On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby, I was lucky enough to come upon their 90% off isle. It was suppose to be a quick run in, run out  trip, but I made the time for a quick stroll. I found several things that just had to come home with me, including the cutest bamboo candleholders ever!

Each candle One of the candleholders was missing a slat on the bottom for the glass cup to sit on.

However, I knew that would be an easy fix.

Each candleholder was$4.49 each.

I grabbed all four that they had left.

I love the look of bamboo, but I’ve never really known where to put it in my home.

While I think of myself as an eclectic decorator, bamboo always seemed a little too Gilligans Island in my home.

With the recent trend of gold bamboo picture frames, trays, and all things chinoiserie I knew that I could finally find the perfect place for a little bamboo.

Once the broken slat was repaired, I gave each of the candleholders a couple of coats of gold spray paint.

I was so excited.

Until I set the candleholder next to the picture frames that I already had.

The gold on the candleholder didn’t seem gold enough and looked really flat.

And even though the candleholders might never be next to the picture frames, the gold color just didn’t work for me.

My solution was to give the candleholder a quick coat of Rub N Buff.

The new gold color  had  the luster, warmth and shine that I had envisioned.

The gold candleholders pair well with my white pumpkin, fall leaves and berries.

I love this fall vignette.

My sofa table sits in a walkway, so I put potpourri in the glass cups instead of candles.

Less chance of a lit candle getting knocked off.

Plus, it smells heavenly!

I love this how well the gold looks in my blue and orange fall living room.

But I can’t help but wonder how they might look in a different color.

How about a bright hot pink?

Maybe a bold navy blue?

A deep emerald green might be nice!

No matter what color my bamboo candleholders eventually end up, right now they are perfect just the way they are!

Until next time…

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Don’t you love finding something on sale? Then adding one or two little tweaks to your find to make it look super cute? That’s what happen to me recently. I found these super cute beach bags for $4.00! Each bag came with the cutest tassel on it. Cute, but by adding one tiny thing I turned them into totes adorbs swag bags.

I know “totes adores” is so last year, but I just couldn’t help myself!

So what did I do that made the swag bags totally adorable?

I did what any southern girl would do, I monogramed them.

Here’s how you can monogram you beach bag too.

Step 1:

Cut out your monogram on a digital cutting machine.

Don’t have one?

No worries!

I wanted to use a single initial on my bags, so I didn’t need anything fancy.

You could use a stencil,  hand draw your letter or use a pre-cut scrapbook letter.

I sprayed the back of my card stock letter with spray adhesive to ensure that it would stick to my bag.

Step 2:

Next, simply place your letter on your bag.

Make sure to press down firmly to make sure that it adheres well.

Step 3:

Using a pencil, lightly trace around your letter.

This is what your design should look like after removing the card stock.

Honestly, you could skip the spray adhesive if you want, it just helps keep the letter in place.

Step 4:

Paint your letter.

I used an acrylic multi-surface paint and a small paintbrush.

I matched the color of paint that I used to the colors in the tassels for a more custom look.

You may find that you need a couple of coats of paint to achieve full coverage.

Once mine had fully dried, I added a few tiny white accents to give it a little dimension.

That’s it!

Your bag is done.

Such a small thing that creates a lot of bang for your buck!

I did four of these bags for my sisters and nieces, painting each one a different color.

Once the bags were done, I filled them with all sorts of fun goodies.

I do believe that these are totes adorbs swag bags!

Last time I say that…

Promise!

Until next time…

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Welcome to August’s DIY Challenge! This month our challenge was to make something out of dowel rods. That’s right, you read that right. Dowel rods! After much thought I knew that I wanted to add to my gallery wall letters. There are a few spaces that still need a little letter here and there. Thanks to Terrie from Decorate and More with Tip for being our fearless leader! I just love her monthly challenges. Also, if you are coming here from Michelle, Blessings by Me, I am so glad that you are here. Now, let’s get down to business!   Our media room is really a bonus room above our garage. When we moved in last year, a lot of the old house’s decor landed here. So there is a lot of color. I decided to just go with it. This throw is one of my all time favorites and it matches all of the color in the room I used it as my inspiration for my letter. I found this letter at Hobby Lobby, as well as the small dowel rods. The plan was to cover the entire letter with different colors of dowels.

