diy yarn wall hanging

Happy Sunday, everyone! I’m happy to be back on a Sunday night and I’m also happy to share this fun DIY project with you 🙂

Kelly Mindell (aka @studiodiy) is one of my favorite bloggers and she and her family live in LA. She has a big appreciation for bright, bold color and recently she posted a yarn hanging tutorial. After I saw the pictures of the masterpiece she made for her newly renovated office space I knew I needed to make a version of my own!

Here is Kelly’s post that I followed along with and used as inspiration. I knew I wanted the piece I made to go in my bedroom in the place of a much smaller yarn hanging I bought a few years ago. I used my bedroom’s color palette to build on my yarn choices when I went to the store.

I bought all of my yarn from Michaels when they were having a buy-one-get-one-free sale on yarn skeins so I saved a lot of money that way! Micheals also has great coupons on their app and sometimes you can get 20% off your whole purchase so I would look to score a deal when you buy the yarn in order to keep the costs down!

You can tie the yarn on to lots of different things – a wooden dowel is a great option but I chose to use a piece of decorative driftwood that I bought at Picks a month or two ago in preparation for this project. I like the visual interest is adds with the texture.

I estimated the number of skeins of yarn I would need for the project – my mindset was I’d rather over-buy and have to return some than get started and not have enough. I ended up buying 9 skeins in a variety of textures and colors (which is key!) but two of them I didn’t use at all and returned.

Mustard yellow, burnt orange, and two different shades of blue were my colorful choices and then I mixed in white and gray as neutrals. As I mentioned above, buying yarn in a variety of weights and textures makes it more appealing to the eye and even if you want to do a lot of the same color you can add variety and interest with yarns that are more or less bulky. I also bought one fun multicolored skein that had beautiful oranges and blues in it and it ended up being my favorite one I used!

Here is a photo of the finished product. It looks so great on the wall with all of my jewelry in my room and nothing beats having pieces in your home that you know you created yourself!

All in all this project took me about 2-3 hours to complete and all of my supplies for the project were less than $50. My hanging is quite large so if you’re looking to do something smaller it would be even more budget friendly!

I took a few photos of each of the different types of tie or braiding I did up close so you can see more clearly

A couple sections of yarn I didn’t do anything to other than looping them through the top. I made sure to use multiple strands together so that it was chunky but the colors made it pretty enough to not have to do anything fancy with some of the sections.

In the photo above the mustard yellow was just a simple twist. I cut about 10 strands of yarn total and once they were looped around the top I split them in half and twisted all the way down to the bottom before tying it off with a knot.

The blue yarn is looped around the top and then the whole set of strands is just knotted in a few different places down the strand to add texture

The orange multicolor yarn is done in a standard braid. Once the yarn was looped I just split into three sections and braided all the way down before knotting off the end

In the gray yarn above this was the most unique textured one of all – very soft and shiny, and felt a lot like human hair. I cut a few strands of this and then let them hang individually after looping through – then I tied some knots in each individual strand, spacing them out and doing them at different points on each strand

The large orange twist took the most yarn of all the ones I did. I cut lots (probably 20-22) loops of yarn for this. Then once it was hung through the top I split in half and twisted each of the two strands all the way down and knotted off. Then I took the two twisted strands and twisted them together for one big strand.

The bright blue is another standard braid but it’s a little bit easier to see with that color than it is with the multicolor yarn!

One last thing to mention is that I liked keeping a variety of lengths at the bottom of the piece. This adds interest to not have it all lopped off at the same length.

As I mentioned in the beginning this is one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done and I’m so glad I took the time to invest and work on it yesterday. I also got to do this project alongside my friend Brittany who made a version of her own. Crafting with someone else always makes it more fun 🙂

I’m hoping to make another one of these in the future and something on an even bigger scale. I dream of making a HUGE one one day the could be used as a headboard over my bed!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you have a great week ahead. Thanks so much for reading!

#sugarspiceandstylethatsnice

xoxo Jen

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burlap wreath diy

Happy Sunday, everyone! A few weekends ago I made another simple wreath for my front door to have up during this fall time of year before I replace with something fun for winter/Christmas.

