diy

Teacher Gift {Handmade Christmas}

December 12, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | 5 Comments

I know I am falling behind in my Handmade Christmas posts, part of it is a serious lack of being at home and part of it is fear of giving away the gifts to my family…

Today, I’m here to show you a great teacher gift, though! I originally saw this at Domestically Speaking. My nephew & I made it for his teachers on the first day of school!

All you need is an old mason jar (or any recycled glass jar), a bag of peanut MnMs (or regular, plus a few for yourself), scrapbook paper, rafia ( ribbon or anything to tie it with will work).

I just typed the little saying up in Word and printed it it on cardstock. You can change it up anyway you like.

Cut it out, punch a whole, a tie it on! I also cut a little circle of paper to go under the lid!

What do you think? Do you give your teachers gifts?!? I’d love for you to link up your ideas in the comments section!

Happy Monday, y’all!

Filed Under: Christmas, christmas gifts, diy

DIY Floating Shelves Tutorial {and Handmade Christmas}

November 27, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | 6 Comments

WELCOME to my new followers from The Follow Fest! If you haven’t already, find me on facebook where I post ~~too~~ pretty often, and you can connect with me one-on-one!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your weekend was great, too! I’ll post more about that later, but for today, I finally want to share with you something I receive lots of comments and emails about.

This would also make a great (easy & inexpensive) gift for someone, too! I know two people on my list who have asked for them! So I’m also adding these to the Handmade Christmas List!

Without further ado….

Supplies – Two 1x4s, mulling strip or ¼ round molding, wood glue, miter saw (or have store cut materials to size), nail gun or drill, clamps, tape measure & pencil,

Step 1 – gather all of your materials

Step 2 – measure and cut your 1x4s & molding to size (if you didn’t have the store do it for you)

Step 3 – align your 1x4s like shown, then take your nail gun & shoot nails through the end all the way across (or screw with a drill and 2” screws – predrill your holes. 4 or 5 should do it)

Step 4 – Using your caulk gun, spread glue across the widest board as shown.

Step 5 – Remove any excess glue & clamp together for a couple of hours (if you can wait, unlike me)

Step 6 – Paint whatever color you like. I’ve used regular paint or spray paint (I prefer to spray)

Step 7 – Once the paint is dry, measure where you want to hang them and then screw the backs onto the wall (into a stud is recommended). Cover any screw holes with something pretty!

Tip: Primed 1x4s would probably work best, but I didn’t want to delay writing this any longer, so I just used the regular 1x4s I had (from an old pallet, actually). They’re not pretty, but paint will cover the ugliness right up! And once you decorate them, I promise you won’t notice any defects (trust me, the white ones in my dining room are pretty rough)!

These cost you under $10 for paint and everything! Unless you use a pallet like I did, then the cost would be about $4!

Here is the set that I spray painted black for my family room’s gallery wall. Original Post here

Sorry it’s so grainy – ugh! These I cut two different lengths, and love! Original post here.

What do you think?!? When you make your own, please link back and share with all of us!

Pin It

Filed Under: christmas gifts, diy, tutorial

diy door hangers {handmade christmas}

November 14, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | Leave a Comment

Whew, it has been a full, but great weekend! How was yours?

Saturday evening CJ’s friends stopped by and ended up staying the night. I can’t tell you how awesome it is that they still come around and love on Elizabeth. He sure had some great friends! Sunday we did our usual church and then small group in the evening. In between the two we spend with Andrew’s family. Love Sundays! And here we are today! Elizabeth & I spent all day with my cousin and her two grandbabies (who are a year and nine days a part)! We all 5 had a blast!

Anyway, I wanted to drop in and share with you something I made on Saturday. It is my plan to hand-make all of our Christmas gifts this year. And considering we exchange with 17 people, I’m a little behind, but will make do!!! Handmade gifts generally mean a lot more, and cost a lot less!!! So if you have the time, it’s definitely a win/win! As a heads up, you’ll probably be seeing a lot of my diy gifts during the next few weeks. Please share them with your friends on facebook, or feel free to grab my button to post on your blog!

The first gifts I made were door hangers for my niece & nephew’s new rooms! I had all of the materials (I bought the plaques, which were really ugly pictures, at a thrift store eons ago for $1.00) so it didn’t cost me anything! I had them both completed in about an hour!

Supplies:

Wood plaque or canvas

Scrap book paper and embellishments

Stencil, sticker letters, or printer (to make your own)

Ribbon

Hot glue

Modge podge

pencil, paint & paintbrush, paint pen (if you’re using it), scissors

Directions:

Trace the top of your placque on to the back of the paper you choosed and then cut it out

Paint the plaque whatever color you want. I painted these black and the other purple to match.

