Toilet Paper Tube Snowflakes {tutorial}

I am in LOVE with these snowflakes... in fact, I'm a little obsessed.  Last year I came across toilet paper tube snowflakes on Pinterest.  I thought they were awesome... so I started saving my trash... toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes, empty wrapping paper tubes (along with my glass jars, tin canes, etc... I love to collect trash).    I had my students make some snowflakes, and my aide made some really awesome ones, then I found some time to make some... and now I can't stop making them.

So, here's a little tutorial....

1.  Gather your supplies.  Toilet paper tubes, scissors, hot glue and hot glue gun.

2.  flatten the tubes and cut them into 1/4" pieces.

 3.  Here are some of the basic shapes that I used in my snowflakes...  I created these shapes by folding the tube strips.  I also cut some of the strips for a few of the projects.

 4.  I started most of my snowflakes by taking 6 (yes, all snowflakes have 6 sides, not 4, not 5, not 8... kind of a pet peeve of mine) of the basic flattened oval shape and making my center.

5.  From there I tried to get creative.  I folded the shapes in different ways and hot glued them together.

 Some of the shapes were cut open to overlap each other.

 I kept adding to get the look I was looking for.  I found a lot of my ideas by looking on Pinterest and doing google searches.   Some of my favorite snowflakes were these snowflakes from The Crafty Sisters. I even searched for pictures of actual snowflakes and tried to copy those.

Here are some of the different snowflakes I made.

I then spray painted them turquoise and added a little glitter.  They also look awesome white or silver... and glitter is the best finishing touch!

I hung mine in my living room window.

Now, start saving your trash and have fun!  But don't get too obsessed:)

The Boys' Bathroom!

I have been so excited about this bathroom.  I have been wanting to re-do the boys' bathroom for a long time.  I had all of my plans... but I needed an excuse to do it.  Moving was a great excuse.

Let's start with an overall picture of the room... the colors make me smile:)

I found these free bathroom printables over at Over the Big Moon.  I just loved the simplicity of them.  I had to make a few adjustments because they didn't quite match the colors in my shower curtain.   I changed the colors in photoshop to what would work better for me.  Also, I wanted a little something different for the "wash" one and I found a cute old fashioned tub clipart that worked great!

 My oldest son was complaining that the toilet paper was too far away in the drawer, so I had to put a basket on the back of the toilet to store some extra rolls:)

 I found the shower curtain at my favorite store... Target.  I think it was part of the dorm stuff and it was on clearance for only $10.  It was perfect!

 We took the towel bar down and put up hooks... I love hooks for towels... who wants to take the time to fold a towel?  Plus the towel rack would only hold two towels and I have 3 boys.  I also really love the white towels at Walmart with the color stripe.  They are inexpensive and they come in many colors. And I really just like white towels better...

 My favorite part... and what I based the whole room on, was the scrabble wall...(the funny thing was that it was the last thing for me to finish).  I got the idea from this blog, but I can't quite figure out where the original link comes from.  I bought very thin wood at Home Depot... I think it's about 1/4"  The wood is 2.5" squares.  Then I painted it with acrylic paint and put the letters on in black vinyl.  To attach it to the wall, I used command strips.  Now that it's done, I kind of wish I would have added WIPE!

Dining Room

Moving is sooo much work.  I don't know how long it will take me to get completely organized (ok, I probably never will).  One of the most fun things about moving is decorating.  I didn't want to post pix of my house until I got some things decorated.  Decorating takes time and money... so it will come slowly.

This is the fabric that I chose for my living room, dining room and kitchen.  I was looking for something with black and brown because my furniture is black and brown.  I also really wanted something with turquoise.  The other colors just happened.  I love the purple and green... it's different than what I'm used to, but so fun.  And I really am tired of red.  It was on clearance, so that's a huge bonus!  

Here is my dining room.  It's probably the most used and most looked at room in my home...(I stare at it  while I'm cooking.)    I've had the dining table for several years.  But I had to spray paint the chairs.  That is one of my favorite parts.  

I have always loved this look of mis-matched chairs from my favorite TV show Friends. 

So I got to work painting my own chairs.  One green, one turquoise and one purple.  Technically I need one more chair, but I haven't found one at a yard sale yet.  Plus, we only have 5 people in our family.

 I made the curtains and bought the rods at Ross.  I had the dresser in my craft room years ago.  I've been using it in my boys room, but it was way too girly!  Even though it's in front of the window, I love it!  It's the perfect place to put all of the kids coloring books, and coloring supplies.  As well as their homework.

