Little bits of love

Did you have a happy Valentine's Day? Derek and I celebrated pretty low-key since I was just getting back from a trip. I received some lovely flowers, a box of chocolate, and pretty hair accessories from Claire's which are awesome and equally hilarious when I picture Derek waiting in line there behind a bunch of teeny-boppers.

I took a cue from these stickers and put little notes in all the places I know Derek visits everyday. He's very routined. Here are a few:

An orange and banana a day!

Standard lunch is a peanut butter sandwhich ...

And some Internet time to check ESPN.com.

The man always gets some ice for his water bottle.

And makes sure to hit a few practice putts (in the house).

Then we cooked a yummy pasta dinner with Pinor Noir ...

And finished off the night with my surprise St. Louis gooey butter cake - complete with heart shaped powdered sugar.



Small steps

As a DIY and design lover, it's sometimes rather difficult to me feel satisfied living in an apartment. I can't paint the walls, can't change out the cabinets, can't update the bathroom hardware, and can't otherwise make any large, destructive moves that will significantly alter the place without incurring a large fine when we move out.

So I try to find other ways to make small changes in the apartment that make it feel like home, without damaging the "goods."

Since the apartment came with cheap-o-la towel bars, similar to those you find in a motel, one update we made was to swap it out for these two "D" and "T" hooks I found at Micheals in the $1 section. I cut out some scrapbook paper and Modge Podged it on, and Derek removed the old towel bar and put these up to be replaced before we move out. For $2, it's a great update that makes our home feel a little more personalized.

Are you an apartment-dweller? Any tips for making it feel like home?

P.S. Getting on a plane to D.C. for the next few days! Hooray!

A tray a day ...

After loving the results of this thrift store tray makeover, I've had my eye out for more abandoned trays to style-up, so I was quite excited when I stumbled upon this detailed tray at the thrift store for $3.

It looked pretty good as it was, but I thought it could use a little pop to make it fit well in our colorful apartment. I knew I wanted to place either fabric or paper on the bottom of the tray, so I had my eye out for a piece of glass that was the right size to place on the bottom. I came across this t-shirt frame at Micheals, on sale for $5, and the glass was a perfect size for my tray.

I discarded the rest of the frame, sprayed the tray with a bright green, used hot glue to place this scrapbook paper cut out (.19 cents) on the bottom, and placed four small dots of hot glue on the glass to hold it down.

And here is the result! I'm in love.

On the nightstand, it's the perfect place to hold my book and discarded jewelry. But it's permanent home will soon be as a little wine/liquor bar on top of the antique stereo console Derek and I are refinishing. Stay tuned for that!

In the meantime I'm thinking of opening an Etsy store dedicated to my love of trays. Trimmed & Tray-lored anyone?

Smell the roses

I've had a spare grapevine wreath hanging out in my storage closet for a couple of months with no inspiration of what to do with it. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw this DIY wreath on Linley's lovely blog Dwelling & Telling.

Linley's version required 25 sheets of felt, but my local Michael's only had five sheets in the color I wanted to use, so I improvised! To create my roses I used the same method as on this project. I then clustered them off-center and added a pretty green ribbon.

I love the outcome! The perfect mix of wintery branches and light blooms for this time of year.

Curtain up!

I love the warmth and practicality that curtains bring to a room, but I never can a set I love for a reasonable price! So you can imagine my delight when I came across a no-sew tutorial for curtains on Young House Love. I had to try it!

A local high-end fabric stores was going out of business so I was able to find five yards of gorgeous fabric for just about $30.

First, I measured the height of the windows and added about two inches to account for seems.

Then, I cut the fabric into two panels according to that length.

With some cheap hem tape (I used two rolls) I hemmed each side just using an iron.

While I was doing that, Derek put up our new curtain rod, then attached clip-on curtain rings to the newly "hemmed" panels.

Finally, curtain up! Applause!

Oh happy tray

While hunting for ugly Christmas sweaters for this event, I happened across this sad, neglected tray and couldn't help but see the potential in it, especially for just $1. Derek battled against me bringing home yet another piece of orphaned home decor, but I finally won him over.

And once he gave it a quick spray of white paint, I think he felt a little more welcoming toward it ...

Even more so when I covered the bottom with some green burlap ...

And then finished off the rough edges with jute twine ...

He even volunteered his stronger/steadier hand to cut out the stencil I printed out ...

