Matching It Up! | DIY Favors

I am preparing for two fun parties coming up- my niece Lucy's first birthday, and my dear friend Anna's 32nd birthday- which I am hosting little get together for. I have always loved thinking of useful, cute and economical favors. Here is the one I decided on today- while shopping. I think I have seen it done on Pinterest, but never thought to try. It is funny what you start to think of while wondering the aisles... for a couple of hours... ;)

I found match boxes at a discount store, 3 for $1.29- you cannot beat that. I also found a book of cute basic prints and colors of paper at Michael's for 50% off, so it was only $9.99 for over 200 pieces of cute paper!

I have rick rack scissors from my mother-in-law that are great. All I did was trim the sides of the paper, and glue gun it onto the boxes.

It was so easy and pretty cheap! I know I am always looking for a match to light candle- these are so cute you don't need to hid them :)

The candles were just as easy. Just use rick rack ribbon (I got 2 yards for $1 at Michael's- I used a total of 2 yards). The tea light candles are from Michael's as well- it was $6.99 for the box of 24.

Just hot glue gun a dollop on the back of the tea light, and connect the rick rack- trim and you are done.

I am excited to share these favors, and have a fun girls night celebrating Anna. Stay tuned for more on party ideas...and see how the entire party comes together!

Guest Post! DIY On The Cheap

I am so very excited to introduce you to fellow blogger, Erin from DIY On The Cheap! She has amazing ideas, and uses so many different things I know we all have around the house (and a great sense of humor!) Much like Erin, I love up-cycling and am always inspired by others ideas. Here is Erin's excellent coffee can into vase. Amazing - enjoy!

{ From Erin}

I love the whole idea of creating useful things out of items you would usually throw away. The trend of up-cycling and re-purposing things, or turning trash into treasure, is something I've written about on my blog in the past and something I enjoy doing often. For a fun, crafty little project, I decided to turn a coffee can into a cute little burlap and ribbon-covered vase. This is a quick and easy project, and can be customized to coordinate with any type of decor. I chose to use burlap for mine, but any fabric will do. You don't even have to use a coffee can, any type of food canister would work just as well. I've used bread crumb canisters for projects before and they are about the same size.

Materials used for this project: Coffee or food canister; burlap (or fabric of your choice); ribbon; double-stick hem tape; and scissors.

Here is how I did it:

First, cut your fabric to fit the height of your can. For the fabric length, leave some room. I wrapped mine around twice just to make sure the can didn't show through the burlap. Depending on your fabric, one time around may suffice, but just wrap around until you can no longer see through to your can label.

After you have cut your fabric, apply a strip of hem tape along one side of your can, from top to bottom. Then, peel away the backing and stick the edge of your fabric down.

Apply a strip of hem tape to canister.

Next, wrap your fabric around the can once or twice. Apply a second strip of hem tape in the same manner as the first, this time on top of your fabric. Leave enough fabric to cover this second strip of hem tape. Fold your fabric under about an inch or so, creating a little hem so the raw edge of fabric won't show. Then peel the backing off your hem tape, and stick your fabric down.

Create a hem by folding fabric edge under, then secure with hem tape.

After your fabric part is finished, cut 2 strips of ribbon, each of which should fit around the perimeter of your can. Apply strips of hem tape around the top and bottom edges of your can. Then, peel off the backing and slowly attach your ribbon about an inch at a time, smoothing as you go.

Attach strips of hem tape around top and bottom of can.

Attach your ribbon by adhering it to the hem tape.

And.... you're done! Couldn't be easier. Bonus: If your husband sees that you've made a vase, maybe he'll take the hint and buy you flowers. Mine did! (Tip: Sometimes you have to make SURE he notices that you've made a vase. Example: "Honey, don't you LOVE this vase I just made? Wow, too bad I don't have any flowers for it. Hmm.. Hint, hint." This may need to be repeated a few times to produce the desired outcome.)

This project actually cost me nothing at all because I already had all of the supplies (except for the flowers). If you don't have extra fabric lying around, the good news is burlap is extremely inexpensive. There are many online fabric stores that sell it for under $2/yard. And of course ribbon is inexpensive too. And a great thing about using hem tape (aside from it being extremely easy), is it can be temporary. If you want to change out the ribbon or fabric, all you have to do is peel it off and replace it. It's one of my favorite products and I keep finding new uses for it. (You can find a couple of my other easy hem tape projects here and here.) The funny thing about this particular project is I don't even drink coffee! Luckily, my husband drinks enough for the both of us. He even brought the canister to me and said, "Do you want to make something out of this or should I just throw it away?" He's learning!

