One of our latest projects was creating some wooden arrows to decorate above our TV.  I totally fell on the DIY pallet band wagon. Free? Yes! Distressed? Yes! We got two pallets and went straight to work...

...for about 10 minutes. Have you ever tried to deconstruct a pallet? No? Well it is incredibly difficult and not to mention dirty and gross. If I was going to have hubby's help with this project I needed to make a change. Straight to Lowe's we went to see what our options were. We looked around for a little bit and weren't liking what we saw. Then we stumbled upon these packs of cedar wall paneling and they were perfect! Like only $10 perfect! We were planning on making 9 chevron arrow things and these ended up being the exact amount of material that we needed. I think they came as a pack of 6 boards that were 8 ft long. Hubby cut them to the correct length and then mitered all of the ends at 45 degrees.

Freshly cut and ready to be distressed

First I stained the back side of them with some Rust-oleum wood stain in Kona. The fronts are smooth and finished but the backs are rough and unsanded - the look that I was going for. I have no idea what the proper way to stain stuff is so I just used a foam brush to paint it on then waited various amounts of time before I wiped it off with a rag :)

You'll need three foam brushes- one each for stain, paint, and glue

After one coat

Next I watered down some grey paint samples that we had leftover. I followed the same process as the stain. On some of the sections I did two or three coats and on others I did just a very very light coat and immediately wiped it off.

Some boards with the grey paint wash - waiting to be wiped off

 
I glued 4 pieces of varying finishes together - two interlocked on top and bottom and then down the middle. I used some of the scraps that we had from the miter saw to serve as a sort of backing plate. This got glued to the back to keep everything together. (Wood glue and cameras don't mix so I don't have any pictures of this part. I'm a messy DIYer)

Our initial plan was to just use double sided tape to secure these to the wall (they are super lightweight.) We decided to nail them in after they were positioned on the wall for extra support... I didn't want them falling off the wall in the middle of the night a few months from now.

You can see the scrap that I glued to the back to keep everything together and the tape pieces.

For a total cost of less than $20 I'd say it is a success!

Once we install our sound system I think we are going to mount our TV to the wall and hide the cords. Hooray for progress! It is so nice to not have that big empty space above our TV anymore.

My most recent project was making a new fall wreath for the front door. I previously made this Fall Berry Wreath for our old apartment. Our house has a much larger front door and that wreath was itty bitty on our door. It will find and new home inside.

Even though it is still in the 90's here in Austin, all of my friends and family's posts from back home talking about boots and apple picking has got me in the fall mood.

Disclaimer: there are probably much better tutorials for making burlap wreaths out there. This is just the way I made mine and I can't guarantee that it is the best or easiest way!

To make this wreath I started with:
     -A wire wreath frame
     -Wire rimmed burlap ribbon (4 rolls of 15 ft - more or less depending on the size of your wreath)
     -Pipe cleaners (coordinating with the ribbon you choose)

I ended up wanting to add a little fall banner so I used some scrapbook paper and jute that I had on hand.

 

 

To start the wreath I tied up the end of the ribbon with a pipe cleaner. I connected it to the underside of the wire frame at one of the crossbeams. After it was secured I just started pulling up sections of burlap from the underside through the top to make these burlap poofs. I found it easiest to unroll all of the ribbon and have it hanging under the wreath. It only took around 20 minutes to pull all of the ribbon through this way.

 

I didn't measure the poofs or secure each one. I just worked my way through the different sections until I had it as full as I wanted. Once I reached the end of the ribbon roll I secured it with a pipe cleaner. Boom. Done!

Almost... haha. It was looking a little plain and I didn't want to add some flowers or an initial so a banner it was. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the banner shapes and letters. A little glue and some jute later... Happy Fall Y'all!

Bonus picture of Phoebe in the window.

I'm so happy with the way this wreath turned out! Bring on the boots, pumpkins, and apple cider.

So I haven't visited my blog in almost 3 years... 3 years! I guess I didn't realize what working full time does to your free time.

Good news: Hubby and I are now homeowners! So I have a few projects up my sleeve and hope to share them here. Plus decorating our house for fall and the holidays should be super fun!

Sorry I haven't been posting that much on here lately... I am all crafted out. Just kidding! I have lots of ideas for winter and I can't wait to show them to you! But that will have to wait.

I got accepted into grad school. It looks like I will be attending the University of Alabama Birmingham starting in January. My speciality will be primary care as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and I will go to school part time and work full time.

Speaking of work. I am started working at Texas Fertility Clinic on Thursday. I am so blessed to have been offered this job - it is regular business hours! I never thought as a new nurse I wouldn't have to work the night shift for my first job.

That is all. I told you this was a quick life update.

Last Saturday Hubby and I took a day trip up to Dallas. We had In-N-Out for lunch and spent the afternoon at the Texas State Fair. That saying that everything is bigger in Texas - well it is definitely true when it comes to state fairs. Think of every carnival ride you have ever seen and then multiply that times ten. We ended up seeing less than half of the park - it is that big. Oh, the fried food. Pretty much anything you can imagine was there and deep fried. I'm talking about fried biscuits and gravy, fried cake balls, fried beer, fried pineapple upside down cake, fried bubblegum, fried brownies, and the list goes on and on. We ended up only getting a funnel cake at the fair since we were so full from In-N-Out earlier. So next time we go I would like to sample a little more of the fried goodness the fair has to offer. Here are some pics from our awesome weekend.

We watched Jump! Ultimate Dog show and saw some dock dogs, frisbee catchers, and rat terrier races. Lets just ignore the blurriness in this picture :)

This little guy can walk on his two front feet.

Cirque Shanghai was definitely my favorite show. 

These acrobats were amazing.

That is a woman in ballet shoes on point on the top of that man's head. Crazy!

I just had to take a picture of this. I would hate to carry that gorilla around all day.

Apparently this is the largest ferris wheel in North America.

Dallas as viewed from the ferris wheel.

We finished our night with some funnel cake covered with strawberries and whipped cream.

I would highly recommend going (preferably not on a Saturday) and seeing everything there. Like I said, we only saw half of the park and I hear there were some pretty cool exhibits that we missed.

Hubby and I have been a couple for 4 years now (married for almost 1.5 of those years!) I can't believe how fast the time has gone - it seems like yesterday that I was nervously walking off a plane in California to meet his parents for the first time.

So in honor of our dating anniversary I thought I would post some pictures of us through the years. (With dates, so I will be able to remember them when I am old and forgetful.)

Spring Break 2008 - Meeting his parents for the first time.

Barn Dance 2008

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We needed a fall wreath for our door. A couple weeks ago I found some berry stems from Michaels that I bought to put in a vase inside. They make me happy so I decided they would be perfect to make a wreath out of.

I bought 9 more berry stems ($1 each), some 18 gauge wire wrapped in paper ($1.99), and some orange ribbon ($1) to make this project. If you have an old wreath that you could repurpose, use that - I didn't so I got the wire to make the frame for the wreath.

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