DIY Chicken Wire Christmas Card Holder

I love this thing!

I mean don't get me wrong, hanging Christmas cards on your fridge is totally fine, but this pretty thing makes receiving cards that much more fun!

Plus, our fridge is currently covered in ultrasounds of our tiny girl.

Also, this was SO easy to make!

Like, 3 steps easy.

So awesome.

I took this picture when I made it in November. 

We have since gotten some actual cards and I love displaying them!

Also, I attached the winter garland with velcro so I can just take it off after the holidays and keep this up year round for important mail, wedding announcements, coupons, etc...

Yay!

Supplies:

1) Picture frame. Size and color of your choice. I got mine from hobby lobby, because coupons, and spray painted it white.

2) Chicken Wire. Again I found this at hobby lobby and it happened to be the perfect size for my frame but it's also found at all home improvement stores!

3) Hot glue gun

4) Decorating materials of your choice

5) Hanging materials. I attached (well, my husband did) a little wall hanging hook. Most frames already have this but if not you can buy them at hobby lobby, or Michaels.

6) Clothespins. I found these cute Christmas ones in the dollar section at Michaels.

Directions:

1) Spray paint frame if needed and let dry completely first.

Then place your chicken wire into your frame. If you bought more than needed cut it with a wire cutter so it will fit your frame. Once you fit it properly go to town with hot glue. A staple gun would probably work here but I don't have one and hot glue worked perfectly for me. I just hot glued the edges to the frame!

2) Once your hot glue is dry... you're really already done!

I decided to make it festive so I took two garland picks found at hobby lobby, hot glued them together (I love hot glue), then made a little boy for the middle. I hot glued a piece of velcro onto the garland and onto the frame and Ta-Da! Festive. 

3) Hang on your wall and attach all your Christmas cards with your clothespins! 

Andddd... done!

Merry Christmas friends!

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

Christmas Wreath Inspiration

The Christmas season has officially begun!

Yay!

Since it's "legal" now I went ahead and decorated the outside and made my wreath last night!

I must say, I'm super excited about this wreath for both the looks of it and the cost!

I love all things gold and glittery so this wreath is right up my "Aleigh" (ha, lame joke sorry.) and it matches our tree!

Not to mention, I think it's the cheapest wreath I've made yet.

Christmas decor quickly adds up.

So, I avoided Michaels and hobby lobby and went on over to WalMart where I found everything I needed!

(confession: the JOY sign is from hobby lobby but I already had it!)

So head on over to WalMart and you'll find all you need at an unbeatable cost :)

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

Be Merry Canvas

Yay! Another Christmas craft!

Because doing things your self, gives the best feeling of accomplishment :)

This simple little canvas art sign was so easy to do and turned out super cute!

I love the way is spruces up my shelves.

Not to mention, I think it costed all of $5-$7 to make and I just saw a very similar one for sale on an etsy shop for $30!

Seriously, just do it your self ;)

Materials:

1) Canvas

2) Wooden deer cutout (found at Michael's craft store)

3) Painters tape

4) Glitter (your choice of color)

5) Craft paint (your choice of color)

6) Paintbrushes

7) Hot glue gun. (or tacky glue, probably even super glue)

8) Paint pen

Directions:

1) Evenly place your tape on your canvas. I wanted thicker stripes so I did my tape 2 wide. Then paint the white part your color of choice. While it is drying, paint and glitter your deer cutout. I did two coats of gold paint and on the last coat I sprinkled my glitter while it was still wet.

2) Remove the tape and use white paint to fix any uneven areas.

3) Hot glue your deer cutout onto the center or the canvas

4) Use a paint pen to write "Be Merry" or whatever other Christmas saying you choose :)

And... Done!

Simple as that!

Yay Christmas!

and Thanksgiving... I've been craving mashed potatoes the past two weeks!

