Six Month Anniversary!

Today marks six months of wedded bliss for Adam and I! While the past six months have been anything but easy, we have still tried to make the best of every situation. He has been my rock, my shoulder to cry on, and my best friend since day one and I am so lucky to have him in my life. 

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Tutorial: St. Patty's Day Rag Wreath

With Valentine's Day over, I figured I'd dive right in to St. Patrick's Day. Here is the next wreath that will be replacing my hearts on the front door!

what you will need:

a wire hanger, fabric, scissors, ribbon

I used five different patterns for this wreath (all from Joann's), but you could use as many or as few as you would like. I purchased half a yard of each fabric, but still had plenty left for another project or two or three.

To start this project, I shaped the wire hanger into a circle and cut off the hook at the top. 

Next, I cut strips of each fabric. My strips were approximately 1 to 1.5 inches wide and 8-9 inches long. I say approximately because I did not measure as I cut because I figured it wouldn't matter for the final product. You may cut your strips any width you desire. If you have more fabrics, you may want them thinner so each one takes up less space.

Once all the work is done, the fun begins! I began tying each strip to the wire hanger until the hanger was full and my wreath was complete! The amount of fabric strips you need will depend on how thin you cut your strips. I also added a ribbon to mine for hanging.

Who else has started thinking about St. Patty's Day decor? Please tell me I'm not the only one...

On The Nightstand: In The Bag by Kate Klise

A European vacation. A luggage mix-up. A note from a secret admirer.

Meet two single parents who think they're too busy to date. And two teenagers who can't stop writing flirty emails. This is a tale of connections--missed and made--in a universe that seems to have its heart set on reuniting Ms. 6B and Mr. 13C.

Webb: I can't believe I picked up the wrong bag at the airport. My dad is never going to let me hear the end of it.

Coco: I don't understand why Mom told me to pack my worst underwear. And now I've lost my bag? Ack!

Andrew: I cannot stop thinking about that woman in seat 6B on the flight to Paris.

Daisy: I don't have time to worry about the creep sitting in 13C who slipped a note in my purse. I have to find my daughter's missing bag before this ruins our vacation.

In the Bag is a smart and stylish story that explores the old-fashioned art of romance in a modern world, where falling in love can be as risky as checking a bag on an international flight. Buckle your seat belt--it's going to be a bumpy vacation!"---GoodReads

In The Bag is a quick read! While it doesn't have the absolute best story line, it was interesting enough to keep my attention.There was something fun about reading the parent's thoughts towards their children, and what was going on in their children's heads at the same time. Needless to say, the ending is completely predictable, but sometimes that's just what you need in a book. 

Have you read any good books lately? Let me know and I'll add them to my reading list!

DIY Candle Holder

This Valentine's Day, I was trying to come up with something fun and unique to hold candles. After scrounging through what I had in the basement, I came up with this quick and easy candle holder. 

I grabbed a large glass vase I had in the basement and stuck a smaller vase inside it. Then, I filled the space between the two vases with conversation hearts. Lastly, I stuck a candle inside the smaller vase.

I love seeing the light from the candle illuminate through the hearts, making it glow.

While I chose to do this with conversation hearts for valentine's day, you could substitute for split peas (st patty's), coffee beans or wine corks. The possibilities are endless!

What will you be filling your new candle holder with?

Ombre Heart Frame

Crafting is my favorite way to avoid doing any sort of school work. Why study when I can make fun things? So Sunday when I should have been memorizing origins and insertions of muscles in the arm, I decided to make an ombre heart frame instead.

I hopped in the car and ran into Home Depot before they closed. (Note to self: not a good time to go sneak dozens of paint samples, the workers are all watching). I slyly grabbed the few samples that I needed and came home to begin working. My new cricut (that I have hardly been able to find time to use) made this whole project SOO easy. I simply stuck the paint samples in, and out came my beautiful hearts.

I used photo stickers to stick each heart onto white cardstock, grabbed a frame, and BAM! Done! Such a quick, easy, and cheap project to add a little more decor to the house. 

Has anyone else whipped up some quick and easy projects for this Valentine's Day! Man, it sure did sneak up quick this year!

On The Nightstand: The Man Of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld

Hannah Gavener is fourteen in the summer of 1991. In the magazines she reads, celebrities plan elaborate weddings; in Hannah’s own life, her parents’ marriage is crumbling. And somewhere in between these two extremes–just maybe–lie the answers to love’s most bewildering questions. But over the next decade and a half, as she moves from Philadelphia to Boston to Albuquerque, Hannah finds that the questions become more rather than less complicated: At what point can you no longer blame your adult failures on your messed-up childhood? Is settling for someone who’s not your soul mate an act of maturity or an admission of defeat? And if you move to another state for a guy who might not love you back, are you being plucky–or just pathetic?

