DIY: Painting My Desk

With lots of help from my mom and some insight from my grandparents, I painted my desk! The light color really brightens up my room, and I am loving it! Have you ever wondered how to paint a desk? There's actually more steps than I though there would be. I absolutely love seeing things transform into master pieces, so I thought others would enjoy it, too!

Before & After

The desk we painted was a desk we picked up for free off of the side of the road several years ago. The finish of the desk had lots of small scribbled engravings. The desk needed a little bit of wood glue here and there before we could start on anything. After that, we cleaned the desk with Murphy's Oil to get rid of all the dirt.

Next was sanding. This was probably the hardest step. The sawdust flew everywhere, so I would definitely recommend using a mask and safety goggles so it doesn't get in your nose and eyes. Once most the finish of the desk was all sanded off, we wiped the desk down with a tack cloth to get rid of the dust from sanding.

The drawers after being sanded.

Very first coat of paint!

Next, we did the primer coat. Then, we painted three coats of white paint (lightly sanding in between each coat). Lastly, we put on a wax to seal the paint. Once dry, the handles can go on and the desk is done!

Finished Product!

Thank you for reading this week! I hope you enjoyed seeing my desk go from drab to fab!

Fourth of July DIY Bean Bag Toss

I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July! I'm back this week with another DIY project! My sister and I made a fun and easy 4th of July bean bag toss that I thought would be fun to share on the blog. I originally saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to recreate.

To start, pick out two types of patterned fabric. I chose some navy stripes and red and white polka-dots from Walmart for under a $1 each. Cut a rectangle out of the fabric and fold it in half with the wrong sides together creating the size of bean bag you desire. Next, sew two sides of the bean bag up on the sewing machine, and turn the fabric right side out so that the pattern can be seen. Fill it up with beans and sew the remaining side shut. I made eight bean bags total: 4 red and 4 blue.

Next, you'll need some plastic plates. We bought a package of four red plastic plates at Walmart for less than $1. Then, on Microsoft Word, we printed out numbers to tape to the plates. The first one was worth 5 points, then 15, then 30, and the furthest was worth 50. When adhering the numbers to the plates I'd suggest using tape, because when we used glue they didn't stick and blew away.

I hope you enjoyed this simple DIY! You could use this not only for the 4th of July but really for any summer event. Of course, you can choose whatever colors you want your bean bags and plates to be!

DIY Inspirational Board

School and life can be stressful, especially with finals coming up! Here's a simple DIY to decrease your stress and increase your inspiration.

What you need:
A bulletin board
Wrapping paper
Bible verses and quotes
Scrapbook paper
Stapler
Glue

1. First, pick out your wrapping paper. It doesn't need to be wrapping paper, but that's what I used. You can use any kind of paper as long as it is big enough to cover your board in. If you use wrapping paper like I did, I suggest using one that is fairly thick so that it won't tear easily. Cut it to fit your board and staple each corner to the board.

2. Print out some of your favorite verses and quotes. I used Microsoft Word to type up some of my favorites and then printed them out. Once printed, I cut them out.

3. Next, pick out some cute scrapbook paper. Cut the scrapbook paper to the correct sizes, so that you can place a quote over the paper and still see the scrapbook paper sticking out from each side of the printed quote as pictured below.

4. Glue the printed quotes on top of the scrapbook paper.

5. Staple them to the board, and you have made a wonderful place to get inspiration, peace, and comfort.

Add whatever else you would like! I added a picture of a vintage bike because I thought it was adorable, as well as a checklist to stay on top of things. You can't really mess this DIY up. It's quick, easy, and fun!

Back to School Organizational Ideas

Well it's time to go back to school. I don't know about you, but the idea of having homework and tests doesn't sound appealing. However, cute school supplies makes it a bit more fun. So today I'm going to tell you how I organize my school supplies.

First, I color code. I assign each class a color. For instance, I am taking four classes this semester. Sociology is orange, science is blue, English is pink, and psychology is green.


I then order planner stickers from Etsy (click here). I love these stickers because they are customizable. You can choose whatever color and text you want. I choose the colors based on the colors of my classes as I mentioned above. For example, a pink sticker that reads "test" means I have an English test that day. It makes it easier to scan over your planner and know what is coming up.

Next, I find spiral notebooks in the colors that I have chosen. My binders don't always match because they are patterned, but occasionally they will somewhat match.

The binders that I own have no pockets for papers. Handouts never seem to be hole punched, which means those loose papers full of important information are apt to be lost and crumpled in the bottom of your backpack. So to fix the problem I made my own. I picked out some scrapbook paper. The fun part is you can choose exactly what paper you want. With a bit of cutting, folding, packing tape, and hole punching, you'll soon have a sturdy pocket ready to hold important papers.

Don't be that person who shows up only on tests days and asks to borrow a pencil. You're smarter than that. What might help though is some cute school supplies. I just couldn't pass up this cute pencil case. I ordered mine from Nordstrom because it was 40% off  (plus free shipping), but they are now sold out. You can get one (full price) for $14 at Bando. Of course, I now need pencils to go in the pencil case. I bought these cute pencils at Home Goods. It was my first time to go to Home Goods, and I fell in love. They have so many cute items for low prices! I love the gold print on the ends of these pencils.

