Christmas Tea Trees

Happy holiday season everyone! It’s been a little while since I’ve last posted so I’m extra excited to be sharing my latest creative endeavor with you. Each year all the women in my family get together for a festive Christmas dinner and gift exchange. This year I decided to take the DIY approach and create these super cute yet useful tea trees! Relatively easy and very price conscious, these trees were a big hit for minimal effort. To recreate the look, you’ll need a handleless mug, a styrofoam cone, approximately 30 tea bags, a hot glue gun, and a fun tree topper. Starting at the base of the cone, use a small amount of hot glue across the top of each tea bag and attach to the cone. Work your way around the base, slightly overlapping the bags to insure the cone does not show through. Continue adding tea bags up to the top of the cone and finish off with your chosen tree topper. To affix the mug base, cut a separate block of styrofoam that fits snugly inside the mug and glue to the underside of the cone. For added visual interest, use a variety of differently colored tea bags. And that’s it! Thanks so much for reading, happy holidays everyone!

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Woodworking Project #2: Nail Polish Cabinet

I hope everyone is having a fun summer! I decided to take advantage of the long 4th of July weekend and tackle my 2nd woodworking project: a custom-built cabinet to house all of my nail polish! While I don’t consider myself a “girly-girl”, I have always enjoyed painting my nails and thus have accumulated quite the collection over the years. The building process went fairly smoothly. I began by cutting all of the pieces to size (hooray for using a miter saw for the first time!) and pre-staining them a trendy weathered grey. After that, the piece came together quickly. I constructed the cabinet and door separately, added the stainless steel handle and glass inset, and finished the piece off by attaching the door with 2 profile hinges. Interested in building your own? Adapted build plans can be found here courtesy of ana-white.com. Happy building!

The finished piece-closed

The finished piece-open

Using the miter saw

Before staining

The plans

DIY Retro Overnight Bag

Hi everyone! This month I decided to dedicate a free weekend to creating this super cute retro overnight bag. As I was searching Etsy for the perfect sewing pattern I came across Swoon Patterns, and I’m so glad I did! Swoon Patterns are awesome. They offer digital downloads of their 45+ handbag patterns, which are easy to print and assemble. The instructions, compared to standard pattern instructions, are very clearly written and include detailed illustrations, which made constructing this bag an absolute delight. But my favorite part of Swoon Patterns is their awesome community of sewers on their dedicated Facebook page. Here you can get inspired by photos of finished bags by other users, get any questions you have answered, and take comfort in the fact that you are not the only person spending your entire paycheck at Joann (haha). This was my first time working with piping and foam interfacing, and I must say, I think these details really take the bag to the next level, adding both polish and stability. At 17″ wide, it’s a great size for day trips, a carry-on, gym bags, etc. Interested in making your own? You can download the pattern here. Happy sewing!

On arm

The finished bag

Cutting out the pattern

The profile

The finished bag

 

My First Woodworking Project

Hi everyone and happy February! I am so excited to share my latest project with you. I have always had an interest in woodworking, but never really pursued it. After receiving a jigsaw as a gift this past Christmas, I was extremely motivated to finally put this interest into action. While a fairly basic first project, I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of constructing this art piece. The process was smooth. I started by trimming 4 boards down to size and connecting them via 2 vertical braces along the backside. I then used the jigsaw to cut out the silhouette of my dog, Ace. I finished off the piece by sanding down the rough edges, using hammers and chains to distress the wood, and adding a rich walnut stain in varying shades to really bring out the wood’s character. I enjoyed this project so much, I’ve already got a list in my head of woodworking projects I want to tackle in the future! Thanks for reading!

The final product!

My handsome model

Before stain

Wrapping up staining

Tools used

Flower Power

Here is a quick little floral arrangement I threw together last weekend to try to make the house look nice for some guests who were stopping by. The wooden box, which is fitted with floral foam, that is acting as the vase was from a centerpiece at a wedding I recently went to and I have been refilling it with fresh flowers ever since. The roses, on the other hand, may or may not have been “collected” from my various neighbors’ front yards, including my own. Shhhhh!