DIY: Front Door Help Tutorial

I have a VERY boring front door.  I want to paint it navy blue, but have not gotten around to it.  My quick fix was to add something on the door.  Its not fully finished, but for now it will do.

I really like wreathes, but don't like the "attempt to look real" wreathes.  I have an abundance of grape vines in the back yard and I am holding off making wreathes until I can prune them. So for now I made an "L" for the front door (L for our last name).

Materials:
Jute/Hemp or some sort of textured string, thicker works better
hot glue
wooden letter
scissors

 Take your letter and admire how boring it is right now...

Since there is some thickness to the letter I glued strips of the hemp on the top part.  I alternated the strips so when I started on the wrapping it wouldn't be uneven on one side.

When you start to wrap start as close as possible to the top.cover the ends of the top strips.  At the beginning you will want to use more glue, just so you know that it is secure.

this is the boring part just wrapping and gluing. The part you need to pay attention to is the "slopey" part of the letter.  Use lots of glue when doing this (not so much that is shows).

continue with the strips on any part that you can't wrap evenly.

(another picture with the "strips")

Here is mine completely done. I went over it twice (besides the part that needed the strips).  I did this because it just looked too thin.

There it is hanging up!  It will look much better against a navy blue door, don't you think?

This craft cost me under $10, and it took me less than 30 minutes. I have added some fabric flowers on the lower left side.  Although Hubby says the flowers were too girly....

DIY: Dry Erase Wall Calendar Tutorial

Hubby and I have don't have a very regular work schedule and we are constantly asking each other what the other one is doing.  Hubby wanted a big wall calendar, but I could never find one that I liked, and I always struggled with remembering to but one before the first of the year.  Our wonderful carpenter did such a great job of following through with all of my random requests for our house, one of the last things he did before he left was put in a little table/shelf/counter by our back door.  It was a perfect to try and keep hubby and myself on top of communicating and organized.

After seeing this idea on pintrest (best/worst site ever) I decided to try it out.  I really like how it turned out and it cost under $10 to make)

Materials needed:
A picture frame with glass
Paint swatches from the hardware store
Glue
Ruler
Pencil
scissors
Hammer/Nails to hang it
Dry erase marker (to write on the glass when you are done)

Gather all of your materials and lay it out, I struggled at first to find the size frame I wanted that would fit where I wanted it because of the space I had to hang it

Cut the paint swatches up

measure out the space of what you have with your frame you will need 7 columns and 6 rows, plus one for the top for the name of the month.

Lay it all out and glue it on.  I had a left over paint swatch so I put it at the top for the month name

put it back together

See how sad that area was by the back door? It looks so much better with it up, and of course my birch bark pencil holder.  Hubby and I now have a "command center."






I hope you enjoy making this as much as I did, and whoever thought a picture frame, free paint swatches and a dry erase marker.