DIY Ruffled Curtains

It isn't very often that the university closes on a snow day, let alone close for the cold weather. Imagine my surprise to discover 10+ texts from classmates and friends while briefly glancing at my phone on Monday afternoon stating that school had been cancelled for Tuesday (I believe a lot of exclamation marks were involved). Anyways, a day free of school, homework, AND work... what's a girl to do!? 

Well, I finally convinced myself that it was time to finish a project I had started weeks ago. 

If you follow me on instagram, you probably saw this picture quite some time ago.

And if you follow me on twitter, you probably saw a tweet that went something like this around that same time: "I have a love-hate relationship with my sewing machine"

Well, yesterday I was finally able to post this picture:

It would be safe to say that it was a DIY project gone wrong, and you would be absolutely right! I found this tutorial from the Jedi Craft Girl a while back, and I followed it pretty much to a tee. I was so excited to lighten up the living room and ditch the plain dark brown curtains that have been hanging for so long. The problem... I am not an expert sewer! After hours, I finally realized that I needed to bump my tension down to zero and my stitch spacing all the way up in order to create the perfect ruffle. Well, the perfect ruffle never happened... for ALL SIX ruffles. By the time I got my ruffles figured out and pinned into place, the bobbin knotted up countless amount of times, to the point where I was swearing under my breath and grunting. The dog thought she did something wrong, and the hubs came in to check on me a number of times. CRAFT PROJECT GONE VERY WRONG!

By the time I finished my one curtain, I was so sick of the process that I didn't touch my sewing machine for two weeks. My living room window was decorated with one new beautiful curtain, while the other was still the dark brown old curtain. Every time I even thought about working on that second curtain, I cringed. 

I finally got sick of looking at the half and half curtains, so yesterday afternoon, I got to work.

The second curtain was put together flawlessly! There was not a single hiccup involved in the making and hanging of the second curtain and I could not be happier. What first took my hours upon hours each night only took me one and a half hours the second time around... talk about a dream come true!!

SO ladies and gentleman, I now present to you my brand new ruffled curtains!

Aren't they beautiful?! Now that all is said and done, they really were worth all the trouble. Sometimes projects turn out to be just as easy as you thought, and sometimes they don't! 

On the bright side though, I can now sew one mean ruffle!

Have you ever had a project go horribly wrong?

I still get worked up thinking about the sewing machine every time I look at those curtains. Too bad a lot of my upcoming projects will require me to use it... I need a vacation!

Would you like to see what else I did on my "cold day"? 

I did a whole lot of HTML-ing to better organize my project page! Check it out here: http://melaniegetsmarried.blogspot.com/p/projects_9.html

Happy Thursday!

Follow Your Dreams Printable

Who doesn't love free printables? I know I do! So today, I am sharing with you this fun "Follow Your Dreams" Printable. I'm putting mine in my new office as a friendly reminder.

Lucky for you, I have created four different color combos for you to choose from!

(To use: click on the desired picture, right click, and save to your desktop to print)

Which colors are your favorite? I'll be using the pastels of blue, green, pink, and purple.

BUT I also love the yellow, blues, and grays.

Enjoy the freebies!

Fabric Covered Bulletin Board

I am the kind of person who buys all kinds of unique frames. It's the first thing I look for at garage sales and thrift stores, and I've also been known to garbage pick a frame or two. I always think I will use them for something, and then I forget about them. So when cleaning out our basement, I was reminded of all the beautiful frames just collecting dust down there, and I decided to do something about it. 

I decide a fabric covered bulletin board for me to pin notes and pictures on would be very useful, so I headed to hoppy lobby to purchase some fabric.

In order to make this, you'll need:

Bulletin board (or cardboard), large frame, fabric, and a hot glue gun

1. If you would like your frame a different color, spray painting it is probably your best option ( unless you live in Michigan and temperatures are in the negatives) 

2. Simply cut the cardboard to fit nice and snug inside the frame. Then cut your fabric a little bigger than the board on all sides. Iron the piece of fabrics you are using so you're new bulletin board is not covered in wrinkles. 

3. Hot glue the fabric to the board along the back. 

4. Stick the now fabric covered board back inside the frame. Reinforce if necessary. 

5. Hang up your new fabric covered bulletin board and enjoy! 

Now I just need to find/make some fun thumbtacks to go with my board and I'll be all set!

Happy Monday Morning! 

Crayon Wreath

How cute is this crayon wreath?! Wouldn't it look great on a classroom door? My best friend is a teacher, and I have been wanting to make her one of these wreaths for a long, long time. Well, I finally did this Christmas and I'm so excited with how it turned out! And best of all, I think she liked it too!

in order to make this, you'll need:

crayons, two embroidery loops (different sizes), hot glue gun, ribbon

I wanted a bright, colorful wreath, so I chose to leave out all the neutral colors. I started by trying to lay out the crayons on the wreath before gluing. BAD IDEA. They rolled everywhere and it was a big mess. Finally, I decided to do it one color at a time. I started with the light pick color and glued all four of the crayons on to the wreath to better see that they were all evenly spaced out. I  continued around the wreath starting in the center of quadrant.  

When I finally got the crayons all glued on, I added ribbon to hang the wreath and a bow for a little extra decoration. I debated adding an apple or other school supplies for embellishment, but decided against it. I love the simplicity of the wreath with just the ribbon.

