Easy Dollar Store Craft (Rhino Bookends)

Are you guys hot enough?  Wow, the heat here has been insane.  This is probably one of our fullest weeks of the year and this heat is adding a great twist.  We are currently in the middle of vba week (it's like a mini camp for teenagers at our church).  Justin and I and some great leaders create all of the content for the week so its a lot of planning and preparing.  It's one of our fullest and favorite weeks we get to spend with our students and its been awesome so far.  The summer is like this crazy ride that happens in a flash so we are holding on tight and following God through it- we still have summer camp and mission trips to experience and we can't wait.  So with all of that going on, I've got to keep it simple.  So today I'm sharing a simple and easy craft that anyone can do.

A little while back I found these rhino bookends at the dollar store.  They were so cute and I knew I could update them to something I really loved.  The dollar store can be unpredictable sometimes.  They have things, then they don't, then they have them again.  So you never know what you will find.  I love to look at the little shelf where they little figurines - that is where these little guys were found.  

These guys received several coats of high gloss craft paint on top in a minty green color and a little olivish/tanish color on bottom.  I have know idea what to call that color so that's the best description I can figure- but I like it.  So yeah, that was pretty much the extent of my crafting.  But sometimes a little paint makes you feel accomplished.

I didn't realize my love for this color until snapping this picture - it seems to be invading my house.  But I'm loving the summery vibe these colors are bringing inside.  It all works with the diy silhouette I did a while back.

Hope you stay cool this week, keep it simple and enjoy the ride of summer!

A Valentine's Banquet for our Senior Adults

Justin and I are so blessed to be a part of a loving, vibrant and caring church family.  Over the weekend we had the opportunity to help host a Valentine's Banquet alongside of our College and Young Adult classes for the Senior Adults in our church.  It was such a great event.  We enjoyed the time and laughter we spent with them.  Here are a few details from our day...

Of course you know we had to make it pretty.  We had several challenges though - we did not have much of a budget and we had a huge room to decorate - which included seventeen tables.  We had to get thrifty and creative.   I found the cute little mailboxes in the Target Dollar Spot and the glass candle holders at the Dollar Tree.  Add a little hot glue and we had a cute and inexpensive centerpiece.  We paired it with some roses in a jar with a little raffia ribbon - simple but pretty.  If you are looking to use fresh flowers but don't have much of a budget, make sure to check your local wholesale club stores.  I found two dozen roses for $12.99 at BJ's.

I found the heart shaped doilies at the Dollar Tree along with the other glittery heart decor.  They came in large packs for a dollar so that was awesome.  The paper in the center is wrapping paper that we cut into squares - I found it at the Dollar Tree as well.

We set up a little photo booth with just paper and a paper heart garland for taking pics.  We served them a meal, they had time to chat and fellowship and then we had a little entertainment.  I big shout-out to Taryn for putting that together and hosting,  the Next Steppers (our Young Adult class) and Chris (our lone College student for the day) who helped put it all together, set-up, who served humbly and willingly and who washed dishes for two hours - we are so thankful for you.

It was a sweet, sweet time of fellowship and sharing God's love.  We love our senior adults!  They have so much wisdom and joy to share.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

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Another Sunburst Mirror

Have you guys seen those awesome sunburst mirror tutorials? I know, Duh right? They are everywhere and were kind of a big deal - like two years ago.  Either way, I have finally gotten around (two years later) to making one - yay for me!  I decided to take on the task of coming up with a mirror with nothing but things found at the dollar store, you know I like to roll that way.  So here is yet again another diy sunburst mirror, enjoy.

Supply List:

- Round Mirror from the dollar store (mine is from dollar tree)

- 3 packs of Wooden Chopsticks from the dollar tree (I found packs of 8)

- E3000 Glue

- Painters Tape

- Spray Paint of Your Choice (I used Rustoleum in Bronze)

First thing you need to do is glue down your first four chopsticks, which will be your map for the rest of them.  Don't try and use hot glue - it just isn't strong enough to hold this all together.  Also, E3000 is awesome glue but make sure you do this outside or in a well ventilated area - it stinks - really bad.  After I had my four pieces glued I just eyeballed the rest and glued them around...its not perfect but I'm ok with that.  You could probably be really precise and measure everything off but that involves too much thinking for me - at least for this project :).

- Let it dry for several days so the glue is set and then you are ready to paint!

I just taped over my mirror and spray painted my chopsticks.  I used a spray paint that already had a primer built in so it was an easy two light coat process.  

After that, I was ready to hang it. I took me forever to decide where I wanted it but ended up putting it up in our back hallway/laundry room area.  To hang it up I used a metal bracket from a pack I found at Lowes and just glued the bracket to the back of the mirror to secure it.

After it had a couple of days to dry it was ready to hang.  

I love this sunny mirror in our sunny laundry area.  This project was so simple and easy...and cheap too!  I'm kind of on a kick to finally get some artwork and photos on our walls.  We pretty much have bare walls still - after two years of living here - I think its time.

Thanks so much for joining me today!  So, how many of you have attempted a diy sunburst mirror?  I would love to see them!!  Or, have any of you thought of making one a thousand times and have never gotten around to making one?  Share with me!

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The Inspiration Gallery

DIY Easy Owl Makeovers

Seems as though everyone has become obsessed with animal decor as of late - especially that of which that includes owls.  I really am no exception.  Who doesn't love a chic little owl or two hanging out in their place?  Silas happens to be on my side too - maybe that's why I'm so into it because I know he loves it.  Either way, I have a couple of really ugly owls that need some attention...

