Button Lampshade

I made this awhile back, but I just saw this pin again and thought I'd share it! I went to the link, and it no longer works. I decided to go ahead and make a new page for this super simple project, since I loved doing it and the lampshade looks awesome!

Materials:

• Plain lampshade
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Buttons (I bought a giant assorted pack)

Directions:

• Turn on glue gun and let it get to the right temperature.
• Once ready, put a small dab on the back of the button and press to the lampshade, holding in place for 5-10 seconds to let it cool and dry. (Be careful of glue coming through button holes!)
• Place buttons in a pattern or randomly around lampshade. 
• Let glue dry for an hour or two, then attach to lamp and enjoy!

DIY Wedding Projects!

I got married this summer and wanted to save money and make my wedding unique. I kept some traditional elements, but I wanted some fun activities for guests, as well as things I would want to keep and would actually look at. 

Guest Book

First thing I did was decide that I did not want a traditional Guest Book. I saw a bunch of pins showing unique guest books, and I went with a piece of art for our living room. Inspired by this pin.

Materials:

• Canvas (you want this to be just big enough to allow at least one person from every household to sign.)
• Paint pens/sharpie markers
• Some centerpiece, here I chose to have a wooden letter (Last initial)
• Paint, if needed, for the centerpiece
• Adhesive, if needed, for the centerpiece (I used glue meant for wood and fabric)

Directions:

• Create your centerpiece. 
• Since I decided to do a monogram theme, I painted a wooden 'M' using acrylic paint. I did about 2-3 coats and let dry for a couple of hours.
• Attach the centerpiece
• I used multipurpose glue and attached to the center, measuring to ensure it was centered.
• Let dry overnight.
• Day of the wedding, set out where you would display a guest book with your selected pens and let the guests have fun!
• After the wedding, take home and put on the wall as is or frame! Now you have a guest book that you will actually see, rather than store on a shelf!

Guest Mad Libs

I used the template from LovevsDesign.com after completing a Google search. I absolutely loved this! You print the mad libs out on 8 1/2 x 11 paper (each mad libs is 5 x 7) and then cut out into the individual mad libs. I set these on the tables where guests could fill them out before the wedding started and during the reception. We got some pretty entertaining responses! 

After the wedding, you can put them in a book to look at in the future! I still have yet to do this, but I plan on buying a photo flip book to put these in. 

Centerpieces

Centerpieces do not have to be anything over the top. Pinterest gives us all crazy ideas about what we should do, like have intricate invitations and decorations at our wedding. Honestly, if you are doing the planning yourself, just like I did, then you need something simple. These centerpieces were perfect and looked nice in the dimly lit theater I got married in. 

The image is a little blurry, taken from a guest's cell phone, but you get the idea. It provided illumination without being too bright or too tall, which could block guest interactions. Here's what I did:

Materials:

• Get some sort of glass bowl. These were Ivy Bowls that were given to us. You can get some just like this and others similar at Dollar Tree for $1 each.
• Buy some ribbon that goes along with your colors/theme.
• Floating candles or votive candles.
• Glass rocks (for floral displays).
• Fabric glue
• Small mirrors (can typically be found with the candle holders at craft supply stores, like Hobby Lobby).

Directions:

• Measure around the part of the glass you want the ribbon to go. I put mine around the top of the ivy bowl.
• Wrap ribbon around the bowl and put a dab of glue on the ends to attach them, keeping them wrapped around the bowl.
• Put glass rocks in the bottom of the bowl, as many as wanted.
• Put candle inside.
• Set on top of mirror candle holder.
• You're done! If you want, you can add water to the bottom if you have floating candles when you set up your centerpieces at the venue.

These were a few of the things I did myself. I also made my own bouquets!, which isn't for everyone. A lot of people prefer real flowers, which is understandable. I was on a very tight budget, so buying fake flowers half off (during a sale) and assembling them myself was the best option. I didn't take any pictures of the process, sadly, but I will include a post on how to make your own bouquets soon. If was time consuming to make 5 bouquets, which was the main downfall to making them. And you may need a second pair of hands to help.

I hope you all enjoyed these tips!

Panko Baked Fried Pickles

I saw a bunch of pins on Pinterest, but I decided to modify the recipe and make my own!

Ingredients:

• Pickles (I chose Dill Hamburger Chips) 
• Panko Bread Crumbs (1-2 cups, depends on how many pickles)
• Season Panko with 1-2 tablespoons of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup Milk

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
• Whisk egg and milk together
• Dry pickles with a paper towel
• Dip pickles in egg/milk mixture, then coat with Panko bread crumbs
• Place coated pickles on nonstick cookie sheet
• Bake for 12-16 minutes, flipping halfway. The larger the size of the pickle, the longer you will need to cook. The Panko bread crumbs should be a light brown when done.
• Eat!