Well looks like you're now ready for classes to start back up. Just make sure you've got your textbooks, and you should be ready to ace this semester. Thanks for reading! I wish you the very best as you head back to school!

It's Craft Time!

Have you been looking for a fun and easy craft? This one is perfect. Today, I'm going to show you how to make an adorable picture board holder! It's super simple, inexpensive, and a thoughtful gift for friends.

1) First you will need to print pictures. I cut mine down to 2.5 by 2.5 inch squares so I could fit 6 pictures on the board.

2) Pick out a board. I got this small one at Hobby Lobby. I know it doesn't look fancy, but when we get done it will look fabulous!

3) Paint the edge of the board. In the end, this will give it a finished look.

4) Since you already have the paint out, take 6 tiny clothes pins and paint the tops of them. This will tie everything together in the end.

5) Grab the jar of Mod Podge and a sheet of cute scrapbook paper. Trace and cut the paper to the right size. Then, use the Mod Podge to adhere the paper to the board. Put Mod Podge over the paper, too. It'll try clear.

6) Once the Mod Podge is dry, use E600 to glue on the 6 clothes pins.

7) Clip on the pictures!

8) If you have extra pictures, make a pocket on the back to store them. That will make it easy to switch pictures in and out.

I was pretty excited how mine turned out! Let me know if you give it a try! Thanks for reading!

Summer Cleaning: 10 Tips for Cleaning Out Your Closet

This last semester, I eagerly awaited summer. Probably not for the same reason many of you look forward to summer though. I wanted to deep clean my closet. Here is what I did, and a few tips for de-cluttering your most dreaded closet.

1) Take every thing out! As you take stuff out organize them into certain piles, so you have an idea where certain items are located.

2) Sort through your items and have trash bags ready. One for items to get rid of and one for trash. If your closet is as messy as mine was, you'll need way more than just two trash bags.

3) Be prepared for a mess! Slowly sort through items. Don't get too attached to things. Be willing to throw stuff out or get rid of it. Always ask yourself how often you use the item.

4) Clean out the empty closet with a dust cloth and Clorox wipes. Get rid of that dirt! Don't forget to vacuum too!

5) When sorting through clothes. Ask yourself the following questions: How often do you wear it? Would you buy it, again? Is it still in a good condition?

6) Use scarf hangers to organize belts, headbands, or ribbons.

7) Use the same kind of hangers to save space, reduce tangled hangers, and achieve a uniform look. Also, try hanging them backwards. After wearing clothes, hang them normally. After a few months, you will know what clothes to get rid of.

8) If you are a shoe lover like me, I highly suggest you invest in a shoe rack. I love mine! Also, keeping your shoe boxes is an easy way to store shoes.

9) Have two bins (one for light-colored clothes, and the other for dark-colored clothes) in your closet. Having these bins in the closet has helped me to put my dirty clothes in the correct spot instead of just leaving them around my room.

10) To save space, fold t-shirts like the photo below. I also folded the t-shirts that were too small for me and put them in a storage bin. Maybe someday I'll make one of those t-shirt quilts.

Don't get discouraged if you don't get this done in a short amount of time. I've spent a week on my closet, and still haven't found a home for all the items I've cleaned out. It's better to take your time and do a good job, than to do it quickly and sloppily. Don't forget to step back and look at all the work you've done! Look at the bags of stuff you cleaned out, and all the space in your closet! It can be an overwhelming task, but the outcome is rewarding.

I hope you are inspired to tackle the messiest closet in your home now. Have fun cleaning!

DIY Valentine's Day Ideas

No matter if you're in a relationship or single, Valentine's Day should be a day to tell your friends how much you love them! My friends and I had a fun night together! Here's a few things we did. Take a look! Who knows maybe next time you're with friends, you might want to try these out.

Raspberry Floats
You will need: 1) Paper Straws 2) Glass Jars 3) Raspberry Sherbet and 4) Sprite! It's pretty self-explanatory, just put the sherbet and sprite into the glass jars and enjoy! They are delicious! They are super cute for Valentine's Day since they are pink!

Craft Time!

You will need: 1) Mason Jars, 2) Paint, 3) Sticky Stencils, and 4) Something to paint with. I  bought some adhesive stencils at Micheal's and they worked well. Just stick them on the jar, and let your creative juices flow! We were able to wipe the stencils off with Wet Ones and reuse them. 

Food!
For the food we had fondue with pretzels, marshmallow, strawberries and heart cut brownies (shown in picture at right). We also had some delicious cucumber and dill finger sandwiches, as well as cream cheese cranberry sandwiches on pumpernickel bread. Oh, and of course we had pizza, too!

Easy Decorations 
These Valentines decorations were so easy. For the heart chain on the left all you will need is construction paper, a stapler, and scissors. Cut the paper into long strips, form into a heart, and start stapling the chain together. For the banner on the right, all you need is construction paper, string, tape, letters, and scissors. Fold the construction paper into eights to cut out the triangles, tape the triangles to the string, put the letters on the triangles, and you have made a banner!

Many of these ideas came from pinterest and Bethany Mota's YouTube channel. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I hope you give a few of these a try!