weekend craftiness :: kitchen display

Another home craft project can now be checked off my list!

In a previous post I wrote about us deciding to renew our lease and the fact that I now had a bunch of projects that I want to do to jazz up our place.

Well, here is the latest one:

  

It's a little display crate for my salt and pepper shakers and various other knick knacks.

The idea originally came to me when not only had I run out of space for my (inadvertent) S&P shaker collection, but the space that I did have for them was getting on my nerves.

I used to have them lined up on the back of my stove top and I was constantly having to wash them because they were always getting the splatter from whatever was cooking on them. Yuck!

I have a small apartment kitchen with only one usable wall in the space, which previously housed a small dry erase board.

Going into this I knew that whatever I did would have to be extremely inexpensive, so of course I wanted to upcycle something I had on hand.

Enter a pair of old video/dvd/cd storage crates that I've had for well over 10 years.

Kid A is using one in her room for it's intended dvd storage purpose, but the other one was just sitting in her closet.

A few coats pf aqua craft paint and some scrapbook paper cut to size for the backing and VOILA!

Instant kitchen display!

Eventually I want to change the paint color and the paper backing to a scheme that I like better, but for using what I had on hand, I don't think this turned out too shabby!!

 

 xo

diy :: wall art

Remember this post from awhile back?

Well, I have FINALLY made some progress on my oh-so-sad piece of wall art.

Here are the deets....

The aqua frame came from my baby shower earlier this year.

We used it to take pictures with silly props.

The butterflies in the corners were made using a butterfly template found on the interwebz and scrapbook paper.

Just trace and cut, that's it.

 

The big mum was made using toilet paper rolls.

I cut them in even pieces, painted them with a pumpkin colored acrylic paint, and hot glued them together.

An easy, yet time consuming process.

And last, but not least, the fabric "l" was picked up last week during a birthday shopping trip to Anthropologie.

 

I'm thinking about possibly making the mum bigger, or moving the "l" over some, or putting something else up there to fill in some space.

Time will tell.

design on a dime :: a double diy post

Lately I've been feeling like my home needs a little sprucing up.

And seeing as we live in an apartment, with limited space and no painting allowed, and  finances are limited, there is only so much that I can do.

Time to get creative.

Using stuff I already had on hand, and less than five dollars, 

I came up with a couple of DIYs that changed two walls in my home. :)

The first thing I did was create a space for a very special painting that my sister-in-law did for us.

Previously, I just had this painting hanging on the wall, frameless, with thumbtacks. Yuck!

Although I had frames that didn't have anything in them, this painting was just a tad too big for them.

So, I took a frame that has housed a bridal portrait of mine for the last 8 years and spruced it up a bit.

I covered the original mat with a piece of fabric that I already had (the opening in the mat was too small for the painting); turned the frame sideways; fixed the painting onto the fabric.

And, PRESTO!!

A brand new piece of artwork for my hallway!!

I absolutely adore it.

And, yes. That is a black broom hanging on the other wall.

Stay tuned for a peek at my Halloween decor.

Now that I had this new piece of art hanging in the main hallway into the apartment, 

I needed something to fill the space that my bridal portrait previously hung in.

Enter some Pinterest inspiration.

I had seen this idea on Pinterest awhile back and was just itching for a moment when I could recreate it.

{via}

SO pretty!!!

I went and bought 4 embroidery hoops from my local Hobby Lobby, for about four dollars,

and, again, using fabric that I already had, I started my "hoop wall".

I LOVE the way this turned out!

I definitely plan on adding more hoops to this wall.

Not only is this project super inexpensive and easy peasy,

it looks awesome and you can add to it as time and finances allow.

Also, you can throw caution to the wind and add fabrics in as many 

different colors and patterns as you want.

Do you have any super simple DIYs that you have done or are wanting to try out?

design on a dime - makeup brush holder

Today as I was putting on my makeup, I noticed that my makeup brushes needed a good washing. So, after doing just that, I decided that I didn't want to just put them back in the little organizational drawer with the rest of my makeup.
Hmmm....what to do? What to do?

I looked in my handy dandy craft cabinet and grabbed 4 little items to make myself a fun little makeup brush holder.

1. empty (and washed) food can
2. scrapbook paper
3. school glue
4. glass beads

Unfortunately, I didn't take step by step pictures (bad Jen), so you'll just have to do with instructions and a picture of the final product.

Step 1 - measure the length of the can and cut a strip of scrapbook paper the same width (I did this with the hubs' lovely paper cutter).

Step 2 - glue your paper on the can. I just put a wide strip of glue directly on the can and glued one end of the paper on, then wrapped the paper around and glued the other end down.

Step 3 - fill your can with glass beads and then fill with brushes!!