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Monday, December 19, 2011

Parties and Painting (Last Minute Gift Idea!)



Over the weekend we hosted a lunch for my girlfriends, a dinner for several young couples, and a birthday party for my sister.  I thought we might as well squeeze in as much as possible while the house was clean and looking good!
  
I basically kept the table set and just switched out dishes for each event.  These ornaments served as place cards and a take-home party favor.


The "cupcake stands" were inverted milkglass glasses that I spotted at a thrift store.  They were $2.99 each, but I knew they wouldn't sell for that much so I kept an eye on them until they were marked down.  Yes, I wait for things to be marked down at a thrift store.  I snagged the set of 12 for $9.00. 


The girls sat in the dining room...




and this was the boys' table-I kept it super simple and left the fluff for the girls.
I meant to take pictures with our guests at the party, but I always forget to pull out the camera once people arrive.


Part II-
Several weeks ago my friend Darla and I took a road trip for the day to Dallas-we packed in Ikea, fabric and jewelry warehouses, several Homegoods stores, Anthropologie at Northpark Mall, and dinner at Babe's Chicken (YUM! if you've never been there...I wish I had some right now!)  Anyway, we had a project in mind and found our supplies at Ikea.


Inspired by my friend Pam at Simple Details, we wanted to make some monogrammed door mats for Christmas gifts.  If you haven't been to Pam's blog, check it out!  I love everything about it...she has such impeccable taste and every project she does ends in perfection!  We started blogging about the same time and she was one of my first "blog" friends, and we've since discovered that we have so many things in common.  Visit her site for a full tutorial, but here's a quick run down of what we did.


I enlarged the letter I wanted on the computer and printed it out.  Thankfully, it was a gorgeous, sunny day so we used the window to trace the letter in the center of a piece of posterboard.  


Then, we trimmed the letter out of the middle to make a stencil and centered it on the mat.  Spraying straight down to try and avoid any bleeding, we gave each mat 3 or 4 coats.  Darla used Krylon flat black and I used Walmart glossy.  I think hers turned out a little darker.  I don't know if the flat/glossy was the difference or the brand.


She's going to kill me for putting in this picture, but I have to demonstrate the process, right?  So, I'll say nice things about her so she won't be too mad.  She's the kind of friend everyone needs...an amazing mother, smart business woman, and she truly hungers and thirsts to know the Lord better.  She's my "Upstairs Friend" that I can completely be myself with and I know she will always love and accept me no matter what my house looks like, how my kids act or what stage of life I'm in.  She was my #1 encourager to start this blog and is always kind to express her support.   


After the letter was finished we just eye-balled the border, taped it off and sprayed.  This was a fun project, mainly because I had a great partner and our kids had a blast playing together while we worked.  I made my mats for teacher's gifts and we were really happy with how they turned out. 


It took us maybe 1 1/2 or 2 hours to do all of these from start to finish, not too bad.


The finished product!


How would you wrap a doormat?  This is what I did...


Whew!  I guess that was really two posts in one.  Thanks for hanging in there!

Would you like to comment?

  1. Thanks, cute friend! Wow, you guys got that down! They look amazing, your wrapping, too!

    I have the same philosophy about inviting friends over once my house is all clean! (Another thing in common!)

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  2. You are one busy lady! I absolutely love the door mats! And the way you wrapped them, too cute!
    xo

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  3. What a wonderful idea!! The mats are from Ikea - just plain mats, right?

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  4. Well, why am I not surprised? Perfection! I think my front porch is due for a new mat soon. :)

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