Summer Time Napkins using Freezer Paper

I found these plain white waffle cloths at Target for 50 cents each a few months ago! Woo! They were long so I cut them in half to make 12 dinner napkins. That's only 25 cents each. Can't beat that.

They've been sitting there as I thought and thought on how to creatively and functionally spruce them up. As I was looking in my Better Homes and Gardens magazine, I found what I wanted to do. And this is what turned out.
I'm very happy with them. I used strips of freezer paper to make the lines. If you look closely, they have their imperfections but I really like them. Here's my outdoor set-up. We recently put in a stone patio in the backyard and purchased our outdoor dining set so of course I was so super excited to buy the plates and cups. And I hope you're all proud of me: I walked past all the polka dot stuff I saw to stretch my creativity. Coincidentally, the plates and cups are Better Homes and Gardens brand at Wal-mart.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Happy Summer Cook-Outs!

Recycle Those Magazines

Here are two projects I made using old magazines. I have about 5 magazines coming to my house every month right now (I'm not even sure how that happened) so I am needing to recycle and throw them out faster than I usually do.

Project one: Butterfly collage for the half bath down stairs. It will be in the same bathroom as this magazine project.I used foam board, paint, mod podge, and hot glue. I don't know why i thought of this because I'm not a huge butterfly fan, but I just went with it. I don't know if you can tell but some of the butterflies are actually in "3D". For these, I folded the butterflies in half, put a strip of hot glue on the foam board, then, while still folded, I placed the butterfly in the hot glue. This made it "flap". The only thing I would do differently is not choosing the foam board. I didn't realize it would crinkle so much after I painted it. My suggestion: get your 40% off coupon and go buy a canvas.

Project #2: Mother's Day cards. This idea actually came out of project #1 in that I cut out ENTIRELY too many butterflies. And though I'm seriously not into making cards I found this pack of 20 at Micheal's for less than $2 and I just had to bite. The stamps I found at A.C. Moore for $1. It was a little tedious but I'm really happy with how they turned out. And I've been hearing from some of the mom's I sent them to that they really appreciated a homemade card. Total on these cards: $3. Total normally spent on Mother's Day Cards: about $8. Disclaimer: Card making will not become a habit of mine :)

I hope you inspired to recycle those magazines. I would love to hear of any other magazine projects you've tried.

Cabinet Door Make-Over

I am so super excited to show you all this project. I literally finished it about 15 minutes ago and wanted to blog about it right away.

We have recently become in need of a doorway coat/key/purse hanger. But they are oh so very expensive. So we visited our neighborhood Habitat for Humanity Restore. If you've never been to one, I highly recommend it. And take a camera and notepad with you because you're creative juices will get flowing and flooding.

It all started with a cabinet door. How much you ask? A whole $2!!

Isn't it beautiful?!? Ok, maybe not, but just wait and see!

First I sanded it so that the paint would stick to it. See how it doesn't look shiny and finished anymore?

Next I used an espresso brown spray paint on it. It's our favorite color and we always make sure to have it in stock at our house. Then I let it dry overnight.

The next part is fun ladies! Get that power drill out! Woo!
Drill your holes and screw in the hooks. I already had the hooks from years ago but you can find them at Walmart for cheap.

Here's what it looks like painted and with the hooks screwed in.Oh I love it! But I'm not done yet. Looks pretty plain on the inside huh? Next find: 8x8 mirror squares, also at Walmart, for $3 each.

After measuring and marking where they will lie, I used mirror mounting tape ($2.50 at walmart) to attach them to the cabinet door. And here's the finished product:
Isn't it just great?!?! Luke really loves it. And it'll be his responsibility to hang it on the wall. Here's another angle:
I really think that it turned out great. The best part was obviously the cost. Total ended up being $10. LOVE IT! How much do these cost at the store? Definitely about $40.

And seriously, if you haven't been to a ReStore, GO! I have 2 other big projects I'm working on from stuff we got there.

Happy Re-purposing!

Some Simple Wedding Presents

Our friends, Jon and Maggie, just got married this past weekend. Here are the wedding presents that I made for them. One was an etched pitcher with their new initial and the other a set of dinner napkins with their monogram.

For the pitcher, I used etching cream and this tutorial. I had initially thought to freezer paper stencil the napkins because I'm slightly obsessed with that right now, but I ran out of time and decided to go with transfer paper instead.

As a surprise, I also put engagement pictures of Jon and Maggie on some of the napkins, also using transfer paper.

Congratulations Jon and Maggie!

Beach Retreat & Craft Time

Every year, during the last weekend of April, we go to the beach with our Life Class (another name for our Sunday School class). It is always such a blast and we just love the long weekend away staying in a house right on the beach.

This year, we added some craft time for the ladies! Yipee!! you know I was excited. We decided to stencil some beach bags with some freezer paper. It was alot of fun. Here's a picture of us getting started.
Some of the other ladies decided not to do the bag, but to bring their own incomplete project and sit and just have some girl time. Here's what Leslie's bag looked like when it was all done. I love freezer paper. If I had a Cricut, I would stencil everything in my house! Well, maybe not, but you get the idea.

Just for fun, here's some pictures of my family. And here's me and the boy (and baby brother)Oh, the weekend went by way too fast and I already can't wait until next year. And I walked away with an awesome boat bag.