DIY "love lives here" canvas

I went to the Christmas Village in Nashville a few weeks ago. For a girl who loves to decorate AND LOVES everything Christmas... it was amazing :). I found some paintings that looked similar to this and fell in love, but I was not so much in love with the price. I also recently saw this diy tutorial on a blog I read. So I combined the two ideas and came up with this for my kitchen:What I bought:
- canvas
- some fun scrap book paper
- Brown paint
- Mod Podge

What I did:
- Sketched some branches and then painted them with brown paint
- Drew a bird, leaves, and the letters on scrap book paper and cut them out
- Mod podged my birds, leaves, and letters to the canvas

And that's pretty much it. I also hot glued some twine to the back to hang them on the wall. I'm not sure yet what I think about the twine. The "love lives here" art at the Christmas village cost over $100. Mine cost less than $15 and about 2 hours of my time. I think I am going to make something similar for another wall in my kitchen. I'll make sure to post it on the blog when I'm done. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!







DIY fabric flower

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Life has been busy, and I've been a little sickly, but I have still managed to fit in some time for some crafting :). I recently made a little flower out of ribbon for a decorative pillow in our living room, but our sweet loving super naughty puppy decided it would look better in his tummy than on the pillow. So I needed to make a new one because otherwise the pillow looks a little too plain for my taste. I had some extra fabric left from another project I did that I thought would look great with the pillow. I got out my glue gun and cut long strips of fabric approx 2 inches thick. I started by putting a strip of hot glue on the edge of the fabric and then I started twisting the fabric.

As I twisted the fabric, I also started wrapping it in circles starting in what would eventually be the center of the flower. I kept twisting, gluing, and wrapping until the flower was the size I wanted. I hot glued the fabric at the end underneath the flower to keep it looking neat :). Then I just hot glued the flower to the pillow.

Super easy. Today I saw another tutorial on how to make twisty flowers on here. I think her flowers will probably hold up better if you are going to use them as accessories. Some of you might be getting something similar for Christmas. As my husband says "it's tough economic times" :). Enjoy.

birdy cupcakes

I not only love eating cupcakes, but I really love how beautiful (and festive) you can make them. I have been experimenting a little bit lately with decorating them. I am definitely an amateur at this (and I would love a few tips on how to improve my cupcake decorating skills).

Anyways, our friends Jonathan and Courtney are having their second son, Cason, in December so we joined together with some other friends of ours to have a little surprise baby shower for them. Emily made a super cute diaper cake, and I made some little birdy cupcakes. Now please remember that this is the first time ever I have tried to make anything out of frosting.... yes I have frosted (and eaten) my fair share of Christmas cookies, but I haven't ever made shapes or animals. I saw the cupcakes I decided to attempt here. Ok, so I'm no Martha Stewart, but I gave it a try and ended up with these little blue birds:


In honor of fall, I made pumpkin cupcakes for these birdies. I mixed together a 15oz can of pumpkin pie filling, one box of yellow cake mix, a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, one egg, and one cup of water, and then baked the cupcakes for approximately 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I had some left over batter from the birdy cupcakes. so I baked some mini cupcakes (bake for 15 minutes) and decorated them with candy corn. I guess Fall is for baking in the Coates house :). Enjoy your Sunday!

Same Kind of Different as Me

I'm in a book club with some AMAZING women..... we are called the Blue Stocking Ladies :). We meet once a month and have dinner and discuss our book. It might sound dorky to you, but it really is super fun! This month my friend Robin chose Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. I have been wanting to read this book for awhile, but sometimes I lack self motivation :(, so I was super stoked (can I still use that word?) when Robin chose it for the Blue Stocking Ladies! It was good. Really good.... and really challenging. It's the story of a super rich white guy and a homeless man, and how their paths cross. It made me think (and cry) a lot. I was challenged by my view of homelessness, and how I am so quick to judge and think I know their story or how their own bad decisions led them to homelessness. How heartless. This book (which is true) tells the story of homeless man who pretty much didn't have a choice but to be homeless, and how even though he has nothing of any worldly value, his faith in the Lord and belief in His goodness is so strong and pure. It is amazing to read how the rich man (Ron) becomes friends with this homeless man (Denver) believing he had a lot to offer him and teach him, but instead it is completely the other way around. Denver is able to show Ron that his identity and worth are not found in how much "stuff" he owns or how big his boat is. He learns so much about what is important in life. So often we define our lives by things that in the long run don't matter at all and will never bring us any joy or satisfaction in this life. The things that are important to Denver have eternal purpose. His view of the Lord is not hazed by his material possessions since he has none. He truly has a child-like faith and craves the Lord and His presence. I know it's not necessarily sinful to have "things", but how I wish to be less dependent on them. Sometimes it's so hard. I was truly encouraged by this beautiful book. I know if you read you will be too.

DIY wall decor

So I needed some "art" for our guest room, but I haven't found anything that would match the current decor so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I don't have before pictures of this one (somehow I deleted them... sorry!).

This is what I bought:
2 - 16" by 20" canvases (on sale 2 for $4 at Hobby Lobby!)
1 yard of fabric (also on sale)

What I had:
power stapler

What I did:
Stapled the fabric to the back of the canvas. That's it. It took maybe 5 minutes and it cost less than $10 :).I also put some fabric around a matte in a frame I had hanging in the bathroom to change things up a little bit. It's amazing what you can do with a little fabric and a Saturday morning :). I think I am going to use the left over fabric to make some fabric flowers. I see another DIY tutorial in the near future :).