Bookpage Rose Petal Wreath

I have seen several of these on different blogs and I have been in awe of how beautiful they are.  I really wanted to try making one just to see if I could do it....

...turns out I could do it!  But, it was a lot of work.  Several nights of cutting each flower out and then several more spent rolling the pages up into a flower and hot gluing them together.  I can't believe how much hot glue I used!! 

I don't think I made my roses quite like everyone else, but I like how they turned out anyway.

Once I had it finished, I was pretty excited about how it turned out.  Apparently, my mother agreed.  She kept dropping hints about wanting one.  So, I decided to oblige her and make one for Mothers Day.  I made her a larger version than my original and tied the hanging ribbon loosely around the wreath, so she could change it out if she wanted to use a different color.

I just love how these look...I will definitely be making another one very soon!

Recycle, Recycle, Restyle

I live in a split level house and the kitchen is upstairs and the garage is in the basement.  So, I used to have this tacky set of plastic bins in my kitchen to hold all my recycling so I wouldn't have to run down to the garage every time I had something to put in the recycle bin. 

Finally, I got sick of looking at it and decided it was time for a new bin that was a little more stylish.  Well, maybe stylish isn't the right word, but I like to think it is.



I wanted this to have a worn look to it, so when I painted it black I was sure to leave a few areas lighter than the rest.  After I stenciled "RECYCLE" on the side, I sanded over it a few times to roughen it up a bit.

I love how it turned out and it is just the perfect size.  I use it all the time.  Now the only problem I have is that since it is so low to the ground, the dog is always curious about the things I put it in.  She hasn't pulled anything out just yet, so hopefully she will continue to leave it alone.