Keep Calm and Decorate

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

What I Wore Wednesday

I think it is safe to say spring is finally here! Woo hoo!!! It might not be as warm as I would like it to be but the snow is all gone. I don't want to see or hear about snow until December when I am putting up my Christmas tree and watching Clark Griswald. Sorry, not sure how I got on that tangent! Anyway, here is what I wore on Easter Sunday.

Cardi: Gap (similar to this)

Black and White Striped Shirt: Old Navy

Jeans: Thrifted

P.S. Doesn't that little girl look ornery? I couldn't get one good picture of just her in her Easter dress. :)

Sunnies: Oakley (similar to these)

Necklace:Kohl's

(pic taken a few weeks back)

Shoes: Unlisted by Kenneth Cole (Carson's)

Thanks for stopping by!

I am linking to:

The Pleated Poppy

Style Elixir

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

March in Review!

I am going to try something new this month by doing a monthly review of my projects from March. I sometimes feel as a blogger you have to keep cranking out the projects and I always have a bazillion ideas in my head that I think I need to create and blog about. This is a nice way for me to reflect and see what things I have accomplished in the past month. I also wanted to say thank you to all of my new followers via, InstaGram, Facebook, Pinterest, Hometalk and almost retired Google reader :(. I recently just signed up for Bloglovin, it really isn't that bad and it imported all of my current Google friends. I know Google Reader will be missed, but sometimes change is good, right? Anyway, I would love it if you would want to follow me on Bloglovin. Just click on any of the social media icons to the right > sidebar to follow me. Also, wanted to mention that Bloglovin has an iPhone app, which can also be downloaded on your iPad. I am not sure if there is one available for Androids.

Here are my projects from the month of March.

In the beginning of the month I created this spring wreath made from cherry sours candy! I was so excited to see it featured on Tatertots and Jello, Coastal Charm, Under The Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn , DIY Showoff and Craft Gossip. You should really go check these blogs out if you haven't done so already.

I got my spring mantel done even though spring decided to stay on vacation a little bit longer. I was very grateful to see that it was featured on the CSI Project.

I was able to get an Easter craft done for my daughter's room. I wanted to do a fake animal head project forever and thought the framed bunny would be fun to make.

Last on the project list this month was my shampoo and conditioner soap dispensers. I think this was my favorite project this past month. I love looking in my shower and seeing my pretty soap dispensers. It really is a great way to start out the day. I know I am dorky like that! ;) I also wanted to give a shout out to Hometalk for featuring my soap dispensers last week on their Facebook page.

I am looking forward to the month of April and meeting more new people! There are so many wonderful peeps in blogland and loads of inspiration. I do have a few big projects on deck for April. My daughter has a birthday coming up next month and we are trying to get all of our current projects done before then. Oh, the life of a DIY family! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a lovely week!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

What I Wore Wednesday

Spring is near, our snow has melted and warmer weather is in the forecast. This has been the longest winter that I can remember. Ok, maybe I am being a little dramatic! Last weekend the husband and I went on a little weekend getaway. I was able to go to Anthropologie and oh goodness I sure do love that store. It was my first time ever visiting their store. I have seen all of their goods on their website but to actually be in the store was pure happiness. I could have spent the entire day in that store looking at all of their pretty things. I was even able to find a new sweater for $20.00 (it was originally $128.00) woo hoo!!!

Here are some pics of my new sweater and what I wore with it!

Sweater: Anthropologie (similar to this one)

Jeans: Hydraulic (Carsons)

Boots: Lucky Brand (Macy's) hand me down from Mom

Necklace: Rue 21

Another view of the boots

I am linking to:

The Pleated Poppy

Style Elixir

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Soap Dispensers

I can't believe this is my 100th post! Wow, it has almost been 3 years since I started my blog journey. I didn't blog much in 2011 and 2012 and kind of wish I did. I have met so many people during my three years as a blogger and really appreciate all of the support and sweet comments. So here I go writing my 100th post. I wish I had some special giveaway to shower all of you with but I don't it's just more of me babbling.

Do you all remember my Coke bottle soap dispenser? It is Keep Calm and Decorate's most popular search and pin on Pinterest. I don't know about you but I like for the basic things I use everyday to be pretty and organized. It really isn't expensive or hard to make your things look prettier. I thought about ways I could make my basic things look better. I hate the look of my shampoo and conditioner bottles in my shower. I saw some pretty bottles at Anthropologie this past weekend, but they are glass. Glass does not work for this mom of an almost two year old or for somebody who has butter fingers and drops everything (that would be me)! I needed something that was made of plastic. So, I came up with this idea!

