Hey everyone -
I have something a little different for this DIY project.Who doesn't love a good recipe??
I actually got this from my mother. It is absolutely delicious, super simple and cheap!

Here is what you'll need:
1 can of Mandarin oranges
1 can of cranberries (whole berries)
1 container of whipped cream cheese
1 bag of Ritz oven baked crackers
(I bought all of this at Walmart and used their brand of products and spent about 10 dollars)

All you need to do is spread the whipped cream cheese first on a plate, mix the 2 fruits together, add on top of cream cheese and you're done!

I promise, you will not be disappointed :)

Until next time
-G

Earring Holder

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the comments on my first DIY project. I hope some of you can appreciate this project as well :)

This week, I made an earring holder. I have seen these at the stores and am not sure exactly how much they cost (I am guessing around 10-15 dollars), but this was COMPLETELY FREE for me to make! I looked up pictures on the internet under "jewelry organizer" to get the basics of what people use to make this and just used what was available in my house to put this project together. You can improvise, depending on what your house can supply you with but this is what I used:

Lace fabric
3 picture frames (just the fronts)
Hot glue-gun
Scissors

I first cut out the lace fabric according to my picture frame sizes. Than I hot glue-gunned  them to the back (be careful - very very hot!)

Here is what they look like

If you want you can decorate the edges of your holder with whatever you can find in your house (fake flowers, ribbon, charms, etc.) but I chose to keep it simple since that is what I prefer. It's as easy at that! Below is the finished product :)

 Remember: use whatever is lying around your house! This should cost you NO money at all. Type in "earring holder" or "jewelry organizer" into Google to find inspiration on what you can use. That is what I did and it worked out great. Now I have a place for all of my earrings without spending a dime.

Until next time,
-G

Happy Birthday Calendar

My first DIY project that I thought could be useful was a home-made calendar to keep track of birthdays throughout the year. Most of us tend to forget dates (I am guilty of this!) and this is a creative and CHEAP way to keep track of them. It can be used every year and you can also add to it when new friends and family come into your life :)



(Here is my finished product)


This is the link to the original idea:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Paint-Swatch-Birthday-Calendar/

I did mine a little bit differently..

What I used:
Paint swatches
Glue
Tape
Scissors
Posterboard
Sharpies
Stickers
(The only thing that I bought from this list was the posterboard! It was 30 cents at Wal-Mart)

The first thing I did was pick up 12 paint swatches at Wal-Mart (one for each month). I tried to pick my colors in relation to that particular month, but you can choose whichever fits how you want your calendar to be. I cut and layered my colors (there are 7 on each swatch) and glued them together to form a horizontal line. I did this for all 12 months.

To spell out the months on the swatches, I used stickers that I already had around the house but you can either use paint like the website or you can free hand them if you're a good artist.

Next I glued the swatches on the posterboard (4 across, 3 down).

I then outlined the swatches and border with black sharpie to make the calendar look more organized. You can decorate however you would like. To fill in the dates, I just wrote the day of the month and the person's name, but on the website she used pages out of a planner. You can do either.

This calendar cost me a total of 30 cents! All I needed to purchase was the posterboard. If you bought a calendar, it would cost you around 10 dollars, maybe more depending on what type you got. If you have some free time, this is a great way to make sure you don't forget anyone's special day :)

Until next time,
-G

About DIY Blog

Hey everyone! Thanks for visiting :)

In case you didn't know, DIY stands for "Do-It-Yourself" and that is exactly what this blog is all about. The whole concept behind this idea is that I make DIY projects myself that I find off of http://www.instructables.com/ and share it with all of you in the hopes that you will also find use out of these great ideas! Money is tight these days and sometimes making the stuff you buy can go a long way (in your pocket).

Hope you find something that can come in handy to you :)

Until next time,
-G