Natural Homemade Living

A fun little project you can complete in about an hour is a colorful Easter wreath! They also make great gifts!  What you need: 1 straw wreath (leave the plastic wrap on) or Styrofoam circle, mine is 12"  24-30 plastic eggs  Ribbon for bow or pre-made bow Small stuffed animal   Hot glue gun/glue Decorations of your choice  Floral moss or natural straw  Craft wire Directions: I start with making a wreath hanger. Cut a piece of craft wire about 12 inches long. Wrap it around the top of the wreath and twist it several times on the back of the wreath, form a small circle and twist at the bottom of the circle.  Turn the wreath over keeping the hanger on the top while you're working. Leave a space at the bottom for a bow and a small stuffed animal. Heat your hot glue and start by placing a generous amount of hot glue on an egg. Hold the egg onto the wreath for a few seconds until it sticks. I start by placing my eggs on the top and worked ...

It's hard to believe August is almost halfway over and the kids are getting ready to go back to school. Where did the summer go? We've been busy camping, working on projects, organizing and redecorating so we'll have some cool stuff to share once things settle down. Today I wanted to share my favorite pantry organizing tip, the DIY chip holder. I don't usually buy chips in small bags but for camping these little bags are perfect. I used to store them in a large basket but it seemed like it was a mess when everyone was digging through a basket to find their favorite chips. I decided to make a holder for them and hung it inside the pantry door. It was a quick little project and the kids love it! Most of the items I already had in my craft baskets so the project only cost $3.00. What You Need: Rulers - I bought the craft rulers at Michael's (4 in a package) Small wood clothespins - you can get these at the craft store Craft...

Over the past year I've been working on making front door wreaths for each holiday. I'm close to having them all done but I still needed a Valentine's Day wreath. I am still finding Christmas ornaments on clearance and I thought they would be perfect for a Valentine's Day wreath. Lucky for me, I found red, silver, white and pink shatterproof ornaments. I'm sure you can guess what happened next, I bought 6 boxes of beautiful, shatterproof ornaments for $1.49 for a box of 16! It's always exciting to save some money and I love to create my own unique home decor or you could make a cute little wreath for a gift! Supplies : 60-75 ornaments (depends on the size of your heart and the size of the ornaments) 1 wire hanger or heavy wire hot glue ribbon to use for a hanger Directions : My ornaments had secure tops so I did not need to hot glue them to the ornaments. However, if your tops are not secure or feel loose, I would recommend hot gluing them to the orna...

Simply Homemade DIY St Patrick's Day Wreath If you're a little short on time but you want a new festive St Patrick's Day wreath to hang on your front door, try this simple DIY wreath. Follow the instructions from one of our previous posts for the DIY coffee filter wreath Simply DIY Coffee Filter Wreath and add your own touches for the green shamrocks. I hot glued some sparkly shamrocks for a sweet little St Patrick's Day wreath. Add your own touches or apply some green watercolor paint and using a paint brush just brush quickly over the edges of your wreath for a little extra green! Happy St Patrick's Day! Be blessed! Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi

Happy Fall everyone! It has been a busy month but I am finally enjoying my clean kitchen. It has actually stayed clean for more than 2 days in a row! Between canning and freezing my favorite summer goodies, my kitchen started looking like a disaster zone. But it was totally worth it! My pantry is now filled with jams, jellies, butters, dilly beans, pickled peppers and apple sauce. One more trip to the apple orchard and I think I will give my canner a break until next year. My freezer is looking full with the addition of corn, pesto, peaches, apples, roasted tomatoes and herbs. Stay tuned for some simply wonderful canning and freezer recipes. I decided to take a break from the kitchen and decorated my mantle for fall. This is an easy little DIY project and you can use items you may already have. I used some of my pumpkins from last year and painted all of my old pumpkins white. You can dress them up with some pearls or sparkly bling after they are painted. I wove a strip of burlap ...

After our long, cold winter I decided I wanted lots of color on my deck this summer. I started by sewing bright, new cushions for our patio set. (I'll be posting simple directions for those later). I had some left over material and Mom graciously offered her vintage bistro set for my DIY project! The seats and backs were attached with screws so I removed the screws and threw away top layer of the old fabric. I left the layer underneath that was previously on the cushions because it is easier to recover and I didn't need to replace the wood seats, backs or foam. I used the circles as my pattern for my new outdoor material. I added 2 inches of material and cut out a circle for the seat pattern. I used a staple gun to attach them to the wood seats. I attached the covered seats to the chairs using new screws rather than the old rusty screws. I followed the same process for the backs of the chairs. If you find a used bistro set and need a fresh look you can also spray pai...

