Yami

February 19, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

Look for Less Challenge DIY Wood Tray

Happy Hump Day!

Today is the Look for Less and I am excited to share my take on a very, very, VERY expensive Neiman Marcus tray.

This project was actually chosen by my subscribers for this month’s Look for Less Challenge and I was happy to take on the task. The original inspiration was from Neiman Marcus at a whopping $275!

At that price, it’s a no go for me.

I could buy a whole couch for that!

And just in case you don’t believe the price, here is the proof below. 😱

*Some of the links below are affiliate links. See full disclosure for full details. *

I believed I had just the items to recreate this as well.

I know you have seen the tumbling tower blocks at Dollar Tree. Many people use them to make DIY’s out of them. And while I have used them in the past as part of DIYs, this was my first time attempting a project made completely out of them.

I used 6 boxes total.

First, I painted some of them white. I used the color Vintage White by Folkart.

I apologize for the blurry image, but I wanted to make sure you saw that for this paint application (if you attempted to recreate this), you will need to paint the wider side of each wood piece for this part.

Okay, so after that… I took a frame that I already had from Dollar Tree (which I had made into another project, but it kinda flopped) and began hot gluing the pieces onto the frame, making sure that I kept a white-wood-white-wood pattern.

Because the wood pieces were longer that the frame, some of them stuck out on either side.

You can always see the tutorial here as well:

I worked my way down the frame. I used school glue to adhere them to each other while at the same time using hot glue to adhere them to them frame. I felt this worked best and the school glue acted like wood glue and bonded the pieces well together.

Once that was done, I sanded the top surface to smooth everything out and then repainted a couple of the blocks that lost their pigment due to the sanding.

After that it was time to add the sides, but first I needed to paint some more wood pieces. This time, I needed to paint the narrower sides and one end of each.

See image below….

Then, I glued them side by side following the same pattern. I glued the side walls together with school glue and then once they were dry, I hot glued the entire piece to each of the 4 sides of the tray.

I am not going to lie, this took patience!

The tray was taking shape, but it needed something else.

The original had handles so I took a small dowel left over from another project and I cut several pieces with my favorite mini saw kit.

I painted them with my Brushed Metal paint in Bronze and then once dry, I hot-glued the on as well.

Finally, I added one coat of Mod Podge in a Matte finish and I was done!

This dupe cost me $7 because I had pretty much everything, but if you need to purchase the items for it all, then it would cost anywhere from $10 to $12.

Sill not bad, I think!

And while the handles aren’t functional, the tray is. And it’s pretty sturdy.

Let me know what you think below!

I will see you in the next one, until then…. adios!

February 14, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

Dollar Tree Farmhouse Bathroom Sign

Hey there friends! I almost thought I was not going to be able to post this week, but alas, I made it! The hubby and I are trying to get ahead on some renovation projects now that our flooring fiasco has been resolved.

If you don’t know, when we removed our carpets we found that the previous homeowners used to let their pets use the bathroom on their carpet…. constantly…. like FOREVER! So when we lifted the carpet, we found the subfloor completely saturated and damaged in several areas and we had to fix it.

This week on my channel I did share the exactly what we found and what we did to remedy the situation and how we reduced our costs. It was bad, but we learned a lot and are happy to share our experience because you never know who might be in a similar situation.

So if you or someone you know has damaged subfloors check out the video here.

Okay so now for the cute farmhouse sign above.

Yes it was a Dollar Tree DIY and it was so easy to make!

Here are a few things I used for a quick reference:

The following links are affiliate links, for full disclosure please go here.

First off, I used this cute sign from Dollar Tree.

I removed the jute string and began giving it a coat of white chalk paint.

I gave the entire piece 2 coats (making sure to get the flipping part of the sign on both sides).

Next, I searched online for the male and female bathroom signage and printed it out on cardstock.

I cut it down to size with an exacto knife and made to make the opening for the flipping sign.

As always you can see the full tutorial in video format as well…

Dollar Tree Farmhouse Bathroom Sign

Then, I applied Mod Podge to the sign to adhere it.

Now you must be thinking why I would paint the sign only to Mod Podge over it. Well…since the sign was so colorful, had I not done so, the pattern would have shown through the cardstock and it would have looked terrible.

Once that was dry, I did the smaller sign… I basically used font already on my computer and made sure that the words fit inside the smaller rectangle.

I cut the words out with a paper cutter so that the lines would be nice and straight. Mine is from Hobby Lobby, but here is a similar one.

So while that was drying, I cut a dowel (5/8″ of an inch) in order to make a frame for the exterior.

I cut them down with my mini miter kit that has been so great for so many craft projects!

Then I applied my favorite antiquing wax to the dowels.

I applied it with a small brush and removed the excess with a paper towel. It has such a beautiful finish!

I adhered them to the sign with hot glue and removed any glue residue that might have seeped through with my exact knife.

Finally, I added some jute string on the back and it was ready to hang!

You would never know it was a Dollar Tree sign to begin with!

Use it on the exterior of a bathroom door or inside your bathroom for just decor.

And I love that it flips! So cute! It would actually be functional at parties too cause people could actually change out the verbiage to let people know someone is inside.

Let me know what you think and don’t forget to PIN!

And I will see you next time! Until then, adios!

February 10, 2020 By Yami 1 Comment

Our 2020 Plans for our Fixer Upper

Happy Monday! Now that February is well underway and I got a few DIY’s completed, I thought I would share this year’s plans for our home. As you know we moved into our forever “farmhouse” on 2.5 acres this past October and since then things have been a little crazy.

I feel like now is finally a good time to get projects moving along and (hopefully) completed. There are so many things on this list, I hope I am alive by the end of the year… but for real, if done at a steady pace, it should all get done just fine.

As always, you can watch/listen to this post on the go by playing the video below:

First off I would like to finish the sunroom which I started back in late October. We painted the walls and the tile floors, but here is the before…

(These images are from the listing of the house so everything is empty. I wish I knew who took them so I could properly credit and also let them know how amazing they are because the house doesn’t look like that in real life, LOL!)

Of course, it looks better now, but I will need to add blinds and window treatments as well as more decorative pieces. You can see the furnishings in this post.

Next, we need to finish the laundry room. We started working on it this past November as well but we took a brief halt when I went to the hospital and then switched our focus to enjoying the holidays so not much happened since then.

This ended up being more than we bargained for because as you can see the opening below covers part of the washer and dryer below which made up purchase a new top loader set even though we brought a perfectly good front loader set from our last laundry room.

RELATED: Laundry Room Progress

But even after buying them new, we still had to make the opening larger. We had to take it to the studs and move them out further and replace the header. This was all done by my hubby by the way.

So while we were at it he removed the popcorn ceiling, painted, retiled and added new baseboards.

You can watch the process here.

Of course, there is still more to do because I need storage, so I created a design board for this space in order to finalize how I wanted everything to look.

I create these all the time because it helps me figure out whether or not what I envision will actually look good and it keeps me focused on getting what is on my vision board and doesn’t allow me to stray (too far at least…).

If you have ever wanted to learn how to make one, I share exactly how I made this one (without expensive editing software or any photoshop skills).

Full tutorial here.

