DIY. . . Changing Seasons Placemats & Tutorial

A huge reason why I don't change my decor with each season is because it seems like a waste of money to change things every couple of months.  Don't get me wrong ,I used to have decorations for each season - Summer, Fall, Halloween, Christmas, Winter, Easter, Spring, 4th of July. . .  That was six kids and what seems like a lifetime ago.  Now, I pretty much stick with Christmas.  Its just more budget-friendly that way.

Looking all over blogland, I see tons of way cute ideas to dress up your home for Autumn.  And I'm jealous.  Being there is so much work to be done on this little big house, I can't really justify going out and purchasing items to decorate my home for two and a half months.  And since its been YEARS since I've really bought anything Fall-ish, my seasonal decor is sorely depleted.

So last night, while I was trying to figure out a DIY craft I could blog about today, I hit on this idea.  What if I made something that not only would work for Fall, but also for every other season too?  That way, I wouldn't feel so guilty about spending money that could be better spent on home improvement projects!
WIN, WIN!

This is what I came up with. . .

Changing Season Placemats.

And better yet, it cost me $2.00.  Woo-hoo!  I found the placemats at a local thrift store for $0.50 each.

Materials:

4 Placemats

Chalkboard Paint

Painter's Tape

Burlap Fabric

Cotton Fabric

Glue Gun

Seasonal Decorations 

First, I taped off all the edges of the placemats.

Then I coated it well with black Chalkboard paint.

To speed up the drying process, I hung them on the line to dry.

While waiting for them to dry, I made fabric rosettes out of some burlap that I bought for another project, as well as an old white bedskirt.

When the paint had dried, I attached the rosettes to the placemat on the upper left-hand corner.

And in the spirit of the season, I tucked some faux Autumn leaves in amongst the rosettes.  Instant Fall placemat!

The thing I love about this craft is that you can change out the wording and the seasonal decoration that you tuck into with the rosettes.  Just don't glue them down and change the word that you write in chalk.

So now you have placemats for Fall. . .

For Christmas . . .

For Spring . . .

and for Summer .

Now, I can have my dining room decked out for Fall and not feel a bit of guilt over any money that I've spent.  :)

Each placemat says a different word - Fall, Autumn, Leaves, and Harvest.

In the interest of full disclosure, the only thing I would probably do differently is use either a tighter weave or attach a thin, flat board to the top of the placemat and paint that instead of painting directly on the mat.  One, the weave absorbs a lot of the chalkboard paint and that stuff ain't cheap.  Plus, this particular weave makes it difficult to write on with the chalk.  But oh well, I used what I had and I think it turned out pretty swell!

Speaking of harvest, its getting to be that time again.  Here's a couple of pictures I took from the upper deck on the back of our house.  There's nothing prettier than Fall in the heartland (except maybe summer in the heartland).  What a view, huh?

Its almost enough to make me forget that the plumbing guy delivered the news today that we have to get a new hot water heater...  Yeah, the one we just bought brand new four years ago.  So, no hot water for tonight.  Errrrr...  Five kids, no bath.  Grrrrreat.
At least Marathon carries a lifetime warranty, so its just an inconvenience until it can be replaced.  Hopefully, soon!

Until then, I'll just enjoy my DIY Fall Decor.  And that makes me happy!

 I'm linking this craft up to:
The Vintage Farmhouse: Creative Things Thursday

Reclaimed Barnwood Sign & Tutorial

Live Simply.  A great motto to live by.  And also the wording I decided to use on a piece of old barnwood I reclaimed from the hub's parents' farm.

I'm pretty sure his Dad had used it at one point to clean fish, since there were scales on the backside.  Yum!  But not a deterrent to me!  I just bleached it really good before I got to work.

This is what I started with:

First I gave it a coat of Chalkboard White by Dutch Boy Paint.  I love how it really made the grain pop.

Then I sanded the heck out of it with steel wool, which is now my new fave to rough up a surface...  Cheap and it works!

And then I cut some burlap, centered it, and hot glued it into place:

I had these starfish laying around that I bought a few years ago when I was back in Virginia Beach, so I decided to glue those down too. . .

Next, because I'm severely straight line challenged, I marked off where the stencil would go.  Seriously, if I tried to just eyeball it, it would turn out looking like this:
                                                      L
                                       i
                                      v
                                        e
                                 S
                                  i                        
                                   m
                                    p
                                     l
                                       y        .

No kidding.

