Housewarming Gift

I'm one of those lucky few who get to say that they had AMAZING college roommates, and we still love each other and keep in touch. We don't get to see each other as much as we'd like because our lives have taken us in a lot of different directions, but I love those crazy girls.

My sweet (and frugal and sickeningly cute) friend, Caitie, and her husband Lance recently bought their first house in Asheville, NC and I could not be happier for them.  I decided that I wanted to make her a little sumpin sumpin to welcome her to her new place.  Painted fabric napkins! This particular project was great for several reasons:

1. I got to try out a new painting  technique that I will no doubt use a lot now.
2. It's something she'll use a lot...and therefore think of her dear friend Dana often!
3. Soon after Adam and I got married I realized that it was time to figure out a way to stop wasting so much money on paper towels.  Although I can get them for fairly cheap with coupons, I can get very dependent on paper towels and use way too many.  Plus, I don't like spending money on stuff that ends up in the trash. So I started scouring thrift stores and clearance racks for fabric napkins.  I have a basket full of them in our laundry room, and a bag where I put dirty ones.  Whenever I have room in a load of dirty laundry, I throw some of the dirty napkins in. I've found that a roll of paper towels will last us several weeks now, and BONUS- guests think we're being fancy with our napkins, when in reality I'm just cheap. I wanted to get Caitie started on her collection!
4. Caitie's probably so busy ripping down decades-old floral wallpaper that she won't even have time to get online, thus this post will not ruin the surprise :)

I saw the process here at the thrifty crafter, and it was fairly easy.  If I were to offer any advice to someone wanting to screenprint using this method, it would be to choose a fairly simple shape/design that uses more straight lines than curved one.  Like, seriously, do a square. Or a triangle.  For the record, I'm more likely to do some monogram napkins for friends whose last name is Lemmons than Smith.  That curvy "S" makes me nervous! haha.  Alright, here's the scoop:

1. Gather your materials!

You'll need:

• plain fabric napkins
• sponge brush to apply paint
• permanent fabric paint
• exacto knife
• tape (optional, for holding paper to napkin; I didn't do this step... I'm a cheater!)
• freezer paper
• stencils

2. Turn on The Bachelorette.  Crafts are more fun with something to make fun of in the background.

3. Use a pencil and stencil to draw your chosen design on the freezer paper.  Draw on the matte side of the freezer paper, shiny side down.

4. Use the exacto knife to cut out the design.  This is where you'll get the whole "choose a simple design" tip from earlier. I did find that it was easier to cut from one point to another point, and then when the direction changed, I left the exacto knife at the same spot and just turned the paper.  This meant my knife was going the same direction the entire time.  Does that even make sense?? Make sure you go slow with this and don't make any extra cuts outside of the design because paint will leak through onto your fabric.  Sad day.

5. Iron the freezer paper onto your napkin, wherever you'd like your design to be.  Iron until all edges are sealed.  I didn't use the steam setting...didn't think that would work out too well.

You can be more responsible and do this on an ironing board or something. 

6. Use your sponge to apply paint within your now-applied paper stencil.

Now, I'm sure you guys are following along very well and I have total confidence in you that you can do this.  For me personally, I need a supervisor for most of my projects.  He gives little input but watches carefully and occassionally does some quality assurance.  He was pretty laid back this time around.  I guess napkins aren't his thing.

7. Do as I say and not as I do and get up and do other things around the house while the paint dries.  I worked on the other napkins for the set, and as I finished one I peeled the paper off the last one I made.  The paint dries pretty quick, but you should probably be safe and just let it dry thoroughly. Once you peel off the paper you'll have some pretty instant gratification...

Not perfect, but who wants a homemade gift without some of that homemade character?