Next, and probably the biggest thing will be the floors and guess what, we have a teeny tiny budget for this, so completing it will take a serious amount of ingenuity and hard work on our part. We wish to add hardwoods to the entire first floor.

But before that we need to remove the popcorn ceilings all over the first floor, which my hubby has already started (full tutorial coming up soon).

The first 3 rooms that have to get completed are the kids, but of course they all need:

New Floors
Smooth Ceilings
New Closet Systems (since our closets are so much smaller in this house)
Add New Paint
Install New Trim Around The Windows
Order and Install New Blinds
New Light Fixtures
Install New Baseboards

I will be so happy once they are in their rooms. It will be nice for them to get their own space.

After that we will tackle the kids/hallway bath. This will actually be my son’s bath as well as the guests. The girls will have their own bathroom but it’s much larger and we probably won’t be able to redo it until next year.

We thought that since this one was in the hallway it would be best to redo so any guests can use it as well.

Not that we have any guests other than my parents cause my house is total disaster right now. 😩

Of course we need to remove the popcorn ceilings out of the rest of the main floor – kitchen, living and hallway.

The house is also a bit dark, so we need to add quite a bit of recessed lighting throughout.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am that my husband is in the electrical field.

Of course, I would also like to add shiplap throughout several areas of the main floor. Cause I just LOVE shiplap, I mean this is supposed to end up being a legit farmhouse in the end.

One of the things that I am looking forward to is building a pantry. This house does not have one and I have to go all the way down the hallway (to the linen closet) to get my food items.

Cause I totally set up my pantry in there. 😜

It’s not a terrible situation, but I love to forget stuff when I am cooking so most days it’s like running laps.

And my mom gave me a great idea of adding a pantry on the wall between the dining area and living area.

GENIUS! Now you know where I get it from. 😉

I’m so excited and I actually think I can do it all for about $200. I cannot wait to share what I plan for it, but this will most likely happen toward the end of the year.

Lastly for the inside, I would like to paint and decorate my master bedroom. It looks like gray walls, but it’s more of a beige color and it’s not pretty. So I hope I get to do that too.

Then for the outside.

You totally thought I was done, didn’t you?

Welp! Nope.

The outside of the house was really overgrown when we moved in. We have a lot of land but a lot of it is unusable because of the overgrowth. We also had (according to our neighbor) a previous pine beetle infestation issue and a lot of our pines got affected (especially this one that is completely DEAD and dangerously close to our house).

So we will be hiring out the removal of a lot of our problem trees.

If you live in Georgia you know that pine trees love to fall on houses and we don’t want that. Nor would we want one to fall while we are outside, so out they will go and in will come peace of mind.

And the crew coming has an amazing machine that brings such a new concept on tree removal you won’t want to miss. I will definitely record the process. We are looking forward to seeing it get done.

And there are 2 more things for the outside for sure.

One, is installing an above ground pool for the kids. We don’t live in a subdivision anymore and we don’t have access to amenities like that so we need to have our own. We have had one before and love them – they have come a long way and are so huge! Needless to say, the kids are excited about it.

And finally, one more thing for the kids is tackling the playhouse.

When we bought the house, we loved the idea of this playhouse/fort/treehouse.

But before we can get our kids to play on/in it, we want to make sure it’s structurally sound. We want to add new swings and a new slide.

I want to paint it white, add shutters, and basically give my kids the playhouse I never had. 😉

You know you would do the same!

And once the overgrowth is gone it will be a nice open and safe play space (that large tree to the right is not being removed, it’s actually a beautiful hard wood that will supply wonderful shade).

Okay, I am sure I probably missed something. That’s the list for now!

But I am curious to see what you are looking forward to seeing done the most. Let me know below!

If you like before and afters, the next several months are going to be candy to the eye! And I cannot wait to see all of this come together.

I hope to see you in the next one. Until then, adios!

February 4, 2020 By Yami 4 Comments

Farmhouse Inspired Spring Decor DIY’s

Hello dear friends!

Hope you all are having a wonderful week so far. Things were a little crazy over the weekend since we were painting and moving some furniture pieces around the house so we can continue removing the popcorn ceiling in the remaining areas.

Popcorn ceilings are the worst! Ugh!

The good news is that we have a good process now that makes it easy for anyone to tackle this themselves and I cannot wait to share the tips and tricks we have for that, so stay tuned!

In addition, I have my Look for Less Challenge invitation for February up and my co-host for this month is Kat with According to Kat. If you plan on participating make sure to check out the rules in this previous post. This month’s Look for Less projects are due on February the 19th.

Now for today! I thought I would bring you some inspiration in time for Spring with these Farmhouse Inspired Spring Decor DIY’s. I love seeing what other creative bloggers come up with and some of these ideas are just darling!

So here we go…

This first DIY is from Kati over at Houseful of Handmade. Aren’t these precious!? And guess what, they aren’t real metal. They are faux metal wall planters and she shares exactly how to make them on her blog. Check out how easy these are to make.

The second Spring Decor Inspiration piece is from Melissa over at Create and Find. I LOVE this idea! These stripes are perfect and that sweet burlap is the perfect touch. You won’t believe how easy this was to make and how much it looks liker her inspiration piece.

The third inspiration piece is from my dear friend Michelle over at Our Crafty Mom. If you don’t like to spend too much time on an arrangement, this is the piece for you. It took her less than 15 minutes to make and it’s full of farmhouse touch. Sometimes the prettiest things can be so simple.

Now, if you wish to give your hands a little more action and want to take on something a little harder, then try your hand at these DIY plant hangers. Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone is both a blogger/youtuber and she’s been one of my all time favorites! She makes these look so easy too!

And it’s so easy to learn since she offers a blog post and video as well.

Looking for a simple table setting that looks elegant yet farmhouse chic? Then you will love this beautiful table setting from Roxanne over at The Honeycomb Home. Ferns, terra-cotta pots and a neutral palette. It’s so calm yet so Spring! I need to try this in my home.

Of course, there is no Spring decor without a wreath and I have two versions to share!

The first is a simple Eucalyptus wreath made from real greenery from the grocery store no less. It really doesn’t take much to add some greenery to your space! This too came from Roxanne over at The Honeycomb Home.

The second wreath is from Carmen over at Living Letter Home. The colors in the wreath are perfect! Not too soft and not too strong and I love the large scale of this and the addition of the “hello”. Plus, she coordinates this wreath with more Spring decor and everything comes together beautifully.

The following piece is one from yours truly. I made these sweet floral mason jar sconces with fairy lights and they were easier than you would think. I love how the softness of the flowers meet the rustic hook and wood board to create a perfect sconce for any farmhouse wall. Definitely one of my favorite DIY’s.

The next Spring decor inspiration is from Marianne at the Songbird Blog. These terra-cotta planters with a little bit of pastel colors, paired with the perfect flowers in pink and blue are darling! Another simple DIY with such a powerful impact that showcases exactly what Spring is about.

Of course, if terra-cotta pots aren’t your thing, then try something a little more unexpected.

Maria from Simple Decor Nature Blog uses rusty old diary containers and I couldn’t be more in love with these. It’s the perfect combination of old along with youthful blooming flowers. She shares several versions as well on her post!

Lastly, here is another DIY piece from me. If you aren’t into flowers (and that’s totally okay) but would still like ideas for “out of the box” thinking then perhaps you might want to try using something like split peas as a vase filler.

