DIY Project
Tree Removal
The “Before” Living Room Corner
.
The Christmas tree is [finally] out of the living room and I have an itch to move around some furniture…
I’ll report back soon with my progress 
.
It’s Time for a DIY
Here’s a little teaser of what part of the house we are working on…
.
.
Funny tip: I didn’t know Sarah was standing at the backdoor when I took this picture. Haha. Silly girl.
Any guesses what we’re going?
More to come later 
.
Frameology
In case you haven’t noticed over the past few years of me writing to you on this website, I enjoy house projects. I get a lot of satisfaction out of personalizing and updating our home. I normally decorate using a few consistent guidelines:
- spend as little as possible (in my book “little” typically equals $0.00)
- before you put a nail in the wall get a second opinion (it’s true, I second guess my self constantly!)
- measure 3-5 times, hammer once (measuring twice isn’t enough for me, just ask my slightly-crooked floating shelf)
- and last, if the space looks bare add a frame
.
Yep, it’s true, I am a frameaholic. It tends to be the quickest and easiest way for me to spruce up a space, and I love that it can be done for next to nothing. I thoroughly enjoy scouring thrift stores for these cheap accessories. Getting a solid wood frame for under a buck is such an awesome deal, especially when you can make it look brand new with a can of spray paint. Almost all the frames in our home were either thrift store finds, free, or gifted to me. I’m pretty sure the most I have ever spent on them was when we took a trip to Houston and I visited IKEA with my friend Sarah. I scored some great frames for next to nothing. They make Targets prices look like highway robbery… but let’s not get me started on how much I wish we had an IKEA nearby, or that they should increase their online store availability. Let’s get back to the case and point.
Dear frames,
Thank you for making decorating possible for me. You are simple, relatively cheap, and require little to no clean up.
With great appreciation,
the Ringl Family
.
Here is my most recent house update. It isn’t much, but it did just enough to make our kitchen feel more homey and personalized. All it took was 4 basic black frames and choosing 4 pictures to use from my online google image search collection.
.
.
I apologize for the bad flash glare. I took these pictures last night. Also, please ignore the fingerprint-covered microwave… looks like I’ve been slacking in the cleaning department.
Just below the flash and fingerprints you can see the newest change. I’m still thinking of switching the yellow-flower frame (on the left of the stove) with the coffee frame (to the right of the stove). Either way, I’m pleased with the change. Here are some closer shots.
.
.
.
The photos are (from left to right): an oak tree, yellow flower, coffee cup, and birds on a wire. I am a huge tree/flower/bird fan. My decor taste can pretty much be summed up as “nature”. If it’s featuring the outdoors, with colors I like, than I tend to be a fan. I’m also all about some delicious warm coffee, no matter the season.
The chalkboard sign on the far right was a sweet gift I got from my friend Melissa.
There ya have it, you are now more updated on the look of my kitchen from reading this post than anyone that’s been to my home. Of course I gave you the dishes-done and clean counters and sink version… not that I ever have dirty dishes or a messy countertop.
Alright, now it’s your turn. Go get your frame-on! It’s totally worth it, trust me.
.
O New Years Tree
Due to the fact that I’m not posting this until almost 2 weeks after Christmas I figured I’d rename our tree. She helped us ring in the new year by sticking around and we still light ‘er up every evening as a giant living room night light.
Plus, my sweet hubby taught me how to take a picture of our tree so that it went from looking like this…
to looking like this:
Yes, that is the same tree. The first one just looks a bit more sad and dim compared to the second.
I didn’t want to go the entire year without showing you guys our tree this year. I had to move it ontop of a box to keep the kiddo from trying to eat the limbs and strands of lights. Our girl will eat anything she can get her hands, feet, and mouth on!
This year I stuck with the all white light scheme. First out of laziness, and then because we couldn’t find our multi-colored strands… maybe next year we’ll have a colorful tree. I also placed all the photo Christmas cards on the tree. That’s what those sheets of paper are you see scattered throughout the branches. I really liked that addition
There ya have it. The 2011 Ringl Christmas (and New Years) Tree. I didn’t snap a picture with presents underneath, mainly because we kept them up high so baby Ringl wouldn’t try to eat the paper. Once babies are mobile they sure do keep ya on your toes!
Hope everyone is having a great week. If not just think, only 2 more days until the weekend
Ahh, isn’t it pretty… I’ll miss this soon.
.
.
A DIY Yoda Costume
When Stephen and I first got married he told me that when we had children one day he wanted our child to be Yoda for Halloween. He wanted to dress him/her up and proudly walk around with her on his shoulders. Well, I think I surprised him this year when that is exactly what I planned for our first Halloween..
I’m gonna share my quick, cheap, and very easy Baby Yoda tutorial with you.
First: Gather your pieces
I got the pants and onesie from Goodwill and my mom had the felt in her craft stock pile.
