Doormat Do-over DIY

Alright Friends, get your spray paint and tape out, it’s time to give your dated doormat a face lift!

We've had this mat out year round for two years now, even though it is an autumn mat. I've always had intentions of replacing it, but it fell pretty low on my priority list. Finally I'd had enough of it and took it into our garage to see what I could do. Of course I wanted to paint a fun pattern in a bright color, but my sensible husband told me I needed to do something that worked with every season and holiday (because he knows I would have a newly decorated mat for each month if I could) so I went with his request and painted it pretty neutral.

I don’t think I even need to give ‘how-to’ instructions because this is so easy, paint anything you’d like with whatever you’ve got, no money needed! I had gray spray paint, so I sprayed the whole mat in a good heavy coat and let it dry, which didn’t take long in this AZ heat! While it was drying I printed a “J & R” on regular paper, cut them out to use as a stencil and placed them on the mat to paint our initials on. After that I used a small brush and some white paint and dabbed the paint on pretty thick, painted a heart in between the letters and that’s that, done! Much better!

Here are some other pics to get you inspired and show you ideas of things you can do to give your boring doormat a do-over.

          xoxo,

                   Rachele

And I just had to put a few pics up of our 'too cute for his own good' puppy checking out our newly vamped mat!

You had me at Merlot

          You had me at Merlot, just one of the fun prints I made for last month’s bridal shower using one of my favorite sites, PicMonkey. This will be a super quick post showing some DIY decor, and I’ll put the printables up for you to use if you like!

We collected wine corks for weeks and used them all over the shower. Two things we made were cork monogram letters of the bride and groom’s initials, and décor on picture frames that held the wine quote prints. I bought the 13 inch wooden “M” & “K” from Hobby Lobby; they were only a few dollars each! We hot glued the corks onto the letters vertically so the purple and red stain from the wine showed here and there. Same goes for the corks on the picture frames, simple as can be- hot glue them right onto your frame in any design you choose.

If you haven’t played around on PicMonkey you should check it out, you can edit photos and design/create anything from logos to party invitations, its fun! I knew I wanted to frame some cute wine quotes for the shower but I couldn’t find any I loved, or that matched our theme, so I made my own. They’re below and you can save the pictures to your computer and print from home or send them into any photo center. Wine lovers enjoy!

          xoxo,

                   Rachele

April Showers

We’re back! Back in our own home… doesn’t it feel amazing to be back in your own bed after a long trip??! I had the best time in our hometown and was able to fit so much in; a bridal shower for my best friend {Kayleigh}, and her beautiful wedding, Mother’s Day with our Moms and Grandmas, my Dad’s birthday, family photos and time with our friends and family. I’m sure I have hundreds of pictures from the trip, but I am going to limit myself to sharing some from the bridal shower!

We threw a wine and cheese shower and the theme was ‘Stock the Cellar’. We asked the guests to bring the bride a bottle of wine to help get her collection started. We handmade a lot of the décor: personalized bottle labels, cork monogram letters, printable chalkboard quotes, and a rustic wine crate and rack. We had purple wild flowers, in wine bottles, on each table, and a collage of pictures of the bride and groom. It turned out so beautiful, the weather was great, the yard was gorgeous and Kayleigh made out like a bandit with all of the wine she was given!

The food, drinks and desserts were sooo yummy and all homemade by our girlfriends, Aubrey and Amy. Aubrey is also the owner of Alluring Events and Design, you definitely want this girl on your side when planning anything from birthday parties to huge weddings! Here is a link to her site, lucky me to plan a shower with such a talented chick! Amy, who I’ve raved about before, makes the most delicious desserts, you can contact me for her info… she made white wine frozen yogurt and homemade truffles for the shower, I literally stuffed my face! I also want to send a shout out to Kaitlyn, Laura and Channing who did so much to make this shower beautiful for Kayleigh, you girls rock and I loved getting to spend so much time together this week!!!

Okay, that’s enough from me, time for the good stuff, the pictures…

Over the next month or so I am going to put a few posts up that show how we made some of the décor and chalkboard printables, be on the look out! Kayleigh is on her honeymoon now… Hope you’re having an awesome time!! Love you!

          xoxo,

                   Rachele

Entryway Mail Holder with key hooks!!

          This last weekend was so much fun! I got to spend Saturday with my wonderful cousin Rachele and her hubby. That is a rare occurrence since their big move to Arizona! I have missed her and it was great to catch up, let the dogs play, and watch the little boys play t-ball. (They are SO cute in their little uniforms). 

          Well the project of the week was this adorable little entryway piece. We have issues in our house of misplacing keys and mail...so this was a perfect solution for us! A two-in-one fix for our problems. My hubby has been a much happier person in the mornings being able to find his keys! Lol. The original building plans can be found HERE...if you want to take a crack at it yourself.  I coaxed my hubby into helping me put this together and it was fun! We followed the plans and it was relatively simple. We finished it with Rustoleum stain in Dark Walnut. Love this stain! It goes on in one coat and dries in an hour! The black part on my mail holder is chalkboard paint but I wanted to keep it simple for everyday and have a "welcome" sign in the entry. So I cut the "Welcome to our Home" sign out of vinyl on my silhouette cameo (love this machine so much it's ridiculous!) and stuck it on the chalkboard paint. Now I don't have to worry about keeping the chalkboard part clean (I have enough areas of my house to keep clean with the littles running around)! And the finishing touch is the cute key hooks that hang at the bottom. Perfect for all our keys that seem to run away and hide periodically! I think it's practical and pretty! I love it!

                  Xoxo,

                          Katie

Chalkboard Centerpiece

          It has been complete crazy town around here the last couple weeks! I am so glad to be finally sitting down writing this out! It means a few minutes of quiet (if I'm lucky).

          One of my favorite times of year is spring! Soooo I thought our kitchen table could use some quick and easy sprucing up. I found the plans for this cute little wooden centerpiece HERE. It was originally designed to be a chalkboard serving tray but it fit my decor better to use it as a table centerpiece. I did use chalkboard paint for the middle just in case I wanted to use it as a serving tray someday. Or to write some cute little seasonal word or phrase on it!

Materials Needed:

1-2x8x8 Douglas fir cut @ 22" long (or whatever fits your table best)

2-drawer handles

White spray paint

Chalkboard paint

          I started out with the cut of Douglas fir at 22", then spray painted the whole thing white. It took about three coats to fully cover. Next I used painters blue tape to tape off the edges all the way around the board. I painted 2-3 coats of chalkboard paint in the middle and waited for it to dry! Lastly, I attached the handles to both ends and voila its done! Ready for however you want to decorate it! Change it with the seasons, for parties, with flowers, candles, or whatever you want! I used three mason jars and spray painted them with a metallic silver. I slipped a beautiful hydrangea in each jar and I'm in love! Enjoy!

                       xoxo,

                               Katie