None of the relationships in Hannah’s life are without complications. There’s her father, whose stubbornness Hannah realizes she’s unfortunately inherited; her gorgeous cousin, Fig, whose misbehavior alternately intrigues and irritates Hannah; Henry, whom Hannah first falls for in college, while he’s dating Fig; and the boyfriends who love her more or less than she deserves, who adore her or break her heart. By the time she’s in her late twenties, Hannah has finally figured out what she wants most–but she doesn’t yet know whether she’ll find the courage to go after it. 

Full of honesty and humor, The Man of My Dreams is an unnervingly insightful and beautifully written examination of the outside forces and personal choices that make us who we are.

---GoodReads

I am not sure what it was about this book, but it did not hold my attention at all! Everytime I would pick it up, I would fall asleep after reading a page or two. Perhaps it was that I had a hard time relating to Hannah, or that her character was just plain boring. I felt like chapter after chapter NOTHING happened.  Quite honestly, I would not recommend this book to anyone. 

Have you read any books lately that you have LOVED? Let me know!

Tutorial: Love Blocks

Another one of my favorite Valentine's Day projects from last year are these fun "love" blocks. They were so easy to make, I ended up doing some for almost every holiday. 

what you will need:

a 2x4 piece of wood, spray paint, scrapbook paper and cardstock, ribbon, modpodge, glue gun

I let Adam have a little fun with this one and cut the 2x4 into four pieces: one 6in block, two 7in blocks, and one 8in block. I gave each piece of wood a few coats of black spray paint and sanded the sides.

To make the letters, I picked a font, printed it out, and traced each letter onto cardstock. Since I didn't have a fancy machine for cutting, this is what I resorts to. I cut the letters from the cardstock and they were ready to go.

Next, I traced each piece of wood onto scrapbook paper and cut them out. Using mod podge, I put the different patterned paper onto each block of wood. Another coat was used to adhere the letters, and a final coat went on top.

When that was completely dry, I added the ribbon using a glue gun. To make sure the wood blocks could easily stand, I only put ribbon along the two sides and tied them together at the top. Simple as that!

I love this project, because as I said before, you can do it for any holiday you want, or do one for your everyday decor.

Exciting news: Melanie Gets Married reached 3,000 views today!! Thanks to everyone who reads this!

Heart Wreath: Tutorial

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, I am not sure if I will have time to make anything new (school will be kicking my butt the next few weeks!). That is the down side. The upside is that I made a few fun projects last year that I haven't showed you guys yet, yay! 

Today I will be showing you my Heart Wreath. It is one of my favorite projects, and I hope you will love it as well. 

what you will need:

wreath form, ribbon, wood hearts of all sizes, scrapbook paper, wooden circle beads (in two sizes), red paint, mod podge, gorilla glue, hot glue gun

I started by wrapping the ribbon around the wreath form. To do this, I used gorilla glue on the end and used safety pins to reinforce the hold. I wrapped the ribbon and once the wreath was completely covered, I used gorilla glue and pins to finish the other end. 

When that was finished, I began tracing hearts onto the scrapbook paper, mixing up the shapes and sizes for each paper pattern. (It is important that you do this as one of your first steps. Once you paint your hearts, you will not be able to trace them until they are dry.)

Once all the hearts were traced, I began painting the hearts. Since it will end up being 3D, I made sure to cover both sides with the red paint. 

While I waited for my paint to dry, I cut out all the traced hearts so they would be ready to go.

When the paint dried, I glued the wooden beads onto the backs of the hearts using gorilla glue. I made sure to have some flat hearts (no beads on the back), as well as a variety of both bead sizes to give three different heights to my wreath. You don't need to have the same amount of each, i just mixed it up at random.

When the glue was completely dry, I painted all the beads.

When all the painting was complete and dry, I used mod podge to adhere the paper hearts to the wooden hearts. First, a layer of mod podge on the wooden hearts, then add the paper hearts, and finally another layer of mod podge on the top to seal it off. Then, more waiting time for things to dry...

Finally, it was time to place the hearts on the wreath. I placed hearts all over, with no particular rhyme or reason, trying to cover as much of the wreath as possible. For this part, I used a hot glue gun which seemed to work out pretty well. I added a loop of ribbon for easy hanging to finish it off. 

What do you think?! Let me know if you plan to try this, I would love to hear all about it.

What are some of your favorite Valentine's Day decorations?

Happy Groundhogs Day!