The supplies and cost of making this wreath was really low and it would be another easy DIY for your own front door 🙂 here are the only things you need:

• A wooden wreath ring – I got mine at Micheals for about 6 or 7 dollars
• A large roll of burlap! – I also got this at Michaels for $6
• Greenery or florals of your choice – you can get these supplies anywhere! I got both of my pieces of faux greenery at Target in the saver spot at the front of the store.
• A pair of scissors

A work surface that is easy to clean after all of the burlap shedding!

When choosing your wooden wreath ring, in my opinion thinner is better. That way you can measure and cut shorter pieces of burlap. To begin just trial a piece of cut burlap and then tie around the wreath form. I wanted my pieces to be a little bit longer to create fluffiness and texture, but to each their own!!

I used pieces that were about 8 inches long. Then I also cut each strip in half the long way because the roll of burlap was really wide. You can cut a few pieces at a time and then take a break to tie. That way you only cut as many strips of burlap as you need. For this wreath I used exactly one roll of burlap which was pretty good estimation on my part!

After you’re done tying the burlap in knots all around the circumference of your wreath ring, then you can work to weave in pieces of greenery. There is no right or wrong way to do this step! Add what you think looks good. I bought two different kinds of greenery and both were long garland style which made it much easier to wrap around. I would suggest this style versus loose flowers/stems.

The greenery garland I bought was much longer than I needed to I decided to make a loopy bow out of the ends of mine in the lower middle of the wreath to use all of it rather than continuing to wrap around the wreath. I then hung it on my front door as usual! All year round I keep my gold “home” on the front door attached with command strips to the pane of the windows. I got it in the dollar spot at Targe more than a year ago and it always makes the perfect backdrop for every wreath because there is no place like home 🙂

After your wreath is hung where you want it to be don’t forget to do a healthy amount of “fluffing” in order to get it looking just right. Tightening pieces of burlap, adjusting the greenery, etc. so that it looks just how you want it to!

I have no doubts that I’ll have some fun DIYs to share with you as we get closer to Christmas, so be on the lookout!! As always, thanks so much for reading. Have a wonderful week!

#sugarspiceandstylethatsnice

xoxo Jen

blogger adventure (part 2)

Hi, everyone! Those of you that have been following along with me for awhile might remember back in May when I took a really exciting blogger adventure to St. Louis, Missouri with an amazing group of 15 other bloggers from around the Midwest….but if you don’t not to worry because you can read all about it by clicking right HERE!

Part two of this really exciting project that the 15 of us are a part of happened during the last week of September and we had the opportunity to travel to Louisville, Kentucky together! We had such a blast being all together and working together again so I wanted to recap the trip along with some fun photos! I always love packing up my bag and getting prepared for a trip 🙂

 

The day we arrived was a fun reunion and we got to spend some quality time together over dinner and drinks. You all know how much I enjoy trying new food so I didn’t let you down…I was sure to take photos of the meals I tried so I could share them with you! At the restaurant we enjoyed supper at the first evening I enjoyed a delicious “Hot Brown” sandwich that was a big open face turkey sandwich smothered in different cheese, bacon, pico de gallo, and green chile sauce. It had such good flavor and I dove right in after being hungry from a full day of travel!

 

 

Since we all met one another for the first time in May it was so special to be together again since we have been able to follow along with each other’s blogs and Instagram pages for the last 4 months and know so much more about each other now. Each day we fit in some fun time for photo shoots with each other and so here are a couple of good shots from the first night enjoying a drink together and having a little “Sex and the City” style shoot on the sidewalk in front of our hotel!

 

 

One of the most exciting parts about the trip was getting to experience the unique hotel that we stayed in. It was called The 21c Museum Hotel – Louisville. The 21c brand has other locations in the US and all of them are boutique museum hotels. The lobby and meeting areas of the hotel are literal art galleries and filled with beautiful art to admire and read about. We had our project meetings in one of the galleries and one each floor of the hotel there was also pieces of art to enjoy.  Here are two of the pieces that were displayed in the lobby!

