Chevron Monogram Burlap Wreath

Today I wanted to share with y'all the burlap wreath that I made for our front door! A wreath was one of the 1st things on my to do list after we got all settled in {the outside of our place definitely needed a little sprucing up}. After one failed attempt that involved a vine wreath, I found this tutorial on Pinterest & knew it was just what I had been looking for. 

I got the burlap, floral wire, & "K" at Walmart, then picked up the wire wreath form from JoAnn's {I got the medium sized one}. 

I loosely followed this great tutorial to create my burlap masterpiece. Its very easy, you just have to play around with it until you are satisfied with how it looks. 

I previously painted my "K" for the failed vine wreath disaster…. I'm completely & utterly obsessed with chevron, so I knew that was what I wanted for my wreath. I used a straight edge & just winged it a bit. I chose a bright & summery color palate, but then after some complaining that it "looked Jamaican" from Micah, I distressed it with my antiquing gel, & I actually like it a lot better.

Once my wreath was done, I hot glued a piece of wire to the back of the "K" & attached it off center on my wreath. There were already screws in our door from a past resident, so I just popped it up there & voila! All in all, this took about 30 minutes to make, some patience, and about $10. Not too shabby, huh?

Embroidery Hoop Monogram

I know I promised an "after" reveal of our house.... but I have a few projects in the works, & I don't want to show you a half done place. So, instead, I'm going to go room by room. I think that's going to be much less overwhelming for me & everyone else! Today, however, I have a glimpse of our living room! I wanted to create a gallery wall behind our couch, & what gallery wall would be complete without a monogram?! {I told you I became a bit monogram obsessed after getting married!}

My first idea was for a framed monogram, but then I wanted something a bit more original. After browsing through JoAnn's for a while, I saw some embroidery hoops & genius struck!

I grabbed the medium sized one & hurried home. The hoop was raw wood, so I decided to paint it white. Then, I cut a piece of fabric left over from my button pillow project, fitted it, trimmed the edges & secured it to the back with hot glue. 

I'm obsessed with ombre right now. Obsessed. After seeing this project done by Mandi at Vintage Revivals, I decided to do a modern ombre on my K {which I picked up from the craft section at Walmart}.  I don't think all colors look good ombre.... but blue is one of the ones that do {at least in my opinion}, & I really love navy blue right now. I divided my K into 3 horizontal sections & painted the bottom section with a navy acrylic paint. Then mixed in white until I got the medium & light tints of blue that I wanted & painted those next. After everything was dry, I hot glued the K to to the fabric on my hoop & voila!! Custom, unique monogram.

Personalized Bunting Banner

This glorious "little" project that I was so excited about starting almost took multiple a turn for the worse & ended up in my trash. However, I was so set on it that I put my problem solving skills to use & persevered. Boy, am I glad I did!! 


I started out with the same fabric that I used for the Shabby Chic Table Runner & Button Monogram Pillow. I guestimated how big I wanted my individual pennants, measured it out & cut out a template.

My next step was figuring out how many pennants I needed. I wanted each one to be 2 layers, so taking that into account I needed 12 pieces. I cut out squares of my fabric roughly the size of my template. I traced my template onto one of the fabric squares & stacked them up. Then, using my new cutting board & rotary cutter (on the setting for multiple layers), I finished up the pennants. 

Next up, were the individual letters. I created my own little templates on some heavy paper & cut them out. I traced the letters onto the back of my fabric with a white water soluble pencil (making sure to reverse the direction of the letter). I used a dark navy blue fleece that I got from the remnants basket at JoAnn's for only 58 cents!

Once they were all traced. I used my new pinking shears to cut them out. This can be a bit challenging at first, but once you get the hang of it, its easy-peasy! Plus is keeps your fabric from unravelling. One little tip that I have to offer is if you have a letter that has a space that needs to be cut out inside your letter (like my a & e), just cut out a little circle from your background fabric & tack it on. (I really hope this makes sense.) That's a lot easier than trying to cut out a little hole in the middle of your letter!

After all of my letters were cut out, I laid them out on the pennants just to make sure that they fit well. Then, I pinned them down & took myself to my sewing machine. Now, this is the step that gave me some serious trouble. My original idea was to sew on the letters with colorful thread. Wrong, very bad idea. My sewing skills are not that superb (yet!), & it ended up being a hot mess. So I went to JoAnn's (for the 3rd time in 3 days) & got some thread that matched my letters. I really like the Gutterman thread, so thats what I went with in a dark navy. Very carefully, I sewed on each letter. Going slow was the key here for me. Once they were all attached, I admired my handiwork for a minute & did a little excited dance (all while Micah looked at me like I'd lost it). 

