DIY Toilet Paper Holder!

After we were married, I moved into the apartment my husband had just moved into prior to our marriage and of course I helped decide on it, but one issue is the bathroom has two parts a place where the sink is and room for a vanity but then an inner bathroom through a door where the toilet and shower tub is. So the issue is where the toilet is around the corner from the sink and I was housing the toilet paper under the sink in the cabinet but it was like wrapping your arm around the corner and digging in the cabinet for toilet paper and it was doable but hard lol. So I started researching different DIY toilet paper holders and many were cool but I didn’t really want to spend very much money.

So at Walmart where I work in the Lawn and Garden department we have these boxes used for Suet Bird food, any boxes that had housed non-chemicals should be ok for these kinds of projects, and so I went up when I had an idea and collected some empty ones from a co-worker. As you will see the boxes are level on three sides but the front is much lower and I liked that a lot as it would be easier to pull the toilet paper out. So what I did was I thought about the different colors I could paint to cover up the sides of the box and I thought I have an acrylic paint called Cinnamon Apple and it matches some of the colors of my main set of towels and how I designed it matched the second set of towels. Originally I was in a two bathroom apartment then went back to living back with my parents and so when I went to my husbands one bathroom I just used all the towels together. So I colored the outside of the box with the Cinnamon Apple colored acrylic paint and it took several layers to cover up the work on the outside of the box.

The layers of paint made the box heavy and parts started folding outward so I used some journals and books to hold them in as they dried after the second layering and then it bent the box too much in so I had to bend them back out so be warned just the right amount of paint and then pressure should be used so it doesn’t bend too much in or out. Also some pictures it looks wet it's because I applied more paint even after decorating and then photographed them and so it wasn't dry yet. 

After the paint had dried for a few days I measured out my orange and white designed ribbon which I had gotten on clearance for a quarter and measured it to the length of the top of the box and starting at the front I used E6000 Adhesive spray and sprayed and applied the ribbon little by little till the one side was complete and then I snipped it at an angle at where it had begun so it aligned with the box. They I waited a few until it was holding enough and I continued around the box spraying E6000 Adhesive spray and then applying ribbon and holding until it held enough, it was a challenge at first to get it to hold and so another alternative could be hot glue if you like. So after the top ribbon was arranged I did like wise for the bottom of the box ribbon.

Once the paint and ribbon was dried I then went and collected my clear and frosted white and green glass gems and before gluing, again using E6000 Adhesive spray, I arranged them different ways until I thought of making them look like flowers. So each flower had a pattern the center gem was either clear or frosted green or white and the petals around it were then the opposite color and went clear and then frosted. Then the stem and leaves were the same color as the center of each flower so opposite of the petals of each flower. So I did that on both side, though one side has the flower heads going toward each other and the other side has the flowers going the same direction though I prefer them facing each other, and then did just the flowers on the back of the box. With the back of the box flowers you will see I did center of flower different color as petals like the other flowers but this time instead of the petals being clear and frosted I did one all clear and one all frosted and liked that. The small front area I just glued in a line a few alternating frosted and clear green and white gems. So each side took some drying time as the E6000 Adhesive spray took a bit of time to dry but so far I haven’t had to ever re-glue them since I made it, I mean I did have to re-glue one right after the first set dried but since its been in use none of the gems have fallen off.

The last element was how do I make the inside of the box look nice and brought together and not look so much like a box. So I bought a Fat Quarter of Green Printed Fabric at Walmart and measured and cut it to fit the box but my measurements and such weren’t quite exact but it looks pretty good to me. So again I used E6000 Adhesive spray and going little by little I glued and pressed down the fabric until it stuck and then moved onto the next section.

So once everything had dried I put it on the back of my toilet and I think it works perfectly there and looks so nice! There are many different methods to use for toilet paper holders but this one worked the best for us!

• Suet Bird Food Box- Free at Walmart
• Cinnamon Apple Acrylic Paint- $0.50 At Walmart
• White Clear and Frosted Glass Gems- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Green Clear and Frosted Glass Gems- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Orange and Printed White Ribbon- 3 Yards for $0.25 on Clearance was originally $1 at Walmart
• Fat Quarter of Green Printed Fabric- $0.97 at Walmart

Season Scape Jars- Summer Sandy Treasure!

I bought a wide round and tall glass neck jar. I took my nautical rope and hot glued the end to the bottom of the neck of the jar and began to weave the rope over the other going up the rope and hot glued the new rope to the other rope as I went so that the neck of the jar was covered in nautical rope. I took a larger seashell and two smaller seashells and hot glued them to the nautical rope in a crown formation. After that I took some white sand, I’m not sure how much I used but close to a bag or so but each jar will depend on how deep you want it, and poured the sand into the jar and moved it around so it’s not all level but some rising higher up the sides then others so it looks more natural like. Then I took more seashells and stuck them under the sand and or sticking out of the sand, again go for a natural straight out of nature look.

