DIY Funky Bathroom Tray - Target Dollar Bin Challenge

Good morning!  :-)  Happy happy Monday.

Well, I've been hyping up the beginning of my new series starting on the blog this week, and I'm so excited to bring it to you today!

The Target Dollar Bin Challenge!

All right -- here's how it works!  Bi-monthly, I am going to head on over to my local Tar-jay, peruse the dollar bin section (one of the best parts about Target, if you ask me!), and make something using item(s) that I find in the ever-amazing BINS.  Then, I'll share it with you on the blog, and y'all will get the chance to make it using the same materials because I promise to post the craft up quickly after I do it...that way the products will still be there!  :-)  This idea has been a-brewin' in my head for some time, and I think it's a good way for me to challenge my creativity and come up with crafts on my own, instead of always consulting Pinterest (though I love it).  Obviously, in this day in age, it is hard to be 100% original, so I can't say that my craft idea isn't already out there, but mine will have a bit of a spin because of the source of my materials!  :-)

So, here we go!!

DIY Funky Bathroom Tray

What You'll Need...

Wrapping paper (my pick from the Dollar Bin!) - $2.00

A white frame (this was a 3-pack for $5)

Scissors

What You'll Do...

This is simple-simple and literally takes five minutes.  For two.  I wasn't fancy about this.  I didn't want to Mod Podge the wrapping paper down because I wanted the freedom to change it up whenever the mood may strike me.  So - 

1. If your frame has a little stand on the back of it, take that off. 

2. Take out the insert of the frame and roughly use it as a point of reference in tracing your wrapping paper cutout.  I was not meticulous about this since I knew that I was just going to put the back on top of it.  I folded the extra edges in, and put the back of the frame back on.

Done.  As in, finished.

Oh, look -- now there's two!  One for me, one for my mom.

And that's it!  I use mine to hold my perfume, makeup primer, and select jewelry.  Simple, inexpensive ($8), and looks cute!  :-)

There you have it, people!  The first addition to my Target Dollar Bin Challenge!  I have added a tab up at the top of my blog where all of the projects will be located for easy access.  I'm so looking forward to starting this journey with you!  

If you'd like to take part in this challenge, send me an e-mail with your project and pictures and I'll share it on All Things Luxurious!  :-)

I hope you all have an awesome day -- I'm going back to school today after taking a three-year break.  I am so nervous!

Any advice for me for my first day?  Are you doing anything fun this week?  Did you have a good weekend?

love,

maria

Don't miss this weekend's posts!

Design Crush: Natural Wood Shelving

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Linking up!

Our Patio: A Work In Progress

Hey there, friends!  :-)  Happy Wednesday to you!

Last week, I got the urge to spruce up our patio.  My husband and I have been living in our apartment for over a year, and we had yet to take advantage of the space we have outdoors.  Yes, that means we missed an entire beautiful Arizona Fall, Winter, and Spring -- no dinner or wine on the patio; no parties with extra room to flow to and from; and no morning coffee or blogging out there, either.  Tragic.

The thing is, we did not have the money to spend on anything grandiose out there.  So I told my hubby that I was going to become a lurker on Craigslist (only half kidding) and I started to peruse.  But that night before bed, I remembered that we had an unused card table hiding away in our coat closet.  Waste of space much?  I used to use it as my crafting table, but I have since retired to the dining table because it makes our space look much less cluttered -- I can't work when I am in a cluttered environment!  So, from there, I was on the hunt for chairs.

The first chair I came across that I thought was sorta cute and modern was this one from Target.

Pretty standard, but I liked that it was a greige color.  I looked at other places like Walmart and Lowe's, and each store had the same type of chair in some really fun different colors, but they were all sold out! I decided to get two of these chairs from Target, and, standard Maria behavior, couldn't sleep that night because I was so worried they were going to be gone once I got to the store in the morning!  (Sort of like the night my Anthro table runner kept me up!)  But, to make a patio makeover story that much happier, I bought two of these chairs, and a pretty tablecloth to go over the card table.