I absolutely loved these! So much healthier than frying them.

Silhouette Art

Had an idea for different kinds of silhouette art. And here is one of my creations.

Materials:

• 1 Canvas or posterboard. (Size doesn't matter, whatever you prefer.)
• A few different colors of paint. (I only used 4, but you can certainly use as many as you'd like.)
• A pencil and eraser.
• A few paint brushes.
• Optional: A picture of a silhouette. 

Steps:

    1.   Draw the silhouette onto the canvas with your pencil. Or you can do as I did - I printed a few pictures of the internet, cut them out, and traced them onto the canvas. I'm not great at free hand drawing so it really helped me out a lot.
   

 2.   Paint in the silhouettes. 

         And of course before you paint them in, make sure everything is where you want it to be. Once you start painting it'll be pretty hard to change things.

    3. After you've chosen your colors you can start to paint in you section. As you can see I chose to break it up into 4 sections, but of course you can do as many as you'd like. My canvas wasn't too big so 4 was a good number for me.    

     

      4. This step is optional. My painting kinda had a theme to it so I decided to add some lyrics to go with it. I chose a few lines from "Everything" by Lifehouse.

     

      5.  Be creative. This art can just be something cool, or it can express a bit of you. Everyone is different so go with things you love.

Have fun!

Sensory Play Bottles, Bags, and Bins for Children

My son is autistic, so I have been looking for better ways to give him stimulating play that is productive. I finally made a trip to Dollar Tree to get items to make sensory play items, which are suggested for special needs children. I saw a million different versions of these on Pinterest, so I took those ideas and created my own!

Sensory Play Bottles

Materials:

• clear plastic bottles
• strong glue/glue gun
• water, gel (I used cheap hair gel), and possibly oil (preferably clear)
• craft items to put into bottles, such as glitter, googly eyes, pom poms, beads, etc. Can even use pasta (like the bottle on the far left).
• food coloring (optional)

Steps:

1. Clean bottles and remove any labels and sticky residue from the outside of the bottles. I used SmartWater bottles because of the clean shape and size.
2. Add water and/or gel. I would suggest adding smaller amounts and test it out first. You don't want too much gel because the items will not move. Adding water will help loosen up the gel. If you are using food coloring, add a drop or two to the mixture and mix up.
3. Add desired items to the bottle. I made themes for the bottles, such as a outdoors bottle with rubber frogs and flowers.
4. Once you have the right amount of liquid to allow the items inside to move, then apply glue around the top of the bottle and screw the cap on over it.
5. Let dry overnight and then let you child enjoy!

Sensory Bags

Materials:

• Strong quart-sized freezer bags
• Clear gel, such as hair gel
• Craft items, such as foam shapes, googly eyes, beads, action figures, glitter, etc.
• Clear packing tape

Steps:

1. Add desired items to the storage bags.
2. Add enough gel to cover the items.
3. Close bag, removing as much air as possible.
4. Spread out gel and items, making sure there is enough gel.
5. Once finished, fold over the opening of the bag and tape with the packing tape to ensure your child doesn't accidentally open it.
6. Enjoy!

Sensory Bins

Materials:

• Plastic bins with lids
• Dried beans, rice, sand, etc.
• Glass beads, pom poms, action figures, etc.
• Scoops, spoons, measuring cups, etc.

Steps:

1. Add rice/beans/sand to the storage bin.
2. Add desired items to the bin.
3. Enjoy!

Structured Play Suggestions

To make the play time for your child more structured, you can always play hide and seek with the items in the bins, or have your child find certain items in the bags or bottles. You can also make some dry bottles to turn into instruments! 

I was able to make all of these items for under $30, and I still have supplies left! Enjoy!

Weather

The view of the sky from my apartment looks crazy today! Here are some pictures I took from my balcony of the clouds passing over. They looked pretty scary, but are passing quickly!

Child Handprint Artwork!

I saw a pin on Pinterest and decided that instead of buying the artwork, I would make it with my son! Such a great way to get children involved in arts and crafts, and get a very inexpensive piece of artwork to decorate your home or a child's room.

Materials

• 4 small canvases just slightly larger than the size of your child's hand
• Paint (such as acrylic paint)
• Paint brush
• Wall mounting items (tape, painting hanger, nails, etc.) I chose to use wall mounting tape to avoid holes in the wall and to reduce the amount of work it takes to hang. 
• Your child's hands!

Steps

1. Paint the small canvases the desired colors and let dry.
2. Once dry, apply paint to the palm side of your child's hand and press gently onto the canvas.
3. Repeat with the rest of the canvases.
4. Let dry.
5. Use chosen method to hang the product in your home!

And here's the finished product hanging on the wall!