Monthly Archives

March 2016

DIY Projects

Antique Window Project

Hi you guys! I’m so glad you stopped by today! This week is flying by, and it’s hard to believe that Easter is just a few days away! Despite the weird highs and lows that we’ve seen in the tempurature the last few weeks, I’m so glad that spring is officially here!

I wanted to share with you guys a fun project I completed this week, which I think is in perfect timing for the upcoming Easter holiday. A few weeks back, I was roaming around my favorite flea market (why does it seem like half of my posts start with that sentence?), and I found this super old, really pretty hymnal. It was way older than me, but it was still super nostalgic, because I grew up singing hymns from a hymnal. I grabbed it for five dollars, and I immediately had this project in mind.

I went through the book and found some familiar songs and cut those pages out. I know you may say that by doing that, I’m not respecting the integrity of the hymnal, but I think that I will enjoy what I’ve done with it far more than anyone else was going to use the hymnal for. If that even makes sense. I carefully sliced the pages I wanted with an X-Acto knife to be sure I had a clean cut.

Then I used scotch tape (very teeny tiny pieces) to tape the pages I had cut out onto the panes of an antique window I had. The window was something I already had, it was hanging on the wall previously with nothing on it. So here’s what I came up with:

Each hymn is a title that I’m familiar with, and each one is a sweet reminder of His love and all that He has done thoughout our lives. If you look super closely, you can see the tape, but I didn’t want to use another method that would either damage the pages or make it so that I was unable to recreate something using these materials.

I placed it above our bed, and I absolutely adore it.

I really think it just adds a thoughtful touch to the decor in here. Really, what’s the point in putting together a home if it isn not meaningful? I’m already thinking of other projects I can do with the rest of the hymnal pages, seeing as how I’ve barely used a few.

There are Chrsitmas carols and classic American choruses, so the seasonal possibilities with this little hymnal are pretty endless. Plus, there’s just something about the yellowed pages of sheet music that is just beautiful. I seriously can’t get enough. Can you tell I’m excited about this one?

What do you think of this project? It’s such an easy thing, I don’t know if it can actually be considered a a project! I hope you enjoyed this little project, and that it insires you to do something meaningful with the decor in your own home! That’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

March 22, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

Organization

DIY Laundry Soap

Hello friends! I hope this week has been treating you well! Spring Break is winding down for me, and I am silently crying tears of regret after not having accomplished everything that I had planned. Just kidding. Sort of.

We did have a super fun and relaxing week of camping for a few nights, which was wonderful! Even though we were only about twenty minutes from home, it felt as though we were truly out of town. And it just feels good to get away! Coming home from camping, everything in our bags smelled like campfire smoke. Which is wonderful while you’re actually out, but once you come home, it’s not so great (in my opinion anyway). I had a bunch of laundry to do, and I realized it would be a great idea to share my homemade laundry detergent recipe with y’all.

I’ve been making my own laundry soap for about three years now, and I have not had to re-buy supplies since I first started. Talk about thrifty.

So here’s what you’ll need:

3 Tablespoons of Washing Soda

3 Tablespoons of Borax

2 Tablespoons of Original Dawn Dish Soap

Any scent of essential oils (this part is totally optional)

Here are the (super simple) steps:

First, you’ll mix your washing soda, borax, and dish soap together in a gallon size container, adding about one cup of hot water. No need to boil the water, I just use the hottest water I can get out of my faucet. This amount of water is just enough to dissolve the power into the water. You’ll need to shake well until everything is dissolved.

Next (and you will need to do this in your sink), you’ll fill your container with the cold water. I just use the tap water from my faucet. This process will create a mess load of bubbles, so I cannot tell you how important it is to do this in a sink! Once the container is filled, I close it up and shake again. This will allow any particles that didn’t disolve before to fully dissolve.

Last, and this step is optional, I like to add a few drops of essential oil. No need for the expensive stuff, I just bought one bottle of lemongrass oil from my local grocery store, which may have cost about five bucks. The oil will make the laundry soap scented, which I prefer in a laundry soap. It is totally optional though. The cool thing is that you can make it any scent you want. After adding a few drops, I close it up and shake thoroughly.

That’s it! It really is that easy. like I mentioned before, I have been making this laundry soap for about three years, and I have yet to buy new supplies. I would estimate the total cost at about fifteen dollars, but for three plus years of laundry soap, I would say that’s a pretty good deal! Now, I use this recipe mainly for economical reasons, and not necessarily for all-natural health reasons, so if you’re looking for an organic or suchandsuch-free product, this is probably not for you.

Personally, I love it. It takes just a few minutes to make, and my clothes and linens smell and feel just as fresh as with any other laundry soap I have purchased. I use about a cup of the soap per load, and one “batch” will last me a few weeks. I would definitely recommend making your own laundry soap!

Have you tried making your own laundry soap before? If so, I’d love to hear about it! That’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

March 18, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

Easy DIY Wreath Vignette

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great day! Today is my first day of spring break and let me tell you – it is fabulous! I love being able to wake up when I want to with no worries about what to do for the day! Not to make you completely jealous if you do have to go into work today. Sorry!

Anyway, I hope to complete a bunch of projects this week while I’m off work, this being the first of them. Last weekend, Ethan and I went to Canton Trade Days (my favorite flea market in the area) with his parents. We had a great time and I brought home a few new treasures. One of which was this little screen window. I liked it because it’s a little different than the typical glass window panes everyone is using everywhere.

I brought it home, a little unsure of where to use it. But when you love it, you buy it, right? I sat on it for a few days before ultimately putting this together:

The little shelf there was an from an existing vignette, but it had just become a little bit out of my style. There had been a lot of gold in the previous vignette, and I think metalics are slowly phasing themselves out of my decor. Which I’m totally fine with.

What I really want to talk to you guys about is this little wreath. I made it completely out of items I had at home. I used what used to be a leafy garland, and a coathanger! Yes, you read that correctly, a coathanger! I got the idea from my fifth grade teacher. That sounds super weird, I know. But as I was thinking about what to do with this area, I remembered a peppermint wreath I made in fifth grade as a Christmas project made from (you guessed it): a coathanger.

I found a small drycleaners hanger (the thin metal ones) and began sto stretch it into a circular shape. It didn’t have to be totally perfect, since the garland kind of disguised the hanger anyway. I used wire cutters to cut off the part of the hanger that actually hangs over the rod. You know, the part that looks like a question mark? I’m sure there’s a more official term, but obviously I don’t know it. Whatever.

I wrapped the garland around the wreath form, and it fit about two times exactly. Easy enough. I didn’t even secure it with anything, I just sort of twisted it into itself and around the wire.

Here’s how it looks from our dining room table. I am loving the vibe it gives in here. It has a much more simple and monochomatic feel, which I love. Much better than the metallic party that was happening before.

In case you were wondering, the garland, the shelf, and the ribbon are both from Hobby Lobby, and everything else has been found/and or made by me. Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate it so very much! Let me know what you think of this little project in the comments below.

That’s all for today, friends. Thanks for stopping by!

March 14, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield