Inspiration Tuesday: Fun and Easy Projects

Here a few ideas I have come across lately that I felt were so great I just had to share them! Take the time to check them out, they're all great!





This has got to be one of the most innovative storage solutions I have seen in a while. Becky over at Infarrantly Creative came up with a way to display board games by framing the play boards and clipping the pieces to the back. Check out her post for the step by step tutorial.



Sarah at Five Camels came up with this super chic yet ridiculously simple solution for displaying your necklaces. This has definitely been added to my to do list for the future, when life is a little calmer. Ha. Like that is gonna happen. :-)



Layla breathed new life into this table, with a lot of elbow grease and just a few supplies. Now it has the perfect timeworn finish for the farmhouse look she is achieving in her cottage.



The fabulous girls at Shanty 2 Chic came up with a genius idea for napkin rings, using curtain clips! This is such a great idea for parties, as the clips can hold any kind of party appropriate decorations.

And, finally, just for fun, Beth put together a post a while ago about the decorating trends of the blogosphere. If you are up for a good laugh, go check it out. :)

DIY Monogram Coasters from Tiles

It's Week 4 of the Dare to DIY party over at Newlywoodwards. This week our challenge was to create a homemade gift.

We usually try to give handmade gifts whenever we have ideas for making something ourselves. All of Lover's siblings are grown and married, and my brothers are quickly reaching the point where they're able to simply buy whatever they want for themselves. It makes Christmas shopping a little difficult, so we try to give handmade things that will at least have some sentimental value. Of course, we make sure that they're something useful, so we're not cluttering up their home with junk like I mentioned in this post.

Last Christmas I bookmarked this idea of DIY coasters from tiles. The original idea I found actually decoupaged photos to tiles for displaying them in your home. I've also seen many variations of using the tiles as coasters, and I decided to do my own take.

I liked the idea of painting a simple monogram onto the tile and then adding some felt feet to make them coasters.

I found boxes of 4"x4" travertine tiles at Lowe's. They're a really light neutral tan color, which I thought would be pretty in everybody's home. The boxes were about $5 for 9 tiles, so the projects was shaping up to be very inexpensive.

I wiped each tile off with a damp cloth to remove the tile dust. Then I printed out the first letter of the siblings names onto computer paper, and cut out each letter. I traced around the letter onto the tile, using the paper as a sort of reverse stencil.

If you have really steady hands you could handpaint the letter in. I don't, and I wanted to keep things simple, so I used a paint pen in a deep brown to color in the letters. I've always enjoyed coloring, so this part was really fun. :-)

When the paint was completely dry, I took all the tiles down to the basement. I flipped them all onto their backs and sprayed them with a light coat of acrylic sealer (also from Lowes) I let that dry for about half an hour, then flipped them back over and sprayed the fronts. The sealer makes the tile waterproof, protects the painted monogram, and keeps the tile from getting its dust all over everything.

I let them air out down in the basement for about two days, until they didn't stink like sealer anymore. :0) The last step was to take miniature felt circles and stick one to each corner. This protects each tile from the other, and also your fab table!

Pretty packaging is just as important as the gift itself. I tied each set of four coasters together with a pretty ribbon, and placed each set into tins that I found that were the perfect size. The total cost of the project was about$15 for four sets of coasters and about two hours total. Not bad!

Be sure to check out all the other fabulous projects this week at Kim's!

Linked to DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land

DIY Monogram Coasters from Tiles

It's Week 4 of the Dare to DIY party over at Newlywoodwards. This week our challenge was to create a homemade gift.

We usually try to give handmade gifts whenever we have ideas for making something ourselves. All of Lover's siblings are grown and married, and my brothers are quickly reaching the point where they're able to simply buy whatever they want for themselves. It makes Christmas shopping a little difficult, so we try to give handmade things that will at least have some sentimental value. Of course, we make sure that they're something useful, so we're not cluttering up their home with junk like I mentioned in this post.

Last Christmas I bookmarked this idea of DIY coasters from tiles. The original idea I found actually decoupaged photos to tiles for displaying them in your home. I've also seen many variations of using the tiles as coasters, and I decided to do my own take.

I liked the idea of painting a simple monogram onto the tile and then adding some felt feet to make them coasters.

I found boxes of 4"x4" travertine tiles at Lowe's. They're a really light neutral tan color, which I thought would be pretty in everybody's home. The boxes were about $5 for 9 tiles, so the projects was shaping up to be very inexpensive.

