Category: Projects

Graduation Party Decor Idea

Decorating, Parties

Last week my amazing brother and his fabulous wife graduated from BYU.  We had a little graduation party to celebrate their accomplishments along with my brother’s birthday.  I wanted to do something fun to decorate for the party without spending a lot of money.

Here is what I came up with.


I found a piece of foam core board at WalMart in one of the school’s colors (dark blue).


Using a dark colored marker and a small ruler, I drew a Y on the board.  I was able to see the lines well enough to complete the project, but they don’t stand out.

Next I took white (another school color) miniature muffin cups and crumpled the bottoms, pinching them into a point.


Using my hot glue gun, I dabbed a bit of glue onto the point of the muffin liner and glued it to the outline of my Y.


Repeat with more muffin cups, gluing them along the edges of the letter.


When I dreamed up this idea, I pictured the letter completely filled in.  When it took 200 cupcake liners to do the outline, I decided to stop there.  Two hundred liners may sound like a lot, but it was actually a calming experience for me to perform a simple, repetitive task while my mind was still spinning after this unexpected dash to the doctor’s office.  In all I think the project took less than an hour.


Because I purchased miniature cupcake liners in bulk last year, the only cost was the $3 foam board.  Everything else I had on hand.  As I was working on it, I was thinking how fun it would be to make one of these with a number on it to celebrate a birthday party.  You could also do a monogram.  I really liked using the school’s letter in this instance.  The muffin liners added much more dimension and interest than simply drawing would have done.


This was a fun way to make a big statement for our party.  It added festivity to our gathering without too much effort or cost.  I’ll be using this idea again!  What do you think?

Note:  to see how we incorporated the school letter idea into our dessert, check out this post .
Hopeful Homemaker shared at DIY Day and Girl Creative

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Thrifted Bookshelf Makeover

Decorating

The return of sunshine and warm temperatures means a lot of good things.


One of them is the opportunity to paint.  I picked up this little bookshelf at my local thrift store for $5.


It spent the winter in the garage holding shoes.  This week I went after it with a can of Rustoleum’s Heirloom White spray paint.


It’s a nice creamy white.  I chose not to distress it after painting.


One of the things I liked about the shelf was it’s open construction.  With no sides or back it seems to use less space.  I also like the character of the posts.  Another interesting thing about it is the angled top shelf.  It was clearly an easel or music stand at one point.


The good thing about this is that it can’t catch a bunch of clutter on the top shelf.  The down side is that I have this plain piece of wood on top:


I think it might be fun to add a monogram.

Regardless, I’m happy to have it now holding the books that have been stacked on the floor in my bedroom.  I added a few pieces of my collection of vintage silver.  It’s nice to get them out of the cupboard.


I’m curious.  Would you add a monogram or leave it as is?  Any ideas?


Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Hopeful Homemaker Linked to The Inspired Room , Transformation Thursday and Remodelaholic

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Rural Jardin by French General

Quilting and Sewing


Rural Jardin layer cake
A layer cake from French General’s second fabric collection arrived in the mail last week and I’ve been looking at it ever since.

Rural Jardin
I must admit that I braced myself for disappointment because I loved Rouenneries so much.  The thought was unnecessary; I’m very impressed!  Here’s a peek at this beautiful new collection.

A very pretty array of cream with reds.


Followed by an equally beautiful selection of cream with blues.


Toile in three colorways.

Rural Jardin toile
More of the red-faded-to-pink color that was in Rouenneries.


And some GORGEOUS deep reds that I’m loving.

Rural Jardin reds
This pretty selection of dusty aquas.

Rural Jardin aquas
And this STUNNING group of deep blue.

Rural Jardin blues
I think this is my favorite print in the entire bunch.   It comes in red, aqua and beige as well.


There are also some beautiful solids.


I was unable to find any at my local shops, but I know that this collection also includes an incredible selection of wovens, particularly plaids.  The few I’ve seen are amazing.  I wish I had a layer cake or some charm packs of the wovens as well.  Simply beautiful!

Rural Jardin colors
Once again, French General has done a great job.   This line contains all of my favorite colors: red, white, blue and aqua.  Lots of pretty florals that call up memories of dresses from many years ago.  And although I don’t have pictures, that adorable little design along the selvage is on every bolt again.  Good thing!  I really like that touch.  I hope it’s part of their signature style.

Rural Jardin by French General
This lovely group is my next project.  I’m so excited to see these incredible prints work together.  Nice work, Kaari!  You’ve done it again!

Hopeful Homemaker

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