Friday, June 29, 2012

Five Things Friday

It's summertime, the time of year when it's nicest to spend some time in your yard! So this week's blanks are all about yards!



1. A decoration I like to put outside my house is something seasonal on the front door, like a wreath, a hanging basket of flowers, or holiday decorations.

2. I spend more time in my (frontyard/backyard) backyard, since there is nothing in our frontyard to speak of!

3. Some animals I see in my yard are neighbors' cats, deer, rats, raccoons, and most recently, a possum. My parents' yard has also seen visitors like mallards, a heron, wild turkeys with babies, a giant Pacific salamander, and a bald eagle!

4. Something I would love to have in my yard is a fire pit. Or also a mature fruit tree - the house I rented before had that giant cherry tree...it was like having a U-pick without having to pay!

5. My favorite thing about the yard I grew up in is how big it was and how it was like a natural forest. We were so lucky to live in a part of town that was relatively undeveloped while still being in city.

**Favorite thing from around the web this week: I love the mail holders from this shop in Etsy. How cool would it be to have one by my door!

Have a great weekend!

~EC

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Moustache Things

Father's Day was last weekend and I decided to decorate by making my Dad a fun moustache banner:


 I also made a fun place setting, the mats are made out of construction paper, I just cut the corners with some fancy corner scissors, I used paper towels and folded them in a fancy way to place the utensils and I added some mini moustaches to some straws:  


I also made him a fun moustache card:


Wouldn't moustaches be a great birthday party theme for the guy in your life too?

~DD

Friday, June 22, 2012

Striped Picnic Blanket

After seeing this amazing chevron striped picnic blanket from Twig & Thistle I decided to make one since I really really wanted to go on a picnic.  The blanket was pretty easy to make and EC and I even took it on a test run and it worked perfectly.  It took me about 3 hours to make and I opted for a regular striped design instead.  These blankets would make great birthday or Christmas gifts don't you think?

Striped Picnic Blanket


Thing You'll Need: 

Fabric Drop Cloth from Home Depot (I used the one recommended in Twig & Thistle and it works great)

Painters Tape

Paint Roller

Fabric Paint, this is the type and color I used, I used 2 of the large  bottles since the stripes I made were really big, so how much you need really depends on your design.

Pencil

Ruler

Step-By-Step How To: 

Mark the design you want to make with a pencil and a ruler!

Outline the design in painters tape.

Get your paint ready on your roller tray, oh and don't forget to lay down a piece of plastic so you don't get fabric paint all over the place!

Get some paint on that roller!

Start painting your blanket, don't forget to stay within the tape.  The canvas has a plastic lining underneath so it soaks up a lot of paint so I recommend not placing too much pressure on your roller. 

Let your blanket dry overnight, once it's dry remove the painters tape!

Ready to use!! 
Also, you might try using fabric spray paint instead of the regular fabric paint.  Using fabric spray paint might be easier but if you do use it be sure to cover up all the areas you do not want paint on since it's much harder to control where the paint spreads.  

Also my massage therapist suggested that you could even make a picnic blanket with your initials, isn't that the cutest idea?  You could even make a blanket with a giant anchor on it to use at the beach!  So many possibilities!

Picnics are so much fun!! I will have to write a picnic how-to post soon.  EC and I had the best time picnicking!! :)

Hope you guys enjoyed this post!

~DD

Five Things Friday

I've sort of been busy wedding planning this week.  I found out that the florist I wanted was already booked for my wedding date.  CRAZY RIGHT!? My wedding is 13 months away and people are already booked...do girls just know which vendor they are going to use and automatically book them when they get engaged??  I feel so new to this whole wedding planning business and it's definitely overwhelming at times, it make me just want to elope or something.

Anyway it's time for Five Things Friday and I've decided to make today's theme about flowers!

  1. I love (love/hate/impartial/allergic) flowers because their bright colors make me feel happy.  
  2. I am impartial to (love/hate/impartial/allergic) the smell of flowers.  I'm just not a big fan of the smell of flowers, sometimes they are just too sweet smelling but I love their appearance. 
  3. My favorite flowers are tulips because they are so proper looking. 
  4. My least favorite flowers are marigolds because they remind me of something dying. 
  5. My favorite wild/weed flowers are buttercups.  I remember when I was little I use to pick buttercups and place them on my chin and nose so that they would temporarily be dyed yellow. 
**My favorite thing from around the web this week are these robin egg nails and this hairstyle minus the bangs.  I tried something similar to the robin eggs on my nails this week and I loved how it looked and even received some compliments on it!
Have a great weekend everyone!

~DD