They are terrible I know - guess where I found them?  The dollar store - no big surprises here.  But, I saw mucho potential when I saw these owls -in the form of spray paint, so spray paint they received.

First I spray primed the one I was painting white since the white paint I have did not have a built in primer.  The other owl was getting a bronzy glow which included primer so I didn't need it for that one.

After priming was finished and dry I just sprayed two light coats on each and they were looking so much better.

I love my cute little owls, they're such a sweet pair.  

So any of you have any animal decor obsessions?  Do share!!

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DIY Advent Calendar

Advent is just nearly upon us - the meaning of the term means coming or arrival.  We celebrate the joy of the birth of our Savior, the truth and power of his presence in our lives and anticipation and hope we have of Christ's return.  We did this together as a family last year and I am so looking forward to taking the time each day together to remember what this precious time of year is about to us.  We put a passage of scripture in each package to read together each day and even though Silas is just two my prayer is that these little moments are the beginning of a foundation of faith he will one day have.

So here's our little DIY Advent Calendar I made this year...

                              

It was super easy and I used some things I found at the dollar store, some things I already had and some things I had ordered from a really sweet etsy shop.

1.  I got all of these sweet little goodies from Paper & Present on etsy.  She had great prices and great customer service!  I received my package really quick - check her shop out!

2.  I found these red and white striped treat boxes at the dollar store.  They came in packs of six and also come with round tags (which I used) and clear little baggies - which will be really cute later on for little christmas cookies and such (double score).

So I decided to do twelve red & white striped boxes and twelve black & white chevron bags - here's how I assembled them:

1. I used leftover chalkboard tags that I had made for this project (I made extra in case I ever wanted to use them for other things).

2.  I also decided to use the round tags that came in the package - I just flipped them over, used a black permanent marker and a little red & white bakers twine to pretty it up.

3. I rummaged through my paper scraps and found some red & white checkered paper to used with the chevron bags and simply wrote the numbers on them as well.  

4.  Yay!  All of my little countdown packages were coming together.  

5.  Next thing was to grab the twine and decide on how many little spots I needed to hang things on.  I simply used duct tape to keep these little guys up - I'm keeping it simple.

The last thing was to hang up my little packages with clothespins (I used both mini and regular size) and I was all done!  Now its just waiting for us to fill them up and start counting down.

I'm so excited its now christmastime, I just love every part of it.  Do any of you have advent calendars or other Christmas traditions?  Do share!!

PS: Our Advent Calendar from Last Year  - here.

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Happy Hour Link Party

Dollar Store Chalkboard Ornaments

A few weeks back a came across a christmas ornament diy that I just loved from Emily at 52 Mantels.  I love to chalkboard just about anything so this was right up my ally and I'm all about adding in some black this year to our christmas decor so this was perfect!  Oh, and its cheap - score again!  So here's my take on this little chalkboard ornament.

So first thing you need is a package of plastic ornaments from the dollar store in your choice of color.  I loved the idea of red and black together so I went with that.

Since they are cheap and plastic you just use the line that runs down the middle as your tape line.  I used a wide blue painters tape and it ended up setting up perfectly for me to paint.  Oh, I also removed the little gold tops so I wouldn't get paint all over them.

I just used chalkboard spray paint because I already had some.  I ended up doing two quick coats.

After a little dry time, I had a cute little chalkboard ornament!  I liked the idea of adding a little red and white bakers twine to hang them.

Super easy, super cheap but really cute!  Love these kinds of projects!

Take care and have an amazing Thanksgiving everyone!

Reindeer Silhouettes

I'm continuing the Christmas theme and sharing another fun craft with you today in the way of Reindeer Silhouette Art.  This was one of those things that started out as something in my head and then just morphed as I went.  It didn't quite turn out the way my brain was picturing it but I had fun with it nonetheless.  It's an easy and cheap craft (yay for cheapos) and you could go a million different ways with it. Most of my supplies came from the dollar store or cost just a buck or two somewhere else. Oh, so this year I have gotten on this color theme kick for christmas and I'm loving adding a bunch of black accents - so I'm doing a lot of stuff with that this year.  I don't know why but I'm all into it.  Maybe its because I can chalkboard paint something (which I am doing so stay tuned).  Because for some reason I just can't get enough of that.  Anyway, here is my little tutorial...

I found a couple of glittery reindeer at the dollar store (two for one), picked up a couple of frames from the dollar store as well, spray painted them black, a couple of photo mats and then used an old red t-shirt for my backing.

So I got a little lazy and duct taped the fabric right on the back of the frame.  For me, this project was just all about having fun and nothing really serious so I just went with it.  After all, these are dollar store frames and no one will ever see this back - except now everyone has.

At first I left them like this and then decided they looked a little boring and I wanted to add something fun.  So I decided to paint a couple of photo mats to add a little whimsy.

One I painted with stripes, I just penciled off my stripes and painted in - I would suggest taping off and not free handing if you want a cleaner crisp edge.

I also made a little pattern out of a piece of card stock and traced it on my other mat and then painted this one as well.

And then I had these fun little guys and I know exactly where they will be going.  

I have more christmas things in the mix and will be showing you what I plan on doing with these soon. I may or may not already have some christmas decorations up in our house, we are six weeks from Christmas so I am using that excuse.  

Hope you guys have a wonderful wednesday!

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