Spring wreath.

If you know me or have spent any amount of time browsing through Suite Revival, you'll know that I like things simple. And there really isn't anything more simple that this Spring wreath...

I picked up the plant covered "R" and branch wreath at my new favorite store - Hobby Lobby!!

The "R" came on a little ribbon so I just shortened it bit and then hung it and the wreath on a command hook.

The total cost was just $8!

Quick and easy! And perfect for Spring :-)

Hob Lobs.

Yesterday was my very first ever visit to the happiest place on Earth! Hmm...what's that? You say that's Disneyland? Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I say it's Hobby Lobby!

I had been hearing about this magical place where knobs and pulls are overflowing in abundance and it's true!!

Need a particular color...Hob Lobs has you covered!! And from what I hear they are always 50 % off so you can get some adorable stuff for way cheap!

I love me some letters (and these were perfect for a little project I'm working on!)

They had lanterns galore!!

 More letters....big and small! You better believe a few R's from this display made their way into my cart. But I wish I would have grabbed that ampersand! Ugh...oh well.

 Two aisles of empty frames!! It's like they read my mind!!

 I don't scrapbook but occasionally need some paper -- this selection makes other stores look like they sell it out of the trunk of my car. Is this not incredible??

They had the biggest selection of cute little metal signs I've ever seen!

 And just in case I ever need a captains wheel, I now know where to find one for 1/2 price!

The sad part is the closest Hobby Lobby is out in Rancho Cucamonga - an hour away!! And that's without traffic. Although, I just checked their website to make sure that was really the closest and there's a new one opening down in South Orange County in May! Still a little far but about 15 minutes closer!

I. Can't. Wait.  

Perpetual DIY micro-journal.

I saw this idea for a micro-journal awhile back (even before Pinterest!) Ha...it's hard to imagine a world without Pinterest! But it was pre-pinning and I loved the idea so I made one but never really used it! Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I sold it last year at a yard sale for like $2. 

 But with the new year just beginning, I decided to make another one and actually start doing it! To be honest, I had already done all the stamping (because I made a few sets last time around) so all I needed to do was find the perfect container! I didn't really like the yellow one I used that time so I knew that type was out. I wanted one that would provide a little more support to the cards and found this adorable little thing yesterday for $1 in the Target Dollar Spot!

 And since I'm being honest, I didn't really like the monthly dividers in the last one (no wonder I sold it for two bucks!)

So for this one, I just used what I had lying around...a simple small pink binder clip. It works perfectly and there's no fooling around trying to find today's date! 

So there you have it! I really love this container (although I might remove the ribbon!) and I'm super excited to keep it up! So for years to come, I'll always know that January 19, 2012 was the day I helped Janice pick out a new couch and we lunched at Chick-fil-a!

**I'm linked up to Southern Lovely and a Bowl Full of Lemons**

When good ideas go bad.

A few weeks ago, I read about a blogger who used inexpensive pipe insulation as a wreath form. I had also seen the idea on Pinterest, so I figured I'd try it out. It seemed pretty fail safe, right? You take the insulation, make a circle, tape the ends together and you have your form!

Ha! Yeah right. This was not as easy as everyone had made it out to be! In fact, this project went south pretty quickly! But did I stop when I started seeing the signs?? Of course not. But I'll get there....for now back to the project.

I swung by Home Depot and after roaming the aisles a bit, I found a long piece of the stuff for just $1.28...score!

My goal with this project was to make a yarn wrapped wreath with felt rosettes in purples, grey, and black. So I gathered my materials and started wrapping the form with a thick yarn. One of the perks of using the insulation was not having to keep moving the bundle of yarn through and around the wreath with each wrap. That much was true. It was really easy and quick to wrap the straight piece of foam.

But that's where the ease ended. Because as soon as I started to shape the foam into a circle, it started doing this...

It buckled! I should have known this wasn't going to work, but I kept going anyway.

And don't get me started on how difficult it was to tape the ends together! I tried keeping both ends flat but it would just buckle more! So I tried cutting each end at an angle and fitting them together, but that wasn't working either. I finally just settled and taped the stupid thing together as best I could. Ha!

It wasn't pretty but I figured I would just cover this lopsided mess with rosettes and it will be fine.  

And it was. For the most part. Once the rosettes were on, I thought it looked pretty good! I loved the colors and it helped even out the shape of it.

But because the wreath was heavier on the left side and the form was so misshaped and buckled, I had to hang it off center for it to hang straight! The above picture is using the hook on the back of my bathroom door since I needed to figure out if it would hang straight. Of course, the hook on my bathroom door is centered, which means the wreath is not. Ugh. And anytime I tried to move it so it would be centered, the thing thing would swing down due to the weight of the rosettes and the buckled part of the wreath would show even more! You can see the beginnings of the buckling there in the right hand corner.

It was a mess.

Again, I should have just stopped there, but of course, I didn't. I hung it on my front door anyway. I had to MacGyver it with a little tape and managed to get it somewhat decent. I don't have any pictures of it hanging on my front door, but it looked similar to the picture above. At least in the beginning.

