DIY Archives - Our Family Unit

March4th

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DIY Lace Doily Table Runner

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So this little table runner project was a collaborative effort. Again, I had pinned another idea I loved to my “Home” board, but was making no progress on it whatsoever. My mom gave me just the push I needed…for my Christmas present I got to pick out some antique lace doilies from their shop.

I came home with a fantastic pile of antique doilies, all shapes and sizes and styles. They were just gorgeous.

The first step was to iron and starch them all. Then I started playing with layouts on my dining room table. I started with the big center one and then just worked out from there.

Finally, I tacked them together with a needle and thread. I adore how it turned out. My dining room has been pretty much neglected since we moved in and this gives it such a warm and inviting look. My favorite parts are the imperfections, it’s beautiful in spite of them…just like us.
March1st

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DIY Burlap Placemats & Chalkboard Coasters

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This DIY gift I loved so much, I kept one for myself…Stenciled Burlap Placemats and Chalkboard Coasters. It’s super easy and contributed to my secret goal to incorporate burlap into every room in the house!

I bought some burlap at JoAnn’s and cut it down to 13″ x 17″, an inch wider and longer than I wanted my finished placemat to be. I followed this great tutorial for how to cut burlap in a straight line, and it saved me so much frustration! Then I hand washed the rectangles to get rid of that weird burlap smell and soften their texture just a bit. After ironing them flat again, I did a straight stitch around the edges, 1/2″ from the border, to keep them from fraying. Then I purposely frayed the edges up to the stitching, just to give them a more unified look.

At this point, they were ready to be stenciled. I used my Silhouette to cut the stencils for my words. By cutting out the word, rather than the letters, I didn’t have to worry about messing up the kerning when I stenciled. For once, having very old craft paint was a huge win. My black paint had been left over from my mom’s stash and I’m pretty sure it was purchased somewhere around 1987. It was thick and clumpy, but it worked perfectly to give me very crisp letters. The paint didn’t bleed out from under the stencil edge at all.

I love chalkboard paint! If we didn’t rent our house, I’d probably cover the entire kitchen in chalkboard paint. For this project though, I limited myself to just the coasters. I purchased the cheap tiles at Home Depot (16 cents each) and glued a piece of black felt to the bottom of each with a hot glue gun. Then I gave each coaster two coats of chalkboard paint.

I wanted each coaster to have a toasting phrase and originally planned to stencil that too. But the font was too small and thin for that to work well, so I ended up tracing my stencil in pencil and then painting it free-hand. Despite my shaky hand, I liked how they turned out.

I’m so glad I kept one set for myself. They’re my favorite way to set the table!
February27th

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DIY Etched Beer Glasses

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This is my brother, Jacob (the picture below, not the one above), one of my absolute favorite people in this life. He’s 2 1/2 years younger than I am and pretty much just better at life than me. We have lots of the same interests, but his free spirit just takes things to a different level.

For instance…
- I like cheese…he makes cheese
- I like wine…he grows a vineyard
- I like to cook…he roasts a whole hog in his backyard for 150 people
Sometimes his free spirit drives me crazy, like the time I literally beat him over the head with my umbrella while standing on a lonely country road in France; but most of the time it leads him into fun hobbies, like brewing his own beer. So for Christmas, I made him a set of personalized beer glasses.

I used my Silhouette to design and cut out a logo and the name “Modern Brewing”, then I tested the etching cream on one of my own glasses. I used Armour Etch and it worked beautifully! The next step was to do it on the glasses I’d bought for him – this proved to be much more difficult since they were tapered. But after a lot of cutting and nudging and letting go of perfectionism, it was time to do the etching.

I covered the stencil in the etching cream and then let it sit for about 10 – 15 minutes. Then I just rinsed it off and removed the stencil. Voila! One-of-a-kind beer glasses for my one-of-a-kind brother.
February26th

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DIY Fort Kit

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Welcome to my kids’ DIY Fort Kit!

Do you ever pin stuff on Pinterest knowing it would be the PERFECT thing for your kids/home/wardrobe, promising that you’ll do it ‘the next chance you get’ only to have life happen? I know some people say that Pinterest is depressing for this exact reason, but I’ve discovered the solution! Pin stuff, not so that you have to make it, but so that someone else can make it FOR YOU! :) That’s what happened with this Fort Kit – Thanks Mom!

I’d seen this on Pinterest and knew my kids would love it, so I pinned it. That was almost a year ago and I still had not put one together! But Marmie came to the rescue this Christmas.

She gathered all the supplies (sheets, rope, clips, clothes pins, suction cups and the VERY ESSENTIAL flashlights) and then made a drawstring bag out of the pillow case. I cannot begin to tell you how many forts have been built in our house (and out) over the last 2 months. It makes for such a great adventure every time! Just one word of advice…make sure everyone gets a flashlight. :)