After I have a new face on my fireplace so I decided to change the whole look. before I have been planning to change my paint color too so I experimented with a new color, Pebble Gray, on the fireplace wall. I love the soft gray colors that are so popular now. I put the finishing touches on the mantel and surround by rubbing (my favorite) Annie Sloan dark soft wax with a soft cloth over the wood. It turned out perfectly! I was hoping for a darker, vintage, oak color and that's exactly what I got! I especially the darker shades in the grain of the wood.  I searched through my accessories but I didn't have anything that would complete my vision so I purchased a recycled glass vase and candle holders at World Market and a new mirror at Target. My sister and I sent numerous texts, pictures and talked several times about the placement of the new items. We didn't Skype this time, because I don't need any more mirrors falling off the mantel! I wanted to keep the...

    I was inspired for my DIY indoor hallway sign project by Destiny at Just Destiny when I saw her on the Nate Berkus show a few years ago. I absolutely love her projects and decorating ideas and I think the indoor hallway signs are adorable. I had to adapt my signs a little because I don't have any long hallways. I decided to make my signs and rather than having them face sideways, I would hang them with the front side showing. They worked perfectly in my house of no halls! I also used smaller plant hangers due to the size of my space. I do have tall ceilings so it worked perfectly but if you are limited on the space above your doors, they look very cute mounted by the side of the door toward the top. Make sure you hang them on the side opposite the door opening or the door will hit the signs when you open it. I have one sign left to make for my pantry, then I have some orders to fill! Materials: wooden plaques (I bought mine at Micheal's) cup hoo...

This little DIY project started because my daughter wanted some Easter egg garland for her fireplace mantle. I found a cute little wreath on Pinterest and thought I would make the eggs and string them on ribbon for Easter garland. So the project began. I enjoy working on DIY projects but this one almost took me to the edge - haha!! It seemed so easy and I thought the eggs were cute but this was a more time consuming than I had planned and so messy that I almost gave up! My family made fun of me for a whole weekend because I would not stop until I got these little eggs done. I admit some of the issues were my own fault and I don't like getting my fingers sticky unless I'm making bread, so it'll be awhile before I work on another project like this! To make matters worse, I made my own liquid starch using cornstarch and water. The first batch was too thin, so I had to add more cornstarch and start over with my messing fingers, dipping and wrapping. Happ...

DIY shadow box for the twins! Since it's too cold to go outside, we are still decorating and crafting at my house! A couple of us are starting to work on our first quilts! This should be exciting! (Feel free to share any quilting tips). The project of the week was inspired by a previous post from Angie, Simply A Memory Box . This was a simple and quick decorating project (under 15 minutes) that my daughter worked on last week. It's a great time to buy them, or at least in our part of the country they are on sale! A personalized wall display is a fun way to share your treasured items. It's so much fun to display things rather than keeping them stored away in boxes! For this project, Tasha wanted to use the hospital items when the twins arrived. In the box, she arranged the ultrasound pictures, their little caps, bracelets and birth cards. You can line the back of the shadow box with material or paint it if you wish and then choose how you will place the treasures in th...

   I'm updating this post because only 2 days before Christmas I just had to add the finishing touch on my winter mantle. I shopped around and found some more shatterproof Christmas ornaments that match the wreath I had made earlier. I cut 2 pieces of ribbon and made 2 separate strands of garland. I strung each ball onto piece of ribbon and tied knots in both ends. I was thrilled the ornaments were on sale now so I stocked up! I used 96 balls to make the garland, $24 total which is so much better than the $149 price tag at one of stores that had the pre-made garland strands. Since I absolutely adore these colors, I'm happy as a clam! I made my own bow for the middle with some ribbon I already had. I like the Command hooks so I attached 1 on each end and 2 in the middle to the top of the mantle. I love love love the look! I wish you could see it in person, it's simply beautiful and so soft and shabby looking. The rest of the project you already know since I had previous...

Every season I go wreath shopping and then decide I don't want to spend the money for something I could make myself. This year the fall wreath I liked was $170 (and that is a big no for me!) so my granddaughter and I decided to make our own wreaths. Even though I prefer soft, flowing materials I like the look of burlap for wreaths. We chose to make a few wreaths using burlap. You can make them different sizes and they are simply too cute! Supplies : Start with a 12, 14 or 16 inch metal wreath holder. (available at craft stores) 4 inch burlap, our came in a 9 ft roll. I used 4 rolls for a fluffy wreath and 3 for a thinner wreath. Floral wire for hanger on back - optional Bow or accessories of your choice - optional Directions: Choose the size of wreath you want to make. We used 16 inch metal wreath rings. We found the easiest way to start is to unroll the burlap. After you have in unrolled, hold the beginning of the burlap roll and place the end over the outside of th...

So you know how the big blogs have guest posts on their blogs sometimes? Well, we sort of have that going on today and I'm so excited that we have another creative crafter in the family! My granddaughter, Shya, completed a project using bottles purchased at a thrift store to use on a fireplace mantle or sofa table. She purchased 5 glass jars of different sizes and decorated each one differently. The project was inexpensive and she used items that we already had for decorating the bottles. Starting from left to the right, here is what she did: Mix 1 drop of blue food coloring into 1/3 cup Mod Podge and simply paint the outside of the bottle using a small paint brush. Let dry at least 3 hours. She let the bottle dry overnight then wrapped a piece of burlap ribbon around the outside and used hot glue to secure it to the bottle. Place a pearl strand (leftover from last year Christmas decorations) inside the bottle. You could use an old necklace or beads also. Place a strip of bu...

