Burlap Rose Wreath

I made this today in about an hour. I had gotten the supplies last week at Hobby Lobby. Totally inspired by this project at Redberry Barn.

I printed her post and put it in a binder with other inspirations I hope to make some lazy day. I am totally into burlap and I've had this wreath holder in my closet for over a year. I made a fall wreath with the idea to hang it on this and the weight of that wreath was too heavy. This wreath is perfect.

This is part of an ongoing project - redoing our screened in porch. Don't mind the mess, the builders just added on the extension (where you see the roof below) last week.

Also the reason for these dusty flowers, but I wanted to get the idea of what it might look like when it's all done someday...

Until then, I'll continue to dream!

Wooden Scissors Transformation

Well, I don't have a before picture of this, but it was a gift from one of my friends. She found these and bought one for each of us, knowing that we would transform them because they were just a stained brown wood.



I painted them black a long time ago and knew I wanted to write some text on them but didn't know what. I'm glad I decided while I had the paint still out from the last project! Done and hung! Check, Check!

Transformed Index Card Box

BEFORE: I love this old wooden index card box from the Army days. I just never liked it as it is. And then along came some inspiration!

I must've used it for addresses way back when. It still had our army address inside the lid. Including his social security number.

AFTER: I love the fleur-de-lis and Harlequin pattern on just about anything. I painted it black, stenciled the fleur-de-lis and drew the Harlequin lines, and then antiqued it with Minwax stain.

I may distress it more with some sandpaper on the edges.

Ta-Da! I love it now and I use it on my desk.

The calendar on the left was my inspiration piece; it also sits on my desk.

Made my own magnets

Necessity is the mother of invention...

So, I am moving my office again. I have moved it several times over the last few years into makeshift offices around the house. From an upstairs room to the dining room for a while to the living room to the kitchen and I am finally getting myself staged again back at square one in the upstairs room a.k.a. "the purple room" because of the color of the walls.

I like need my office to be organized so I can find things easily when I need them, so that things I use frequently are within arms reach, and it must have an overall appealing feel/mood where I can stand to be there for more than 10 minutes at a time because there is not a lot of clutter! Order is part of what keeps me happy :-).

I moved a marker/magnet board onto a wall that a friend was discarding (we each bought one at the same time from Ikea). I could not, for the life of me, find magnets that I liked. Must be apealling remember? I have to look at them everyday afterall!

So, I start getting the idea that I will have to make my own! Now to find the perfect thing! Not too fussy, yet whimsical and cute, and easy on the eyes. Maybe something inspiring.

I knew I could start with those regular old round magnets you can get at the store shaped like discs and affix something to them. I've been using those in my basement workroom for a couple of years (boring). It just so happens, while I was at JoAnn Etc., I saw these wooden buttons near the scrapbook section and everything clicked. Here is what I did:

1. Bought the buttons and the magnets.

2. Put a bead of hot glue on the magnet and be sure the rough side of the wood is affixed to the glue.

3. Keep gluing until you get them all done and remove any stringy glue hanging off of them.

4. Use an archival/scrapbooking fine marker to mark inspirational words or sayings that make you smile. (*Note: don't use an extra-fine tip sharpie! As you can see on the bottom of my "simplify" one - it bleeds!) Here are my finished magnets! They make me feel good because they are hand-made, one-of-a-kind and the words have meaning to me because I chose what they say!

Hope your inspired! Send me pics of your magnets!