The peas bring the right touch of green, but very subtly. Those rustic hurricanes were a Dollar Tree DIY and you can find out how to create that rustic finish right here.

I hope you enjoyed this sweet little round up! I cannot wait for Spring weather now, can you?

Don’t forget to PIN and share this with your friends.

I will see you in the next one. Until then… adios!

January 31, 2020 By Yami 2 Comments

Trash to Treasure Farmhouse DIYs

Some of the links below are affiliate links, for more information regarding affiliate links, please go to my disclosure page.

Happy Friday!

I could not be happier that the week is coming to an end. I had so much going on this week and I was only able to get 2 posts out. But this one is a great way to end the week, at least for me.😉

You know there are always things in our homes that we think of discarding without a second thought. Perhaps it’s leftover items from a previous project. Maybe you have empty containers, or things that just get forgotten over time and we forget that they’re even there.

No, just me? 🙃

Well, my dear friend Casey over at Coffee with My Sunshine invited me to co-host her “Using Trash to Create Treasure” Challenge on her YouTube channel. Of course, I was happy to oblige. She and I started YouTube about the same time and it has been so great to help each other along the way.

The premise is simple, take whatever might be considered “trash” around your home and make treasure out of it.

I went looking around my home and here are a few things I found (I did find more afterwards, but they aren’t pictured below).

Things found…

Cut poster boards from a project my husband did last month, that was leftover.
Leaves from when I did my Valentines topiary and wreath and only used the roses.
An old yankee candle that was completely used up and some cardboard crosses from packaging when I purchased some glass bowls from Dollar Tree.

I think I had a good base to start from.

I knew I wanted to create a farmhouse sign from the poster board. It looked like a chalk board so the first thing I did was get my Poplar boards that I always have on hand from Home Depot.

They come in 3 foot lengths and are only $1.05 a piece! Perfect for quick DIY’s.

I cut them so that they would fit slightly around the poster board.

I stained them with my favorite wood tint in Walnut. The reason I love this wood tint so much is that it is water-based and it doesn’t smell like stain so it’s perfect to work with in the winter months cause there are no harsh smells and you can use it indoors easily .

After I was done, I set that aside to dry and started working on the greenery. I took the leftover leaves from my Dollar Tree bushes and I took a round piece of heavy duty floral wire from the Dollar Tree that I already had.

I cut it to make one round piece and glued the ends to close it.

Then I glued leaves all around it to cover all of the purple.

I took more leaves and folded them in half in order to cut them into smaller leaves (to resemble like a boxwood leaf). Then I began gluing them all over the round piece.

If you have more than one color of leaf, the better it will look. I kept adding until I was happy with how it looked.

After my little wreath was done, I got the poster board and I added beautiful ticking stripe ribbon from Hobby Lobby that I had on hand, to one end of the poster board. I secured it by hot-gluing it to the back.

It was time to assemble the sign so I took the poplar boards and placed them faced down on the table.

I got some large craft sticks that I had, cut off the rounded ends and hot glued them on the sign in order to hold the pieces together (no power tools required since this sign is very light in weight).

Okay so next I added some more of that ribbon to the wreath.

I placed it on top of the first ribbon and hot-glued the top piece over the back of the poster board as well.

Then I added the frame (but didn’t glue it to the poster board yet).

It should look like this…

Then came the real fun!

I have had a Cameo for a while, just hadn’t had the time to use it, and today was the day!

I created the Spanish version of “Bless Our Home” and I was so excited to finally create my own personalized sign!

Which leads to a QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT!

Remember, when I said I will be opening my own online shop this year? Well, one of the items that I will be selling is decals for signs!

But that’s not the best of it, I haven’t seen anyone creating signs in Spanish or even Spanglish so I thought it would be perfect to be able to do that for my Spanglish community! I will have English, Spanish and Spanglish decals in my shop and I am so exited.

There are a lot of things I have to take care of and learn behind the scenes, but I am hoping to release my first designs in the next few weeks, fingers crossed!

Okay, so back to the finished sign!

Here she is!

I noticed that when I hot glued the poster board to the back of the frame I accidentally did it a little high and the work “Bendice” is kinda close to the frame, but hey at least it’s just poster board and I can always fix it later.

I mean look at that mini wreath! 😍

They were leftover leaves people!

I was so happy with how this turned out!

But wait, there’s more Trash to Treasure!!!

I created 3 more projects for the collaboration.

A ticking stripe etched glass candle Hurricane from the Yankee Candle Container (you can etch glass so easy with this).

I also created this Swiss Cross sign with the cardboard “crosses” and even more trash that I found when I was creating it.

This girl keeps ERRRRTHANG!

And then finally a heart made out of corks, more of the black poster board and ribbon.

If you love these, you can watch the tutorial on how I made them below.

More Trash to Treasure Farmhouse DIYs

Timestamps

Etched Candle Hurricane: 5:33

Swiss Cross Sign: 8:28

Cork Heart: 10:44

I hope you enjoyed this Trash to Treasure!

I will see you in the next one!

Until then, adios!

January 27, 2020 By Yami 5 Comments

Thrift Store Makeovers Episode 1

Some of the links below are affiliate links, for a better explanation, please see full disclosure here

Happy Monday!

I have a thrifted DIY for you all today, but this one is coming from a different angle.

Usually when I share a post like this, I share clear step by step tutorials that work out fine, but unfortunately not all of my DIY’s turn out that way. As a matter of fact, some of them hit some bumps and this one was one of them indeed.

Oh yes… 🤦🏻‍♀️

So for this post, I thought I would share everything I did (that I ended up NOT liking) and then the simple steps I took to actually get it to look the way I wanted to in the end.

Sometimes, it’s too easy to complicate things and that is just what I did here, but hey, we are all human.

Supplies I used (including some that didn’t make it to the end result):

Last week, I shared my thrift haul on my Youtube channel and I shared this cute metal tin. I loved the pattern and style, just not the color.

So I thought I would add some Peppercorn (which I LOVE by the way) to the base.

Then I added some Brushed Bronze to the top and bottom legs. This is the same Brushed Bronze paint I used on my faux vintage bells.

I even dry-brushed some on the peppercorn.

Then I dry-brushed some of my white chalk paint.

But it looked too intense. So I decided to add watered-down chalk paint to all of it and then wipe it off.

Talk about disaster!

I had to step back a minute and relax and rethink this through.

After an hour or so I came back and went back to the beginning. This time I painted everything (except for the feet and round handles) with the Brushed Bronze.

And then to age it, I mixed a little bit of the white chalk paint with the antiquing wax and literally began to finger paint! It was like I was back in elementary school.

And guess what?!

I actually had fun this time around!

As it turns out, that was all this piece needed.

So simple, yet so chic.

I love the textures and the bright bronze along with the white distressed look.

I added a little greenery and it was perfect.

And check out this side-by-side!

I was also happy to try out a new color. I love all things white, but this goes perfect with so many things as well (like my neutral Valentine’s DIY’s)

Since I was so happy with how this turned out I tried my had at another thrift store flip…

I love finding cute little urns in thrift stores and it doesn’t matter what they are made out of, you can give them a faux cement look! This is actually the second time I have done this and now I want to have a little collection of them.