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

DIY Vinyl Nativity Sign

I originally had plans to post a different Christmas craft today, then I saw that the vinyl I used is on sale on groopdealz today and couldn't help but post this one so all of you can make it at a cheaper price!

I LOVED this little project.

Hobby Lobby made it really simple for me and I love looking at it hanging in our home.

I have had a hard time finding a Nativity that doesn't look completely cheesy, and I no longer have any counter space so this helped a ton :)

Supplies:

• Vinyl your choice of color Found here (buying white and attempting to paint it gold was difficult, I suggest just planning ahead and getting the right color the first time unlike me ha)
• Wooden sign already assembled found at hobby lobby. Don't forget your coupon!
• Spray paint (or keep it all natural looking)
• Glitter (if you love glitter like me)
• Mod Podge
• Paint Pen in your choice of color

Directions:

1) First I spray painted my wood, if you want the wood natural looking then skip this step

2) In the meantime I painted my vinyl. Again, just buy the right color the first time. But if you change your mind, you can always paint over it.

3) Apply the Vinyl to the wood in the order you like. Simply place on the wood like a sticker. When you have the order you like use your paint pen to write out "O Holy Night" in the font of your choice. I then brushed one coat of mod podge over the vinyl so that it would stay on for good without bubbling or peeling. Let that dry.

4) I then applied the glitter on another really thin coat of mod podge and let that dry. 

5) Next I shook off all the glitter and used an old paintbrush with rough bristles to get rid of the excess glitter. And then, it's done! Easy! :)

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

Chalkboard Christmas Countdown!

Another Christmas craft, yay!

I think this may be my favorite Christmas decoration so far... besides the tree.

Mostly because it was SO easy to do!

And yes, I have already started the countdown.

And today, there are officially 47 days left.

There's also only SIX Saturdays until Christmas!

I can't believe it!

So, get started on your decorating now, because Christmas will be over before you know it! 

Materials:

• Wood block found at Hobby Lobby or Michael's 
• Martha Stewart chalkboard paint
• Paintbrushes
• Decorating materials of your choice

Directions:

1) Paint one layer of chalkboard paint on wood. Let dry completely, then apply a second coat for best results.

2) Rub chalk all over surface to prep the chalkboard. Wipe off with dry paper towel.

3) Hot glue decorations on, and You're done!!

I told you it was easy, and SO cute!

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

DIY Sheet Music Ornament

I may not have our tree up, or any other Christmas decorations for that matter... but I still spent my entire day figuring out all the crafts I wanna do and listening to Christmas music!

Some may say it's too early, I say thank goodness Halloween is finally over!

All I've been able to think about is Christmas lately!

I organized all our ornaments today and decided, why not make some of my own?

I had leftover sheet music scrapbook paper from this project and decided a sheet music ornament would be the perfect addition to the rest of my ornaments!

Then I saw my gold glitter (one thing you'll learn about me, is that I absolutely LOVE glitter!) and then this ornament came to life!

I'm so happy with the way it turned out and cannot wait to put up our tree now!

Supplies:

• Sheet music scrapbook paper (you could easily use actual sheet music too but I had this on hand)
• Gold glitter
• I know I have mod podge pictured but after I took the picture I actually decided gold paint would be the better option. 
• Twine and white ribbon (or any sort of ribbon you want)
• Plastic or glass craft ornaments (I'm known for dropping and breaking things so I went with plastic)
• scissors
• paint brush

Directions:

1. Cut paper into thin strips (not spaghetti thin but the thinner the better) and paint the back side with one coat of paint. I painted them one at a time then sprinkled glitter over it right away so that the glitter would have something to stick to before it dried.  
2. Let dry, shake off excess glitter, cut in half, then twist them to make a spiral. Insert paper into the ornament.
3. Place tops back on and tie the twine/ribbon leaving a hole big enough to hang on your tree.
4. That's it! Just shake it a few times to evenly distribute the paper, hang it on your tree, and watch the glitter glisten among the lights :)

There you have it, the first craft of Christmas!

