A little of this, a little of that

Just a couple random things this week that we have been working on. 

We were in desperate need of some patriotic décor around here so I decided to get crafty.  My two projects?  A chevron flag and a material banner.  The banner was considerably easier than the flag but both were relatively simple overall.  I'm thinking these two items may become the foundation of our summer mantle - from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

 

I was inspired by Momfessionals and White Cottage Boutique but decided to put my own twist on the flag since that is what DIY is all about!

 

I forgot to take pictures of the first couple of steps but basically I was on a budget so instead of buying strips of wood, I went with a 2 ft by 2 ft piece of plywood for $6 at Home Depot.  Plus it didn't require me to use a nail gun and for that my hubby was thankful!  I originally thought I would be ok with a square flag but after looking at the board more I knew it needed to be cut.  So I asked Matt to take a little off the bottom.  I spray painted the whole board white without sanding it down.  Oops, that was definitely a no no.  The board was a flaky hot mess and kept the painter's tape from sticking well.  Lesson learned.

 

Next I painted the top corner blue.  I just eyeballed it but looking at the final product I think I should have made it a little larger.

 

From there I followed White Cottage Boutique's instructions on the tape for chevron.  I wanted a few more stripes so I went with a thinner tape.  I should have followed her instructions a little closer though....she knew to sand down the wood!  Ha! 

 After all the tape was down, I used an exacto knife to cut out the tape sections that would be painted.

 Up next was the red paint...

 After the red paint dried, I moved on to the stars.  I found a stencil at Hobby Lobby for a couple bucks and knew it was worth every penny of my sanity after completing the chevron stripes!

A close up of the finished product.  As you can see my stripes are not super straight and the red paint did bleed a little but overall I love how it came out.  It definitely has my personal touch!  Ha!  :)

I didn't take any step by step pictures of the banner making, but it is pretty simple.  You just need a mixture of material that compliment each other and the theme you are working on.  In the past I have picked up fabric bundles at Hobby Lobby.  They are the perfect size and usually offer the colors I need for $10 before the 40% off coupon.  This time I wasn't in love with the red, white and blue bundle so I decided to pick out my own fabric.  I bought half a yard of each fabric which is WAY too much - unless you want to make 3 or 4 banners!  The problem was really making sure the individual fabric pieces were long enough to tie so honestly I'm not sure if you could buy less yardage.  Anyway, it is as simple as cutting strips of fabric and tying them around twine or yarn or string in a pattern.  Voila!  You have a cute, decorative banner!

In the end I spent under $10 on the flag and around $12 on the banner.  Cheap and simple crafts that can make a big statement.   

Next to the outdoors. 

Since the day we moved into our new home almost 2 years ago, I have wanted to paint our shutters and front door.  I honestly disliked the color so much that it made me cringe every time we drove up to the house.  #realtalk

This picture is from the day we moved in but I wish I had a more recent picture because the color has faded into a more pink tone.  Yuck!
Disregard the beautiful, yellow lawn as it was one of the hottest summers on record and the previous owner thought watering the lawn was overrated.  ;)


This picture is a few weeks later at Natalie's birthday party.  It may be just me but I felt like the pink/red/maroon color was too bright and didn't blend well with the rest of the house. 

After almost 2 years of debating and nagging, we finally agreed on a color and painted the shutters and front door!!!  I absolutely adore how it looks now.  It even changed my opinion of the front door!  That is saying something since I really don't love the gold and glass look....but again, I think I was more focused on the color of the door than the intricacies of the design itself.

 

It looks more quaint and neutralizes all the yellow in our brick/roof/siding in my opinion.  Honestly, I can't believe something that cost about $20 and took about 4 hours of time took us 2 years to accomplish.  Another lesson learned - just go for it!  A small change can have a huge impact!

We decided to paint the door one step darker on the Behr color sample card.  The shutters are Scotland Road and the door is Amazon Moss.

Landscaping is up next but right now I am loving the new look!  Oh and I think the hubby did a good job getting the lawn under control  ;)

 

Happy Friday!