If you are interested in seeing how I made this little urn look like a cement one, you can see the steps in the video below:

Timestamp: 3:19

Thrift Store Makeovers Episode 1

I asked my subscribers if they were interested in a thrift store makeover series and the votes are in! They loved it so I will be sharing more thrift store transformations like this!

As always, don’t forget to share this with someone who would love it!

You can PIN it here.

I will see you soon! Until then, adios!

January 24, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

How to Make a Mood Board

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. For more information on that, please see full disclosure

Happy Friday everyone! We made it!

I will be honest, I almost thought I wouldn’t. This week was super stressful, my littlest is getting sick and I don’t feel so great myself. I am looking forward to wrapping up the housework for the week today and spending a quiet evening relaxing with the family.

But before I do that I wanted to share how I create my mood boards for my home decor projects. This tutorial has been a long time coming and I have been asked so many times to share this on my YouTube channel, so today is the day!

Now, these are called so many things… mood boards, design boards, vision boards… and they are all okay.

If you have been here a while you would have seen these a time or two (or three of four). Like when I did my great room in my last house…

My kitchen in my last house…

And even my sunroom for our current house… (the list goes on).

And since I still needed to create one for my laundry room, I thought I would take you along so that you can see my exact process and how easy it is!

Now, you are probably wondering why I do this and if it is necessary.

Well, there are 2 main reasons I like to create them.

I have what you call the “squirrel” syndrome and I get distracted by all the pretty things. So I like to take all those things that I like and put them together in order to see if they actually go together well. I get that actual visual that either tells me “Yes, girl! That’s what I want!” or “Eh, you might want to keep tweeking.” And since I am a visual person, this helps me to create a cohesive look.
Again, the”squirrel” syndrome comes into place here as well. A Mood Board keeps me on track! I get distracted and tempted to buy things that I don’t need. By having this board, I get to stick to my key design elements and actually finish the entire project. Imagine that!

So if you are like me, and need a little bit of structure this is for you.

I created a video tutorial for this so you can actually see me in action. How I get images, crop them, add them and place them on my board.

So grab your coffee and take notes.

And here is what the final laundry room mood board looks like!

I think it turned out pretty well!

And if you are wondering about any of the sources above, here they are:

Barn Doors
Laundry Room Sign
Washer & Dryer
Mosaic Tiles (If you don’t know how to tile (or don’t wish to, I have a tutorial on how paint your floors to look like them and share where to get the stencils).
Rustic Shelves
Sage Cabinet
Laundry Basket
Metal Lint Bin
Grid Wire Small Bin with Canvas Liner
Glass Spray Bottles (Get a 5 Piece Mrs. Meyer’s Set for FREE with purchase)

Let me know what you think of the tutorial and how you like my vision board for my laundry room!

Don’t forget to PIN and share with your friends!

I will see you guys soon!

Until then, adios!

January 22, 2020 By Yami 1 Comment

DIY Dollar Tree Faux Vintage Bells

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, please see full disclosure for more details.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I apologize for not having a new post on Monday, but if you follow me on either Facebook or Instagram, you would have seen that I was taking the day off since my kiddos were home from school and yesterday was my birthday.

So here we are today with the first Look for Less challenge of the year. If you don’t know what the Look for Less Challenge is, it’s where I ask my fellow YouTubers (and you of course) to recreate something you love from a higher end home decor store, but for a whole lot less.

If you wish to join definitely check out my previous post with all of the details and rules as well as my co-host for the month of January.

RELATED: My First Look for Less

Since this is my first Look for Less in several months, I wanted to start off kinda small just so I can start catching the rhythm of things as well as make sure it was a project anyone at home could do.

Over the holidays I had seen these vintage bells over on Ballard Designs’s website and I fell in love (with the bells, not the price tag).

I mean, they were on sale, but $36 for one bell is just too much, at least for me.

So, also over the holidays, I had bought some Dollar Tree Christmas Bells that I never used this year because of my move.

Ignore the white one from Target Dollar Spot. I thought I was going to use it for this, but then changed my mind.

Let’s just focus on those plastic brassy ones.

I knew that with some minor changes and some paint I could make them look vintage so the first thing I did was remove the greenery.

Since the were both the exact same bell, I wanted them to look slightly different so with my woodturning kit (using the cutting tool) I cut the top off one of them.

Total hack job I know! It was my first time. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I had some wood finials and beads and decided to hot glue it on the top of that one.

Then I used some of my brushed metal paints by Plaid and gave everything one coat with a chip brush. I used a chip brush making all of my strokes horizontal, because I wanted the paint to have texture like metal would.

Paint used for this faux vintage bell:

Brushed Metal in Brushed Black
Brushed Metal in Brushed Bronze

I let it sit to dry and then gave it another coat… I ended up giving it 3 coats total always making sure to continue the horizontal strokes.

So far so good, but then it was time to add something more.

Some bronze to be exact.

With a chip brush, you will dry brush the bronze paint onto the bell, this time using vertical strokes. Once you dry brushed a section, take a paper towel and kind of rub in and rub off the excess from the dry brushing.

The brush stroke on the front was my initial dry brush stroke, but to the left you can see after I rubbed the previous stroke with a paper towel.

And that is all there is to that version.

You can also watch the video tutorial as well here:

DIY Dollar Tree Faux Vintage Bells

Here is what I did to the other one.

First, I wanted it to have a hanging hoop (just for show, not function) so I used one of the book (or binder) rings that you can get from the Dollar Tree.

I hooked it through the top of the bell and hot glued it to place from the inside. Then I added a little wood ball to the top of the bell.

Afterwards I used a dry erase marker to make 2 lines all around the bell.

I then took my “line” piece from my wood burning kit and burned those lines all the way around.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, remember… vintage.

Next, I began to paint the bell.

Here are the paints I used for this faux vintage bell:

Folkart Acrylic Peppercorn
Brushed Metal in Brushed Dark Gray
Folkart Treasure Gold
Antiquing Wax

I applied one layer of the Peppercorn using horizontal strokes again.

Next, I applied the Brush Dark Gray in vertical strokes.

After that was dry I came in with the Treasure Gold and I used a small pencil brush to apply it in the lines.

Then I began dry brushing more gold all over. Wiping down the gold after it was dry-brushed on. I used horizontal strokes here.

I love all the texture the opposite strokes gave this bell!

Finally it was still looking too “clean” and “crisp” to me so I took some of my favorite antiquing wax, mixed it with some water, and brushed it all over the bell, wiping off the excess to dry it (it will be a little runny).

This stuff is awesome for so many things! If you don’t have some, you should get some STAT!

It finally started looking aged.

And that was it for that one as well….

Here they are both finished! You would never think they were plastic and brassy at one point.

I love that they were both the same yet turned out so different.

You can definitely use anything you have on hand that might work for the handles.

And if you don’t have any of these bells from Dollar Tree, I see a ton of old porcelain ones at thrift stores all the time that would work just as well!

So simple yet so chic! I love how they turned out.

Let me know which version you liked below!

Don’t forget to PIN and share with your friends as well!

I will see you in the next one!

January 17, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

Dollar Tree Valentines Sign

Some of the links below may be affiliate links, please see full disclosure for more info

Happy Friday!