Although it is very hot outside right now (and will be for the next several weeks), I have enjoyed a few cool-ish early mornings out here, blogging, checking my e-mail, and drinking my coffee.  Greyson and I also sat out there last night and drank our wine and talked -- very fun.  I'm really looking forward to late September, when we start to have the kind of amazing weather that usually sticks through the late winter months.  Love!

The total cost for this space was $38.  And I love that since I didn't spend a ton of money on any piece of this, it'll be easy to change out next summer if I want to go with a totally different style of tablecloth -- now that I know that these chairs come in so many different colors, I have options.  And I loooove options.  ;-)

For now, you can find me here.

;-)

What do you think?

Have you spruced up your patio yet this summer?  Has it even been cool enough for you to sit outside?

love,

maria

P.S. If you like what you see, follow me on Bloglovin'!  I'm new!  ;-)

Summer Pinterest Challenge: DIY Silhouette Painting

Hey there, friends!  :-)

Today I'm linking up with Young House Love for their Summer Pinterest Party -- a way to get all of us crafters and bloggers to actually complete one of the hundreds of crafts or projects we spend so much time pinning!  :-)

This party idea was dreamt up by Katie from Bower Power, so before I start in with the project that I completed, make sure you check out these great projects from the host bloggers!

Katie  --  Kate  --  Michelle  --  John and Sherry   

All righty -- here we go!

Last week, when I heard about this party, I consulted my DIY board on Pinterest and made a very careful decision.  Okay.  Not really.  I just picked the first thing that I had pinned, because, honestly, there was no way that I was going to be able to make a choice.  

Aubrey + Lindsay's Little House Blog

This is the picture that I originally saved, and I the reason I pinned it was not to follow the project's instructions, but to use it as a starting-off point.  Think of this as an *inspiration picture.*  :-)

I knew that I wanted this to be the beginning of our gallery wall, which is going on one of the {mostly bare} walls in our living room.  I thought this would be a cute idea to implement the two will-be standout colors for our living room (blue and green), and it also gives a sweet nod to my dear husband and I with the male and female silhouettes!  Perfect!

What You Need

Picture frame

Silhouette that you like printed from the internet

Watercolors

Paint brushes

Water

Pencil

Scissors

Now first thing's first -- put on those glasses!  You're going to need to see lots of detail!  ;-)

Cut the silhouettes out of the paper with ample paper still around them...

Like this!  This makes it easier to cut into the tiny details.  Slowly and carefully cut around the silhouettes.

For small details, like lips, noses, and inside-of-the-ponytail, I used small scissors from my self-manicure kit.  These worked great.

Arrange your silhouettes onto a sheet of nice, thick white paper (you are going to paint on it).  Then, trace.

Then, start painting!  It is best to try out your colors on a piece of scrap paper so you know you are getting the right shade if you are going to mix.  I wanted a darker blue and a medium green, so it took some tweaking.

Now, as you can see, on the male silhouette, I messed up!  I painted too much on his mouth (shaky hand); so here is where I improvised.  If you do this part correctly, you don't have to do what I did next.  

I cut out the silhouettes again.  

Then I sprayed them with a clear acrylic coating to give them a nice glossy look.

I mounted them onto a new sheet of nice paper with my scrapbooking adhesive strips -- very easy.

And then I framed it!

The extra mounting step is optional, but my husband did say it looks great to have it pop off the page a little bit.  ;-)

So there you have it!  My contribution to this month's Pinterest party, and the start of our gallery wall!  The fun has officially begun, people!

Total Cost: $12 (Frame- Target; Watercolors- Target) 

What do you think?

Have you created something you've pinned recently?  What was it?

love,

maria

Linking up!

Grapevine Seashell Wreath

Last week, I made the short trek to my local Michael's to find some inspiration for a summer wreath.  I checked my Pinterest boards, but I didn't really see anything that sparked my fancy, believe it or not!  I have a whole lotta Spring wreaths and Christmas wreaths saved, but nothing for summer.  I know -- weird, right?

I walked through the aisles and came across this really neat grapevine wreath -- very cool shape.  And then there was a bag of pretty white seashells down another aisle, and I knew that was it.  Just a simple nautical wreath was in the works.

