Crafts

Thrift Shop Picture Frame Makeover

May 22, 2015 by Bre 10 Comments

Over the past couple of years, I’ve developed a real love of scouring thrift shops for treasures that I can use in my home. The prizes that I bring home almost always get a makeover. Rarely do they go out on display in their original condition, although that certainly would lead to an interesting look in my home.

Picture frames are one of the best things to pick up at thrift shops because they are so easily modified to fit any style of decor. With a little paint and plywood, I updated a simple square frame from Goodwill (complete with 1980’s seahorse art), and turned it into a beautiful boutique-style frame.
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A Fingerprint Tea Towel for the Mom Who Bakes {A Mother’s Day Craft and Gift}

April 28, 2015 by Bre 14 Comments

The day when we honor some of the most important women in our lives – Mother’s Day – is coming up soon! This year my kids and I made the cutest Mother’s Day craft and gift, which we are sending to my mother-in-law as part of her gift.

Although we don’t get to see her that often, she loves to bake with my kids every time we get together. It is one of their favorite things to do with Grandma, so naturally we wanted to incorporate their special activity into their gift to her. With a little help from me, my kids made this Mother’s Day fingerprint tea towel, using their thumbprints to make cookies all over it.

This project was really fun, inexpensive, and I think it will make a great keepsake that any mother or grandmother who likes to bake would appreciate.

Supplies Used to Make a Mother’s Day Fingerprint Tea Towel

Here are the supplies we used to make our fingerprint tea towel. (Products marked with an asterisk are affiliate links, which means that I receive a small commission at no added cost to you if you purchase through them. You can read my full disclosure policy here.)

Thin flour sack tea towels* (I got mine at Target)
Sharpie fabric markers*
Light brown fabric paint* or multi-surface acrylic paint

How To Make Your Own Fingerprint Tea Towel

First, I found a cute quote that I wanted on our tea towel. I typed it up and printed it out. If you would like a copy, I’m happy to share and you can download it HERE and print it out for yourself. (NOTE: Change the year if you’d like to add that part, or just don’t trace it onto the tea towel.)

Next, I ironed the flour sack towel and figured out where I wanted the quote to go. I placed the printed quote underneath the towel and traced the text with my Sharpie fabric markers. It was really easy to see the text underneath and get some good penmanship on there. I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of that. (Hey, if I don’t pat myself on the back, who will?)

Now came the fun part . . . allowing my kids to put paint on their hands and get messy. Awesome. But it actually wasn’t too messy because I just put it on their tiny little thumbs and had them stamp around the quote. Of course they loved it.

Finally, I added some black dots to their dried thumbprints to make them look like chocolate chip cookies. So cute!

Here’s another great DIY Mother’s Day Gift Idea!

Of course this baking tea towel would make a great gift on its own, but we added some cute baking accessories and tied them all together with baker’s twine to complete the gift. I just know my mother-in-law is going to love it as much as we loved making it.

This is a special DIY Mother’s Day gift that any baker would love to receive.

– Bre

Paint Splattered Pouches {An Easy Dollar Bin Upgrade}

April 21, 2015 by Bre 12 Comments

Every time I step into Target, my cart takes on a mind of its own and directs me to aisles and places in the store that I never intended to visit. The Dollar Spot is one of those places. Do I ever really need a cute new notebook for my daughter with the latest, popular Disney character emblazoned on the front? Or yet another rubber stamp with the letter “B” on it (but this one has a quatrefoil background print, Bre!)? No. The answer is always NO. But I go there anyway – all.the.time.

On one of those recent visits to the Dollar Spot, I found some cute fully-lined, linen pouches for $3 a piece. They were the perfect size for inside my purse and I liked the metallic thread that was woven throughout.
I easily could have left them as is, but come on . . . what fun would that be? With a little paint, I gave them a totally fun new look!
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Dollar Store Magnetic Chip Clip Holder

April 8, 2015 by Bre 26 Comments

There’s nothing worse than craving a salty, crunchy chip, and opening the package to find they’ve gone stale. (You know I’m right!)

To prevent such a catastrophe, you must make this DIY Dollar Store Magnetic Chip Clip Holder!

Not only will you have lots of chip clips to help keep those salty snacks fresh and tasty, but you’ll also have a fantastic way to organize those chip clips!

Alright, so people, I’m telling you that if you’re not a regular Dollar Tree shopper, you need to become one, stat.

It is my absolute favorite place for cheap party supplies (read my post on the best Dollar Tree party supplies), and cheap craft supplies (read my post on 10 craft supplies to buy at Dollar Tree, and the follow up with ten more).

Oh, I also love it for strange stove burner covers with roosters plastered all over them. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, I really have no idea what you do with a burner cover. I’m guessing it’s something for an electric stove. . . ? I’ve never had one of those so I don’t really know.

