Thursday, January 30, 2014

DIY "LOVE" Scrabble Blocks

This is a super easy, cheap, and cute DIY that is perfect for your Valentines Decor!

Supplies:
wood- I used a 2x4 that I already had out in the garage
Stain
Sandpaper
Black paint and thin brush
black permanent marker
"L O V E" and the numbers 1 and 4 Print out

Cut your wood so that each block is square.
These were easy enough that I did two sets at once

Stain the blocks the color you desire, I just used Minwax Weathered Oak, so it just barely tinted my wood. I wanted it more natural looking. 

Can you see the slight difference?? :)

Let the stain dry for several hours or even overnight. Print off the letters "LOVE" in the size and print you want, as well as the numbers 1 and 4. The font I used was Segoe UI, my letters were size 200 and my numbers were size 72. I did all caps; simply type it in Word and print it out in black. 

Cut each letter and number out, place it on the wooden block where you want it. Now use a PENCIL and outline the letter. Put some pressure on it when tracing :) When you remove the paper you should see a faint line, simply fill in the letter with black paint and a thin paint brush! The numbers were small enough that after I had traced them I just used a permanent marker to fill it in.

And you are done!!






Thursday, January 9, 2014

Project Nursery: Pom-pom Backdrop DIY

I am finally getting started on the Nursery for Baby Girl #2!! Don't worry...my due date is only less than two months away.....   ;)

I wanted the nursery to be bright, colorful, and fun. A lot of my inspiration came from Pinterest (of course..) and all the pom-pom projects that are floating around!!


Pom Pom Pillow Tutorial #pompompillow


DIY yarn pom-pom garland | yourwishcake.com by wishcake, via Flickr

My house colors seem to be grey and blue but I wanted to add some brighter colors as well. So I started looking for fabrics with red and yellow as well and I ran into this one and fell in love!

Bonnie & Camille, Scrumptious, June Cream

Ok, now that you have seen some of my inspiration, lets get to the tutorial for this adorable pom-pom backdrop!!!!  *side note: this is the first project I have completed so the rest of the nursery is still a mess!! Sorry :) 



Supplies:

Yarn-color(s) of your choosing
Scissors-use sharp fabric scissors is you have them
Toy ring, or other semi circle object  (see pictures)
Large Fork
Stick
Thread and large needle
Hot glue gun with glue 

For the smaller pom poms I used a large serving fork (about twice the size of a regular fork) and used This Method I found on Pinterest, super easy! 
For the large pom poms I needed to find something bigger. I found some tutorials where you just wrap the yarn around one of your hands, but I tend to need both hands ;)
I discovered that one of my daughters' toy rings would work perfectly! I wanted something circular but it also needed an opening to make it easy to get the yarn off---it will make more sense when you see the pictures! :)
Okay, here we go!
Wrap yarn around the ring, keep going until you have a pretty thick stack then cut the yarn.

Cut another piece of yarn--about 4-6 inches and tie it around the middle of your yarn bundle. Slide yarn off the ring, and tighten it with a knot. It will look like this:


Simply cut all the loops and fluff it out. Trim any longer pieces. 

 And keep going! You will soon have a nice little pile :) I just worked on it over a few days while I was watching TV at night, ha! I did about 5 big and 5 small pom-pom in each color.


 Next step: Go on a walk, ha! :) 
I wanted to secure my pom-poms with a branch, so we went looking for a nice stick! :)

Unfortunately I did not take pictures for the rest of this tutorial :(   I am so sorry! I just got going and forgot! But it is super easy!

Measure the size of backdrop you want. I wanted to cover most of the space behind the crib, my size was a 4'x4'.

Layout your pom-poms on the floor, measure out the desired width and height then start arranging all your pom poms! I did 5 rows across. 

String your pom-poms using a big sewing needle and thread.

Hot glue your pom-poms in place: I just put a dab of glue on either side of the pom-pom where the thread came out. That way when you go to hang it your pom-poms will stay in place and not slide down.

Use thread to attach each row to the stick. I tied the thread around the top pom-pom and then around the branch. 

And you are done! Just hang the branch where you want! ...to hang ours, we drilled a small hole in the middle of the stick, then simply hammered a small nail through it into the wall.

Step back and enjoy!!