Napkin Rings from Toilet Rolls

Good morning everyone. It's a beautiful day here in sunny Queensland.  Today I wanted to share with you my napkin rings  that I made.   I have a few birthday dinners coming up which started me thinking about table decor. I went to a few of my favourite shops to check out prices for napkin rings. There were a couple I loved but when I started to add up all of the items I would need for the table it was going to cost more than I wanted to spend. As you know I hate throwing anything out and I love to recycle and upcycle so I started looking through my supplies trying to come up with some diy ideas.  One thing I have plenty of and I'm quite sure I'm not alone in this is toilet paper tubes! I had the idea to cut these up to make the basis of my napkin rings. Because the birthdays were for different ages I ended up making 3 different styles of napkin rings.

The first thing I did was cut the cardboard tubes into 1 inch rings. 

I had on hand some burlap which was exactly the right width for my first napkin ring. I measured how much I would need and glued it onto the cardboard tube with cement glue. This stuff sticks to anything!

To give it a bit of pizzazz I added pearls around the middle of the tube. It comes in a small roll and was really easy to glue onto the burlap.   

Pink felt and pink stone

Beach style napkin rings

Burlap & Pearl napkin holder




I like the simplicity of this napkin holder, I'm not really a frills and lace type of girl. I know not everyone agrees, so I've made the next napkin ring slightly more feminine.

This napkin ring I covered in pink felt and yes, a piece of jewellery from earings that I owned.  I'm always losing one earing, so I have kept the ones I have left to use in DIY crafts such as this.

I also wanted to make napkin rings that are more casual in style and what could be more casual than the beach! I have a grandson who likes to surf so I thought these would be just the thing. I made this one using card stock which is thicker than paper and more sturdy. I then glued on a shell from my collection and voila! Beach style napkin holders. We are all beach lovers in my family so I know I will get a lot of use from them.

If you have toilet paper rolls give this a try, it's super cheap and super easy and we're doing our little bit to recycle instead of throwing them out. Have a great weekend everyone, till next time

2 DIY Signs From Recycled Timber

Hi friends, I'm really excited to show you my two diy signs that I made from recycled timber. I love recycled wood or reclaimed wood because no trees had to be cut down again depleting our natural habitats. Anyway I decided to make two because there are two things that I love and that's the beach and vintage style.

Here in Australia it's winter. I do not like winter! I'm seriously waiting for spring to feel alive again! Therefore my first sign is about the beach.

Even if it isn't summer I can at least create something that is summery.

I started off by painting the wood a green/blue colour. While I was waiting for that to dry I picked out some shells from my collection to decorate the sign with.

I decided to stencil the word beach with an old stencil I had. I really need to get some new stencils with larger letters.

When I'd completed the stenciling I added some rope to the back with cement glue. This glue sticks anything! I believe it's one of Martha Stewart's secrets, so how could I go wrong?!

One sign completed!

Beach style sign

The next sign I painted in a creamy white chalk paint which I made adding a small amount of ochre to white.

I had some faux flowers already in my supplies. They're a creamy colour with green leaves and matched perfectly.

For this sign I decided to write welcome and hang it just inside my doorway. I actually ended up using some stick on letters that I had. Roll on new stencils!

Instead of rope I used a type of hessian (burlap) ribbon. I felt it was more in keeping with the vintage style that I was after  

Vintage style sign

If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you. Have a wonderful week, until next time 

How I Decorated My Entryway With hardly any Money

I have spoken to a number of people lately that are struggling to pay their bills let alone having extra money to decorate their homes. I can empathise with them because I have been in the same boat myself. I know the frustration of seeing furniture and decor that you would love to buy but know that there is not a hope in hell!

I am here to show you that you can have a home you love with a little bit of creativity. Firstly second hand stores or thrift stores are a girl's best friend! You can purchase furniture, decor accessories and more if you can visualise what an item can look like with a bit of elbow grease, paint, or other diy ideas. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about I am going to give you a rundown on how I decorated my entryway with hardly any money

I'll start off with my entry console. I purchased this at a second hand shop (thrift store) near me for $25. It was just the right length and width. It had white mosaic tiling on the top which I thought I would remove but once I got it home and started to decorate it I decided I liked them. So for now they are staying. The next on the list is my wall art. I think art is a way of expressing what you love. For me it is the water, ocean, rivers, and lakes. Anything associated with the ocean such as boats as you will see!

