DIY Photo Thank You Cards

I CANNOT believe Christmas is already over!  Ours was a little extra special this year since it was our first year with Paisley!  I can definitely say she got a little spoiled.  Someone seriously should have warned us that EVERY baby toy makes an obscene amount of noise!  Our house sounds like a war zone between the police car sirens, farm animal sounds, cell phone rings, horns honking, singing ABC's and rattles!  The "OFF" buttons have now officially been located on all of the above named items!  Even though we have a very noisy house, we are beyond blessed to have such a great family that loves our baby girl just as much as we do!

 

Now that it's all over....who still believes in "Thank You" cards?  This girl does!  I was raised that way and I plan to teach Paisley the same principles.  That being said, I really wanted to do something personable and memorable for our thank you cards this year.  PicMonkey to the rescue!  Have you used PicMonkey?  I use it for just about everything!  Here's how my personalized thank you cards turned out this year...

 

 

Here's how I did it...

 

First, snap a few pictures of your little one...

 

8 months old, but loves to pose!

 

 

Then, go to www.picmonkey.com

 

Click on "create a collage" and upload your photo's.  I had four photo's and I wanted to print my cards in 4x6 size so I chose the collage setup shown below.

 

 

Fill in the spaces on the right with your photo's and leave the large space on the left open.  Then, save your photo.  Exit out of this project and go back to the PicMonkey home screen.  Choose "Edit a Photo" and open the card that you just saved. 

 

 

First, crop your photo to 4x6 size.  Then, use the text option to add your personalized thank you note in the space you left open.

 

I saved each photo and then sent them to our local Walgreen's to be printed.
I only paid $0.14 per card!!!

 

Here's one of our finished cards!

 

 

These were super easy and cheap, and I know our family will love the personalized touch!  Do you make personalized thank you cards?  How do you do it?  We'd love to hear from you!

 

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you subscribe and stay up to date with B&W!

 

~Emily

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A Year of Printables Christmas Gift

Procrastinators raise your hands!!!!  It's less than a week until Christmas....and you still have a few gifts to buy.  Am I right or am I right?  Don't worry.  I won't judge.  I'm raising my hand...

 

****************BONFIRES AND WINE TO THE RESCUE****************

 

We created a year full of printables that will make the perfect Christmas gift for that "hard-to-buy-for" person still on your list.  Pick out your FREE printables from the list below, buy a cheap cute frame, tie a bow and you've got the gift that keeps on giving.

 

Let's re-cap:  quick, simple, reasonable, memorable...AWESOME

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm placing my Christmas Printable in the frame and stacking the rest on top, then finishing it up with a pretty red bow.  Christmas shopping = done!

 

Click HERE to print your own copies...

 

 

 

 Hope we helped you finish up your shopping!  Thanks for stopping by.

Have an awesome day!

 

~ Emily

 Linking up:

 

 http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/2012/12/flaunt-it-friday-132.html



DIY Photo Frame

Hey y'all.........for those of you who don't know me; the name is Charlie.  I am the one who is usually covered in saw dust, paint and whatever else my wife talks to me into making.  She comes up with the idea and I (like a magician) am supposed to make it real. 

 

While sitting down one night we began talking about picture frames and how we would finish our "striped hallway gallery wall". (Photos to come of that project)  For some reason I told her that I had an idea to make a real neat frame, but not sure if it would turn out like I imagined.  Well......after a few hours in the garage, I created an antique barn wood frame.  Here's how it happened...

 

 

The wood I used came from an old fence that was on the family farm.  It is American Redwood and if I had to guess it is approximately 50 years old.  I know most of you don't have wood like this laying around so any wood of your liking will do.  If you like the look of the "Barn Wood" check back later and I will show you how to distress wood.  I started out by cutting the 1x6x8 board and then ripping it until I had two 20" long by 3"wide pieces and two 15" long by 3" wide.  

 

Shown below is a Kreg Joint Kit.  I purchased mine at Lowes for around $20.  This tool comes in handy for many DIY projects to build a strong joint of two boards.  The Kreg tool allows you to drill at an angle to join two boards with a self tapping screw. 

 

 

Once you have your boards cut, place the Kreg at one end of the shorter board.  Using a "C" clamp secure the Kreg to the board and drill the pilot holes. I put two holes into the board to make for a snug fit.

 

 

This is what your board should look like when finished with the Kreg.  Notice how the holes are angled, allowing the screw to go in straight.  Complete this process on both sides of your two shorter boards.

 

 

I then applied wood glue to the edges to help bond the pieces together.