We have made it to the end of the work week and I am happy that I’m still alive with this being the end of week 2 of my fitness and health routine. Whew!

I wanted to end the week on another sweet Valentine’s note since you all seemed to enjoy the wreath and topiary that I have already created. The only difference is this time I am going completely farmhouse neutral.

The items I used were from Dollar Tree and a couple of items I had left over from other projects. Plus, it is super easy to recreate!

Can I get a heck yeah!

Dollar Tree Valentine’s Sign How To:

First you will need a Dollar Tree frame (I used the square one below) and some scrapbook paper. I got this paper from Hobby Lobby and it has a ship lap print. It was left over from my DIY farmhouse picture frames.

First, I removed the back of the sign and cut the scrapbook paper to fit.

I used a glue stick to adhere it to the back of the sign (where it had no print).

Then I used one of the same hearts from my Valentine’s garland and this time I stained it with with a little bit of antiquing wax. I watered it down a bit and just brushed the “stain” on and removed any excess with a paper towel.

Once that was dry I added a metal heart from another Dollar Tree sign and I glued it on with some E6000.

After that was in place, I threaded a burlap ribbon through the top hole of the heart.

Then it was time to assemble.

I placed the frame face down and then laid the heart down on top with the ribbon hanging over the frame. I adjusted the ribbon to where I wanted it to go and then put the back on. I held the ribbon on the back of the frame with a little bit of tape.

And that was it!

This is perfect for anyone not wanting to go all out with pinks and reds for Valentine’s Day. I love the look of the heart. It almost looks like a necklace hanging.

Sweet and simple, yet elegant and farmhouse of course… 😉

And of course it coordinates perfectly with last year’s Valentine’s LOVE sign as well.

If you don’t like things completely neutral you can always add your personal touch by changing or adding some color. 😉

And if you are feeling truly inspired to create this weekend, check out my 2 coastal farmhouse DIY’s perfect for Valentine’s as well.

This was my first time making a tassel… not as easy as it looks people! 😳

And then another sign…

You can find those tutorials in the video below!

I hope you enjoyed these as well! Have a blessed weekend.

As always don’t forget to PIN and share these with your friends!

Until next time, adios!

January 15, 2020 By Yami 2 Comments

Dollar Tree Valentines DIY Topiary

Some of the links below are affiliate links, see full disclosure for more details.

Happy Wednesday!

Now, is it just me or is January moving so quickly? I mean, my birthday is next week and I don’t even know how we got here. I feel like I was just taking down Christmas decor and all of a sudden I am getting another… year…. older…

Ya’ll I am not ready. 40 is creeping up and I am freaking out! Can these next 3 years just go really slow… I mean like really slow.

Snail pace people!

Okay, enough with the age talk…

>>>>Before I go on with the tutorial I did just share my latest thrift store haul on my channel so if you love thrifted treasures and wish to check out what I scored head on over to the video here<<<

Now back to the DIY… I hope you enjoyed the last Valentine’s DIY. I really love how that wreath turned out.

Today’s DIY is just as dreamy. This topiary is the perfect compliment to the wreath and I use the same colors for the roses so they coordinate if you want to maintain a consistent theme.

Here’s what you need:

Dollar Tree Valentines DIY Topiary Supplies

Metal Bucket
Rose Bushes
Dowel
Floral Foam
Jute
Nautical Rope (I used both white and brown)
Hot Glue
Toy Ball
Floral Moss
Wood Tint (or stain)
Chalk Paint (or paint of your choice)

I used a bucket from Christmas that I had left over and the white nautical rope is from Hobby Lobby. It’s $1.99 but I bought it at half off and they carry it all the time.

First thing I did was hot glue the rope onto the bucket. I started with the brown rope and worked from the bottom up.

Make sure to keep the rope straight and when you wrap around back to itself, keep the “step up” to the next row tight and clean so that it looks nice.

Once you get to 2/3 of the way, cut the rope and start with the white. Now, this white nautical rope unravels really easy so make sure to take a little hot glue and seal the end so that it doesn’t come undone.

Then proceed to wrap.

When I got to the handles I stopped and I used jute string to wrap the handles. Make sure to start really low on the handles so the white rope can cover the ends.

With the jute, I took my time and added a little bit of hot glue at a time. Don’t overlap the jute either. Just keep wrapping it next to each other keeping it nice and clean.

After I did both handles, I continued with the white rope.

Once I reached the top, I cut off the end and frayed it and glued it to the inside of the bucket. This creates less bulk and allows it to adhere to the wall of the bucket better.

Next, just to be safe, I painted the top portion of the inner bucket with white chalk paint. I knew I was going to fill the bucket in but just in case there was a peek through, you wouldn’t see any red.

After the bucket was finished I took a broken dowel left over from another project and applied my favorite wood tint and let it sit to dry.

Next, I had these toy balls from Dollar Tree and I took one of them.

I drilled a hole the size of the dowel through it.

Next, I took the same rose bushes that I used on my wreath and I pulled them off the stems as well.

*Remember that when you remove the backing that keeps the roses together after you remove them from the stems, you have to glue the center of the petals together or they won’t stay together.

Then I simply hot glue the roses onto the ball.

I started at the top with the white and worked my way down with the darker colors creating an ombré effect.

Once I was done adding roses, I inserted the dowel.

I then took some floral foam and added it to the bucket.

I inserted the dowel…

And then I hot glued some floral moss to the bottom.

Finally, all I did was add a bow to the dowel and a little wooden heart (also from Dollar Tree) to the bottom of the stem, and I was done!

I love that this topiary can easily transition into Spring decor simply by removing the heart.

And can we talk about the bucket turned coastal farmhouse basket? I LOVE how it turned out and now I want to do it to all the things!

I hope you enjoyed this cute Valentines DIY Topiary.

And if you are interested in a 3rd DIY check out this cute banner (or garland, whichever you prefer to call it😉).

You can always see how I made it in the video below!

Timestamp: 10:30

Don’t forget to share with someone you think would enjoy this!

I will see you soon!

Until… then adios!

January 13, 2020 By Yami 4 Comments

Dollar Tree Valentines DIY Wreath

Some of the links below are affiliate links. Please see full disclosure here for more info.

Happy Monday!

Hope you all had a wonderful and restful weekend. My parents came over to spend the weekend and it was nice. My mom helped me out with the kids while I did some laundry and my dad helped the hubby work on fixing drywall, adding spackle and sanding areas in the kids’ bedrooms. It was productive, but we still have so much left to do.

I thought I would kick off the week with a sweet Valentine’s DIY fromhere(yes, it’s all from Dollar Tree).

This year I am going with softer more romantic hues, since last year I did more reds with buffalo check details.

Dollar Tree Valentines DIY Wreath Supplies”

Heart Tinsel Wreath
Chalk Paint ( I used this one)
Rose Bushes (3 different colors for ombré effect)
Burlap Ribbon
Glue Gun
Twine

First you will need this heart sign.

Remove the “love” and the tinsel.

Next you will need to paint the inner grid. I chose white chalk paint however, you can choose whichever color suits your color scheme.

Give it 2 full coats (you will not need to paint the exterior borders).