And I knew he was officially in love when he took the lead in spraying the stencil on in black.

But in the end we sent the "E" for "Engler" tray, off to a better home, my parents', for Christmas.

Trimmed & Taylored presents the letter B

I've been crazy in love with the yarn wreaths all you crafties have been churning out like the beauties spotted on Take Heart here. I originally planned on making one for Derek's parents for Christmas, but in a short burst of over-achiever-ness at JoAnn's decided to attempt a yarn "B' for their last name.

I'm super happy with the result and it looks quite cute hanging in their house. Check out the how-to and the pics below and let me know what you think!

Supplies:
- Paper mache letter
- Yarn (I used one whole spool)
- Felt in your choice of colors (I used 4 - 5 sheets)
- Cardboard
- Glue gun
- Staple gun

Instructions:

1. Tie off a bit of ribbon at the back of your letter - where you start will depend on your letter - and then begin to wrap. Based on the shape of your letter, there will be various areas where you can't wrap the yarn. I used a bit of glue in some areas to help guide the yarn where it needed to be and left the other areas to be later covered with felt flowers.

2. Begin making your felt flowers. Cut a circle of felt with uneven edges then begin cutting the circle into a spiral. You should end with a large line of felt. Make various size circles to change your flower size.

3. Beginning at the end of your spiral, start to roll the felt tightly - forming a little rose! I also cut little leaves out of green felt.

4. Begin placing the roses around your letter, strategically placing them to cover any bare spots.
5. Trace your letter loosely onto a piece of cardboard (I used a pizza box) so that it will fit behind the letter but not poke out of the sides. Then use the cardboard to trace the same shape onto a sheet of felt. Glue the felt and the cardboard together and staple to the back of the letter to cover any back bare spaces.

6. I then attached a little loop of ribbon to the back for hanging, though you can also use a picture holder.

Voila! The letter B!



Gift writing

Now that the gifts are unwrapped, I can finally share some of my favorite DIY holiday gift creations. After my Mom saw this post about the kitchen chalkboard Derek and I created, she was eager to have a chalkboard of her own.

I kept my eyes open at the thriftstore until I came across just the right piece to turn into a chalkboard and when I saw this plate with some questionable ribbon on it for $1 I knew I had it.

We took the ribbon out, sprayed the plate with chalkboad paint (four coats!) and picked out some new ribbon combined with jute twine.

I was so pleased with the result and my Mom loved it and hung it up right away with a message to welcome guests to our Christmas Eve open house.

Did you DIY any gifts this year? Please share if so and check in later this week for more projects ...

Wrap star

One of the best parts of Christmas is seeing all the beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree and speculating about what could be inside. But with all the fancy bags, wraps, and ribbons out there, it would be easy to spend just as much for the trimmings, as you do for the actual gift.

That's why I love craft paper. For about $3, you get a huge roll that can last you through several Christmases. For a few more dollars, you can pick up some fancy ribbon (I used a coupon at Michael's so these nice rolls were about $2 each) and then add some extra accouterments. I save buttons, stickers, bits of ribbon and other crafty knick-nacks I come across throughout the year, and end up with a huge bag of treats to use in my wrapping. This year, I also incorporated some jute twine from a never-ending $2.50 roll I bought for this project and a cute wine cork on one gift to hint at what's inside ...

The other great thing about craft paper? It's infinitely adaptable. Change out the ribbon color, sticker theme, etc., and you don't have to buy new wrapping for birthdays, Valentine's Day, anything!

Bear with me

This weekend, Derek and I were on the hunt for ugly Christmas sweaters for a party we'll be going to, and hit up several area thrift stores trying to track down some tinsel, holly, pom-pom covered gems.

In the midst of this search, we came across several little trinkets that, unlike a holiday sweater, had the potential to be rescued, rehabilitated, and turned into some adorable pieces for our home. A few of these pieces became Christmas gifts, so stay tuned to see those makeovers after they're unwrapped next week, but for now I wanted to share this sweet little California brown bear we found for $4.

At the same thrift store we found this guy, we picked up a 99 cent glass votive holder. We brought them both home and gave the bear a few coats of white spray paint.

A teeny bit of hot glue and one pine-tree scented candle later - we have an adorable little candle holder perfect for our Cali home and this little side table that was looking a bit BEAR (pun-intended) before.