DIY Ikea Kallax Storage Bench

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I have to admit, I can no longer walk into a store and just purchase an item for my house without thinking "could I make this myself?"  crossing my mind.  Thank you, Pinterest.  With that being said, I have thoroughly enjoyed researching how to personalize our home and to do so in a way that satisfies my husbands request that the things in our house be functional...men.  :)  Which is what led me to our Ikea storage bench.

We're renting a town home that has this cute little window cut out.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that it would be a perfect spot for a storage bench/window seat in our living room.  After a tedious trip to Ikea and trying to explain my vision to my husband, we ended up purchasing and putting together the Kallax storage unit.  I have to admit, it sat in our living room for weeks before I finally decided on colors and baskets.

Today I'm going to share with you how we put ours together and provide links and information, in the event that you decide to make your own.

Materials:

• Kallax Shelving Unit $59.99 (see current price here)
• Particle Board cut to 57 7/8" by 15 3/8" ($9.00 for a huge sheet.  I purchased mine at Lowe's and they cut it to size for me for free!)
• 3" foam pieces (I used 3- 15"x17" sheets and then 1 sheet cut to15" by 7 7/8")
• Fabric of choice
• Quilt batting
• Staples
• Staple Gun
• Baskets (mine: here, other options: here, here and here)

I have to confess, I was initially very overwhelmed by this project.  The original shelving seen in many of the posts on Pinterest was no longer available, the price of foam seemed through the roof at Joann's and it was so difficult to find baskets that weren't from Ikea that would fit the look and style that I wanted for my project. 

Thankfully, a very kind gentleman at Lowe's helped navigate me through some of my pitfalls.  

I began having my husband put together the Kallax Shelving Unit and I took measurements of the length and width of the bench.  I had originally read that MDF was a great option to use for upholstery, by I couldn't find it at a reasonable price for the size that I needed.  So, the kind gentleman at Lowe's suggest the particle board, which they cut to size for me.  He also suggested a basic staple gun and staples which cost me around $10.  

That part felt overwhelming enough, so it took me a bit longer to get to the fabric and the foam.  After pricing items on the internet and in store, I actually decided to purchase my foam and fabric from Hobby Lobby.  I waited until their foam was on sale for 30% off and then used my 40% off one item coupon for my fabric.  

To upholster:

To cover my particle board, I used 3 full sheets of foam and about half of the fourth sheet of foam.  I wanted to lay them out on top of the particle board to make sure that I had enough foam before I began upholstering.  

First, I laid down my quilt batting, making sure it was tight and smooth.  Next came the foam pieces, which I placed end to end.  I made sure that they were placed together as tightly as possible so that there were no spaces or gaps once the fabric was stapled down. 

Then, I laid down my particle board on top of the foam pieces and made sure everything is centered. Carefully pulling the batting so that it was tight and smooth, I worked around the perimeter of the bench, adding staples to secure the foam to the particle board.   Hint: Try not to bulk up the corners of the batting.  If it is too bulky, it will make it difficult to staple down your fabric.  

Finally, take your newly created bench and lay if face down on top of your fabric.  Staple along the length of the bench top and then work on folding the corners in and stapling the width of the bench.  

For tips on upholstering the corners see my step by step pictures below: 

1. Pinch the corner of the fabric and pull snugly.  

2. Pull up on the fabric so that it is perpendicular to the bench.

 3.  Pull it towards the middle of the bench center to create a fold. (Imagine you are wrapping a present.)

4. Staple it down.

5. Fold excess fabric over top and staple down. 

After I had finished with my bench top, I carefully laid it on top of the the Kallax shelving unit and added the baskets and some decorative pillows.  I was quite pleased with the way it pulled our living room together. 

DIY Monogram Key Chain

I know, I know.  It's been almost six months since I posted to the blog and I haven't been keeping things updated very well.  I do have an excuse, we did get married in May, I taught in NC through the Christmas break in NC and then we up and moved to Northern Virginia because my husband accepted a new job.

The move has been AMAZING for us.  We could not be more tickled about the location, our jobs or the opportunities that they are providing.   However, since we've been here this North Carolina girl has seen more snow in two months than I've ever seen in my entire life.  I think we've had around 13 snow days for school since I've been here and I've had a little bit of time on my hands.  I mean, that is between unpacking, decorating, taking care of relocation documents and taking on a new teaching position in the middle of the year.