Next you will take the burlap wired ribbon from Dollar Tree, cut it to fit the heart shape horizontally and vertically because you are about to weave it through the grid like a basket.

I started with all of the horizontal rows.

Then I added the verticals.

Here is what it should look like.

Once you are done with the “basket weave” you will glue the ends of the ribbon to the border of the heart frame with hot glue.

RELATED: 4 Valentines Day DIY’s

Then when they are all glued down you will need to cut off the excess ribbon all around the border.

After that I chose to use 3 different types of roses from Dollar Tree that all coordinated well.

I remove the rose heads from their stems first.

And then glued them on the perimeter of the wreath.

In order for the roses not to come apart after you cut down the small piece of them stem holding them together you will have to add hot glue throughout the inside centers of the petals so that they stick together.

I began at the bottom and worked my way up. I used the dark roses first, then lighter peach ones and then the white ones.

Once they were all adhered, I added a little piece of jute to hang it from the back.

And this wreath was done!

I love the basket weave detail with the beautiful transition between the roses creating a beautiful ombré effect.

You hang it on a door, over a fireplace, above a bed…. and you can change it up depending on your preferred color scheme.

How do you like it? Would you give it a try?

Know someone who might like this? Don’t forget to share this with your friends and PIN this for later!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Until next time, adios!

January 10, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

The results are in! Allergy Testing

Happy Friday! This week has gone super great and while you read this I am probably getting my hair done…. cause my ends were in serious need of a trim. It has been too long since I had my last haircut and it’s time to get my hair in order for this New Year, plus my birthday is coming up and I need to look halfway decent.

Just sayin’!

As you know a few weeks ago I shared my trip to the ER.

I go into a lot more detail about it in this video. But basically I got a severe allergic reaction after we removed the carpet on the upstairs floors. It was bad and it took a serious toll on my entire health.

Since then a lot my subscribers asked whether or not I was tested for allergies.

Well I did, and I got the results to share…

As always, you can hit play to listen to the updates in the corresponding video below or keep reading below.

By the way, have you had any allergy tests done? They do a number on your back!

Literally and figuratively! 🤦🏻‍♀️

They tested me for errrrrthang!

And, I will admit I was a little anxious while in the room waiting for the tests to commence. It was so weird sitting there not-knowing what was going to come of all this, especially when I look over the kit with all the “allergens” just sitting on the counter near me (next to the Parents magazine).

I didn’t know how it would feel.

Would it hurt?

Would I break out in hives?

Would I get sick again?

And then the nurse came in….

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!

It was time.

So they lay you face down on the table/bed and start to number your back. Once they are done, they begin to “scratch” your back with those little allergens.

And here is what it looked like.

Yep! Real sexy.

Each line represented a different class and each number was a different allergen.

As you can see the 3rd from the left was all positive from top to bottom.

I wanted to scratch the skin off my back soooo bad!!!! 😩

Luckily once the doctor came back in to evaluate, I was able to get some topical relief.

It immediately started feeling better once they applied the creme, but my back looked bad for the rest of the day and a lot of those little bumps stayed on my back for at least a week.

The results…..

I am allergic to ALL THE GRASSES! YAY!

Which is why I am so miserable in the Spring.. looking forward to it. 🙄

But absolutely nothing else came up positive.

Nothing on pet dander, both cats and dogs, dust mites, mold, latex, even something called a “Cockroach mix” EW! Whatever that is! 🤢

Nada.

The best thing the doctor could conclude was that it was a viral reaction to whatever was underneath the carpets. Apparently when we removed the carpet, the viral “stuff” was released and came into contact with me and my body did not like it at all.

Of course, there is always the option of if being an idiopathic allergic response which is a more intellectual way of saying ” We don’t know what the heck happened!”

But, most likely it was the pet urine/feces left behind by the previous owner’s pets.

Of course back when all this was happening a lot of my viewers were concerned that there was mold in the house. There was an inspection on the house prior to buying it, but nothing was detected/reported.

BUT….

(there always a but)

There’s more to this saga.

After all this happened, the rest of the carpet on the main floor had to go. So my hubby and my dad removed the rest of the carpets in the house including the basement carpet and ceiling tiles.

You can watch the entire process here.

It was the first time my husband took over my channel and filmed the entire video as I was not able to be present due to my allergic reaction. And of course I had to take the kids away with me so we stayed at my mom’s during this entire ordeal.

After all of that was removed from the home, we figured it was a good time to have the HVAC system ductwork cleaned out.

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!

So we hired a company. They came out and did a full inspection of all ducts and removed the exterior panels of the HVAC units to look inside before they did anything, and what do you guess they found?

Our ducts were squeaky clean!

But wait, there’s bad news too!

They found M-O-L-D 😱

YEP! There happened to have been mold growing inside the HVAC units on the coils! Now before you ask, it was not “black mold” but mold nonetheless.

We had to get it remediated ASAP!

So we went ahead and had them start the sterilization process which consisted of them spraying a “safe” but strong cleansing foam all over the existing mold.

Once that process was done, we went even further and had them install the PCO Air Purifier in each of the HVAC units as well.

Basically UV Rays that KILL EVERYTHING.

You can see a video of how this specific system actually works and what it gets rid of that might be in your air at home HERE.

This hurt us…. well our wallets actually because it was expensive for just one unit – and we have 3…

THREE….

TRES!

🤦🏻‍♀️

Well, there goes our flooring budget right out the window.

However, I will say it had to be done.

No questions.

I didn’t want to continue breathing that stuff and I sure as heck didn’t want my kids breathing it in either!

And let me tell you, that first night that we slept in the house with those purifiers installed, we noticed a change right away! And now my littlest who seemed to have a runny nose that we couldn’t get rid of since moving into this house, now does not have one!

We had no idea and felt terrible, but we are so happy she is better now.

Well, that’s all of the things I was dealing with over the holidays last year.

And why there hasn’t been much done in our Fixer Upper yet.

Good news is I am doing better (everyone is) and hopefully we can get some projects rolling soon.

That’s it for now and I will see you next time, until then… adios!

January 8, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

How to Get the Look For Less for Your Home

Happy Hump Day everyone!

I hope your week has gone off to a great start. We have a new routine in the household since I am on a new health plan and so far so good – it’s actually working better than what I was doing before (imagine that).

And today is a great day because today the Look for Less Challenge starts back up! It’s been forever since I hosted one of these and I cannot be happier that I am able to make the time again.

If you are not familiar with the Look for Less Challenge, it’s a challenge I host every month with a difference co-host (I host it on my YouTube channel, but I will share the projects I create here as well).

In the challenge we ask you to recreate a home decor piece from a higher end store for a whole lot less.

Cause who doesn’t love to drool over Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs and even Frontgate magazines, but never actually buy anything.

No, just me? C’mon!

You know I am a fan of having a home that looks and feels like a million bucks, but I don’t have that kind of money, so I recreate instead.

And out of that I get a great sense of accomplishment, I end up with beautiful pieces for my home, and I get to save some money along the way.

So for the challenge we ask anyone interested to join in on the fun!

If you are a YouTuber you can add your video to a playlist link that I will provide on the day the projects are due. If you are not a YouTuber, you can tag me on Instagram @thelatinanextdoor to share your project as well.

