Handmade & Heartfelt

     It has been a long, LONG time since the last blog post!! I can’t even begin to explain everything that has been going on the last few months, but blogging is back and I have a holiday project to share!

     Once again the Silhouette Cameo proved its worth and helped me make these two sided wooden holiday signs for our family. One side of the board has a heartfelt saying for Thanksgiving and the other is decorated with a Christmas quote. I really love that they are double sided and can serve as décor for two holidays. I thought they’d make any mantel more festive so I made 14 in total, for our family’s gifts this year.

     First step was buying the wood. I bought two 12 inch by 10 foot boards and cut them into the 14 pieces I needed. Some boards were cut down to 12x12 inch squares and others into 12x14 inches depending on the phrase that was being put onto them. Second step was sanding and staining. Lucky for me my main man was home and helped me by sanding every board with our electric mouse sander, that helped so much and really made the process go quicker. We had our own assembly line going, I cut, he sanded, I wiped the boards down with a damp cloth and I stained each piece, front and back. I used my two go to stain colors from Rust-oleum (Dark Walnut and Weathered Gray) and mixed the two colors on a few boards as well. After the stain completely dried I put two good coats of polyurethane on each board to protect the finish and allow the vinyl lettering to stick to the wood better.

      Vinyl lettering… one of my current obsessions, there is so much you can do with it. Check out THIS POST where I show you multiple uses for vinyl and I give a step by step tutorial on transferring vinyl to any surface. So, using the Silhouette Cameo (and the program it comes with) I printed each design and one by one transferred them onto the wooden signs. My cousin, Katie, has the Silhouette, so using it is the perfect excuse to spend time with her. Transferring vinyl onto 14 boards, front and back takes a good chunk of time, which meant lots of time to catch up, chat and watch girly holiday movies together. She was a huge help, without her it would have taken me twice as long to complete each board, and I was definitely on a time crunch this year.

      Each family member got their own board, uniquely designed to their personality, with a few repeats, of course. All in all it took two full days to whip out these handmade Christmas gifts, with the help of my awesome husband and amazing cousin. Make something by hand this year, homemade gifts really come from the heart.

     I am glad to be back. Just because I wasn’t blogging doesn’t mean I wasn’t working on projects the last few months, Katie and I both have more to share, soon!

          xoxo

                   Rachele

Shimmy on over!



I’m a sucker for a simple project, and this, my friend, is as simple as it gets. I’ve mentioned Shims before, I love using them and buy them in the larger contractor’s packs for only $5! Shims are really light weight and usually used as spacers or to make things fit together, but I am finding all kinds of décor uses for them. My latest project is a wooden shim table runner for our dinning table.

I used my two favorite Rustoleum stains {Dark Walnut & Weathered Gray} and mixed them together to make varying shades. I put one quick coat of stain on the shims with a foam brush and let them dry.

While they were drying I took an old drop cloth to use as a base and cut a piece to the size and length needed. The shims I used were 12 inches long, so I cut the drop cloth 10 inches wide so it fit nicely underneath and wouldn’t show. Once the shims were dry I got my glue gun out and spent the next 5 minutes gluing the shims to the drop cloth. Shims are tapered so I alternated each one to give the runner a little dimension.

I have been wanting to bring more wood tones into the kitchen to compliment the wood flooring we put in and this definitely did the trick! It only took half the pack of shims to complete the table runner so all in all it cost less than $5 to make! I have already started another project using the remainder of the shims and I can’t wait to have it finished!  You can use any scrap material as a base and make the runner to fit any size table. I like that it is not your typical fabric runner, it is unique and brings character to the space! Shimmy on down to the hardware store and buy yourself some shims, their uses are endless!

 

     xoxo,

              Rachele

DIY wall shelves for $10 or less!!

        I have a super easy, cute, and inexpensive project for you all today!! Those are absolutely the best kind! These wall shelves can be made in record time, and with the use of leftover paint, stain, and sandpaper, you can make them for $10 each. I made two for the playroom wall in one afternoon! Including painting them! I wanted a way to display a wall of family photos without putting a million little holes in the wall. This seemed like the perfect solution and I loooove the way it turned out. These shelves definitely make my top 10 list of easy and fabulous DIY projects. 

        The building plans are simple and can be found on Ana Whites website HERE. The only part that could make this difficult is how long I decided to make my shelves, they are almost 8 feet long. It was a tad difficult to do by myself but I got it to work okay. Here are my shelves unfinished...

