Valentine's Day Door 2013

Ladies and Gentlelads start your Glue Guns!

I have to start off by saying that I may be the only girl in the world who does not get overly excited about Valentine Day or its Decor. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful BF who spoils the heck out of me. But for us, Valentine's Day is more of any everyday sorta thing, rather than a once a year! Can I get an AMEN from any of the ladies out there?

However, this year I decided to switch it up! I have always been a huge fan of wreaths for the front door and love to make them myself. There is something about a gorgeous wreath smiling at you as you leave each morning and return home from "those" long days at the office.

I was able to do the entire front door for about $12! Unfortunately, SOMEONE had lost the 40% off coupon from Michael's that I asked him to put in a safe spot. . . So for those of you who are coupon savvy, rest assure that you can do it on the mega cheap!.

For this project you will need. . .

* 4-5 Individual Paper Sizes Felt Squares

*A Foam Wreath

*A Skein of yarn

*Hot Glue or Felt Glue

*Any type of yarn/ribbon/sting for the garland

 *Scissors

For the Wreath, Simply take one end of the yarn and hot glue it to the Foam Wreath. Then TIGHTLY wrap the yarn around the entire wreath without cutting the yarn. If you wrap tight enough, you should be able to simply glue the other end of the yarn once the wreath has been wrapped with out it unraveling  (this is coming from someone who didn't wrap it tight enough the first time!). To get the stripped look, purchase the yarn that has individual 2-4 inch color strips spun in, see pic below. Not the Solid color yarn that has specs of colors.  Then decorate accordingly. I just glued hand cut hearts onto the side for some whimsy. 

For the Garland, Take your Yarn, Ribbon or Sting and measure the proper swag length over your door making sure to leave 2-4 inches extra on each side to tie it to a nail. Then cut your hearts. I found it easiest to take your felt and cut it into squares the desired size of your hearts (NOTE: this does not have to be perfect!) Next, pick one of your 4 sides to your square and use that as the point to your heart. Simply cut your "heart hump" from there and you have a perfect point every time! Once you have enough hearts cut ( 4 felt papers worth) lay the hearts down side by side, take glue and put a dot in the center of each heart, lay the string in the glue and then add a second heart on top to make a double heart string glue sandwich! Dry and Hang!

This is similar to the Yarn I used to get the stripped look, mine were obv. of the Valentine Colors.

 Send along pics of your Valentine's Door! The ideas are endless. . Happy Crafting :)

Mailbox Flowerbed

Hey Y'all long time no talk! Things have been VERY BUSY at the Richard/Hull house ( can't wait to officially pick just one last name)! So as many of you know, last Tuesday was my 24th Birthday! OUCH! The day was wonderful and was filled with tons of laughs and a TON of delicious food! Monday night we went out to SaltGrass for my birthday were I had an amazing dinner. Tuesday was filled with an explosion of Facebook messages, more delicious food and a decorated cube! Tuesday night, I flew home to Pittsburgh for my baby brothers High School Graduation!

Now. . . I need to stop with lovely rah rah koum by ya story to share that NOTHING is ever work free at the Richards House hold when Chelsea is home. Mother always is working on something ( wonder where I get it from?) and this time wasnt any different! With Austins HS Graduation a few days away, Mother want the house to look beautiful! For 15 years, she has been working on this house, doing what she could with the little money we had. She has replaced the siding, windows, roof, put in a walk way, did the landscaping, re paved the drive way and the list goes on an on. . .This project however was a simple project that she had been wanting to do FOR YEARS! All Mother wanted to do was create a flower bed at the top of the drive way surrounding the mailbox! Sounds simple right?!? WRONG! That was one of the most labor intensive jobs I have done in a long time! We banged the news paper holder off the mail box, ripped off the flower box on the back, repainted the post, dug out plants that had been rooted there for 10 years, outlined and edged the new flower bed, trucked about 10 mini van full loads of dirt to the top of the drive way ( NO WAY WHERE WE USING A WHEEL BARREL!) then shopped for plants, planted them and finally drug a ton of mulch up the driveway to finish it off!

Outlining the Bed and getting rid of the 10 year old plant!