I then took red and green sticker gems and placed them under a seashell as if they are a pirates hidden Ruby and Emerald gems lying to be plucked from the sands but wait…. A trusty lobster has been given the task of protecting the hoard of treasures! I placed the lobster with seashell support as if he is coming over the shell claws at the ready to stop anyone from touching the Ruby and Emerald gems.

So this Summer Season Scape Jar is a very iconic sandy seashore like one but this season scape has near endless possibilities to play around with! So go have fun in making the Summer Season to last all year long!

• Wide Round and Tall Glass Jar- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Bag of White Sand- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Seashells- $1 for a Bag at Dollar Tree
• Nautical Rope- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Crab- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Red and Green Gems- $1 for each Red and Green at Dollar Tree

Season Scape Jars- Spring Loves in the Air!

So today I bring you my Spring Season Scape Jar! So I bought a heart shaped glass container and took my pink mesh wrap and blue mesh wrap that I had left over from when I made my bouquet holder for my wedding in July 2017 and since each strand has four rows I measured it to around the jar and cut it a little longer so I had more to play with. Then I took each of the mesh wrap pieces and cut it down to two row of strands each and you’ll see what I mean in the pictures. So carefully I hot glued the pink strands to the top outside of the heart jar, I think I started at the top of the heart in the crevice so that its hidden where it meets the other end of the mesh so it looks fluid. So right below the pink mesh I hot glued the blue mesh ribbon the same way as the pink.

So next I took some pink sand and spread it on the bottom of the jar up to a good level, I kind of eye balled it to how I felt so it really depends on depth of jar and how you feel about how much or little sand is in there. Once the pink sand settled and I was happy with it I took my bluish purple sand and put that over the top of the pink until almost at the top and so each level of pink and bluish purple were about even and were opposite to the placement of the mesh ribbon as the mesh were pink then blue and the sand was flipped to blue then pink and I thought that looked way better than had they been pink mesh blue mesh pink sand blue sand, if that makes since, lol.

I then took two purple and two pink roses and placed two purple and one pink on one side of the jar and the other pink on the other side of the jar. I then took a few strands of this white beady looking foliage I believe was supposed to be baby's breath and arranged that in the center of the jar with it mingling amongst the roses. I then took a purple and pink dragon fly and since they have wire at the bottom of them it was easy to twist it through the white foliage as if resting after flight.

So even though I say it every time Spring too has endless possibilities as well for decorating a season scape jar but this was a really fun one but took a bit of thought for me. Have fun!

• Heart Shaped Glass Container- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Bag of Red Sand- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Bag of Blue/Purple Sand- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Pink Mesh Wrap Ribbon- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Blue Mesh Wrap Ribbon- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Pink and Purple Roses- $1 for each Bushel of each color at Dollar Tree
• Bushel of White Baby’s Breath Foliage- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Pink Dragon Fly- $1 for a pack of two at Dollar Tree
• Purple Dragon Fly- $1 for a pack of two at Dollar Tree

Season Scape Jars- Winter Wonderland!

So now we have the Winter Wonderland Season Scape Jar! So my husband helped me with this one. We bought some Frosted Glass spray paint at Walmart and he took it and did the spray paint layers to the round scalloped lip glass jar and after he spray painted it he took time with a knife scraping along it to give it a look as if the it wasn’t all uniformed but as if the glass had frosted un-evening as does in nature. I think the look was interesting and at first not what I was expecting but after a bit I came to really love the look and still do and the winder wonderland is one of my favorite season scape jars.

So after it was let to fully dry I got some cotton balls from my mom so I didn’t have to buy a whole bag and not use but a handful. So I took a few cotton balls and pulled and fluffed them to make snow. I heard of other methods but the cotton balls method worked good for me. So after they were fluffed to how I liked them I laid it within the jar and maneuvered it so it was uneven and falling with the frosted glass outside so it looks as if the frosted glass and snow were uniformed but in the very real way you see in nature! Also I sprinkled a little bit of iridescent glitter onto the puffy cotton ball snow!

After the snow/fluffed cotton balls were laid just how I liked I went to positioning the silver white bird I had bought at Dollar Tree. It took a bit of time but I found just the right position and I hid the silver clip below the bird in the snow but just like the cardinal in the autumn season scape you can hide it as I did or remove them if you wish. So then not to have just white all throughout I bought a small bag of like 6-9 red shiny beads and I placed 3 of them near the silver white bird so as to resemble red berries which she can feed upon while nesting her eggs.

