Home Decor

BRINGING FALL INTO OUR HOME

Bringing fall into our home was high up on my ‘to do’ list during this season! That can only mean one thing for me.. More DIY projects! This is the first time that Xavier and I will be celebrating the holidays in our own place and i want to make sure we
celebrate the holidays full heartily! So that only meant that once we got our door ready for the fall with our DIY door wreath, it was time to bring fall indoors! Long behold, another DIY! So I’ve had some shelves stored from Ikea since we first moved into the apartment and we didn’t know where else to put them for a while.. The other night sitting on our couch I realized how empty the wall behind our tv is and thought ‘perfect!’ Perfect place to put a shelf above our tv! The purpose is to sort of to mimic a ‘mantle’ minus the fireplace? Does that even make sense??!! in my head it did lol (We do live in Florida after all,lol) And even though it really doesn’t look like a mantle, it still looks good in my eyes! So below I will show you my idea!
We put the shelf up and the DIY projects started in order to decorate with some fall goodies for the shelve (Here is a prior post where I showed my readers how we make sure things get hung straight in our home.) I used a lot of left over materials I had from previous DIY projects and from the DIY wreath. I had a $4 ikea picture frame I had not used, only it was black and I wanted white..so my painting skills came out and the painting began! The two vases you will see, I had bought at Michael’s arts and craft store a couple of weeks back when they had a discount and I used a coupon! They were perfect for my left over bundle of fall leaves! The two little pumpkins you’ll also see, I bought that same day and were also super inexpensive! The rest of my materials I already had! Oh and I must mention..do you all know how super handy and versatile washi tape is?!? You will see how so, below in my pictures! Love me some washi tape!

My materials included: remember most i already had..
1. IKEA shelf
2. Burlap
3. Fall leaf bundle
4. Acrylic paint
5. IKEA picture frame
6. Twine string
7. Gold washi tape!
And of-course scissors.. The vases and pumpkins

It was so exciting bringing a piece of fall into our home, since this is a first for us! I made sure that this task on my ‘to do’ list for the seasons ahead started off well, and I think the shelf looks great! It was great incorporating things I had already that were stored away. With the holidays coming up I want to make sure i get my home up to par! Down here in Florida the weather drops in fall, um.. one degree??lol So, in order to get us in the spirit for a new season our efforts have to be up to speed! I guess that’s a good way of putting it.. Either way, this season i want to make sure fall is felt inside our home if that’s all i can get! The shelf is a start and i can’t wait to add more home decor to suit the season! Fall usually gets me excited for the holidays ahead!! I am already thinking Christmas!! is that even ok?? it is right around the corner after all! None the less, I will give fall the time it deserves until the christmas trees come out! For now, I will make sure my home feels the warmth and coziness of fall, the air a scent of cinnamon and apple pie and that the pumpkins shine brighter in orange than ever! What do you all think of this simple little shelf? I would love your feedback! Any favorite DIY projects this fall??

-Jen ❤

Step one: Getting that black picture frame painted white! I took the glass out first and I used the white acrylic paint i had lying around and painted the picture frame with several coats. I had to take some brakes and wait for the coats to dry a little before adding another coat. After several coats the picture frame was white enough. I then decided to use some pearly white acrylic paint i also had to give the picture frame a tad of shine and a little texture! ( btw, kind of hard to tell in pictures)

Step two: Creating a master piece!! lol, just kidding..well sort of. I gathered some of my material i already had and created a little DIY art work. I took a leaf from the bundle I had used for the wreath, a blank piece of paper, burlap and some washi tape! Below is what i came up! Simple but makes its point!

Step three: Making a burlap banner..again! can you say, a little obsessed with these?? I used some burlap, washi tape (again!,) twine and white paint for the letters! I chose the word autumn.

Step Four: Giving my vases some spunk with the twine and gathering everything I had to go up on the shelf!

FINAL STEP: Put goodies up on the shelf and ENJOY!

Hope you all enjoy! Lately arts and crafts have become a place for me to escape from the stress of work and something I really happen to enjoy doing! My ideas aren’t extravagant but rather simple. Either way I enjoy them and hope you all do too!