What You'll Need

Grapevine wreath of any shape or size

Bag of seashells

Hot glue gun

(Ignore the ribbon -- I didn't end up using it)

Pick a shell that you want to be the "star" of the show -- mine was a starfish!  There are usually one or two unique shells in a bag of storebought seashells, so choose from one of those! I placed mine a little bit off-center.

Then, just start gluin'!

Here are my tips for hot-gluing the shells:

*On shells that you are going to be placing bottom-side up, hot glue only the two corners that will be touching the wreath.  If you hot glue all the way around, the glue will dry too quickly and since the wreath form itself is uneven, it won't touch all the way around.  Place the shell on the wreath before you glue it to really see where it is going to lay, and then hot glue!

*On shells that you are going to be placing top-side down, pile on a large dot of hot glue in the center, and place.  Hold down firmly with your pointer finger until the center of the shell is no longer hot to the touch.

All said and done, this project took me only about an hour and a half.  And it looks so preeety on my door.  :-)

Oh, and, when I looked up grapevine seashell wreaths on Google Shopping, the cost ranged from $30-upwards of $250!  Mine?  $16 (with many shells leftover !).  Oh yeaaaaah.  *Happy dance*

What do you think?  Have you attempted a summer wreath yet?

love,

maria

PS: Come back on Thursday to see what I did with all of my leftover shells!  ;-)

I'm linking up with 52 Mantels!

DIY Coffee Table Books

Last week while perusing one of my favorite blogs, Centsational Girl, I came upon a post that she had written about what to do with the "dog-eared pages" in your life.  You know -- the magazine photos that you tear out of House Beautiful and Dwell and save for inspiration.  I happen to have a problem with this.  I save, save, save, then forget, forget, forget.  I even had a family friend gift to me many of her favorite tear sheets and provide me with a binder full of amazing inspiration from a real interior decorator's perspective.  I hadn't gone through those pages yet, but I decided to take a look.

The first thing I did was go through all of the sheets and decide what was relevant to my design and decorating tastes and what wasn't.  This was a great exercise for me -- really taking a look at a photo and deciding if it just appealed to me, or if I would want it or an aspect of the pictured design for my own home.  I figured that anything that I like to marvel at from afar but not use within my own home, I would recycle.  

I made three categories with my tear sheets -- Interiors, Vacation Cabin, and Details -- and realized that these would make great coffee table books, full of all of the pictures that I love to look at.  Grey and I dream to have a cabin in a woodsy area someday, and I have tons of ideas for that, so I'm really glad that I included our hopeful home in the categories.  The Details book was to hold many things -- ideas for place settings, holiday decorating, how-to's, color schemes...  Anything detail-oriented.  

I found a beautiful canvas book at Michael's, and I decided to start on that particular afternoon with my Interior tear sheets.  I'm sure you can guess how this went...  You just need a glue stick and a book of your choice, and, of course, your inspiration.  :-)

There is still a lot of room left in the book to fill as more inspiration falls into my lap, and I have two other books in the works.  I have already flipped through this many times while waiting for my husband to get ready for a date, or passing the time between appointments.  It just makes me happy to see all of the aspects of what makes my decorating style unique in one place.  :-)

love,

maria

Champagne Cork Magnets

When we got engaged, and when we were on our honeymoon, we opened bottles of champagne.  I have long been trying to figure out what to do with the corks that came from those bottles, and last weekend, I finally figured it out!

Make magnets, of course!

This tutorial really is so simple it doesn't even need a tutorial...

You need corks, of course...  ;-)

You also need a hot glue gun, and some magnets.  But -- a word to the wise:

Pay attention to your magnet strength.  These were much too weak to hold my cork onto the refrigerator -- which meant an extra trip to the craft store.  *Annoying*.  ;-)  Try to find something a little heavy duty for your keepsake magnet.

These were just the ticket!  Heavy and strong.  Woop!

You just need a thin layer of hot glue, then firmly hold the magnet to the bottom of the cork for a minute or so.  And then...

Proudly display your custom creation.  :-)

love, maria

Linking up!