DIY Stamped Books

Earlier this week I shared about our Girls Craft Night (you can see the post HERE) and promised I would share the details about these DIY stamped books.  

I have seen similar products sold online or in local boutiques and always loved them, but didn't want to spend the money on them.  Well, I decided that I could probably make these myself and it was seriously the EASIEST project ever. 

Materials: 

Paperback books 

Stamps (I used this set) 

Stamp pad 

Baby wipes 

Twine/ribbon/string 

Scissors 

Greenery sprigs 

Wire cutters 

The first step is to find the books.  You may have a bunch of old books laying around your house that you could use for this, but if you want to purchase cheap paper back books the best place is the Dollar Store!!! 

I didn't even know they had books, but they do. Goodwill is another great option, but their books are between $2-3 and the Dollar Tree books are obviously only $1.  I stocked up on all that they had and actually made a trip to another Dollar Tree to grab some more. The only thing you need to make sure of is that they are thick enough to be able to fit the letter stamps.  

Once you have your books the next step is to literally rip the covers off. I know this seems bad and at first I felt horrible tearing off the covers. However, that gives you the rustic/farmhouse look and makes the spines blank to be able to stamp.  You can also rip off a few pages until you find the title or dedication page. Just something that is pretty plain to be on the top of your stack.

Now you are ready to start stamping. I found tons of inspiration on Pinterest and also just Googled "hand stamped books" to get some ideas. You could do anything from family names and holiday sayings to Bible verses or hometown locations.

We decided that we liked the look of using all lowercase stamps so that is what we used. I also found it helpful to write down what you are going to put on the books unless you are great at spelling backwards. I am not, especially after a glass of wine, so I wrote it down and then was able to work backwards...lining up all of the ends of the words with the end of the books.

The stamping was simple.  One tip I would share is that after getting the stamp wet with the ink from the stamp pad, wipe around the edges with a baby wipe or wet paper towel to get the excess ink off.  You just want to make sure the ink is on the actual letter, but not all around the letter or it will show up when you stamp the book.

After all the stamping is done, line up the books, wrap the jute twine around a few times and tie in a bow. We cut little pieces off of the greenery spray to tuck into the twine and just add a little something extra to the project.

This was such an easy project and so fun to make!  I feel like these stacks would be great as a personalized gifts for hostesses, a fun addition to a Christmas gifts, or just to make for your own home!

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Girls Craft Night!

Happy Monday!  I can hardly believe we are so close to Christmas.  It's such a crazy time of year for our schedules, but we were able to squeeze in a some crafting fun a few weeks ago.  You know all of those Pinterest projects that you always see and want to make, but never take the time to do?!?  Well, we decided to finally make it happen!

We crafted, ate snacks, drank wine, laughed, and had the best time!  Want to host a craft night of your own?  Here is what we did. Each person picks one craft to be in charge of for the evening. They buy enough supplies for everyone who will be attending the craft night and come with the knowledge of how to complete the project. You can have picture examples, step-by-step directions, or even just a "wing it" mentality...whatever works best for you.  Then you take turns completing each craft and end up going home with several different projects from the evening!

For our projects we painted mason jars with chalk paint and then distressed them and added embellishments, we hand-stamped books, and we made wooded bead garland.  I LOVED all three of our projects and how they could each be personalized and unique.

Today I'm going to share how we made the wooden bead garland and later this week I will share details about the stamped books! First I bought these wooden beads and needed to paint them.  You can paint them any color, but I wanted them to be neutral so I went with an off-white color.  I liked the idea of them not being a solid color and just looking more like a stain so I mixed about 1/2 paint and 1/2 water in a bowl. I just made sure each of the beads was covered and put them out on an old towel and patted them to take the excess paint off before letting them sit to dry.  I would recommend doing this step at least a day in advance. 

They ended up looking like this with sort of a whitewash look to them which I loved. For this project you will also need some jute twine.