Here is what you will need to make the soap dispensers:

* 2 - clear, plastic soap bottles (I got mine from the Dollar Tree)

* Vinyl sheets

* A die cut machine such as a Cricut

NOTE: You can buy vinyl lettering at any home improvement store (I would recommend the letters you use on your mailbox). It has to be something water proof.

*A cute metal basket

TUTORIAL

Here are the two soap bottles I picked up at the Dollar Tree.

Next, you can peel the labels off. For some reason, the green bottle gave me a little attitude when trying to get the label off. You can use a little Googone or acetone nail polish remover to remove the sticky left behinds. I personally think the acetone nail polish remover works the best.

Next, I cut out the vinyl letters on my Cricut to go on the bottles. I used S for shampoo and C for Conditioner (I know brilliant, right). Hee hee! My letter size for the Cricut was 2 3/4". You can also buy vinyl letters if you don't have a die cut machine.

I then dumped out all of the liquid that was in the soap dispensers. I know it is wasteful, but I am sorry I didn't want the soap. The great thing is that the soap was really watered down so it didn't get too sudsy when I tried to clean out the bottle. I washed it out several times until I knew the old soap was gone. I then dumped the shampoo and conditioner into the empty bottles.

After I knew the bottles were dry I added the S and the C to the bottles and put the dispenser on.

I found this cute basket for $3.00 in the tricky dollar section at Target to put the soaps in.

Here are other soap dispensers I use around my house.

I use the Coke bottle for hand soap and the vintage lemonade bottle for dish soap.

How do you make your basic everyday things prettier?

I am linking to:

Under The Table and Dreaming

Love Of Family and Home

Thursday, March 21, 2013

What I Wore Wednesday

Yesterday was the first day of spring and our high was 30 degrees! I don't think Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog's prediction was right about an early spring. :) The good thing is that the sun has been shining and it's warm inside. It has been very hard to decide what to wear because I don' want to wear my winter clothes because it is spring but I can't wear my spring clothes because it's cold. What is a girl to do? (sigh)

Here is what I wore!

Cardi: Old Navy

Jeans: 7 For All Man Kind (My favorite Goodwill score)

Green T-shirt: Old Navy

Necklace: Kohls

Shoes: Unlisted by Kenneth Cole (Carson's)

I am linking to:

The Pleated Poppy

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Framed Bunny Tutorial

I just love the cute, faux animal heads I have been seeing around blog land and on Pinterest. I don't think they are something I would put in my living room, but I do think they are pretty cute in a kids room or office. I have been wanting to do some kind of faux animal in my daughter's room for awhile now. And with Easter being only a few weeks away I thought a bunny would be perfect.

Here are some of the supplies I used to get started:

Mod Podge

Hot Glue Gun

Ribbon

White Napkin (Mod Podged to body)

Felt (for ears)

Styrofoam Ball (can be found at any craft store or dollar store)

Pom Poms (for mouth and nose)

Buttons (for eyes)

Black Thread (whiskers)

I cut my styrofoam ball in half. I felt like I was cutting up a piece of fruit. I had the cutting board and knife

out . I wasn't messing around here peeps.

After I was done cutting I laid out my napkin and cut off a square to put around the bunny's head. I wanted a little texture and the styrofoam was a little to blah for me.

I then wrapped the napkin around the cut half of the styrofoam ball and taped the napkin to the back to make it lay flat. I then started to apply the Mod Podge. You will need to let it dry for about 20 minutes before handling it.

I also Mod Podged black thread to use for the whiskers. I didn't want droopy whiskers so I used Mod Podge to make them stiffer.

I then cut the strands of thread into pieces (after the Mod Podge was done drying). I hot glued the cut thread to the pink and two white poms and then glued it to the stryofoam half.

I then cut out two ears from white felt and hot glued them to the styrofoam ball and also glued the eyes on. I didn't use a pattern for the ears I just started cutting until they started to look like ears. I am sure there are bunny ear pattern that you could use.

I used this pink brush pen that I got in a kit from Hobby Lobby to color inside the bunny ears.

Once I colored the inside of the ears, I added a little bow and tucked in a little piece of pink felt under the two white poms for a bunny mouth.

I had an old frame and mat from a project that never got done so I decided to use that to frame the bunny.

And since this is a framed bunny, I decided it needed a name plate. I had this label from another project, but you could easily cut out your own. I colored in the corners with the pink marker I used for the ears and glued it onto the mat.