DIY coasters + wine and stuff = cute bridal shower gift

I found this cute bottle opener / wine cork set at a garage sale. And knew there was a themed present to be made! Add a nice bottle of wine (I chose a pink moscato from Trader Joes) and some homemade coasters and it all makes a great combination.

I thought about getting their wine glasses (or at least some of them) off their registry, but they had already been bought. Also, you could get a pair of wine glasses and etch "Mr." and "Mrs." on them to complete the gift. Wouldn't that be cute?

I thought about doing a tutorial for these coasters, but I think it's just about the most well known tutorial on the internet...

Basically, the tiles are 4x4s from Lowe's for 20 cents each, I cut out scrapbook paper and mod-podged them to the top and did a few more coats over the top, and added black felt to the bottom. If you have any questions let me know, but they are super easy to make!

 You could easily make them personalized by using photos or by adding a monogram. (However don't print something out and expect to use it with mod podge - it probably won't work).

And that was the last of 3 bridal showers for my sister-in-law! YAY! Now it's wedding time come this weekend :)

Tweet

Seasonal Blocks - a word for every season!

I have been wanting to make a set of seasonal wood blocks for a very long time. Seriously, like before pinterest even came out. I found this fabulous idea from Kierste at Simply Kierste who got the idea from Little Birdie Secrets. I finally made a set (and then I gave them away...so I will have to make another set soon!)

Anyway, they are super cute and they can spell a variety of words because there is a letter on each of the four sides. So you can leave them up all year if you want to.

I went to Home Depot to get a large 4x4. And then I had them cut it into squares. TIP: A 4x4 post is actually more like 3.75x3.75, so measure first to know what size the cuts should be in order to make squares. I now have a gazillion blocks. And you only need 7 blocks for this project - so I will be coming up with more creative ways to use them soon.

I painted my blocks white with some leftover wall paint. The wood really eats the paint up, so spray paint is not your best option. I also used leftover wall paint for the letters.

Then I thought about cutting out letters with my cricut, but that seemed like an awful lot of cutting and placing to do, so I bought a pack of 3 inch stencils instead! They worked well. I watched about 8 episodes of Cake Boss on Amazon Prime while stenciling away.

Here's the letters that go on each block:

Block 1: H, Y, E, D

Block 2: A, C, R, S

Block 3: R, P, E, T

Block 4: V, N, L, O

Block 5: E, O, M, D

Block 6: S, M, K, I

Block 7: T, F, B, W

BLOCK 1- H, Y, E, D
BLOCK 2- A, C, R, S
BLOCK 3- R, P, E, T
BLOCK 4- V, N, L, O
BLOCK 5- E, O, M, D
BLOCK 6- S, M, K, I
BLOCK 7- T, F, B, W - See more at: http://simplykierste.com/2009/09/seasonal-wood-blocks.html#sthash.zjnlTgnE.dpuf

BLOCK 1- H, Y, E, D
BLOCK 2- A, C, R, S
BLOCK 3- R, P, E, T
BLOCK 4- V, N, L, O
BLOCK 5- E, O, M, D
BLOCK 6- S, M, K, I
BLOCK 7- T, F, B, W - See more at: http://simplykierste.com/2009/09/seasonal-wood-blocks.html#sthash.zjnlTgnE.dpuf

BLOCK 1- H, Y, E, D
BLOCK 2- A, C, R, S
BLOCK 3- R, P, E, T
BLOCK 4- V, N, L, O
BLOCK 5- E, O, M, D
BLOCK 6- S, M, K, I
BLOCK 7- T, F, B, W - See more at: http://simplykierste.com/2009/09/seasonal-wood-blocks.html#sthash.zjnlTgnE.dpuf

 And here's a few of my favorite words!

All of the words that you can spell are:
Harvest, Welcome, Friends, Faith, Family, Spooky, Winter, Freedom, Blessed, Snow, Home, Hope, Monster, Mother, Madre, Dream, Easter

How fun is that? Go make them and then show me how they turn out!
 