Happy Saturday everyone! It has been one of those crazy, busy weeks so we must apologize for not having a minute to get a new post ready. Sometimes we have a few posts ready and sometimes we have a few posts started but not quite ready. So that's what happened....had a few posts started but not ready. Needless to say, I am ready for the weekend and I am grateful for a little down time! This little DIY project is super simple and inexpensive. You can start with any dried flowers, weeds or grains (I used wheat), tie them together with floral wire. I also used an 8 inch piece of wire to wrap around the top, then made a loop with the hire so I would have a hanger on the back. I bought a wood letter for under a dollar and painted it. Made 2 bows from burlap ribbon using the directions from a previous post, Simply Make Your Own Bows , then I used floral wire to attach them to my wheat. You could also add some corn, sunflowers or anything you'd like to your Front Door Fall Dec...

Simply try a new decorating idea for an autumn mantle, use what you have around the house or make some of your own pumpkins. I'll be posting a tutorial for the DIY Autumn Burlap Wreath next week so keep checking back if you need a new DIY project! For the shabby pumpkins check the previous post Simply DIY Pumpkin Decorating Project . Have a great weekend! Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi

This old cabinet has been passed around our family for YEARS! Everyone has had it, grandparents, parents, my sister, even my niece. We all used it for different things and then when one of us was tired of it, or didn't have room, someone else would take it. So I now have it and have finally decided to give it a new look. I use it for my canning and preserves cupboard. It took my 3 coats of paint and a whole day but I got it done! It's amazing what a coat...or 3 of paint and a little sandpaper can do! Before After           ~Simply Angie

My sister and I both love finding items to re-purpose. At least a couple of times a week we text and send pictures of our new projects to each other. Recently, I discovered a medium sized cardboard hat box in my craft closet. I was so excited and knew right away the project for the box, I wanted to use it for the headphones and remote control in my vehicle. The kiddos love to watch movies when we're traveling but the space we usually store the headphones in is not convenient when we're actually on the road. So I covered the box with fabric and now we store it between the back seats. It was super simple and quick to do, my favorite kind of project! Your helpers can even help with this project! Supplies : Mod Podge Sponge brush or any paint brush Fabric Cardboard box Scissors Directions : I started with the lid, laid it upside down on wrong side of the fabric. Cut the fabric 2 inches larger than the lid. Using a sponge paint ...

Simply one of my favorite DIY projects under $5.00 is my adorable shabby wreath. I made 2 of them, one for our front door and one is above the fireplace mantel. This wreath is made from coffee filters!  Supplies and Directions straw craft wreath, I used a 12 inch wreath for this wreath (leave the plastic on the wreath) 1 package of small basket style coffee filters (1-4 cup size, about 200 coffee filters) hot glue  stapler scissor craft wire or floral wire Begin by measuring a piece of wire (about 16 inches) to wrap around the top of the wreath and shape a circle at the top for the hanger. Twist the wire so you have a small circle at the top and keep twisting the wire so your hanger will be secure. You will need 6 coffee filters for each flower, so plan on sitting for awhile, unless you have helpers. My granddaughters had a blast helping me with the flowers! To start making your flowers, take 3 coffee filters (leave them together so they look like 1 fi...

  If you haven't tried decoupaging yet, or even if you have, there are so many projects that can be done that are quick and easy. It's a great way to update or give things a new look.  I found these great free printables from Graphics Fairy . She has tons of transfers and some of them are in the reverse so they can be used on furniture, fabric or pretty much anything else.  I also discovered a new technique, which is what I did on this stool.  First, I painted the stool white to go with my french country kitchen, let that dry, then printed a reverse image on regular copy paper from my home printer. I used a foam brush and spread my Mod Podge on the printed side of the paper, then placed it on the stool where I wanted it. It should dry overnight...but I'm not that patient, so I gave it about 4-5 hours until it was dry, then used a damp sponge to wet the paper until I could see the letters through it. I used my finger and rubbed over the image, gently removing t...

  Lately I've seen chalkboards, memo boards, and magnetic boards so I decided to combine them all in one, and make a magnetic chalkboard.  I found 2 new frames at the thrift store, they were already white so all I needed to do was paint the glass.  At my local Michael's Craft store, I found Martha Stewart Magnetic Paint...there are probably other brands that make this, but I was so excited when I saw that there was actually Magnetic Paint, that I just bought it (plus I had a coupon, which always helps persuade me!) I also bought my chalkboard paint there too, but I did see a larger, cheaper bottle at Walmart later...so I bought that one too! The whole project was less than $10. I made 2 magnetic chalkboards to hang, plus I still have lots of both paints left for other projects.  Check your specific brand for directions, mine said to apply 2-3 coats and let cure for 24 hours, the magnetic paint didn't seem quite as magnetic once I applied the chalkboard pa...