Dried Wedding Flower Ornament

Posted in diy, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

Happy Holidays everyone! I have a really easy but special DIY for this Season. And of course they don’t have to be from a wedding bouquet but these are from my wedding which was last June.

I wanted to preserve a bit of my flowers but I don’t want them in a shadow box because I had hydrangeas and things with tiny parts that would just fall apart anyway.

I don’t know how many years they will keep but they should last at least a few years.

All you need is some clear glass ornaments and dried petals and leaves. Be careful when placing everything in the ornaments because they are very thin glass and you don’t want it to break and cut you. It’s that easy! If you don’t celebrate Christmas and/or have a tree they would look great handing from ribbon in a window or from a shelf also.

I added some of my wedding pictures also, since I realized I never shared them on here last summer.

Have an amazing holiday season!

10Aug2014

Stapless to Halter Dress DIY

Posted in clothing, diy by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hello,

I’ve been starting to get a little sad now that summer is heading towards an end but I’m also starting to get into the fall mindset and have started wearing more olive greens and burn oranges now.

I recently found this dress I really really wanted two summers ago from Pacsun. I didn’t buy it at the time because it was a little more than I was wanting to spent so I let it go. On my most recent trip to Plato’s Closet though I found it on the sale rack for 50% off! the only problem was that it was an XL and I am usually a small or medium. it also had a hole by the zipper and a few of the seams were starting to come apart.

I figured since it was so cheap I could try to fix it, so I made it into a small by sewing the side seams smaller and hand stitched the holes back. I sewed out the zipper which really wasn’t a problem on this dress because the back was stretchy so I’m still able to get it on without a zipper. After I was done I decided that I kinda wanted it to have straps so I wasn’t pulling it up all day. (I’m sure you small chested girls know what I’m talking about!) I also didn’t want to have to wear a strapless bra with it, again the whole pulling it up thing!

Since it’s the end of summer I was able to find this black bikini top at Old Navy on sale for $4.95 and I hand sewed it into the front of the dress for a built in bra plus halter straps, pretty clever I think. 😉 I machine sewed the straps to the top so they would be secure and hand stitched the cups in so that the stitching wouldn’t show through the front. Also I’ve been having sewing machine issues, which are very frustrating and angering sooo yeah….I’ve been hand-stitching what I can. But I’m pretty happy with the result. 🙂

I also got this green shirt at Plato’s Closet for $2.50! I thought they looked nice together

24Jul2014

Table and Chairs Refresh

Posted in diy, home, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

I’ve never really liked this table and chairs since they look like and probably are from the 90’s. Ben had gotten them used before we lived together and were definitely outdated and showing their age. We were going to buy a new dining room set but couldn’t find one (or a price) that we like. I decided that since they are still in pretty good shape we could keep them a little longer and I’d be happier with them if they looked a little more modern and a little pop of color can go a long way! I painted everything that was painted white and left the wood showing. I used satin latex paint with a semi-gloss polycyclic over it to seal it. It did take about four coats of the blue though since I was painting such a dark color over the white. It was a nice summer project and I’m pretty pleased with the way it turned out!

Before

After, plus my Birthday Flowers! 🙂 Plus find the cat for bonus points…

22Jul2014

My trash finds of the summer

Posted in home by peppermintsandhoneybees

So this weekend my neighborhood held a trash day for bigger items and furniture. I of course went around to see what was out and found a wicker chair and ottoman and a coffee table just on my street! I could see why they were out for the trash. The chair and ottoman needed cleaned and repainted and was missing a couple pieces. They aren’t perfect but the price was right so I took them and made them new-ish. Now I just need to find a cushion! The table I took because we’ve been wanting to get a coffee table, but in closer inspection I discovered that two of the rungs on the bottom layer are split and it’s a bit wobbly. Not really great for the living room but not as noticeable for an outdoor table. I love saving things and making them new!

Before

After!

5Jul2014

Record Table

Posted in craft, diy, home by peppermintsandhoneybees

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I hope you all are having a great weekend and got to see some fireworks and some friends and family.

So I’ve seen these easy side tables made with a plant stand and old records and thought I’d make one for a birthday present for a birthday coming up. I bought the plant stand at Menards and I think I got my records from good will. I’ve had them a while waiting to make things with them.

When I got home the opening to the
Plant stand was a little wider than I had planned on it being but I made it work by just gluing the three prongs that stick up. I used e6000 glue and so far it is holding. The records were a little flimsy so I used two glued together do that it could hold more. So far so good!

Also we went into Chicago yesterday to see some friends and watch fireworks at Navy Pier so here are a couple pictures from our fourth!

Jenna ♥️

14May2014

DIY Hummingbird Feeder

Posted in diy by peppermintsandhoneybees

I’m so excited for warm weather finally and cannot wait to decorate my patio since this is the first summer we have had one in about 4 years. I want it as nature friendly as possible. (partly because I like to watch my cats freak out at birds and other animals!) I made this hummingbird feeder very easily with just a red bottle, copper colored wire and a special hummingbird feeder that I bought off of amazon. The color of the bottle doesn’t have to be red but I know they are attracted to red so I figured it wouldn’t hurt. I bought my bottle from Pier One. I just wrapped the wire around the bottle, making sure it was secure and made a loop at the top to hang it from.

I also have a recipe to make your own nectar as well.

1 cup sugar

4 cups water

boil water and sugar until melted. Cool and fill the feeder. You can store the rest in an empty container.

I haven’t seen any hummingbirds yet but I think it’s a little early in the year for them to migrate north yet. I can’t wait to see them!

Jenna ♥

4May2014

Stuff I Made: A Skirt

Posted in Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

I haven’t really had much time to work on anything new lately and was sick all of last weekend, (boo!) but I’m feeling much better now have lots of new projects planned! I thought I’d show off this skirt I made a few years ago from old kitchen curtains. I found the curtains at an antique store I used to frequent when I lived in Fort Wayne. I loved how kitschy they were but didn’t have any windows they would fit on and they didn’t really match my decor so I made them into a skirt. Let me know if you’ve ever made anything found into something wearable, I’d love to see your projects. Have a great rest of the weekend and hopefully the weather stays nice for everyone!

-Jenna

Ben thought he was being funny in this one!

23Feb2014

Don’t throw away those old towels

Posted in Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

If you’re like most people you have your nice towels and your old towels that you use for dirty stuff like dying your hair and washing the dog, and I am no different, but I have been making my “good” towels last a little longer recently because well, I have better things to spend my money on, like shoes! I have pimples and use a face wash with benzyl peroxide, which as you may know bleaches any fabric it touches so I get nice bleach stained towels along with the general fading that goes along with washing towels. Fun stuff I know!

Instead of buying new towels all the time I started dyeing them with Rit dye. Rit is the kind that comes in the box of powder or the little bottle of liquid. It can be found at most craft and sewing stores, and I think some stores like Wal-Mart carry it. I usually buy the powder because it’s cheaper, usually around $2-3.

I just pour it in a sink full of hot water and let my towels soak for about 15 min. I always do my dyeing in my kitchen sink so I can use both sinks, one for dyeing and one for rinsing. Oh and always wear gloves when dyeing, or you will have dyed hands! After that I rinse it our and wash the towels in the washing machine on normal settings. I use black because all of my hand towels are black, it’s easy to match to and easy to dye. I would recommend dyeing your towels a dark color because it is easier to dye. Hopefully this saves someone from having to buy new towels!

My next post will be about the curtains I dyed. I’m a big fan of self dyeing if you can’t tell. I just started using it about a year ago and wish I would have started sooner. I can’t tell you how many pairs of jeans I’ve redyed!