Step 1:

I measured and marked each dowel that I was placing on the letter.

Step 2:

Once I had each dowel marked, I cut them using my mini miter saw. I just love this thing for cutting small pieces of wood! It may just be my favorite tool!

Step 3:

After cutting the dowels, I gave them a light sanding on the ends to knock off any rough edges.

Step 4:

After each of my dowels were cut it was time to paint them. For this next step, I highly recommend wearing gloves! I was going for a distressed, worn look to match the other letters on my gallery wall. With that in mind, I watered down the paint slightly. After giving each dowel a coat of paint, I then wiped them off with a paper towel.

Step 5:

Paint the letter black. My dowels are going to cover most of the letter, however there were a few spots here and there that would show. The black just gave it a more cohesive look and did not compete with the other colors.

Step 6:

Glue the dowels to the letter. I worked in 1 to 2 inch sections. Put on a little glue, place the dowel rod. I continued doing this until all of my dowels were in place. Make sure that you have  plenty of glue to ensure that the dowels adhere well. So how did my dowel rod letter turn out? I love it! It fits right in with the rest of my gallery wall letters. And matches my inspiration pillow and throw perfectly! Plus who doesn’t love an easy, budget friendly project that adds so much to a space? Now it’s time to visit Terrie from Decorate and More With Tip ( you are not going to believe what she made!)  and all of my other DIY Challenge friends.

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My BFF Roxanne was kind enough to gift me her blue flower pots when she moved. When we went to pick them up she asked if I wanted to do a children’s lounge chair makeover? Actually, it was more like “here’s a child’s lounger, I know you can do something with it!” So we loaded it up and took it home.

My first thought was to just clean the cushions and umbrella top and paint them.

However, before I could paint, the cushions needed a good scrubbing.

As I scrubbed, I discovered a zipper.

Cool!

I could take the covers off of the cushions and wash them in the washing machine!

Umm, nope.

Not happening.

What I found inside the cushion cover convinced me that plan B was  a better option.

I took the foam out of the cushion cover and the umbrella top off of the umbrella.

My plan was to take them apart and sew new ones, using the old ones as a pattern.

Until I priced outdoor fabric.

It would cost me more than my BFF had originally paid for the lounger.

So not happening.

Plan C.

I power washed the lounger and umbrella.

Already they were looking much better!

I ordered enough outdoor material and a few embellishments to make a new umbrella top.

Using the old umbrella top as a pattern, I cut out pieces to make a new umbrella.

It was a challenge, but I’m happy to say that it came out better than I expected.

With the sewing done, I painted the umbrella skeleton a bright white.

Giving the lounger 2 good coats of white paint made it look like new!

This is coat one.

Once the painting was done it was time to put it all together.

And this is what it looks like painted with a new umbrella.

I had just enough material left over to make a swanky little pillow.

When Miss A came for a visit a few weeks ago, she took one look at it and said “look, it’s just my size!”

She’s right, it is.

I have to admit that this children’s lounger makeover took a lot more time and planning than I ever thought it would.

But if the rest of our littles enjoy it as much as Miss A did, then it was so worth it!

Until next time…

After weeks and weeks of searching for the perfect material to recover my breakfast room chairs, I’m happy to say that I finally found one!

Just a quick recap in case you missed it.

A few months ago I started giving my dining room a quick makeover.

I refinished my breakfast room table.

Made new curtains and added a coffee bar.

As you can see from the picture, the material looks as if it has several shades of blues, greens and yellows.

However, when it came in it was actually several shades of teal, not blue.

Now, I had to figure out how to match up all of the blue in the room to the curtain material.

This material, Emperial Trellis, is from Ballards.

It is shown several times paired with my curtain fabric, however I worried that the green was brighter and a little too much on the mint side.

Also, it is an embroidered fabric and a little too pricey for me!

This is the Osaka Bamboo Trellis fabric from Spoonflower.

Not only is it similar to the Ballard’s fabric, it is a perfect match to my curtain fabric.

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

Step 1:

Remove the chair pad from the chair.

