Make Me Irish & a DIY

Well Hello there all you wonderful people! Hope you are all having a most splendid Friday and getting hyped up for some St. Patty's day awesomeness! Thought I would share with you some craftiness that's been going on around these quarters the past month. I'll let the pictures do the talking and part ways with you with a quick DIY. Happy St. Pattys!

St. Patty's DIY Garland

1.Begin with preferred colored pieces of cardstock paper - $2, string -$3 , and dollop hole punch - $7. You will also need a hot glue gun.
2. Punch out 20-30 pieces of each.





3. Place a dollop piece, color face down, and place a dab of hot glue on it. Place string on glued piece.
4. Take the same color of cut out dollop piece and place over glued string -  you might need to add more glue. This keeps both side looking pretty so that if the string twists, it will still look good.

Good Luck and Happy St. Patty's!

Valentine's Magic & a DIY

Hello Lovelies! And Happy Valentines Day!

Apologies for being MIA lately... I took a much needed all-things-media break from the world. It was crucial to my health, completely refreshing, and now I am back. But how has everyone been? I have about 500 blog posts I am trying to catch up on because yes, I do still read all of your posts.

So does anyone have some spicy and awesome plans for tonight? Please share!
In the meantime, I thought I would show you the little Valentine's festiveness that is happenin in my little place right now. I gave myself a $20 budget for V-day decor (including cupcake mix - This is how I get my coworkers to love me) and used items I already had.

A big thing I try and remember while getting items to decorate with is to try and find a piece I can use for multiple occasions. (I used pieces from Halloween, Christmas, and Every-day decor). Also - the tissue poms poms below cost about $1 each. Money! Take a look.





 

I have decided that tissue poms poms are the best. and easiest. and cheapest. and awesomest little decor for any occasion/small holiday. Here's a quick tutorial

You will need:
-Packs of tissue paper
-Good scissors
-String



1.Lay Tissue paper sheets (of whole stack) flat on hard surface (Short edge facing you - hot dog style)
2. Fold an edge 1" to 1" 1/2" along the short side. Make sure to CREASE the edge as much as humanly possible as this will give the pom pom the shape and edges you want. After the first fold, flip the sheets and fold back over as to make an accordion fold.
3.Continue this until the whole sheet is folded and looks like the picture above.
4. Fold the folded sheet in half making a hard crease



5. Use a string to tie around the middle folded edge. Tie it hard as this will keep the pom pom together. You can also use a pipe cleaner here. I chose to use string to be able to directly hang up.
6. Cut round or angle edges on both tissue paper ends. I chose to round them as I like the look better but it is personal preference.
7. Begin GENTLY separating and puffing each sheet from one another. Be very careful not to tear the paper.
8. Once all sheets have been separated, you can readjust the individual sheets to look fuller and sculpted. Hang up and you are done!

*To make small pom poms, cut the tissue paper in half long wise (hot dog style) prior to step one.

Autumn and Boo

September 23rd marked the first day of AUTUMN... My FAVORITE season! So needless to say I was really excited to start decorating my place. As some of you know, this is my first year in my VERY OWN place! I am fresh out of college, on a budget, and just starting to aquire my seasonal displays little by little. Though each year it will be a work in progress, you have to start somewhere right!?

My first fall craft costed me about $13. Not bad! I got the lantern from IKEA for $7.99, the Leaf branch and harvest mix from Wal-Mart. Kevin referred to this lantern as my hobbit flashlight but agreed it was pretty cool after I told him of my inspired plans to change out the presented decor for each season.
All you need to do is:
1. Cut off all leaves of the branch
2. Place leaves and harvest mix inside lantern (I found it easier to lay the lantern on its back)
3. Mix and place accordingly
(Please note that due to my camera dying I didn't have much time to place and plan the inside so I snapped a quick pic) See picss below!



Now, as Halloween is approaching- My favorite holiday- I couldnt wait until the 1st of October to start decorating... Don't worry, I'll wait until this weekend before I put any outside decorations out. I apologize for not getting more pictures it was a race to get the ones I have. I got these fake large and small spiders from Wal-Mart for $2.50 each (2 big, 8 little). By adding little things here and there I wanted to make it more haloween-esque... but... I am not a fan of a "cute" halloween with smiling pumpkins... To each is their own...So I think I am going to retract the Fall items until halloween is over. I just got an entry way table and have a large mirror above it. It is a continual work in progress as I continue to adjust and play with what feels right. I would LOVE some suggestion. But for the mirror I got fake cobwebb for 99 cents from the dollar store and used the spiders I got from walmart. I thought it turned out pretty awesome... not to mention.. I HATE spiders... They freak me out! But thats what halloween is about!

Skull from Wal-mart-$1.98The last thing I did came from Pinspiration pinned here. On my center table in my living room, I usually have this little triple candle display shown below... So in light of Halloween I bought 1 bag of Candy Corn - $1.98 from Wal-Mart- and black cherry candles (These were the most expensive totaling about $22 for the set.

First I just placed my candles, emptied the bad of candy corn, and Viola'!

DISCLAIMER: The only downpart of this... Is keeping everyone from EATING all the candy corn.. no lie.. I made dinner for Kevin the other night and he was already full before I finished cooking... I suggest you buy 2 bags and hide prior to all served meals :)


Enjoy! Leave some comment love, some advice and any ideas to help out with new decor!