[ These next 3 steps are how to dye your white onesie if you can't find a green/brown one ]
Heat a pot of water
(I used a tea kettle)
Add some teabags and let them stew so the water darkens
Grab your onesie and place it in the pot
You will then leave your onesie in the pot and let it soak until you get the color you like
(while the onesie was dying I moved on to the next article of clothing)
Get your felt out and cut it into a cloak form
I eye balled this step, it was a risky move but Sarah was napping and I wasn’t waking her for measurements!
- I folded the piece in half (make the fold on top at the shoulders)
- Then I cut up the center and created a small neck opening
- Then I cut down from the side/shoulders for sleeves and angled the ends
(I later made the angle less obvious)
- Cut up the underarm and down the sides to fit your child’s width
Sew your edges to get fray-less seams
(the last thing my baby needed were strings to pull and eat)
Don’t forget to get your onesie out of the pot. To ‘seal’ in the color you should rinse it in cold water in the sink and then throw it in the dryer to lock the color in.
Last step, try it on your little one to make sure it fits
End result = one cute Yoda!
When I first started searching for ideas on how to make a DIY Yoda tutorial this was the one I liked most. I altered mine for my own needs and I hope you like the end result as much as we did.
How’s that for a quick and super easy tutorial?! I used a curtain tie for her belt, and cut the feet & hands out of felt and attached them to the cloak and pants. Can’t have a lifelike Yoda without some 3-fingered appendages!
Total cost= $2.40
The last and most important piece, the hat, was made by my friend Ashley. She did such a great job
I can’t wait to see what we come up with next Halloween!
Small Improvements
About 2 months back I went with my mom to a home liquidators store because she was in search of a bathroom sink. While there I spotted something I’ve been looking for; a floating shelf. Not only was it the same color as our kitchen cabinets, but it was also on clearance for $15! I immediately snatched it up. To top off the experience the shelf rang up for $12. Double score!!
Fast forward 2 months later and the shelf was sitting in the kitchen still waiting for a wall to hang on. I know, it’s a sad visual. Well on Monday my mom came over to see the little lady and we finally got one of my kitchen walls decorated! It’s amazing the work you can get done with an extra pair of hands!
Let me start by showing you what the kitchen looked like when we first moved in.
.
.
The much different after
.
I’m pretty happy with the results. Here it is from the view in the den.
Before:
.
After:
Looking at this picture actually makes me aware that we need to paint some walls up in this house! Sarah’s nursery is the only room that has been painted since we moved in (which is coming up on 2 years soon!)
I figured it was high time I shared a recent project. Hope you like it
In-between Nap Times
On Saturday I got together with my friend Nicole to work on a fun house project. Now that I think about it it’s more of an outside-the-house item, but I will probably steal it from our front door and use it inside as well…
Last week my mom, Sarah, Nicole, and I met up at Jo-Anns to search for some needed items. Our list consisted of: yarn, felt, and any decorative items we liked. Let me tell ya this, having my mom with us made the trip go SO quick! I forgot what it was like to shop without having to entertain a baby. Although her desire to eat my yarn and touch everything was really cute to watch
I spent just under $4 for all my supplies and here is the breakdown of what we did…
.
A piece of foam Plumbing Pipe Cover + Masking Tape
(aka: a super cheap wreath)
.
The nitty gritty wrapping process
.
1 hour later
Felt colors: White, Plum, & Grey
Here’s one of my buds with a button
.
Buttons, anyone?
My felt flowers
The final product
Here it is next to the front door
.
A nice little closeup shot
(the wreath looks caddywampus and thinner on the botton,
but that’s just my great photography skills. It’s the same width all the way around)
I still have to find my wreath hook so I can hopefully hang it on the door. I’m also going to use the [.98 cent] letter “R” I got from Hobby Lobby and hang it in the middle. Gotta appreciate fun DIY projects you find online.
Speaking of, on Monday my friend Whitney and her daughter Bella came over for a little while. One of the first things Whitney asked me was if I’d heard of the website Pinterest. It totally cracked me up because that is where we got this DIY Wreath idea. It was the only reason I was able to show Whitney how to make rosettes for her hair, since I had JUST finished doing some myself. Gotta love the interwebs and all it’s tutorial goodness
Anybody else working on some fun projects?! Fall is around the corner and I can hardly wait. Oh cooler weather, please grace us with your presence sooner than later. I’m ready for some bonfires and pumpkin spice doughnuts.
.
Accessorizing
To start I have a confession to make… My name is Cassie and I never accessorize. Let me be a little more detailed for you:
[If] I wear earrings they are almost always simple silver studs.
Necklaces are worn, but pretty much only at weddings or when I’m feeling sassy.
I wear my wedding band, but not always my engagement ring (it only takes scratching your baby once to learn that lesson).
Can I count a hair tie as a bracelet?!? If so I am a wrist-accessorizing pro!
On Saturday I got together with my friend Nicole for a craft day (that project will be coming soon). While playing around with some felt she taught me how to make a flower. I feel like a pro right now with my new found cutting-circles-and-making-a-pretty-flower skillz. After I got home I decided to try making more flowers, but this time out of cotton. I grabbed some old t-shirts that I never wear and cut some strips out of them. Shortly after that the hot glue gun killed over and I continued on with super glue. Ya gotta work with what ya got, people.