In all honesty, since there was no piping to deal with, I was hoping that I could simply cover the cushions with the new fabric.

However, as you can see, the old striped fabric could clearly be seen through the new fabric.

Step 2:

The old fabric had to come off.

Did I mention that I hate the tedious process of removing the staples?

When I remove staples from furniture there are always a few bloody knuckles before the project is over!

So much fun.

Once the staples and fabric were removed, I positioned the new fabric making sure that the pattern was centered.

Then using a staple gun, I attached the new fabric.

Seriously, if I could ignore the staple removal process, this is one of the easiest reupholstery projects to date.

( The fabric looks very lime here, but is really a grass green!)

It took me a long time to commit to this fabric, but I am so glad that I finally did.

Why did it take me so long?

Can you say white and green?

Don’t get me wrong, I love both colors.

But white on a dining chair?

It honestly made me a nervous wreck just thinking about it.

However, after much thought, I decided to go for it!

Did I mention that I bought lots and lots of Scotch Guard?

Seriously, I really do love the new fabric on my breakfast room chairs.

So much so that I wish I had done it a few months ago!

Now, if only I could make up my mind on the wall paint color…

Until next time.

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Hello my friends! Today is the first Wednesday of July. Which means that today is the DIY Challenge. This month’s theme is Summer. Which is right up my alley ’cause summer is my favorite time of year! Today I’ll be sharing how to make a garden hose guide.

However, before I share that, I want to thank our hostess, Terrie from Decorate and More With Tip. Terrie is one of the sweetest, most talented gals I know, so if you haven’t visited her go there NOW! You can thank me later.

Also, if you are coming here from Jodi’s, The House House, welcome. I’m so glad that you stopped by. I always love to meet new friends.

We’ve been hand watering the flower beds since the pool dig started.

I gotta tell you that watering the flower beds and the flower pots on our wrap around front porch became quite the event.

Clearly it was time for some garden hose guides before I killed a few plants.

I went to order a few and quickly became discouraged, as all of the cute hose guides were quite pricey!

After doing a little research on making some of my own, I remembered that we had some left over finials from the new fence.

Add the finials to a copper pipe and Ta- daaaa !- new garden hose guides were born.

After picking up a copper pipe from the big box store, The Hubs was kind enough to cut me 18″ pieces of the copper pipe using a jigsaw.

Once he had them cut out, he used a rasp to sand down the rough ends of the pipe.

Now, it was my turn.

The left over finials were black.

Honestly, I almost left them that color and called it good.

However, I loved the look of the copper so much that I wanted the finials to be the same color.

I lightly sanded the finials, then gave them a few coats of Martha Stewarts Copper metallic paint.

After the paint dried, it was time to glue the finials to the pipe.

I used E6000 glue along with the double sided foam tape.

Because my finial was a little larger than my pipe, I wrapped some double sided foam tape around it.

Then liberally coated the tape with E6000 glue and inserted the pipe into the finial.

After letting the glue completely dry, I lightly sanded the finial to give it a worn and slightly distressed look.

The last step was to put a protective coating on the finals.

And my garden hose guide was done!

I have to say that I love the warm color of copper in the garden.

However, if you aren’t a copper fan you could use plain pipe and top it with just about anything.

Door knobs, drawer pulls and curtain rod finiasl are just a few that come to mind.

Now if you will please join me in visiting Pamela at DIY VIBES.

I can’t wait to see what she – and all of the other talented bloggers – is doing this summer!

DECORATEANDMOREWITHTIP | PALLETANDPANTRY | CELBRATEANDDECORATE | CLOCHESANDLAVENDER

B4ANDAFTERS | AVINTAGEFLAREFARMHOUSE | BLESSINGSBYME | PAULASHANDMADESPACE

THEHOUSEHOUSE | PATINAANDPAINT | DIYVIBES | BLUESKYATHOME

It’s the first Wednesday, which means that it is time for the September DIY Challenge. It’s my first time to participate and I’m so excited! I’m sharing how to make some DIY fall art!

Terrie at Decorate and More With Tip is our hostess.

She put out the challenge to take scrap wood and make it into fall decor.