Struggling for air! This plant is no joke to rip out!

TA DA Our Beautiful Flower Bed! Well worth the work!

Once this was finished, we started painting the bookcases in the basement, but didnt finish so we will have to wait until we get that project done before we can show pictures!

On Friday the day of my brothers Graduation, my dad took me for a little birthday shopping :) Hello NEW PURSE!

 

 And then we were off to Graduation :(

Sydney and the Boys

Mother and the Boys! She really has 5 sons, not 1. . ..SHHHH!

Friday Night, Dad took us out to eat at the Olive Garden and then we all went home and passed out from the pasta and bread stick coma!

Saturday we all laied around and just when Mother and I were about to start to finish the basement. . My Cousin and Grandmother from Indiana pull into the drive way! HOLY COW WHAT A SURPRISE! We ended up BBQ that night and James and I left around 9 to go down to Pittsburgh to meet his brother and girlfriend for some drinks!

Sunday was the big packing day which was followed by the big move. . . Ill fill you all in on that next posting. .  Gotta get through the rest of these boxes first!

All and All it was a great trip home to Pittsburgh, but I am glad to be back in Dallas :)

DIY Pallet Wine Shelf

Hey y'all! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! To continue with the Pallet Projects, I chose to take the higher road on this particular project and not have to physically rip the Pallets apart, this time I let my automatic hand saw to the work! The friend of mine who has the 2 kids ( we made the sand box for them over Memorial Day weekend) made Pallet Shelves for her sons Cowboy themed bedroom, so I had to give this a shot for myself!

Materials Needed:

1 Pallet

6 Small 90 Degree Brackets (2 brackets for each piece of wood to attach the bottom to my support frame)

1 Box Drywall Anchors

Rando screws to attach brackets and to screw it into the wall (feel free to buy them if you don't have any)

Tools Needed: 

Hand Circular Saw w/ blade

Power Drill

Level

Drill Bit for Pre drilling ( Pallet wood is VERY HARD!)

Directions:

 1. I simply took a Pallet and took my saw and chopped off the appropriate height that I wanted.

 Note: The pallet I used had 4 vertical support beams, the 2 support beams on the outside were easy to cut, however the 2 middle ones required a jig saw and some fancy work to cut out.

2. Remove the top pallet boards to make it a shelf where you can place things on. As you can see from the picture, my pallet was 3 boards wide. I removed the first 2 pallet boards to make my shelf.  Leaving the 3 pallet board attached to hold the bottles in place.

3. Find scrap wood to make a bottom for your shelf, I attached those with my handy dandy small brackets that I used in my Under Storage Pallet Project.

Note: since I have 4 support beams, it naturally creates 3 cubbys if you will that I need to fill with wood to create my bottom, I used 2 brackets to attach each of the 3 pieces of wood to the support frames. Does that make sense?!? Comment if it doesn't and Ill explain further!

Note: I had 3 pieces of wood that fit perfectly in the gap on the bottom where I was able to use my brackets. However, you may have to get a piece of wood cut for the bottom and attache it like I did my wine glass shelf. 

4. Find a wall and attach it using studs or dry wall anchors, make sure its sturdy and level! We DON'T WANT THINGS THAT GO BOOM IN THE NIGHT TO HAPPEN!

5. I added the x2 pallet boards that I removed in Step 2 and added them on top of the shelf for additional storage. I just hammered those into the support beams and that was plenty strong to hold my glasses!

TA DA! We have a wine shelf and a cleared out a large space in my Kitchen Pantry and Cabinets where the Veno and Glasses once lived! Who knew that on  this mission to make more room for my honey that I would become this creative!!! James is proud that I have not chopped a finger off! ( that's a story for another time. . . .

Now if we can just pant the breakfast/dining nook a different color, I think we will be off to the races! Suggestions anyone?

Pallet Under the Bed Storage

Hey everyone! Sorry that I haven't posted in a while, we have been so busy with getting everything situated for the move in. . . .17 DAYS!!!!! But, hey whos counting!

Continuing on the trend of organizing and making room in my apartment for James so that it becomes OUR apartment, we needed some additional storage because I am just not ready to give up my storage/ craft closet. . . . Can you blame a girl?  Sorry Love!

