Woman in Real Life

This year I embarked on a #12monthsofdiy challenge with 11 other Canadian bloggers. The premise was this: each month we created our own diy projects around a given material. Unlike many of the other participants, prior to 2016 my diy experience was somewhat limited. This fact made the challenge a little bit intimidating and also a lot of fun.

I found some of the materials easier to work with, and knew pretty much right away what I wanted to create with them. Other craft materials had me scratching my head. Those were the really good ones, because they forced me to kick the old brain into action. It might seem like I'm exaggerating when I say that this experience was life-changing, but I really feel that it was. Not life-changing like getting married or having a baby, but life-changing as in pushing me in new directions and in search of more varied pursuits.

December is all about getting cozy - snuggling up with a faux fur blanket and a hot cocoa to watch seasonal favourites like Elf and Love Actually. It's also the perfect time to pick up your knitting needles and knit something cozy. For me, it was something "warm" for my house - this diy yarn garland in the form of a looped chain. It's like a slightly more complicated version of those paper chains the kids like to make.

For other snuggly yarn projects, such as blankets and scarves, visit the links at the bottom of this post. Once again this month, 12 Canadian lifestyle and décor bloggers are sharing our diys using a given material - in this case yarn. I'm sad to see our #12monthsofdiy project come to an end. I have had such a great time coming up with crafts for each theme and interacting with the other bloggers and readers.

The fact that this is the eleventh month of #12monthsofdiy makes me feel like this year has flown right on by! Do you feel just the same way - like Christmas 2016 felt like such a looong way off, not so very long ago? The holidays will be here before we know it!

In that spirit, I have another little holiday-type craft to share for November. Our material of the month (for all 12 bloggers participating in the challenge) is paper. A few of us ended up choosing to do wrapping paper, because I suppose we have all things holiday on the brain(s). With our foyer makeover in full swing, I keep envisioning how I'll have a fresh, clean space to decorate for Christmas. Because the foyer colour scheme is black, white, grey and teal, I thought I'd incorporate black into my gift wrapping. Also, I intend for our new foyer space to be more simple, with less furnishings and hopefully less clutter. So I felt that the clean look of kraft paper would be suitable for our gift wrapping.

Okay guys, remember when our #12monthsofdiy project was vinyl? And I made hand-cut vinyl decals for my kids' memory boxes, whilst not-so-secretly coveting a Cricut cutting machine? Yeah, well I won a Cricut Explore Air™ at Blogpodium! Yay me. (I realize it's kind of annoying when other people boast about things they've won. Thank you for your patience.)

If you have one of these machines or if you plan to get one, then yay to you too! I've had so much fun with it in such a short time. My daughter and I have been sticking vinyl lettering on travel cups, banners, pumpkins and laptops. We can't be stopped. Today's #12monthsofdiy project revolves around ribbon, however I also did part of the diy using my new Cricut. You see, obsessed with garlands as I am, I decided to make a garland using old Christmas cards. We have Christmas cards going back about 20 years. Rather than throwing them out completely (Konmari style), I decided to honour the spirit that people intended when gifting us these lovely holiday cards by re-purposing them into something that we could use and admire. Hence my DIY gift tag ribbon garland made with old Christmas cards.

I once had a boss who was obsessed with faux flowers. She had plastic flowers in shades for all seasons, and she put them all over the office. They were ugly. And dusty. I was not a fan. But I now know that not all faux flowers are created equal. I have had a blast participating in the #12monthsofdiy project thus far. Our group of Canadian decor and lifestyle bloggers has focused on materials like vinyl, felt and spray paint. The challenge of creating a new project with a given material each month has been good activity for my brain.

This month's sponsor is Afloral, makers of gorgeous "silk" flowers and greens and also preserved flowers and grasses. You really need to check out Afloral's incredible variety of silk wedding flowers. You won't believe the kind of amazing bridal bouquet you can create with silk flowers!

This month, our #12monthsofdiy projects are sponsored by Expressions Vinyl. When I found out that our material was adhesive vinyl, I knew exactly what I would do. This diy/organizing project has been a long time coming. I mean a looooong time! If you are pregnant or the parent of a young child, I urge you to start a memory box right now. I mean it...go now.

This is a case of "Do as I say, not as I do." Rather than creating these handy, tidy, stackable memory boxes when my kids were small, I just got around to doing them now...when my son is going into high school. With daycare and 10 years of school behind him, it isn't a pretty organizing job!

This month's #12monthsofdiy material is felt! So many possibilities, most of them a whole lot of fun. Read on to the bottom of the post to see what felt crafts the other bloggers in the group came up with. You'll be amazed.

The kids and I had so much fun making these felt donuts a few years ago that I decided to make three-dimensional felt fruit. I was going to put it in a bowl on the table (for those moments when the fresh fruit is all eaten up), but then another idea came to me. I love mobiles, so why not turn my felt fruit into a mobile (and in the easiest possible way, of course).

Our featured material for June's #12monthsofdiy challenge is spray paint. I had so many spray paint projects to do in the house that I'm actually presenting two of them on the blog today. Check out my fun and feminine berry pink table too!

In preparing our outdoor spaces for summer, my husband and I have spray painted eight chairs and three tables over the past two weeks! (Note to self: don't wait until all the furnishings have deteriorated at once to do touch-ups.) Spray painting is so easy and quick that I confess I got a little addicted. So when I saw this pathetic scene, I had to do something...

I think this is my favourite #12monthsofdiy project yet. Y'all know I love a thrifty find! Combine that thrifty find with a diy project and we have a whole lot of fun on our hands. I enjoyed going to Value Village to find a few treasures to overhaul. The bonus fun is that there are 11 other bloggers participating in #12monthsofdiy, so we get to see loads o' thrifty diys today. Read on for the other incredible projects.

It's not news to any of us I'm sure that we North Americans can be incredibly wasteful. In fact, we throw away more than 81 pounds of clothing and textiles per person, per year. With Earth Day coming up this Friday, it's a good time to think about how we can reduce this waste. As a parent, I have often wondered why we all buy the same books and plastic toys when we could just as easily pass them on or buy them at a thrift store. Buying secondhand items is an easy and fun way to do our part to help the earth. And it saves us money too. Not a bad deal at all. Why not make your next diy project an upcycle of a thrifted find?