Place Mat Pillows

If I ever wondered where I get my crafty side from, this weekend solved the mystery. My mom bounced into the kitchen and announced she was going to make some pillows. I of course grabbed my camera and followed knowing I could put her creation on my blog.  She made these really cute pillows. They are made from place mats we purchased at an estate sale a few weeks ago. The project literally took her ten minutes total. 

Supplies:
2 place mats
Pillow
Sewing machine

Step 1- Start with two place mats.

2. Line them up with the decorative side facing outward on both sides. (One of these days we will get some sort of table to sew on instead of using the floor).

3. Sew three of the four sides together.

4. Insert pillow.

5. Sew the final side together.

6. Enjoy your adorable pillow.

This post is clearly dedicated to my mom since she is the one who created the pillows. She literally made them 30 minutes before people arrived at my graduation party. I have to give a shout out to my dad though, he stained the deck and painted the patio all for my party. His do it yourself projects don't often make it on to my blog.

Graduation Cupcakes

This past weekend my parents threw me a great graduation party. The theme behind the party was easy & simple! We had a ton going on and needed everything to be cute but quickly created. That's where the cupcakes came in. They are very cute and very easy; not to mention they taste great. The kids and parents both loved them. 

Ingredients:

Cupcake mix

Icing

Reese's minis

Hershey chocolate bar

Sprinkles 

Edible easter basket grass or sour straws

1. Bake & ice the cupcakes. I made a mix of mini and regular sized cupcakes to create some variation on the cake platter.

2. Place a  Reese's mini in the middle of each iced cupcake.

3. Break the Hershey's bars into rows.

4. Cut the rows into squares. Some recipes like this one used Ghirardelli squares on top of the Reece's Mini but they are pretty expensive. I opted for the more cost effective Hershey's bars.

5. Once the Hershey's bar is cut into squares put a small dot of icing on the back of each square and place it on top of the Reese's Mini.

6. To place the tassle on top I added a dot of icing and then placed a small piece of the edible grass you put in Easter baskets. My mom randomly had some in her baking supplies. If you don't have the edible grass, you can use Sour Punch sour strings. 

7. Finally add whatever extra decorations your heart desires. I added sprinkles in blue and green, my school colors.

This one goes out to my mom since she planned my graduation party and baked the cupcakes. Thanks Mom!

Decorative Shoe Rack

This project came to be out of dire need. As much as I LOVE my new apartment, it is seriously lacking in closet space. Being able to hang my heels on the wall shows off all my fun shoes and gives me more space inside my closet.

Supplies:

1. Molding cut to fit your wall

2. Spray paint

3. Hammer

4. Finishing nails

5. Lots of fun heels

1. First things first, I measured the wall I would be working with. Measure each spot that you are going to be hanging a piece of molding. Some walls aren't straight and lengths may vary.

2. Head to the local hardware store and pick out your molding. Make sure you get a molding with a good lip for the shoes to hang on. I would go with one that has a flat top and not a slanted one. Conveniently,  I only had to buy one piece of molding because my wall was fairly small. I told the people at the hardware store how long I needed them to be and they cut it for me right in the store.

3. Spray paint your pieces. (Check out the great 70's style linoleum in the kitchen)

4. Wait till the molding is dry and hang it. My dad used finishing nails to hang the molding so they don't show as much. Before you hang the molding make sure it is level, otherwise the heels wont stay put.

5. Once hung, I put a little spray paint on a q-tip and painted the tops of the nails. This way you can't see them at all.

 6.  Display your heels! If you have a hard time getting your heels to stay, the hardware store has little clear rubber squares that are sticky on one side. Stick them on the molding where you want your shoes to hang. These squares can be found on the aisle with the things you put under furniture to get it to slide across the carpet easier.

This post is dedicated to my wonderful father who so kindly hung these pieces of molding on the wall. He also redid my closet so I could have more hanging and storage space. To top it off he installed a secret shelf to keep the random junk on that I just can't part with. What a great dad!

I am Linking at a couple of different websites. Check them out- they are great!!

http://www.dittledattle.blogspot.com/

http://www.skiptomylou.org/

http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

Mirror Collage

The past few weeks have been super busy. I have moved apartments and completed my first semester of Grad school. Because of this move I am predicting lots of projects in my future. The first one was completed by my roommate and it is soooooo very cute and very easy! It is a mirror collage- she wanted me to note that she does have curtains they just weren't up when the photo was taken.

 

Supplies:

Frames of various shapes and sizes (these were found at antique stores)

Spray paint

Old magazines

Picture hanging tools

Steps:

1. Cover the mirrors with old magazines. We folded ours to make sure they fit perfectly.

2. Spray paint the frame surrounding the mirror. At first we tried to spray paint outside but the wind was blowing and little pieces of pine straw and all kinds of outdoor things were sticking to the paint.  We moved the spray painting inside after that.  We went to Wal-mart and bought the spray paint, it is nothing to fancy and it work just fine.

3. Let dry
4. Hang- couldn't be any simpler and it is adorable!

I will post a picture of her whole room once everything is complete!

This post is dedicated to Rachel my roommate since she created this cute collage, Stuart her boyfriend for hanging the mirrors and all the hanging I foresee in his future and the parking lot at our apartment there are now about 12 outlines of frames and mirrors on the concert from all the spray painting!