DIY - Up-cycled/Recycled Outdoor Christmas Tree Topiary

One of the great things about Christmas is finding that perfect, fresh-cut tree to put in your home. Invariably, every year we have to cut a few branches off of the lowest part of the tree in order to fit it in the tree stand, and this year as I looked at these discarded branches, I had an "ah-ha" moment. 

I didn't want to put them to waste and I had a wire tomato cage lying around...

The result is a DIY, up-cycled, recycled Christmas topiary!  The process was entirely too simple. I used zip-ties to attach the branches to the tomato cage (which is up-side down) and aside from making the ribbon from some leftover burlap (awesome tutorial here), that is all I did. 

Merry Christmas!!

DIY - Easter Centerpiece

Easter is around the corner and here in Southern Oregon, the spring flowers are in full bloom! With all the daffodils and tulips displaying their finest colors, I felt inspired to create an Easter centerpiece.

Take a narrow clear vase and put it inside of a taller and wider cylindrical candle holder/vase. I then bought some of the small chocolate Easter egg candies and poured them in-between the two vases. (I would totally recommend putting the candy in BEFORE you put water in your smaller vase, otherwise you have some water-logged chocolate and a difficult time getting the candy out!)

Last, but not least, add and arrangement of fresh-cut spring flowers!

A word of warning, the earlier you put out your arrangement, the more likely you'll be buying some more chocolate eggs before Easter!!

The Big 3-0

For those of you who don't know, I just turned 30. It came, it went and now I am 30 years and one day old.

With age comes wisdom (allegedly) and more candles on the birthday cake. Always thinking like a photographer, I just had to take this opportunity to try something new and create a blog post at the same time!

Working with different kinds of lighting can be fun and candles are no exception, the more the better.

Using a tripod and a shutter release, I set my camera to f/14, 1/60 sec, ISO 3200 at 53 mm - and this is what I got...

So, the next time a birthday comes around in your family, give this technique a shot (pun intended)! 

DIY - Memory Jar

Do you remember those dioramas that you made from an old shoebox in elementary school? What if you could save memories for your children (or even yourself) in the same manner?

Trade out the shoebox for a glass jar, fill it with things collected from a vacation - and maybe even some pictures - and what you get is a 3D memory jar.

I can't claim this idea to be my own, although it is really a good one! Actually, I ran across this in the August issue of Parents magazine.

The timing of this find couldn't have been more perfect because our family had just spent the 4th of July camping, and as a part of our trip, we had my son do a nature-themed scavenger hunt. What started out as an idea just to keep him occupied and interested in a hike, turned out to be a great opportunity to create memories and also bring home some of what he found.

My son has a bit of the photographer gene, so as a part of his scavenger hunt, we asked him to take pictures of two of the items on his list. With those pics uploaded, I jumped over to PicMonkey (seriously the best free photo editing website!) and created a collage, adding words and a couple of graphics to the photos he took. (I thought it would be cute to put a © symbol and his name on the photos as well, because he did take them!) 

All you need is a clear glass jar, the magazine suggested using a pickle jar, but I only had a mason jar on hand, so that's what I used.

A few items is all you really need. I think less is more with something like this. Adding photos is a really nice touch. Especially if you have a lot of photos in mind, creating a collage is a nice way to incorporate all of them.

Lastly, I wanted to have more than one way to view the items, so I removed the lid, leaving the rim that goes with the mason jar. I cut a circle slightly larger than the mouth of the jar out of a plain ziplock baggie. With the plastic in place on top of the jar, I was able to still screw on the rim, creating a "sunroof" of sorts.

This was so much fun to create and I know that my son will enjoy collecting more memory jars for years to come!

I may be level headed, but...

I despise hanging shelves. Floating shelves to be exact. I may have a level head, so to speak, but I cannot - I repeat CANNOT - hang shelves level to save my life!

They do make this nifty little tool called a level, but I am pretty sure mine is broken and I have several cock-eyed shelves to prove it.

