Cat Tepee

Posted in craft, Sewing by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hey Peeps! I have a super cool project that I actually made a few years ago, but it’s still a good one so I thought I’d share it. All you need is a yard of fabric for the panels and a 20″x20″ piece for the bottom piece, a sewing machine, and 8 dowel rods that are 1/4″ wide. I got the original idea from a book titled “One-Yard Wonders” by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins.

After you cut your panels out you need to sew the sides of each three side panels together, leaving 1″ of space between the seam and the edge of the fabric. Then sew the ends of the insides of the panels leaving a pocket to push 4 of the dowel rods thought. Don’t put the rods in till everything is sewn though. Next sew the seams on the tops and bottoms, leaving the dowel rod openings.

Next for the Base cut a square that is 20×20″ wide and cut a square notch on each corner that is 2″. You will fold the sides in 1″ and sew the seam like in the picture, only I made all sides the same. Don’t forget to leave an opening for your last 4 dowel rods. These will have to be cut smaller to fit. Leave a few inches sticking out on each side.

After the bottom is sewn, attach it to the rest of the tepee by sewing the top of the bottom section onto the inside of the tepee. and then insert your dowel rods. I also tied a piece of fabric around the top to secure the dowel rods.

As you can see Gatsby claimed this one and still uses it! Lucy will sit in it occasionally but if your cat likes hiding in things (like most cats), then they will love a tepee!

This is the picture of how to cut the three side panels and two shorter front panels out of the yard of fabric. Lay the piece out in a single layer

Here are my crazy homemade patterns for the side and front panels since I made more than one

They don’t like to share!

So Happy!!!

30Oct2014

Dresser Makeover

Posted in diy, home by peppermintsandhoneybees

Happy Halloween everyone! So this post has nothing to do with Halloween but I plan on posting my Halloween costume on my next post. But for today I have some photos of the dresser I just changed up. This dresser is older than me and also looks it. I could just get a new one but I like how sturdy this one is and hey it’s practically a family heirloom. It was my mom’s when she was growing up. I could have painted it but I like the look of the wood even if it is a little banged up so I decided some new drawer knobs would jazz it up. The only problem is that knobs are expensive if you buy them all at once and I couldn’t decide what I wanted. What to do? Get all different ones and mix and match. My style is usually all over the place so why shouldn’t my dresser be too!

Have a happy and safe Halloween tomorrow!

20Oct2014

Halloween part 2

Posted in diy, Holiday, home by peppermintsandhoneybees

Here is a little bit of my Halloween decorations for this year. This month has been crazy busy and I didn’t get to make all of the things that I had planned to decorate for the holiday but here’s what I did put up.

The Bats are just made from cardstock. I traced a plastic bat and taped them to the wall. The cat is a few years old from Michaels, and the crows and pumpkin LED lights are from Dollar Tree. The glass owl is an antique bank that was given to me as a gift and the skull candy dish was given to me by my mom last year from Hallmark. Happy October!

2Mar2014

Headboard DIY with cardboard

Posted in craft, diy, home, pinterest, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

I have been wanting a headboard for our bed since we bought it a few years ago but have limited space to make one, and well you know how I feel about buying things I can easily make! I came across this tutorial from http://james-michelle.blogspot.com/2012/01/30-diy-headboard.html?m=1 on pinterest. It uses a cardboard form instead of wood, making it easy, cheap, and replaceable. Plus no power tools required! If you have one big piece of cardboard this is best but if not you can tape two together with packing tape. Here are the materials and tools I used:

cardboard
2 yards of quilting batting
2 yards of fabric
packing tape
staple gun
utility knife
heavy duty scissors (optional)
ruler or measuring tape

Also note my bed is queen sized so you might need more if you have a king sized bed. I was going to buy some of the cardboard used for science fair projects but then Ben ordered some floor mats for his car and the box was the perfect size, score! I bought the batting and fabric at Joanne’s Fabric store. Both were on sale, and I used a 50% off coupon on the batting bringing the total to around $14. I recommend using thick quilting batting if you can.

If you didn’t know all the large craft stores like Joannes, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby have coupons every week. I use the apps on my phone but you can look it up and print it out if you don’t have a smart phone. I never shop these stores without coupons.

The tutorial I followed suggested using bowls to make the different curves so they come out even and perfectly round. I used a pen to make the shape and cut it out using a utility knife and heavy duty scissors.

I had to tape the top curve on because I didn’t have enough at the top, but that’s ok, it’ll get covered up.

Next I put the batting under the cardboard and taped and stapled it up around the cardboard. I stapled and then taped the edges to the cardboard so they would be secure. Then I repeated these steps with the fabric, making sure the fabric was tight in the front with no tucks and folds. I cut off the extra on both the batting and fabric so that there were about three inches to fold over before I covered the cardboard.

I had a helper

After I was done I used those clear mirror hooks to attach it to the wall, and ironed it. The best part about making a cheap headboard is that if we get a new duvet or change bedroom colors the fabric can be easily replaced.

Here is the finished product. I need to do some more ironing, but I think it turned out pretty decent for about an hour of work and $14. Lucy seems to approve!

now for some more wall art.

Ombre Dyed Curtains

As I mentioned earlier I am all about dyeing so when I saw some thing similar to this on pinterest from a blog called http://www.vitaminihandmade.com/. I thought I would give it a try to add some color to my boring white living room. I went with sunshine orange in the Rit dye and bought some inexpensive white curtains at IKEA. I didn’t want to spend a lot in case it didn’t work out.

I got the curtains wet in my double kitchen sink and filled one side up with hot water and the dye. I kept both curtains together at the top to make sure the dye pattern was the same on both. I wanted the top to have a little color so i dipped the whole curtains in for a few seconds and then removed all but about a foot, leaving the rest in the empty sink. I soaked it for about five minutes and gradually kept putting more and more in for about half way up.

After I had what looked to be good I rinsed the curtains in cold water and washed and dried them in my washer and dryer. They were a little lighter than I had hoped they would turn out so I bought one more box of Rit, just to do the bottoms. After this time I liked the way it looked. I guess it just depends on the look you are going for and the color, so you may or may not need two boxes of dye. I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out!

17Feb2014

Welcome to my blog!

Posted in Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hello my name is Jenna and I have just entered the world of blogging. Maybe a little late to the party but I love making things and saving money and want to share my thoughts and experiments in diy with other people who are thrifty and have a need to create.

First of all let me tell you a little about myself. I live outside of Chicago with my boyfriend Ben and our two cats, Lucy and Gatsby. I’m originally from Fort Wayne, IN but moved a few years ago for my boyfriends job. I went to school for art and photography and have an etsy shop called Peppermint Emporium with my handmade jewelry and vintage finds at https://www.etsy.co/shop/PeppermintEmporium?ref=si_shop.

I love animals, especially cats, art, nature, history, antiques and vintage and making things. I draw paint, sew, embroider, make jewelry, and find joy in decorating my home. Unfortunately I live in a very expensive area and live in a small apartment but I try and make the most of the situation and have found ways to decorate for even the smallest apartments on small budgets. I love making things and try to save money whenever I can, and whenever I can do both is an added bonus!

I want to share my diy’s and beautiful finds with you and hopefully you will like my blog! I am a pinterest addict and get many diys off of pinterest so of course I will try and give credit where credit is due, and others are things that I have come up with, either out of necessity, my cheapness, or just dreamed up.

Oh and did I mention I love cats?