diy | Like a Saturday - DIY, Crafts, Recipes, Shenanigans

May 21, 2013
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Summer Time Porch Update

My summer bicycle wreath got the ball rolling for sprucing up and restyling our front porch area for the summer. I tell ya – every project I do has a domino effect. I finish one thing and that makes me think of another project I can do to make it even better, and thus, the to do list lengthens. You can add my husband to your prayer chain. Bless him.

The red and yellow in the wreath were so happy and summery, so I wanted to keep things bright, cherry and fun!

I bought this Moroccan patterned indoor/outdoor rug from Joss and Main a few months ago. It was intended for our bathroom, but it turned out to be the wrong blue. I was about to sell it, until I had my light bulb moment. I knew it would look awesome on our front porch {The other welcome mat that has been out there since we moved in was moved to the back door, since we needed a mat there anyway. Win, win!}.

The rug and wreath look awesome together! The modern, graphic patterns keep the primary color scheme from looking too childish. It just looks fun and relaxed.

I ditched the boston fern that was in the urn {that my Grandma had done a faux finish on} in exchange for an arrangement of succulents. The fern and I didn’t get along very well. I’m learning that the key to having a pretty garden and plants is to learn which plants you do well with. It pays to do a little research about which plants do well in your area, and what kind of light/watering they need.

The succulents are much more “me” than the fern was. They are modern and sculptural, plus they don’t overtake the urn. Oh, and {BONUS!} need very little care.

I still love my rustic chalk board. I enjoy changing up the chalk art with different seasons and events. It’s fun to find new quotes, dig up old favorites, or just add a little doodle. This time, I chose this wonderful quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson {one of my faves as far as poets go}. It’s appropriate for summer time, isn’t it?

I ran a piece of chalk through my pencil sharpener to do this little chalk doodle, but a reader introduced me to the wonder of chalk pencils. Hello! I’m definitely going to have to try these out!

I am so enjoying our summertime porch update! It almost redeems the torturous summer heat here in Texas {almost}.

Is it starting to feel like summer where you are? Are you welcoming it with open arms, or trying to fend it off a little bit longer?

May 20, 2013
by likeasaturday 4 Comments

Summer Bicycle Wreath

Happy Monday! I’m running behind today! We spent the weekend in Austin celebrating my little sister’s graduation from the University of Texas {Hook’em!}. It was a fun, exciting, busy, exhausting weekend! You can bet on InstaFriday being very burnt orange this week. This was the first of 3 Austin trips I’ll be making this month….so, yes…coffee will be happening. A lot.

Can you believe Memorial Day weekend is already upon us? The official unofficial start of summer. It’s already feeling good and hot here as we’re already reaching temps in the 90′s, so I felt like it was time to switch out my spring wreath for a summery one.

I started out by wrapping a wreath form in some grosgrain ribbon in a red and white chevron pattern that I found at Hobby Lobby. I’ve made a few yarn wreaths before, but I had never wrapped one in ribbon. Oh my goodness – I am sold on wrapping wreaths in ribbon! It took so much less time!

I also found this metal bicycle at Hob Lob. They were running a 50% sale on metal that week, so I snatched it up with thoughts of yellow spray paint running through my mind.

Once I gave it a few coats of a pale yellow spray paint, I attached it to the wreath with some hot glue. The bicycle is pretty light weight, but I still wanted to reinforce it with some ribbon in case the glue were to come loose with the Texas heat. I had a spool of a thin matching ribbon. I discreetly tied each wheel to wreath. You can hardly see it unless you’re looking very hard.

I was seriously doing a dance around the house once I finished. I am IN LOVE. It’s definitely the quirkiest wreath I’ve put together. The colors and the addition of the bike scream summer to me !

Of course, one thing led to another, and I restyled the entire front porch for summer…but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see what I’ve done! I’m excited to share it with you!

I hope y’all have a wonderful Monday and I’ll see you back tomorrow for the porch reveal!

Update : Apparently great minds think alike! Check out Jen’s {from Craft-o-Matic} Summer Bicycle Wreath that she made! It is super cute!

May 17, 2013
by likeasaturday 7 Comments

InstaFriday #21

Happy Friday! It’s that time again to dump this week’s iPhone photos!

Things are getting busy around here, and you can tell as the amount of times I Insta decreases. Ha – I guess I just don’t think to stop and take a picture when I’m spinning in 8 directions. Oh well.

We’re just a little over 2 weeks out from my sister’s wedding {!!!}, so I’ve been putting together a lot of little last minute things for that. That has, of course, included succulent planting! It’s pretty therapeutic.

