Burlap & Clovers

Here's a quick and easy step-by-step on how to make a burlap wreath for any occasion.

I decided to make this one for St. Patty's day.

ENJOY!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 2+ yards of burlap (yardage depends on what size wreath you use / found at any fabric store)
• Any size styrofoam wreath (found at any craft store)
• Floral pins (found at any craft store)
• Decorative accessories to add to wreath -OR- you can leave it plain.

{I used approx. 50 floral pins on 18" wreath, but I did not cover the entire wreath as shown below}

What's great about using floral pins is that you can move things around or eliminate without messing anything up. 

Dont be scared to try different things out.

Be creative and have fun with it!

 STEP 1.

 STEP 2.

 Wrap wreath with scrap pieces of burlap.

This step does not have to be pretty. It will get covered by the burlap squares.

Use floral pins or hot glue to attach begining & end of burlap scraps on to the wreaths backside.

 STEPS 3 & 4

 STEPS 5 & 6

 Once you start inserting the pinned burlap squares, it should start looking like this.

I spaced out the pins about every 1".

Clover I used for my wreath.

  

ALL DONE!

.........................{{UPDATE}}..........................

Ended up making some festive Easter wreaths too!

Here ya go:

{welcome to my life}

Baby in bed for the night & hubby sleeping...what's a gal to do?

MOMMY TIME!

Hot bath? I think I just might.

So getting out of the tub, I realize that my relaxing "MOMMY TIME" was spent in a tub that my daughter took a poop in invited some "friends" over the night before while taking a bath. NICE!

It was the first time Rhemi (aka "Hot Mess") decided to take a poop invite some "friends" over while taking a bath, so we couldn't be mad. In fact it was kinda funny and definitely one for the baby book! My fabulous Hubby volunteered to clean it up. Yay for me! Well...to him that meant picking up her poop "friends" and  forgetting to clean the tub after.

Welcome to my life.

www.couldnt-make-this-up-if-i-tried.mom

let there be light

I keep being asked where I got my light fixture from that was shown in my previous Sign Art Tutorial.
Well, I made it!

Ya'll, making a light fixture is SUPER EASY and you have ENDLESS possibilities to customize it however you want.

You just have to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!! 

About 9 mths ago, I found this metal sphere at Gordon's (only $30!!!). It was just sitting pretty on a table with some other pretty's as table decor. I immediately HAD to have it. Not sure what the what I was going to do with it, but it was coming home with me.

This metal sphere is 3ft in diameter, so I looked like a complete goober bringing it the counter to check out. No lie, the lady at the register asked me where I had planned on putting "this thing?" (her exact words). I said "not sure, but it's fun (in my excited giddy voice)!" She half smiled, nodded, and gave me a look like 

"yea whatever you say crazy lady"...

It sat in the guest room for about a month before I finally decided what I was going to do with it. Maybe a light fixture??? Called my dad for some advice to make sure wiring it was a realistic option.

Got the approval, so let the project begin!

I don't have a picture of the sphere before I go started. Here is the closest pic I could find (mine was already painted matte black). I tried to find one for grabs for you online, but no luck :(

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• Electric Drill
• Lighting Kit (available at any major hardware store)
• Chain (super cheap & length will depend on height of your ceiling)
• Spray Paint of desired finish & color
• Ceiling Medallion
• Light Bulb of your choice
• Light fixture object you decide to use

10 EASY STEPS:

1. Take down your existing generic same ole' boring light fixture

2. Drill hole through the top of light fixture object you decide on

3. Attach lighting kit through drilled hole and attach to light fixture object

(Follow the very easy step-by-step instructions on packaging)

4. Spray paint chain & ceiling medallion 

(I always suggest at least 2 coats)

5. Thread the lighting kit cord through the chain

6. Slide ceiling medallion onto chain

7. Make sure POWER IS OFF to complete step 8!

8. Have an electric savvy person wire your lighting kit to the ceiling box.

I got my dad to take care of this step.

Mmmm no thanks, i'll pass!

9. Install light bulb into lighting kit socket.

I used a 12" Edison bulb we got at a local electrical supply store. I think it was like $11.

(found some cheap ones for you here: rejuvenation.com)

10. Turn power back on, flip on the light switch, 

& LET THERE BE LIGHT!

This project cost me under $50 and took about an hour to complete. I had the chain, ceiling medallion from the previous light fixture, and spray paint laying around. Just look around your house and you may already have some of these supplies too. Like I said, just think outside the box and you too can make something you're proud of!

Love these light fixtures, but I made mine probably for less than the shipping costs for these:

A. My-Sparrow.com / Metal Sphere Lantern $1250

B. Restoration Hardware /

Steel Polyhedron Medium Pendant $595

C. Restoration Hardware / Foucault's Iron Orb Chandelier $750

A quick internet search of "light cages" you can get some inspiration. Just a few ideas for you: metal baskets, crates, birdcage, lamp shade, and string (yep, I said string)!

