how I saved my marriage {diy tiered tray}

I have a horrible habit of leaving all my makeup out on the bathroom counter... it drives my husband CRAZY! I don't know why it is so hard for me to simply put it back in the drawer when I am done, but it is. I have even tried getting some cute drawer organizers thinking that would motivate me, but not so much! It is a strange phenomenon that I don't really understand because I am straight up giddy about organization in every other room in our house, but I just can't get it together in the master bathroom.


So to keep my husband from full on killing me I came up with a plan, and it required some diy goodness! I made a tiered tray {bowl on top/plate on bottom} that now lives on our bathroom counter that my makeup goes in. It is a win/win for us because it gives the illusion of picked up {which makes my husband happy} while not having to actually put anything away {which makes me happy... man how lazy do I sound?}.

Supplies:
~ bowl {I used an old plastic picnic bowl}
~ plate {I used a plastic picnic plate}
~ salt shaker {I used the kind that had a screw on lid, so I screwed that off before I started}
~ E6000
~ gloss spray paint


What I did:
{one} clean your bowl, plate and shaker well before starting
{two} lightly coat the top and bottom of your salt shaker with the E6000 and stick the bottom to the center of your plate and the top to the center {bottom} of your bowl

{three} this is the hardest step of all: allow your creation to completely dry for 24-48 hours!!!! This is super important so that it is completely dry.
{four} paint your tray the desired color and let dry {make sure to do thin even coats... you do not want your paint to run}

Once it was completely dry I added it to the corner of my counter. I also took two glass votives {one small and one medium} and used the epoxy to hold them together as well. Once dry I filled the large votive with some dry split peas and used it to hold my makeup brushes and tweezers.

coffee filter pom-poms {three ways}

Some business first: Starting in September, Hey sis will have a themed week, the first week of every month. Is there a certain area of crafting that you would like us to feature {i.e. parties, holidays, gift giving, etc}? Let us know!
Our first themed week will be next week {August 29th- September 2nd} and it is all about organization. If you have a great organizing tip you would like to share with our readers {or something that you need help with}, send us an email at heysisblog@gmail.com and let us know!

Alright, enough business... on with the good stuff!


I was recently given a huge container full of coffee filters. They have been sitting in my office, staring at me, taunting me. I knew that there was something cute I could do with them, but I had no idea what.

I finally made a decision to use them to make some pom-pom puffs. I totally winged it {isn't that what I always do} and I came up with three different ways that turned out so cute {and if I am being honest, I came up with a few others that were hideous}. The beauty of this project is that it was 100% FREE!


Pom-pom #1: Classic Look
Items Needed:
~ Coffee Filters
~ Hot Glue Gun
~ Piece of Trash {wadded up in a ball and wrap in tape}
~ Wooden Dowel {optional}

{one} Put your finger or the wooden dowel in the middle of the coffee filter and wrap it.
{two} Place a dab of hot glue on the end of the coffee filter and push onto your ball o' trash.

{three} Continue adding coffee filters till you get the desired fullness you want.
Helpful Hint: Start covering the ball all over very loosely. Then fill in the bald spots. This will make your pom-pom look more even in the end.
{four} When you have the desired fullness, use a pair of good scissors to sheer away any bumps you don't like.

Pom-pom #2: Water Lily Look
Items Needed:
~ Coffee Filters
~ Hot Glue Gun

{one} Grab 3 or 4 coffee filters and place on top of each others. 
{two} Fold the coffee filters in half a few times till you end up with a triangle.

{three} Cut the ends off in a triangle . 
{four} Continue to do this step to four different stacks of filters. With each stack of filters cut a little smaller than the last. 

{five} Start with the largest coffee filters, and hot glue a small dab in the middle and stack one on top of the other. When stacking place them on top of each other so that they are not all exactly turned the same way. 

{six} Continue to do this with each size. Hot glueing all the coffee filters together. 

{seven} Flip stack over.

{eight} Begin scrunching in each layer once at a time, till you end up with something that looks like a water lilly. 

Pom-pom #3: Classic with a twist. 
Items Needed:
~ Same as Pom-pom #1


{one} Start by cutting your coffee filters the same way as pom-pom #2, but keep all your coffee filters the same size {instead of all different sizes}
{two} Hot glue your coffee filters to your ball o' trash the same way as you did with pom-pom #1. 

The beauty of this pom-pom is you don't have to worry about trimming it in the end because it is supposed to be different levels!


I linked up to the following:
Blue Cricket Design 
    
Go and check out other amazing projects to get even more inspired...

How to: Build a Fort

Last week I made such a cute gift for a special little 3 year old. I have been chompin' at the bit {yep... I just said that} to show everyone because it turned out so cute, but I had to wait till after her birthday party on Saturday, because I know her momma is reading {hi Patti}. 

I was inspired by something that I found over on Saltwater Kids. It is a fort kit! How cute is that! I remember being a kid and trying to make forts, only to have them completely fall apart {flashback to books falling on my head and getting lost in a sea of old sheets}. 

It was so simple and fun to put together... I can't wait for Sophia to be old enough so I can make one for her too!

