Quote and Candle Holders

I was at a garage sale with my sister (who got me into all this crafting and thrifting and re-purposing!! Thanks! I love it!) and we found these candle holders. They were so pretty! A really classy tan/gold color with black de-stressing, curvy and loopy with pretty leaves! They were only $1 so of course you all know what I HAD to do!!! I brought them home with me, not knowing where they would end up or what they would be used for, but knowing that someday I'd figure that out! It actually didn't take me too long to figure out that I wanted them on the wall in my bathroom surrounding a quote. I got this idea like 5 months ago but I only just finished because I had trouble getting my quote. I couldn't get my vinyl order to come through so I decided to come up with an alternative to vinyl.

Materials:
~ Candle Holders
~ 8x10 frame
~ Fabric
~ Paper/Pen (I used a scrapbook pen)

The first thing I needed to do was come up with an alternative to vinyl for my quote. I needed this because my order wasn't going through. I also thought though, now next time I move (which hopefully won't be for 2 years! Cross your fingers!) I can take this project with me. I saw these way cool things on a blog (here) called Porcelein Markers. Basically you kind of make your own vinyl, she made some dinner plates. So I went and bought one at Michael's but it dried up insanely fast! (I got the Porcelain brand anyone know about these things?) I had bought an 8x10 framed mirror at Dollar Tree and I couldn't even finish the quote. L.A.M.E.
I didn't let that deter me though :) I decided just to write it on my own so I got out some printer paper and wrote it with my best penmanship! It did look a little plain though so I added some fabric yo-yo's to give it some pazzaz.

I love these things! They're super easy too! Cut out a circle of fabric twice as big as you want your final yo-yo to be. Take a needle/thread and go up and down around the outside edge. Pull the thread until the fabric gathers into the center. Tie it up! That's it :)
(follow tutorial here if you want more detailed steps)

Here's the quote, I love this quote! Read the full thing here (I left out a few sentences)
(Sorry, I don't know why the yo-yos are purple in this picture, they're really red! It's the same fabric as my shower curtain! See that project here)

This did come with little glass containers to put in the candles and I actually bought some. But I decided it was just a bit too much with the candles, so I just left them out :)

Looks great with the shower curtain doesn't it?!

What do you think of the final product? I would say my bathroom is done, but I'm sure I'll think of something else to add to it later! :)

Total Cost:
~ Candle Holders: $1.00
~ 8x10 frame: $1.00
~ Fabric: $0.00
~ Paper/Pen (I used a scrapbook pen): $0.00

Quote and Candle Holders: Total Cost ~ $2.00

Table Runner

I am finished with my first quilting project! I made a 3 foot table runner and finally finished tonight. I'm very excited! I started this with my sewing teacher but had to finish on my own. It took me awhile to finish but I finally got some batting and fabric for the back as well as the binding. I don't have step-by-step pictures, sorry, but I do have a picture of the final product :)

I definitely learned a lot on this project. I got the pattern here but it was a little confusing because they want you to buy a package from them so they don't give you all the measurements. Luckily my teacher was able to help me figure them out and we actually did the hourglass blocks a little differently. The method I used saves you a lot of fabric and a lot of time! It's a little confusing to just explain so I'll put up pictures of this next time I do it.

When I bought the fabric for this I got 10 fat quarters which cost me about $20. However, it gave me enough fabric for 3 table runners. So if you decide to make one of these, you could lower the cost either by getting fewer patterns or just putting gift money towards the fabric and then giving away your two extra (or even all three). I also had to buy the batting and the fabric for the back (which is the same fabric I used to make the binding). This cost about $10 I think, but again, this was for all three. So I'm guessing my cost for this table runner was about $10, give or take.

Table Runner: Total Cost ~ $10.00

Flowers for the Bathroom Counter

My bathroom counter was just ... blah ... there was nothing there to catch your attention, nothing to ooh and ahh over. In our old apartment I didn't realize this because our bathroom was pretty small and I had done the shower curtain (here) and the beads for over the toilet (here). In our new place though, the shower/toilet area is kind of sectioned off from the counter/sink area so it desperately needed something! It was begging me to add something, anything, to make it pretty! I decided to agree to its demands and create something for my countertop :)

Materials:
~Fake flowers
~Styrofoam, cylinder shape (cylindrical? Is that a word?)
~Paint

I have been going through withdrawals...Hobby Lobby withdrawals. In our old place we lived like 2 miles away! Now we've moved 25 min further south and no closer to the next Hobby Lobby location. Sadly I have had to give up my frequent (sometimes VERY frequent) trips to the Hob Lob and I've tried to get my fix at other stores closer to home. I've realized though that there aren't any craft stores close to me! Because of this dilemma I found myself wandering through Family Dollar a few weeks ago hoping and dreaming that I would find something to use for a new project. And I did!!!!!! Hallelujah!

I found a wall full of fake flowers and some Styrofoam of all shapes and sizes. I decided to make a little flower vase for my bathroom. So I picked out three small bouquets and a cylinder Styrofoam "vase".

The white bouquet I picked out must have been some Easter special or something. It had this weird green, glitter egg right in the middle. ...Um... no thanks...

This is much better, don't you agree?
I played around with the arrangement in my hands until I found something I liked and then I stuck the bouquets inside my "vase"
I grabbed some paint that I used on my block frames (here) and painted over my "vase" to give it more of a vase feel. That was it :) Easy as pie! (By the way, why is this a saying? Making pie is hard!)

Before...
After...

What do you think? Do you like it?

Total Cost:
~Fake flowers: $1.50
~Styrofoam vase: $1.00
~Paint: $0.00

Flowers/Vase: Total Cost ~ $2.50