DIY Fall popcorn kernel and red bean centerpiece

So about 2 weeks ago it was my 6th wedding anniversary and my husband sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers in this fun and unique vase. About twice a year I get flowers ( 1 for our anniversary and 1 for my birthday/valentines day) and it's only taken me 6 years to see the value in the vases that keep coming my way.  So here is another fun project that takes something old or unused and turns it into something new!

What you need: Vase, candle, small bag of popcorn kernels, small red beans, twine and scissors.

Step 1: Fill the bottom of your vase with kernels then stick in your candle. Begin layering your kernels and beans. You'll have to hold your candle until you have a few layers dumped in. Layer until you've reached your desired pattern. 

Step 2: You're pretty much done, just add a little twine or ribbon around the neck of your vase and your Finished. Easy, simple and sooo cute!

DIY Framed Flower Vase!

I love this project! I just got mine put on the wall and it adds a lot of fun flair to my kitchen! What you need: a glue gun, craft twine, picture frame, small vase and accent flowers.

Step 1: Remove the backing and glass in your picture frames. You're not going to need either of these items so go ahead and toss them. I Suggest buying inexpensive frames, I got mine for $1 at Walmart. Another fun option to do with these cheapo frames is to spray paint them your desired color. I wanted mine black so there was no need for that step, but it's totally an fun option.

Step 2: Attach your twine to your vase. I bought these tiny vases at Walmart for $1 they come in a few colors and I love the unique pattern

. To attach the twine add a drop of glue to the neck of the vase. Wrap the twine around the vase then directly above where you began gluing add another drop. Repeat this step until you achieve the amount of loops you want. It's good to glue all on one side so you can't see your gluing job in the front.

Step 3: Attach the twine and vase to the picture frame. Before gluing I wrapped the twine around the middle of the frame to make sure the length of the twine was good and also I was able to experiment with how low I wanted the vase to hang. Once you've found the right length wrap and glue in the center of the frame. I looped my twine two to the left, then two to the right so my string hung directly in the center. Trim your extra twine. 

Here is the finished project! You can always add extra embellishments such as buttons or bows to your frame. Find some small flowers to place in your vase and Wallah you've made some fun inexpensive wall decor!  

I had it on the wall and decided what they heck, let's add a bow. SO CUTE! ;)

DIY framed Vinyl

I'm working on a big project to get some awesome spiritual thoughts on my wall and I really needed some cute fillers. Cue the framed vinyl project! This is ridiculously easy, personal and versatile. I can't wait to get mine on the wall.  Please note this project is 100% easier if you or a close friend own a Cricut/Silhouette type of machine or if you have all the money in the would to buy vinyl.

What you need: Picture frames (Cheap or expensive does not matter they just need glass in them! I bought mine for $1 at walmart) Vinyl in any color you choose, scrapbook paper also in whatever color you want, and a paper cutter or sizzers. 

Step 1: choose what you want to cut out. You can do anything! Hearts, stars, initials, wedding date, birth date, child's name, etc! I choose a framed heart and the letter J since we're the Johnson family and we love each other most of the time. haha I always cut whatever I'm using on paper first before I go to vinyl. Vinyl is expensive and you don't want to waste your supply if you can help it. I also choose my scrapbook paper to make sure it would look good as a background.  

Step 2: Cut your vinyl. If you are using a Cricut I can tell you to put your needle on setting 3, speed level 1 and pressure 2 or 3 depending on the thickness of your vinyl. Mine was a 2 but my needle is also brand new. Once your Cricut is done working, pull off extra vinyl that you won't be applying to frame.

Step 3: Place your vinyl on the glass in your desired location.  For this project I didn't use transfer paper since I was just pulling the vinyl up and laying it down. Do what you choose, but just know transfer paper isn't 100% necessary, though it is helpful. 