                        

And the finished product...so cute!!

                   

                   

                   

      I hope this inspires you to add a couple $10 shelves to your walls this summer! It can fill a large empty wall or you can make smaller ones to fit in tight spaces. And finish them to your personal home decor, painted white, stained dark walnut, or whatever your heart desires. Have fun and enjoy the creative process!

Xoxo,

         Katie

Love me some USA!

July already! In three short days you’ll be celebrating Independence Day with family, BBQs and fireworks, woo!! I thought it was the perfect time to share one of my latest projects; a rustic wooden sign featuring the good ‘ol US of A! Originally my mission was to make some sort of ‘manly’ wall décor for my brother, which I did, but the hubs and I ended up liking it so much that I made another for us!

What was great about this project was the fact it cost me $7.50 to make both, not each, both! I took myself down to Lowes {my glorious home away from home} and bought 5 fence boards at $1.50 each. The fence boards aren’t great quality and are made from cheap wood but they’re light weight, and their imperfections are perfect for the beat up look I wanted. To make one yourself you’ll only need 3 fence boards and it will only cost you $4.50, sweeeeet!!

Okay, first step… sand those suckers down! You want a rustic look, but you don’t want splinters, so give them a once over to smooth them out a bit. Next, cut 2 fence boards in half and the last board into fourths. You’ll have 4 equal pieces for the sign and 4 smaller pieces to use on the back (you really only need 2 of the smaller pieces for the back, so save 2 for a future use). I stained my boards, which you don’t have to do, but I wanted them dark, so I used my Rustoleum Stain in Dark Walnut and wiped it off as soon as I put it on. To attach your boards together you’ll need to screw your smaller pieces onto the backs. Flip your boards over, line them up and place the 2 small boards on vertically, drilling one wood screw into each board, on each side. I really didn’t explain that well, so look at the picture below to see the back of my signs. Don’t forget to pre drill a pilot hole- otherwise your boards will split!

To get the shape of the United States I made a giant stencil by printing the outline on printer paper, taping the pages together, cutting them out, placing them on my sign and tracing the outline on. I found an awesome website, it had multiple maps and outlines of the US and of each state individually, it lets you decide what size you’d like to print, based on how many pages it will use. I chose a 3x3, so 9 pieces of paper; you can print on 1 sheet of paper or all the way up to an 8x8 on 64 pages! Click HERE to be taken to the website.

Alright, your sign is made, stencil done, time to trace the outline on and paint! I painted along the edges first to give myself a buffer and finished by painting the entire US white. After the paint dried I took the signs back outside and sanded them down a little more to distress and rough them up so the wood showed through the white paint. I made each sign in an afternoon, so it really didn’t take much time and I ended with two rustic signs, one for my brother and one for JD’s man room.

I have seen these types of decorative signs in stores lately and they are expensive! No thank you! You can easily make your own and customize it, I think an individual state would look great and one with a world map would be awesome! Happy Independence Day from the Poplin’s and Ramseier’s, I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4^th of July!!

     xoxo,

              Rachele

Be Our Guest

       So it's been a crazy month around here! We have tons of guests coming to stay with us for a family wedding in the next couple weeks, I went crazy into project mode wanting to completely re-do our guest room before the flood of people. My vision is finally coming together and I am excited! I have a sneak peek project to share with all of you before I reveal the before/after of the entire room. My afternoon accomplishment today was the "Be Our Guest" sign that will hang above the guest bed. Such a simple and cute way to greet your guest into their room. 

Here is what you need to make your own sign:

7-1x4 cut at 24" long

4-1/4" slats cut at 23" long

Nail gun

3/4" finish nails

Wood glue

Stain color of your choice

       To start this project, make all of your cuts using a miter saw or a hand saw. Then line them all up together on a flat surface.  I chose to stagger the ends of mine just for more interest and to make it a little different than the other signs in my house. Turn them face down now. We are going to work on the backside. You don't want to see nail holes!! Now lay your 1/4" thick slat pieces vertically down all the 1x4 cuts (see pic below). This will secure the sign and make it sturdy! Apply wood glue to the slat pieces, then nail them to the 1x4's. Two nails in each 1x4 on every slat (so u will have 14 nails from top to bottom). Here is a pic of the back:

       Now it's time to apply stain! Choose the stain color that's best for you. I decided to use weathered grey by Rustoleum. Loooove this stain. It dries in an hour and has beautiful color! I applied two coats and let it sit for an hour. 