I started two others today that I will be posting as soon as they are finished :)

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

Trick or Treat Bags

When I was a little girl my mom made these trick or treat bags that were so simple yet so wonderful. I thought I was the coolest kid because my mom made my trick or treat bag. Every year when we got out the decorations that was the first thing I looked for MY trick or treat bag. After Trunk or Treat last Saturday, at our church, I realized my children have not yet experienced this thrill I know, I needed to get out more as a kid. I wanted them to have these for Halloween! So here is your guide to make your kids Halloween just a little more special. 

This is a very simple craft. Just get some Halloween crafts and black tote bags. I got all of my crafts and a pack of 3 tote bags from Hobby Lobby. Everything cost me under $15. I want these bags to last for years so I made sure even the stickers were hot glued on.

The girls were very excited to decorate their bags. Their artistic side really came out. 

 My hope is that they get just as excited when these come out of the Halloween box every year.

 

Happy Halloween!

Alana

From "Old" to "New"

(I already posted this on my personal blog but thought it would probably be a good idea to add it here as well! So, I literally copied and pasted what I already wrote!)

Us newlyweds over here don't exactly have all the money in the world to go to the big furniture stores and make purchases on all the beauties inside.

However, I have always felt that furniture pieces that are your own really make a house feel like more of a home.

They take up a lot of unused empty space and help create just the look you were going for.

I love love love cream, white, light gold, light grey and anything else that makes a room look brighter.

I had been hoping one day I would find a side table to call my own in a creamy shade, but all the ones I had seen were much more than they were worth.

While Hunter was in Florida last week I headed over to our local thrift store and set out to find, not a side table. but a dresser for baby girl's nursery. 

So far we haven't found the right dresser but I wandered past this table a million and a half times.

I kept coming back and observing it thinking of all the ways I could restore it and make it my own.

After inspecting every inch I finally decided the small price was worth it, and purchased it!

I had never re-painted any furniture before so I texted my mom and she gave me just the pointers and motivation I needed.

I set out to Lowes and my project was underway!

I must say, I am beyond pleased with the results :)

This table was so drab to begin with, in my personal opinion...

I set it up on a plastic tarp and took out the drawer to begin with

I then sanded it down with low grit sand paper.

The object here is not to sand like a crazy person... I went over it once and just made sure to pay special attention to problem areas, all you're really trying to do is make it easier for the paint to stay on your piece of furniture. 

Once I was done I used a slightly damp paper towel and wiped away all the dust.

Next, I brushed the table with one coat of primer.

The object in this step is not to do a million coats of primer, one will do just fine. This is not your actual paint after all. 

I then brushed the table with three coats of paint. I probably would have been fine with two but I would prefer to have this table last a while so I went ahead and did three.

I also made sure to let each coat of paint dry completely in between. 

I used a 3 inch paint brush and a tiny little one for the edges.

The step I have not done yet, but will get around to is adding a poly eurothane coat to seal it all together and make it last a while.

Lastly, was completing the mod podge drawer.

aka my favorite part!

I didn't sand the drawer at all.

I found the music note scrapbook paper at hobby lobby for 48 cents.

I cut it into four pieces. Two big ones for each of the sides and two small ones for the middle.

Once my pieces were cut I took a damp paper towel and dabbed each piece with it.

I did NOT drench them, I simply made them damp enough to reduce bubbling. 

I added a thin layer of mod podge to the drawer and carefully applied each piece of scrapbook paper.

Once all four were applied I added a thin layer of mod podge on top of that to hold the paper in place.

I then painted the edges of the drawer and let it dry completely.

I love the little twist the drawer adds to the table!

Painting furniture is time consuming but I kept telling Hunter how much fun I was having and how accomplished I felt when it was done :)

Now we are able to add this fun piece to our newlywed collection :)

All my love,

Aleigh Joy