It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Maybe that should say it's almost the most wonderful time of the year?! It's hard to believe Christmas is a little over a month away, but we are getting super excited! I'm normally not one of those who decorate and listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but things have been a bit different this year. I have been so anxious to get our decorations up (which I did last weekend - more details to come after we buy our tree next weekend) and get our holiday cards purchased. I just live for holiday cards - making ours and rushing home every day in December to see whose card we receive that day/week to add to our collection.

It goes without saying that I will get our holiday cards from Shutterfly. I just love them so much! Remember these cards from last year?! I still get a smile on my face looking at them online. Well, I'm at it again this year and couldn't be more excited about the cards we've selected (although, Caton won't know which cards "we've" selected until they arrive on our doorstep!). So get ready family and friends... the Walkers will be hitting your mailbox in the next few weeks to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! And for a sneak peak, check out my widgets on the right hand side of the page... just act surprised when you receive them in the mail, ok?! :)

Fork & Spoon Art

As you all know, I took a little break from blogging and DIYing over the summer, and I also took a break from my thrift store shopping. Yeah, it was as horrible as it sounds, but we were so busy that I wouldn't have had time to work on projects anyway. The last time I went to Savers was back in March and I couldn't have been more excited to find these beauties sitting on the shelves just waiting to be snatched up and, hopefully, given some spray paint love. I have seen other crafty bloggers use these decorations in their kitchens/dining rooms for years and couldn't wait to get my hands on a pair. The ones I found, although a not-my-favorite-or-even-kind-of-doable rusty gold color, were only $3.99 a piece, made of heavy duty metal and well over a foot long each (I put my iPhone in the photo below to show you a comparison). Woohoo! This is what they looked like back when I first picked them up (and how they stayed over the last 6 months while they sat in the basement).

I had seen them all over blogs and websites for years, so I had lots of ideas for how to hang them and what color to spray them, but ultimately went with my beloved Oil Rubbed Bronze. I just love how well they go with the pot holder next to them. I've only had them up for a few weeks, but I still get a smile on my face every time I walk by the kitchen. Such a fun, easy and inexpensive way to add some "art" to the tiny kitchen!

Wine Cork W

So... it's been a little over four months since I've posted anything on the ole' blog. Woops! I knew I was going to take a bit of a break with DIY projects over the summer so Caton and I could spend all of our time enjoying the weather outside, visiting family and friends, going on vacations and not being cooped up in the house, but I have no excuse for the last month or so since fall officially began. I'm happy to report that I have been working on a few fun things around the house, so I'm excited to share them over the next couple of days and weeks.

First up is my wine cork W. I originally saw this idea on Pinterest (I'm just as obsessed as everyone else, for sure!), originally found from this site, and have been gathering up supplies over the last few months. It's no secret that Caton and I enjoy a glass of wine every now and then, and we (well, at least I) have been drinking it since college (as you can tell from the huge hurricane of corks shown below), so there is quite an accumultion of corks. The only problem was that I wanted this particular project to have all real corks instead of those rubber ones that many companies are switching to lately. So, thanks to the help of my lovely vino-loving friends and family, as well as generous wine bar up in Parkville that let me raid their stash, I finally had all the corks I needed.

The process is pretty self explanatory... buy a cardboard letter from Hobby Lobby, arrange corks as you wish (asking your helpful hubby to cut a few of them to size with the appropriate tools) and hot glue the corks to the letter. When you take out the months of waiting time to come up with enough real corks to fill the W, this entire project only took about 20 minutes. So easy and such a fun addition to my favorite piece of furniture in our entire house, my 9-cubby shelf!

Mason Jars & Worm Drive Clamps = Birthday Gifts

I know it sounds absolutely crazy, but I promise that when you take one of these, and one of these, along with some craft paint and a piece of wood...

you get a pretty little something that looks like this…

I was introduced to Pinterest (one of my new favorite sites in the whole wide world – yes, I love it that much) AND this amazingly fun mason jar vase by one of my coworkers/friends that loves all things crafts/projects/DIY as much as I do. It was love at first sight email-showing-each-other-cool-craft-ideas-and-projects-we-want-to-DIY-at-home. She’s the best. Anyway, when she sent me a joking email with a picture of this fun vase and said, “I think you should make this for me for my birthday next month!” little did she know I would actually pin this to my Pinterest board and most definitely make it for her birthday the following month.

This project is pretty quick and easy; it took me two nights once I had all of my supplies. I had about a month to work on this since her birthday was later in May, so I took my time finding the perfect mason jar throughout the month. I tend to see them every time I go thrift shopping, but I have rarely seen color tented jars, so I was super excited to find a blue/green mason jar a few weeks ago. Then, I went to a local hardware store to pick up a metal worm drive clamp. They come in various sizes, and are probably even less expensive at big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s. I think the one I picked out was around $2.00. I had some scrap wood on hand at home, but wanted this to be a specific size and style, so I went ahead and picked up a small piece of wood at the hardware store as well, which my dad helped me cut it to size with his skill/hand saw. I also had some craft paint on hand (black, white and teal – which is just what I was wanting) so I was ready to get to work.

The first night was spent painting the piece of wood. First I painted the entire thing white (as shown below), let that dry for a while, and then alternated brushing on some black and teal paint in random spots. I didn’t really have a specific technique; I just brushed on some paint and used an old rag (or the dry part of the brush, at times) to give it an antiqued look. Lucky for me, I loved the end result!

