT DEL pillows from the TV show "two and a half men" (The new version with ashton Kutcher) that are on the couch in the living room off the kitchen. I really wanted to make him some pillows like that (I found them online for 60+ dollars!!) but I also knew that he didnt really have a place to put them....

So, instead, I made some super cute wall art peices to go above his computer desk... Aren't I such a thoughtful wife?? :-)

I started by picking my font, and because I didnt have the right "keyboard" Font, I just used what I had with my Cricut and cut the letters to fit inside the frame I bought (1.00 at walmart!)

I chose a chevron card stock paper that matched the maroon color contact/vinyl. I started with the last letter to line up the lettering to the far right of the frame. And yes, the "ALT" has the chevron going in the opposite direction; I made it that way!

Ta-Da! A quick and easy project for some computer wall art :-) What kind of wall art have you done with Cricut?

Coffee Lovers Box - DIY

I love a cup of coffee as much as the next person (if not more so!) and my sister and mom are the same way.

For Christmas I made a coffee lovers box for my sister with a few fun DIY items...Please feel free to leave me a comment if you have questions about any of it!!

 

 

I made some cute coffee pods using some coffee filters and some Kureig pods, busted open and put inside. Tied them up with some plain white cotton string:

 

I put them into a mason jar with a lace doily on the top for a cute look!

I also made some DIY coffee themed coasters (see the DIY here drink coasters )

A box of Biscotti, a coffee mug from the dollar store, a bag of mint malino cookies, mints, Pirouettes  and some DIY chocolate covered spoons.

My sister LOVED the box and loved the "on the go" coffee pods...

How fun is this to get!!??

 

recipie - Home Version of Alice Spring Chicken

I'm a HUGE fan of Outback Steak House and their Alice Spring Chicken. However, they are a little expensive and there is always a wait at the one in my town...

Instead, I made a version of my own!! This is seriously AWESOME and even my hubby liked my version!!

Ingredients:

3-4 grilled chicken breasts

handful of spinach

mushrooms

onions

feta

shredded Italian cheese

chicken grill seasoning

Assembly & Cooking instructions:

• Sauté mushrooms and onions
• Grill the chicken breasts until 90% cooked (the last 15-20 minutes will be in a 350 degree oven)
• cook the 6-8 pieces of thick cut bacon (If you want the love, sauté the mushrooms and onions in the bacon grease!)
• once bacon, mushrooms and onions are cooled down, begin assembly on the grilled chicken breasts
• Chicken breast
• Feta cheese
• onion
• spinach
• Bacon
• shredded cheese

Once it is all assembled, pop it into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for roughly 15-20 minutes. this will crisp up the bacon and toast off the cheese and finish cooking the chicken.

+

Pair with your favorite potato and a steamed veggie!!

 Enjoy!!!