If you saw my post on Monday, you know already that I took on a cheesecloth ghost craft as a way to decompress. On occasion, I am reminded why I thrive when I create, paint a room or take on a DIY project in the home. It’s where I thrive and find Amanda, a moment of pause from mama and the joys and stimulation that role brings.
I am beyond grateful to be available for our boys, don’t get me wrong. There’s always reason to take time for yourself doing something that brings you joy. Filling that cup of joy will spill over when you step back into your role of mom.
This craft requires very few things:
Cheesecloth
Modge Podge
Balloons
Bowl for mixing
Drop cloth of some form
Supportive base to attach balloons
First, blow up the balloons at various sizes to add variation to your ghosts.
Next, drop the cheesecloth over each support and trim accordingly. Tip: Cut them slightly larger than needed so the cheesecloth can puddle nicely.
Mix the modge lodge with a little water to thin out the consistency. Soak each trimmed piece in the mixture, squeeze out the excess and slowly stretch it out to drop back over the base supports you made. I did two layers on each ghost.
Allow them to dry overnight.
Gently separate the balloons from the cheesecloth. Your ghosts may loose shape as you do this step but don’t worry, you can shape them back.
Next you will cut felt eyes or sew on black buttons. Hot glue them on to each ghost.
I decided to add paper flowers and ribbon to two of the ghosts to add a little extra flare, because I’m extra. Have fun with it and make them your own.
Fairy lights were the final touch I added to the ghosts. One long strand worked for all of them.
This tables cape will be a fun one to enjoy before a night out trick or treating. Our family has a tradition of filling up on a hearty bowl of my turkey chili with a side of cornbread before any candy is consumed. Be sure to save that recipe! It’s a crowd pleasure and simple to throw into the crockpot.
What was once an item listed on our project list, the powder room, it quickly became an active project when my husband walked into the garage and returned inside with a hammer and crowbar. He took to a corner in the bathroom and began an attempt at removing 1/4 round and baseboards. All I needed to get going on this particular project was him taking that first step and saying “let’s start checking off these projects.”
DIYs are fun but now with 3 kids, we have to be strategic in planning when we can tackle projects -between his work travel and kid schedules.
Goals for this project:
Try to be budget friendly, afterall, it is just a powder room
Source a local company to fabricate a new granite countertop for the existing vanity. This granite was going to the dump, and we scooped it up!
Find new faucet, lighting and accessories
Add vertical shiplap
Fresh coat of paint
Project Mood Board
You can find links to the lights, hardware, and faucet here, Product Links. The final faucet we went with can be found here. We have been very pleased with it. In fact, I installed it apart from connecting the drain to the p trap. I’m thankful for my dad who came over to connect them and teach me how they work.
First we demoed by taking out all 1/4 round, baseboards, disconnecting the water supply and removing the vanity.
We ended up having to purchase this set to help in removing the 1/4 round and baseboards. Even still, it proved to be challenging because the installers used 3 inch nails which is excessive in my opinion.
As you can see, the before was just “blah” and didn’t fit our style at all. As for the layout of the bathroom, we would have never designed it this way but we had to work with it.
After the space was cleared out, I painted the top 1/4 section of the walls White Dove and the crown molding, and ceiling. Then we added in new baseboards, 1×8 primed pine as the MDF was limited for us.
After baseboards and paint, we added a 1×4 piece of trim that was our finishing cap and would act as the point where we measured for each vertical shiplap board.
At this point in the project, I had also switched out the light fixture but had not yet purchased new light bulbs that were a softer lume.
Once we both cut down our shiplap to size for our first wall, I painted the edges of each piece prior to nailing them to the wall. As I did this, my husband marked the studs on the walls.
As paint was drying on the walls, I decided to update the existing vanity and strip the brown stain. I saw this inspirational photo which solidified my decision. Our granite was very similar in coloring.
I first tried a couple rounds of oven cleaner as stripper but I didn’t love the results. You can see the beginning process in the left photo. Next, I went the route of Citri Strip and it did much better. I also coated the doors with Citri Strip and wrapped them in plastic wrap to let them sit overnight before scraping off the product and stain. The result revealed a beautiful color that was very similar to what I was hoping for.
With a little grit, I cleaned up the corners to get it to match using steel wool and 220 grit sandpaper.
Where this vanity got tricky was the fact that I had to update the side panels. They were not made of real wood but had a veneer finish; therefore, stipping them of stain wasn’t an option. I had to replace the side panels with new 1/2 inch sheets of plywood. We were out of scrap wood that met the size requirements so I purchased 2×4 sheets from Home Depot and cut those down to size. Without using a table saw, I used a guide, clamps and my skill saw to trim it to size. I feel much more comfortable with this tool vs. a table saw.
