Category Archives: DIY

DIY Palm Tree Decorations

Earlier this month we hosted a safari themed birthday party for Noah. While she is only a year old and could really care less if the house is decorated or not… just as long as she gets to explore, she definitely noticed these tropical beauties upon awakening from her nap. Which totally made it all worth it. #meltsmyheart

They were the perfect addition to her party and so easy to make. So easy the pictures below will do most of the explaining.

How To Make Your Own Palm Tree Decorations

I used the columns in our house as the trunk of the tree. If you don’t have columns you could use some PVC piping with a base or anything else that might work (card board boxes, pool noodle?, lamp).

Supplies:

paper shopping bags
green craft paper
tape
push pins
(All the other supplies shown below were to make small palm trees for the table decor. These same steps apply to the table decor palm trees.)

Making the Trunk

Measure the circumference of your column, giving yourself some room for the bag to overlap.

Now, you are ready to attach the bag to the column. This does not require taping to the column though. Starting at the top of the column. Hold the bag in place with the fringe portion closest to the top. Wrap bag around column. Tape bag to itself at seam. If wrapped securely it will not slide down.

Continue previous steps until entire column is wrapped.

Palm Leaves

Cut a section of craft paper slightly wider than the desired width of palm leaf. Don’t be afraid to go big! Fold paper in half. Draw outline of leaf (similar to a semi-circle) and add cut outs (curvy v’s) along edge for slits in leaf.

After the leaf is cut out, gather end of leaf together and tape to trunk. Then to extend leaf outward (this is what gives it the life like look), attach leaf to ceiling with the push pin a few inches out from the trunk.

Basically, the leaf will go out and then down. This will give width to the tree up top.

Repeat steps above for desired number of leaves. I made four leaves for each tree but it will really depend on the width of your leaves.

That’s all you need to do to have quick and easy palm trees that will add the finishing touch to your party decor.

What about you? Got any great tree making tips? Or maybe some other cool party decorations that you DIYed and turned out fabulous? I love tips on easy DIY party decorations!

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Spice World

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While we are waiting on the installation of our kitchen counters we decided to take advantage of this opportunity and make another area of our kitchen a little more functional.

Our spice storage. Up until this point all of our spices (and we have a lot) have been stored in the pantry… or better know as the tall cabinet.

One night when Michael Luke was channeling his inner OCD he suggested that we move all the spices to one of the drawers near the stove. That would put the spices in easy reach while cooking, as well as free up valuable real estate in the pantry.

So we have been talking about doing it for a couple of months now… maybe it’s just me channeling my inner procrastination but it hasn’t gotten done.

Until this week.

It’s nothing fancy or pin worthy but we now have easily accessible spices. To start with I emptied the third drawer down.

It had nothing major in it and we were able to easily relocate the few things that were ~~neatly placed~~ shoved in there.

After clearing the drawer I moved all the spices in.

Nothing fancy or super organized because I know I won’t be able to keep them that way. With this functional solution came one problem though. You couldn’t read most of the labels any more. A problem like this certainly called for a trip to Jo-Ann for Noah and me! I just love an excuse to roam the aisles looking for inspiration.

My goal for this project was to keep it super simple and inexpensive. All I need is for my spice drawer to be functional not competing for the cover of Better Homes and Garden. So I found a 1″ wide circle hole punch and headed home.

I used some scrap scrapbook paper to cut my circles and then applied Mod – Podge to the tops of the spice lids.

Once applied, I lay the circle on top and covered with another layer of Mod – Podge.

Next, I waited for them to dry and then wrote the name of the spice on top of each lid. Nothing fancy here. Martha Stewart is not gonna get jealous over this one.

There is plenty of opportunity to dress this up or down as much as you want to though. For instance, if you wanted something a little more put together I bet you could find some round Avery labels, design something cute with the spice name incorporated on it, and print them out. Or just use some round dots that you might have left over from a yard sale. They all get the job done in the end!

So there you have it… my easy peasy makeover of our spice storage.

How/where do you store your spices? Do you transfer the spices to special jars for storage or just use the store bought ones? Does it bother anyone else that all spice jars are not made the same? Maybe someday I will upgrade my spice jars and get a little unity going on!

Oh, I may not make it back for tomorrow’s Family Friday but stay tuned for some big events happening here next week. Tuesday I will be hosting my first giveaway and I will be revealing some exciting news! Next Thursday kicks off the first of the Thankful Thursdays link-up parties here next month. Join me as we prepare for Thanksgiving reflecting on what we are thankful for.

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DIY Felt Barrettes

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Last week we were invited to two separate birthday parties.

Each are good friends of ours with daughters just a couple months older than Noah. It will be fun when they get old enough to actually play together.

Anyway, with two parties on the calendar quickly approaching I needed ideas for gifts. Pronto! My first initial reaction was just to run to Toys R’ Us and pick up something but your money doesn’t really buy you a lot there. So, instead I decided to get creative and make their gifts. After a quick Google search I remembered that I had wanted to make some hair barrettes a few months ago. I clicked on a few websites to see if I could handle it but most of them required too much time (more than I had) or more supplies than I was willing to invest in. Finally, I found a video that explained how to make cute barrettes quickly. Right up my alley!

These cute little hair clips took me less than five minutes to make and they are adorable!

So how did I do it?

The only supplies you need are:

hot glue gun/glue sticks
felt stickers (from the scrapbook section)
multi pack of barrettes

Yep, that’s it. That’s all you need. Easy Peasy.

First remove the sticky part from the back of the felt stickers. I thought this was going to be tougher than it actually was. The sticky part comes right off though. Not so sure if these things would have worked well as scrapbook stickers anyway.

Next, apply a strip of hot glue to the back of the felt then press the barrette onto the glue.

Then let dry for a few seconds.

That’s all. After that you have your very own DIYed barrettes!

I thought they were so cute and inexpensive that I ended up making three sets of six. One for each of Noah’s friends and a set for Noah. They were just too cute not to make her some also!

Since these were so easy and inexpensive (around twelve bucks for eighteen) I plan to make some more for gifts.

I could also make some for all the different seasons. I imagine I could find some really cute Christmas felt stickers… or Valentine’s Day. Their so easy I can make some for all the holidays!

So what do you think? Do you have any other DIY bow/barrette making secrets or tricks to share? Do you prefer to make or buy birthday gifts? Is there a go to gift that you have for people?