Past Valentine Day Ideas

I haven't had a whole lot of time this year to work on creative Valentine ideas (although I have a few in my mind!), so I thought I'd share some of last year's projects.
If you're interesting in making these Valentine Owls, click here. I have thought of some other cute Valentine quotes that would be cute with these: "Valentine, you're a hoot!" , "Owl be your Valentine!" "Whooooo loves you?! I do!!" These Cotton Candy Ice Cream Cones are still one of my favorites. Click HERE if you're interested.

DIY Trumeau

I've been dying to wrap up this project so that I could share it with you. This may be my ALL TIME FAVORITE PROJECT I've ever completed and I did it all BY MYSELF!!! Using Susie Harris' tutorial as my guide, I finally (after 5 years of wanting to do this!) had the guts to make my own Trumeau mirrors! And I couldn't be more pleased!! I L-O-V-E them!! 1. I went to Lowe's and purchased a sheet of 3/4' plywood. I had my measurements in hand and had the guy at Lowe's cut the wood for me. I also bought my moulding while there, as well as Liquid Nails for mirrors, and a $10 Miter Saw kit. . I primed and painted the wood as soon as I walked in the door.

2. I purchased a beveled mirror from Wal-Mart. I think it was only $11.00. I applied the Liquid Nails to the back of the mirror as well as the plywood. I put some heavy stuff (like books and paint cans) on top of the mirror while I impatiently waited for the Liquid Nails to dry so that I could move on to the next step.

3. I was so anxious to finish this project that I forgot to take pics while working. However, Susie did...so take a look at hers. But i did just as she did. I didn't use a measuring tape, I just used a pencil and my eyeballs to mark the cuts on my moulding. The Miter Saw was very self explanatory, even to someone who has never used one. Of course, the miter saw is a hand-held saw, so it took a little while. However, I did this on the carpet of my daughter's bedroom (to give you an idea of how little you have to stress about this step!).

Then I used the same liquid nails to adhere the moulding to the edges of the mirror. And the same books and paint cans on top of the moulding to keep it in place.

Then...I taped off a 10 x 18' rectangle and painted the inside of the rectangle the same color of the dresser (which is one shade darker than the wall, by the way).

Then.......I ordered a fancy monogram to go inside the rectangle. I ordered it from a local shop (Fun and Fancy), but you can order them off of Etsy. Just type in monogram and all sorts of fun things come up!

This bedroom is FINALLY complete!!! (For now!)

Thank you, Susie Harris, for your step-by step tutorial!!

I'm linking to Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage , Strut Your Stuff at

Somewhat Simple, and Thrilling Thursdays at Paisley Passions
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Boo Bags

I thought I'd re-post some Halloween stuff from last year.

These bags were super easy and I don't want to insult your intelligence by writing a tutorial. However....here goes. Cut the top of a white bag into a rounded shape. Glue on googly eyes. Now you have a "Boo Bag"!

Happy Halloween!

Linking to Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage., Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Somewhat Simple, Frugal Fridays at The Shabby Nest.

DIY Cake Stands

Last week, we celebrated my youngest child's 6th Birthday with a Little Chef Party. I made some quick, easy, and completely inexpensive cake stands for each of the little cakes. I wrapped different sized cans from my pantry in scrapbook paper that I secured with a glue gun. Then I spray painted burner covers (you know...the round things that go over the burners on a stovetop) a coordinating color and glued trim on the edges. The burner covers were from The Dollar Tree. There were two in a pack. They had 'not so cute" country images on them (like ducks!). But a little spray paint can go a long way!

I thought they turned out kinda cute.

This would be fun to do at Christmas for appetizers. Wrap your cans in different papers - or spray paint the empty cans and add polka dot grosgrain ribbon - and put your appetizers on coordinating sparypainted burner covers.

I actually did something similar at our school's Cake Walk. Instead of using the cans from my kitchen, I asked the ladies in the cafeteria to save their industrial-sized cans. I spray-painted them and hot-glued a 2 inch ribbon around the center. And rather then using burner covers, I used round pizza pans from the Dollar Tree.

Linking to Toot Your Horn Tuesday , These Creative Juices, The Creative Itch, Lucky Linky, Hope Studios

On Thursday, linking to Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage, Show off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans., Somewhat Simple. On Friday, linking to Frugal Fridays at The Shabby Nest.

Have fun!

Big Girl Bedroom

My two youngest girls are only 15 months apart and have always enjoyed sharing a room together. Fortunately, the room is big enough for two full size beds. I adored the bedroom that they shared together! However, recently they decided that they each wanted their own room. I moved one of the full sized beds into our "extra" bedroom for one of the girls, then re-painted and re-decorated the other room (the one below) into something really special.

Here is a BEFORE shot: And here are the afters:

The chaise lounge below doesn't exactly work in this room, but I tried to make it work by removing the existing trim and gluing some blue ribbon along the bottom edge. The raw silk blue pillow was a steal for 50 cents at a yard sale. The blue throw hides marker and glitter glue that are at the foot of the chair.

I love this room as much as my little girl does! I must confess, however, that just about every idea for this room came straight from Janell at Isabell & Max Rooms. I was in love with her daughter's "Dream Bedroom", and Janell was generous enough to list all of her sources and even her paint color! Lucky me!

Stay tuned and I'll post pics of my other daughter's "big girl" room.

Padded Bulletin Board

Here's a pic of a bulletin board I just finish in Sunshine's "Fancy Nancy" bedroom. I don't think you can tell from the pics, but the bulletin board has extra padding (batting, actually...2 layers) and is "puffy".
I found this old, gold, plastic-framed mirror at the thrift store. I removed the mirror and spray painted the frame pink. Using the mirror as my "pattern", I cut a piece of foam board the same size as the mirror. I added to layers of batting and then fabric. I actually used duct tape to secure the fabric to the back of the foamboard.

Because the bulletin board is "puffy", regular tacks wouldn't stay in place, so I used corsage pins as tacks. They are extra "fancy" because they have a pearl tip. The corsage pins can be found in the wedding section of your local craft store.

DIY "Silhouett-ish" Art

I have been working on hard on my "soon-to-be-6" year old's room. She wanted a "big girl" room, but she wanted a Fancy Nancy room. Hmmmm. So I decided to do a "sophisticated" Fancy Nancy room. I started with this D-I-Y Eiffel Tower Silhouette that was super easy, very quick, and really cheap to do! I headed to Hobby Lobby and purchased a large canvas that was half-off. I painted it my base color (aqua blue).

I applied the Eiffel Tower vinyl decal (also half price at HL) on top of the dried base-coat paint.

Then I painted the entire surface pink.

After the paint dried, I removed the vinyl decal and...tah dah.....

Ooh la la!!

Sunshine likes it because it reminds her of Fancy Nancy and I like it because it was easy, quick, and cheap! Stay tuned for more projects from her room!


I'm linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Making the World Cuter, Keeping It Simple , Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime

On Tuesday, I'm linking to Toot Your Horn Tuesday and All Things Related, Take a Look Tuesday

On Wednesday, I'm linking to Works for Me Wednesday at We are That Family, The Thrify Home, Gettin Crafty on Hump Day, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts.

On Friday, I'm linking to Frugal Fridays at The Shabby Nest.