This month the co-host is my friend NataLee from Designed to the Nines. She loves recreating Pottery Barn pieces so if you love the store, but not the prices definitely check her out!

There are 2 weeks to complete the challenge – projects are due Wednesday January 22,nd at 6am EST (the day after my birthday, just sayin!)

It needs to be a home decor piece, as small or as large as you want.

And we want to see the inspiration piece as well as how much it costs, along with the recreated piece this way we can see how well you did and how much you saved.

You can view the video with the invitation to join here.

This challenge is perfect to get inspired by others who wish to decorate their home on a budget. We get many entries every month and some of the projects are simply amazing! So if you are looking to redecorate for the new year while saving some money, head on over to check out the fun!

And of course if you want some inspiration right here and right now, check these Look for Less Projects below!

There’s plenty to choose from:

This one seems complicated but it’s so easy!

This was the most tedious, but the most rewarding and my favorite of all my dupes.

My best work with contact paper to date!

I got super lucky with this one!

There were soooooo cheap to make!

This one was surprisingly popular…

Can you tell the difference between these!?

My attempt at Serena & Lily… not my greatest but I tried…

I love how these Pottery Barn Dupes turned out!

My very first one!

Which one above is your favorite? Let me know below!

I will see you soon! Until next time, adios!

January 6, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

Some of the links below may be affiliate links. Please red full disclosure here

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was super busy trying to get everything I needed to get done before the kids went back to school from winter vacation today. I love my kiddos, but boy it’s nice to be back to our regular routine again.

It has been rainy and cold here and since all of the Christmas decor is put away and things are looking a little bare, I thought I would create some winter decor in order to liven things up at home…. and I decided to use leftover wrapping paper.

Is it me or do you always have a ton left over?

Well, I figuredI should put it to good use, especially since some of it is actually really pretty.

I don’t have all of my crafting supplies unpacked yet so I really tried to get as creative as I could with the random items I could find throughout the home and here is what I came up with…

First, I took this glass vase from Dollar Tree, it’s same kind I used for this winter DIY a few years back.

I wiped it down with alcohol to make sure it was super clean and then I measured the outside.

I cut some wrapping to fit around it – you can make this as wide or narrow as you like.

I used a paper cutter to create clean lines (they are so inexpensive and totally worth it if you need straight cuts). Here is a similar one.

And then I added Mod Podge all over the vase. I normally use matte mod podge, but since he paper was glossy I wanted to keep the sheen consistent.

I wrapped the paper around the vase and then applied more Mod Podge on top of the paper to seal it. Once dry I added some navy ribbon to finish off the design. I used a thin line of E6000 to properly secure it on top and on bottom.

And here is how it turned out!

I am currently using it as a candleholder – I used one of those battery operated Dollar Tree ones, but it would also look stunning as a vase with pretty winter greenery inside.

Of course I didn’t stop there…. there’s more DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

Next, I took this really sad frame that I bought at Hobby Lobby for 80% off. I started to do something to it but never finished.

I took some Java Home Decor chalk paint and I painted the frame.

Then I painted over the inside with White Adirondack.

Then I printed this free winter printable I found here and I cut it down to size (the print is much larger but I wanted it to be smaller inside the frame for this project.

I glued it to poster board to give it more stability and weight.

Next I cut out some more wrapping paper to fit inside the frame. I added poster board to the back of it as well.

I glued it to the frame with regular school glue.

Once dry I took these dots from Dollar Tree’s new craft section and add them back to the floral print in order to attached it to the wrapping paper frame.

And that’s it for this one!

I love the contrast between the “flannel” paper and the pretty printable.

I did also make 2 other winter DIY’s as well.

This snowflake wood sign is one of them…

As well as this cute tag to hang on a wreath…

I love how they are all different yet coordinate so well together.

You can check out how to make the 2 snowflake DIY’s on my video since I didn’t want this post to be too long with so many images. The wood sign was made from scratch with a snowflake from Dollar Tree.

And the cute tag is also a Dollar Tree piece as well.

Check the other 2 DIY’s below!

Snowflake Timestamp: 3:10

Snowflake Tag Timestamp: 9:22

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

And finally here is how I styled them on my “new to me” bookcase (that I just bought on FB Marketplace for $30 btw… Woot woot!).

I hope you enjoyed these DIY’s and I will see you soon!

Don’t forget to PIN and share with your friends!

January 3, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

What to Expect in 2020

What to Expect in 2020… For video scroll to end of post

Happy New Year friends! I am so ready to start this New Year and I have a lot of things planned for my site and channel. Last year was kinda crazy, my growth on YouTube was steady and I made some great videos that did really well. Because of this my website hurt a bit, honestly. I wasn’t posting as often and wasn’t really enjoying it much since I wasn’t experiencing the same growth on it as my channel.

RELATED: My Top 10 Videos of 2019

However, toward the end of the year one of my previous Christmas posts went viral and the surge of new traffic nearly broke my internet space – I jumped on it quick and was able to do something about it before my site shut down due to the incoming traffic. And as a result it gave me a sense of hope that this was still worth pursuing.

I have been doing this for many years now and it can get frustrating when you put a ton of work in with little results. But alas. I was able to end 2019 with a little bit of hope.

So for today I will be sharing my plans for this year and what you can expect. Everything mentioned here will be done both on my channel and blog.

First, off I am happy to announce that my Look for Less monthly challenge will come back.

Because of my move, I had to stop this for a while, but it is coming back this month and I am excited about my co-hosts and all of the things I plan on sharing with you all.

If you aren’t familiar with the Look for Less Challenge, it is where I invite YouTubers as well as those at home to recreate a home decor piece from a higher end store and recreate it for less. My co-hosts are all YouTubers, but I will share my projects here on my blog.

Next, I plan on posting 3 times a week.

Yes 3 times! I know, it’s totally ambitious, but I am hoping that having a set schedule will be better for me and you. It will allow consistency and time management on my part, and it will bring more content to you.

Posts will include home decor and DIY tutorials like I have been, but I also hope to share a weekly recap video/post with you all. As you know, we just moved and there is A LOT to do with our Fixer Upper.

These posts will keep things up to date as to the happenings (and not happenings) each week.

You should expect posts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays each week.

Fingers crossed! 🤞🏼

Another item that has been on my mind is to have my own online shop!

Yep!

Every time I say I have an announcement on my Youtube channel a lot of people think it’s my own line of products and boy do I wish it were true!

Of course, I have always thought I am “too small” for anyone to buy anything from, and often doubt any success in anything I might sell. But this is the year that I crush those doubts and just DO IT!

…with Rob as my cheerleader, of course.

So stay tuned for more information on that very soon!

The next item is more recipes!

I practically never post them on here, but the ones I have posted do pretty good (and the flan has gotten great reviews), so I will be adding more of those this year.

And, no, I am NOT the best cook, but I do try and I have a few things up my sleep.

Have you tried my sugar cookies? They are amazeballs!

Next on the agenda are more sewing tutorials!

This is probably the one I am most excited about. I truly love sewing! It’s so calming to me. And while everything I know has been 90% self-taught, I just love the idea of adding unique touches throughout your home, just by simply sewing your own items.

Even if it’s just a simple basket liner….

Or a cute farmhouse tablecloth….