Speaking of eggs I bought 4 beads about the size of maybe a nickel or quarter and they were a dark green, I got these beads in the box of variant beads at Walmart in the craft section, the same as I got the red shiny beads. I decided to keep the green color but to cover the holes at the ends of the beads I used small rounds of cotton ball and stuffed a tiny bit in the hole and honestly upon placement of the eggs and the further elements you can’t tell very much. So I took some of my husband Anthony’s white paint pastel pencils and colored the outside of the eggs a spotted white color because the paint pencils didn’t adhere all that well but the look turned out well! So then the last element was I took some glow in the dark glitter glue and I applied it to the two eggs with a Q-Tip and coated the eggs in it but then smoothed it all out so it wouldn’t clump together and make the eggs look weird so it took a few frustrating minutes to do that, lol, also I added a little glow in the dark glitter glue to the cotton ball rounds in the holes at the end of beads and it blended in nicely. So after the eggs dried over night I added two of them to the jar beside the silver white bird on the opposite side of the bird from the red shiny beads. The other two eggs wound up with the red cardinal in the autumn season scape jar! I think the eggs being glow in the dark and the bird being sliver white it gave it a very out of this world winter wonderland look which I love!!

So with this one there are so many possibilities to make a winter scape so breathtakingly beautiful but I for one love the way mine turned out! Also word to the wise don't let dust coat them as I did as it dulls it and is hard to clean off so dust them often.

• Round Scalloped Lip Glass Jar- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Cotton Balls- A few Dollars at any Health and Beauty section of most stores
• Silver White Bird- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Green Beads- $0.98 for a bag of 4 of at Walmart
• Red Shiny Beads- $0.98 for a bag of 6-9 at Walmart
• Glow in the Dark Glitter Glue- A few Dollars at Walmart
• Frosted Glass Spray Paint- $3 or $4 at Walmart
• Iridescent Glitter- a few dollars at Walmart

Season Scape Jars- Autumn Forest!

So the next season scape jar I made is a definite fall themed one. So I bought a round scalloped lip glass jar at Dollar Tree and I took some of my lace ribbon from Dollar Tree and hot glued it to the bottom base of the jar which I think gave it a unique look. After that I added a little of the moss from the bag I bought at Dollar Tree and used on the other Season Scape Jar for summer/fall forest to the bottom of the round jar. I pulled a few autumn leaves from a bushel I had and laid them atop the moss. I took one acorn from a bag of decorative acorns and placed it inside beside the leaves as if it had fallen amongst it so to look fluid and realistic.

Now I took a red cardinal clip on then placed it atop the leaves. I originally had a LED tea light underneath the leaves which looked cool glowing beneath the cardinal but every time I took the LED tea light out to turn it off it kind of messed up the whole thing and I had to keep repositioning everything which was infuriating so I removed the LED tea light. Now in the pictures I had moved the cardinal bird to clean the dust off the jar as mentioned in the summer/fall forest floor season scape post and it moved the bird so that the silver clip is showing in the pictures. Usually I had the clip hidden from view by having moss or the leaves being closer to the cardinal bird so you can do something similar or I suppose remove the clip from the bird decoration all together.

The last element actually came about when I made the winter scape jar but I added two to this one as well and that is the glow in the dark eggs! So I bought 4 beads about the size of maybe a nickel or quarter and they were a dark green, I got these beads in the box of variant beads at Walmart in the craft section. I decided to keep the green color but to cover the holes at the ends of the bead I used small rounds of cotton ball and stuffed a tiny bit in the hole and honestly upon placement of the eggs and the further elements you can’t tell very much. So I took some of my husband Anthony’s white paint pastel pencils and colored the outside of the eggs a spotted white color because the paint pencils didn’t adhere all that well but the look turned out well, its spotted better on the winter eggs! So then the last element was I took some glow in the dark glitter glue and I applied it to the two eggs with a Q-Tip and coated the eggs in it but then smoothed it all out so it wouldn’t clump together and make the eggs look weird so it took a few frustrating minutes to do that, lol, also I added a little glow in the dark glitter glue to the cotton ball rounds in the holes at end of bead and it blended in nicely. So after the eggs dried over night I added them to the jar beside the red cardinal!

So this one took a bit more items so it cost a bit more but I think it turned out great! The colors of everything as well blended well! So there you have it the Autumn Season Scape Jar!

• Round Scalloped Lip Glass Jar- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Moss- $1 for a bag at Dollar Tree
• Leaves- $0.97 at Walmart for a Bushel of them
• Acorns- $1 for a Bag of them at Dollar Tree
• Red Cardinal- $1 at Dollar Tree
• Green Beads- $0.98 for a bag of 4 at Walmart
• Lace Ribbon- $1 for 3 Yards at Dollar Tree
• Glow in the Dark Glitter Glue- A few Dollars at Walmart
• Pastel Pencils- Depends where you purchase I just borrowed mine from my husband

Season Scape Jars- Summer/Fall Forest Floor!