This also allowed me to try out my new router tool to create a ledge for the cabinet shelf to rest in, just as it did on the original side panels. This was such a fun tool to use. I look forward to future projects when we can try out different bits that it came with.
After the new side panels were cut to size and the ledge routed, I had the task of matching the stain to the stripped down vanity color. I did this with a combination of Special Walnut, watered down white paint as a white wash, and Dark Walnut. I ended up doing 2 more additional coats of dark walnut to darken it up more and found the perfect match.
After stain, the side panel was attached with wood glue and 1 inch brad nails. I then finished it off with 1 coats of clear Matte Polycrylic. This is my favorite poly and is easy to work with. Tip: Between coats, you have to use 220 grit sandpaper to get the smoothest finish.
Check out the progression of adding the vanity back into the space, the counters, doors, faucet and new handle pulls.
Adding in the finishing touches was one of my favorite parts. To fill the dead corner space, I found this giant snake plant at Home Depot for $22! The plant stand was an awesome find at Marshalls.
My favorite piece is the room is this watercolor lily. It was a gift to my grandparents by one of their church members. They had is framed by a local business who made a special pocket on the backside to hold the card that was handwritten and included with the art. The special note is a reminder of the impact they had on so many lives and that motivates me to live life to the fullest.
Before we look at the completed space in its entirety, let’s remember where we started again:
What do you think about the Powder Room transformation? Would you believe it was completed for less than $600? Most of that cost went to lumbar because we went with primed pine vs primed MDF.
I hope this inspires you to make the most of your space and transform it with a little paint and a little elbow grease. The before and after can be exactly like your mood board.
Let’s be honest, buying for your significant other can sometimes be the hardest thing. At least in my case, my husband is one who rarely shops or needs anything but when he does want something, he goes out and buys it. It is usually right before a special occasion too.
Does this sound familiar to you also?
When we celebrated our 9 year anniversary last October, I wanted to find a date night experience that went along with a traditional gift for a 9 year anniversary. Traditional gifts include either pottery/willow and modern gifts of leather.
I’ve always wanted to have a hands on experience making pottery pieces. After doing some research of local potters and studios, I found one who was able to accomodate my workshop request. Not only did she accommodate, she went above and beyond to make our date night a fun and memorable experience.
I met Caitlin of Porch Dog Pots at a local market that I was also attending as a vendor.
Aren’t these pieces beautiful?
Caitlin had us each choose a piece of pottery that we wanted to customize. That was hard to do because we loved all of the options. Ultimately, I went with a platter and my husband choose a thumbprint tumbler.
I also knew I wanted my platter to be stamped with our wedding date in Roman Numerals. Caitlin created custom stamps to accommodate this request. My husband wanted to stamp his mug with a Lab, representative of our beautiful chocolate lab, London.
We had the opportunity to throw clay, form a new mold, carve into clay, stamp sample pieces, ink on the bottom of our pieces, ect. Caitlin was so very patient with us as we practiced & messed up molds. She was prepared and brought multiple pieces in the event we did mess up but also, she taught us the beauty in working with clay is that you can sometimes work it to hide the mistakes and fix the problem.
Walking away from our date night, my husband grabbed my hand and said he had the best time and thanked me for everything. That my friends is success when the man your buying for needs nothing! It was an evening we won’t forget and we will always be reminded of it each time we use our customized pieces.
This date night could be a great option for Valentine’s that is coming up. A potter may not be able to accomodate on such short notice but you may be able to give a giftcard for the experience for a future date!
I hope this idea helps you in planning fun and memorable date nights with your significant other!
Valentines is my second favorite holiday. Perhaps it’s because my birthday falls 2 days after the day of love or the fact that I now realize I love the color pink, but I find so much joy in what the day brings.
Making the day special for your significant other, your children and your children’s classmates can be fun. It can also be a little stressful if you have an allergy kid like we do. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little anxiety over the treats our peanut allergy boy may receive and fear he may come in contact.
This allergy friendly Valentine treat made to look like a piece of candy will sure make for some happy kids. The Made Good granola bars are also free from the top 8 allergens and are in fact, delicious!
I created a simple printable available in two color schemes, neutral & traditional Valentine, that you can download for FREE by clicking, VALENTINE PRINTABLE.
Also included is a printable made to fit an 8×10 frame for a simple Valentine decor addition to your home.
If you want to create this same Valentine treat, below you’ll find a list of materials needed.
1 box of Made Good granola bars – found in the Valentine section of Target (It’s a 30 count for $6.99.)
