I’ve been in LOVE with this tray forever, and if it had been the right size I may have been tempted to buy it for my foyer (but only if it also went on sale). Since the original wasn’t to be I decided to make my own version using my thrift store tray and spray paint I already had on hand.

(Apologies for the bad cell phone picture)

After spraying the tray white I set out to mark off the pattern on the top of the tray using masking tape. I eyeballed the pattern and used a small piece of tape to help with the spacing between the lines.  I did have painters tape on hand, but it was too wide for the scale of my tray so I ended up using the regular masking tape (I use it in class to tape my drawings to the drafting table).
Once the pattern was complete I sprayed the tray top and bottom with gold spray paint, and when it was dry I peeled off the tape and voilà – a gold stripe tray.
There was some bleeding under the tape that more than likely wouldn't have occurred if I’d used painters tape, but I’m honestly not too concerned.
Not bad for $2 right?

Ikea - Skurar Lantern

I bought a white Skurar candle lantern and planned to turn it into a bird feeder. A few more stores over the next few days and I had all the rest of the materials I needed.




I could have cried. There I was, on a Sunday night, and I’d just dropped and smashed the plate I’d just spent over an hour drilling, and I didn’t have a spare. Class was on Tuesday so I had just 24 hours to get another plate and hope and pray that gluing the plate would work as I no longer had any time to come up with an alternate plan.
Thankfully it turns out that two-part epoxy works really well at attaching plastic and ceramic together and my DIY bird feeder ended up looking like I had imagined it would. More importantly my bird feeder was appreciated by my instructor, and I got an 18/20 on the project.

What do you think? Have you ever made a DIY birdfeeder? How did you do it?

I started with some plain glass ball ornaments I bought at Michaels, some plain white paint, and a fine gold sharpie paint pen. The first step is to add some paint to the inside of the ball and swirl it around to make sure the inside is evenly coated. I used a teaspoon to spoon in the paint, but that was rather messy. I might use a turkey baster or something similar if I do this again. Thankfully the dripped paint cleaned off the glass really easily with a damp rag.
I then used an empty egg carton to hold the balls upside down to drain out the extra paint. Once your balls are painted leave them for at least 24 hrs to allow them to dry.
Reattach the balls cap/hanger thingy and you’re ready for the final step. I set up my supplies in front of the TV and did this while watching the Holiday - one of my favourite Christmas movies. All you need to do is draw a pattern on the outside of your glass balls with the paint pen and then wait for the paint to dry. The pen I used was oil based so it took a few minutes to completely dry - be careful when you handle it – you don’t want to smudge your masterpiece.
I decided to use an art-deco inspired scalloped pattern on my balls, but you could draw anything you want. You could also use a couple of different coloured pens to change it up. I debated also using a silver pen, but in the end I liked the gold and white combo, and they worked well with my other white and gold Christmas ornaments from past years.

My Christmas tree for 2013. I replaced some of my painted nutcrackers with the new glass balls.

What do you think? I quite like them, and I'm now imagining all sorts of other pattern and colour combinations to do for next year.

I'm a member of Para Paints blog crew, however this paint was received when I attended Blogpodium. the other supplies were purchased.

My boots didn't do so well in the back of my closet

At BlogPodium Tonic Living had given all the attendees two yards of fabric and asked us to create something with it and any other fabric we had on hand for an Instagram contest. I decided I’d use my new fabric to make pretty DIY boot inserts. The contest is finished, but I'm rather pleased with my creation so I thought I'd share.

I used a yard of Varenna in coral, and a sample of Cameron in storm - both from Tonic Living

First you’ll need to measure your boots. For tall boots you’ll want the inserts to be tall enough to support the ankle but still reach the top of the boot. Mine were 14” tall. You’ll also want to decide how wide you’ll want them to be. I decided mine should have a 3” diameter, however once finished I found that a little big – 2 ½” would probably be better.