       Lastly, the fun part!! Making the words to complete the sign. I have an amazing machine, the silhouette cameo. If you haven't heard of this you have to google it and see what it does. I use it mostly to cut vinyl but it can do so much more! I designed my template and cut it out, applied my words and....here it is!

       I am SO pleased with how it turned out. One of my favorite things about this project is that it cost me nothing! I used scrap material for all of it! Even if you did pay for wood, it wouldn't cost you more than $15 at the most. It looks great in the space over the bed. Nice and soothing and welcoming for our guests. I hope they enjoy staying as much as I'm enjoying re-doing the room! Stay tuned to see the final guest room before/after in a future posting! I can't wait to show you the dramatic changes!

Xoxo,

         Katie

P.S. Don't forget adding hardware to hang it. It will be a heavier sign so make sure the hardware is sturdy!

$50 Laundry Room Make-over

If I would have known $50 could completely transform my laundry room I would have done it a looong time ago! But I had my sights set on ‘bigger and better’ rooms, until recently when I realized the laundry room is important too! It is connected to an entry way into our home, people definitely see it and I spend a fair amount of time in there, so why not spruce it up!? With that said, I still didn’t want to (and didn’t have) the funds to pour into it, so I did all I could, and can honestly say I am surprised with how happy my laundry room now makes me! Here are the before pictures...

Here’s the cost breakdown:

-         $3.00 Paint- Sample size container from Lowes

-         $7.00 Wood- Shelf/Ledge above washer & dryer

-         $15.00 Dispenser- Using for Detergent

-         $20.00 Storage- Three decorative boxes and basket

-         $5.00 Shoe rack- See picture at the end of this post

I only painted the upper half of the wall behind the washer and dryer, so a sample size container of paint was all I needed, I chose a light gray- which seems to be my go to color. We used the two pieces of wood from Lowes to build an additional shelf that sits right above the machines, and I gave both shelves a fresh coat of white paint using paint I had leftover from another project. I also used left over supplies to make the “wash” sign for the upper shelf. All it took was a little paint, hot glue and handful of wood shims (I buy them in contractor’s packs because I can always use them for something, and they’re only $5 a pack). Lastly I added a few things from around the house to make the room feel homier.

         Inside the boxes I organized light bulbs, batteries, flash lights, tissue, dusting supplies, and of course, extra detergent, bleach, spray and wash, fabric softener, etc. I took all of the other cleaning products that were cluttering up the shelf and used a plastic door hanging shoe rack to organize them and get them out of sight.

What a huge difference a half days work made to that little room! I don’t shut the door to hide the ugly clutter anymore and I actually like doing laundry because the room is calming and everything has a place. A little goes a long ways! Share your organization tricks and mini make-overs with me, I’d love some inspiration for all areas of the house!

     xoxo,

              Rachele

Eat & Drink in the kitchen!!

     These little cuties were SO easy to make! Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures of the building process for this project. Thankfully it is fairly simple to put together!  And I love the way they add to the kitchen and dining area. Such a simple idea but it really adds to the decor!

Materials (for one sign):

2-1x3 cut @ 24"

2-1x2 cut @ 24"

2-1x2 cut @ 7"

Wood stain

Wood glue

Chop saw (or hand saw)

Nail gun (or nail punch)

2 brackets to hang on the wall. (These are from michaels)

Stencil to make your words

      The first step will be to cut your pieces of wood. Cut all of them and sand (if necessary) then get ready to stain. I chose to use Rustoleum in dark walnut. Apply one coat of stain and wait and hour for it to dry, then line them up and get ready to put them together! Make sure when you line the boards up, the side you want the words on is facing down (which should also be the side you stained). You are going to make the unstained part the back. Then take your small 7" piece, add wood glue to one side and center it between your boards. I would place one 7" piece on either end of the boards to keep them sturdy and strong for your sign. Glue the second piece to the other end and nail it down! Make sure to put nails in each of the four boards as you nail into your 7" piece. This will hold it all together!!  Next I used my silhouette cameo to make a template for the words "eat" and "drink." This is so easy with the cameo but if you have a computer and printer you can pick the font you want, print it, and cut it out. Then trace it onto your sign and paint inside the lines! Once my words were dry I flipped the whole thing back over and added the brackets to hang it up. Done! 

 

                 xoxo,

                            Katie

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