For the letters, I picked the font & size I needed on Microsoft Word & then printed it out on

cardstock. Then, I was able to tape it to a window and trace the letters onto the

scrapbook paper. If you can’t see to trace through it, you can cut them out with an

exacto knife, use an actual stencil, or stickers! Or, if you want to get fancy, you can use

a vinyl machine

After you’ve traced your letters onto your paper, paint them! I used a paint pen, because my

hand isn’t steady enough for those tiny details.

When it’s dry, embellish however you like. I used stickers for both of these. If you want, you

could add fabric flowers or whatever after the modge podge step.

When you have it the way you want it, spread a thin layer of modge podge onto the plaque

and apply your paper.

Smooth out any bubbles and then apply a top layer to seal it! (now you can add 3d things)

Once it’s all dry and the bubbles are out, hotglue your ribbon to the back!

embellish paper before modge podging it to plaque incase you make a mistake!

smooth out all of those bubbles w/ a credit card or a clean finger

What do you think?!? Are you making your own gifts?!?
Don’t forget to share on facebook or pinterest!!!

Filed Under: christmas gifts, diy

House Rules Printable

October 13, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | 1 Comment

Several people have asked about the House Rules I have framed in the Floating Shelves post, so I thought I’d make it available for all of you!

My treat as a special thank you for your sweetsweet comments lately and for all of the support!

Please click here to grab it yourself! I’ve never actually used Sribd before, so let me know if it doesn’t work!

Filed Under: diy

Monogram Pumpkin {repost}

October 11, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | 3 Comments

I am linking this old post from 2009 back up for the Season! It’s still one of my favorite diy creations!

Enjoy!

I don’t remember where I first saw the idea, but in prepping for the cooler Fall weather, I decided to do a little decorating today!

I took this…

(sorry it’s blurry, I forgot to take an actual “before” picture, so I had to take this one I took a few months ago when we had our condo for sale)

and turned it into this

How’d I do it? I simply spray painted the flower pot with Rustoleum’s flat black paint.

For the pumpkin, I decided what font I wanted using plain ol’ Microsoft Word and printed it out. Then I traced it on to wax paper and cut out the “S” with an exacto knife. I taped the paper to the pumpkin and simply spray painted it. Next time, I will definitely hand paint the letter on, because as you can see, the spray paint ran a little. There’s many ways you could do this though. I bought the pumpkin with a 40% off Michael’s coupon. This way, I can pull it out year after year, but you could definitely use a real pumpkin too.

But, I must admit that overall, I really love the new look! What do you think???

Filed Under: diy, fall

New Floating Shelves :)

October 10, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | 7 Comments

I have been asking Andrew to make these for months for me, and finally, he did!!! He’s pretty amazing! I hope to have a tutorial for you up soon!

I had other pictures hanging here before. I use to have a thing for bird houses. And country blue gingham. I still like birdhouses, but my OCD tendencies of everything having to have a theme is finally diminishing. At least a little.

told you the before was bad!

The sewing machine & orders right on the kitchen table don’t help this picture one bit! But aren’t the kids cute!

Again, sorry the pictures are less than par. I have a new camera coming!

But aren’t the shelves awesome?!? I’m still tweaking the decorations, but I seriously get giddy every time I walk past them

I made this 3d pumpkin using scrapbook paper and a clip art pumpkin I found online. After I removed the glass and painted the frame black I had teeny wooden dowels that I hot-glued to the back and then to the paper! Love it! I was wanting to cut a styrofoam pumpkin in half and glue it to the paper, but I didn’t have one the right color orange. OCD, I tell ya.

LOVELOVELOVE it! It’s so bright and cheery! My plan is to purge a lot of my other decorations and use these shelves as my main focus. It’s one of the ways I’m decluttering!

I painted this frame too (it’s a li’l brighter than I wanted) and then printed out some family rules for our family! LOVELOVELOVE!

Ahh! Pure giddiness

Filed Under: diy, Home Making

Floating Shelves Makeover

October 5, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | 3 Comments

Finally, after a year of living here, our house is becoming a home. Regardless of how temporary it will or will not be, I want it to feel like a home. If nothing more than for Elizabeth’s sake.
Andrew made these awesome shelves for me last summer, and I’ve had intentions of redoing them way before now, but haven’t gotten around to it. But finally, all of the pictures are in frames, and the frames have been painted!
This is what they looked like for almost a year.

And here’s how they look now!!!

Much better, right? So sorry about the grainy photos, my camera is a li’l under the weather
The plate is an old saucer that came from my Mom’s. I simply printed out a monogram with Microsoft word on cardstock and cut it out for a stencil. Then I traced the letter onto the plate with a pencil and filled it in with a black paint pen – easy peasy! It’s not perfect, butI love it!
Last week Andrew made me another set for my dining room, so stay tuned for a tutorial soon! I just love that multi-talented man!!!

