2011 Wrap Up

Hello friends! 2011 has been a big year and I can't wait to share with you some of my favorite posts and happenings.

My five most popular posts this year have been:

#5

Easy DIY Art

I love these in my bedroom. The cream color adds some much needed light to the space!

#4

Another Waverly Fabric SCORE!

I paid $14 for 2.75 yards of this gorgeous Sun N Shade fabric and am planning on finishing up my deck project this summer. Here are the fabrics I'll be using.

#3

Downstairs Bathroom - DONE!

This summer I did a mini re-do of my downstairs bathroom. It was just the freshening up I needed...and SO simple! I've since added a DIY Sunburst Mirror to the spot next to the mirror. It's the perfect finishing touch!

#2

Craigslist Dresser...Done?

This was another one of those never ending projects. I had so many problems with the paint bubbling up and I spent so much time sanding and re-sanding. In the end, it was worth it! This is the perfect storage solution for DVDs, diapers and wipes, toys...I love it! I do still need to buy the hardware I've got picked out but I'm having a difficult time getting myself to spend the money. The knobs and pulls are $5 each and I know that doesn't sound like much but that's $60 total and I just don't want to take it out of my budget. I am planning on a re-do of this whole space sometime this year so when I begin that, I'll buy my knobs :)

#1

New Reading Bench

This was by far my most popular post this year and one of my favorite projects. This goes to show you what a little bit of elbow grease can do. I bought the bench for $20 on Craigslist, pulled off some nasty upholstry and padding, repainted and reupholstered it. For a $30 total investment, I have a fun new piece of furniture and a great addition to my little girl's room.

So, those were my most popular posts of 2011. I want to share a few of my personal favorites.

#3

Valentine Wrap-Up

I loved the Valentine's Day crafts I did this year and I smiled every time I looked at them. I can't wait to get them back up and to do even more this year :)

#2

Owl Love You... (Before & After)

I love this little guy. He just makes me happy :)

#1

Lattice Entertain You...

These are my absolute favorite project from this past year. I fell in love with the fabric and got an awesome deal when I found it in the clearance bin at Joann. Unfortunately, I only had enough for one window. I hunted and hunted for this online but this color isn't made anymore. (It's Waverly Lovely Lattice in mocha. They do make this in the Sun N Shade fabric but I had the 100% cotton and needed the same to match up to what I already had.) Finally, I tripped over a store that had this online.

I love everything about this fabric. The weight, color and pattern are perfect and the curtains are perfect for my living/dining area. Almost every time I look at them, I can't believe how lucky I was to find that second five yards :)

2012 is going to be a busy year for me too. I've got a monster list of projects and to-dos that I'm planning on posting soon. Included in that list will be converting my guest room/office into a nursery for a baby boy coming in April. That's my biggest DIY project planned for 2012. (The baby, not the room!)

I've had so much fun looking back on 2011 and it's inspired me to forge ahead in the coming year. I've loved all the friendships that have developed through this blog and all the support I've received. Thank you ALL for making it wonderful :)

Linking up to:

Surprisingly AWESOME Christmas Decor!

My mom sent me this image today from House Beautiful. Awesome!! I don't really have anywhere to put it but I wish I did! This would be such a simple and inexpensive DIY - they're just paper wedding bells!

(click pic for source)

Anyway, I was just so struck by this that I had to share. What do you think? Am I way off with my love of this idea?

Garland Obsession...

Okay, to say I've been obsessed with garlands is maybe a bit much but it really is hard not to fall in love with something that is so easy to DIY.

I know I keep calling these Valentine's projects easy and if I keep using the word it might lose effectiveness but really, they are so.stinking.EASY!  This simple garland has got to be the easiest yet.

I started out with a package of dollar store paper heart-shaped doilies and two spools of cheap Valentine ribbon from Joann.

I threaded the ribbon through the cut-outs in the doilies and strung them each a few inches from the next (without getting scientific!).

I did use a little bit of glue stick to hold the ribbon in place on the front of the hearts. I didn't want them moving.

 There you have it! This took me about a half hour and that was just because I had a handsy helper :)

I swagged it from the half wall thingie in my entry way.  One (9 ft) spool of ribbon wasn't quite enough and two was a little too much so I ended up tying the two spools together with a little bow in the middle.

I love this project. I have been having so much fun with Valentine's this year and I still have one more project to show you. I'm already thinking about what I can do for St. Patrick's Day!

I've got a few posts planned for this coming week and then next Saturday I'm hosting a small birthday party and I'm so excited to show you what I've got cooking for that!

Valentine Garland

Valentine's day normally doesn't get much love in my house. My husband hates it and is really, really bad at it and so I don't really do much for it. However, now that I have a kid, I enjoy decorating for holidays because she gets so much joy out of it.

I was brainstorming, trying to come up with simple, inexpensive decor for Valentine's Day and this was my first thought.

I bought a few sheets of love/Valentine themed scrapbook paper. I already had the yarn, paper punches and glue stick on hand.

This really is an easy project...

Punch all your shapes out of the paper...

I used my thrift store tray to contain all the little pieces of paper.

I cut yarn the length of two arm spans so a little over 10 feet (I know, scientific, right?) and just sandwiched my yarn between two hearts or two circles.

A glue stick is perfect for this project because you get an almost instant bond and it really holds.

I didn't care too much about the distance between hearts. I was trying to keep it kind of imperfect :)

I hung them from my curtain rods and sort of swagged them. Good enough for me!

They add the perfect little bit of color and are sweet without being sickening.

On another note, I mentioned waaay back here that I was going to be making new curtains for my living and dining room area. I'm going to let you in on a little secret - I'm a procrastinator. Big time. Anyway, those curtains are high on my list of projects for 2011. I know a lot of bloggers posted their project lists several weeks ago but in true procrastinator fashion, I haven't. I'll do it soon, I swear. I'm thinking that posting my list will help keep me accountable for getting these projects done!

I still have two more simple Valentine projects to post for you and I promise I won't procrastinate on those!

All You Need Is Love...

Also known as the world's easiest Valentine's Day project :)  Seriously. Easy. It took me less than five minutes from start to finish.

I printed my phrase (I'm a big Beatles fan) in two different fonts and formatted it so I would be able to embellish the area between the sentences. I then used a red marker to write over and highlight the words love.

I then added a heart and circle I punched out for another Valentine's Day project I'll be showing you soon.

And put it in a simple frame.



 Add a simple lamp and pretty red votive holder and you've got a super easy, pretty arrangement!

 

I've got a few more Valentine's projects that I'm so excited to show you. The most exciting part of it all? They are all so incredibly easy!

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day? What is your favorite Valentine craft?



Pretty Placecards

You may have noticed in my Tastefully Simple post a couple weeks ago the adorable placecards/tags I used to label the food items. 

Well, some of my real life friends asked me about where I got them...answer?  I made them, of course :)

Here is what I did:

I found some of these placecards in the wedding section at the Dollar Tree.

I found this cool Martha Stewart paper punch at TJ Maxx for $3.99

The back side of the punch - here you can see that it only punches a small section at a time but you can line up the pattern on the front to make sure you get a continuous pattern.  This is why the punch is so wide.

Punch along each side (sorry about the crappy pics - it is HARD to take good pictures of something so small!)

Remove excess tags from the punched sides.

I had to cut these with two corners at an angle.  I don't know why they came out like this but I liked how it looked so it didn't really matter to me.

Tape a popsicle stick to the back

Viola!  

You can also make tent-style cards by only punching one edge.  I loved how these turned out and I plan on using this awesome punch a lot in the future.  I kind of felt like it added a special little something to the party :)