About Roofresh

My name is Kelsey, not Roofresh, but Roo IS my nickname. I live in the Phoenix area with my husband and we are having fun being newlyweds and going on crazy adventures together. We like finding new hangouts, food, art, music and friends; so that's pretty much what my blog is about. You'll find a bit of fashion, design, nutrition and family sprinkled throughout my content, or anything else that catches my eye at the moment. My blog has changed a lot over the last year, but you'll see that it's really just a record of our lives together; our public journal.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A RooFresh Wedding - DIY Ceremony Chair Flowers {Featured on Ruffled Blog}

I was going to wait until we dove into all of the ceremony details to share some of the DIY projects from our wedding, but this was one of the most time consuming projects and I'm so excited because it got featured on Ruffled Blog! I had a lot of help doing this one; my mom, sister and great friend Erica all chipped in to help get it done in one afternoon. There was a lot of cutting, gluing and tying, but these little mason jars turned out exactly how I wanted them to.


Here's my DIY that was featured, but I added a few more of my pictures to go along with it (it's a little wordy, so for those of you who are visual learners I added the extra pictures). If you have any questions please feel free to ask! 

CEREMONY CHAIR FLOWERS

Kelsey created a charming project to be hung from a chair during the ceremony (and reception afterwards) for her own wedding.
diy ceremony chair decor
What you’ll need:
- Mason jars (your choice of size, a variety can create a little whimsy)
- Fabric (I used burlap, but a colorful print can be fun as well)
- Lace
- Ribbon
- Wire
- Hot glue or fabric glue
- Pliers
diy ceremony chair decor
diy ceremony chair decor
Instructions:
Start with your desired size mason jar, any size will work and multiple sizes can add a fun ambiance to your event. Begin by cutting the fabric of your choice into a strip long enough to go all the way around the mason jar, leaving about a 1/4 of an inch extra to overlap slightly (It doesn’t have to be perfect, a little imperfection shows that it was handmade and special). Glue your base fabric to the outside of the mason jar. You can use either fabric glue or hot glue, I suggest using whichever you are more comfortable with. Only glue the end of each side of the strip, with one end directly onto the jar and the other end slightly overlapping the first end. Cut a strip of lace the length of the first piece of fabric, if lace isn’t your thing you can skip this step. Again, glue the lace only on the ends to give it a clean look and sightly overlap one end over the starting end of the lace. Once the lace is added you can add a piece of ribbon that goes with the theme of your wedding. Pull the ribbon very taunt and place a dab of glue underneath the knot that you tie. After this dries you can tie a bow to finish off the project.
diy ceremony chair lace burlap
If you want you can leave the mason jar vase as is and use it as a centerpiece with flowers, or fill it with candles to line a walkway.
If you prefer to have the mason jars hang as vases for an aisle way you can proceed with the last step which is adding a wire hanger. Pliers are necessary for this step and the wire can be found at any craft store; choose whatever thickness you prefer. If your look doesn’t work with wire, you can always use string, yarn, twine, or ribbon, just make sure that you fasten it with some glue to keep it secure enough to hang. The wire can be fastened by cutting one long piece and twisting loops into each end-having a round object such as a pencil or pen to keep a firm loop will help. Once the loop has been made on each side cut a second piece of wire to wrap around the top of the mason jar. A quarter of the way through wrapping the wire around the top of the jar, loop the first loop made on the hanging part of the wire through the wire and make a loop in the base wire to hold it in place. Continue wrapping the base wire around the jar until it’s across from the first loop and create a second loop with the hanging wire looped through. When you get to the start of your wire, use the pliers to twist the two ends together and tuck them neatly against the edge of the jar.
I hope this helped bring out your crafty side, and for all of the soon-to-be brides out there I hope this provided you with a simple decoration to save you some bucks!


Roo

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Monday, October 18, 2010

DIY Bag Redesign

I know that my little sign above is kinda cheesy, but I had fun making it so I don't care! This post is about my recent crafty crafts! I was so excited when I got this messenger bag from Goodwill a couple of months ago, but after I got home I realized there was a nasty, unidentifiable mark on the back. Eww.
This is just one shot, but there were a couple of nasty scratches. Needless to say my cool find (under $5) was left in my trunk for a couple of weeks months. I don't know where I got my idea to fix it up, maybe it's because I was putting flowers and broaches and trinkets on everything else for my Etsy shop, but last night I think I came up with my best "save the awesome thrift store find" idea yet!
Here's what my leather messenger back looked like before, kind of plain an boring, but still a nice bag. I decided to make some fabric flowers out of silk and tweed, and of course I added a doily to spice up my practical satchel. (It's a satchel...not a purse).

Some supplies:
*Fabric
*Fabric glue
*Needle and thread
*Doily, broach, any other embellishments you may want

You can start by cutting a few small fabric circles, however many you think you may need, remember you can always cut more if need be. After cutting circles, run fabric glue down the middle and fold in half, then down the middle again, and fold again so that your circles are now quarters. After you get all of your "petals" in place you can overlap them slightly in a circular shape and glue the center and edges together. I like to finish it off by putting a few stitches in the middle, then sewing a button or decoration of your choice in the middle. On the large flower here I used a vintage broach that I found a few weeks ago antiquing and some old buttons that my mom had given me for the little ones.
You can add the flower to the doily simply by using the fabric glue.
Lastly, you can add your embellishments to your bag, or whatever it may be that you want to "prettify" by using fabric glue again. For the bigger piece I made, I used a little bit of string and a thicker needle and stitched a few spots onto the bag.

Here's a few pictures of my re-designed, re-purposed bag! It's perfect for fall! I think I might use it as a laptop case, or maybe just as a purse, who knows-the possibilities are ENDLESS! :)

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial on how to give your bag a makeover. If you liked this please let me know so that I can plan on doing more tutorials!

Roo







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