Most of the accessories on top are garage sale treasures.  Of course, I spray painted the balls on the bird baths.

I think I pulled everything together nicely.  I do need to make a table runner for the middle of my table and some sort of bowl with balls for the center as well.  What do you think?  A table runner out of my fabric, or doilies painted in the colors of my fabric?  Also, do you think I need to hang anything on the walls?

Half Table {repurposed furniture}

My Father-in-law does property management.  My hubby gets the fun opportunity of hauling off the "junk" that people leave behind when they move.  Most of the time it really is junk, but sometimes he brings things home to see if I want them.  A few weeks ago, he brought home a drop leaf table just like this...

(I did not take a "before" picture of the actual table because it had a disgusting black banana stuck to it... seriously people leave gross stuff behind).  We had been looking for a small desk to put in our living room for our laptop.  We wanted something in a central location so we could monitor the kids.  I had seen a few "half tables" awhile back on Pinterest and thought it was kind of a cool idea.  As soon as he pulled it out of the truck, I said, cut it in half!  He thought I was crazy... he always does, but he goes with my ideas any way.  We took the drop leaves off, and we cut the table in half.

 The first half we are using as a laptop desk in our living room.  It leans against the wall nicely.  We secured it to the wall with a "L" bracket under the table.

 Here's the side view.

 Here it is with a chair that I redid... an awesome yard sale treasure.

My hubby requested that he got the 2nd half to use in the office... it makes the perfect printer stand.  And I think I'll use it as a charging station as well.

I've moved!

We recently moved!  It was only a few blocks away, but a move nonetheless... lots of work!  I want to post pix of the house, but I feel like I have to post in baby steps... I want to post the rooms after they are decorated... well, partially decorated.  

 I'm starting with the entry.  This is my front door... it's quite pretty.  On the right is a coat closet.  I have a vase there with fake flowers sitting on the floor.  I have plans for that corner... stay tuned.  The left side is a alcove type thing.

 I decided it would be the perfect place to put my seasonal decor... since I have a lot of it.

I have a white mirror hanging in the back.  Then, I strung a banner across the opening.  I have a different sign there for each month.  I put a wreath on the right... it can change seasonally.  I know the wreath looks weird in the pic, but it is a willow wreath layered with a fall berry wreath in front... and a big black spider on it.  The candle sticks on the left can hold candles or other objects.  In the center, I have wood blocks for each month.   Then I can put whatever fillers I have.  I love the balance of the objects and I love changing out a spot seasonally.

Shhhh....

I never made a quiet book for my kids... I thought it would be too hard... huh... Well, I got the bright idea of making a quiet book for my sister-in-law's Dr. Seuss baby shower.  I ended up making most of it myself and it was kind of fun... but it was a LOT of work!

 I got the idea for the cover from Serving Pink Lemonade.    I made it fairly similar.  I used eyelets to make the holes in the book and used rings to hold it together.  I have the flap close with a large button.  I thought it would be fun to have the cover a little different, so I just appliquéd the letters "shhh" on the front rather than having it say "quiet book."

 I didn't do a ton of pages... there are only 3 front and back.  But I figure my sister in law can add more if she wants.    I made the pages out of Pellon as was suggested by Serving Pink Lemonade.  I think it was a wise decision.  I glued everything to the page first with a felt glue, then I sewed everything with clear thread.  I thought that would be easier than changing colors all the time.  It worked out great.

 The first page is the art paint pallet.  I got this pattern from Serving Pink Lemonade as well.  I did make a slight change.  I thought it would be fun to have the colors come off and on with a button.  (It was very difficult for me to figure out how to sew the button hole exactly where I wanted it to go, so I finally got smart and sewed the button hole in the felt first before I cut out the paint swatch.)

 The car page also came from Serving Pink Lemonade.  She had cute signs on hers, but I didn't quite get to that part... I think it's okay without them.

 I also got the tree idea from Serving Pink Lemonade.  I changed it just a bit.  I thought a less detailed tree would be easier.  There are flowers, fall leaves and summer leaves that snap on and off.

My favorite page is the tent page... my family are big campers.  I loved the idea of having a barn with animal finger puppets from Serving Pink Lemonade, but I really liked the tent idea on Laura Thoughts. So I combined the two ideas and created my tent.

When you open the tent zipper, there are forest animal finger puppets inside.  Aren't they cute???