The colours I love to use are teal blues. If you'd like to see my colour palette I've used these in one of my earlier posts. Check it out here

I also love to collect shells and driftwood from the beach and display them. Cost? Nothing. I have two wonderful grandchildren that live in Rome, Italy and I only see them every 2 years. They are also water babies. Shells that we collect together I love to display and they bring back many happy memories. I'll be doing a post on this in the near future.

I have given you the prices of the decor I used for my entryway below so that you can see it is possible to decorate with hardly any money.

•  
  

The blue keepsake box above I've decorated is in an earlier post. You can find how I did this here

I wasn't able to get the console in the photo so here's another one showing more of it. Sorry about the light, it's been pouring rain here in sunny Queensland!

For around $45 I was able to decorate my entryway. What do you think? Are you inspired to do a little hunting? If you are on a seriously strict budget like me and have hardly any money to decorate with and you like what I've done, give it a go! It's a great feeling to accomplish this and so much fun searching for the right pieces. Let me know in the comments if you have any projects to share, I would love to hear them. Take care

DIY beach decor

Beach decor mail and key holder

Mail and key holder (before)

Well I'm finally back after a busy christmas with my friends and family. It was extra special this year, my daughter and 2 grandchildren who live in Rome came to Australia for Christmas. Lots of food, sun and laughter! I'm missing them a lot and planning their next visit! Despite another daughter (I have 4) and myself both being in hospital we weren't going to let it get us down. She was found to have two brain aneurysms and just had the second operation. If she hadn't slipped on the bathroom tiles and banged her head she may not be here with us today. They gave her a CAT scan to be on the safe side and that's how they found them. After the first operation they said she was a very lucky girl because it was ready to burst. Frightening but it was another lesson in life to remind me to always tell those close to you that you love them. Please never take each other for granted. I feel grateful for so many things especially my 4 amazing daughters and precious grandchildren.


  Now I can breathe again! I know all mothers will relate to this, when our children are suffering so are we! I ended up in hospital because I have a hiatus hernia and an ulcer which bled. I did not want to go to but I have very bossy children and they say they have a very stubborn mother! I thought about others who may be in a similar situation, ill in hospital away from loved ones. The positive is  our problems could be fixed for which we are both very grateful but so many others can't because their illness is terminal. I thought of mothers and fathers who had to watch their child die and my heart goes out to them.

 We're all well now and enjoying our beautiful Queensland summer and feeling very grateful to be alive.  It's been a hot one, perfect for the beach and water sports, but not so great for those working outside.

Anyway while I was second hand shopping (again) I found a few little treasures that I knew would make perfect DIY beachy decorations. One was a 70s style letter and key holder and the other was a keepsake box with the cutest little sailboat on the front. Rust and all! Loving the beach and DIY I grabbed them both.

I started with the letter holder and painted it a beautiful shade of blue (of course). The beach is where I feel peace so looking at blue/green colours calms me. It's my favourite colour and this is a pale teal with white panels.I used chalk paint,

Dark blue beachy mail and key holder

a mixture of white and blue and gave it a distressed finish. I couldn't decide between a deeper or lighter blue, so I'm going to show you both. I would love to know which colour you preferred. I'm leaning towards the lighter.

This is the lighter blue, it still has some of the dark blue showing through to give it more depth.

Light blue beach mail and key holder 

Ok what do you think? Let me know in the comments section, I would really love some feedback.

Next I painted/distressed the beach keepsake box in the same dark blue. I have some of my shells in it but you could use it for anything you like. I was going to say love letters but that's really showing my age! Does anyone still write these or is it all electronic? Kind of sad, it's just not the same is it? Or am I alone in saying this?

Dark blue beachy keepsake box

I know many love old rusty pieces, in fact the rustier the better! I'm not sure if I'm one of them. I do love the little sailboat on the front, it adds some character and some beachiness! Thoughts?

Again I painted this in the lighter blue and the rusty bits a white wash.

Light blue beachy keepsake box

I have in my stash some more wooden decor items to show you next time. One of my favourites is a timber 3 tier candle holder, very 70's style. Please give me your feedback in the comments section, I would love to hear from you. Have a wonderful weekend and keep safe