DIY Monogram Letter

I've been eyeing the monogram letters at the craft stores over the last couple months and debating on what I would do with one if I bought one. I finally figured out a project I could use it for (which will come later) but then I thought... I do not want to drive all the way to the store to get one of those letters right now... and as I stared at an empty cardboard box on the floor, I thought shoooooot! I will just make my own! I already had all the materials I needed and this project literally cost me 50¢ which is how much the book of sheet music cost. It's not extremely time consuming but you may have to play with the layers to get it just right. Have fun!

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DIY Earring Holder

My earrings are usually a tangled mass of metal sitting on my dresser. I been using an earring holder made with an old window screen but I found it pretty annoying to try and fit the earring hooks through the tiny mesh holes - they would get stuck and when I tried to pull them out, about 20 other pairs would come out with them. I saw a lovely idea for an earring holder on Pinterest so I decided to create my own!

This entire DIY earring holder cost me $3.00! I found the picture frame at a garage sale for $1.00 and I found an entire spool of wire at Scrap for $2.00. The nails were free. Basically I hammered nails into the edges of the frame and wrapped the wire - tightly - around the nails. The wire was pretty slippery and somewhat difficult to keep a grasp on so I must admit, I started over quite a few times to get it right. However, it's finished and now I have a cute, decorative and easy to use earring holder!

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Brimmed Beanie + Flower

There is a woman at the office I work at who wears beanies everyday to cover the peach fuzz on her cute little head. She survived cancer in 2011 and is recovering from chemotherapy. I came up with this hat specifically for her and when I was finished, it turned out better than I thought. It was so cute that I had to make one for myself and share it with you all.

Crochet hook I/5.5mm (You can use a smaller hook if you want a smaller hat or smaller stitch)
1 skein Medium Worsted-Weight Yarn
Embroidery Needle
Stitch Marker
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Comfy Cozy Cowl + Beanie

If you are a knitter or crocheter, I really hope you have heard of Ravelry.com. It is the best website I have ever discovered for this wonderful craft. They have millions of free and cheap patterns for millions of different projects as well as forums, yarn information, shopping and your own personal profile where you can post your patterns and save your favorites. 

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A Husband's Favorite Beanie

I love to crochet!! An ex man friend of mine was actually the one to teach me this wonderful skill and ever since, I've been hooked ;) Pun intended! Beanies were the first thing I learned and over the years I have tried multiple variations, styles and colors which I will share with you eventually.
This is a very basic pattern, it is easy and quick and my husband loves it. I like to use Red Heart yarn because it is cheap and versatile. The soft yarn is really nice for beanies too.

Yarn: Worsted weight, 4: Medium, any color

Hook: Size I/5.50mm

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Turn a Vintage Window into a Table

Over the summer, our landlord decided to replace our 1970's windows. Although these old windows let in all the cold and fogged up at every change of temperature, they were the perfect object for a new project. I asked to keep two windows and debated for a couple of months on what I wanted to do with them. I finally decided to use one and make a side table. The project took me about a week, mostly because I had to borrow the tools and resources from my family (Grandpa's saw, sander and nail gun). Ultimately, it was easy and here is how you can create it yourself:

Tools: measuring tape, pencil, electric sander with sandpaper, electric saw, nails, hammer, putty (if you want to cover any nail holes), protective plastic, masking tape, 1 1/2" paint brush, primer and paint

Find a window! There are lots of "recycle, reduce and reuse" type places in Portland where you can find old household items that no one wants. The Rebuilding Center is located in North Portland and has almost everything you could imagine and for CHEAP. Scrap is another place with the same idea. 

Find legs and braces for your window table. I got these legs at The Rebuilding Center for $.50 each. My grandpa made the braces for me but you can find metal or wood braces at the Home Depot for pretty cheap. You will need 8 braces.

Remove any nails, metal pieces, handles, etc. 

Piece by piece you will need to sand down every surface. This ensures smoothness and will remove any old paint or grime that you don't want on your table. I used an electric sander with 100 grit paper, just enough to remove what I wanted but not eat up all the wood. When you sand, you don't have to remove all the paint because sometimes there are multiple layers and it can be very difficult. Just sand enough to remove the shine and make it smooth. 

My window had a lot of uneven edges and the table legs were too long so we used the electric saw to cut some edges off here and there. I cut the legs to 18 inches long and cut off about 1/4" from the edges of the window to make them even. 

Once everything is sanded and cut to size, nail the legs and braces to the table. There are multiple ways you can do this and the way we did it was first by gluing the legs to the corners of the window with some strong wood glue. Then we nailed one brace to one side of the leg and the window frame, and another brace to the other side of the leg and window frame. 

Another option is to nail the leg on through the top of the window frame, making sure the nails are long enough to go all the way through the width of the table and deep enough into the top of the leg. Here is an easy video on how to fill nail holes

*Here you can see the nail hole on the right side of the brace where the nail goes into the leg. There is also a nail along the top of the brace that is nailed into the window frame. 

Next step is priming the wood. Depending on what color you want to paint it, you can use either white primer for light or pastel paint or grey primer for dark paint. I went with Miller Paint and they helped me pick out the primer I needed. You will need to tape the edge of the glass so you don't get paint on it. Find a brush that is no wider than the wood -- I used 1 1/2" "natural series" brush. Lay down some protective plastic and prime the entire piece as if you were painting it but you only need to do 1 or 2 light coats. 

Let it dry for 24 hours then you can begin to paint! Miller Paint also has a great deal where you can buy a quart of paint for only $5! It is technically a "sample" quart so if your color doesn't work out, they won't re-mix it and you will have to buy a new quart-- plus it doesn't have much sheen.

When you begin to paint, it's better to paint a few light layers versus one or two heavy layers. I started off light:

Let it dry for two or more hours then paint another coat. I painted two coats total. 

**Keep in mind that most old windows DO NOT have sturdy glass. You may need to buy extra glass to cover the table so that whatever you put on it will not break through the glass.

The final product:

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DIY Wedding Bouquet

I've been researching so many DIY wedding sites during this whole wedding fiasco and have attempted at being a crafty lady. Paper pom poms, homemade jam favors, create-your-own guest book, bark and bird centerpieces, birdcage veils, and the list goes on. So many options and so little time. The DIY trend stems from brides-to-be needing to plan a wedding on a tight budget and that is exactly what I am trying to accomplish. Going to a florist for flowers is incredibly expensive. A bridal bouquet can range anywhere from $50 to $300 and when you multiply that by how many bridesmaids you have, it starts to get just plain stupid. After researching flower arrangements and bouquets, I discovered that I love dahlias. Canby, OR is home to one of the greatest dahlia vendors (dahlias.com) and their prices are very reasonable. For 10 stems, it's $7....
So then I googled "how to make your own bridal bouquet" and that appeared very easy so I decided to actually make my own bridal bouquet. I bought all my supplies at Michael's for under $10 and I bought a bunch of mums at Trader Joe's for $4.99 and they lasted for about two weeks. The only problem with mums is that there are multiple stems coming off from the main stem so it makes for a bunch of flower heads at different heights. When making the actual bouquet, it's better to use single stems. Here is the step-by-step:


*Before beginning, cut off about an inch of the stems and soak the flowers in a vase of water with a packet flower food. Let them sit for about an hour or so. 

Wide Satin Ribbon
Green Floral Tape
Pearl Tipped Corsage Pins
Scissors

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