Color is Cooler

So my mom has had this mirror for, like, ever. My sister and I bought it for her one year when gold corners and crackle finish was totally in style. I had totally forgotten about it until my mom mentioned that they planned to sell it in a garage sale.

Um. . . . no! I NEEDED a mirror to sit atop my mantel and look amazing. The only problem was, I'm not really a gold corners and crackle paint kind of girl. As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing ugly enough that a can of spray paint (or in this case, not even a full can) can't fix.

Again, thanks to Pinterest, I tried something new. I rubbed candle wax over the corner flourishes with the intent of adding some "aged" look to the frame. I carefully masked off the mirror with masking paper and painters tape.

My one tip here would be: don't skimp on painters tape. I have several DIY projects at home that have been marred by the cheap painters tape. If it doesn't block out the paint you wind up with a horrible end product or more work for yourself.

Once it was masked off, I spread out an old vinyl tablecloth that I purchased at an end of season sale at Wal-Mart for $1.50 and now use as my spray paint drop cloth. It's a great, cheap way to create a painting space anywhere you need one.


The frame took a good two coats of paint before it was fully covered. As you can see below, the corners did retain a bit of the aged look. Not quite what I thought I might get but I'm happy with it. The crackle finish along the frame resulted in a nice texture that I'm digging now that its done.

And just like that, my somewhat color challenged living room has a POP of lipstick red that reflects the light, brightens the room and makes both the darling hubby and I happy (though I suspect he may be a fan because now we have crimson and cream in the living room). :)

Beyond Shelf Paper - Drawer Liners with Style

So Pinterest is seriously enabling my do-it-yourself spirit! Today's project was to add a finishing touch to the drawers in my bathroom. Shelf paper just does not do it for me. The styles are so boring and so . . . similar.

On a trip to Heaven, er, I mean, Hobby Lobby, I found the perfect print for some bathroom drawers but it was just fabric. Not a problem. There is virtually no problem that can't be solved with a search of Pinterest.

Here's what I did:


1. Measure the drawer (do this a couple of times. I had to cut my liners down because they were a bit too long.
2. Cut posterboard to fit the drawer bottom.
3. Cut fabric just a bit bigger than the posterboard.
4. Use tape to secure the overlap of the fabric to the back posterboard.
5. Begin Mod-Podging the heck out of the fabric atop your posterboard.
6. Let dry.
7. Commence Mod-Podging again. . . lay it on thick and let it dry again.
8. Install the liners in your drawers.
9. Sit back and marvel at your new pretty drawers (or not . . . I mean it is a drawer for crying out loud. . . it's not the Sistine Chapel).

Halloween Footsies!

I absolutely adore this idea that I found on Pinterest. I'm a fan of anything I can make that is not only crafty but incorporates something sentimental about my daughter. This footsie project was perfect.

First we painted the bottom of her feet, let her stomp on the black posterboard and then ran for a wet washrag to get all of that off before I let her back in the house.


She had so much fun picking out the perfect Fruit Loops for the eyes.


All in all, the project cost about $2.97 and took up the perfect space of an afternoon.

laced up earbuds

if you look closely at the photos above you can see a sad little progression. the first photo shows you what happens when your loving husband washes your earbuds. now, to give props where props are due, the earbuds still worked even after a wash, rinse and tumble in the dryer (way to go sony).

now i don't know about you guys but at casa de dehart we are on a budget. even 10 bucks for new earbuds feels frivolous. plus i'd seen these cute laced earbuds on etsy and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try and make my own. mine do not look as perfect as those worked up by Chozin, they work for my purposes . . . making earbuds cute and functional again.

so here's how i worked mine up. as you can see up top, i first patched any of the melted places with electrical tape. if i were into black and white minimalism, i could have stopped there. but i'm not. i really love apple green. so I snagged three "skeins" of DMC embroidery thread in a lovely green color and went to town.

the easiest way to get started was to tape this to a little table and begin by tying a knot at the base of the earbuds. from then on out (because i wasn't really sure exactly how to go about things) i made up my own rules. :) for those of you who never made friendship bracelets back in the day, check out Honestly WTF's tutorial here. if you did, then you know how to do the basic knot bracelet. that's basically what I did all the way down the cord.

this is not a quick project. i kept tying and tying and tying . . .

at this point i started thinking . . . "maybe i could leave that last earbud undone." because dude, it's a lot of tying!

i'm pretty pleased with the final product. not only do the earbuds have a nice solid weight but the cord doesn't tangle!! (cue the hallelujah chorus) i can also guarantee that captain awesome (my darling husband) wont' be snagging these beauties and telling me he just got our headphones "mixed up." lol

enjoy! play with your earbuds! have fun. there's not much you can't do to dress up your gear with a little imagination. let me see what you come up with!

Snuggly Owl Pillows

so a few days ago i finally gave in and made my daughter moose and zee (from nick jr.) snuggle pillows. she took them to my mother's and shabam . . . my niece called a few hours later wanting her very own snuggle pillow.

instead of making the smaller pillows, I decided to make them each an owl of their very own. this meant another trip to hobby lobby (it's a semi daily trip) but what came of that trip were three very cute little birds.

this afternoon i actually just sat and freehanded the outline of the birds.


now i have to say, every project needs its own inspiration. this afternoon i found mine:


armed with john mayer and keith urban crossroads on cmt, i started cutting out three different owls. one for my niece, nephew, and of course, emily.

once everything was cut out, i laid the pieces out to make sure it looked exactly as i wanted it to. never mind the hottie in the background. he was keeping me company while i worked.

and then it's time to begin sewing. the beautiful thing about these little critters is that just like there's absolutely no right way to lay them out, there's also no right way to sew them up. i let all the stitches show on these guys. i was a sloppy little seamstress. but i think it just makes them cuter. what do you think?

on each of these, i left just a bit of room to insert some stuffing. i didn't stuff them tightly; just enough to give them a little "poof." once they were stuffed, i ran the open area back through the sewing machine and stitched it closed.

all that was left was to line the birdies up and show them off.