Today we ended up with a glorious NINE inches of snow on the ground.  NINE!!!!!  It's the first of our snow days that we had enough snow for my Maryland native husband to come home in the middle of the day to hang out with me, which I loved!  Needless to say, we'll be out of school tomorrow, so I decided to play with one of my toys from Christmas that I've been itching to experiment with.... my Silhouette Cameo.

Since we got married I have been monogramming everything (well, kind of).  I've always loved monograms but I knew two years ago that it would be changing once we got engaged, so I had to hold off.  Since May, when we got married, I've gone a little crazy.

I decided today that I wanted to try a monogrammed key chain.   With it being all cold and nasty outside I have been desperate for some spring colors, which you'll notice in my design.  However, you can always change yours to fit your taste.  Mine is a bit colorful! :)

Here are the directions:

Materials:  

• Clear keychains from Hobby Lobby (Pack of 2- $1.99)
• White Cardstock (if you plan to cut and print) or Color/Designed Cardstock (if you don't plan to cut and print)
• Silhouette Cameo
• Silhouette Design Studio Software
• Monogram App ($1.99)  

You'll need to begin by launching the Monogram App and going ahead and purchasing the extra fonts.  Trust me, it is totally worth it because a circular monogram fonts are expensive!!! I've priced them and the Monogram App is the way to go.  

If you plan to cut and print because you LOVE the beautiful designs in the app, you'll need to create two monograms: one with your preferred background and one with your preferred monogram.  I had to do this because the original design I chose was very intricate and Silhouette wanted to try to cut all of it out when I traced the image (see below).   If you only plan to cut the monogram, you can just create the black monogram.  

Monogram 1: 

Monogram 2 (because I am IN LOVE with this design...it makes me think of summer and all things happy!)

I started by cropping monogram 2 so that I had just the design to print (I chose to use the top right corner).  This would become my background in Silhouette Design Studio.  

I opened the design studio and imported my selection.  I had already measured the inside of the key chain and knew that it measured 2.25 inches in diameter, which would be the diameter for my circle on the design.  

 Imported Design:

Create a circle that is 2.25 inches in diameter and drag the circle on top of the image that you have imported.  

Next, you'll need to crop the image.  You can do this by selecting all the items (ctrl +A on Windows or command +A on a Mac).  Then, click the modify button.  From those options, you'll want to choose crop.   (select all > modify > crop)

Once you have that set, you'll want to create your monogram.  I opened a new tab and imported my black monogram.  

This is where I ran into an issue.  When I went to trace, it kept selecting way too many things.  This is where I have go give a shout out to Magnolia Lane on helping me figure out how to get just the monogram font.

Once you have your monogram you'll want to go to the Trace button (looks like a yellow and blue butterfly in my opinion).  The trace button will help create the outline you want your Silhouette to cut.  From there you will click on Select Trace Area and create a square over your monogram.

This is the most important part!!!  Instead of selecting High Pass Filter, uncheck it and click Low Pass Filter.  Your square will turn from gray to yellow.  This is a good thing!  

Once you've done this, click TRACE and then you can click on the black part of your monogram and delete the background.  The red trace lines will still be there.  Now, to get rid of the lines we don't want you'll select the entire monogram and right click.  Click on Release Compound Path.  Doing so will allow you to select each line that you don't want and then delete them.  I deleted everything except for the monogram.  I also chose to delete the circles because I wanted to have control over the size of my letters.

I promise, from here it is easy as pie.  Selecting the entire monogram, copy and paste it back into the document where your cropped circle was with the design.  Adjust the monogram so that it is centered and the same size as your circle.  

If you are using a cardstock with a design, you can just send this to the Silhouette to cut (Cut > Standard > Cut) because your circle and letters are set to go and it doesn't matter where on the designed cardstock it will cut.

If you are printing the design on white cardstock, I took three extra steps.

1. Add your registration marks by clicking on the registration mark window. Make sure your design is inside of red and gray lines.  Click print.

2.  I wanted color on BOTH sides of my monogram cut, so I added the same selected image from earlier to another Studio tab and printed it on the opposite side of the paper so that I'd have color on both sides. 