{Fort Kit} Supply List:

~ 2 twin sheets {or one king size sheet cut in half} 

~ Coordinating Pillow Case

~ Extra Piece of Material to Coordinate with the Pillow Case {optional}--- size depends on size of pillow case

~ Ribbon

~ Clothespins

~ Clamps

~ Suction Cups

~ Flashlight

~ Books
~ Deluxe Fort Tag

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS: Stuffed Animal {maybe a pillow pet}, Rope {this could be great for older kids.. but I did not think it would be a great addition to give to a three year old}, extra sheets... If you have any other ideas, leave me a comment, I would love to hear it!

The saltwater kids tutorial used an old adult sized t-shirt for the ties on the sheets. However, I had some coordinating ribbon that I used instead {remember, if you once you cut the ribbon to lightly singe the cut edges of your ribbon to keep it from unraveling}. 

To make the main bag, I just cut the bottom off of the pillowcase, and with coordinating fabric sewed a little base around the bottom. If you choose to do the two toned affect for your bag use the rule of thirds {bottom fabric should be 1/3 the length of the whole bag... approx.}--- yes I realize that this is the worst possible explanation of what I did, but to be honest I truly just winged it, and consequently took no measurements... I was super lucky it all worked. Next time I do this, I will take better notes and pass them on to you! Oooppppssss!

I used the Saltwater Kids Tutorial exactly as they wrote it to create the sheets {only difference is I cut 1 King size sheet in half to create two, matching twin sized sheets and I also used ribbon instead of a t-shirt for the ties}. 

I also made an accessory bag out of the coordinating fabric {to hold the clothespins, clamps, and suction cups}. I took some fabric {approx. 12X24 inches}, folded the material in half {right side in} and sewed up the sides, then I sewed a little pocket at the top and threaded some ribbon through the pocket to create a drawstring. 

Lastly, I put everything into the bag and added a little tag. FINISHED!

I really liked the tag that Saltwater Kids had created but the colors did not match the bag I made. So I re-created their tag in illustrator and indesign with colors that coordinated with my bag. 

Weekend Warrior: DIY Pallet Table

I remember growing up watching home improvement shows religiously! I would get home from high school, turn on "Trading Spaces" or "Interior Motives with Christopher Lowell" and I would call up my best friend, Kayla, and we would sit on the phone for hours discussing the projects that we were watching. I remember seeing whole rooms transformed in the matter of a 30-min show and thinking, "I could so do that!" I had always romanticized the idea of home improvement because, to be honest, these shows made it look so easy. They would go to put together a custom made chest of drawers and everything would already be magically prepped and ready to just hammer/screw together. 

Fast forward about 10 years to me discovering the cold hard truth that creating something one of a kind for your home, can not be created in 30-minutes... there is not a magical gnome who comes over at night and preps everything for you {bummer}. One of a kind takes work, and sweat, and tears {at least for me}. However, the end result is so worth it. To know at the end of the day that the kitchen table you are eating at, or the head board you are leaning against is 100% original and made by you! 

This weekend James and I embarked on a little project that I have been wanting to do for awhile, but had not gotten around to it. I saw a patio table {well, it's more like a coffee table for outside} that was made out of a pallets and I fell in love! I had to have it! 

Here is the whole budget breakdown:

{4} casters {we bought two with locks and two without}: $12

{2} 42"x42" pallets: FREE {we just drove around an industrial park till we found two that we liked being ready to be tossed}

Wood Stain {we used coffee colored}: $14.70

{1ish} 2"x4": FREE {we had enough scraps that were long enough to work}
{1ish} 4"X4": FREE {gotta love lots of scrap wood}

{7} 2"x1"x42" wood pieces: FREE {my dad had some 2x1's that he did not need anymore that we used}

Total cost: $26.70 

We started by pre-cutting all the pieces we {thought we} needed. We cut the 2"X1" pieces to fit between the large spaces between the pallet boards {we did this for the top only}. We also cut 4 4x4x17" pieces {these will become the legs}. Then, we sanded everything down and got to staining it all. 


The one thing that I wish I would have thought of was to have borrowed from my dad some stands that I could have propped the pallets on when I was staining. Crouching down for 3 hours staining and re-staining makes for some sore legs the next day. OYE~


After staining, we started putting everything together.... Let's just say we had to change our plan of attack a few {dozen} times. I was all set to have this swift and easy tutorial that was going to tell you how to magically do it, but now that it is done, I am not quite sure all that we ended up doing. 

Here is the main gist of it: We used a nail gun to nail in the slats on the top pallet. Then we flipped the pallet over and screwed the legs into the sides of the top pallet {Side Note: After we did this and flipped it over we almost just added the casters and called it a day because we like it just as it was, but I did not have the heart to leave out the other pallet that we spent all day sanding and staining, so we forged on}. 

Things get a little hazy after that! On the bottom pallet we cut out 1 hole in each corner the size of the post, so the legs from the top pallet would fit down into the second pallet {does that even make sense?!?!?!} 

In our minds that was going to work perfectly! We would fit the table down inside the other pallet, reinforce a couple areas, throw some casters on, and then throw some high fives and tell each other how awesome we are! 

