Paper Banner

I went to a Bridal shower for my soon to be sister-in-law (remember the pillows I made), and at my sisters house she had this cute banner up all around her house... 

So I copied it!

I even called to have her send me a photo of the paper she used because I have the same pack, and I wanted to do this the easy way, and not think about it!

I added more blue to it so I could use it for different occasions.  I have it up because it was my husbands birthday.  And yes I decorate for his birthday!!  My kids love it! and secretly my hubby likes it too!!

I found a pattern online, and just enlarged it (a pattern of a triangle??!  I know, but remember I wanted to make something fast and not think about it).

I copied my sister and used twine, because I had some, and I do like how simple it makes the banner look.

I made three banners.  One for my fireplace, and one for my entry (across the photos),...

...and a mini one for my new table.  But before I show you the table, I have to show you the before of this perfect wall.

Perfect in the sense that it is an open canvas.  I have been looking for a table to go here for a long time, and was looking to fix one up, but when I found this one in my favourite store (Homesense) I just bought it, and I love it!

And decorated it...

Anyways, the banners are put away again now, but will come out again for Easter soon!

I know you probably see these banners around everywhere, but there is a reason why... they are so CUTE!

My Advent Calendar

So, I posted about all the different kinds of advent calendars I found that I thought were pretty and unique.  And as I am stuck at home with no way out to get supplies, I had to find something around the house to make do.  I decided on a card advent calendar, because... well I have a ton of scrapbook paper that isn't going anywhere!

Here's what I did:

Select 12 sheets of fun brightly coloured 12x12 paper.

Fold it in half.  And cut it so you have 2 envelopes from one sheet.

Fold it more than half way.

Again!  Fold over the lip.

Cut out two small triangles from the top.

So far, it looks like this:

I cut the bottom too, so it would be easier to grab the event papers out of the envelope.  I used double sided tape to seal the sides.

There you have it.  24 brightly coloured envelopes.

Now, to embellish.  I got my sister to print these numbers out on her computer (seriously, why don't I have a printer?  I saw one in a flyer tonight for $48!!)  Anyways, I found the perfect sized circle from my mousse bottle to draw my shapes.  You might have a circle punch (Handy!!) 

Cut out the circle numbers with straight scissors, and the I pulled out the cute edged scissors for colourful paper to go around the number.

They look like this in the end.

The little snowflakes I got at the dollar store last year (are mini clothes pins) and hung all my Christmas cards on them.  This year I am using them for my cute advent calendar.

These cards hang on the wall in my front entry.

What did I fill them with?  Well, my family, we like to do things together, so in each day we have a different thing we can all do.  I love doing it this way, and OF COURSE the kids do too!  They love spending time with their awesome parents!!!  *wink, they are still young!

I will share what we do on each day in a later post.

So did you make an advent calendar?  I want to see your ideas!!

Meal Planner Menu Board

So a fun weekend at a triple bridal shower for my three cousins that are getting married, all within 3 months.  Here are the gifts I've made:

Now that wrapping is all I had, and I am NOT a good wrapper (maybe if I had more time), but I had some ribbon left from when I bought some throw pillows for my couch, and there was a lot, so that is what I used up to wrap the gifts.

The gift I am showing you now is the one in the pink wrapping.  To see the blue gift click here.  To see the yellow gift click here.  That was fun, didn't it feel like a pick your own adventure book?

I was in the thrift store... (sound familiar!) and I saw this cork board for $1.49.  Inspiration just flew to my mind of a project I could make with it.

I used some craft paint that I already had on hand, and painted the boarder of the cork board.

Then I used some of the scrapbook paper that I had also used for this project.  It was $1.69 per sheet at Michael's, and I used a sheet and a half.   I started by using mod podge to stick the paper to the board, but it was curling, so before I got too far I just used my "no nails glue", because I still can't find my glue gun.

I bought these clips at the dollar store, but wanted them red, so I painted them.  Yes, I painted them... they have to match!!