The next step is to pin both pieces of your pennants together, making sure that the wrong sides are together. You are going to sew them with both of the right pieces facing out. I promise, I haven't lost my mind. Its gonna work! Make sure you change out your thread on your machine to one that matches your fabric. After the two longer sides are sewn (I left the top open), trim up the excess fabric with your pinking shears. 

pre- pinking shears!

Then, I took figured up how much ribbon I needed to go along the tops of my pennants & attach them. After that, it got pretty meticulous... I folded the ribbon in half (it was 2 in. ribbon), pinned it, iron it down to create a good crease, & then pinned my pennants in between the folded sides. All that's left is to just stitch it up!

A close-up after it was stitched.

I really, really love how this project turned out, & I can't wait to make a few more! Please let me know what you think about it!!

Personalized Save the Date Sign

I decided to post about one of my most favorite things that I've made... a "Save the Date" sign that Micah & I used in our engagement photos! I made this last summer, so once again, there are no step-by-step picture, but I feel like this is a pretty straightforward project. 

The finished product!

I started out by making a trip to Hobby Lobby for my supplies. I looked in the unfinished wood aisle for a plaque, but I wasn't satisfied with the sizes... I wanted something bigger. So then I headed over to peruse the wall decor section (which was 50% off that particular week!) & found a rectangular wooden sign that already said 'Bon Apetite.' As much as I would have loved to hang that sucker up in my kitchen, I decided it was the perfect size & shape for my project, & it was already equipped with  a way to hang it! This was a bit pricey. It helped that it was half off, & I justified it by telling myself that it would be a nice touch to add to our future home's decor. 


I knew I wanted a slightly distressed look for the sign, so I mosied over to the acrylic paint section & picked up some crackle finish. The type that I got went on top of my paint. Last, but certainly not least, I also grabbed some antiquing finish & headed home. 


Our engagement session was outside in the height of a brutal, muggy Tennessee summer. Instead of fighting it... I decided to embrace it & wanted a playful, slightly Americana feel for our pictures. That idea was my inspiration for our Save the Date sign. I chose to paint it a basic cream (that went best with the colors we were going to be wearing). It took 3-4 layers of paint to get a nice even coat over the whole thing. You could still faintly read 'Bon Apetite' under the base layer, but once I was finished, it wasn't visible anymore. After that dried, I applied the crackle. (For this I just followed the instructions on the bottle.) The crackle I had went on your topmost layer & was supposed to crackle down to your bottom layer. Since I had to use so many layers of cream paint, it didn't really crackle down to the base. Never fear, because that's where the antiquing finish comes in! 


Once again, my printer wasn't working. So for the text, I taped together two pieces of printer paper & worked out my design on that in pencil. I just guestimated where everything needed to go & it turned out pretty well! But, for those of you who need things to be a little more exact, I'd suggest using a ruler to measure out where your words are going to go. Now, you need to get your design onto your freshly painted & crackled board! I took the cheap route & scribbled on the back of my paper with a pencil so I could transfer it. An easier way would be to buy graphite/transferring paper to lay under your design as you trace it. I also recently found out that good ole newspaper can also work as transferring paper. I have yet to try that out, but if anyone does, let me know how it works! I definitely suggest taping your paper to your board while your tracing it, so simplify your life & help free up your hands. After I carefully traced & transferred my text, I took a black paint pen & went to town filling in my design. Be very careful during this stage & do not, I repeat do not, shake your pen over your board because you'll get a nasty mess that is tricky to clean up. Take it from the girl who almost had a meltdown from doing this. :) 


After you have your text looking just how you want it, let it dry thoroughly. (I use a blowdryer to help speed up the drying process, because I suffer from a bad case of having limited to no patience.) After its nice & dry, break out your antiquing medium. I used a similar process with this as with my Deer Painting minus the damp paper towel. A dry paper towel is more than enough to wipe off any excess, & if you use a damp one it will take your writing off, too. Here is where the crackle detail really comes out! 

Detail of the crackle. 

I was super happy (& still am!) with how it turned out. This project ended up costing me a little more than I had originally expected - probably upwards of $40. But, I didn't mind, because it was for my engagement pictures after all! And the whole reasoning behind it was to use it in a picture for our actual save the date cards. Since we are only temporarily in Virginia & in a fully furnished apartment, I don't have any of my home decor stuff out, but I can't wait to make a wall collage of some of our engagement & wedding pictures with this sign!

Our save the dates!

If you like our engagement pictures, be sure to check out Emily Lester Photography! She's amazing!! http://emilylesterphotography.com/index2.php#/home/