1 bundle of tissue paper that you will cut down to size – slightly larger than the mini granola bars to allow for extra space for tying off the ends
String, yarn or ribbon that you may have at home
Printed Valentine tags, cut and hole punched to easily attach to the treats
I’d love to see how you make these tags work for your Valentine giftables. Be sure to tag @4havenssake on Instagram & Facebook where I will reshare all ideas for others to see as well.
The Grinch made me do it. Who knew our traditional Friday family movie night would result in my favorite Christmas decor addition in our home? Contrary to the Grinch’s view of Christmas, the movie put me in the Christmas spirit early which I’m not complaining about. Whoville is so whimsical and unique which inspired me to doodle a few Christmas trees.
A few doodles later, I then turned them into a printable with a imple Christmas saying that I wanted to share with others. If you like to add simple holiday decor to your home, you can download the printables below.
These are made to fit an 8×10 frame and/or a 5×7 matte for an 8×10 frame if you wish to add a layered look to the frame.
I’d love to see how you style your printable. Be sure to comment on this post how you plan to use it and also tag @4havenssake on Instagram and Facebook!
Having kids brought more excitement back to Halloween. I now understand why it was so much fun for my parents to dress my brother and I up in costumes. I may still question the logic behind some of the costumes <Insert this throwback below>
A walking present? I need to ask my mom if I requested this number.
I hope you will find inspiration in my attempts to DIY some of our costumes the past few years.
Football Player & a Baby Football
The first year we had 2 boys to dress for Halloween, I kept it simple and went with a football player and baby football. We had an ECU jersey which was gifted to us as my husband is a proud Pirate graduate.
I searched Pinterest for a DIY football padding template. I used this one, Padding Template. The only thing needed for this, foam, scissors, string and hot glue. I happened to have all these items on hand from past home projects that required these items.
As for the baby football, I bought a brown onesie from Blanks Boutique . The quality of their products are wonderful. I always bought from them for majority of my monogramming and embroidery items I made for clients when that was a business of mine.
I cut strips of white fabric to mimic that of a football and sewed them with a simple stitch down the center of each. I set the stitch spacing to a wider length as I knew I’d also be removing the white fabric after Halloween to add a proper fall turkey applique for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. (I’m always looking for multi-purpose uses for things in the home and with clothing.)
Where The Wild Things Are
Our oldest loved reading this classic children’s book beginning at the age of 3. His love for the book inspired their Halloween costumes. This dragon caught his attention at TJ Maxx which I thought we could easily work into the theme.
Wanting to find an option that had multi-purposes for our youngest, I took to finding ways to make his costume. I found a sherpa onesie on sale for 50% off at Baby Gap that was the main necessity for him to become Max. Here is a similar option for less, baby Sherpa .
Between Michaels and Walmart, I was able to find faux fur that had wire inside and oversized tan buttons that I could easily add to the sherpa and remove after Halloween.
The crown was a party pack (Target) left over from our youngest’s 1st Birthday party (which happened to be the same theme). I hot glued a small bit of faux fur to the base of the crown, then lightly stitched it to the top of the hooded sherpa onesie. I used more of the faux fur to attach the tail.
Once again, the sherpa was put to use after Halloween as I was able to easily remove the stitched fur additions.
I cannot take credit for this idea. One of my close friends dressed up in costume with this family theme the year prior and we loved it.
There were pig headband sets but I knew our boys wouldn’t keep them on. I opted to make a template for the ears and sew them onto hats and a beanie for our youngest.
I first sketched out a basic template for the ears on paper, then used the paper template to trace onto pink fabric that I already had. I made the ears double-sided, with two different fabrics. You could also use inexpensive felt sheets. I first sewed the ear edges then flipped them right side out before stitching to the hats.
The alligator clip pig tails were at Target last year (2018).
Overalls were found at Target. This year’s inventory at Target has more trendy detailing on the denim. HERE
As for the noses and wolf mask, Amazon had the best deals:
This year’s theme is Toy Story. Our oldest wanted to be Woody and our youngest chose Buzz Lightyear, who he absolutely LOVES. I’ve just recently made the vest for the Woody costume which I will share soon. There will be more to come for this post once the final touches have been added.
Should you wish to buy a ready-made costume, here are some of the best deals I’ve found:
I don’t have a tutorial for how I made the Tin Man costume. I found an image of a similar costume and determined what I could buy fabric wise that would have stability and hold shape. A quick trip to the fabric store, I didn’t find a silver faux leather but did find it in black and decided to paint it. That idea worked!