 Step 4: Cut your scrapbook paper to the size needed. My frames were 5 x 7's so I simply cut my paper to that size. Once the paper is cut you just slide it into the frame, no glue, no mess just stick it inside. Because there is no gluing involved you can change the background paper seasonally so your decor matching whatever time of year it may be. Mine has a fall look to it but it also matches my home so double awesomeness! Good luck and happy crafting!

Here is my final work on the wall! Be sure to check out how to make the framed vases! 

DIY: State String Art!

This is something that I've been thinking about trying, but finally I made a plan and executed it. So I have wanted to make some type of memorabilia to show all the places we have lived since me and Jason were married way back on Nov. 2nd 2007. Since we're a military family we've traveled a bit in the last 6 years. We started out in Idaho, took 2 years in New York, 3 years in Okinawa Japan and now are currently hanging out in Texas!

So here we have string art. It's pretty easy, doesn't take expensive materials, and turns out fabulous!

What you need: Wood boards (I used some left over scrap wood but for a buck you can get a 5x7 thin board at Walmart, small short nails, paint (whatever color your heart desires), and cross stitch thread, I bought mine at Walmart of 30 cents. Like I said this is a very inexpensive project. If you're cutting your own wood obviously you'll be needing a few more things like a measuring tape, saw, and sandpaper.

Step 1: Use a piece of sand paper and sand your wood until there are no rough edges.

 Step 2: Pick your paint and go to town. I decided on a dark red and navy blue (it sooo does not look navy it this picture) These will be going into our patriotic room! The paint I used was left over from my pallet flag project so everything will match!

Make sure the paint is dry before you start putting your nails in! 

Step 3: Print out your state shape.  Cut these out and make sure they fit on your boards. Now you can do one of two things. You can either trace your cut out state and then nail along the traced line or you can hammer the nails into the paper. I choose the do the paper version because I didn't want trace lines on my boards, though if you used a pencil you probably wouldn't see them.

When I printed out my states I also printed small hearts. I traced the heart onto the paper and then nailed around the traced line. 

Step 4: hammer, hammer, hammer. This step takes the most patience. If you choose to keep your paper on the board just rip it off once you're finished with the nailing part. Once you've removed your paper it should look like the photo below.

Ohhhh so Pretty :)

  Step 5: Add your string. I had 44 nails along the outside and 10 on the inside so each heart nail is connected to 4ish outside nails. Tie your unwound string onto any starting point and start wrapping your nails. I wrapped each about 5 times before moving onto the next nail. Go all the way around and Presto, you have mad a fun memento to remember your home state or any place you've ever been to.

All done and ready to hang on the wall! :)

Pallet Flag

So I've been working on making our computer room/ craft room very patriotic in honor of my husband's service in the United States Marine Corps.  So I really wanted to buy a large framed flag to use as my center piece. Have you priced those flags or even framed prints??? They are easily over $150, which is way out of my budget. So then I moved onto Etsy to look into pallet flags and again for the size I wanted they were around $100, but while browsing Etsy I decided I don't need to buy a flag, I'm gonna go crazy and make my own! So I ran across the road where they are building a house grabbed a pallet and some fence posts and went to work! 

What you need for this project: 1 pallet or wood that is about 4 inches wide and not very thick. Nails, saw, sander or sand paper, measuring tape. to decorate you need tape, red, white and blue paint several paint brushes.   

1.Wood- Most pallets are not placed this close together so I pulled mine apart and re-nailed it. The length of the pallet boards were 32 inches so I only had to cut a few of my other wood pieces so they would match up. My flag measured 32 x 20 inches which is not a real flag measurement but it's close. You can play with these numbers depending on how big or small you want your flag to be. 

2. Measuring - You need to find out how big your stripes will be, and how big the blue area of the flag is. Stripes aren't too difficult. Whatever the height of your flag is divide that by 13. Try to be as exact as possible! This is what mine looked like. My flag was 20.25 inches high divided by 13 =1.55 inches or on a tape measure that would be 1 9/16 inches. Get out a calculator  or enlist your boyfriends, husbands, guy next door or dad's help. I'm not ashamed I asked! 