3. With the paper lined up precisely on the cutting mat, load the cutting mat and send the document to cut on the Silhouette.  It will use your registration marks to cut the circle and monogram EXACTLY. 

From there I cut it out, popped open the key chain and inserted my beautiful design.  Voila!  You've got an adorable monogram key chain.  

I hope you enjoyed and be sure to comment if you have any questions.  

Happy Monogramming!  

Katie

Happy Fall Y'All: 14 Fall Activities You'll Love

Happy Fall Y'All.

Turning the corner from summer to fall is always bittersweet.  I love the long, warm days of summer time and all of the joys that come with summer: no school, late nights, country concerts, driving with the windows down, etc.   However, the transition into the harvest season of fall is always exciting.  I love the chance to pull out my boots and scarves and participate in many of the activities the come along with the fall season.

To celebrate the transition into the season I have a list activities you should consider for this fall season because, well, who doesn't love endeavoring to complete a list or participating in some of the neat festivities of fall.

If you l'd like to download the list of activities or use it as a printable, you are welcome to do so by clicking on the picture!


Happy Fall!
Katie

Wedding Registry 101

Alright, I promised a post about wedding registries.  I have to admit, as a bride to be, wedding registries and checklists were one of my favorite parts about getting married.  I spent quite a few hours on Pinterest looking for good checklists and gathering ideas about what I wanted to register for.  Now that I look back, I have a few hints and tips I'd love to share with you about places to register, the ease of returns (or not, in some cases) and the advantages to some registries after the wedding. 

When we registered for our wedding, I had been living in an apartment by myself for three years, so the need to register for a ton of stuff was unnecessary.  However, I did find that I wanted to update a few of my belongings, as many of them were pretty girly (sorry, Brett!) or they were in need of replacement for better quality, thanks to seeing their better days in college.  :)  We ended up registering at the following locations.  Below you'll find my perks and feedback on many of our registries.    

Crate and Barrel

By far, the easiest registry we did for a multitude of reasons.  Crate and Barrel is super easy to register in store and online.  They also have a really great wedding app where you can update your supply if necessary and it notifies you when something is purchased (I liked that part!)  The app is called Crate and Barrel Wedding and Gift Registry.  You can download it through the App Store.  There were A LOT of kitchen items that we got from there, which I was super excited about.  Returns were also easy in the store and, their perks are the best.  After the wedding they will send you an email for your "complete the registry."  However, as long as you have the email code, you get 10% off the entire store, for any reason, online or in store.   That made my life so much easier as I was setting up our home.  No pressure to use it all in one day or all at once.  Besides, it'll be super useful for some weddings and birthdays that are on the horizon!  

Pros: Returns, Discounts, Customer Service

Cons: I wish they had more things like Pottery Barn. :)

Pottery Barn

I have to admit, I registered at Pottery Barn because I love their store.  I walk in and wish it was my house sometimes.  However, as an overall registry option, I'd probably only give them a grade of about 80%.  Returns were a bit tricky, and it took them awhile to get our "complete the registry" info to us.   Adding items to your registry is super easy, but the 10% off perk is only good for items on your registry, though it is available for 6 months after the wedding.  I found registering at Pottery Barn to be a bit "stiff" in my opinion.  They were welcoming, enough, but not nearly as helpful as Crate and Barrel.  Also, their items are a bit overpriced in my opinion.  Nevertheless, my favorite items from my registry came from Pottery Barn, so it's worth the bit of pain.   Overall, the website is relatively easy to use and modify.  I do wish they had an app, but they don't.  Maybe one day...

Pros: Love the store. 

Cons: Ease of use, store discount

Target

I think if you asked my husband what my favorite store was, he'd probably tell you that it was Target. Target has a lot of cute, practically priced items, and it was a no brainer to register there.  Overall, I'd probably give Target a grade of 90% satisfaction on our registry.  Some of the pros were the ease of registration.  You can always go in-store and get the registry scanner, but if you have the Target app on your smartphone, you can also add items by scanning the barcode on your smart phone and it will add them to your registry.  I especially liked that because some items that I saw in store were NOT online, and I could just add them to the registry when I had my phone on me in the store.  Super easy.  I also liked registering with Target because it was easy access for a lot of people.  My biggest frustration with the Target Registry were the returns and the discount for completing the registry.  The returns weren't all cohesive, and it was a good thing I brought in some of my gift receipts.  Additionally, the discount for after the wedding is good for one day and one online shopping experience.  Talk about pressure.  I had a few sales I was trying to catch and I didn't have much time to make use of what I wanted.  Sad day. 