I have taken the time to do a couple of little projects, and there is one I am just dying to show y’all next week. I am loving it! In the mean time, did you know you can sharpen your chalk in a pencil sharpener? Game changer. Chalk art just got easier.

Here lies my first selfie….with my dog. Macy and I both got fresh haircuts for all of the upcoming festivities. We kinda let her go for a couple of months, and she looks about half her size now. Girlfriend can have so.much.hair. I’ve been grooming her myself {DIY with dogs?} since we’ve had her, and I think it’s time to send her to a professional. We pretty much end up scowling at each other for a bit after a hair cut.

Dad’s leg is apparently the best place to rest your head when road tripping. I’m currently on trip 1 of 3 this month — this time to celebrate my sister’s college graduation! Woohoo! I’m so proud of her and excited to celebrate!

How has your week been? Are you looking forward to a full or laid back weekend?

Have an awesome one!

May 15, 2013
by likeasaturday 5 Comments

Filing Cabinet Re-Do

I’ve been using the same plastic file box to keep my paperwork organized since high school. Now that we’re supposed to be grown ups {or something of the sort} and have a house and consequently, a great deal of paper to keep track of…we have found ourselves in need of a filing system upgrade. I can think of approximately a million and three things that are more exciting to spend money on than a new filing cabinet, so I was pretty pumped when I scored this little fella for $7. I found him on a Facebook re-sale page for our community {It serves the same purpose as Craigslist, but only for our little section of our huge city}.

The filing cabinet was beat up and boring, so of course, I decided to attack it with a couple of cans of spray paint. I still wanted it to have an industrial look, but with a modern twist, so I went with a two-toned look.

I painted the drawer fronts with a glossy white, and the rest of the cabinet in a glossy grey. I believe the color was winter grey {Rustoleum} but I already tossed the can. It only took 3 light coats to get good coverage.

This guy now lives next to my desk in my office nook. It’s awesome to have added a little extra surface space in my corner {especially for when I have the sewing machine out}. My craft caddy lives here when it’s not following me around the house.

Next up on the to-do list is reorganizing our files and coming up with a good system. Do you have any tips you use when keeping your paperwork organized?

May 13, 2013
by likeasaturday 11 Comments

Craft Caddy : Fun with Washi Tape

Did everyone have a great weekend and a happy Mother’s Day? May always seems to be a month full of celebrating! Graduations, birthdays, weddings, Mother’s Day….so many festivities!

Are there any other washi tape addicts out there? It makes me a little nostalgic of my Lisa Frank days. It’s just so much fun.

{side note : I still have my trapper keeper with this dog and cat wedding on it. It does not get anymore 90′s than that. Lisa Frank? Check. Trapper Keeper? Check. Full of my elementary school drawings and hopes and dreams? Double check.}

{source}

I tried washi out for the first time this past Christmas and added a some red and green tape to our Christmas card envelopes. It was really cute and added a little something special to the plain white envelopes. I hadn’t ever really thought much about washi beyond stationary and gift wrapping, but there is so much you can do with it! I bought a pack from Pick Your Plum a while back, and now I’m trying to washi everything. It’s a disease.

I snatched a metal utensil caddy from Target a few weeks back, thinking it would be a perfect caddy for craft supplies {They have them with the summer picnic supplies in the kitchen section. They had a few other colors as well.}. I’m a mobile crafter. Sometimes you’ll actually find me working in our office/craft space, but more often than not you’ll find me on the couch, on the floor, at the kitchen table…whatever works, yunno? I’m also a messy crafter. It’s pretty much incredible how quickly one spot can explode with hot glue and felt and paper scraps and buttons. And then, suddenly, it’s midnight and my eyes will.not.stay.open and the mess stays while I slip off to dream.

I needed some kind of caddy that I could keep items that are often needed, and also my work in progress. This utensil holder fit the bill perfectly! It is a really good size – it has 3 smaller spots to keep scissors, pens, etc. and then a larger area to keep my masterpiece in progress. I could easily throw my things in here when calling it a night or moving to a new spot.

It just needed a little pizazz! Enter : washi tape. I wanted to add a few stripes of washi around the middle to give it a little color. I started by taping of the top section with masking tape. I did this to help me keep the washi tape straight.

I decided on colors and a pattern and went to town taping, using the masking tape as my guide.

Once I was done taping, I removed the masking tape to reveal my final product.

The entire thing took me no more than 7 minutes, and that was only because I had a dog in my face the entire time. Washi taping is a really quick way to add some quirk and color.

A caddy like this would also work really well for kids’ art supplies or for a homework station. It could easily be stocked with what each child needs and moved out of the way when needed. Colors could be personalized to each child’s preference, and would even be a fun project for them to work on!