DIY

It’s nearly February, which can only mean one thing.

It’s almost my birthday!

Okay, maybe it means one more thing. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.

Is it just me, or is Valentine’s Day one of the most stressful holidays?

If you don’t have a significant other, you’re incredibly self-conscious for the first two weeks of February.

If you do have a significant other, you’ve got incredible pressure to give him or her the perfect Valentine’s Day gift or date.

Well, I’m here to (hopefully) help with the second issue.

I’ve got a pretty easy (albeit time-consuming) Valentine’s Day gift for you.

With just three days left in 2014, it’s time to do a roundup of the 14 DIY Projects for 2014 I set out to do back in January.

First of all, what were the projects I was planning on achieving?

14 DIY Projects for 2014

1. Headbands
2. Magazine Silhouette
3. Glass Map Plate
4. Tom Baker Scarf
5. Monogrammed Tray
6. Wax Seal
7. Animal Magnets
8. Arm-Knit Scarf
9. Moroccan Tile Coasters
10. Animal Jars
11. Infinity Scarf
12. Calendar Journal
13. Finger-Knit Boot Cuffs
14. Sharpie Mug

Now let’s look at what I started, completed, and completely forgot about.

We’re only a week away from Christmas, which means it’s crunch time for all of us decoration procrastinators.

Luckily I’ve got an easy (and customizable) DIY solution.

Using a few things I found laying around and a few things I found at craft stores, I created a fun snow globe inspired Christmas scene in a large vase.

I’ve seen a lot of similar ones around the blogosphere that are in mason jars, but there’s two reasons we decided to go with a vase instead:

1. The mason jars we have on hand have too much detail on the sides, so it’s hard to see through, and
2. The awesome mini Christmas tree I found is too tall to fit into a mason jar.

So, here’s how we made it.

This is a DIY project I’ve been wanting to do for a while now.

When I started my current job last year, I noticed a plethora of pallets around our warehouse. I immediately started brainstorming ideas with my dad and uncle, who are both carpenters.

We decided on a DIY wine rack, so my Uncle Denny started looking around on Pinterest for ideas. He came up with a design, so (with my boss’s permission) I grabbed a pallet and we got to work!

In honor of Apple’s big announcements today, I’m sharing an Apple DIY project: an iMac cat bed. OS X Pretty Little Kitteh sold separately.

I found this old iMac at a garage sale at my elementary school a few years ago. They had them in the kindergarten rooms and it was time for an upgrade. For $7.50, it was all mine.

I was able to turn it on, play music, and even access the internet, but let’s be real; there was no reason for me to actually use it. Plus it made a really annoying buzzing sound while it was on.

Sean and I started looking for different things to do with it, and fell in love with the idea of making it into a cat bed.

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Welcome to my newly rebranded blog! In honor of the new name, I’ve decided to share one of my favorite dinosaur DIYs.

Have you been to Darby Smart before? If not, stop what you’re doing and go there. It’s DIY heaven.

One of the first items I got was the Critter Ring Dish. I loved the look and really needed a new ring holder. When I received it in the mail, though, I noticed the four dinosaur figurines I got were all different, and I really wanted two that matched on each one. I ordered some Vinyl Mini Dinosaurs from Amazon. I got 72 figurines for less than $9! I’ll definitely be using the rest of them later.

With the 2014 Olympics in Sochi being talked about all over the internet, I decided to create an Olympics-inspired DIY animal jar project from my 14 for 2014 List.

I found the idea on Pinterest, and it linked me back to this Norwegian blog (much thanks to Google Chrome for translating). I took some of my own liberties with the project, though.

Instead of using feta cheese and tomato puree jars, I used pint mason jars. I like the look and size better, and they’re easier to match if I want to make more. I also used a pen to color the lids rather than spray paint. I recently purchased the Critter Ring Dishes set from Darby Smart, and it came with a super easy-to-use metallic gold pen. When you live in Michigan in the winter, you don’t want to open the windows to create a well-ventilated area for spray paint.

This is a project I’ve wanted to complete for a while.

My senior year of college, I moved from a bedroom the size of a matchbox to a giant basement suite of the 115-year-old house I was renting with five other girls. The girl who had lived in the basement the year before left me a few things she didn’t need any more, including a giant cork board.

I’ve been using it ever sense, but when I moved into my current apartment, it just became an eyesore. It’s above my desk, so I ended up shoving thumb tacks through any and all papers, notes, and memos. I never took a before photo, but feel free to imagine a jumbled mess of papers.

A few weeks ago, I decided to create a calendar with washi tape on the cork board. I took everything off and measured out seven columns and five rows, plus a sizable header where I could put the month, extra thumb tacks, and some fun buttons. The end result is a beautiful calendar to which I can stick tickets, reminders, and tasks.

I, like many women my age, am addicted to Pinterest.

I’ve got 17 boards that range in topic from books to design to photography to recipes. (You can find my Pinterest page here or by clicking on the Pinterest logo on the menu at the top of the page!)

My largest board is Crafts; I’ve got 152 pins of different things I would like to create at some point in my life. How many have I actually done? Two.

So I’m going to use this blog to hold me accountable: I would like to complete at least 14 of these DIY projects throughout the year. Now is the time to pick them out.