They aren't so crooked
you take a photo a just the right angle!

My life is often like my crooked shelves. At times, it can be a bit off level, and I try to improve on those things everyday. In terms of the shelves, I tried putting a taller item on the "low" end of the shelf in a desperate attempt to make it look like it's the same height as the other side.

It didn't work. But, I don't care, I am not putting more holes in my wall and I don't want to throw another drill across the room!

Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration...


When it comes to the things in my life that aren't quite level however, I won't give up.  God has given me a heart to improve myself, so I will continue to put holes into the walls of the things of my life that need improvement until they seem level to me.

---

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding;" - Proverbs 3:5

DIY - Laundry Room Vinyl Decal Picture Frame

Laundry. It consumes most of our lives and seems to grow exponentially when we aren't looking. That being said, I honestly think we spend more time in our laundry rooms than we would like to admit. Why then, should those rooms not be aesthetically pleasing?

For instance, I have a sign in my laundry room - which by no means looks like something out of Better Homes and Gardens - that reads "Drop your pants here".

I have found that I really like laundry humor. It's dirty, but in a good way...

While perusing a local craft store, I came across vinyl decals. "Wash - Dry - Fold - Repeat" one decal read. Enter my "ah-ha" moment of adding photography to the laundry room using an image that I took of some weathered clothespins that had been left outside near a clothesline.

The vinyl decal, the photo and a floating picture frame - that I already had at home - lead to the following idea for sprucing up your laundry room.

How To:


1)   The trick with floating frames is trying find the center of the frame to place your photo. Now, by no means am I going to offer any advice as to how to find the center, as I am sure that I did it in the most backwards way possible. Although, you want to mark and adhere the photo onto the back piece of glass.

I did find that using a dry erase marker to make the marks on the glass works wonderfully, and comes off easily!

I may measure badly, but I did want to
take a picture of the tape measure ;)

2)   Use photo safe double stick tape to adhere the photo to the glass. (Again to the back piece of glass, and obviously this would be a good time to wipe off the marks)

3)   As for the decals, just follow the directions that come on the packaging. Tip: I did find that using a popsicle stick to press firmly against the bottom of the clear adhesive sheet as you are pulling it back helped to keep the vinyl on the glass. 

This is an 11 x 14 inch floating frame with an
8 x 10 inch photo.

As a smaller option, I do sell this image in my shop in the form of a handmade greeting card, which you could frame in a 5 x 7 inch frame and put in your laundry room as well!

Now, google laundry humor, and you can find fun sayings like: "Laundry today, or naked tomorrow!"

DIY - Turning a Photo Calendar Into a Scrapbook

It may be obvious given my chosen occupation that I like photography. Let me re-phrase that, LOVE it. That being said, I tend to go a little crazy when it comes to all things related to photography, and that includes creating keepsakes for my family.

In this digital age especially, nearly everyone owns a digital camera - and because of its ease of use and the vast amounts of images you can store on a computer or memory chip - I think people are taking more photos than ever.

I, for example, took somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 photos of my family in 2011. Knowing that there was no way that I was going to take the time to print that many photos and then put them in albums (out of the first five years of my marriage, only one of them is in an album) I decided to create a calendar full of photos. I figured this way I would be forced to choose only the photos that I really liked and that were memorable.

After the first year, I didn't quite know what to do with the calendar, but it was too special to just put in a box. Then I had an epiphany - these pages of photos would make the perfect scrapbook!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because I have a Mac, it comes with iPhoto, a photo program that also allows the user to create calendars, photo books, etc. within the program. However, there are tons of websites out there where you can upload your photos and do the same thing. Two examples are Snapfish and MyPublisher.

Calendar Cover

Below are two examples of pages I created for the past two years. As you can imagine, there are a ton of different layouts and designs that you can use.

I tried to use photos that corresponded with that
particular month and/or season.

Sometimes, simplicity says it all. 