I measured our oldest for shoulder width, body circumference and length and cut the fabric accordingly. I sewed the seams then painted it silver. As for the collar and shoulder detail, I also cut them to fit the body of the costume and hand stitched them to the bodice.
The scarecrow costume was fairly easy. The hat was made with black felt sewn together and adorned with jute and rattan. The fabric around his head and face was something I already had and had stretch to it. I cute out a hole for his face (not centered might I add) and loosely wrapped a piece of string to match the scarecrow look of the movie. We already had overalls and stuffed the pockets with rattan pieces. (Can be found at the $1 store.)
We had fun painting faces for the final family look.
It’s hard to believe Halloween is just around the corner. There were times when I was forced to DIY costumes because they had been sold out.
Fellow crafters I have a fun project for you. Share the idea with your friends and coordinate a time to host a “make and take” sign event like I did.
Fellow crafters I have a fun project for you. Share the idea with your friends and coordinate a time to host a “make and take” sign event like I did.
When I saw Ella Clair’s Fall sign on Pinterest, I was inspired to make it and take it a step further by having the reverse side of the sign a Christmas design. I’m all for multi-purpose home decor and the possibility of not having to store away 2 holiday signs was ideal.
Ella Clair’s design was more rectangular. I modified the design to accommodate this 2×2 plywood sheet and created a Christmas design in word for the reverse side.
You could also have a year round design on the reverse side in lieu of 2 holiday themes.
The first phase of this sign party started with good friends/neighbors on our street. We had the BEST time stenciling and hand painting our signs one cool evening in my neighbors garage. Collectively we had all of the supplies needed to paint the signs apart from the 2×2 plywood boards.
Here is what you need:
2×2 1/2 inch untreated plywood (You can get this exact size from Home Depot for around $6
Craft paint – Colors of your choosing. I had red & orange on hand so we just mixed the two with a smidge of black to make the perfect shade of rust.
Base paint – use any white paint you have on hand. We used White Dove by Sherwin Williams
Gray/Brown Paint – Used for the border, lettering and the arrow – Gargoyle by Sherwin Williams
Pencil
Printer
Painters Tape
Craft paint brushes
STEPS:
Paint the board using any white paint you have on hand
Once dry, use the painters tape to frame out a border on your board. I left approximately 1/2 inch from the edges.
Paint the border, including the edges on the sides and allow to dry
While paint is drying, print the fall design provided by Ella Claire, found here. Please respect her request that this is to only be used for personal use. If you visit her original blog post, she gives tips on how to add this template to a document as an image, then stretching it to the size needed. (I added the template to Excel as I found it easiest to stretch to the needed 2×2 size, much larger than her original)
Tape the pages together so the design lines up connecting the letters. You may have to trim some of the paper to prevent overlap.
Shade the backside of the design with a pencil as you will then place the shaded side down on your white background a trace the outline of the design.
Once you trace the outline of the design, remove the template and you will be left with the pencil outline to fill in with paint.
Begin painting the lettering. Don’t worry about any mistakes and uneven lines. You will distress your sign as the last step and can hide areas to make appear distressed and intentional.
Once your first side is complete, you will repeat the backside with the second seasonal design.
Distress both sides as much or as little as you’d like using an electric sander and 220 grit paper.
You may add a Polycrylic top coat if you think it will be outside and exposed to the weather elements. I didn’t complete this step as our sign is under a covered front porch. Paints are also permanent finishes once cured.
For $40 in material, you can update any room with a simple accent wall.
The motivation behind our master bedroom refresh was my vision to lighten up the space completely. Some of my favorite rooms have been spaces we stayed at on vacations. The retreat-like ambiance always relaxes us the most so having that in our room where we sleep every night & wake up every morning became my goal.
First, I started by refinishing our dark, black furniture with this chalk paint recipe and by updating the black leather headboard insert with a beautiful gray twill fabric.
You can watch my step by step for recovering the headboard insert in highlights here.
Refinishing the furniture alone was a major update to the room. We’ve never been a big fan of the tan walls, partly because our first home had so much of that color before we made the change over to agreeable gray.
The accent wall was going to be behind our bed, on the main wall. This wall also happens to be the only one in the room with windows. A couple of years ago, we updated the windows with plantation shutters which we absolutely LOVE but something about them looked unfinished on that wall. I wanted the shutters and new accent wall to blend and look like one big statement.
Adding floor to ceiling board & batten and painting it the same color as the shutters and trim became the vision for the space.
We agreed on using 1×2 primed MDF.
The first thing I had to do was add trim to the crown and baseboard on this wall that allowed for the MDF to bump up flush to the edge.
Once it was painted to match the existing trim, it made the crown and baseboard look like a chunkier piece of trim.