These aren't the best pictures because we did our craft night late and it was so dark, but wanted to show you how to make the tassel for the end of the garland. First you wrap the twine around your hand about 10 times.  Then you will cut all of the pieces on one end and string another longer piece of twine through the other end. Lastly, you take a small piece and wrap it around the top to create the tassel.

These beaded garlands can be made any length you like!  I found that wrapping a small piece of tape around the end of the jute twine made it easier to string the beads before making another tassel and attaching it to the opposite end.  

There are a ton of YouTube tutorials that show each step, but this was a simple project and these beads can be put over books, put around a vase, laid on an entry table or used just about anywhere in your home!  I love the idea of making different colored ones for each holiday, so that might be my next project! 

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DIY Anchor Pallet Wood Sign

This DIY anchor pallet wood sign might be one of the easiest projects we have ever done! Mostly because it wasn't a long thought out project. On Friday night I was sitting in our office and glanced over at a box that had been leaning against the wall for well over the year. I was sipping on wine, catching up on emails and suddenly thought, "I know what to do with that!".

In the box contained a wooden anchor monogrammed with our initial. I had ordered it last spring or summer. I knew where I wanted to hang it, but always thought it needed a little something more in the space so I tabled the project. Until wine-aspiration hit.

I knew we had some left over pallets from a Christmas present. We kept meaning to put them in the trash collection or give them to someone who could use them, but never did. I thought if we could use the pallet wood to make a backing for the anchor sign it might look good.

I called over Mr. Cute and made him one of my infamous design drawings. He took two seconds to look at it and said it would be super easy for him to knock out.

Saturday rolled around and after our soccer parent duties were done for the day, he broke out his tools and got to work. Within an hour we had our sign ready to hang!

I took a few pictures through the process in case anyone wants instructions on how to make their own.

HOW TO MAKE A DIY ANCHOR PALLET WOOD SIGN

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• A wooden anchor or design in your choice (obviously these instructions could work with anything. You would just have to adjust your dimensions). I ordered my monogrammed anchor from here. 
• Pallet wood - This project used approximately two pallets of wood. 
• Trim nails (We used a nail gun to mail this process a little quicker.)
• A compound miter saw (Not sure if this is necessary, but it made the project go much faster. You could probably saw and sand, it would just be a longer process.)
• Chalk paint

INSTRUCTIONS

• Pull all usable boards from your pallets. We made our sign 19" across, so Mr. Cute made sure to pull good boards with enough length for him to trim down. 

• Measure, mark and cut down the boards to your desired size. Again, we knew we wanted a sign around 19" wide so Mr. Cute cut down around 8 boards at that length with his compound miter saw. 

• Arrange the boards in the order you want before adhering them together. Because of the varying colors of wood we made sure to arrange the boards in a pattern we thought would look best. 

• Once you've chosen your desired layout you can begin nailing the boards together. Mr. Cute cut  two boards the length of the sign for the back (our was approximately 26" in length). He placed the boards in the pattern we chose on top and then nailed each board into them with trim nails. 

Note: Originally we were going to frame in the sign too, but we didn't have enough usable wood left over from the pallets. 

• Now that the pallet backing is done, lay flat and place the monogram on top to make sure everything looks the way you want it and measures correctly. 

• Time to paint! 

Originally I had plans to paint the pallet wood white and the monogram navy, but once I saw it all together I thought it actually looked good natural. Mr. Cute suggested maybe just painting the monogram so I went with a white chalk paint and loved how it turned out. 

• Let the chalk paint dry and then paint over it once with a clear coat. 

• After everything is dry, remeasure and place your anchor on the pallet wood for final attachment. 

• Attach the sign with two small trim nails at the top and the bottom. Fill in any holes with a quick touch up of your paint color. 

• Time to hang! Now your DIY anchor pallet wood sign shoulda be ready for display! 

We have a little rolling bar cart/cooler someone gave Mr. Cute a few years ago on one of our patios and I placed the sign over it. The minute we hung the sign I knew it was the perfect use for the monogrammed anchor.  We hung the sign a little higher than normal because I didn't want anyone to knock into it when they were opening the top of the cooler when getting a drink. It is super heavy and falling on someone would most definitely hurt. 

