DIY Advent Calendar

Opening an Advent calendar every morning in December was one of my favorite things about Christmas as a kid. So many of them now are filled with cheap waxy chocolate and I wanted something different, something that I could reuse every year, and there are so many great ideas on Pintrest and this is a combination of my favorites.
I filled our with all kinds of treats, Good chocolate, mini booze to go in hot chocolate or coffee, a mini game, scratch and wins and a few other little trinkets. The best part is we came up with a bunch of Christmas activities to do as well, such as going for a walk to look at the lights, decorate the house, drink rum and eggnog in front of the fire, watch Christmas movie, play a board game (with Rum and eggnog!) We wanted to try and fit in all the little things that can get missed over the busy Christmas season.

You will need
-A wooden frame
-Dowel or wire to hang
-Clothes pins
-Twine or String
-Wrapping pepper
-Paper tags
-Paint
-Things to fill your Calendar

To assemble my calendar I started with measuring where I was going to place my lines of dowel, mine are about 4.5 inches apart, it really depends on how big your frame is and how big your treats are.

I used hot glue to attach my dowel to the back of the frame. Wire or thick twine would work great too in place of the dowel, it just needs to be very tight to prevent sagging.

I hot glued clothes pins to the spots that I wanted to have activity tags or small presents, the bigger ones I just tied on.

 I did go kind of wild with the decotating of the packages (it is going to be part of my Christmas décor after all) This a good project to use up ends and left overs of washi tape, lace, ribbon, twine and what ever you have lying around the house.

 To make the numbers, I stenciled the day numbers on the little wooden tags and tied those on with red embroidery thread, and they will stay on after the treat or tag has been opened.

The calendar looks amazing on the wall (if I do say so myself) and I can’t wait until December 1st to open it!

Fabric Bunting Flags

This fall a good girlfriend welcomed her first baby, a girl!  Mom had put together one of the prettiest
 and tasteful nursery's I have seen, calm and feminine but not to in your face girly.

With the beachy, nautical theme in mind I wanted to make a gift that would fit the decor.

Bunting flags are so cute, I think no decorating is complicate with out a festive strings of little flags, especially in a baby room.

I went with a palate of teals, grey, cream, yellow and a pop of bright pink.
This is also a great project to use up fabric scraps, its quick
and pretty easy!

You will need.

-Fabric (fat quarters work great for this)
-double wide bias tape (as long as you want the sting to be)
-Card board (as a template)
-Iron on letters (if you like)



Step 1.

Measure and cut your cardboard template to 

size, keeping in mind seam allowance (about 1/4 in) The dimensions of my flags were 5in by 3in

Step 2.
with Fabric inside out and sew together the two sides, leaving the top open. Turn fabric right out out, using a point tuner (or a pencil) to turn out the tips of the flags. Top stitch with a contrasting color along the edges for decoration if you like

Step 3.
Tuck the flags in to the fold of the bias tape and pin. Repeat with all the flags making sure that they are evening spaced. Sew along the entire length of the bias tape. (try a fancy stitch and contrasting thread)

Step 4.
Iron on letters if you like (I didn't know the babys name yet so sent them blank.)
                                               

Hang and admire your hard work!

Distressed Dresser and Night Table

For years I have been using boring and junky MDF dressers, usually found on the side of the road (though I do love free things) I had been keeping my eye out for something better.
Due to my Grandma downsizing we were given a really good quality dresser and night stand set that she had bought in 1956.
Extremely heavy, well built and beautiful and other then some water damage on the top of the dresser, in great condition. I didn't like the color of the finish as it didn't match our bed frame or anything else, so I decided to refinish it. I really love the white distressed vintage look, So I decided to go for a nice creamy white. We happened to be at Canadian Tire while they were given away miss tinted 1 gallons of paint (Yay! free!) I didn't get much of a choice of color, but it was free! The total cost of the project was about $56, not to bad! To repaint the hardware I used a nice black gloss spray paint I already had. I chose to use a eco friendly stripper, as I was going to be doing this inside.
The the thing  took about 12 hours as I sanded it by hand, which took a very very very long time. Borrow  a power sander if you don't have one. Trust me.

Before

You will need
- A piece hard wood furniture
- Furniture stripper ( I used EZ Strip, from Home Depot)
-Tupperware fro stipper
-Brush for stipper
-Scouring pads or steel wool
-Paint scraper
-Sand paper (I used 80, 100 and 150)

-Gloves
-Drop sheet
-Paint
-Painting suplys


 1. Remove hardware and set aside for painting later




2. Apply a layer of stripper, following the instructions on the container. I found that using a really really thick layer did NOT make it come off better it made more of a mess, I had to let it sit for about 40 mins.



3. This is a really good time to paint the hardware

4. Scrape, scrape and scrape some more. I used used steel wool and Scouring pads on the round legs.

5. Once all the paint is off, give it  a good wipe down with a wet cloth to remove any residue.

6. Sand, sand and sand some more.

7. apply your first coat of paint, be patient so you don't get any runs.


8. Once the paint is dry, With 150 grit sandpaper, distress and "high traffic areas" such as corners, edges and around the drawers. If you want to chip the paint in any areas, go wild with any kind of tool. (this is the fun part!)

9.Wipe off the sanding dust, replace hardware. and congratulate your self on a job well done!