$6 Powder Room Update for Spring

Spring is in the air so it's a good time to make some changes around the house.  One of my favorite rooms in our home is our first floor powder room.  It's funny because it started out as one of my least favorite rooms.  But a few years ago I embraced the white and gray tile and the grayish formica vanity.  I stopped focusing on how much I disliked it and instead used it as a jumping off point to create a space using my favorite color combination of blue, bronze, cream and gray.  

This time around the changes I made are subtle, but just enough to make it feel fresh to me.

It started by me finding these damask hand towels at Home Goods for $2.99 each.  They picked up on the damask wallpaper that I love in this bathroom.  I also loved the stripe at the bottom of the hand towels.  It gives these towels both a masculine and feminine feel. 

Then using my Silhouette machine, I transformed my plain white trash can and tissue box holder.  I used a damask design and cut it out on the machine.  To apply it I use clear contact paper which is a much more cost effective method of applying vinyl.  In minutes I completely changed the look of these accessories.

I actually used two different damask designs...one for the trash can and one for this tissue box holder.  It makes the accessories feel a bit more special.

It's funny how new hand towels and a little DIY project can make a space feel fresh and new.

How about you?  How have you been refreshing your spaces for Spring?

-Judy

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Thanksgiving Kids Table Chocolate Place Card

Thanksgiving is only a few days away.  We have twenty coming for dinner...twelve adults and eight kids.  I've already shared my dining room all set for Thanksgiving here.  I wanted to do something special for the kids table.  I always make place cards for both tables.  But, to take it up a notch I decided to make little chocolate owls to incorporate into my place cards.

First I started with making the chocolate owls using a mold I got from Wholeport.  It's one of the easiest molds to work with and my owls came out perfect each and every time.

First I made the owl chocolates.

Then using my Silhouette machine I printed out owl name cards.  I wanted the names on the owls already so I printed these out rather than having my silhouette machine cut them out.  

I wrapped each owl in a treat bag, punched a hole in the name tag and tied a bow.  

Now my kids table is set as well.  

Doesn't chocolate make everything more fun?

Are you all set for Thanksgiving?

-Judy

Monogrammed Pumpkins

Fall is officially here so it is time for me to finish up adding all of my fall decor to my home.

It's amazing how a simple monogram can make anything look fancy.  

I wanted to decorate my front hallway for fall using
these cream colored pumpkins at Michaels.

Using my Silhouette machine I printed our initials onto black vinyl.

I added some fall foliage into a Lenox vase.  

Under the cloche, I added an image that I printed onto card stock from The Graphics Fairy.  

I wanted some fall leaves, but the leaves haven't really begun to change that much by us, plus I don't love bringing leaves in from outside since you never know what bugs you are bringing in.

My solution...images of leaves from The Graphic Fairy, printed onto regular copy paper and cut out.

They look pretty real.

How is your fall decorating coming along?

I'd love to know.

-Judy

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Turning Plain Jane Canisters into Something Special

With the kids back at school, I have been able to start to tackle all of those little things that I didn't have time for all summer.  One of those little things was taking my plain, 

basic canisters and turning them into something a bit more special.

Here is the after photo...after a ten minute project using my Silhouette machine.

Here's how they started.  I always had them labeled so that I could tell them apart.  

My basic labels weren't really cutting it anymore for me.  

I've been a part of blogland too long now to be satisfied with basic labels anymore. Lol

I cut the frames and the letters out of black vinyl using my Silhouette machine.

The easiest way to transfer vinyl is to pull away all of the negative vinyl first.

Then I use clear contact paper and place it sticky side down onto the vinyl and rub until it adheres to the sticky side.  Then I peel up the clear contact paper and it's ready to adhere to whatever surface I am transferring it to.  Ten minutes later I had much cuter canisters.  

Even my husband noticed them over the weekend!

Don't you just love the quick and easy projects?

Do you love vinyl too?

-Judy

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Crafty Gifts

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. 

The weather was just beautiful yesterday and our whole family was here to celebrate.  

This is one of the gifts I made my mom.  I bought a frame and cut a piece of scrapbook paper to size.  Then using my Silhouette machine, I cut out this saying out of white vinyl 

and added it to the outside of the frame.

You could do this with any saying for any occasion. 

For my mother-in-law and two sisters-in-lawI found this beautiful fabric at JoAnn's.

They had all admired the iPad pillow I made my daughter a few weeks ago (you can check out here how I made this).  I decided to make one for each of them.

Here is a close-up of the fabric.  I thought it was so girly and pretty and would go with any decor.

Here is a close-up of the back of the pillow. 

They all loved their iPad pillows.

It was really one of the best Mother's Days.

How about you?  How was your Mother's Day?

-Judy

Ring and Hook Pub Game

Welcome 2012!!  I'm looking forward to a great year ahead.
Today I wanted to share a project that I made and gave to my son for Christmas this year.

When we went on our Disney European Cruise this summer, my son spent much of the free time we had playing this ring and hook pub game in one of the lounges.  It is a game that consists of a string attached to the ceiling with a ring at the end of the string,  that you have to swing and attempt to loop the ring over a hook on the bull's nose.

For Christmas my husband asked me if I could make this game.  Of course I could!!  I started with a wood plaque I bought at AC Moore using a 50% off coupon.  I painted the face of the wood with Anne Sloan Chalk paint in Old White and painted the edges with a craft paint in grey.

Using my Silhouette machine I cut out a bull's head in black vinyl and the letters in blue vinyl.

Here is the finished plaque before the hook.

We hung it on one of the oak columns in our basement.
You need sufficient space on all sides in order to toss the string.

I wanted to safely hang it from the ceiling and make it easily removable whenever the game was not in use.  I started by having my husband drill a hole in a small dowel.  I then threaded the string through the dowel.  I added a little black electrical tape over my knot to ensure it didn't slip.
All materials were purchased at Home Depot.

Then my husband drilled a small hole in the ceiling and used a plastic wall anchor and
screwed an eye hook into the ceiling.

Image

Here are the exact dimensions necessary for the game to work.
The small dowel with the string goes through the eye hook.

Whenever the game is not being played we just remove the dowel.

We then measured the exact height and added the metal loop at the end.

Voila!  This entire project cost less than $10 and my kids have played it all week long.  Any time we have had company this week, they have played as well.

Both my son and daughter have "ringed" the hook almost 80 times each.  They are actually keeping a tally.  If you look closely you will see that I have zero.
Yes...I have the skill to build it, but apparently lack any skill to play it.  Lol

Anyone else ever try this game?  It's addicting.

-Judy