DIY Laundry & Dishwasher Detergent

Me and my sister in law Cami decided to try out some DIY soap recipes. We decided to make one batch of each and split them just in case we didn't like them sand then were stuck with a bunch of it. I got the idea from Pinterest which is way too addicting for my own good. Apprently they work great, last forever, and are cheap to make. So far I have used both once and so far so good!!

Got the recipe for the laundry detergent here

Instructions on the side made with vinyl

Got the recipe for the dishwasher soap here

Directions for the dishwasher soap. Don't forget the Lemi-Shine rinse aid!!

Recovering a Lamp Shade

I decided I would make my own lampshade because I couldn't find one that I liked and the one I currently had on my console table actually belonged in our office/baby boy's room. I used the directions from here to recover my lampshade.

Finished product

Got this lampshade from good ol' Wal-mart

ripped all of the fabric off

Used the lampshade to trace a pattern onto butcher paper. Pinned it to wrong side of fabric then cut leaving a 1/4 inch border along the top and bottom edge and about a 1 inch edge on one side to fold under at the end to have a finished edge. I attached the fabric to the shade using some spray adhesive and clear tacky craft glue.

Used some bias tape to finish the top and bottom edges. I attached it with a hot glue gun.

Love that green/blue combo. The only problem I had was that since my fabric was so geometric and the shade wasn't completely up and down I had to cut the fabric on a curve so the pattern isn't completely straight all the way around. It doesn't bug me too much though.

Quatrefoil Tray

Unfinished wood tray I got from Amazon.com

Martha Stewart Living paint color: Bird's egg

The tray after a couple coats of paint

We used a Silhouette die cutter to cut this quatrefoil pattern out of vinyl

Got some of this awesome stuff to add a nice and shiny finish

And Voila!

On my lovely console table Garrett made me ;-) I think I may put my laptop in it for now ... and yes that is a giant container full of Starbursts!

DIY Console Table

Garrett made me this AmAzInG console table for me for my birthday! We got the instructions plans from this website, all the plans from there are free. Little does Garrett know that now since this turned out so good I have a long list of new projects for him ;-) I can't wait to put stuff on this thing and in it!

Front view (I know I have dirty carpets, don't judge!)

Top view

Side view

This is what he started with just a bunch of wood

My brother Taylor helping

Assembled but unstained with a photo bomber

Wax on wax off

Shower Curtain Makeover

I don't know if you are like me but I get sick of my interior design stuff and need to change it up every once in a while. So I was sick of looking at my bathroom and decided it needed a little change-up. I went to Target the other day and got this super cute table cloth and than I thought "I wonder if I could turn this into a shower curtain?" and voila I did it! It was super easy because I am ultra lazy and I decided that I didn't want to sew or cut anything. So I just bought some clip-on rings and clipped them to the top of the shower curtain. Since the tablecloth/shower curtain was too long to go on our regular curtain rod I just put up one of those tension rods so I could put it up way high. I kinda like how high it is though so it works! Yes, I was that lazy that I didn't even want to do a simple hem to fix it. I know all those years of hard work in sewing classes at BYU and a degree in Family & Consumer Science really paid off for me huh ;-p!? I already had some bath mats and towels that matched so it worked perfect!

Before: It's not that I don't like it it's just kind of boring to have a white shower curtain with off-white walls. I would love this shower curtain if I could paint my walls a fun color. So I will just hang on to it until one day when I will finally have my own walls I can paint whatever color I want.

The clip-on rings I got from Wal-mart. Mine are actually pewter or nickel (some silvery color).

Ta-da!

Close up of the tablecloth/shower curtain. It was $20 from Target. It's the Dwell studio Mandala tablecloth. Dwell studio had a couple of other really cute tablecloths too. Check them out here!

Pantry Makeover

My brother Tay and his wife Cami helped me make these super cute labels from vinyl. I love them! Thanks you guys!

Organization Station

My latest craft: Organization station! A place to keep papers that we don't want to file away yet

Close up. I got the idea from here!

Folders that I made with scrapbook paper and put our names on them

Close up of name labels I made for the folders

Chevron Rug

I decided that my entryway needed some sprucing up so I found this tutorial for a super cute rug online. Here are the spots where I got my instructions from here, here & here! They also have a lot of other cool home projects you should check out! I found myself being lost on their blogs for hours so be careful!

Before: Ugly

THIS Ikea Rug

Before painting

Tape off the edges

Paint with white semi gloss latex paint

Put cans around the edges while it dries so it doesn't curl up. We let it dry overnight.

Smart husband measuring out a stencil for me

The stencil we created

Using the stencil to paint the rug this blue/gray/green color from Martha Stewart Paint called arrowroot. A dabbing motion with the sponge brush worked best. Be careful not to get underneath the stencil. We weighted it down with cans but then would hold it down with our hands on the areas where we were painting.

All painted! Now off to dry overnight.

We then sanded it to roughen it up a little bit.

Voila! So much prettier :-)

Christmasy Crafts

Here are some Christmasy crafts I have done this holiday season. This might be my last blog post for about 2 weeks because we are spending Garrett's break down in Utah Wahoooooo!!

My mom and I made these cute little felt trees and penguin when I was home in Ohio. I didn't make the gnome but I want to try and duplicate him sometime.

I made a Christmasy pipe cleaner flower ring.

I made some Christmas reindeer root beer.

These aren't crafts but they are some cute decorations I got. Brings me back to the good ol' days.

I'm so mad because I never got around to making these. I had everything I needed but I just ran out of time. Maybe next year.