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of the sweetest small farmhouse artwork which had galvanized tin ribbon used in place of a wooden frame.

I’ve been wanting to make some for awhile now, so when Terrie sent out the challenge I knew exactly what I would be making!

The first thing that I did was grab a piece of 1 x 6 scrap wood from The Hub’s wood pile.

The Hubs was kind enough to cut out several 6″ X 6″ wood pieces for me.

Once the wood was lightly sanded, I gave each piece a base coat of paint.

For this project I used acrylic craft paint.

When the base coat was dry I painted the back ground, before drawing the pumpkin design that I wanted to paint.

In the interest of time, you can see how to paint a pumpkin here.

These are super easy to paint, I promise!

It was so much fun painting these that I made several, all with different designs.

Once my pumpkin was painted, it was time to add my galvanized ribbon trim.

I found 30 feet of galvanized fluted tin ribbon here.

NOTE: this tin has sharp edges. Safety first people! I recommend using gloves when handling the tin. I didn’t and I have the cuts and scratches to prove it. Don’t be like me.

To determine how much of the tin that I would need to use, I simply multiplied 6 x 4 and added and inch for overlap at the top.

I used a pair of tin snips to cut the tin.

Remember that I said that the edges of the tin was sharp?

Once the ends are cut, they are super sharp!

So sharp, that you don’t even realize that it is cutting you sharp.

I took a piece of sandpaper and sanded the cut edges until they were dull and smooth.

At first, adding the tin to the wood was a little challenging, but once you get it started it comes together quickly.

Starting at the top, in the middle of my artwork, I used small brad nails to attach the tin to the wood.

I spaced the brads evenly, approximately an inch and a half apart

When I hit the corners, I pulled tightly, then bent the tin all the while trying to keep the tin as close to the wood as possible.

I did this all the way around the piece until I was back to the top of my artwork.

To finish them off, I added a picture hanger to the back.

These are my finished pieces and I couldn’t be happier with them.

My plan was to hang them on the wall in my kitchen.

However, I’m loving how they look standing in my hutch!

I think that my DIY fall art will be staying here awhile!

Now please join me in visiting my fellow September DIY Challengers:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Summer is almost here. Spring has gone by with the blink of an eye and it’s almost time for school to be out, outdoor cookouts, swimming and cranking up the air conditioner.

Today is Ten on the 10th. Y’all know it’s one of my favorite posts each month. Today’s theme is a little varied. Mother’s Day, End of School, and Spring/Summer. Before I go much further, I want to thank Katie from Let’s Add Sprinkles for hosting this month!

My theme this month is End of School/ Summer.

When my boys were small I loved giving them a little basket full of goodies to kick the summer off. Unfortunately, my boys have all grown up, so I decided to make my niece, Beep, a goody basket!

I made a fun hooded towel for Beep, which was where I started with my basket’s theme.

My boys used to love the hooded towels when they were small.

The towels covered their head and were generous enough to wrap up their bodies.

These are SUPER easy to make. All you need is a bath towel and a hand towel. I’ll be sharing how to make these soon!

Next, I hit the Dollar Tree to find a basket and a few goodies.

I found this pretty pink basket, which was the perfect size for what I had in mind.

Once I got it home I added Beeps name to the bucket with some vinyl I cut out on my Silhouette.

I also picked up a fun water bottle. A Girls gotta stay hydrated!

I also found a plain pair of sunnies, which I later added some fun butterflies to bling them up a bit.

Some bubbles, a colorful whirly gig and a few sponges rounded out the goodies in my basket.

The sponges were cut up in strips and tied together to make water sponges.

When wet, the sponges are super soft and fun for the littles to throw around!

Total cost of all things fun in my basket came out to $9.94!

If I count tax, I may have gone over slightly but I think the extra .80 was worth it!

The next stop is at Apple Street Cottage. Then when you are finished there, please join me in visiting the rest of my fellow Ten on the 10th bloggers!

Decorate and More With Tip

Pandoras Box

Homeroad 

Decor To Adore

Let’s Add Sprinkles 

Bluesky at Home 

The Apple Street Cottage 

Chasing Quaintness

County Road 407

French Ethereal

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