Yes....no...maybe?....meh. (A project I'm not sure about.).

A few days ago a friend mentioned how she liked to make things out of books. I too like that whole concept, but have never really done anything about it. So, off I went to browse Pinterest to find something for future crafty endeavors. Sure enough, I found something, and I knew exactly where I wanted to put it. Problem is, now that it's done, I'm not sure I like it. I know the husband doesn't like it, but I didn't really expect him to. That's fine though - he pretty much lets me do what I want, unless it's antiquing the kitchen cabinets. I think that part of the problem with this project is that I didn't have any hot glue sticks. I have the gun, but no sticks. I even took the oldest boy-child and walked over to Target to see if I could get some there, but couldn't find any. (We did manage to find an orange slushie and potato chips, though.) All of that to say, the way it is, I kinda expect it to fall apart at any moment. At least it won't hurt anyone if it does.

The place I had in mind for this project was above our fireplace. You see, when we bought the house there was dark wood paneling. That was quickly painted over, and now it's a cream color. Problem is, there's a BIG open space between the top of the fireplace and our vaulted ceiling. It needs something. So, now I have a "something." Too bad I'm not sure if I like it.

So, without further adieu, my wreath-

There it is. Meh. I'm not exactly sure why it doesn't quite float my boat. There's nothing really wrong with it, I'm just not all that happy with it. But there it hangs, at least until I find something I like better. It only cost me about $3 so it's not the end of the world if I don't keep it up for long, right?

My dumpster shelf

Photo Credit

This picture was the inspiration. I came across it while I was wasting time on Pinterest. Funny thing about Pinterest- I waste time on it only to give myself more to do. Anyways, I saw this and loved the whole pallet shelf idea. I don't exactly have plates to put on something like this, but I like the concept. Besides that, I wanted it in my bathroom, and the bathroom would be a funny place to put plates. Just sayin'.

Photo credit

It just so happened that a couple weeks ago I was taking the trash out at church, and lo and behold, a pallet was sitting there right on top of all the trash. It was like it was there waiting for me. The only thing missing was the light shining down on it from the heavens. I believe my exact exclamation at this moment was "Hot dog!" which was when my two-year-old little boy wanted to know where the hot dog was. It rode around in the back of our van for a little while, and then this last week, I decided it was time to take my saw to it....and hammer....and drill....and paintbrush. My plan was for it to replace the picture in our bathroom that really doesn't fit with the rest of the decor. I put the picture there in the first place because the spot looked empty, it sorta matched, and I didn't have anything else.

(This picture is also before my mirror was framed.)

After some cutting in half, and rearranging of my pallet, I had myself a brand new (sort of) shelf.

As usual, I wanted a little "something pretty" on my shelf, but went in a little different direction than usual. Instead of painting something, I decided to use one of my favorite things: burlap. (I'll take burlap over raindrops on roses any day.) As far as the stuff on the shelf, I'm not in love, but it's what I have, so it'll have to do for now. Maybe next week I'll find something I like more....in the dumpster.

I just kinda made up the flowers as I went. I've seen flowers made from burlap before, so I wasn't completely winging it, but I hadn't really found a tutorial of something that I liked, so I just kinda...went with the flow. After I was done making them, I decided that the edges just blended into each other, so I put some dark brown paint on the edges of the "petals" to make them stand out a little more. They're not attached to the shelf permanently, so I can always take them off whenever, like say, after spring/summer and replace them with something else later.