Here is what I ended up with…
aqua shirt and an old white t-shirt
And some more pretties
.
oh the difference a phone and regular camera make…
(this one is from my camera, believe it or not)
.
On Sunday I grabbed a bobbie pin and used a sweet white flower to pull my bangs back.
.
These 3 are because I just can’t help myself. She is such a hoot
I didn’t know my nose crinkled. Interesting…
I love the POP the flower adds
She loves to copy our mouth actions!
.
Nothing like a successful project weekend. I’m actually pretty proud of myself for finally doing a project that I found on pinterest.com
There ya have it friends. This could be the start to a whole new method of hair styling. Barrettes are a form of accessorizing, right?! If not, I give up.
Framing the Walls
This past week I completed a long-overdue project and figured it was time to share it with you. Aren’t I nice
Okay, this is how it all began…
(please ignore the beautiful Caricature)
.
After letting all of it sit on the kitchen table for a few days we moved our work to the floor for more space.
.
After rearranging frames for almost a week I got the final layout figured out and decided it was hanging time. Thanks to the internet I found the most BRILLIANT way to hang pictures…
It looked something like this
Here’s an up-close look of what your frame will look like:
( click on the photo for the how-to )
Using this method with all the frames made it so ridiculously easy to hang everything exactly where I wanted it. It made the process go by crazy fast.
Gotta love tips from the internet
So, after doing this method with all the frames I ended up with a brand new looking wall.
Here is the finished product
Our new and improved living room!
What do you think? Now that I have both these projects completed and hanging I almost want to swap which walls they are on. However, that would be way too much work so it’s definitely not happening!
It only took me a year and 8 months to get something on the walls. At this rate I should have our home decorated in about 6 1/2 years.
Hooray for goals!
Filling in the Walls
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have got so many blank walls in my house, and because I don’t feel like painting all of our off-white walls, frames and wall art are the next best option. However, if you have looked around you know that that stuff can get expensive, fast, especially if you want something big to take up a large space.
Well back when I was pregnant with Sarah I saw an idea of how to make wall art using toilet paper rolls. I had been saving them for a while but when it came down to it I didn’t get to use them for the nursery. I recently decided that I would still do the TP project, I definitely have a lot of rooms where I can hang it. I have blank walls everywhere, and this could be a fun and creative way to fill up some space.
One of the most expensive purchases for wall decor is buying a canvas. Those suckers are expensive. Well thankfully I had just the thing. Back when Stephen moved to Orlando, the store he managed opened in an old Kay Jewelers location. Well they left behind a lot of their wall advertisements. They looked like this:
Real attractive, right?!
I’ve been making fun of Stephen for over 4 years for keeping these things, threatening to throw them away when he isn’t looking. Well thankfully he stopped me, because when you turn these big boards around they are the perfect blank canvas.
.
On a recent Saturday I decided to take the time to finally cut the TP rolls into strips so that I could get this project started.
.
I finished my measuring and cutting while watching the show ‘Raising Hope’. If you haven’t seen this show you should, it is absolutely hilarious!
I don’t know why I took a picture of us watching tv… I can get a little over zealous with the camera during projects
.
Next I glued the TP strips into a pattern. I choose a flower/star’ish design that isn’t too girly. After all, this thing is going to be hanging in our living room.
.
My friend Kim suggested that I paint the backdrop of the canvas. I hadn’t even thought about doing that, but I’m SO glad she suggested it because a white board on an off-white wall wouldn’t have stood out too well.
So, I got out all the paint samples I’ve collected over time (thanks to my mom keeping hers when they re-painted) and went to choosing a backdrop color. This step was a lot harder than I was expecting, so I recruited some help…
.
You can do like me and simply bribe your sister with a cute niece, then put her to work
.
Then give your child a washcloth and hope it entertains her longer than 90 seconds…
.
Then, Voila, you are done!
.
After we hung the piece my mom and I decided to try switching some rugs around…
.
It was a great decision. The rug and canvas play off each other real well.
I will say that the canvas isn’t near as blue as the picture makes it look. It’s much softer and lighter in person. It has a more grey-pale blue look, rather than the baby-blue that I see above.
One last shot for your viewing enjoyment:
.
Overall I am pleased with this $0.00 project. I mean, it seriously didn’t cost me a dime, and I think it looks really good above the couch. It is such a big wall to decorate, and I think this is a good start. I’m trying to decide if I want to add anything to the sides of it. Some frames perhaps?! Or shelves?! I haven’t quite figured it out yet… I would definitely be open to some suggestions.
How about you? Has anyone else completed any DIY projects lately? If so, have you recycled things you usually throw away like TP rolls, or paper towels?! Maybe you found a good deal on some wall art that you’d like to share with me?!? My ears and eyes are wide open!
p.s. This is the site where I got my inspiration.
