DIY Magnets

Tutorial time! I've been wanting to post this for a while but just haven't gotten around to it. Today I want to show you how to make your own decorative magnets. I don't know about you, but I have never had "cute" magnets on my fridge. They were either pizza place magnets or magnetic chip clips. Ugly. So I decided to make my own. I can't take credit for the initial idea but I'm not linking to anyone else's blog because there are so many different ways to take them! I just wanted to show you how I did it!

1: Assemble your materials. What I used for this project were:

-pen/pencil

-scissors

-scrapbooking paper

-plain magnets

-E6000 glue

-glass marble/fake gem vase fillers

I got the magnets and scrapbooking paper at Michael's, but you could easily find them at Hobby Lobby or any craft store. I got the the glass vase fillers at the Dollar Tree. It was a little hard to find the large ones. They are about 1 1/2" in diameter. Everything else I had on hand. 

2. Find a design on the scrapbooking paper that you like. 

3. Trace around the glass gem. 

4. Apply glue to the flat side of the glass gem.

Here is what it looks like when the paper is attached to the back of the gem. You may want to slide the paper around the back of the gem to ensure that the glue spreads to the edges. You can't see it in the picture, but you will know what I'm talking about when you do it yourself. 

5. After the paper dries (who am I kidding? I didn't let the paper dry!) apply glue to the magnet.

6. Attach the magnet to the back of the paper-covered-gem

7. Admire your work! I made 4 out of the scrapbook paper and the other 4 that I made were just clip art that I printed off on regular white paper. So technically you don't even need scrapbooking paper to do this project!

I had a lot of fun making these and they didn't take long at all! They would make a great last minute gift  for any occasion. I had to stop myself from making more so that our fridge wasn't covered in beautiful magnets. I may have to make some Christmas ones and switch them out to "festive=ize" the kitchen! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! I'll try to post another tutorial soon!

Loves,

Amy

Happy Fall Y'all!

October is probably my favorite month of the year. The temperature is cool but not too cold, the colors on the trees are really vibrant, and pumpkins are EVERYWHERE. I also love fall decor. A couple weekends ago, I made a fall wreath out of some foam piping insulation from home depot. I thought this would be the greatest idea because it was cheap and easy. My friend, Kara, made one as well. I have yet to see her finished project, but I sure hope it turned out better than mine did. Here's my front door with the first wreath:

I evidently loaded it down with too much stuff on it so it kind of became egg-shaped after a day. I took that puppy down and went to Michael's to find a replacement. Michael's had 18" grapevine wreaths for $5 so I snagged one up and put all my "stuff" on it and this is the result!

A zillion times better. Apologies for the crappy photo. I took all the felt flowers and pom poms off the old wreath and added them to the new one along with some extras. Here's a close up of the wreath:

I love it 65435136576435 times more than the other one! The next step in prettyfying our entry way is to get a new pot for the mum. Mums smell so gross, but I love how they look! I also love that it was only $3.47 at home depot. The pumpkins by the door are fake from Michael's. Super cheap as well becuase they were 50% off. I went with fake pumpkins so I could re-use them and so I wouldn't have a rotting pumpkin by my front door. My next BIG projects in the apartment will be to paint a wall in each of the bedrooms and maybe in the kitchen as well. I'm really looking for ward to it!!! I'll definitely keep you all posted!

How do you decorate for the seasons?

Loves,
Amy

Decor Update

2 posts in 2 days?! I must be crazy! I've been wanting to show everyone my updated living/dining room for a while and FINALLY took a picture this morning as I was on my way out of the house. Remember what my accent wall looked like when I finished it? If not here is a reminder:

I adore the wall color, but I wasn't loving the picture that I put up and I did not like the olive green table cloth. I've been seeing all kinds of cute gallery walls on Pinterest and decided to do one of my own. Here is the new area!



I love how it turned out! It takes up so much more space than the other picture and it lets me showcase many of my photos without it looking so sporadic. It was pretty easy to do. I just laid them on the ground and arranged them until I liked what I saw and then nailed those puppies up! I used toothpaste on the photo hangers to mark where I should put the nail. That saved me a lot of headaches and extras holes in the wall. I did have a whole bunch of photos of just me and Ryan and I thought I was a little too much, so I replaced some with a couple family pictures and a bird print. I also replaced that green tablecloth with a new gray one. I love it so much more. And get this I got that baby for $3.47 at Meijer! I love a good deal! It was a little long so I tied up the corners with some brown satin ribbon. I also put up a fall table arrangement. I'll post a more up close photo a little later when I've finished all my fall decorating. I'll also try to include better pictures because the iPhone pics are kind of sad.

What kind of projects have you worked on lately?


Loves,
Amy

3 day weekend!

Hey friends!

Man oh man do I love a 3 day weekend. It came at just the right time too! We've been so busy the last 3 weeks that we just needed time to stop! I got caught up on most of the household chores (still haven't completely unpacked our clothes. oops.) and got to do a couple projects I've been wanting to do since we moved in! Saturday, Ryan had to spend all day working on an assignment so my friend, Kara, came over and helped me paint an accent wall in my apartment. I've been wanting to paint for-ever. I was so tired of the bland white walls. We needed color badly! Here is the before. It's not the best pic, I had already moved the table when I remembered that I wanted to take a picture.

boring white wall.

Here is my inspiration. Thank you Pinterest!

Here is the actual paint sample from the Home Depot Site:


Martha Stewart Sea Glass

 I've been a little obesessed with this color lately. It's just so darn pretty! Here is the after that I know you're dying to see. ;)

It made a HUGE difference in the room! I already know I'm going to have to get a different picture to hang there. That one is just too small. I also know I need to get a different tablecloth. That olive green is not working for me. It's a little darker than the paint sample, which I kind of expected, but I love it! Ryan really likes it too. This whole little project cost me just over $30 ($31.11 to be exact). This was for everything as in paint, paint tray, rollers, brushes, drop cloth, edger, yeah, all of that stuff. I was very pleased that it didn't cost more. If you already have the accessories than this project would be even cheaper! I just bought a quart of paint since I was doing the one wall and it was just the right amount. The paint itself only cost $10! ($9 and some change) I'm really considering painting an accent wall in our bedroom now that I have all the painting stuff. We'll see!

This weekend I also painted a few canvases to go in this room. I'm sure they'll show up in a future post. I also baked a Chess Pie for the first time and it came out perfectly. This is seriously my favorite pie ever. I used this recipe here and made my own pie crust with this recipe here. Yummy in the tummy. All in all, this was a wonderful weekend! I got to craft, bake, spend much needed alone time with the hubby watching office re-runs, and enjoy 68 degree weather! All of my favorite things!

Happy Fall everyone!