 

 

Now place your boards on a flat surface and place a square inside to make sure your cuts produced a perfect 90 degree.  Once you have your angle correct, secure the boards with the screws provided with the Kreg Joint Kit.  Make sure the screws are shorter than then the two boards length.

 

 

After screwing all the corners you should end up with a perfect square.

 

 

I then took a piece of beadboard which I cut a 1/4 inch shorter than the wood frame.  Since beadboard is slick, I lightly sanded it with a palm sander.

 

 

Once the beadboard has been roughly sanded, I applied a thin coat of white paint.  This is usually when I end up with paint on my face, elbow, the dog,etc......Once dry, I very lightly sanded the beadboard again to give it that aged look.

 

 

Now you can attach the beadboard to the back of your picture frame.  I used an air nailer with staples.  This works the best since the beadboard is very thin and the staples help pull it tight to the frame.  Start in one corner and work your way around.  Be sure to leave yourself a space in the top of your frame to attach a picture hanger.

 

 

Now find a picture frame that you think matches your work of art the best.  Using command strips attach the frame to the the beadboard.

 

 

You now have yourself an antique looking Photo Frame for only a few dollars.  And for you guys, you got to buy yourself a new tool. And you can never have enough tools. (Insert Tim "Tool Man" Grunt here.) Thanks for stopping by.  Maybe my wife will let me take a break for the holidays!!!!! :)

 

 

~Charlie
 

Linking up!!!

DIY Wine Wedding Gift

So, we kinda really like wine. Hints the name of this little ol' blog.  I blame the fact that we live in wine country.  We're surrounded by some of the most beautiful wineries.  If you're ever in Southern Illinois....check out our wineries.  You won't be disappointed!

 

Ok, getting to the point...A friend of ours is getting married in a few weeks, so we're sharing our DIY Wine Gift with you.  I saw these cute wine poems on Pinterest, but never could find a link that worked.  Sooooo.....I went to google and did a little search.  I found the sayings on a few websites and just picked out the phrases I liked the best from each of the versions.  Then, I created some tags to hang on the bottles.  The wine was all purchased at Wal-Mart and so was the canvas basket.  Take a look...

 

 

 

Love it!?!? I do!!! Wanna make your own?  Here's the printables...

Blue Printable 1

Blue Printable 2

Black & White Printable 1

Black & White Printable 2

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure you subscribe to Bonfires and Wine to stay up to date with our latest projects!!!

 

~ Emily

Our Woodland Christmas Table

We have been super busy this past week! I helped throw a baby shower for a friend, we celebrated my cousins Baptism, Charlie started working on a one-of-a-kind table, we did a little Christmas shopping and attempted to catch up on some Christmas decorating! Based on our busy week, and the fact that I had my camera attached to my hip, you can expect to see a post on all of our latest adventures coming soon! One of the things we finally got around to was decorating our kitchen table! As you've probably learned by now, we have a rustic, country, outdoorsy look to our house. Our table is never any different! So, for Christmas 2012, we went with a Woodland theme. We have a few things going on here so we'll start with the napkin rings.

 

Our napkin rings are made from toilet paper rolls. Yep, that's right! We've been using the same ones for over a year now and I just add something to them for each season or holiday when I decorate the table. I cut the roll in half and hot glued jute all the way around. For our Christmas table, we used some glittery accents from Hobby Lobby and green napkins from Home Goods. 

 

 

I also knew I wanted some sort of candle light for the table.  It's amazing what can happen with a little Epsom salt, glitter, candles and of course, mason jars!  The Epsom salt gives it a "snowy" look! 

 

 

My dad had recently cut me SEVERAL pieces of tree stumps to use for the shower I had been planning.  I decided to use those as our Woodland place mats!  I sat my plates right on top and it definitely pulled everything together.

 

 

I found this basket at Home Goods while we were in Nashville for Thanksgiving.  I actually based my entire table on this basket because I loved it so much!  Plus, it was only $12.99!!! Score!!!

 

 

 

The Tree inside the basket is from Hobby Lobby.  It was half off and I got it for about $12 also!  I filled the rest of the basket with pine cones.

 

 

 

Do you remember our DIY Christmas Tree Topper?  Well, I made a mini one for our tabletop tree!

 

 

 

Some more details...

 

 

 

 

 

Well, there it is! Our 2012 Woodland Christmas Table!  What do you think?!?! 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you "follow us" to stay up to date with Bonfires and Wine!  Upcoming Posts:  "Mommy to Bee" Baby Shower,  Nashville, TN Flea Market Finds, DIY Table, Striped Hallway & much, much more!  Hope y'all have a great week!

 

Emily

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