**Once the paint is really dry, put a sheet/towels over the painted part and run your iron over it for a while.  This makes the paint permanent.**

And here's the whole set, ready to be mailed to my sweet, homeowning friend! (I really hope she likes the designs I chose.  My set of stencils didn't come with Care Bear, butterfly, or daisy shapes, so I had to go with what I had. hahaha)

And this, my friends is how you can do some fun personalized gifts or home decor for the holidays on the CHEAP! You can find plain t-shirts, napkins, towels, table runners/clothes and then doctor them up with whatever design you choose! Some monogrammed napkins would be great for a newlywed, and I have plans of doing simple seasonal shapes to make things to jazz up our home for the holidays (a light blue napkin with a white snowflake would be so cute in my kitchen!). 

Have fun!

Strut Your Stuff Saturday

Delicately Constructed Friday

My pretty little magazine rack

A couple of weeks ago I hit some yard sales with some girl whose mom pays me to be her friend (love you, B!) and got a lot of great stuff for less than $10. I had my arms full of stuff and was walking around looking some old guy's shovels and tools to pass the time while that girl argued with some women about bed lifts (for the record, B won!). There wasn't anything that I really wanted until I looked down and saw an old, disgusting magazine rack on the ground. The man wanted $1.00 for it, but I explained that the only place I could put it in my house right now was my garage and that I wouldn't put anything in my garage that cost more than 50 cents.


I won.

Might as well get used to Jonesy in every shot. He's kind of full of himself. Rightfully so.

This thing was guh-ross. Bugs, cobwebs, and unidentified clumps of grossness.



I cleaned it as well as I could, popped out the broken screens, and covered the handle in professional paint protectant (aka, aluminum foil), because I wanted to keep the handle brown.



Then came the fun part... blue spray paint! This color is uh-mazing and you'll see it in other projects. I also used a sanding block to distress it a little.

Ah! Isn't she pretty in blue??

My father-in-law has every man's dream shop with every tool, gadget, and supply necessary to repair, build, or create anything.  AND he lives like 4 minutes away from us. So, as I always do when I need help with a project, I took my pretty little magazine rack over to see if he had any kind of screen material to use to replace the damaged screen I pulled out.  When we went to his shop, the EXACT kind of mesh screening material was sitting at the very top of his trash can! I couldn't beleive it. He had a nice size roll of the material and was able to cut it and insert back into the side of the rack.  But before he did that I had him spray it with some almond-colored spray paint.

I could have stopped right there, but no! We need something to make her extra special! A little scrapbook paper and some Modge Podge and now this little beauty sits in our bedroom waiting to be filled with books and magazines to enjoy in our big, comfy bed. I will try my best to avoid choosing only books that match... :)

LOVE.  Do you have anything laying around your house that you could fall in love with all over again with a little updating? Could something come out of the garage and into the home with some touch-ups creativity?



Linking up with some other crafty folks!

Six Sister's Stuff










Southern Hospitality's Thrift Treasures

Delicately Constructed Friday

Masterpiece Monday

The beauty I almost left behind!!

This project was a good reminder that if something catches my eye at a thrift store or yard sale, unless it costs an insane amount or has unrepairable damages, I should probably snatch it up.

There's just something so sweet and romantic about a candelabra, and I had actually never come across one until last week during a 5-minute stop at my local Goodwill. It was one of those things where I saw it, picked it up and thought about how much I'd like to have it, then thought about how it might never get used, and then set it back down to check out the rest of the home decor items. And then I get this unsettling feeling that some hateful old woman snuck up behind me to snatch it up and take it home only to let it collect dust along with all the other candle holders, knick knacks, and cat figurines she's collected over the years. So I quickly raced back to rescue the candelabra from such a life. And here she is-In MY house! What I didn't even realize until I got home was that the arms move so you can have them side by side or spread out.






I could have polished her up or gave her a new coat of a metallic finish paint, but I had something else in mind. Just two steps and this beauty was good to go!

1. Clean out old nasty red and pink wax. Really? Pink taper candles??
2. Apply ivory spray paint.

Prepare to be jealous...







