Half Bathroom Preview

It's been almost a year when I decided to make over our half bathroom in our house.  It's been a plain Jane ever since we moved into the house last year, so no wonder when I wanted to do something different and unique with it.  Since we are hosting Thanksgiving this year and will have ten people and four dogs total in our house, I wanted to finish this project once and for all.  The hubby and I have been busy and hope to finish this week!

I wanted to give you a little sneak preview of what it looks like today.  We kept the same color palette to create a beach theme and I am loving every part of it so far!

Here's the sneak peak of some of the items in the bathroom until we finish it completely:

We went with white beadboard and a green/blue paint color.  I found this great blue shelf (Homegoods) and painted this "S" (JoAnns) white.  My mother-in-law also handmade me this beautiful tissue box holder to match the bathroom!

Can't wait to show you the rest of the bathroom :)

DIY Gallery Wall

Happy Sunday!  Today, I'm sharing the cute gallery wall I put together in my living room!  I have always pinned gallery walls on Pinterest because I thought they were a great idea, but it was something I had not even attempted to put together until recently.  Luckily, I used all items that were already in my house or purchased previously.

Zoey wanted to be in the picture.

I found this amazing large, tin "S" from Homegoods on sale about three months ago.  It was too awesome not to buy, even though I didn't have a place to put it yet.  I planned my gallery wall around the "S" and other items like the "&" sign we used in our wedding and this great DIY Home sign I made.  I put the items I wanted to use on the floor to plan it out first.  Unfortunately, I ran out of wall space and wasn't able to use all of it.

Layout on the ground first even though I didn't use all of it.

Although I only used half of the items I was expecting to, it turned out great and now fits perfecting in our living room.  Take a look below at the items up close and see where I purchased them!

 

 

Here's what's included:

-Large, tin "S" from Homegoods
-"&" sign from Hobby Lobby
-Printed canvas made from our wedding picture (Photo credit Little Tree Studios)
-DIY HOME sign made with the state of Ohio (DIY coming soon!)
-Picture frame from Pier 1 Imports and picture from our wedding photos (Little Tree Studios)

Have a great Sunday!

DIY Packers/Bengals Football Wreath

What's better than Fall? Fall and football season! Of course we have been watching a lot of football in this house starting just a few months ago and with Hockey and Basketball season starting too, there will be many more nights of sports for us. 

Whether you are a die-hard sports fan or a casual one, you'll love this DIY tutorial for the ultimate sports wreath.

I have made quite a few door wreath in my year and a half of living in our house, but I had yet to make a sports one.

Danny and I have a somewhat divided football household.  We root for different football teams, but since they're not rivals, we are civil about it.

Here is a step by step tutorial of how I created my DIY Football Wreath:

Supplies:

-Wooden "B"
-Wooden oval
-Burlap wire ribbon
-Wire Wreath outline
-Paint
-Wooden Football

Step 1: Paint the logo.

I found two pieces of wood at my local JoAnn's store, a small "B" for the Bengals logo and an oval that I was able to paint into the Green Bay logo.

Step 2:  Tie the burlap ribbon around the wreath.

I found this great burlap wire ribbon on sale at JoAnn's and luckily they had all three colors that I needed.  It was really thick, so I ended up cutting it in half to make more pieces to give the wreath a fuller look.  The burlap ribbon also had wire in it which really helped to conform to the shape of the wreath.

Step 3: Tie on the logos and the football.

To finish the look, I added our Family name on the football and then glued the wooden pieces to twine which then I tied to the back of the wire wreath.  I first used hot glue to secure the logos and the football, but because of the weight of the wood, it wouldn't stay.  I ended up using craft glue and that worked much better.

The wreath turned out so well that I decided to make my in-laws one too! They are Bengals fans that now live in Steelers country, which is why I thought this Bengals wreath would be perfect on their door!

DIY: Give Thanks Banner

These days I can't peruse Pinterest without discovering my next Fall craft to start on.  I do have a Pinterest confession- Fall is my favorite time of year and no matter how many crafts/decorations I make/buy, I will never have enough! Our house is filled with pumpkins, Autumn yankee candles, and now something special that I made a few weeks ago.

We have one fireplace in the entire house and unfortunately for me and my husband, it's in the Man Cave.  Luckily, Danny let me decorate it in the name of holiday cheer, so I started pinning banner ideas on Pinterest.

I came across a few ideas, but my mind was made up once I started browsing JoAnns' collection.

I found amazing burlap pumpkin cutouts on SALE and I knew I had to incorporate them into my Give Thanks Banner. I also saw an amazing idea on Pinterest which incorporates glitter and faux leaves (shown below).

Here's what I did:

Supplies:

-10 Pumpkin burlap cutouts
-1 bag of faux leaves
-Different colors of glitter (I found an amazing set at JoAnns labeled, "Autumn glitter")
-Adhesive spray
-Orange spray paint
-Brown paint
-brown ribbon
-twine

Step 1: Glitterring the leaves.

First I took the faux leaves and sprayed them with the adhesive spray.  Then I took two bowls and sprinkled glitter from one bowl to another until the entrie front side of the leaf was covered.  Then, I set it aside to dry.  Repeat these steps until you have covered all of the leaves needed for the project.  I used the entire bag (30 leaves) and I am hoping to incorporate them in another craft.  This craft only needed 14 leaves.

Note:  Don't be worried if the different colors of glitter tend to run together after awhile in your bowls.  That is one of the amazing things about the season, no two leaves are exactly alike in color.  Feel free to mix in a variety of oranges, reds, browns, yellows, etc.  I really liked the way each leaf was different.

Step 2:  Paint the pumpkins.

Even though I didn't know how to stencil these pumpkins in the beginning, it all worked out in the end.  Here's what I did.  I put sticker letters that I had leftover from another craft on each pumpkin and then spray painted them in orange.  After letting it dry for about 15 minutes, I pulled away the letters which left me with a great outline to trace the letters with a darker color.  I used a brownish green color to fill in the letters on each pumpkin.

Step 3: Assemble the banner.

I had some leftover twine laying around which made a good base.  I then decided to start tying the letters to the twine tightly with brown ribbon, so they didn't move on the twine.  After the letters were in place, I cut pieces of long brown ribbon and attached different leaves to it in different patterns.  I put some leaves upside down, or sideways to resemble leaves falling.  I created 5 of these strings of leaves and then attached them to the banner to create the look.  Because the leaves were very light, they were able to delicately float in the air, or at least that's what it looks like.

I am very happy with the way this Give Thanks Banner turned out and it is the perfect addition to the Man Cave fireplace.