Southern Scraps

After falling in love with sisal rope projects and the nautical flair they can add to coastal decor, I decided to try my hand at making my own rope picture frame. This mirror was my inspiration piece: source It's really quite easy. All you need is a frame, sisal rope, and a hot glue gun (with glue of course.) I started with this frame from Michael's. It had a flat surface, the original color would not look bad if any showed through, and it was on clearance. The rope came from Wal-mart. I just started gluing around and around until I couldn't glue any more rope on. You may have noticed the inspiration piece left the corners exposed but I wanted to cover mine, so I cut short pieces of rope and filled in the corners. When I was done, I ran one long piece of rope all the way around the outer edges. Here it is finished: I decided later that it needed something else, so I added a starfish I had on hand. It is now part of my coastal sofa table vign...

I've taken a liking to pinning my bangs with a bobby pin or barrette. I've only ventured out of the house once with them in because I think I might be a little too old for this style, but I got compliments from my friend and my hubby likes it. I think I need to make myself some cute ones and start wearing them more. Here is a round up of some great tutorials for DIY bobby pins: Anthro Brocco Bobbies knock off from Sew Much Ado by Crafting Rebellion Jeweled and beaded by A Girl in Paradise Easy bobby pins by Henry Happened Color blocked pins by practically spoiled Button bobbies by Brittany Makes

source Now I know baby oil is nothing new but this use for it is new to me. This Fabulous Friday find comes from Krafty Kat, who shared how baby oil will remove adhesive. Check out her post to learn how she made this discovery. Ever since she shared this tip, I have made this my go-to adhesive remover for removing jar labels and price stickers and such from my hard surface items. Tip Nut shares 30 ways to remove adhesive here .

I took my first try at a chevron design on a small scale. I know- I'm way behind and lots of you may be over chevron by now, but I just got interested. I only do projects or make things if I can use them. I needed to make a birthday card for someone recently so I decided I'd try a chevron pattern on the card. I used washi tape to make my pattern. (This particular tape came from Michael's.) I found a free chevron pattern printable on the internet and printed it off. I cut it out and lightly traced it with a pencil to get started. I ended up erasing most of the pencil after I got started because it was going to show through the washi tape, but it still helped me get the pattern going.  I stamped a sentiment and added some flowers. Overall I think it turned out cute. You can check out another washi tape card and gift bag here. Sharing here: Think Pink Sundays ** Under the Table and Dreaming * Sundae Scoop * Creative Bloggers Party and Hop * Craftomaniac Mond...

To all of my American friends and readers, have a Happy Fourth of July. To all of those who serve this country, THANK YOU!

This week's Must Do Monday is featuring some great map projects. I've been seeing maps used for the past couple of years but they have recently grown on me in a way that has me itching to try some projects with them. Maybe because it's summer and time for vacations and travel or maybe because they seem to fit the beach theme decor I  love so much this time of year. What can you do with old maps? Well, almost anything you can do with decoupage or other paper crafts. Check out these ideas. Coasters via Martha Stewart Map garland Map tray   Map vases                                                             Picture frame Map lampshade ...

This week's Fabulous Friday find is a neat idea that I stumbled upon recently. It is a great idea for outdoor summer entertaining- use pot saucers to make coasters. The North End Loft shows you how. Here's another version at Joy is At Home : Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.