Pros: Ease of registering and updating the registry

Cons: Discounts and Returns

I know that the registries above aren't for everyone, so here are some other options that we considered:

Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Kohl's

My Registry

Macy's

Williams-Sonoma

Wedding Registry Checklist

One of the most overwhelming parts of setting up our registry was deciding what to register for.  I had been living by myself for three years prior to us getting married, so I had accumulated a lot of items that you would typically register for, such as pots and pans, knives, plates, and linens.   However, I didn't want to miss out on registering for important items, so I looked over a few checklists to make sure that I included everything we could potentially use.   I also took this opportunity to update many of the items that I'd had since college that had seen better days.  

Wedding registry checklists can be super detailed or very general.  I'm linking and crediting a few that I found to be the most helpful.  You decide which one works best for you! :)

The Knot Ultimate Wedding Registry Checklist

Pretty Little Wedding Things All-Inclusive Wedding Registry Checklist

Real Simple Wedding Registry Checklist

Crate and Barrel Wedding Registry Checklist (Printable)

My Wedding Ultimate Registry Checklist (Printable and Simple)

Happy Registering!

Katie

Our Foot Washing Ceremony

With the wedding being a little over a month ago, it has been a lot of fun to hear everyone's reactions to the wedding and their thoughts on the day that they shared with us!

One of the highlights of our wedding day was our foot-washing ceremony.  Many of our guests commented on how well done it was, and honestly, it was probably our favorite part of the wedding.  Since then, we've had a few people ask us how we incorporated it into our ceremony and I thought I'd take a few moments to share.

When Brett and I began thinking about the design of our ceremony, we knew a few things:

1. We wanted it to reflect the gospel.
2. We wanted it to reflect our personalities.
3. We wanted it to be meaningful.

With this in mind, we decided to incorporate a few elements into our ceremony: an opening prayer with a welcome that laid the foundation for our marriage, a foot washing ceremony, and our very own vows in addition to traditional vows.  While I could go on and on about the other elements, the one that I will focus on in this blog post is our foot washing ceremony.

Why did you choose to wash each other's feet?

As we began to think about our ceremony we really focused in on the fact that biblical marriage connects beautifully to the gospel: Jesus, taking the form of a servant, chose to serve his disciples by washing their feet, even though he was the King of Kings; and that Jesus is the bridegroom of heaven, and that we the church are the bride of Christ. From there, we considered what scriptures we could share that would connect those two thoughts and ideas.  Ultimately, we chose to focus on three sections of scripture that connected these ideas.  Our first scripture was Ephesians 5:21-31 which discusses how marriage connects us to Christ through submission, or servanthood to the other person, and how wives and husbands should love each other with the same love that Christ demonstrates to the church. The scripture itself is as follows:

Ephesians 5:21-31. 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for

Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is 

the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the 

Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to 

their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved 

the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the 

washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant 

church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and 

blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own 

bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his 

own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- 30 for we 

are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and 

mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”.

We also chose to use Philippians 2:5-8 which demonstrates Christ's choice to take on the form of a servant by emptying himself and considering equality with God something that could not be grasped. The scripture reads as follows:

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

And finally, John 13:12-18 which describes how servanthood connects to washing each others feet.

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

So, you may be wondering, what is the connection between these three scriptures?  Well, the ultimate idea is this:  Biblical marriage is a reflection of servanthood, one man and one woman dying to their own desires to become one flesh and to love one another unconditionally, just as Christ loved the church.  Because of Christ's love of his church, he took on the nature of a servant and chose to serve others around him, even though he was God himself.  He chose to serve and submit, even to death on a cross, just as we choose to submit to each other until death separates us.  By washing each other's feet, we chose to demonstrate that we were willing to commit to serving and loving one another until Jesus takes us home and that we bless each other by washing the other person's feet.