I wiped each tile off with a damp cloth to remove the tile dust. Then I printed out the first letter of the siblings names onto computer paper, and cut out each letter. I traced around the letter onto the tile, using the paper as a sort of reverse stencil.

If you have really steady hands you could handpaint the letter in. I don't, and I wanted to keep things simple, so I used a paint pen in a deep brown to color in the letters. I've always enjoyed coloring, so this part was really fun. :-)

When the paint was completely dry, I took all the tiles down to the basement. I flipped them all onto their backs and sprayed them with a light coat of acrylic sealer (also from Lowes) I let that dry for about half an hour, then flipped them back over and sprayed the fronts. The sealer makes the tile waterproof, protects the painted monogram, and keeps the tile from getting its dust all over everything.

I let them air out down in the basement for about two days, until they didn't stink like sealer anymore. :0) The last step was to take miniature felt circles and stick one to each corner. This protects each tile from the other, and also your fab table!

Pretty packaging is just as important as the gift itself. I tied each set of four coasters together with a pretty ribbon, and placed each set into tins that I found that were the perfect size. The total cost of the project was about$15 for four sets of coasters and about two hours total. Not bad!

Be sure to check out all the other fabulous projects this week at Kim's!

Linked to DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land

Dare to DIY: A Thanksgiving Project

I'm participating in Kim at Newlywoodward's Dare to DIY Blog Party. This week our challenge was to Dare to be Thankful! Here's my contribution to the party.

I've had a Thanksgiving tradition for the last few years where I find some time to sit down and make a list of the things in my life that I am thankful for. It's always such a refreshing time as I realize just how blessed I am, and how very much I have to be thankful for.

This year I wanted to make a little frame that we could use each Thanksgiving to list the things that we are thankful for. Jen from A Thousand Words made a menu plan a while back that she did by repurposing a picture frame, and I adapted that idea for this project.

I went to my favorite store, Goodwill, and found a great tabletop frame that would work for the project. Sadly, it was not 50% off, and it definitely needed a makeover! I actually liked the border, but the whole frame was a little too 80's. :-)

I first painted the frame with a warm brown color that I made by mixing two of my brown craft paints together.

It took two coats to cover the shiny black and gold, but once they were dry, the frame had a whole new look. I took a wet paper towel and rubbed little parts of the brown off to show the gold on the edges again, just to give the color some dimension.

I had fun painting little fall colored leaves over the frame, and I even attempted painting some letters onto the bottom to spell out Thanksgiving.

To finish it up, I just popped some pretty paper inside the frame, and cleaned the glass. Then, with a wet erase marker I could just write the things I am thankful for over the next week or so leading up to Thanksgiving. Then, when the holiday is over, I can wipe it clean and save it for next year!

I thought the frame looked a little lonely on its own, so I set it with a vase of fall colored mums and an origami turkey that I made following this set of instructions.

Hope you enjoyed my little Thanksgiving project. Be sure to check back next week to see what Kim is challenging us to DIY!

Also linked to Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

It's So Very Creative @ It's So Very Cheri

Made It Mondays @ Persimmon Perch

DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land

Dare to DIY: A Thanksgiving Project

I'm participating in Kim at Newlywoodward's Dare to DIY Blog Party. This week our challenge was to Dare to be Thankful! Here's my contribution to the party.

I've had a Thanksgiving tradition for the last few years where I find some time to sit down and make a list of the things in my life that I am thankful for. It's always such a refreshing time as I realize just how blessed I am, and how very much I have to be thankful for.

This year I wanted to make a little frame that we could use each Thanksgiving to list the things that we are thankful for. Jen from A Thousand Words made a menu plan a while back that she did by repurposing a picture frame, and I adapted that idea for this project.

I went to my favorite store, Goodwill, and found a great tabletop frame that would work for the project. Sadly, it was not 50% off, and it definitely needed a makeover! I actually liked the border, but the whole frame was a little too 80's. :-)

I first painted the frame with a warm brown color that I made by mixing two of my brown craft paints together.

It took two coats to cover the shiny black and gold, but once they were dry, the frame had a whole new look. I took a wet paper towel and rubbed little parts of the brown off to show the gold on the edges again, just to give the color some dimension.

I had fun painting little fall colored leaves over the frame, and I even attempted painting some letters onto the bottom to spell out Thanksgiving.

