Category Archives: DIY

Design / DIY

Bay Blanket Printable

June 28, 2013

Well, O + P’s Canada week has come to an end. But, I’m giving you one more fun Canada Day decoration. This free 8×10 printable Bay blanket easily adds Canadian cheer to to your home. Just slip it into a simple frame and place it on your mantel. Two great iconic Canadian symbols all in one. 
Click HERE for the free download. And if you missed the rest of my Canada love posts, be sure to check out the Canada Day Bunting, the Giant Geometric Maple Leaf, the Hudson Bay Blanket round up, and the Maple Nut shortbread
Well, we should be set for Canada Day. I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’m off on a new adventure. I’ll share more on Monday, but I will say this adventure does involve snorkeling, palm trees and hopefully pina coladas.  

Design / DIY

Giant Geometric Maple Leaf

June 27, 2013

I hope all my Canadian readers are feelin the love this week.  I’ve got a inexpensive, go big or go home, maple leaf for your wall.  It’s just like my heart and shamrock.

Using 12″ scrapbook paper in red, maroon, and white, I cut out right angle triangle. Start by cutting the full sheet of paper into four 6″ squares and then cut those squares in half diagonally. For this Geometric Maple Leaf I used 2 pieces of white and 3 pieces each of the red and maroon. Then I simple used glue dots and attached them to my wall in a random pattern. Well, I actually copied the pattern from my free printable Canada Day bunting.

Come back tomorrow, because I have one more fun Canadian printable.

DIY

Geometric Canada Day Bunting

June 25, 2013

I’m been thinking a lot about my homeland, Canada, lately. My thoughts and prayers are with friends and family in the Calgary, AB area. The recent flooding in Calgary has really made me homesick.
I was born in Alberta and lived there till I was 7 years old (then we moved to Papua New Guinea).  But, Alberta was home, and that’s where my Grandparents were and until recently my parents as well. When I graduated from high school in PNG, I moved back to Canada and did my first year of college in Calgary. I love that city and the whole provence of Alberta. And I’m proud of my peace loving, Canadian heritage.  
Since my parents have moved to Northern California, we haven’t been North.  It’s been 4 years now and I’m really itching to go. Next summer it WILL happen. The plan is to drive Riley up there.
Oh yes, I couldn’t help myself, triangles are still alive and well here at O + P. After my geometric heart and then the geometric shamrock, I had no choice a geometric maple leaf was a must. I’ve put together a FREE printable bunting for July 1st, Canada Day. But, if you’d just like to show some Canadian love, during their time of loss, print it off! When I see it hanging in my house, it’s a good reminder for me to pray for those effected by this terrible flooding.  
Click HERE for your free copy of this bunting (there are 3 pdf files).  Simply cut them out and string it up.  

DIY / etc. / Food & Drink

Science Themed Birthday Party

June 8, 2013

So, here’s how we celebrated my son Dylan hitting the double digits.  For his 10th birthday, our little geek wanted a Science Themed Birthday Party. This was a proud day for his nerdy, Biology teacher dad.  All those years of brain washing final paid off and science is cool.  
I shared some of my science party decor sources last week.  I’m so pleased with how all of this came together.  The yellow and teal color scheme was bright and cheery and played well with the blackboard details and vintage frog dissection chart. 
For the dessert/treat table I had fun making white chocolate Lab Rats, Atomic Pops (oreo truffles), Flask Cookies (that my mom skillfully decorated), candy filled test tubes, and Petri Dish Delights.
And I sewed fun treat bags with the fabulous sciency fabric I had found and filled them with fun nerdy notions.  
This was one of the easiest parties I’ve thrown in a while.  We didn’t have to organize games or keep the kids entertained and out of trouble.  My husband simply kept the kids busy with fun, interactive science experiments.  He had them look at the cheek cells under a microscope, they played “guess the magnified object” under the microscope, they made a classic soda and vinegar volcano, they made their own borax goo, and they even got to participate in a dissection.  

And what’s a party without a cake. I like to make my kids classic piped buttercream themed cakes. This year’s was super simple, I just made a big flask cake.

And these are my two favorite geeks in the whole world. 

DIY / etc.

A Science Party Bunting and a Cricut Giveaway

June 6, 2013

All my Cricut friends, this giveaway is for you!  If you’re not using Cricut Craft Room yet, you NEED to be. It allows you to have access to all your digital cartridges and you can mix and match them together on your computer and then cut everything all at once. You can also play with designs and then save then for later.  I only started using Cricut Craft Room this year, but there is no going back.  Often times I work on my laptop in front of the TV in the evening and lay out everything I want to cut.  Then later I just open up my saved designs and cut away.

I recently threw my son a Science Themed Birthday Party (you may have seem some of it on Instagram). I’ll be sharing more of the party tomorrow, but I wanted to share this custom Science bunting I made with my cricut machine.  Who wants to buy pre-made party decorations, when you can make beautiful ones to go with whatever theme or color scheme you choose?  I made cute little beakers and flasks to go perfectly with all my party decorations.

I’m hosting a great giveaway today!  I’m giveaway the Cricut Chalkboard Fonts Cartridge to one lucky winner.  This new on-trend digital cartridge gives invitations, cards, and signs a hand-lettered look.  There are three fonts included in this cartridge and bonus letters and flourishes for all the fonts.

It’s super easy to enter, just leave a comment below sharing how you’d use this fun new cartridge.  Just check this fun custom cell phone cover using vinyl, I really like this idea.  Thanks Cricut for this fun giveaway.