See the before and after:
Notice how the after picture shows the MDF boards are flush to the added cove moulding?
After measuring the length of the wall, we determined an approximate number of 1×2 boards needed, 10 (4 of which were not full length due to the two windows) and approximately 15.5-16 inches apart.
The spacing had to be adjusted slightly because the wall length wasn’t 100% exact on either side of the windows. Thankfully, my mom was at the house when I was struggling to make these adjustments. Simple math sounded like the logical solution but then the boards weren’t centered evenly over the windows. Long story short, we finally worked out the spacing solution, adjusted when needed and overall, you don’t notice there are any differences in spacing between any of the MDF strips.
The BEST part about this project was getting to use my father-in-laws nail gun.
It’s not just any nail gun. It’s cordless, doesn’t require an air compressor and uses CO2 cartridges. (I’m going to need one for myself.) Most air compressors are loud so it was nice using this nail gun as I was DIYing this project during toddler naptime. The nail gun was fairly quiet, quiet enough to not wake said sleeping toddler.
If you’re in the market for a finish nailer. I encourage you consider this one as an option and compare as you won’t also have to buy an air compressor.
Simple Steps for adding board & batten when you have existing crown and baseboards that you don’t want to remove.
Add cove moulding with a finish nailer to the length of the existing crown and baseboards.
Caulk seams, putty nail holes with wood putty, let it dry then sand lightly with 220 grit block
Now you can paint this newly updated trim and the wall the intended color of your accent wall. (I recommend doing this before adding the board & batten strips as it will make painting easier when they are added.)
Add the first board and batten strip flush to the edge of the wall. Don’t worry about any gaps that may exist due to wall inconsistencies, you will be caulking this prior to painting once the strips are up.
Measure out spacing for each strip of your board and batten.
Add liquid nails to the back of the strips, then nail to the wall using your finish nailer. Liquid nails are recommended as you likely won’t be adding each strip where the studs are located.
After adding each board, fill holes with wood putty, caulk all seams at the added boards and wall (you want to do this to fill any gaps that may exist), wait to dry, sand puttied holes then vacuum up all debris.
Now you’re ready for paint! If you painted the wall the accent color prior to adding the B&B strips, you’ll just have to paint the seams and newly added trim.
In full transparency, it’s been a lot of work updating this room soley because of my project to repaint ALL of our bedroom furniture. It’s an easy process, just time consuming due to the coats of paint and polycrylic finish.
In the end, all of the labor is worth it. You eventually forget about how much it hurts during the process, then you do it all over again for the next project.
I want to hear if you are planning to add an accent wall. Share in comments if you’re adding a pattern or keeping it classic with a floor to ceiling board and batten addition.
Admittedly, I was “that” mom who planned out a Pinterest worthy themed party for our first borns 1st birthday. Yes, it is something to celebrate but in hindsight, I realize he remembers nothing. My strategy for every party moving forward has been to keep things simple and family only until his 5th Birthday came around.
By 5, he had established a good group of friends and wanted to include them in his party (but only deciding so until the last minute). This Rock Party theme was pulled together in 1 weeks time. If you’re looking for a quick last minute party idea for a little boy, this is it.
I’m also sharing additional party themes we used in years past in hopes that you will get inspo and ideas to tailor for your kiddo.
Theme was derived from our boys LOVE of the outdoors, needing to collect every shiny & unique rock for his growing collection, and all things outdoors. A quick search on Pinterest and I knew what to do.
Materials:
Rock Climbing Themed Cake (Wholefoods is where it’s at people.) We have used them for 5 years and they always deliver, and for a price that I’m willing to pay for a delicious and beautifully decorated cake. We’ve never paid more than $35.
Rock – Mineral Poster: Loved this one from Retro Planet. $6.99 – DONE
Geode Kit – Priced around and found this to be the best deal from Store for Knowledge.
Pop Rocks, Small carabiners, and thin rock climbing rope for favors with DIY Tags.
Party Invite done virtually per the last minute planning.
Favor Tags designed by me and printed at home. Click here for a FREE download.
Previous party theme ideas for boys:
Airplane
Dinosaur
I was pregnant with our second child when we celebrated our boy’s second birthday. His dinosaur birthday cake doubled as a gender reveal. Celebrating our boy’s birthday and becoming a big brother to a baby brother was extra special.
Construction
Wild Things
Sources:
All Cakes except the Construction cake – Whole Foods, Construction Cake decorated by me.
Embroidered shirts – Stitched by me
Printables – Etsy
Crowns – Target in the party supply section
Sandbox – Amazon
If you have questions about specific sources, printables and homemade decor items, comment below.
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