I have plans to add a little something to each side of the sign. Maybe glassware holders or two smaller signs? I'm tossing a few ideas around in my head. A little more wine-spiration and I'm sure I will come up with something good. ;)

But for now, I love that it was a quick and easy project and it looks great in the space! And I never thought I would be a pallet wood kind of girl, but after seeing it all together I am already thinking of other projects I can make with it.

Do you have a pallet wood project you have done? Share with us! I can't wait to see what all the possibilities are! 

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Painted Rocks

Unless you've been living under a rock (see what I did there :-)), you've probably heard about the painted rock project.  It started as a way to help bring inspiration to others that may need it and has turned into a huge movement that swept across the country. The basic idea is you paint rocks with any sort of design, quote or saying and then "hide" them for others to find.

Simple, right?  Well, just imagine the smile it might bring to someone's face to find a rock with a word of inspiration outside of a doctor's office or for a child to find a cute painted rock on a playground.  The possibilities are endless.  We've found a few painted rocks around town and and it is always such a pleasant surprise that brings a smile to my kids' faces.

Last summer this seemed to be gaining popularity and I kept thinking I wanted to make some painted rocks with my kids.  I kept putting it off, but now we've painted rocks a few different times and the kids love it!

We collected rocks from several different sources.  Some came from our yard, some I bought in a decorative set at the dollar store and some were left over from my in-law's landscaping project.  You can order decorative rocks to use for this kind of project or pick them up from your local landscaping store.

One time I let the kids paint the solid colors first and let them dry before adding their designs.

It took a while for them to get completely dry though, so the next time I spray painted a lot of them to have a solid background before they started. I did find that spray painting them ahead of time was better and less of a mess.

Then we invited some of their friends over for a painting party and they got to work!  I used plastic tablecloths under where they were working to save my furniture and then one time we painted them outside!

We used paint pens because it was easier for them to get the designs they wanted by just drawing on the rocks rather than trying to use a tiny paint brush to do it.

After they dried we stuck them in the car with us and started hiding any place we could think of.  When we went to sports fields, when running errands around town, at the playground, school and park.  The kids loved finding special places for the rocks and hoping that someone would come along and be excited to find their creations.

It was such a simple and easy little project to do, but so much fun.  I know it brought a smile to my kids' faces and we're hoping that whoever found their rocks would be smiling, too!

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Easy DIY Valentine's Day Pillows

There's nothing we love more than a holiday that celebrates love. We know for some people this is a completely cheezy unnecessary holiday. We are not those people. 

We go way over the top and celebrate February with everything we've got. We promote love. We promote kindness. We wear it loud and proud, and we showcase it from our front porches to our back porches, and every space in between. 

We love love. 

Plus it's like ten degrees out, football season is officially over, and that darn groundhog predicted we have six more months of Winter. What else do we have to live for? 

When we pulled out our Valentine's Day decor this year we noticed we were a little lacking in the throw pillow department. Now I'm not one to shy away from a good trip to Home Goods, or (my personal favorite) Pottery Barn to stock up on some adorable themed throw pillows, but this year I decided to see if I could do a little something different. Make my own! 

I ordered some plain white pillow covers (I found some cheaper ones after the fact, but these worked great), and let my creativity flow. 

Well, really I raided my kids craft closet and went with the easiest thing I could think of. My goal was to create a quick and easy DIY pillow without breaking the bank in case my pillow creation skills turned out to be severely lacking and I should have just headed to Pottery Barn in the first place. 

After I was finished I was pleasantly surprised. The Valentine's Day pillows were way easier than I thought they would be! With in only a few minutes they were completely put together and ready to place on my porch! 

After thinking about it, you can totally recreate these pillows for less that $5 and the options on what you can do are endless. To learn more details and see the quick and easy instructions on how I made these DIY Valentine's Day pillows pop over to our post on Savvy Sassy Moms. 

Now share with us what design you would make on your own pillow! 

(I have plenty of extra covers and a lot more throw pillow love to share!)

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