After the paint had dried overnight, I requested my Dad’s help once again. I found the exact spot that I wanted the clamp to be attached to the wood, and marked it with a pencil. My Dad then drilled a pilot hole through the clamp. Since the wood was soft enough, he didn’t have to drill a pilot hole into the wood (This is just one of the reasons why I LOVE having a dad that has owned a construction company for as long as I’ve been alive. If I had been taking on this project as the novice that I am, I would have gone about this all the wrong way, so I was very thankful for his experience and help!). After he put a tiny screw through the clamp and into the wood, I simply slid the jar into the clamp, tightened it with a screwdriver and the project was complete!

I gave her the gift the next morning and, much to my delight, she was surprised (she had forgotten she even sent me the picture) and loved it. Success! Now I just have to find another “perfect” mason jar so I can make one for myself!

Have Your Cake And Eat It Too

Definition:  To have one's cake and eat it too is a popular English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech, sometimes stated as eat one's cake and have it too or simply have one's cake and eat it. This is most often used negatively, meaning an individual owning a thing, and still attempting to benefit from or use it. It may also indicate having or wanting more than one can handle or deserve, or trying to have two incompatible things. The proverb's meaning is similar to the phrases, ‘you can't have it both ways’ and ‘you can't have the best of both worlds’.” 
Source (although not the most accurate source out there on the World Wide Web, it works for this fun-natured post)

I came across this post in one of the weekly DIY emails I receive and instantly fell in love, as I have with a few of my little (or big) project ideas. How cute are these cake stands? Naturally, cake stands make you think of cake, and cake makes you think of the phrase “have your cake and eat it too”. I completely understand why and how the figure of speech is used negatively, but in this case I think it can be switched around to be positive.  Hear me out…

“meaning an individual owning a thing, and still attempting to benefit from or use it”- Um, yes please! I love finding things I already own around the house and figuring out a way to re-purpose it (whether it gets some DIY love or not) to get more (or better) use out of it than I was previously.

“may also indicate having or wanting more than one can handle or deserve” – Let’s be honest, my husband doesn’t think I need to purchase/create/DIY/or even inherit another serving piece for as long as we both shall live! I already have way more than I can handle store and deserve am thankful to have received, but I will always welcome more and the hubby… well, he will smile and tell me “a happy wife makes a happy life”. J

“or trying to have two incompatible things” – Such is the DYI motto, at times. Taking something (or some things) and making them more practical/fun/meaningful, even if those separate things may not “fit” together at first glance.

After you see my short-but-sweet tutorial below, you will most certainly believe that when it comes to DIY cake stands ‘you can't can have it both ways’ and ‘you can't can have the best of both worlds’… I promise!

I mentioned in this post that I found some cute, and super inexpensive, plates and candle sticks with cake-plate-making on the brain while I was bargain shopping in March. After I gathered all of my supplies I just knew I wanted to make them for part of our Mother’s Day gifts for our moms. I had already purchased some fun spring/summer spray paint colors for other projects and picked up some epoxy at the same time, so when you add in the plates & candlesticks - $0.99 each (plates) & $1.99 each (candlesticks), this was a really cost-effective gift. *Fun fact – the plates I found are branded on the bottom with the Independence Ironstone logo. If you Google it, there are tons of pieces and entire sets for sale. While it isn’t reselling for huge amounts of money, it is neat to know I found plates that have some history. *

The first task was to glue the plates to the candle sticks. I was nervous to use epoxy for the first time ever, but the directions on the box made it really quick and easy and it worked like a charm! If you’re nervous like me, just ask your hubby or significant other to stand right next to you; the moral support works wonders for Nervous Nelly’s like me! Anyway, the epoxy was amazing and it took a matter of minutes before these two objects were "stuck like glue", as my beloved Sugarland would say.

The second, and last, task (I told you this was a quick and easy project) was to spray paint the bottom of the plates and candle sticks. I took a large piece of cardboard in the backyard and just sprayed and sprayed until I thought it looked coated on every nook and cranny. You definitely don’t want any of the paint to get on the top side of the plate, and I saw suggestions of using painters tape to keep the paint off of that side, but I felt like my plate was flush enough against the cardboard to do the trick, and I was right. I found out I had a couple little specs of paint on the top of the plate (once it dried and I was able to turn it over), but I just scraped them off with my fingernail and was good to go! I followed my trusty instructions from the Eat Drink Pretty blog and washed the top of the plate off with hot, soapy water (this will never be dishwasher safe, but most of my serving pieces aren’t - and even if they are, I feel better about hand washing them anyway) and they were complete!

When I gave my mom (I will be giving it to my mother-in-law next weekend, so I hope she doesn’t check the ole’ blog before then!) the blue one last weekend I told her I had spray painted the bottom (better safe than sorry, so I wanted to disclose as much information as possible) and let her know that there is no paint on the top of the plates, so cakes, cookies, snacks, etc can all be served off of this surface. If they decide they want to be extra cautious (in the event the food is placed on the outer rim of the plate instead of just in the center), they can always place a cute napkin or doily on the plate before setting out the food.

So, what do you think?! I’m so in love with it that I’m now on the hunt for cute plate and candle sticks/coblets/bowls/etc to make a few more for my own collection. I have already made one platter out of another plate and mini bowl I found at Savers last month (a full Bargain Shopping – April 2011 post to come soon). The plate is from Nell Hill's , and I just love the color, so I decided to simply glue the two together with epoxy and leave them as-is.

Loving the small plate (with dots that go so well with our dinner and serving ware) and the mini clear “stand”; I can’t wait to use it during our next party. It’s totally normal to plan a “girls’ (wine) night out” simply to show off my new serving dish, right?! Yep, I thought so!

Enjoy having your cake and eating it, too, friends!