Rain Gutters...Who Knew?!

Just a quick share on these fabulous bookshelves honey made for our little guy's bedroom.  I saw shelves similar to these on Pinterest and loved them, now our son has some of his own.  Supplies and instructions follow the images.

View of entire shelf

End cap

Corner joint

What we used:

3 Plastic rain gutters

3 Gutter joints

6 Gutter end caps

1 Tube gutter glue 

Several screws

What we did:

First we measured and cut the the gutters down to the size we wanted.  Next we used gutter glue to adhere the joints and end caps to the gutters.  While those dried we measured and spaced the height of the shelves.  After the gutter glue was dry, we used screws to attach the gutters to the walls making sure to get several of them into the studs for security.   

I liked the corner layout for my son's room, but you could easily forego the corner joints and make straight shelves, but honestly, using the corner joints was not difficult at all.  

Major bonus: I noticed that as soon as the shelves were done and stocked with his books, my son was reading more often and I think it has something to do with the book covers facing forward and being more visible versus shoved on a traditional bookshelf.  

Thanks for stopping in--go create something beautiful!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Take a look at the lovely confection that my dear neighbor made for my little guy and his Little League team for their end of season celebration!

You can't really tell from the photo, but the flags along the outfield have the players names and it's pretty much the only part of the cake I can take credit for!  I am so thankful for my neighbor's help with this because I don't think I have the patience to decorate cakes!  

Thanks for stopping in--go create something beautiful today! 

Scrap Share

Today's post is all about using up those scraps!  I got the inspiration for today's card from a one I saw on Pinterest.  I recently made my first paper bag mini album (love!) and had tons of scraps left over from the project so I decided to make a card set to use them up.

I'm loving using twine and buttons these days so I had to incorporate them into my design.  Below are the supplies I used.

And...tada...here's the finished card.  I made a set of five, which are all very similar to the one shown here.  

The squares were punched using the 7/8 inch punch and I used the corner rounder to round off opposite edges of the squares.  I also used the square punch to create the tails on the flag where the sentiment is stamped.  Cute!  Hope you like it

Thanks for stopping in--go create something beautiful today!

Pretty French Braid

Just wanted to share a pretty braid I did on Natalie's hair for her ballet class.  At this stage they don't need to wear buns in their hair so each week I do a different pulled back style for her.  This week it was an "around-the-crown" french braid.

I parted her hair as though to do a half pony tail.  Next I started the braid above her left ear and used the half pony tail section to make a half french braid.

Instead of ending the braid at the other ear, I connected it to the bottom section and braided in the opposite direction.

This was my first try at doing this style of braid and there are a couple of things I'll need to remember next time, namely, I will try to braid the bottom section higher up on the head so that the part is not so visible.  All in all, her hair turned out beautiful and she loved it!

Thanks for stopping in...go create something beautiful today!

DIY Tiled Patio Table

I'm so excited to share today's post!  Last week we came home from little league practice to find the wind had caused the glass top on our patio table to shatter.  What...a...mess!  There was glass everywhere--I'm still finding small shards (no backyard bare feet for us).  Instead of getting a new glass top for the table we decided we would use ceramic tile to make a "custom" top.  This project was fairly easy for my honey (I have a very handy guy) and we were able to get this beautiful table top for about $110 versus the $300-$600 a new glass top would have cost.

After stabilizing a cut of plywood to prevent warping, we were ready to layout the tile.  We used 15x15 ceramic tiles in a simple rectangle layout leaving space on the edges to add an accent tile border.

Using a portable tile saw, he cut a hole for the umbrella to go through.  Next, he used a material called thin set, which is a bonding agent, to adhere the tile to the plywood.  

After adhering the center tiles, we were ready to add the border accent tiles.  For these we used darker, smaller tiles (6x6) and cut them down to the correct size.  
 

After a few hours we had a like-new table!  I love the way it turned out and I really love sitting out  there in the evenings watching the kids play in the grass.  Thanks honey!  

My Latest 'Pin'spiration

Hello!  I thought I'd share a little project I did as a housewarming gift for a friend at work.  I got the idea for this jar on Pinterest (where else, right?!) and was so excited when I got the opportunity to make one--I jumped right in!   

Top front view of the jar.

After finding the perfect jar, the next step was to choose a color theme--easy enough--my friend's favorite color is purple.  I made crinkle paper out of purple paper scraps for the inside base of the jar and then added the goodies including a candle, a chevron-patterned nightlight, and a few other small toiletry items that may not be easily accessible during moving (cotton balls, bandaids, a nail kit, etc.).

Top view of the jar.

Next was the fun part!  I used my Sizzix scallop circle Framelits and purple paper scraps to create this cute little label for the lid of the jar.  I used foam squares to raise the second layer of the label and a paper piercer to add detail to the edge of the scallops on the top layer.  I stamped the sentiment using one of my Fiskars stamp sets with Paper Studio lavender ink.  To add a little dimension and embellishing to the sentiment I popped up a tiny purple heart with a lavender rhinestone in the middle.

Front view of the jar.

 
I finished it off with a ribbon around the edge of lid.  This was a lot of fun to make and even more fun to give!  I love finding ways to use up scraps and making crinkle paper is a great way to do that! I will definitely be using this gift idea in the future--the possibilities are endless...birthday, baby shower, house warming, new job, graduation...............

Thanks for stopping by...go create something beautiful today!

Sweet Butterflies

Today I'm sharing this lovely little 4x4 coordinating card set and matching box I worked on over the weekend.  At first I wasn't sure about the colors or layouts, but all in all I think the cards turned out very nicely and I really like the box.  I might add a handle to the box because without a lid it seems a little incomplete to me.  I hope you like it!


The first card has a really neat fold and is almost like a mini album.  I followed Mary Fish's one minute tutorial which can be found on YouTube or at her Stampin' Pretty website.  

Front of album fold card

Album fold card unfolding

Inside of album fold card

The next card is a simple Thinking of You card. 

Thinking of you

Th next card turned out so lovely!  I used a square punch on the front of this card and then the same size scallop square to create a border for the windows.  I then covered the windows on the inside with a layer of white card stock and was getting ready to toss the negative from the label die I used in the album card when I realized it would be great for the inside of this card. Make sense...probably not!  

Inside and front of the negative die card

The final card is a basic with a simple little layout.

Simple little card

And for the box!  I used Andrea Walford's template and added some butterflies, ribbon, and rhinestones!  Pretty!  This box easily holds all 8 cards and envelopes.  

4x4 card box

Thanks for stopping by...go create something beautiful today!