So, if I have to deal with a tiny barely noticeable line on most of my homemade stuff, no biggie.  I'd rather have that than a crooked word.

And since I really, really don't like stencil paper, I decided to make my stencil from regular old printer paper.  Guess what?  Worked like a charm for a fraction of the cost.

After tracing on the words, I filled in the letters with black paint by first dabbing on the outline and then filling it in.  With burlap, you can't smooth the paint on because it catches, so you just dab it on like so. . .

  

And then you're done.  YIPPEE!

Doesn't it just remind you to take a deep breath, even amid all the hustle and bustle of life?

Live Simply.  A reminder to not let the frantic pace of life consume you.

And a little taste of summer, all year through.  (Although I'm really out of step with the rest of blogland, who have all moved onto fall decor.  A little secret. . .  I really don't care too much for fall or halloween decor.  I mean, I like it - just not in my house.  Love the season, just not the traditional decor.  Now Christmas?  Whole 'nother story.)

One of my favorite things in my house.  I got this potpourri shell from TJ Maxx last summer.

  

Now, all I have to do is figure out what to do with it.

Take care!

I've linked this project up to:

Lil' Luna - All Things Good

"HCIDKICDIM!" Wreath and Tutorial

No, that's not Swedish or any of those other languages that when translated to English looks uber weird and makes no sense...  This is my "Holy Cow I Didn't Know I Could Do It Myself!" Wreath.  Otherwise known as "If I Had Known I Could Do Something Like This I Could Have Saved A Ton Of Money Over The Years!" Wreath.

I mean, seriously.  Do you know how many times I have paid $40 or more for a wreath?!  I've got a Summer Wreath, a Spring Wreath, a Fall Wreath, a Christmas Wreath, a Just-Because-I-Wanted-A-Wreath Wreath, and not to mention the ones that have fallen apart over the years.  And maybe its just me, but none of them were this cool.

And how much do I have into this wreath?  Let's see...

Grapevine Wreath - $5.99

Spray Primer - $3.99

White Spray Paint - $3.59
Pressboard Letter:  $1.99
Scrapbooking Paper:  $1.50

Felt - $3.00
2 Spools of Ribbon:  $6.00

Total Cost: $26.06  

I'll say it again:  "HOLY COW!"

I initially got my inspiration from a blog that I love and follow pretty faithfully...

I saw this wreath on Thrifty Decor Chick:

That she found HERE.  

This was her take on it:

Way cool, huh?

Well, I have neither the time, nor the patience to attempt to cover a whole entire wreath in felt roses, (especially since I've never even attempted to make felt roses) but I thought, "WOW! I could possibly do that on a smaller scale without beating my head up against a wall!"

So yesterday when I went to Hobby Lobby, I was armed with a list of materials for a few different crafty ideas I wanted to try.  This wreath was one of them.  Since I'm such a newbie to the wonderful world of DIY, it probably cost me a lot more than any other future crafty projects will because (yes, I'm admitting it) I had to buy a *GASP* glue gun.   And glue sticks.  And Mod Podge.  Yes, I'm am totally admitting to the whole crafting world that I did not, until yesterday, possess a glue gun, glue sticks, or Mod Podge.  But I consider that money well spent when I think of all the yumminess (hmmm...  That must actually be a word because my spell check didn't underline it.  How about that?)  I'm going to get up to.

Without further ado, here's the materials you need:

Grapevine Wreath

Spray Primer

White Spray Paint

Glue Gun

Exacto Knife

Mod Podge

Pressboard Letter

Scrapbook Paper

10 Sheets of Felt

A Spool (or two) of Ribbon

 1.  First I primed and painted the grapevine wreath and the pressboard letter.

 It took no time for the letter to dry in the sun, and while I was waiting on my wreath to dry, I got started on the decorations I planned to use.

2.  Then I traced my letter onto my scrapbooking paper.

* Don't Do This *

* Or This *

See,  I make the dumb mistakes and tell you about it, so you won't!
Duh.

(Good thing I bought 3 sheets of paper!)  

* Do This  *

Outline your letter on the BACK of your scrapbooking paper.

3.  Apply the Mod Podge to the letter first and then lay your cut-out onto your letter.  Smooth out any bubbles or creases with a credit card.  I used the Matte finish.  When that has dried, flip your letter over and trim off any paper that overlaps the edges.  Apply the Mod Podge to the entire surface of the letter.  You don't have to do this, but I like the way the finish looks.