Uhhh.... instead it went something like this: Realize the table legs don't fit, cry a little, re-cut so it does fit, screw everything in, make a bunch of little filler pieces to try to cover up our mistake of cutting wrong the first time, re-stain new cut pieces, screw those pieces in, add 3 casters to the bottom, when adding last caster run out of power, hand screw last caster in, flip table over.... then throw some high fives and tell each other how awesome we are! {At least we had the same end result}

It really was not a difficult table to make {the prep was pretty time consuming though.... but not hard}. 

We were thrown for a loop that our careful planned way of building the table did not in fact go off without a hitch, but in the end I think the only people that will know about that is us {and whoever reads this post... promise not to tell?}

Next weekend I want to attack these little beauties and pretty/de-uglify them. They are super functional but up against our new table they are looking pretty sad and tattered! 

This week I linked up to:


Check them out for more inspiration!

It's Ladies Night!

I love a reason to go out and celebrate! Job promotions, holiday's, heck I have even been known to go out and celebrate a good deal that I found at the store... 


So, when one of my good friends suggested that we go out and have a girls night before I had Sophia last year, I was all for it. Fast forward to one year {almost exactly}, that friend and another friend are 'bout ready to pop, so we went out to enjoy a last hurrah before their lives were overtaken once again with sleepless nights and dirty diapers. 

It was so much fun to go out with just the girls and celebrate. We went to dinner at PF Changs and then went and grabbed some Frozen Yogurt and sat outside and talked and laughed {I know we are wild and crazy... right?}

And since I can't go anywhere or celebrate anything without making something to commemorate the occasion, I made a cute little pull tab mommy emergency kit. I got the idea from the site Our Best Bites. It was originally a Mother's Day gift idea, but I thought it would be so perfect for a getting-ready-for-a-new-baby gift too. 


Items Needed:
~ Pull tab can
~ Hot glue gun
~ Treats for in the can {candy, candle, trail mix, etc}
~ Baggies
~ Card stock
~ Ribbon
~ Printer {to print the little signs for the can}


You can do this with any size of pull tab can that you want. I used a larger soup can, because I wanted to be able to put more stuff in it than I would have been able to with a tiny can. 


To create this, all I did was remove the bottom of the can with a can opener and cleaned it out really well. Then once it was dry I stuffed it with little baggies of candy, a candle, and some trail mix. You could put whatever you want in the can... that is the beauty of this little project. 


Once it is stuffed with good stuff, I hot glued the bottom back on, and decorated the outside of the can with some craft paper and ribbon. I modified the words that Our Best Bites used, by just removing the happy mother's day, and recreating the same thing in a word document. 



Once it was all put together I added a little baggie {which was just a sandwich bag, cut way down with little scalloped edges} that had a pair of ear plugs with a little note that said, "For added enjoyment, use these while consuming contents of this package." 

Hopefully, these will come in handy for those days when the mom's just need a little break!

Cupcakes in a {baby food} Jar

Having a 10 month baby in our house there are some things that we have LOTS of: {dirty} diapers and baby food. I had been saving these tiny little jars because they are so cute and I thought that there just had to be an adorable way to repurpose them... up until now I have not found an idea that I loved enough to try. However, I was beginning to collect lots {read: way more than any person should ever have.... EVER}. Then the skies opened up and the most beautiful idea was born! I made the cutest tasty treat with these jars and they are so darling that I just had to share it with you~

I have seen all over the web cake in a jar as a gift. When I have seen these they have always been in the big mason jars... that is when my wheels started turning. If you can put cake in a big mason jar, why can't you put it in  a baby food jar? I decided that I wanted to bake the cake in the jar so I could fit the maximum amount of deliciousness in each jar. OK so to be honest this made me super nervous so I totally googled if you could cook cake in glass jars before I started. I figured that about the same amount of batter went into these little jars as a normal cupcake, so I just followed the directions on the back of my boxed mix {what you didn't think that I was making the cupcakes from scratch, did you?}

They turned out PERFECTLY! I was so excited that it had actually worked. 

While they cooled, I took all the lids and got to decorating!

First I painted the tops of all my lids black to cover the words. Then I tried three different ways to decorate the lids. 

For the first lid I made a yellow flower using the same method as the Monogram Wreath I told you about last week. 

Next, I made a puff on top of the lid out of some red tulle that I had laying around. All I did was cut some 6 inch pieces and pinched them in the middle. From the center out I started hot glueing to the lid. Once I got the desired fullness I got out my scissors and trimmed it until I had the shape that I liked. 

Lastly, I did a really simple one to even out the craziness of the other two. I covered the lid in a cardstock circle and added a sticker "S" {the S is in honor of my daughter, Sophia}

Once the cupcakes were cooled, I cut a few strips of matching cardstock, wrapped them around and glued them on. To finish it off, I embellished it with a little "S"

I am in LOVE with these! How cute for a little gift/treat for your co-workers, neighbors, or for a birthday party {I am totally doing something like this for my daughter's 1st birthday}


Check out where I linked up this post!