DIY Mounted Beach Treasures

With summer coming to an end, you might be wondering what to do with your summer vacation beach treasures.  Worry no more.  With this easy to follow tutorial you can turn those beach treasures into beautifully mounted beachy home decor.

Collect those seashells, starfish or coral and proudly display them, adding a subtle beachy charm to your house, even when the beach and summer seem like distant memories.

Using the same process we used for the Salvaged Architectural Display Pieces, which can be found here,

a small hole was carefully drilled into each of our beach treasures.  Most beach treasures are more fragile than architectural pieces, so take care in drilling and use a small bit.

Another hole was then drilled into the custom base we built {again, the tutorial for the base can be found here}.  Insert some JB Weld into both the hole in your beach treasure and the hole in the base.  Insert a post into both and allow time to dry. 

Once dry, proudly display.

And remember, just because summer may be months away, it doesn't mean you can't surround yourself with happy beachy memories and mementos of warmer days in your home decor. 

*Make sure to check out more of the mounted architectural pieces for sale in the While Wearing Heels Etsy Shop.

I heart fake food - Felt Sugar Cookie Tutorial

Believe it or not, I still heart fake food.  And, sometimes, felt fruits and veggies just aren't enough.  I crave felt sugar too.

No fake kitchen is complete without a set of sugar cookies.  With this easy to follow tutorial, your little baker will have so much fun whipping up their own batch of felt sugar cookies.

  
Felt sugar cookies are also the perfect accompaniment for any tea party.

To make your own zero calorie sugar cookies, grab the following supplies:

 

To make the your cookie dough and cookie base:

Start by tracing your cookie cutter pattern onto the tan felt/cookie dough.  Trace along the outside of the cookie cutter.  Using a pair of sharp scissors, cut out your cookie shape.   

*Optional.  Felt tends to stretch the more you use it.  To give the felt more durability, I layered another layer of tan felt beneath the layer I cut the cookie shapes out of.  I applied a little bit of glue around the shape outline and pressed it into place onto the solid piece of felt.  Sew around the perimeter of the dough.  Cut the shape out of the solid layer of felt, using the top layer as an outline.  These shapes were not kept intact as I cut them out.

**If you opt to add an extra layer to cookie dough, you may want to cut add a second layer to the cut out cookie shape so it will fit back inside of the dough evenly.

To make the icing.

Select the color icing you want to use.  Again, use the cookie cutter as the pattern, this time tracing from inside the cookie cutter.  Cut out enough to cover all your cookies.

Optional:  To embellish your cookies with 'sprinkles', using a needle and thread, sew beads onto the 'icing'.

If you have extra sprinkles, you can fill up an empty sprinkle container.

Glutton free, calorie free felt sugar cookies.

Package these homemade felt sugar cookies up with a rolling pin, measuring cups, measuring spoons, recipe cards and extra sprinkles and you have a great gift.

A gift that encourages imaginative play.

The inner baker is bound to come out in anyone who plays with these cookies.

Felt sugar cookies...

the perfect addition to any play kitchen.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, make sure to check out more I Heart Fake Food Tutorials by clicking here.

DIY Garden Trellis

A garden trellis, a year in the making.

Last year, we bought a few free standing garden trellises in hopes of giving the corner of our yard some charm and create some additional privacy.  

Admittedly, I'm getting a bit spoiled.  My husband's competency is now raising my bar of expectations. 

So, when a year went by and the garden trellis sat so beautiful and yet so woefully neglected, hidden behind our garage.  My expectations became that said garden trellis needed to be completed asap.

Dutifully, the master got to work.

A structure was created.

Details were added.

A charming garden trellis was built...in a day!

And, then, a big gust of wind came by and this beautiful garden trellis was knocked over.  

That didn't deter the master, though.  He persevered.  He created.  He conquered.

The garden trellis is now complete.

The bar has been raised again. 

DIY Garden Hose Holder

Add some charm to your yard by making your own garden hose holder. 

I thought this idea was brilliant when I pinned it almost 2 years ago. 

Then, I continued to think this was a brilliant idea when we found a post and equestrian hook over a year ago. 

The problem, this brilliant idea, post and hook continued getting moved to the bottom of the to do list FOR OVER A YEAR. 

In the meantime, countless barnwood bunnies, whales, foxes were made.

And, things like this would show up in my trunk. 

We finally came to an understanding, it was time to mark this brilliant idea off of our to do list before we could take in or on any other projects. 

So...painting began.  A helpful tip, when painting something that is going outside, invest in a pint of good outdoor paint.  A little will go along way.

Once the post was dry, the hook was put in place.  Everything was starting to have a refine feel, except for the new screws that secured the hook.

The new screws took on a more polished look with a little Novacan Black Patina.

 Applying a little patina with a paint brush, the screws aged right before our eyes.

 

 The post was then sunk into the ground...

And, the hose was FINALLY put into place.

2 years later, it's done! 

I can't wait to add something new to the to do list. 

Personalized Onesies

What do you get for a mom to be that has everything?  Personalized onesies. 

Using Transfer Paper, you can easily personalize onesies in some fun and unique ways.

The ever popular birth date onesie is a fun photo prop for any newborn.

The detail tutorial can be found here, if you want to make a birth date onesie of your own.

 

Depending on if you give this as a gift before the baby arrives or after the baby arrives, the birth date can be circled when you create the calendar month OR you can throw in a Sharpie for the date to be circled after the baby arrives.

The second onesie I personalized, used a similar technique. 

I edited the baby shower invitation, taking the very cute and colorful baby equation and, again, was able to transfer it onto a onesie.

 I used this same technique here, transferring the logo of the father to be's band onto a onesie. 

The hardest thing, in making these personalized onesies, remembering to print the mirrored image. 

Personalized onesies, the perfect one of a kind gift to give someone that has everything.