Now you can easily make this for all your teacher friends!

Ready. Set. Go!

Framed Ampersand with Dots

During a homework break this afternoon, I made this dotted ampersand. I may or may not have mentioned before that we are in the process of giving our den a makeover. I plan to put a gallery wall in there, so I picked up a plethora of white frames when we were at Ikea a few weeks ago. Now, I just need to decide what to put inside all those frames. I've had a few ideas for quite a while, including this dotted ampersand. 

Unlike the other five projects I'm working on right now, this was a very simply 30 minute project...my favorite kind!

I used my Cricut to cut out multi-colored, multi-sized circles. The sizes I chose to use were 2 inches, 1.5 inches, and 1 inch. I then penciled an ampersand on a piece of white cardstock (I cheated and traced one to make sure it was perfect). Then, I just glued a circle after circle onto the paper, varying the sizes and colors as i went. It was a completely random process, and I just kept going until I used all my cut out circles.

Once I was finished adding circles, I stuck it in a frame. Easy as pie!

Eventually we will hang our gallery wall frames, but until then my cute little ampersand is fancy-ing up my new shelves the hubs built for me, but more on those later!

Is it just me or does the weekend always FLY by? Wasn't it just Friday?

Oh well, I'll be finishing up my weekend by watching Bachelor Love Stories and eating Smart Pop. 

Thanks for stopping by!

DIY Falling Snowflakes Garland

I mentioned in my previous post on how to decorate your home after Christmas that I made Falling Snowflakes Garland to finish my Winter Vignette. I made mine about 2 feet long to hang over my mirror, but it would also look great 5-6 feet long covering a whole wall.

in order to make this, you'll need:

wooden dowel, fishing line, paper snowflakes, white fluff balls, hot glue gun, large needle

I punched out a bunch of snowflakes using white and light gray card stock. Then, I randomly placed snowflakes and fluff balls on the fishing line. I hot glued the fishing line in between two paper snowflakes. To attach the fluff ball, I used a large needle to string them on and used a small amount of hot glue to keep the balls in place. Making sure each was of varying heights, I then ties each string onto the wooden dowel for hanging. 

To hang the falling snowflakes garland onto my mirror, I simply placed the dowel between the frame and the wall. 

These would also be great to make year round! 

Red and blue stars for Fourth of July

Easter Eggs

Falling Leaves

Pumpkins

Flowers

The list goes on and on!

Post-Christmas Decorations

Anyone else find your home incredibly bare after taking down all your Christmas decorations?

This year, I put everything away and wondered to myself, "Why is my home so plain?" I then decided to decorate for winter. Snowflakes, sparkle, and printables were a must! 

Here's a few quick ways to add a little seasonal decor to your home after taking down the Christmas decorations:

Reuse Ornaments

I kept out one of our silver snowflake ornaments and put it in a bubble bowl with some sparkly diamond confetti (leftover from the wedding)

Use Snowflake Vase Fillers

I bought these vase filler stones and snowflakes a few years back from Pier 1 Imports. I love throwing them on a plate with a candle or in a vase for some winter-themed decor.

Find a Cute Printable (or two, or three)

I love this printable from Blog. It is the perfect filler after Christmas time. And it keeps my humming "Baby, It's Cold Outside" long after the radio stations stop playing it.

Leave Out the Tulle Lights

I used these tulle lights for my Christmas Vignette, but why not leave them out for the month of January as well? It gives a nice snowy effect  to our buffet.

Make Falling Snowflakes Garland

I whipped up these cute falling snowflakes this afternoon to add the final touches on my Winter Vignette. Blog post coming soon!

Well, I hope I have inspired you to winterize your home a bit! I love the simplicity of my January decor after a house full of Christmas, and hey my house looks soooo much bigger now that the tree is put away. 

And Before we know it, we'll be getting out the Valentine's Decorations!

The Time I Was In A Craft Show

I have debated doing a craft show for many years now, and finally, I decided I had nothing to lose. I opened my Etsy shop, Melanie's Marketplace, in September, and had a pretty easy time selling my beaded serving spoons on there. With the success I was having with that, I was finally confident enough in my product to rent a booth and show off my creations. 

 I signed up and paid my booth rental early, but what I didn't know was how much work I had ahead of me. The fun had only just begun and I was only half prepared. With the craft show being at the end of the semester and very close to finals week, I began making my serving spoons during study breaks.

I made 50 sets of serving spoons in preparation for the event, and constantly had dreams about how the craft show would go. One night, I would dream that absolutely no one purchased even a single set of spoons and I wanted to cry. The next night, I would dream that I sold everything within the first hour. 

On December 7th, I convinced my husband to come with me to a local high school and spend the entire day  surrounded by crafters. I know, I know, I'm one lucky gal. We arrived at the school at 7:30, and the day began. I didn't sell out by any means, but I did sell enough to more than cover my costs.  

It was a very exciting day for me! I was able to see my hard work turn into something that I had only dreamed of. I had a lot of fun with it and I am so glad I took a chance and followed through with it. I'm not sure when I will do my next craft show, but for now I am keeping busy with my Etsy orders!

If you haven't already, check out my Etsy shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MelaniesMarketplace

Happy Thursday!