BLOCK 1- H, Y, E, D
BLOCK 2- A, C, R, S
BLOCK 3- R, P, E, T
BLOCK 4- V, N, L, O
BLOCK 5- E, O, M, D
BLOCK 6- S, M, K, I
BLOCK 7- T, F, B, W - See more at: http://simplykierste.com/2009/09/seasonal-wood-blocks.html#sthash.zjnlTgnE.dpuf

Tweet

My Chevron and Birdie Initial H

Michael's has been having AMAZING clearance and sales lately - so I got my craft on and made this beautiful chevron H :)

I picked up this letter H for $1.99 and these little birds for about $.19 or $.29 each - I don't exactly remember. I also grabbed some for a friend.

I have been loving on the chevron lately and I had the purple border pictured that I used as a stencil. (The unpainted letters were cheaper, but they were out of H's, plus now I get to skip a step!)

Step 1: Trace the chevron stencil onto the letter. I used pencil.

Step 2: Paint in the chevrons. The color I ended up using is Americana, called Mississippi Mud. I did two coats, then debated about fixing it up and doing another coat...and then decided it looked just fine from a little distance away! Just don't look closely!!

Step 3: Paint the little birdies.

Step 4: After trying about 15 different placements for the birds, give up, and just go with your first idea. I glued them one with some Elmer's.

Step 5: Display!

Well, that was a fun and easy project! I love adding new items to my shelf.

Remember how I said I picked up materials for my friend too? Here's how hers turned out. I absolutely love the gray and blues! Too bad we don't have the same initial or I might steal it! :)

Tweet

My little Oreo & Free Stuff for Puppies/Dogs

 I absolutely love having a puppy (okay, she's technically a "dog" but i think I'll always call her a puppy because she's just so darn cute) and it's also been fun finding free stuff for dogs since we've gotten her! I figure I have to share some of these deals for the rest of you who have puppies (or okay, dogs) as well!

First, quite a few things are free for pets that are adopted from shelters. At the shelter we got her from (PAWS), she was already spayed/neutered, mirco chipped, and up-to-date on all shots. Plus we got a free vet visit within the first two weeks (which worked out great because we got her antibiotics to help with the kennel cough she had). And no matter what shelter you adopt from, you can get free food for a month from Pedigree! So if you've adopted a dog recently, sign up here for free pet food.

 The treats in that picture, my husband and I got for free from liking Natural Balance's facebook page - sadly they no longer have the free coupons, but they do have other coupons so it might be worth it.

Right now, you can sign up for a free Iam's Welcome kit, which says you'll receive offers and coupons. I only just signed up, so we'll see what happens there! I follow Raining Hot Coupons to stay up to date with deals and is where I heard about the two I just mentioned.

Oreo loves her toys...and she also loves tearing them up as you can see above! Ha! So since it is garage sale season I've been picking up cheap stuffed animals and storing them so I can change them out after she has pulled all of the stuffing out of them!

I have also gotten Oreo a few treats on Doggy Loot. You get $5 for free for signing up through a referral link, plus shipping is always free too. What they carry changes frequently, but I have gotten her an elk antler (which are amazing, they're clean and they last forever - she LOVES it!) and all natural pet treats for under $5 with the credit (one under my name and the other with my husband's). Plus, if you refer someone who buys something, you get $10! (The link above is my referral link so if you use it I will get credit and so will you!)

If you follow me on Instagram (@breezybriejoy), you'll see Oreo featured occasionally :)
Picture 1: Where she waits for me every morning as I get ready.
Picture 2: Why we can't leave her in the house out of her cage when we're gone - she'll try to escape to find us! But at least we learned how to replace our window screens.
Picture 3: Kevin and I were having some drinks and Oreo really badly wanted in on it. We gave her an ice cube instead. Fair trade, right?

So, any other dog deals/coupons that you do? Please share!

Tweet

Because my niece is just so cute...6 month pictures!

You might remember, I took my niece's 3 month pictures a while back, well, 3 months ago to be exact, and just recently I took her 6th month pictures. She is such an adorable chunky baby, so I thought you might enjoy these pictures. Just be warned - these will probably melt your heart!

 

   

   

Isn't her Noah's Ark nursery awesome? Painted by my father-in-law! And he's colorblind too! :)

  

  

 Oh my gosh, that last picture makes me crack up every time! Such a cutie :)

Tweet

Chevron Painted Bulletin Board

A while ago I picked up a bulletin board from the curb. It was in pretty bad shape but I figured I'd be able to do something fun with it.