So with the inspiration of pinterest and all of there lovely pallet projects, I decided to give it a go on my own! Before we get started ladies, you need to know that ripping apart pallets is NO JOKE! And the worst part about it is, there is no easy way to take them apart, you gotta use the crow bar and mallet. . ITS THE ONLY WAY! But in the same breath, the look and the quality of wood is just amazing! And who can overlook the word FREE. So. . . clearly its worth the work, just go into with a can do attitude and patience. . . Lord knows there was a large amount of spiritual growth happening during this deconstruction! Can I get an Amen?!?

For this project, I decided to make x4 under the bed storage bins to store sheets and tshirts etc ( ie the things that take up space but are hardly ever folded) The measurements are for my bed specifically, you can clearly adjust the measurement to fit your space easily!

Material Needed: (for one bin only) 

x12 90 degree small brackets ($0.58 each)
x4 90 degree long brackets ($0.47 each)
x1 box #8 1/2 inch wood screws ($ 4.00 each)
x4 34" long pallet boards ( Free)
x4 31 " long pallet boards ( Free)
x2 2x2x8 boards ($1.98 each) 
x4 2 inch industrial wheels ($2.58 each)

Tools needed:

Power drill

Circular Hand Saw

Mallet

Crow bar

Total Cost PER BIN:  $27.12 
Retail Cost:  $89.00-$144.00 each!!!

Directions:

1. Tear Pallets apart, there is no easy way folks, just be gentle so to not split the wood. This will take the longest amount of time! Figure 1 hr per pallet to deconstruct, I needed 1.5 Pallets per drawer.

2. Remove any nails. . I had to cut some ends off for the nails I couldn't remove.

3.Lay all boards out and pair boards together to achieve the same height per side. Each board is a different height and width. The idea is to get boards that are the same thickness and achieve a common height to ensure they fit under the bed. I had 18.5 inches to work with under my bed.  My magic number height was aprox 15 inches plus an additional 3 inches of room for the wheels ensured that I could slide my bin easily in and out from under the bed. . Does that make sense?  You also need to make sure that when pairing the boards together that they are the minimum length needed to build your box. Because the boards may crack when you are taking them apart, now is also a good time to trim up the boards to make sure what you are working with is "Good Wood"

4.  Cut boards to the correct length. Mine bins were a rectangle, not a square and required different measurement per sides. Just something to think about. . . 

THE HARD PART IS OVER. . .The next steps go quickly!

5. With your long brackets, arrange your boards in an "L" shape to begin attaching the brackets. You will need to make sure that the top and bottom board match up in width and allow any gaps to be between the boards not on the outside. We are trying to form a box that is consistently the same height the whole way around. 

These are the long brackets, note that my top and bottom board matches the other top and bottom board to form a nice corner.

6. Once you have the box constructed, now we need to form the bottom so you can actually hold items in your bin.

6. With the box constructed, determine how many boards you will need to achieve a even gap between each board to form the bottom. I needed 6 boards with aprox a 2 inch gap between each board. 

7. Measure, Mark and Cut boards to length. 

8. Take freshly cut boards and space evenly to form the bottom of your bin. You will want to construct the bottom with the bin sitting normally ( Ie the bottom boards, laying on the floor with you climbing/ leaning inside to construct the bottom)

I wanted you to see the spacing of my boards, this is obv the finished product and hopefully helps you to see my vision!

9. Take small brackets and place on each end of the boards. I had 6 boards and a total of 12 brackets. 

These are the small brackets. Note that the bracket is flush against the side wall of the bin and then attached to the board. Some of mine had gaps like you see above.. it didnt bother me.

10. Screw one side of the brackets into the actual board first, making sure that the other end of the  bracket is also touching the side of your bin. Do this for all of the boards

11. Then go back through and match the bottom of you brackets is flush with the bottom of your bin and screw the bracket to the inside of your pallet bin. 

12. At this point, you should have a fully constructed bin with a bottom. Flip bin over and attach the 4 wheels to the bottom. 