How did it fit into your ceremony?

Now that we have the basis for our decision, let's talk about the technicalities behind the foot washing. We chose to use this in place of our unity candle or sand pouring.  The foot washing came right after the declaration of intent.  Our ceremony went in this order:

Welcome and Prayer
Declaration of Intent
Foot Washing
Reading of Vows
Exchanging of Rings
Pronouncement

We had our officiant take some time to build the background for our foot washing while we took time to undo our shoes and pour the water into the basin.  Brett and I had discussed how we would remove the shoes:  We would each remove our own before the foot washing began.  Brett would wash my feet first and then I would wash his.  We also made sure that we had plenty of towels, including one for me to kneel on, as our ceremony was outside.  After we had dried each others feet REALLY well, I slipped my shoes on quickly and helped him get his shoes and socks back on.

We also chose to use the song Lead Me by Sanctus Real as we washed each others feet.  The song is beautiful and talks about how we should ask the Lord to lead us in our marriage and our relationships, as we are weak in our own strength.

After the foot washing, we began the exchanging of the vows, and from there we finally made it to the part where we got to be Mr. and Mrs. Sabol. That was my other favorite part. :)

Here are a few of the pictures from the foot washing, we think they are beautiful.  The wonderfully talented Ruby Peoples Photography took them for us.  I hope you enjoy them!

Happy Serving,

Katie

Free Font Monday!

Alright y'all!  I have a fun freebie for you today!  I am an absolute font snob and I spent the majority of the afternoon working on these awesome new fonts while my husband watched the World Cup Final.  He was SO excited that Germany won.  I really like the World Cup because it gave me an excuse to talk to him at camp four years ago and now we're married. ;)

Anyway, the fonts are free for personal use.  You can grab them over at Teachers Pay Teachers.  My only request is that you credit the site if you use them on anything that gets published for free.  :)

The link to the fonts is here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sweet-Teacher-Fonts-1323317

You can also follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers if you like them! :) I hope you enjoy!

Happy Creating!
Katie

DIY Boxwood Wreath

It's been awhile since I shared a DIY, and a cheap one at that!  I was on Target's website a few months and was looking at their Smith and Hawken Boxwood Wreath.  It was absolutely gorgeous and something that I was crossing my fingers that we would get off of our registry...but we didn't.   Here is the lovely beauty.

After trying to do our registry completion at Target, I realized that there were a few more important things that we purchased initially and that I probably wasn't going to get the wreath that I wanted, for $45, might I mention.  Ahhh!  However, I really, really wanted one for our new apartment.  

Which...led me to doing a bit of do-it-yourself research.  We all know that you can learn how to do almost anything between Pinterest and Google, so I started researching.  I ran across these amazing tutorials on House and Hone and Newly Woodwards, which inspired my plan. I made a quick phone call to my always dependable mother to see if I could take one a few of her boxwoods in her front yard and did a bit of research online for a grapevine wreath.  After calculating what I saw online, I figured my wreath would cost be around $10.  However, a quick trip to Walmart found me with $5 grapevine wreath, which I was stoked about.  

Here are some pics and a few steps.  Some blogs mention gluing the stems into the wreath.  I didn't have enough patience for that part, but you might want to try it!  

Materials:

• Grapevine Wreath
• Boxwood
• Shears

I was so excited to begin placing my wreath together initially, that I wasted a lot of time snipping little branches and then placing them in the wreath.  Wisdom told me that it would be faster to just start snipping and to place the boxwood branches after I had a nice pile, which is exactly what I did!

After I snipped a good pile of branches, I started placing them around my wreath.  I tried to fill in around the edges and to keep the leaves on the boxwood all facing the same direction.  Thankfully, I had a very snug grapevine wreath, which held the branches without any gluing needed.  

It took me about an hour to get all of the branches in the way that I wanted them to look.  After I was finished, I couldn't wait to get it home and hung up at my house.  I've read that boxwood wreaths can last awhile if you keep misting them with water.  I'll let you know how it holds up!

My finished product!  I just love how bright green it is and the whimsical nature of it.  What I REALLY LOVE is that it looks as good as the Target wreath and that I only spent $5.  Win.  

Happy Money Saving!

Katie