I'd be jealous, too. If you were to buy one of these things new, it would not come cheap. If you were wanting one to use for a wedding or other event, it might be worth keeping an eye out for one to fix up, because I'm sure the rental price would even be high! I'm just imagining how great this will be for holiday decorating and parties (baby shower, bridal shower, etc.)

Totally worth the $4.00 I spent on her, no??

Linking up to Thrifty Treasures and...











Can't get their button to work, but also linking up to Six Sister's Stuff

Delicately Constructed Friday

MEGA Productive Weekend 2010

So I'm back to work after one of those long weekends where I could use another long weekend to recuperate. You know what I'm talking about. However, I am SO excited and relieved about all that got done and would like to share some of it with you! Please bare with me, its going to be a long one. :) There were even a couple suprises along the way...

First up, I took Friday off to do some of those super un-fun things that come along with getting married like spending your morning at the DMV to get a new license. But I'm glad to officially be Dana Wyatt!

We got our joint accounts at the bank and Adam promises not to use my paycheck to buy any new drums...

Now on to the good stuff. Our house was needing some serious TLC, so my first step was buying something I've been wanting since we painted the kitchen MONTHS ago: curtains! The picture doesn't show the color well, but I swear they're not gold. More of a beige with brown designs. I love them! (Please excuse the mess on the table...)



Just need to get some stuff up on the walls and it will look so nice in there.


Ok, now prepare yourself. The wallpaper you're about to see may or may not cause damage to your eyes if not your spirit. This was our hall bathroom BEFORE the hours and hours of miserable wallpaper removal. Ugh...



And the very classy light fixture:



So now onto the after shots! This first one was taken during the painting process, just to give you an idea of how great this color looks with the tile (Adam and his dad put this tile down last year and I think they did a fabulous job!)



Some creepy guy helped me paint




And now the results! I've only included pictures that don't show the mess thats in the middle of the floor. haha. We've gone with bronze fixtures and we really like the new lighting. Hope to get a cool framed mirror at some point.







Ok, so Adam and I have done a pretty good job with figuring out how to share a home. Compromise, sharing, communication, blah blah blah. But we have two other individuals at our home who had not yet had the privelage of meeting and learning how to coexist quite yet. That would be Conan, the world's goofiest dog, and Jonesy, the world's most handsome cat. I had been preparing myself for their initial meeting, but was not ready yet. And I knew Jonesy wasn't. He hasn't been in the presence of another animal since the day I brought him home from the shelter almost two years ago. Conan's seen and been around cats, and his only desire is that they would play with him and be his friend. Jonesy wasn't even aware that silver mini-horses like Conan exist.

Until Saturday.

I spent the few seconds of the first sighting cowering in the bathroom and screaming. I HATE angry cat sounds and there were plenty of those. Poor Jonesy hissed and growled like I have never heard before. After Jonesy ran to hide in the kitchen and Conan calmed down, I summoned the courage to grab my camera and go in for a closer look.






Conan was bored and his feelings were hurt, and Jonesy was in a to-the-death staring contest with the Evil Silver Beast. Let's just say the 30-minute or so introduction left no one with scratch marks or missing limbs, but the Wyatt animals are not BFF quite yet. Better luck next time.

Back to the house!

The living room will eventually be painted, but one thing we (with a little help) could accomplish this weekend was to change out the seriously out-dated and dust-covered ceiling fan. We HATE gold, so it was definitely time to throw in some nickel accents. Out with the old...



And in with the NEW!!





Now, these pictures have only given you a small idea of the work that got done this weekend and the places we had to go/errands we had to run (and the laundry. Oh, the laundry!). We even squeezed in a suprise lunch with my parents and church on Sunday morning AND I accomplished some batch cooking of grilled chicken for future dinners. However, there are always kinks in any good plan. There's always the thing you didn't see coming. And they happen when you have the LEAST amount of time (energy and patience) to deal with them.





Yes, we got rolled.

Yes, we set the toilet paper on fire for speedy removal.

And yes, Yard Roller, you dropped your watch. No, you cannot have it back.