I created a pdf file with the template for the tent and finger puppets.  You can download it here.  (I'm not sure the best way to share files, so let me know if the link does not work)

I got the shoe template from Made by Me... Shared with you.  Her's was a lot more detailed and way cuter, but I think mine looks okay:)

It turned out great and I'm excited for my little nephew to be able to use it... he finally came into this world on Oct. 2nd... but I'm sure it will be awhile until he's old enough to enjoy his quiet book!

Ombré Dresser

I have been seeing Ombré dressers on Pinterest lately, and I'm in love:)  My boys had been needing a new dresser in a really bad way.  They have been using a somewhat girly (okay, maybe way too girly) dresser that I used to have in my craft room.   Well, I ran across this dresser at my grandma's house and thought it would be perfect.  (I am horrible at taking before and after pix).  This dresser was solid wood, but the top drawer was damaged... no problem.  We needed a place for the DVD player anyway.  I had to prime the entire dresser with an oil based Kilz primer to cover the "old wood" smell.  I got this paint chip from Home Depot with black at the bottom and various shades of grey going up. 

 I had them make me a sample of each color.  Then I used whatever white paint I had laying around for the outside of the dresser.  I painted the handles with a metal spray paint and put a coat of polyurethane on the dresser. 

 It was a bigger project than I thought it would be, but I LOVE IT!

Pictures just don't do it justice:)

Dr. Seuss Baby Shower

Time has flown by and I haven't had time (at all) to blog.  Working full time, moving, and life have taken up any of my spare time!  So, I brought my laptop to work...

Over labor day weekend, we had a baby shower for my sister-in-law and her baby boy.  It started out being a book shower, but as we continued to plan, there was just so many cute things that were Dr. Seuss that we decided to keep it just Dr. Seuss... and books:)

 The idea all began when I saw this post on Pinterest.  I loved the idea of having everyone bring her a book instead of a card.  As I continued to search for ideas I came across this idea of a library card pocket.  I found a free printable for the library card and a template for the pocket on Creature Comforts.  I was able to customize the library card and then I hand cut all of the pockets.

 I wanted to add a cute Dr. Seuss graphic, but I ran out of time... it's all good!

We had this table set up when the guests walked in the door.

1 Fish, 2 Fish, guess how many fish?  I had a jar of Swedish Fish for the guests to guess how many fish.  The jar was just an old pickle jar (or something like that...I save all of my empty glass jars).  I spray painted the lid.

We had a stack of Dr. Seuss books with a cute ribbon for decoration.

I had already made these banners for girls camp.  They were perfect colors!  So, I hung them up throughout the living room and kitchen.

I found Dr. Seuss stuffed animals for $1 each at a yard sale.  They were brand new.  The dollar section of Target had Dr. Seuss bags and cards and such.  I used my mom's antique china hutch and set up a Gift Table.  

Here's a close up.

For the food table, my sister in law bought these cute stacking blocks.  We put them in the center of the table.

Now for the food... in no particular order.  I used this site to create my signs.  You can actually type text in the bubbles and print it.  I didn't like the font, so I saved the images with the bubble and used photoshop to add my text so I could choose any text that I wanted.    I put the name of the food and the book that it was from under.

 Cat in the Hat Fruit Kabobs.

 "Hop on Pop"corn

 Thing 1 Thing 2 Cupcakes (my sister-in-law made these... she's the cupcake queen)

 Truffala Seeds

Green eggs... 

 ... and ham (sandwiches)

Pink Ink Yink Drink (which was really just wedding punch... raspberry sherbet with sprite)

 Now, here's the part where I went wrong.... I thought since it was a book party... and since I don't like shower games that it would be FUN to make a quiet book for Sydney... I don't think many other people shared in my fun.  I had a few cousins and an aunt help... a little... I basically spent HOURS finding patterns and getting them ready... and I spent hours finishing the book... and I'm not quite done yet.  So, I wouldn't suggest this idea... play cheesy games instead!  However, the quiet book is REALLY cute and I will post pictures as soon as I finish it all the way.

 I really wanted to have party favors... little baggies of Swedish fish with this sign on them.  But my mom talked me out of it.  Instead, I made this sign to hang on the door as people left.  And I made Sydney some thank you notes to give to her guests.  (I don't seem to have a picture of the thank you notes, but they are sitting on the Cat in the Hat's lap on the gift table)

If you are interested in any other baby shower ideas... visit my Pinterest Board.