Here's some of the nitty gritty:

First, I cut each page from the binding. The photo portion of this calendar measured 10 x 13 inches, so in order to fit my pages into a scrapbook sleeve, I had to do some trimming (the standard scrapbook album uses 12 x 12 inch pages). Therefore, I had to take 1/2 inch off of both sides of the page to make it fit into the sleeve.

This is so simple, it's ridiculous. Lastly, I inserted the trimmed page into the plastic sleeve...

...and added some textured scrapbook paper to compliment the collage.  It can be this simplistic, or you can go to town and add the usual scrapbooking suspects like lettering, stickers and things of that nature. Honestly though, for those of us who lead busy lives, leaving it this way may be the only way it will get done!

DIY - What Not to Do

What started out as a "brilliant idea" recently turned into a what-not-to-do. An FYI, I come from a relatively long line of DIY women and this gene is not lost on me. 

So, when I found a pin on Pinterest about making seeded paper, I got that familiar spark of enthusiasm, excitement, and I am pretty sure that look in my eyes that says that this could be the next big thing for me to add to my shop!

Essentially, seeded paper is good 'ole paper with flower seeds embedded in it. The recipient can then tear up the card after they receive it, hopefully read what you write first, then plant the paper and flowers will soon follow. It's the perfect "gift that keeps on giving". Hence my initial enthusiasm. 

Much to my dismay, I think I added way too much water when I "blended" my paper. It was taking forever to dry, so I put it aside...

...and kind of forgot about it...

I am fairly certain that the paper is not supposed to sprout before it gets to its recipient.

I wanted SEEDED paper not CHIA PET paper!!!

Like my mom said, at least she's not the only one this kind of thing happens to. Which, by the way, happens to everyone! (That's my story and I am sticking to it)

  

Needless to say, any future attempts at making seeded photo greeting cards will be done with pre-made seeded paper.

Winston Churchill said it best, "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

I am confident that, eventually, failure will lead to success. Let's hope in a "rags-to-riches" sort of way!

DIY - Family Photo Collage Frame

What started out as a simple way to fill a space left on the wall of my son's room - after we took down his crib and put up his "big boy" bed one year ago - turned into filling a different kind of spiritual space.

When the crib came down, I had to hang something on the wall above his bed because the gap between the wooden letters spelling out his name, and the top of the bed was too much for me to handle.

In a devine moment of inspiration, I decided to print photos of my son's family members from both sides of our family and put them into a collage picture frame.  Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for aunts and uncles, but we did squeeze in a space for his cousins, since he loves them so much.

There are four generations represented in this frame, and one has since passed, which makes me even more appreciative that pictures were taken when they were, because regardless of whether or not they are still here;

"Family is forever."

Trust me, I am not delusional. We all have moments when we aren't the biggest fan of someone(s) in our family for whatever reason, but honestly, they are forever and my husband and I really want to make that impression on our children.

The truly inspirational part of this story has nothing to do with simply hanging a picture frame, our son created that all on his own. 

It started as him standing on his bed and pointing to each photo and telling us who was in it.  Soon, it became a quiz of sorts and we would ask him where someone was and he would jump up, climb onto his bed and point to them.  At one point, he even asked where his youngest cousin was. (She had just been born - which reminds me, her picture still isn't in the frame!)

Family collage. If you want to add in more people, just use
a larger frame. The more the merrier!

Photo tip:

Try to take multi-generational photos when you can. Trust me, it will be worth it later on. Also, when creating a collage try to throw in some black and white or sepia-toned images amongst the color photos. Doing so breaks up the monotony of color photos, not to mention, some photos just look better without color.

Speaking of families, sometime soon I intend on creating a multi-generational family gallery on our hallway wall. Once, I do I will share that with you as well. You think I like pictures now, well I LOVE old pictures, and have some big ideas on what to do with them!

This project is so simple yet, at least for our family, it ended up meaning so much more than we had ever intended or imagined.