Cut your shapes. I used a ramekin to trace my circle

Cut out your shapes. Cut four circles to form the top and bottom of your inserts - remember to make your circle a bit bigger for the seam allowance. You’ll then cut out two rectangles.  The rectangles will be the height you’ve decided on for your insert plus about an inch for the seam allowances at the top and bottom. The width of the rectangle will be the circumference of your circle plus the allowance. This is where that high school math you were sure would never use in real life is useful (circumference = diameter times 3.14. In my case it was 3” x 3.14= 9.42” which I rounded up to 9 ½”).

Pin your fabric together to make two tubes

Pin your fabric rectangles right side in to make tubes. You’ll want to sew along the short side leaving your seam allowance. Once those are done you’ll pin one circle to each end of the tube – again, fabric right side in. You may have to fiddle with this a bit, but  I found pinning inwards worked best. You’ll then sew your rounds to the top and bottom of the tube. Take your time – this was my first time attempting to sew anything other than a straight line, and it worked for me with a little patience.

Pin the circles to the tubes of fabric to make the top and bottom of your inserts

Leave an opening at one end of each tube so you can turn it inside out, and then stuff it. I wanted to have a little weight at the bottom of my inserts so I used a cup of dried garbanzo beans, but this isn’t required.

Once you've sewn your inserts turn them right side out, and insert the dried beans

Stuff your inserts well - use a wooden spoon to push the stuffing firmly into the bottom.

I then stuffed my inserts using a pillow I sacrificed as I didn’t have any regular fiberfill. To help get the stuffing to the bottom of my tube I used a long wooden spoon. You’ll want the insert to be stuffed firmly – remember the purpose of the insert is to support your boots. Once they were filled I hand stitched the holes closed.

Stitch the openings closed and then add your finishing touches

To finish the inserts I attached a length of ribbon to the tops using a simple whip stitch, and then added a small bow to the tops. The ribbon in optional, however I wanted to be able to hang my inserts up out of the way when they weren’t in use.

I attached a length of ribbon to the top of each insert

A length of ribbon attached at the top makes your boot inserts easy to hang out of the way when not in use

These were easy to make, requiring limited sewing skills and a bit of patience, and they’d make a great Christmas gift. What do you think? Would you make yourself or someone else some of these?

I debated what to do with the pompoms – even going so far as to lay them out in ombre graduated colour manner, but in the end I decided to just pile them all in a bowl and go completely random. I used clear plastic beading thread to string the pompoms as I had it on hand, but I regular thread should work just as well. This process is a little long, but I did my stringing while watching some TV.
With the string of pompoms done I turned my attention to what else I should put on my tree. With the colour of the pompoms I decided I should go for something else completely colourless. I debated about making up some salt clay, but when I was in my favourite art supply store I found air-dry clay for $4. I picked up a small snowflake at a local kitchen store for $1.50, and once the dough was rolled out used the cutter to make little snowflakes.
I used a toothpick to add little holes at the top of one of the snowflakes arms for string, and then let them air-dry for two days. Once they were dry I used some of the same string I used last year to make my hanging mirrors to add hanging loops.
Once my decorations were ready it was time to decorate. I decided that the corner of my living room was the best place for my tree, but I unfortunately don’t have a table there, and the thought of putting my diminutive tree on the ground made me sad. Being the resourceful girl I am, I pulled one of my bedside tables for it to sit on (We’ll just ignore the fact that for the next little while one bedside lamp is now sitting on the ground beside my bed).
Once the tree was up (which was really hard – I had to attach the three legs), I first strung the mirror ornaments I made last year.
Next up was my new pompom garland.
And finally my new clay snowflakes. I made 15 snowflakes, but there are only 14 on the tree because I had a clumsy moment. Sigh.
Once I had my tree decorated it was time for a couple of finishing touches. I don’t have a tree skirt so I used a flat white sheet and draped it around the bottom of the tree, and I did pull out two decorations from my collection. I’ve had this Lego Santa for a while, so I felt he deserved to be on display.
I also put out my little nativity scene. I love their faces, and the cow and donkey are adorable.
Here's my tree all decorated.

So there you have it. What do you think? Too simple? Are the pompoms a little childish? Did you decorate a tree this year? Are you like me and you like your tree to look like a tree with a few ornaments, or do you prefer your tree to be completely covered with ornaments?