And recently, I have fell into the chevron craze. And I've fallen hard. I know I'm late but it' just so cute!!! How did I not see it before? I currently want everything to be chevron!

Unfortunately, chevron isn't the easiest thing to paint. (Why couldn't I just be obsessed with stripes or solid colors?!) I started to draw a grid with pencil on my bulletin board by tracing a sticky note pad. Then I drew in the diagonals of each sticky note box. I used a tissue box as my straight edge and oddly enough, it was the perfect size (weird, right? I like to think of it as resourceful!). So after a few lines, I stopped tracing the sticky note pad and just used it to put the tissue box in position. Confusing enough??? I don't know, but it worked for me!

After all of my diagonals were penciled in and I had my chevrons, I started painting them in. I was going to do multiple colors, but then I liked the way it looked with just one. Did you see my instagram "in progress" picture? If not, maybe you should follow me on instagram @breezybriejoy! Exciting stuff, I tell you!

Oh, I also painted the frame blue. I used the Americana acrylic paints - "Mulberry" and "Deep Midnight Blue" that my mom picked out for me. Good job mom!

I had some extra space on the bottom because my bulletin board didn't have equal post-it note spacing... This made the other side look silly. I painted in the little triangles at the bottom and that helped.

 (sorry about this last picture being a crappy phone picture...I had already uploaded the other pics on my computer and was too lazy to do it again!)

And now it's just chilling on this rack thing in my garage. I might hang it up some day...but we'll see! Currently featured on our bulletin board is Lydia, the girl we sponsor, our adorable niece Heidi, a save-the-date for our best friends who are getting married on October 5 (we set them up), a wedding picture (it will be two years tomorrow!), and a card we got when we moved into our new house.

Tweet

My *new* TV Stand from the Curb

I just love finding treasures on the curb! I have no shame :) I noticed this beauty on my way home from school last week, and after checking out, knew I needed to make it our new TV stand. Thankfully, my brother-in-law lives close by, has a big enough vehicle to pick this up, and was willing to do so!

This is how I found it on the curb. It is actually a computer desk with an entire top section, but the bottom makes for a nice TV stand. The lady who put this out was actually really nice and came out while we were loading it up and even offered to drive the top section over!

See how big the TV stand is, you can't even see our old TV stand behind it.

Also, you may have noticed the ugly gold hardware and the many scratches on the bottom. I already had the Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint and I picked up a stain pen at Menards. The color that best matched was "Red Oak" even though I would have thought it was more of a Cherry color.

And a little bit of magic later...

Not too bad for $5 right? Amazing what some Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint and a Red Oak Touch up pen will do!

(Can you spot Oreo's tail in the above picture?!)

Does anyone else enjoy updating their home with trash? :)

 

Tweet

Our Favorite Things Party

Favorite things parties aren't anything new to the blog / pinterest world, but my friends and I just had our very first one!

(Get the free printable here - Thanks Positively Splendid!)

If you've never heard of a favorite things party before, here's how it works: everyone brings a certain amount of their favorite thing within a certain price range. We all brought 4 of our favorite thing and it had to be $5, give or take a buck. It worked out great, since 5 of us were able to make it, so we all got one of everything! Otherwise, you draw names for who gets each favorite thing. Here's us all with our favorite things:

 

My favorite thing was dry shampoo from Batiste. I have recently discovered it and it is amazing! On this day, I hadn't washed my hair in 4 days, but thanks to my dry shampoo I could even wear it down and it didn't look disgusting!

Rita also brought her favorite hair product, Not Your Mother's Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray which she tried out on me...and it was a fail! But since then, I've used it on my hair wet and it made some pretty good waves.

Amy brought some sea salt truffles from Whole Foods. Ha, just realized those last two had a sea salt theme going on there!

Other favorite things were water bottles from Melissa and Liz, yes two girls brought these, but it's awesome because I love these and had lost my other one! Funny thing, these girls are soon-to-be sister-in-laws :)

Really, these girls are my "favorites" and I had such a fun night with them all!

Tweet