More Homemade Gift Ideas

I am drawn more and more to homemade gift ideas. Probably thanks to all of the awesome craftiness I find on the web. Tonight for your viewing pleasure, I shall show you two such projects that I have completed lately. The first is an idea I found here http://thestewartestate.blogspot.com/2011/12/love-message-board-tutorial.html. I tweaked it just a bit. I used thick wrapping paper that I found at a thrift store for $.25. I cut it to 8x11.5'' and then taped it to a piece of cardstock to give it more weight so it wouldn't tear as it printed. I purchased the frame for $4 at Walmart. I then presented it to Miguel for Valentine's day.

You just use a dry erase marker and write directly on the glass. It then wipes right off for you to surprise your hunny with another reason you love them.

I simply love this idea, as it makes me slow down from the busyiness of just living and think daily about why I love Miguel. (Not that I have to think hard or anything, but I think some times we forget to focus on why we love them as much as we may look at this flaw or that they leave dirty laundry laying around)

My second gift idea for my dear readers tonight, is something else I made for Christmas. This summer, I asked my sisters to be on the lookout for cloth placemats. My sisters Nicole scored some really nice ones for I think $.25 each. I dried lavendar and lemon balm from my garden.

I then purchased a big bag of rice. I was trying very hard to learn to sew, with the help of my sister Maria, but Nicole and I's sewing machine needs a new part. So, a week before Christmas my aunt Keila came to the resue, which is nothing new. lol We folded the placemats longwise and then Keila sewed a seam, leaving the top open. We cut off the excess and then turned them inside out to you wouldn't see the stitches as much. We then mixed the dried lavender, lemon balm, and rice together and poured it into the pouch we had just made out of the placemat. We filled them about half full. Next, Keila sewed the open closed. We repeated this process until I had enough for everyone. Now the gift recipent just has to microwave this for about a minute and place it on his or her aches and it will release a soothing essence of lavender and lemon. I also made everyone homemade cleaners.

Hope this gives you all some more gift ideas if you need some in the near future! Blessings!

Guest Bedroom Reveal

Happy gorgeous Tuesday! I tell you what...the old saying is so true, if you don't like the weather in Ohio just stay a few days it will change. Yesterday it was cold and very windy, today the sun is shining bright and its almost 60 degrees.
Well, we are still in the middle of our kitchen remodel. Miguel got most of the drywall hung last week. =) This week he has to level the floor followed by rerouting the plumbing since we are moving the sink and installing a dishwasher. So, even though I am simply thrilled with the process it means my house is still a wreck. To counterbalance that I thought I would do a guest bedroom reveal. We still have a few more pieces of moulding to install and finish the closet but it is mostly done so I am happy. Here we go....

First off a reminder of what this space looked like at the very beginning when we purchased the house in 2006. I could not find a decent picture of this exact room but here is another room upstairs that is very similar to what this room used to look like.

This next picture was winter 2010 when Miguel was on shut down and he gutted and drywalled the other three rooms upstairs. (Adaliah's room was finished first upstairs.)

This is after we painted and installed the majority of the moulding and the floor.

This picture you have seen before. It is the view you see coming up the stairs. Miguel kept knocking into the tables and we had to move them every time we wanted to get into the attic. So, I moved the tables into the guestroom to fill a wall I needed filled anyways. I am not sure if they will stay, but I am happy with the change for now. =)

This is the view standing in the hallway looking into the guest room. The picture over the bed is a beautiful Calla lily (which I had a lot of in my wedding) and my mom purchased it for me my birthday that I was married. I have been storing it waiting to hang it in the guest room.

This is where I moved the tables from the hall. I think I am liking it. =)

I found this bedspread at a Salvation Army and it was exactly what I wanted! It was in awesome shape except the underneath part was pulling away a bit. It was $8 and I thought that was a little steep seeing how it would need some work so I decided to pass. I was a little sad but I figured I would find something else. My mom went back later to the same Salvation Army and decided to see if it was still there. It was and it was priced at $1.50 now! Score! She was so happy and she purchased it for me. I know, I know I have an awesome mom! She even soaked and washed it for me to insure its cleanliness.

The pillow on the bed, I snatched from someone else in my house and "prettied" it up a bit. I had some felt from a thrift store and some left over fabric from the window treatment I will show you in a bit. I found a tutorial online for making fabric flowers and I went to town.

Here it is with my first flower. I just kept making them and hot gluing them onto the pillow until I liked how it looked. It was very easy and I can see myself making more for headbands and other things around the house.

This is the finished product and it now sits proudly on the guest bedroom bed.

Remember a couple of months ago I shared a link for free printable art online from http://indiefixx.com/Feed_your_soul/downloads.html? Well, here are the prints that I selected and framed and I love them!

This is view you would see sitting on the bed. It is next to the door as you enter the room. The chair was my grandpa's and was downstairs but it now has a new home in this room. The tree mirror is a garage sale find and the family sign on it was a birthday gift from Maria a few years back. The vintage pendant lamp was also my grandpas and I love it sooo much and believe it fits perfectly in this room. =)

Now for the window treatments. I made Roman Shades. I started with $4 blinds from Walmart.

I found this fabric at another Salvation Army for $2.

I followed the steps from one of my fav. blogs. Here is the link to her tutorial on it. http://welcometoheardmont.com/2011/09/operable-roman-shades-a-tutorial/ Meredith (Who writes the blog) does an amazing job giving step-by-step instructions with pictures. Miguel helped me (since I am horrible at cutting straight lines) and we finished this in about 1.5 hours. Thanks so much Meredith for the great tutorial on it. Even I could follow it. =) Here is the finished product.

I hope you all have enjoyed the tour of my guest bedroom. Now, I can not wait to have another house guest and can take them to an actual finished (ok minus moulding and closet) room for them to relax in. Have a wonderful day and God bless!

Linking to:

Christmas Shutdown 2011

Welcome back from the Holiday Season 2011! I didn't do much blogging during the holidays because not only was I busy hosting Christmas, having Adaliah's 3rd birthday and Micah's 4th birthday on January 2nd (pictures will follow in another post about our birthday adventures), but Miguel was on shut down from work for a week so we took that time to turn my kitchen into this.....

Ok...so it really looks more like this right now....

But seriously if you close your eyes real tight and use your imagination my kitchen kinda sorta looks like the first picture. Ok. I can see no one is buying that! lol That first picture is one of my inspiration photos from www.pinterest.com. Love that site! If you have not been on it and need an invite, email me and I would be happy to let you in on all the fun.

Back to my kitchen. We did spent the majority of Miguel's shut down totally gutting the kitchen. So, (insert a happy dance here) we are on our way to my new kitchen! Goodbye green floors from who knows when, adios rose paneling and ugly ceiling tile. Hopefully within the next couple months I can show you the finished results. =)

I realized I have not shown you my new front door. We purchased it at Lowes and had them install it and we could not be happier. They did an excellent job and I love how it changes the whole feel of the front of the house. It definitely is way more in line with Miguel and I's style than the previous door.

Sorry, not sure why the picture flipped but I couldn't get it fixed so please just tilt your head. Thanks! This is just a reminder of what the old door looked like.

I will leave you with some pictures from Christmas. Enjoy your day and blessings!