Finally I just want to mention that since my last health scare I haven’t really been the same and I need to take drastic measures into getting healthy again. I won’t be posting a ton about this, but I will be including updates as to how I am doing throughout the next few months.

There is just so much to do here on our Fixer Upper and frankly I need to get healthy in order to do everything I need and want to accomplish.

What to Expect in 2020 (video)

Well, I think that is everything!

I hope you all had a wonderful start to the New Year and I will see you back here on Monday!

December 16, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

DIY Farmhouse Christmas Placeholder

Some of the links below are affiliate links, please see full disclosure here

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well and have gotten quite a bit of Christmas shopping done already. The hubby and I went out today to shop for a few things and it was really nice – we don’t get to go out without the kids often. Just got a couple more gifts to get and we will be done!

You probably know already, but if you don’t I am doing a giveaway on my Youtube channel and today is the last day to enter. So if you want to know what it’s about and how to enter, definitely check it out.

Frankly, I have been feeling the Christmas blues. Since the carpet dilemma and me going to the hospital and finding thing after thing underneath the old carpets (and my house being a complete disaster with boxes and furniture piled high…) I am just not feeling the Christmas spirit.

I have an 1/8 of the amount of Christmas decor up and I am just feeling down about not having a perfectly Christmas-ready home… especially since this is my favorite time of year. I have been beyond frustrated.

I just want floors for Christmas!

Yes, my husband ripped out the floors and documented the whole thing and now we are walking on subfloors. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Send help!

It’s been a rough few weeks.

However, in the attempt to get myself in the spirit of things, I decided to do a little DIY, which is why you are here of course.

I saw these cute ornaments in the Christmas ornament craft section as Hobby Lobby and I just had to get them. I got 2 packs at 50% off of course.

DIY Farmhouse Christmas Placeholder Supplies:

Hot Glue
Wood Tint – Walnut
Galvanized Christmas Tree Ornaments
Tumbling Blocks from Dollar Tree
Ribbon
Cardstock or Posterboard
Stamps/Ink (optional)
Snowflake clip (optional)
Hole punch (optional)

VIDEO TUTORIAL OF FARMHOUSE PLACEHOLDER

I took them out of the packaging and removed their jute strings.

Then I got some tumbling blocks from the Dollar Tree and proceeded to stain them using my favorite wood tint in Walnut (I love it cause it’s water-based and I can use it indoors in the winter because it doesn’t have a strong odor like regular stain).

I had 8 trees so I needed 16 blocks.

Once dry, I hot-glued them together.

They look like little benches.

I added hot glue to the back of the “benches” and glued the trees on.

You could do the next step differently and even print these out, but I decided to use these cute stamps from Michael’s that I got for 99 cents in order to label some placeholders.

And I stamped away! This was actually fun! I can’t remember the last time I stamped anything like this (of course, you would add your guest’s names on the tag, but for the purpose of the post, I just used the word “guest”).

I then needed to punch a hole in the cardstock… you can use a regular hole punch or something a litte fancier.

I attached the tag to the Christmas tree with a ribbon and tied a bow.

And voila! Instant place holder.

Your guests will love them so much they’ll probably want to take them home (which is not a bad idea).

Now, if ribbons aren’t your thing, you can use a snowflake (like this below).

I had a garland from Dollar Tree with these snowflakes on mini clothespins and I just took them off the garland.

And put them on the trees! Can’t get any easier than that, amiriiiiight?

Of course the best part about the snowflake is that you can use it all winter long!

Simple yet farmhouse chic! Love these little guys.

At least crafting got me in a little bit of the Christmas spirit. I wish I had as much to share as last year, but time is running out and most of my stuff is still packed.

I’d love to know what you all think of these little placeholders! I made a set of 8 for well under $10 which I think is great.

Yami

Look for Less Challenge DIY Wood Tray

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You can always see the tutorial here as well:

Dollar Tree Farmhouse Bathroom Sign

So if you or someone you know has damaged subfloors check out the video here.

Here are a few things I used for a quick reference:

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As always you can see the full tutorial in video format as well…

Dollar Tree Farmhouse Bathroom Sign

Our 2020 Plans for our Fixer Upper

As always, you can watch/listen to this post on the go by playing the video below:

(These images are from the listing of the house so everything is empty. I wish I knew who took them so I could properly credit and also let them know how amazing they are because the house doesn’t look like that in real life, LOL!)

Then for the outside.

So here we go…

Trash to Treasure Farmhouse DIYs

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Things found…

Which leads to a QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT!

More Trash to Treasure Farmhouse DIYs

Timestamps

Thrift Store Makeovers Episode 1

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Supplies I used (including some that didn’t make it to the end result):

Thrift Store Makeovers Episode 1

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Well, there are 2 main reasons I like to create them.

And here is what the final laundry room mood board looks like!

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RELATED: My First Look for Less

Paint used for this faux vintage bell:

You can also watch the video tutorial as well here:

DIY Dollar Tree Faux Vintage Bells

Here is what I did to the other one.

Here are the paints I used for this faux vintage bell:

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Dollar Tree Valentine’s Sign How To:

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>>>>Before I go on with the tutorial I did just share my latest thrift store haul on my channel so if you love thrifted treasures and wish to check out what I scored head on over to the video here<<<

Dollar Tree Valentines DIY Topiary Supplies

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Dollar Tree Valentines DIY Wreath Supplies”

As always, you can hit play to listen to the updates in the corresponding video below or keep reading below.

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!

BUT….

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!

But wait, there’s bad news too!

You can see a video of how this specific system actually works and what it gets rid of that might be in your air at home HERE.

So for the challenge we ask anyone interested to join in on the fun!

You can view the video with the invitation to join here.

There’s plenty to choose from:

This one seems complicated but it’s so easy!

This was the most tedious, but the most rewarding and my favorite of all my dupes.

My best work with contact paper to date!

I got super lucky with this one!

There were soooooo cheap to make!

This one was surprisingly popular…

Can you tell the difference between these!?

My attempt at Serena & Lily… not my greatest but I tried…

I love how these Pottery Barn Dupes turned out!

My very first one!

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

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Of course I didn’t stop there…. there’s more DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

What to Expect in 2020… For video scroll to end of post

RELATED: My Top 10 Videos of 2019

First, off I am happy to announce that my Look for Less monthly challenge will come back.

Next, I plan on posting 3 times a week.

Another item that has been on my mind is to have my own online shop!

The next item is more recipes!

Have you tried my sugar cookies? They are amazeballs!

Next on the agenda are more sewing tutorials!

What to Expect in 2020 (video)

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DIY Farmhouse Christmas Placeholder Supplies:

VIDEO TUTORIAL OF FARMHOUSE PLACEHOLDER

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The following links are affiliate links, for full disclosure please go here.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, for more information regarding affiliate links, please go to my disclosure page.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, for a better explanation, please see full disclosure here

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. For more information on that, please see full disclosure

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, please see full disclosure for more details.

Some of the links below may be affiliate links, please see full disclosure for more info

Some of the links below are affiliate links, see full disclosure for more details.

Some of the links below are affiliate links. Please see full disclosure here for more info.

Some of the links below may be affiliate links. Please red full disclosure here

Some of the links below are affiliate links, please see full disclosure here