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Thank you so much Erin! I love it, and will be trying this with my old Trader Joe's coffee cans soon! xo

I heart The ROPES

Where to begin?! First of all, I love The ROPES for several reasons. A. They are handmade in Maine B. I love how you can wear just one, or layer them up to mix and match C. They have amazing brass/gold hardware which I love D. They are unique and one of a kind, and last but not least in the very bit, E. They are the brainchild of my good friend Shana Aldrich Ready (we go back about 25 years- jeeze we sound old)!

I was lucky enough to have drinks and dinner at Zapoteca the other night with Shana to catch up and 'talk some shop' - oh, you know, blogging, learning more about her amazing business, being amazingly stylish Mainers and much more :) Shana started The ROPES on somewhat of a whim. While having an extensive background in fashion design and a graduate of RISD, after moving back to Maine, she was playing around with some ropes and decided to put some bracelets together. Well, after hitting up a few boutiques in Maine and introducing them to The ROPES, people and shops now come knocking on her door for more orders! They can now be found all over the U.S (you can buy online at Spaces in Kennebunkport) and has some great press as of late- like ELLE, Style Pantry and Refinery 29! So needless to say, I was eager to hear more about her successes, and she spoiled me with some amazing samples. Which means, a lucky reader gets the chance to win one (more on that in a minute.)

So many awesome colors and textures (and great bag too!)

I LOVE them stacked up!

There are a few different styles, some with big chunky hardware and some are a bangle style.

This is my new favorite, it is several thinner ropes- and my favorite reds and blues!

Ahh! I love them all!



So here are the deets on how to win the one above!

- Please leave a comment on my blog letting me know you want to win The ROPES!
- Please 'Like' my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter
- Please 'Like' The ROPES Facebook page and follow them on Twitter
- To get another chance to win, please pass along this post and help share! Tweet, retweet, post on Facebook, tell your friends- whatever works. After you share, post another comment on my blog letting me know you did, and you will get another chance to win! I will pick the winner on Thursday, March 29th! Good luck.

So, there you have it, a great friend, awesome bracelets and representing our great state of Maine! Win-win-win!

xo

Still Time To Go Green!

St Patricks day by sarahreaganauer featuring a patent belt

There is still time to get your green for St. Patrick's Day! This is the first St. Patrick's Day I can think of that landed on a weekend...cheers!

Spring Time Accessories!

Summer Time by sarahreaganauer featuring stud earrings

With the amazing weather in New England, you cant help but be digging out your flats and accessories. What will you be digging out to wear first this spring? Here are a few of my favorite spring time accessories- pastels and all!

Not Every Project is Perfect

Well....today is a day for posting projects that don't come out exactly how you pictured. I have had this little sitting bench forever. We got it at an antique shop and I have always been wanting to recover the top. So today I decided to tackle it. I have plenty of fabric and a staple gun which is all you really need. Here is what it looked like:

Instead of me just picking out a fabric I had to make it more difficult and use burlap and wanted to add a strip of linen fabric with zig zag stitching. This is where I should have stopped- and just stuck with what I know.

You can see below I have cut my burlap and white linen to fit the top of the bench.

I then 'wrap' the bench top and pin it into place. Pinning the white linen too- so I know where exactly to sew it on.

And I begin sewing. This kind of a stitch can be difficult since you can see it so well- so one little hiccup can really show. I did the sewing about three times to try and make it perfect.

But in the end, there are imperfections of the stitching and the entire top came out looking a bit 'lumpy' and the linen was tough to keep in a perfect straight line. I fastened the top back on to the bench- and it looks OK. It does not look as perfect and professional as I had hoped- but not every project can come out exactly as you wish.

See- tough to make it perfect horizontal and not lumpy.

Miles was somewhat unimpressed as well- and is ready for a nap.

So anyways, this is just a quick reminder that we are not perfect, and even just trying a project (trial and error) can make you a better. Maybe on the next project-less Sunday I will again, re-do the bench- but for now, it works!