The height of the blue was simple to measure, it is exactly 7 stripes. In my case 10.85 inches. For the width I went to a flag dimension website and it confused the crap out of my and I finally decided I would add an inch on to the height and round it to 12 inches so my stars would be evenly spaced. Here is the website if you feel like having a headache. ;)  http://www.usflag.org/flagspecs.html

3. Taping - Using masking take or painters tape use your measurements to tape out the blue section and your red stripes only! Remember don't round on your stripe measurements or your bottom stripe will be bigger than the rest! Taping takes patience but it's worth it to take your time. Push down on all your edges so the paint doesn't bleed. 

4. Painting- Makes sure you cover your wood generously! And be patient with your paint drying. You don't want to pull the tape off too early! 

This is what your flag will look like after adding your blue and red paint! 

I waited a whole day before I took the tape on the red off then re-taped for my white stripes. Make sure when you put your tape on your board for the white stripes that your overlap the red by just a tiny bit. This makes nice crisp lines!  I also waited a day for the white paint. 

5- Stars - My stars are 1 inch in size. While I was waiting for my paint to dry I used my trusty Cricut to cut out a stencil so my stars would be evenly spaced. I loved using the cricut for this purpose but 1 inch is the smallest my stars could be and therefore if you count on my flag there are only 39. I needed two more rows, but this is a craft project and I settled for cute even stars and decided to pretend we kicked a few states out of the country. haha  You can buy a star stencil at your local craft store or be creative with making your stars. 

Here are the stars finished. I used a very fine paint brush to touch up any paint that went outside the stencil. 

 At this point you can leave you flag as is but I took some sandpaper and ruffed up the edges and paint to make it look more rustic. To hang it on the wall I placed two screws on the braces 6-7 inches from the top and used a screw driver to put these in the board. Then I attached a wire to the screws and mounted it to the wall.

Finished! 

Swimming Noodle Flowers

I've been trying to spice up my home without adding paint to the walls. (this is a rule we are enforcing since in 3 to 4 years we will probably be on the move again and it's easier to sale a home with untainted walls). So for the girls bathroom we made some awesome hot pink and bright orange flowers using swimming noodles. These were so easy to make and look amazing. Every time my Olivia (4-years old) walks into the bathroom she ooo's and awww's at her beautiful flower wall and shouts "oh mom, I love it"!

What you need for this project: Swimming noodles, I would say at least two colors but you can use whatever floats your boat.  A sharp knife, sewing cutting mat with measurements and a glue gun. Tape or nails to put flowers on the wall.

I cut my flowers 1 inch thick and the center a half inch. Once all your petals and centers are cut use your glue gun to stick everything together. If your glue gun allows you to heat it up on a low setting do this! I learned from experience that if the glue's too hot it will melt the noodles instead of gluing them together.

Once your five petals are attached add glue to the outside edge of your center piece and press down for a few seconds to ensure it's in place.

Final step is adding them to the walls. You can place them however you want. We went for a pattern but the sky's the limit! I used heavy duty clear tape to put these on the walls, you could also stick a nail in the wall and hang them.

This is a fun, inexpensive way to add a little flair to any boring wall! Enjoy! :)

Cardboard Keys

I think most people have experienced running behind schedule. In my case we usually include frantic searches for every lost shoe, missing Elmo, stuffed bear, action figure or barbie doll. Leading to me sternly buckling my heathen children into their car seats.  Only to hear the phrase "I need to use the potty", which leads to rushing back into the house and repeating the buckling step once again. Only to sit down in my vehicle to realize I can't find my keys. I'm pretty certain most mom's can relate to this scenario. 

I decided I needed a designated location for my keys, which led to craft project #2: Cardboard letters spelling Keys!

I love saving money and crafting on a small budget. I could have used my money to buy letters, but I'd seen cardboard letters done before on Pinterest and decided if they can do it so can I. 