(linking up)

Filed Under: diy, Home Making

{DIY} Flower Pot

September 21, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | 1 Comment

As much as we might want to fight it, fall is here. (I really do love fall. I just hate the cold rainy gloomy days and the winter that follows).

That means it’s time to pack away the summer decorations and pull out the fall boxes! AND it means, fall cleaning, which I’ll be posting about as soon as I start!

Today, while searching Target for an undershirt for Elizabeth I of course hit the dollar section! And I couldn’t believe I finally found a steel (or fake steel) bucket! I’ve been looking for one for a couple of years, but never wanted to pay $20+ for it. Can you believe this was only $2.50? It had to come home with me!

I’ve had this idea for a few years. I have no idea where I first saw it, but I love it!
Now that I have my flowers in one, I realize it would be an awesome idea for your regular ice bucket. Or to store toys, toiletries, magazines in! The possibilities are endless!

You can make one too! It literally took me about 15 minutes!

1} Design the letter in the font you want. I used CAC Pinafore and printed it out on cardstock with
Microsoft Word. (The cardstock makes your stencil more durable)
2} Gather your supplies – I used fallish ribbon, but I will probably change it with the seasons!

3} Cut out your letter & tape it to your bucket (I use an exacto knife, but you could do it with scissors).

4} Paint like you would with any stencil and when dry (if you’re patient) carefully remove the tape & stencil.

5} Use q-tips to edge any messes
6} Attach your ribbon with hot glue
7} Run to the store and purchase mums – but not big ones like these, because they look ridiculous.

If I had patience (no, I didn’t wait for my paint to dry, and yes I had a mess to clean up with the q-tips) I would’ve cleaned the porch before taking pictures… I was just a tad excited and running out of daylight!

I also bought mums for my other pot! And added the li’l welcome sign I recently picked up!

(recognize the black pot from this post?)

TaDa! My preHalloween fall porch decortaion. Or at least the beginning of it!

Ho do YOU decorate for fall?

Filed Under: diy, fall

Quick Baby Gift

September 15, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | Leave a Comment

Friday night, I already had a ton of things I wanted to accomplish. I’m one of those startabillionprojectsatonce kind of gal. And the kind of gal that seemingly makes an even bigger mess while trying to clean her messy house.

Anyway, Andrew told me after dinner that he needed a baby gift before 5:30 the next morning. I’m sure I probably gave him the “are you kidding me” look. But instead of bickering or changing out of my pajamas to run to the store to spend money we don’t have I made this.

Now, I can’t take all the credit for the idea, because I recently saw one of my favorite bloggers do it.

But it’s adorable, right? And the new Mommy loved it!

I simply raided El’s blocks (which were once mine and she’ll never miss) and glued them together with e6000 glue. I tried hot glue at first, but with the added layers, it just wasn’t flexible enough.

I also threw in a few more handmade items from my shop. Wish I would’ve taken a picture of all the loot together.

I found a picture on the Mommy’s facebook page, edited it in picnik to make it black & white and added text. I printed it out at home. Then I spray painted an old 8×10 frame to better match, and to make it look new again.

Easy Peasy, Adorable, and FREE! And again, the new Mommy loved it! In fact she & the daddy were fighting over who got to take the picture to work!

Filed Under: diy

Mini Table & Chairs

September 6, 2011 | posted by Jaima @ Ring Around the Rosies | 3 Comments

One of the things I was able to retrieve from Mom’s was this li’l table & chairs for Elizabeth. It had a really ugly painting of bunnies on it before the actual “before picture”. I’m sure Mom just didn’t have the time to paint over it, she probably bought it at Goodwill, but I can’t be certain.

Anyway, I wanted it to serve as an overflow table where the kids (I often have a house full of children + my own 14 month old Princess) could eat when the big table filled up, and also as a table where they could create and work at.

So I gave taped off the edges and sprayed on a good coat (two I think) of chalkboard paint.

After it dried good, I taped a trash bag over the new center and gave the rest of the table & the chairs two good coats of Rustoleum’s heirloom white.

After the chairs were good and dry (I hate the waiting period between coats) I took a piece of scrapbook paper that I had cut to size and applied Modge Podge to the back of it & to the top of the chair. I smoothed out any bubbles with an old credit card (or store savings card, actually) and then applied a good coat on top for protection.

I hand wrote the words pray, eat, laugh, & create to either the fronts or backs of the chairs, and then painted over it with a green that matched the paper.

And voila, I had a refashioned Mini Table & Chairs, perfect for my Mini.

Who immediately pushed the whole thing to a different spot in the dining room and climbed right up in the chair (her new thing is climbing – up every thing!)