DIY Gift For Grandparent's Day

I've mentioned before how much Isla loves to color; she's an animal with a crayon! We recently dove into finger paints, and I use the word dove literally here :) 

I wanted to give Victor something made by Isla for his birthday and this framed I Luv U art turned out perfectly. I'm sharing now because Grandparent's Day is upon us and I know one Nana that will be giddy over her gift :)

We used washable finger paints in her favorite color family - purple. I cut the painting down to my frame size with a ruler + xacto knife. I then cut another piece of card stock to the same dimensions. I brushed mod podge on to the plain sheet and covered it with glitter. I then used my cricut to cut out the letters in her painting. You can freehand letters or use stencils if you don't have a cricut. Then just top the glittered sheet with the painting et voila!

I found the gold frame at my local Home Goods store :) Now Daddy + Nana have a little Picasso for their offices.

DIY Bracelet T-Bar Holder

My job calls for the need to have A TON of jewelry display items. I used to order quite a bit from an online company, but due to recent security breaches, I need to find alternatives for myself and my Chloe + Isabel merchies :)

Here is the first post of a three part DIY Jewelry Display Series - I hope you love it and have fun making it!! This is very easy to make, but here is the Etsy link if you would rather shop than get your hands dirty. 

DIY Bracelet T-Bar Holder

I had to go to both a craft store and Home Depot for the supplies I didn't have in hand. I used a solid pine dowel, but you can use an empty paper towel holder; just roll up an old catalog or magazine to shove inside for extra durability.

You will need:

10.5" wood dowel

Felt or paint to cover your dowel

Base - I used a crystal cans stick holder

Hot glue gun

Sandpaper

Cut mat

Ceramic birdie

Not pictured:

Ruler

Twine

Rotary cutter

Start by sanding the rough edges of your dowel and cleaning your base. You'll want to plug in your glue gun at this point as well.

If using felt, measure and mark the amount you'll need. Use a ruler and rotary cutter to cut your material. Tip: you'll want to cut two circles to cover each end of the dowel. Mark and cut these circles AFTER you've glued your large piece of felt to your dowel. Capish?

Place a thin line of glue along the edge of your felt; about a .5 cm in. Firmly press your dowel into the glue and roll it to the other edge. Place another line of glue and close the roll.

Glue on your two circles to each end and trim any excess you may have.

Center your dowel and place glue on your base. Press the dowel firmly on to the base. Now place glue on the bottom of your birdie and press + hold the birdie for about 45 seconds. My base was larger than my dowel and I could see run off from the glue. I cut a couple feet of twine, used a thin line of glue where the dowel meets the base, and then tightly round the twine around the base. Hot dog, problem solved!!

Let me know what you think!

XO

DIY Framed Felt Ring Holder

Recently, I feel like our world is so jam packed with work, Isla, errands, family photos, blah blah blah....that I barely have time to stop and smell the wine roses. I like to decompress and chill out with DIY and crafting projects. My latest? A DIY ring display for the insane amount of Chloe + Isabel rings I have amassed in the past 8 months. Total project cost? $.99! I had most of the materials on hand already so it was very cheap to throw together :) I have since added 10-15 additional rings and the felt rolls are sturdy and holding strong!

Materials:

Frame

Felt

Primer

Paint

Hot glue gun

While cleaning out my closet for my next round of Ebay listings, I found an old frame in bad shape. The finish had started to tarnish and peel and I was this close to tossing it when my DIY side took over and put a halt to the hasty disposal.

You of course can buy a new frame, but like I said, I had this one on hand. Just wipe it up and spray it with some primer. I used two coats of primer and two coats of this gold spray paint. In between coats, get started on your felt rolls.

You can find these sheets of felt at your local craft store. Michael's sells 8x10 sheets for $.33. I needed three sheets for this project. I chose an oatmeal color as I knew I was going to paint the frame gold. Measure your frame and start cutting your felt. My squares were 5x5 - you'll want to ensure your felt rolls will be thick enough to hold your rings once they are rolled and glued.

Start at the edge and begin rolling your felt square - make sure your are rolling in the correct direction. Please excuse my gels...mama needs a manicure!

Once rolled, put a strip of hot glue along the edge and keep rolling. Careful! It's HOT! Set your roll aside and continue rolling your squares until you have enough to cover your frame. Once complete, pop those little babies in your frame, put on the back, and TADA!

I love the way it turned out and will be adding them to the Etsy shop soon :) Stay tuned as I have quite a few projects I've been working on, and they will all be debuted in the shop this weekend or next. I'm very excited for the Grand Opening of Isla and Boo and am thinking we should have a party...

Valentine's Day Garland DIY

I am on a mission. I'm on a mission to make almost every holiday a special one for Isla. I love decorating and I love DIY. I'm not the best, obviously, and I don't have a TON of time. What I have is a desire for Isla to grow up in a home where the seasons are celebrated and her food is color coordinated :)

I wanted to do something simple and easy to transition her nursery from Christmas to Valentine's Day. I used washi tape to write LOVE and XOXO on her walls and added this simple felt garland to her crib. Don't worry...I remove it before nap and bed time. Here's what you need:

1. Felt balls - mine came from the $1 section at Target

2. Needle

3. Scissors

4. Thread - pictured is baker's twine, but it was too thick to fit through my needle. I improvised by using thread, but doubled.

5. 10 Minutes

All you do is double up your thread and tie a knot at one end. I measured her crib and knew the length I needed. I then laid out my balls and organized them in the color pattern I wanted. I then threaded the balls  on the string and continued until finished. Don't worry about spacing now, as the balls will move around as you thread. When you're finished tie a knot and voila!

Now, I may be a mediocre mom, but I do know enough to know that I need to remove this garland at nap and bed time. So here is how I hung it:

I used two 3M Command Hooks and tied loops at each end of the garland. I can now easily hang and remove when she's in her crib. Genius? I think so :)

Now, go make some Valentine's Day Garland for your little babe...or yourself <3

Mediocre at best

So I did it, or rather am doing it. I'm starting a blog. I have been thinking about it for some time and am just now getting around to it. I realized that I'm not doing a great job of keeping track of my sweet baby Isla's milestones and daily awesomeness. I refer to myself as The World's Best Mediocre Mom. Mediocre because although I make her delicious food from scratch for every meal, plan every outfit as if I would wear it myself...I can't remember when she first said "mama" because I didn't write it down in some hideous, plastic covered baby book with an old school safety pin on the front. This is where M is for Mediocre comes to the rescue. I will chronicle our daily lives so when I forget her birth length when filling out forms at the doctor's office, I can just pull it up here :) (That happened yesterday - Oops)

In addition, I love cooking, DIY projects, scoring amazing deals, and learning photography. So there will be lots of uninteresting posts about those topics as well. 

We will start here. This is me and my baby daddy just a few shorts weeks before Isla Mae blessed us with her presence. I love this picture. I love the candid smiles and the pure happiness we felt during this month before our sweet girl entered the world. We were just so happy that is was FINALLY happening...