For this project I used a cardboard from a diaper box, tape, glue gun, scrapbook paper, brown craft twine, exacto cutter or scissors, a ruler, sewing measuring mat, and other embellishments such as buttons, ribbon and flowers.  

Using my sewing mat I decided each letter would be 5 inches tall and 3 inches wide at its widest point. You can get creative with the shape of your letters, but I found the boxy letters seem to work the best. I used my ruler to measure out each letters thickness of 1 inch. Once I cut out 1 set of each letter, I just traced the second set so I didn't have to get the ruler out again. 

Once both sets are cut out you need to measure and cut 1 inch strips that will go in between your front and back letters. They can be as long as you want, just needs to be 1 inch in width. Using tape and glue connect your letters. Depending on if you want your letters to be curvy or sharp looking you can either keep the 1 inch strips connected throughout the whole process or cut the exact length of each angle. This is probably the hardest part of the whole project so be patient. 

Once the letters are made you can decorate them as you wish. I love using twine and/or yarn. They seemed to cover the cardboard the best and were very forgiving to oddities in the letters shape. Use a glue gun to wrap the ends of your letters first then glue and wrap the rest. 

Scrapbook paper was a little harder. I placed the letters on a large sheet of my desired colors and cut a very exaggerated letter to cover the cardboard. As seen below I added twin on the "E" around the edges. I had to do this to cover where the papers edge was. Thankfully it added some cute individuality to that letter. I also wrapped the "Y" in the middle to cover odd paper placement. 

These can be decorated anyway your heart desires. Make it your own and never loose your keys again!  

Home of the Free because of the Brave Reclaimed wood sign

In the past two weeks since Jason has deployed I've become a craft addict. I'm taking the first step and admitting I have a problem. But since he won't be home for another 6-ish weeks I figured I may as well share my new found enjoyment. Hence we now have Cole's Crafts! I am Nichole, my instructions may not be entirely discernible or make any sense what-so-ever, but we're going have a go at it!

Over the last several weeks I've wanted to get my hands on some old wood. I didn't want to buy distressed wood, but I also wasn't having any luck finding it until yesterday. I was driving home from picking my 4-year old up from school when I noticed in front of a home being built just down the road, a whole fence had been torn down and put in the discard pile. There were also many more treasures just waiting to be disposed of. I naturally loaded my car up with all sorts of goodies including several 2x4's, pallets, fence posts, and random slabs of wood. It was a craft addicts dream come true.  

Since my husband left, I have been working on making our craft/computer room into a patriotic shrine to display all of his plaques and awards from his service thus far in the Marine Corps. Cue craft project #1- Home of the Free - Because of the Brave reclaimed wood sign. 

I began by choosing two nail free, sorta sturdy, fence posts. Each started out 6 feet in length but I didn't quite want my sign that long so I shorten them in true Tom-girl fashion by stepping on the board where I wanted it to break and pulling up hard on the end therefore snapping the board and giving me awesome splintered edgers. To make my sign 6 inches high I nailed two boards together. I just used small scraps of wood to act as stabilizers in the back. 

Once everything was nailed together, I wiped the board off so it would have a cleaner surface then started to paint. I didn't want a solid color so I added water to my navy paint. I lightly brushed the color on so the gains of the old wood would show through. 

While the paint was drying I cut out my "home of the free - because of the brave" vinyl using my cricut. Something I did not know at this point in time was vinyl hates old wood! It does not want to stick to it and if you try to make them hang out together it will frustrate you severely! So you ask, what is there to do? I choose to put a light coat of modge-podge over my entire board after I put the non-sticking sticky vinyl letters on. This worked wonderfully and really put the finishing touches on this project. There are probably better thing to do, but that's what I did and it worked so I'm not complaining!  

Final touches include adding two saw tooth hangers and she's ready to go on the wall! 

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I haven't quite got mine on the wall yet, I need to finish another project first. 

More fun to come!