My wheels (bought at Home Depot)

13. Take your fully completed bin and make sure that you measured your height correctly by sliding your bin under the bed. If the bin is too tall in some areas or is scraping. Take the top board and unscrew the long corner brackets and close the gaps in between the board until it fits. Note that once you move one board down, you will more than likely have to move the remaining 3 top boards. 

I also added handles to my bins to make it easier to pull out from under the bed! 

Handles are from Hobby Lobby (bought them on sale)

Bad pic of my completed bin

Let me know what you think! Happy building!

 

 

DIY Sandbox

Before we get started I wanted to say Happy Memorial Day to Everyone! With the official first day of Summer past us it is not time to start all of the summer like activities! Swimming, Golfing, Sunbathing and one of the most important one in my book the BEACH!

This past weekend to help kick off Summer, my friend Jessica and her 2 kids Mason and Rylee decided to have our own day at the beach. . .well make a beach in the backyard :) Jessica had picked up your standard pool from Walmart for a great value of $9.99, so I decided to make a sandbox so that we could truly have a beach! When I looked at Walmart at there Sandboxes I was nearly blown away at the cost of a box to put sand in! $40-$150 people!!!! Have you lost your mind!!!!! Needless to say Zoey and I got right back into the car and went over to Home Depot to build our own! And thank goodness my old faithful scrap wood bin was able to save the day again! I was able to grab 4 beautiful pieces of wood for $1.01 each, had them cut the same size and we were off to the races! Check out the directions/pics below!

Materials Needed:

x4 Pieces of Wood  (I used 2x6 aprox 3.5 ft long)

x4 90 degree brackets ( pic below, can be found by the deck braces, $0.47 each)

Wood screws ( we had plenty hanging around the house)

Weed guard fabric

Staple Gun or Hammer and nails

Power Drill

Sand Bags

Steps:

1. Take your 2x6 Pieces of wood and have them cut the same length, for those of you who dont know this, Home Depot will cut the wood for you for free! 

2. Take 4 pieces of wood and make them into a box formation.

3. Take your handy dandy brackets and attach your bracket to each of the 4 corners together, it does help to have a second person handy, or use the wall to help push the pieces together while you drill.This pic was from another project of mine. . .Same concept though

 4. You should now have a put together box! Congrats!!! How easy was that!

5. Take your newly constructed box and attach your weed guard fabric to cover the bottom of your box. Attach with your staple gun or hammer and nails. This will not only prevent creepy crawlies from getting into the sand, but also the weeds!

*Note: For those of you who have not purchased a staple gun, Home Depot has a wonderful selection for $10, I HIGHLY recommend purchasing one if you are a crafter or DIYer (not sure if that is a word lol)

6. Flip box over so that the fabric is on the ground and fill with sand! TADA! SANDBOX!

I would recommend that any sandbox you build be AT LEAST 4 inches deep! To know how many bags of sand you will need. Simply multiply the Length x Width of your sand box. Take that total and multiple that by 0.667 to find out how many bags of sand you will need. We needed 6 bags to fill a 3.5 x 3.5 box.

Cost of Sandbox: 

x4 2x6 boards $1.01 each

x4 Brackets $0.47 each

x1 roll of weed fabric $9.99

x6 bags of sand $2.50 each

Total Cost: $30.88 WITH SAND INCLUDED!!!!!

Savings Tips:

#1 Home Depot has 2 different kids of Play Sand, both are the same size just different prices. The one in the gardening department is $3.55 per bag. There is a second area inside by the housing materials for $2.50 per bag!

#2 You do not HAVE to use the weed fabric, its just a nice to have. . . But if you are like us and are planting flowers at the same time, just cut a piece off and use that, no need to buy a whole roll!.

Total cost for a perfect summer, toys included. . .$50! Hows that for savings!!!!

DIY Dog Toys

So since we are on the topic of dog items. . . I thought I would share the project that I did last night! Right before the holidays, when we were officially addicted to Pinterest, some of the gals at the office and I started to have "Pinterest Night". The idea behind each night was that anything that we ate and or crafted had to come from Pinterest. Needless to say. . How can you go wrong, right???