 

They became:

Using scrapbook paper that I had bought to co-ordinate with my background paper ($0.98 at Michael's 2 sheets)  I cut small squares and used a red marker to write the letter for each day of the week on them.  If only I had a printer they may have looked better.  Oh well, a printer was not on my shopping list for this project. Stamps would have been nice too.

I added two pockets on the board.  One to hold the recipes that you would use for that weeks meal plan, and the other to hold all the meal ideas that you can rotate through.

I found red push pins at Walmart for $1.98 and used those to hold the pockets.  Also to hold the ribbon up on the sides.

I found the back things I was talking about before and they are actually called "leveling hangers".  But I bet you if you were to ask someone for leveling hangers you would still have to describe what they actually are!

Final product:

An organized area to create a weekly meal plan, and have the recipes close by!

Very fun to make!  And if my cousin is a smart girl (which she is), she will use it now to organize meals to get into the habit before life gets too crazy to think about such things as preparing ahead!!  Really I do try my best, maybe I should make one of these boards for myself!

What do you think?  Would you use this?

Total cost:

Cork Board: $1.49

Scrapbook Paper: $3.69

Ribbon: $1.00

Push Pins: $1.98

Recipe Cards: $1.00

Clips: $1.00

Total: $10.16

I am linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Simple Monogram Frame

So I have a triple Bridal shower to go to this weekend.  Three of my cousins are getting married, so this means three gifts for one weekend.  So I decided to make them!  Just something personal for each one.  Here is the first project:

A plain glass picture frame from the dollar store, it was $2.  

A wooden letter also from the dollar store $1.  

And a piece and a half of this really cool scrapbook paper from Michael's $1.69 each.

I put the scrapbook paper behind the frame (don't you love the pattern, and colour!!).

 I painted the letter M (which will be her new last names initial).

Now, I couldn't find my hot glue gun (grrr... I have no idea where it went), so don't laugh but I used a "No Nails Glue"  haha, sorry I am laughing at myself.  It's supposedly super strong!!  It's like saying I used a nail when I only needed a tac...

Here is the final product:

Hopefully she likes red!  I love the look of this, I think it looks classy.  So simple, but oh so sweet.

So cheap, that you want to make one now too, right?  I actually thought this project was so cheap to make that I added a red photo album to her gift and in the square cut out on the cover added the matching scrapbook paper from the frame.

Check later this week to find out what I am giving my other two cousins.

Cost:

Glass Frame: $2.00

Wooden Letter: $1.00

Scrapbook Paper: $2.53

Total $5.53

I am linking up to:

The Girl Creative

Skip To My Lou

Making The World Cuter

Between Naps On The Porch

The Persimmon Perch

My Frugal Family

Today's Creative Blog

A Soft Place To Land

Me And My Bucket

Someday Crafts

Sew Much Ado

Trendy Treehouse

Blue Bird Box

So I got this box at the thrift store, and I knew it was a good one.  So I bought it for $3.99.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but boxes are always easy to find something to do with, it makes cute storage for any item.  Okay, so my sister in law just had a baby.  Yeah!  So I decided I would use this box to make a gift for her little guy.

Ooops, I guess I deleted the before shot, but it looked like this but gray-ish and chipped:

After painting the box an heirloom white, I started with the inside.  

I got a book from the recycle depot and started tearing out the pages (yikes... don't hate me.  I am recycling it!!)

  

Then I used mod podge to glue the torn pages into the inside of the box.

Looks good so far!  Then I picked up this little bird from the dollar store.  

I was wanting him for myself (because he is so cute), but I placed him on the box, and he just had to stay.  I painted him blue.  Who doesn't think a little blue bird is cute!

I painted the top of the box blue, and added scrapbook paper into the glass frames, along withsome personal touches - my nephew's name is Beau.  So cute!  And here is the end result:

I love how it turned out!  Now I just have to find my nephew a cute little outfit to go inside.  I hope you enjoyed!!