To finish it up, I just popped some pretty paper inside the frame, and cleaned the glass. Then, with a wet erase marker I could just write the things I am thankful for over the next week or so leading up to Thanksgiving. Then, when the holiday is over, I can wipe it clean and save it for next year!

I thought the frame looked a little lonely on its own, so I set it with a vase of fall colored mums and an origami turkey that I made following this set of instructions.

Hope you enjoyed my little Thanksgiving project. Be sure to check back next week to see what Kim is challenging us to DIY!

Also linked to Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

It's So Very Creative @ It's So Very Cheri

Made It Mondays @ Persimmon Perch

DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land

Dare To DIY

Kim over at Newlywoodwards has invited me to be a part of her Dare To DIY party extravaganza. Over the next six weeks she's daring us to do a bunch of different projects, and share them all through a very fun party! I am so excited. Head on over to her blog to get all the details, and then start your planning! The first week's theme is Dare to BE THANKFUL, so I am trying to come up with a fun project. What do you think I should do?

Dare To DIY

Kim over at Newlywoodwards has invited me to be a part of her Dare To DIY party extravaganza. Over the next six weeks she's daring us to do a bunch of different projects, and share them all through a very fun party! I am so excited. Head on over to her blog to get all the details, and then start your planning! The first week's theme is Dare to BE THANKFUL, so I am trying to come up with a fun project. What do you think I should do?

Decorating for Fall

Typically I go all out decorating for fall. I have an entire Rubbermaid bin devoted to my fall decorations. But this year I went for simple touches of fall in bits and pieces throughout the main rooms. We'e worked really hard on our house this summer, and accomplished a lot of projects, and I've been enjoying how the rooms have really come together. I didn't feel like covering all of our hard work up with a bunch of garlands and decorations.

In the living room, I moved some of the mantel decorations around, just a little bit. I absolutely love this painting on the middle of the mantel. I moved my clear vase of sticks and pinecones next to it, and added a little gold vase filled with fall leaves and an Indian corn. Aren't you loving my luscious jade plant that I picked up recently? I love it!

I really enjoy decorating just the corners of the mantel, leaving the rest clean and bare. I think it draws more attention to the beautiful woodwork. On the left is my pretty leaf pillar holder, with the Moroccan lantern and my amber thrift stores goblets. Under the goblets is a collection of Jane Austen's novels.

On the right is a picture of a castle in Avila, Spain with another beautiful gold vase. The books underneath the pumpkin are The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriott, and The Alhambra by Washington Irving. Both are great books. I found the pumpkin last fall at the Christmas Tree Shop.

On the piano I swapped out the summery stuff I had there and replaced it with one of my favorite picture frames of the two of us. The frame was a wedding gift, and I love the collection of pictures in it. An urn with some fall berries completed this uber simple setup.

By the window I hung my gorgeous fall wreath. I love all of the colors and elements of this wreath. It just exudes fall, in my opinion. This is the perfect spot for the wreath, as I am still searching for the perfect something to go on the wall here between the doorway and the window.

Moving on to the dining room, I did something I don't usually do, I set the table for a lovely autumn dinner. I think dining rooms look so much nicer when they are all set for dinner, don't you think?

The champagne glasses I found at the dollar store, can you believe that? The glass is such a pretty shade of green.

I made the centerpiece, although it didn't come out like I originally planned. I found the tray at Goodwill, leftover from Target's clearance. Of course it wasn't that pretty, being a neon green. Some spray paint fixed that problem. I wanted to make tea light holders out of mini pumpkins, but I couldn't find them anywhere this fall. Not sure what was up with that. So, instead I used a bunch of little candles that I already had. The filler is a bag of split peas! :-)

Don't you just love my plates? They are Spanish china, that my parents bought for me when I lived in Spain. I love that they remind me of Spain, and also of the Currier & Ives plates that we had growing up. These are just the salad plates, but I have most of the set. :-) The colors in the plates inspired the color scheme for the living room and dining room.

Then there are just a few other touches in the dining room. A little pumpkin and some baubles on the antique dresser,

some garlands all piled up in the wooden bowl on the bookcase,

and some deep red hydrangeas and pinecones on my refinished dresser. Isn't my red rose from Lover beautiful!

Hope you enjoyed my little fall tour. I'm linking this up to Tablescape Thursday, my very first tablescape! :-)