Love Cell Phone

Giveaway ends Friday, June 7th at 12 midnight.  Winner will be announced on Saturday June 8th.

DIY / Find

Thrifting Thursday – a nightstand in need of a makeover

May 23, 2013

Well, I finally found a little dresser to use as a nightstand for the hubbies side of the bed.  Ever since I found and fixed up the one on my side of the bed, I’ve been on the hunt for another piece.  I kind of thought I wanted something round or a different shape, but when I came upon this piece, the storage element won me over.  That’s the adventure of Thrifting, you never know what you’ll find and you have to be ready to change your plan when something great is spotted.

This was definitely a little spendy for me, I paid almost $50 for this little dresser. But, it is solid oak and really a new piece of wood furniture is going to cost me at least $200. And after I gave it a makeover, I have no regrets at all. I think it looks more like a $300 piece of furniture now, and it’s one-of-a-kind. No one else owns this piece of furniture!

I used my How to Paint Laminate Furniture method, even though this piece was wood, and it worked really well. From start to finish, I had this piece sanded, painted and moved into the room in 24 hours.

I debated on what to do to the piece, what color to paint it or stain it. It wasn’t going to stay that yucky oaky color, that was for sure. I didn’t want to paint it the same as the other dresser, trying to make them look like a set, when they weren’t. Plus, I think that’s just too matchy matchy for me. So, I turned to my Instagram friends for help and advice. They had some great ideas and I actually ended up going with my stylish friend Julia’s idea and did the opposite paint job of my bedside table. I also gave the old hardware a good sanding and then sprayed them with a metallic gold spray paint. This grey, white and gold combo is really quite sophisticated.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll share pictures of it in our bedroom.  Are you working on any furniture projects? Do you own some pieces that could use a makeover?  I’d love to hear what you have in the works.

DIY / Style

Geometric Heart Tote Bag

May 22, 2013

I can’t stop! Maybe I have a problem, but I just keep coming up with ways to use my geometric heart pattern over and over.  This little tote bag took no time at all to paint.

I used my Cricut to cut a freezer paper stencil out. To start, I worked in Cricut Craftroom to create the stencil. I simply used a right angle triangle image repeatedly to make my heart.  Then I cut it out on a 12’x12′ square of freezer paper. I ironed on my stencil onto a pre-made bag I purchases at Joannes and painted white and metallic gold randomly in the triangles.  Then I let it dry completely and set the paint with a hot iron.

This is going to be my go to bag this summer.  It’s a great size for Olivia’s stuff, like a diaper, wipes and a sippy cup, or I can just stylishly bag my groceries. 
Do you find yourself drawn to the same colors, pattern or shapes? What’s designs are on your favorite list currently? 

DIY / etc.

Science Themed Party in the Making

View the whole party here.
This weekend we are celebrating my baby boy turning 10 with a Science Themed Party. Each day this week I’ve given myself of list of things I need to complete so that I can be ready for the party. This theme seemed like a natural choice for my mini nerd (I’m married to a real life Science geek).  My inspiration for the colors and decorations came from Minted.  I used Minted’s fantastic invitations and also their Blackboard bunting.  
I ordered some beakers and flasks from amazon to display candy in.  I’ve also found some great nerdy Science fabric that I’m sewing into goody bags (it’s kind of a tradition for my kiddo’s parties).  And to fill the bags I have some fun treats like candy and slime in test tubes, nerdy glasses, and magnifying glasses.
I think it’s going to be a fun party with lots of yummy treats and Science Experiments galore. My Biology teacher hubby is bringing his classroom to our backyard.  

Design / DIY / etc.

My Good Looking Chair

May 6, 2013

I am beyond excited and totally in love with my new chair. He is just so handsome, I kind of want to name him. We don’t buy furniture very often and he was an investment, so this little guy is going to be part of the McConnel family for quite a while. Over a year ago I sold the green chair that used to sit in that corner of my living room on Craig’s list. And ever since, I’ve been saving my pennies to get this West Elm Sweep chair.  I got it in performance velvet in the color Shadow.

I’m just itching to give this room a much more modern look and feel.  This chair is the starting point. The next step will be painting the walls.  Right now it’s a tan/beige color, kind of boring, but practical and neutral.  It’s been this color for almost 10 years, it was the first room we painted in the house. And as boring as beige is, I think I’m going to stay boring and  paint the whole room a crisp white. Our dining room is a dark charcoal grey and I think this would be a nice bright contrast. What do you think?  I love color, but I think a white backdrop will be a fresh way to showcase colorful pieces like my green and gold geometric pillow.

DIY / etc.

Painting our Garage

May 2, 2013

Our home is a small California bungalow built in 1920.  We have a garage in the back, which is very necessary for all of life’s junk.  But, for years and years it’s really needed a paint job badly.  This poor little building has weathered and chipped white paint on it’s siding. I even added this job to my 2013 New Years resolutions in hopes of making this a priority.

My very handy youngest brother is here visiting this week. He doesn’t sit still for very long, so he’s been doing all kinds of projects around my house.  It’s awesome! He decided to take on the garage this week for me. He’s spent the last 2 LONG days scraping and sanding the very peeled and chipped paint. It’s a warm 92F here as well. This morning I helped with some sanding. It’s going to look so great with a fresh, crisp coat of white paint. My backyard is going to feel like a new place with this is done.
Have you got any home improvement jobs that you’ve been stalling to complete or even start for that matter? What are you going to tackle this weekend?