-Happy Autumn-

-Happy crafting-

WELCOMING THE SEASON WITH A DIY WREATH

My favorite time of the year is showing up at our door step sooner than I expected.. And… I’m so excited!! Welcoming fall is one of my favorite times of the year, besides Christmas of course. That’s probably because fall reminds me that Christmas is around the corner. Oh, and who doesn’t like a great pumpkin spice latte? Or anything with pumpkin in it for that matter?? In this household, we sure do! Starbucks takes a good chunk of our pay on a regular day. Imagine what it’s going to take around the holidays with all those yummy seasonal flavors?!? We might need a budget soon enough lol. I think I speak for many when I stated that the best part of the year is showing up at our doors very quickly. So I thought, what better way than to welcome fall at our door step with some decorations and a great DIY.. Well fall is literally being welcomed at our “door” step with an exciting entrance! An easy DIY wreath! The best part of it was how easy it was to make and being able to decorate it however you envision it! Oh and did I mention you won’t have to pay a crazy $50 dollars on these online websites?! Score! I’m extremely excited to share a piece of my happiness of this DIY wreath with you all. Below I tried to capture a step by step of my masterpiece for you all! Enjoy and let your creativity run wild!

My basic materials included the following, which I purchased at my local Michael’s Arts & Craft’s store:
1) Burlap ribbon (There’s a big variety in colors, so choose your favorite!)
2) Wire wreath
3) Floral wire & Tacky Glue
5) Fall decor (mine included some fall leaves and small pumpkins, orange ribbon for the bow, different color burlap for the banner triangles and twine string)

First, I grabbed my wire wreath and burlap and began the process of threading in the burlap to make it look full. I found this great tutorial online Burlapwreath.com which demonstrated the threading of the burlap into the wire wreath in such an easy and step by step manner that it was my way to go and tutorial of choice. It was simple and to the point! Just what I needed after some confusion on how the heck I was going to get the burlap to look pretty on the wire wreath!lol I tried taking some good pictures of the steps too, I hope they help. Long behold, STEP ONE:

Here was the start once I got the hang of it. Below you will see some of the wire wreath show, don’t worry you’ll be able to ‘fluff’ it up after you are done.

Below, was after I ran out of the first roll of Burlap and had to tie in the following. These pictures will give you an idea of how to start applying the burlap onto the wire wreath. I helped secure each beginning burlap roll with some of the floral wire.

THE FINAL Stage of the Burlap wreath and how I finished it off is below. After the last 3 loops were in place, I flipped the wire wreath to the back side, twisted the end of the burlap and made a secure knot tied into the actual wreath to secure it in place.

Step two: consisted of decorating and making a small bow I came up with. This is your chance to be creative and decorate as you please! We are not big on the whole “Halloween” concept, so we went for..FALL! =)

I literally used the floral wire for everything and having everything stick! Worked like a charm!

Here is my attempt on the bow and my cute little burlap banner and some paint to write on each individual triangle!

There you have it… MY very own DIY wreath! The best part about it is that it’s my own.. and I spent the time making our home ready to welcome this new season at our very own ‘Door’ step! What are your favorite DIY’s bringing in the new seasons?

❤ Jen

Hello October!

FEELING CRAFTY

I can’t help it guys…Lately, the Decor ideas keep coming! A couple of weeks ago, we made a trip to Michaels, an art’s and craft store. Couldn’t help myself once again, I had to buy some little things here and there. And well, no better reason than seeing some Letter decor on Etsy a couple weeks prior to that. I thought it was a great way to incorporate some cute decor in the home. Well frankly, I did not want to spend the kind of money some of the sellers on the site ask for. So on that trip to Michaels, I ran into these lovely letters and WA-LA! they were bought! I bought my honey and I’s Initials, It is OUR home after all. Why not right?! I can decorate my own letter’s for MY home, for half the price, and the way I want them! I thought it would be worth a shot! So I let my inner “craftiness” come out and gave it a try. They did not come out Perfect, or look like straight out of a magazine, but I like them, and enjoyed working on them. I even had one of my favorite little people join in, on the fun! Heres my version of the DIY Decor Letter’s that seem to be “in” right now.

Here are some of the things I used and what I used to make them my own:

Materials:

Wooden Letters (Bought 2 kind, wooden and a white wood, but only used the wooden ones for now)
Acrylic Paint (white & grey, I have a white & grey theme in my home)
Painting Brushes
Painting Stencil
IMAGINATION! =)

Heres my little DIY in pictures. Now, time to find a place for them!

Acrylic Paint, bought at Michaels

Wooden Letters

Brushes

The painting began, and a little lady decided to Join in. We had to do a several coats, to really give it a good cover. The stenciling didn’t come out perfect, but good enough for me!

We will see where these lovely letters end up in our home! hope you all like.=)

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