It hung for a few days but started drooping more and more and was slowly becoming a jagged oval! It looked awful (at least to me) so the wreath came down last night and in a fit of frustration very calm manner, I decided to just chuck it and start over but salvaged my rosettes, which were hot glued to the yarn.

I was able to save most of them, but I can't say the wreath form or yarn were as lucky.

You can see what became of the form after hanging a few days...it was a total disaster!

So what's the moral of this story, sometimes the cheaper option will cost you more in the end! I wasted yarn, hot glue, a little bit of felt and A LOT of my time in order to save a few bucks on the wreath form. Never again!

Of course, I accept that this disaster may be operator error since it seems that other folks have been able to successfully use pipe insulation as a wreath form. Or perhaps, they're just not telling you the whole story. Either way, it was a learning experience.

So with that wreath in the trash, I need to make another one. Off to Michael's...

Pinterest strikes again.

Pinterest is such a great place for creative ideas!! I've seen a TON of different jewelry organization projects online over the years but I have never loved one enough to make my own. Until I saw something wonderful pinned from I Heart Organizing.

It's so simple, I really wish I had thought of it myself! Here it is...and I promise you can make it too!

After asking several Home Depot employees where I could find decorative metal sheets only to be met with some confused looks, I finally thought to pull up the picture from Pinterest and was immediately directed to the lovely items. They had a nice variety of patterns but I went with one called Elliptical.

So if you go and they want to send you to Plumbing....don't let them :-)

Back to the project, I had a bunch of white frames so I grabbed one with pretty detail...

Cut a piece of the metal to fit the frame...

And slid it in...

Viola! Easy, right??

Luckily, this frame has two slots in the back that allows the metal sheet to slide right in with little fuss about securing it. I just taped one side in the back to make sure it didn't slide out.

Then I hung some earrings and it's done!

I love it! It's like earring art :-)

And good news is I still have a large piece of the metal left, so I just might make another one!

And since I like to give credit, where credit is due - here's the original post from I Heart Organizing.

And lastly, if you're interesting in joining Pinterest, for some reason you need to request an invite. If you email me or leave a comment with your email address, I'm happy to send you one!

DIY Perpetual Journal.

Awhile back I saw a really cute idea for a perpetual journal- it was designed to jot down the highlight of your day on one index card, year after year. I thought it was a great idea for those of us who love the idea of journaling but might lack the time and commitment.

So I set out to make my own!

I started with a bunch of index cards, a paper cutter, a date stamp, and ink pad.

I cut the index cards in half with the paper cutter - I can't recall the exact measurement but I used the large index cards. Then I stamped the upper left corner of each index card with Jan 1 - Dec 31.

This was the most time consuming part but I did it while watching TV and got into a little groove so it wasn't so bad! I also cut some card stock to use as the monthly dividers and stamped those with the months.

 I really like the way it turned out!!

 I also wrapped it in some twine and just listed it on etsy!

I'm typically not a craft maker...but this was kind of fun and really easy!

Tea time.

This weekend I had the pleasure of co-hosting a table at a woman's tea at my church. I've had the opportunity to attend many teas but this was my first time as a hostess and it was so much fun! Initially, I wasn't planning on doing a table but when my friend Jenny asked for centerpiece ideas it quickly spiraled into a co-hosting gig :-)

I was thinking a garden theme might be fun and quickly found my color inspiration when I spotted this cute little teal bird at Michael's. And what is spring like and goes with teal? Yellow! So just like that, we had a teal and yellow garden themed table!

 I found the silver watering can also at Michael's that the bird easily clipped to...

 Added some yellow spider mum's that I picked up that morning and we had our centerpiece! On a side note, my favorite thing about the spider mums are the little mesh wrapping that cover each flower that I get to pull off. It's weird but I buy these flowers quite often just so I can pull the mesh off. I can't explain why I like that so much, I just do :-)

Next, I wanted to add a little more to the table besides flowers so I picked up 3 small frames from the dollar store and gave them a quick coating of yellow spray paint and inserted a few tea related quotes I found.

You couldn't really see this little gap in the frame when it was black but it stuck out like a sore thumb in yellow. It was a dollar...so you get what you pay for. But what's a girl to do? 

I know! I'll steal a trick I saw on my friend Jill's blog and tried my hand at covering it with a twine rosettes. This quote was "Remember the tea kettle, it is always up to it's neck in hot water, yet it still sings!" Cute, huh?

So I dabbed some hot glue in the corner and started wrapping the twine around itself. Perfect!

But I had three frames and the other two felt bare, so I added them to the others. Things were good until I dropped a glob of hot glue on this one and burned off the paint.

So it got three!

I added a few of my white ceramic birds to the table and some teal vases I found at the dollar store filled with a few yellow gerber daisies.

I had wanted to add a little more teal into the table especially since we had a white dishes and a white table cloth. So I took 8 of my silver chargers and spray painted them in Rust-oleum's Lagoon. 

It wasn't an exact match but it did the trick!

 And here's the whole thing all put together!

I really loved the way everything turned out! It was a lot of fun working with Jenny and being able to get to know some new ladies.  

All of the hostesses did a wonderful job and made each table beautiful! 

Here are a few others...

I'm already looking forward to the next one!!