Last night we had our usual gathering, my turn to host, and there were some awesome crafts completed! The craft I chose to complete was a Dog Rope Toy. Zoey LOVES the rope toys at my friends apartments and can be a bit of a bully at the dog park with the ones they have there. Only problem is, she loves to shred the strings beyond recognition! As a side note, Ill have you know, that this is the ONLY thing that she shreds :) I've heard horror stories of dog mommies having to pull strings from certain areas and some pups even having to have surgery to remove the blockage from there tummies! At that exact moment, James and I decided that we were going to do everything in our power to limit the amount of time she has with the rope toy!

I decided to take the left over t shirts from my produce bag project and cut them into strip and braid rope toys of my own! This not only saved me additional $$ ( $14-$30 retail per rope toy) but it also saved me the vet bills!

Directions: Even though its not necessary

1. Cut your strips of fabric so that you have aprox 6 t shirt strips 1-2 feet long. You may have to knot together smaller pieces to get the ultimate length you want.

*Note: when you braid the rope together it will shrink, so make sure its long enough to braid and tie x2 knots at either end!Also, t shirt fabric works best, regular fabric tears easily when tugged on by a puppy!

2. Take all of the pieces of fabric and form a  large knot at one end

3. Braid rope any way you please, making sure the braid is tight as you go

4. Knot your ropes individually or all at once like you did in Step 2

TA DA! ROPE TOY! Check out some of my pictures below! Zoey is in LOVE! And personally, I like the look of the ones I had to knot together to make long enough!

DIY Dog Shampoo

About 4 months ago James and I became proud parents of a 4 legged girl named Zoey! Needless to say when having a puppy, and living in Dallas where there are plenty of lakes and dirt to play in "Tubby Time" ( aka Bath Time) is almost a weekly activity!

Now ill have to admit, I never thought puppies could be this expensive! So right from the get go, I was out to save money where we could! After looking at Petsmart and seeing that a bottle of DOG SHAMPOO COST MORE THAN MY SHAMPOO!!!! I was determined to find a cheaper alternative!

Drum Roll Please. . . I have found the perfect shampoo and it was FREE! After looking at countless blogs and talking to multiple dog professionals I have determined that a Clear Dish Soap like the one below and vinegar makes THE BEST SHAMPOO!

Pros:

1. Its very cheap

2. Easy to make

3. Dog stays smelling fresh for almost an entire week! And there is no trace of the vinegar smell!

4. When the dog gets wet, you dont have the "wet dog" smell

5. It kills any creepy crawlies that may be on her from the lakes

6. Kills fleas (if you have that problem, we thankfully do not)

7. Is perfect for sensitive skin

8. Cures dry skin

9. Leaves coat looking silky and ungreasy

10. Little bit goes a long way and it makes a good amount of soap

Cons:

1. Because it has vinegar in it, you cant get it in your puppies eyes.

Are you convinced to use it yet?!?

Directions:

1. Find empty shampoo bottle

2. Pour equal parts dish soap and vinegar into empty bottle

3. Shake to mix

TA DA! All done :)  Let me know what y'all think! Im in love!!!

T Shirt Produce Bags

So with James moving to Texas in 3 weeks, I thought it MAY be a good idea to go through the house and make some room for his things! I started with the area that I dreaded the most. . .THE CLOSET! Turns out, I have managed to hold onto a ton of Northern sweaters that I will never need in Texas.

About 6 months ago, I turned all of my hanger around backwards and swore to myself that at the end of 6 months, if the hanger had not been turned the correct way when doing laundry that I would donate the clothes. Little did I know that this project would be a double win! First win. . .My clothes are only occupying exactly 1/2 of the closet! Win #2. . . I got to take some of my old t shirts that I was going to be donating and turn them into something exciting. . . Anyone ever thought of transforming t shirts into reusable produce bags?!?!

Delia Creates: How To Link

 I found a wonderful blog thanks to Pinterest where she did just that! Click on the link below the picture to see how she did them! It was soooooo easy! I think I made 5 in less than 15 min :)

Note to those are going to make these!

I did not do any kind of fancy stitching like she showed, I just cut out my shape and sewed the 3 sides shut using a normal stitch. Mine have held up just fine!