Yeah, so anyway, I bought a set of two of these burner covers for, well, $1 (now $1.25), never planning to use them for their intended purpose. Instead, I always planned to use them for something “magnety” (made up word referring to something that can be used with magnets.).

Anyway, these bad boys hid out in my china cabinet for about six months until a wonderful moment of inspiration hit. You see, I was giving my children their 78th snack of the day when I got super annoyed that I couldn’t find any more binder clips (my makeshift chip clips), in my junk drawer.

At that moment I knew that my world would become a better place if I always had easy access to chip clips so that my children’s snacks could be easily resealed and not spill all over the pantry as they usually do. Out of hiding came the rooster covers.

DIY Chip Clip Holder Supplies

This post contains affiliate links. To learn more, please read my full disclosure policy.

Metal burner covers
12″ x 12″ scrapbook paper in pattern of your choice
Mod Podge (decoupage glue)
Foam brush
Ribbon
Clothespins
Acrylic paint
Tiny magnets
Scissors

How to Make a Magnetic Chip Clip Holder

Since roosters aren’t my favorite animal in the world, I decided to cover this bad boy up, pronto. I traced around the burner cover on a piece of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper, and then cut it out.

Next up, I applied a thin layer of ModPodge (decoupage glue) to the top of the burner cover and put my scrapbook paper on top. Bye bye, rooster!

I smoothed out the wrinkles, and after it seemed dry, I put another thin layer of decoupage glue on top.

Once everything was dry, I hot glued a ribbon around the entire edge of the burner cover.

Then I painted some clothespins with acrylic paint and hot glued tiny magnets to the back of each one. Super duper easy!

And you guys, for real, this has been a total game changer in the world of proper snack sealing and storage.

I love a good Dollar Store craft and organization combo project (kind of like my Dollar Tree pizza pan memo board)!

How to Make a DIY Placemat Clutch Purse

March 27, 2015 by Bre 22 Comments

It’s really strange but some of my most creative ideas come to me right as I’m falling asleep or randomly in the middle of the night. This is one of those ideas – making a DIY placemat clutch purse!

I have NO idea why I thought of this. Maybe it’s because I go out to the clubs all the time and am in constant need of cute clutch purses. (Um . . . no.)

Maybe it’s because I’m totally in tune with the fashion trends. (Womp womp.)

Maybe it’s because my brain is strange. (Ding Ding Ding – we have a winner!)

Regardless of the reasoning behind the clutch, I’m pleasantly surprised with how cute it turned out! Bonus was that it really did not take long to make!

Supplies Needed for a DIY Placemat Clutch Purse

This post contains affiliate links. To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.

Placemat
Large sewing needle
Embroidery floss
Velcro
Buttons or other embellishments
Iron
Fabric glue or hot glue

How to Make a Placemat Purse

First, determine how wide you want your clutch to be. I thought that it would be too wide if I simply folded the placemat in half. I turned the placemat to be vertical on the table and then folded the left and right sides inward about one inch. I pinned those and ironed them down.

Once the sides were ironed, I folded the placemat in half, horizontally, with the ironed sides facing in. Then I began to sew those seams shut along the edges.

I sewed about two-thirds of the way up. Once I reached that point, I only sewed the bottom layer of the placemat. The top layer was left untouched. (I hope this description makes sense. . . )

Next I folded the top layer of the placemat over, facing outward, and ironed it. I then sewed it down, using my embroidery floss again.

Then I glued Velcro to both of the flaps. I think I was a little aggressive in my Velcro application. I definitely did not need to use that huge strip on the bottom flap . . . I think those little Velcro dots would have been sufficient. What can I say? I love Velcro?

Finally, I sewed on some cute little buttons for a fun dose of the blingety bling.

Cute, right?!

I kind of need to go out so I can use this. . . .it’s not exactly practical for the playground with my kiddos.

So what do you think? Would you try and pass off a DIY placemat clutch as a purse?

– Bre

Chalk Painted Grapevine Wreath {A Wreath for All Seasons}

February 20, 2015 by Bre 26 Comments

I love the look of embellished grapevine wreaths on front doors, but I could never use them because my front door is dark stained wood and the wreath just blended right in with the door. (This is even more of a problem since I refinished my door last summer.)

On a recent trip to Michaels, however, I decided to go out on a limb and purchase a grapevine wreath anyway. (I like to live dangerously, people!) And of course, when I got it home, I immediately knew that it wasn’t going to work without some tweaking. Duh. So I got a little crazy and decided to PAINT it.

What tha’ what?

And now I have a chalk painted grapevine wreath adorning my front door. And part of me really likes it, and the other part isn’t so sure about it. (Maybe when it is no longer -31 with windchill I will have the luxury of standing outside my front door and really studying the wreath to decide if I like it. But for now, it will stay there because I have nothing else to replace it with.)