So a few months after getting married last year I got into crafting again and I saw some cool seasonal based jars online so I decided to do a few of my own for each season that came by and place them on the ledge that divides the living room from the kitchen and looks very nice and I enjoyed very much making them.

The first I made is a cross between Summer and Fall! I bought a small square glass container at Dollar Tree and I also bought two colors of glitter mesh ribbon, one in brown and one in green. I cleaned the square container and then I took the green glitter mesh ribbon and hot glued it to the bottom outside of the container and then put a layer of brown atop it which gives it a forest floor vibe but if I do this again I won’t hot glue it because the glitter mesh ribbon having slight holes allowed the hot glue to seep through and if you look close you can see the dried hot glue which I really hate. So if I had a do over I’d probably use E6000 Adhesive spray which I’ve begun using as of late and it works on most surfaces as long as time and pressure is applied for a bit but hot glue is still my go to on most things but in this one I’d use an adhesive spray next time.

So I used a tiny bit of the green moss I picked up at Dollar Tree and after pulling it apart a bit I applied to the inside of the container. Then I took a pine cone from the bouquet I had bought at dollar tree and after using wire cutters to the base of the wire I had placed the pine cone on top of the moss and then I pulled the white foliage off of the stem and leaned it beside the pine cone on the moss but since longer it leans itself up and out the glass container which I think makes it look even nicer. The last element is a green dragon fly decoration which has a wire on the underside which if bent can be placed in between the white foliage and as if supported atop it like its resting in midflight! So all the colors and the theme seem so much as if seeing a small element of a forest which I think is lovely.

Word to those that make this do better than I did in getting dust off the jar, they were kind of forgotten dusting item and so before the pictures were taken I cleaned them off but not with glass cleaner and so they may seem a bit dull in color but next I get a change I'll dig out my glass cleaner and take care of them better from now on, lol.

So if you make this there are so many possibilities with jar size and decoration items but just have fun!

• Square Glass Container- $1 at Dollar Tree
• 9 feet Glitter Mesh Ribbon- $1 each for brown and green at Dollar Tree
• Green Moss- $1 for a bag of it at Dollar Tree
• Green Dragon Fly Decoration- $1 for a pack of two Dragon Flies
• White Foliage and Pine Cone- $1 for the bouquet the white foliage and pine cone was part of at Dollar Tree

Newly Wed Wreath!

So one of the first things I did for our apartment was what I call our newly wed wreath. So it seems pretty simple and it was! So you get any kind of wreath, I got a grapevine wreath at Walmart. Then I bought the Mr. and Mrs. and H words and letter at Walmart as well. I got the sequence peacock clips and the sequence flower around the holiday season and though I don’t celebrate holidays it wasn’t holiday related to me and was rather just a fun little decorating item!

So I painted the letter H with my blue acrylic paint and then immediately sprinkled purple and blue and pink glitter on it! Anthony my husband colored the Mr. and Mrs. Part using some pastel pencils he has and then we sprinkled similar purple, pink and blue glitter on the letters and then you’ll want to just do what we did we lightly tapped the letters over the paper or napkins we used to paint them on and so excess glitter will fall off. Leave it to dry over night and then your ready to put it all together.

We took the wreath and before deciding we arranged it several different ways to see how best it would work and how it would look. I then hot glued the Mr. and Mrs. And H down to the wreath and then clipped the peacocks tail to tail on the opposite side and then clipped the sequence flower at the bottom of the wreath and that was it.

So different words and letters and decorations can be used, just have fun with it! This is a perfect easy wreath for newly weds or those that are often busy as its just a quick and easy afternoon or evening make in one day wreath. If you don’t get clip on decorations that’s ok just hot glue on the ones you do have but bear in mind depending what it’s made of it may have to be hot glued on again cause some materials don’t adhere well to wooden wreaths I’ve found.

• Grape Vine Wreath- roughly $4 or $5 at Walmart but you can get similar wreaths at just about any hobby store and even small ones at Dollar Tree for cheaper.
• Wooden Mr. and Mrs. And H Letters and Words- a few dollars at Walmart for each of these words and letters but again you can find wooden letters and words at many hobby stores it just depends on what you’re looking for.
•  Acrylic paint and or pastel pencils- anywhere from $0.50 to a few dollars or more depending on what you get at Walmart or any hobby store.
• Glitter Variety Pack- a pack of 4 or 5 glitters in small little tubes for a few dollars at Walmart or you can get different ones at any hobby stores including Dollar Tree.
• Sequence Peacock Clips- $1.48 at Walmart during the holiday season or any decoration can be bought at many hobby stores year around.
• Sequence Flower Clip- $1.48 at Walmart during the holiday season or any decoration can be bought at many hobby stores year around.