DIY Burlap Pin Cushion Board

When we moved in, the prior owners left a cork bulletin board above our little desk area in the kitchen.  It wasn't really our style, but we left it there untouched for a while.  Rather than throw it out, I re-purposed it into a large pincushion board that I could hang on the wall in my sewing nook that's currently in progress.

It was super easy to do.  First, using my upholstery gun, I stapled a layer of thick batting onto the bulletin board.

Before 

I cut my burlap, making sure that there was enough room to wrap it over the batting and securely staple it behind the board.  I also glue gunned the corners of the burlap on the back of the board because the staples weren't long enough to go through both the burlap and the batting in the corners.

Here's the finished product!

Brimfield Finds

As many of you probably know, Brimfield, MA holds three multi-day antique shows each year.  This year, Tim and I met up with my Mom and perused the 5,000+ dealer tents.  We went during a scorching hot 95 degree heat wave, but nothing could keep us from trudging through the fields, searching for a good deal.

I loved the industrial looking lighting, but they were hundreds of dollars.  Maybe a DIY project in the future?

This burlap lighting would be fun and simple to make.

 

 And the only use for these that I could think of were futuristic looking small dog/cat houses...

I ended up leaving with a ton of inspiration for future projects and with a Sunkist grapefruit box for $10.  I discovered that once we got the box home, the little bit of paper that was left on the box fell off, so I applied a coat of modge podge under and over the paper to preserve it on the box.

I also left with an old key for $2.  I love the heart detailing.

Not a bad day! Who's going to the show in September?

New Outdoor Lighting

A while back, like seven months ago, we picked up two outdoor sconces that I was originally thinking of using above our fireplace.  They didn't quite look right in that spot, so we figured we would use them as our new front lights to spruce up the front of our house since the original lights were builder grade and in serious need of replacing.

We loved them so much that we recently went back to Lowe's and bought three more for the back deck, and on the two doors on the side of the garage. For under $25 a light, it's definitely a steal!  Here's a quick before and after of just the front light swap.  If you're wondering, they are the Portfolio Rust Outdoor Wall Light.

Before:

After:

Deck light

Our Wedding in the White Mountains

On 10/23/11 we had a small wedding in the White Mountains. It was a simple, stress-free, and perfect weekend. We mostly DIY'ed our entire wedding which was surprisingly easy and affordable.

Up until the day before the wedding, I didn't have a plan for my bouquet or flowers.  I didn't want to put a lot of time or energy into stressing about flowers so on our way up to the White Mountains, we headed to our local Hannaford and Trader Joe's to pick up our flowers and just went with whatever looked best.  I assembled my bouquet the day of the wedding with the help of my brother, who also served as our photographer.  I wrapped the bouquet with some antique lace that I picked up at a boutique and secured it with pearl pins.  For the table flowers, I simply placed each bouquet into mason jars tied with raffia.

I tackled the flowers, my hair and makeup (thanks to the talented ladies at Sephora who helped me pick the perfect wedding day makeup!), and the place settings which were munchkin pumpkins with name tags tied to the stem with jute twine.

We had our rehearsal dinner at White Mountain Cider Company, a rustic restaurant in the White Mountains.

One of our innkeepers served as justice of the peace and we had a beautiful outdoor wedding amongst the fall foliage.  A few photos of the big day:

On our wedding night, we enjoyed a five course meal with our 11 guests at our inn.

It was an amazing weekend we'll never forget and hope to spend many anniversaries to come at the inn :)

Painted Hippo Bookends

I recently spotted these hippo bookends at a thrift store and for only $1.99 for the pair, I had to have them!  This was a quick and easy project - all I did was add a couple coats of glossy white spraypaint.

Before:

Here they are spraypainted white. The books are vintage - from my grandmother's collection.

Spraypainted Candle Holders

I've been a little quiet on the blog lately - nothing major has changed, I've still been aggressively looking for jobs without any luck. Here's a quick project I did a little while ago. I found this pair of candle holders at a thrift store for 99 cents each (originally from HomeGoods -- I found a price tag underneath). They were a little tarnished so I decided to spraypaint them "avocado" by Valspar. I love how they turned out and how my tealight votives fit so perfectly in them!

Before

After

Upcycled Decorative Wine Bottles

I love re-purposing items that would otherwise be forgotten about and thrown away.  I decided to make some decorative wine bottle vases by using some Scotch Blue Painter's Tape, RustOleum Frosted Glass Spray, and jute twine. (Check out my wine cork button project here)

First, I sprayed the bottles with WD40, let it soak in a little, then scrubbed the adhesive off with a damp paper towel.   After the bottles were dry, I taped off stripes in the areas I didn't want spray painted.

 After a quick coat of spraypaint and some time to dry, I peeled off the tape. I had never used RustOleum's frosted glass spray before and I love how it turned out!

 Lastly, I applied Modge Podge to the upper part of the wine bottles, then wrapped some jute twine around them.

Here's the finished product! They'd look great with some fresh cut flowers in them.

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