4.  After the Mod Podge dries completely, sand the edges of your letter off to give it a more finished look.

5.  Next step:  Making the felt roses... (For all the Craft Goddesses out there who know how to do this, please skip this section.  Its for those of us novices who have no idea that making felt roses is so easy!)

     A.  Gather any circular items from your home to trace your circles. You can do it free hand, but since I can't draw a circle if a gun was held to my head, I prefer to trace something.

I used a top from a pitcher, CD, Bowl, seasoning cap, and a ribbon spool.

     B.  Make your circles.  I didn't really pay attention to how many I had of each size.  I just randomly grabbed an object and traced whatever would fit on the piece of felt.

Its a good idea to use pen/pencil that's a close match to the color of your felt.  Although I have no idea what you're supposed to use for white, so I just used a pencil.

     C.  Cut out all of your circles.

  

     D.  Cut all your circles into little pig tails, by starting at the outside edge and working your way to the center while turning the piece of felt.  You can either discard the little circle that is left or keep them for later use.  If you want a looser flower, but don't want a small hole to show at the center, you can glue the leftover circles to the back of the rose to camouflage it.  I did that a few times. 

Here they are all cut out:

Since I'm kind of OCD about this kind of thing,  I work like I'm in a factory line.  Trace all circles, cut out all the circles, cut the spirals, make the roses.  You do whatever works for you.

     E.  To form the roses, I found it easiest to start at the outside end and fold the edge in, like so before I start to roll the felt...

Please excuse the lack of a manicure.  

I have neither the time nor inclination to do so, since they constantly get ruined by washing dishes, doing laundry, and inevitably get broken by playing catch with the boys.

     F.  Once you do that, then you can begin rolling the felt, keeping the inside edge in line.  The first few times were clumsy, but it didn't take very long to get the hang of it.  You'll find the technique that works for you.  Some people keep the felt on the table and roll it up.  I hold the felt in my left hand, while wrapping it with my right.

     G.  When you reach the end of the spiral, you'll have a rose that looks like this.  Believe me, I first few times the roses looked nothing like that and I had to walk away from it for a while.  I'm not the most artistically inclined person.  But I persevered and it didn't take long before I had a perfect flower.

     H.  Then, you'll take the end of your pig tail and adhere it with a little dab of glue.

And before you know it, you'll be done!

I will admit, that the littler circles from the seasoning cap were a pain in the rear.  Evidently I don't have very good small motor skills or hand/eye coordination.  ;)

6.  Now you're ready to adhere the letter and the felt roses to your grapevine wreath.  So it lasts and you don't have all your hard work falling off, glue the heck out of it.  Place your letters and roses in an arrangement that looks pleasing to you before you begin gluing them, so you can change it if it doesn't look right.  Its probably best if you can hang the wreath while you're adhering your decorations because then you can step back and look at it.  Since this old house has very few electric outlets and their placement pretty much sucks,  I made do with standing on top of a chair and looking down at the wreath.  Taking a picture from above and loading it onto the computer helped too.  Oh, the perks of living in a 1905 home!

Be sure to get all those little pesky spider webs from the glue off, which I did not do before these pictures.  I'm lazy like that. ;)

7.  Now you're ready to hang your wreath.  Don't you feel fabulous????  Doesn't it feel great to accomplish something???  Yes!  Yes, it does!

I feel like bursting into song!  

"Hallelujah!" 

I used two spools of ribbon to hang my wreath, in lieu of a wreath hanger.  I had really hoped to find some really gorgeous heavy ribbon with wire edges to make a bow, but Hobby Lobby was sorely lacking in the ribbon department.  I didn't have time to go to JoAnn's Fabrics, so I just made do with what they had.  I used two spools of wide width ribbon in a gray tulle (Its actually not tulle, but its not satin and looks like tulle, so I'm calling it tulle.  Oh, the little ways my lack of knowledge about crafting is revealed.  LOL!) and a white satin.  I laid the white satin on top of the gray tulle, and glued sparingly to keep it centered.  The next time I'm out and about, I'll get something else.  It'll do for now.

And here she is in all her fantastic glory.  I think I'll call her my "Grace" Wreath because it was only through the grace of God that I started something and finished it in ONE DAY!  Besides, she's too pretty to be saddled with "HCIDKICDIM!" Wreath.  LOL!

This baby took me roughly 10 hours, but I was also cooking dinner, doing homework with the kiddos, organizing clothes for school, giving baths, and putting kids to bed.  From start to finish, you should be able to finish it in about 4 hours.  Easy-Peasy.  And cheap!  Is there anything better?