Fall Wreath: Best Friend Edition

My best friend, Alyson, recently moved to High Point, NC where she took a job as a second grade teacher. A few weeks after moving, she asked me to make her a wreath to hang on her and my cousin's front door. Being so near Halloween, she requested I make something that would work for Halloween but could also be used throughout the fall. Not really sure what to make, I pinned a few hundred (slight exaggeration) wreaths trying to find some inspiration. Lucky for me, Aly saw my pins and fell in love with one of them. So soon after, I set about making the wreath that she liked.

The wreath turned out absolutely perfect in my opinion. I ended up liking it so much that I think I'm going to be making my own self one to hang on our front door. It's the perfect Halloween wreath with just the right amount of "girlyness" to it!

Here it is on Alyson's front door with her fall pumpkins! 

What do you think?!

Fall Wreath

Several months ago, I stumbled across the following wreath. Instantly, I fell in love with it. Why? Because it was my wedding colors! Not wanting to pay $34 for it, I set out to recreate it a few weeks ago and I'd say that it turned out pretty well!

 Via Etsy

Here is my version. I chose to do a different flower arrangement. I initially planned to pretty much steal borrow the crafter's idea but midway through, I had some inspiration pop into my head and decided to make it different. What do you think?

I think I like it, especially on my front porch! 

PS- I'd say it's beginning to look like fall on our front porch! But give me another week and then we'll see!

Milk Jug #2

A few weeks ago, I restored an old milk jug that had been in my family since before my birth. You can see the post about it here. I was completely unsure of how it would turn out but in the end it was perfect and I love looking out on my back porch in the morning and seeing it sit between my two rockers. After getting so many compliments on my handiwork, I decided I wanted to restore another milk jug to sit on my front porch. The problem however was that my parents only had one jug! So I set out to find another one...

To my luck, my cousin and brother in law work for DH Griffin, a large salvage company located within our state. (Side note: They took down the Twin Towers after 911! How cool is that?!). So one day a few weeks ago, I shot Daniel an email and asked if they ever get milk jugs at the salvage yard. To my happiness, he replied that people bring them in every day! I asked what it would cost for me to purchase one and he figured a few bucks. So I asked him to look for one in good condition and told him if he found one to get it for me and I'd pay him back. Within about five minutes, he sent me an email saying he'd found one, sent me a picture of it, and asked if I wanted it! And needless to say...of course I did!

That night he brought it home to me and I wanted to start on it right away! Unfortunately, one thing after the other has occurred since that Friday night several weeks ago and I am just now having time to work on it. But thanks to my patience, it turned out pretty perfect as well!

Here is the jug prior to working on it!

 I love that you can see the "New England Dairies" label

After using a steel buffer, sanding it, and placing 3 layers of paint on it...here it is!

I just love how it turned out. 

Before & After!

Because it's going to sit on my front porch as a planter, I decided to place our address numbers on it! I thought it would add the perfect little touch. What do you think?

The Milk Jug

When I was a little girl, my parents had an old metal milk jug that sat on our front porch. A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a picture of an old metal milk jug on pinterest and the thought of my family's popped into my mind. Immediately I emailed my mom at work and asked her if we still had it. A short time later she wrote back and said she thought we did but told me I'd have to ask Dad what in the world he had done with it. So last week as I was over at the parents house having a Daddy/daughter day, I remembered the jug and asked Dad where it was. To my surprise, he walked right to the corner of the garage and there it sat! I was ecstatic! I asked if I could have it and of course, he was happy to get rid of it. It had sat in that corner for years because as always, Mom didn't want to get rid of anything because "You never know! Someone might want it one day!" Well this time, Mom was right! As soon as I got it in my hands, I set out to work on my newest project.


To begin with the jug was painted red! Here it is in it's original form when Andrew and I were mere toddlers!

At some point throughout the years, Mom and Dad repainted it this greenish color to match what used to be the color of our shutters. This is how I inherited it!

After taking a drill with a steel buffer, a paint scraper, and sand paper to it, I got the jug stripped down to it's original metal. 

Then I coated it with a can of Rustoleum semi-gloss paint

And after a few hours, I added another!

And voila, it was finished! It fits perfectly between the two rocking chairs that I also saved from a life of seclusion in my parents garage! 

I am in love with how it turned out! What do you think!?

My Patriotic Wreath & A New Opportunity

I feel like I say this every few posts but I'm sorry that I haven't been posting y'all! I have been so caught up crafting, cleaning, & organizing this past week that I just haven't had time to sit down and blog. However, with all of my crafting, cleaning, and organizing, I have lots of new things to share with you ladies so keep coming back. I should have posts daily (fingers crossed); If not, hopefully, every other day! Now let me share one of this week's projects!

Several months ago I came across a super cute patriotic wreath on Pinterest and decided to pin it to one of my pin boards. Lucky for me, two of my friends pinned the same wreath, so we decided to get together and make them at the same time (yay for sharing materials and saving $$$). When we finished our wreaths, I took a picture and placed it on all of the social networks (i.e. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Little did I know that wreath was going to be a big hit! After about the tenth person asking me about my wreath, I realized an opportunity had come knocking at my door and I decided I was going to accept it.What was the opportunity you ask? Well for the last week, I've been crafting and making wreaths for friends, family, and my fellow church members. And you know what? I have loved every minute of it. I'm not sure how long this opportunity will last but I hope to keep it up for some time. It has given me something to do over my summer break and it's helped me earn a little extra spending money for projects around the house! So with the 4th of July looming just around the corner, I'm going to spend the rest of my summer break getting a head start on some fun and cute fall wreaths for my future customers!!!(: Who knows maybe you ladies will want one?! 

Here's my wreath on my door! 

Well I'm off to finish another project that I'll be blogging about in a few days! Can't wait to share it!!!(:

 See you ladies tomorrow! 

My First Homemade Wreath

Earlier this week, two of my favorite beginning teachers came over and we did a little crafting and made wreaths for our front doors. I had never made a wreath before but I didn't figure it would be too difficult so I decided to give it a shot. And let me just say, I am super excited that I did. I loved how my wreath came out! Check it out (:

Here are the other wreaths! Mine is on the left, Lauren's is in the middle, and Elizabeth's is on the right!

Have you ever made a wreath? If so, share pictures please!