 

The second day of the trip was a long day of hard work (but it included a couple hours of shopping so I will take that kind of work ANY day!!) We paused at lunch time to take some great photos of each other right outside of our hotel in downtown Louisville because the architecture of the buildings made for fun and exciting backdrops. My friend Gaonou snagged my favorite picture of me ever and it’s now my new profile picture on Instagram!! I also included a blooper so you can see that we obviously don’t have any fun together at all….about 5 other girls were behind the camera cheering me on and giving me some good laughs while I was getting my glamour shots taken 🙂

 

 

The second (and final) evening of the trip we enjoyed a really special meal at Decca restaurant. We arrived to a four-course menu on each place setting and the food was all so delicious. We shared a collection of appetizers together along with our choice of wine. Then I selected the ribeye steak for my main course and it was so heavenly. The plating of it (which you can see in the photo below) almost made it too beautiful to eat. We shared some sides along with our main courses and then I selected a chocolate cake with coffee ice cream (no surprises there!) for dessert. I think my favorite part of the meal was the after dessert cappuccino with the brown sugar cube. Coffee with dessert is one of my favorite things in life and the folks at Decca did it just right!

 

 

Only getting to spend 2 and a half days together is the only downside to these trips. All of the girls I have met through this project are so unique and fantastic and I’m beyond grateful to have this opportunity. We have one final trip together that will occur in either late January or early February. The 15 of us are anxiously awaiting getting to see each other one more time and also can’t wait to hear where we get to travel to this time! I have a feeling these friendships from this project will last well beyond our final trip and I look forward to seeing how all of these women grow in their brand and lifestyle.

 

It wouldn’t be a travel day without grabbing a Starbucks at the airport. On my trip home I had a considerably amount of time at the airport between when we got dropped off and when my flight left so I got lots of time to enjoy a blended cacao protein cold brew. It basically tasted like a coffee milkshake and I was 100% on board with it. I also had plenty of time during my second layover in Minneapolis to dive into my  new book.

 

 

I hope you all have enjoyed learning about my travels and I’m looking forward to sharing the third and final trip with all of you in a few months.

Have a wonderful rest of your week!

#sugarspiceandstylethatsnice

xoxo Jen

humankind with kittsona || be a kind human

As I was brainstorming what to write for this week’s topic it all dawned on me this evening. With the turbulent week we have had in national politics (really the turbulent year…) I was spending some time reflecting on the lack of kindness that can be felt. I feel that the understanding of others and their experience and emotions is lacking across the board and I think it’s fair to say that we all (myself included) could find ways to do a better job of treating everyone around us with kindness.

My partnership with Kittsona as a brand babe makes me proud proud because the mission and values that they reflect as a company are things I strive for in myself. They recently launched a new line/collection called Humankind. All of the products in this line reflect their values of kindness to others (and animals!).

The collection includes T-shirt’s and sweatshirts, as well as toddler clothing and onesies for the little ones in your life! Below are photos of some of my favorite items from the collection. All are between $32 and $36 dollars!

This simple statement – grl pwr – shows the strong conviction Kittsona has behind empowering women and making them feel beautiful and heard and important in every aspect. This tee would be a great piece to add to your closet and can be dressed up or down very easily!

This shirt goes without explanation!!! I think this needs to be my next Kittsona purchase. I couldn’t love dogs anymore so this one really speaks to me ♥️

Radiating positive vibes is easier said than done some days but it’s always amazing to notice the difference in my mood and the mood of those around me on days where I choose to stay positive and upbeat. Positivity always wins and this shirt is the perfect reminder 😊

Two words but so much meaning behind them. Kindness matters and it matters to everyone. One of my favorite quotes is “be kind for everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about”. The way you show up and how you treat others on a day to day basis can make sure a lasting and immeasurable impact. Make sure the way you’re choosing to do that is a way you’re proud of!

If you are interested in any of these T-shirt’s or the message behind spreading Humankind follow This link to check out the whole collection on Kittsona’s website! Any time you check out online at Kittsona.com or in store don’t forget to use my discount code for 10% off your entire purchase!! SUGARSPICESTYLE10

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I’ll be back again soon! As always, thanks so much for reading!!

#sugarspiceandstylethatsnice

Xoxo Jen