Hmmm...Look familiar?

So I was "dragged"  into some stores the past couple of days with all of these President's Day sales going on. Since when is President's Day such a big shopping holiday? Don't get me wrong I respect any reason to have a sale, but you would have thought it was Christmas! Some stores had an additional 50% off sale items :)

Wasn't looking for anything specific, but ran across this cute lamp. Not only did I like the lamp, but when I looked at the price tag I LOVED  the lamp. Of course it was the last one, so I couldn't bare letting someone else swipe my good find.

Lamp was originally $99.99, then $69.99...

$49.99, then $39.97...

"Take an ADDITIONAL 30% off Sale Items"!!

Mama just scored this pretty lady for under $28. So cute and matches perfectly with my decor. Surprisingly the lamp is made nicely. It's very heavy and has a nice thick burlap shade. 

Ever shop around and see items that look very similar or exactly the same to things you've seen more expensive somewhere else? I run into this all the time. So when I find goodies like this, I get that warm tingly feeling inside. 

Here's my point:

A. Home Decorators / Duke Table Lamp $449   

B. Pottery Barn / Baluster Table Lamp $279

C. Horchow / Bird Array Table Lamp $195 

Love that my new blog can help me settle down my hubby when I explain to him why I HAD to buy it. Now I can just show him!

{Fab Tip}

I recently won a 60 min spa-service at Paris Parker. I was soooo excited because I never win anything!!! Anytime to myself is always very well appreciated and especially if this mama is getting pampered. I decided to get a facial and had my appointment this morning. I went to the location nearest me in Mandeville. The women there were so sweet, very impressed with the spa itself, and my facial was just perfect! I decided to get the Enbrightenment Facial (highly recommend).

Fab Tip:

Getting facials and massages are great, but can get pricey. Did you know that Paris Parker offers a "Standard" price and a "Value" price on their spa services? I thought this was really neat, so had to share! They have certain days and times of the week that you can get services at a discount!! "Standard" price for the facial that I got is $80, but on a "Value" time slot it's only $50! Great deal,right?

Check out the charts below so you can see how great it is for yourself:

Here is their link so you can see all of their services:

http://parisparker.com/services-listing.php?page=spa-services&type=skin-care-facials

Thanks Paris Parker for an amazing Saturday morning!

Sign Art

     Ran across this old sign the other day and just needed to find a spot for it. There's a couple of antique shops I like to stop at every now and then to see what they have new. The sign was hanging out outside and it just caught my eye. Thought it could be kind of a funky piece. Love bringing in pieces that are a little outside the box. This is definitely not your typical piece of fancy art, but I enjoy pieces that stand out.

     Like always, my mind started racing with ideas...how am I going to clean it, how to hang it (it was pretty heavy), where to hang it, and of course what's Corey's reaction going to be when I bring this over 6' long sign through the door (usually an eye roll of some sort)???

Decided the office would be the perfect place! A trip to the hardware store and I was ready to get to work.

First, I needed to clean it.

Had a nice coat of dirt on top. Took an old rag, bucket of warm water, and most of it came right off. Was worried the old paint would chip off, but it actually held on.

Just love the vintage hand painted letters.

There was no original hardware on the sign to hang it, so I had to create my own. Here is the hardware and tools I used. I highly recommend an over 60lb dog to hold down the sign so it doesn't move out of place while working on it.

The back of the sign has "slats" that I planned on attaching my hardware on. I measured and marked where I wanted each of my frame hooks to be.

Make sure each mark is precisely in the exact spot so your sign will hang straight.

I measured the distance between each frame hook on the sign, found my center on the wall, and measured out from the center where my nails needed to be on both sides. To make sure my height was consistent, I measured from the floor up and made sure all of my nail spots were even. "Handy Dandy" hubby helping me out.

I decided last minute to add some sticky back felt on the "slats" to protect my walls from being scratched from the sign.

Ta-Dah, sign art!

Ahem, let me introduce myself...

So I decided to come up with this blog thinking it might be a fun way to share my great, but crazy life with you. I'm a mama who's always coming up with something new to fix or change, love working on DIY projects, hate to cook (which i'm sure you'll get a good laugh at), just love to bake & make sweets, love planning just about anything, a perfectionist, and a complete control freak. All of this summed up makes me who I am...not sure of an exact title, so i'll let you decide.

I'm married to a funny and hard working man named Corey. We have 2 daughters, Diggy Belle (an english bulldog) and Rhemi (aka "Hot Mess"). I couldn't ask for anything more in life. I have a loving husband, a daughter who makes me laugh every single day, a pretty great family, and that's all I need.