Anthropologie Hack: DIY Jingling Monogram Ornament

Anthropologie just might be one of my favorite stores. The problem? I'm not a millionaire. Whenever I find myself browsing through their website, I always find things I love only to realize they are way out of my price range. When I saw these adorable ornaments, I instantly pictured myself attaching them to wrapped presents this Christmas. They're $8, that's totally affordable!! Until you start buying one for everyone you know. So, I figured I would just try to make my own.

This project is prettttty self explanatory but here's what I did...

Supplies:
Chipboard Letters
Yarn
Jingle Bells
Glue Gun
Needle and Thread


Step 1 - Wrap the chipboard letters with yarn. I started with the red, and wrapped about half of the letter leaving some space for the white. For the tough corners, I used my glue gun for help. Then,  I finished wrapping the letter with the white yarn until it looked complete.

Step 2 - To attach the jingle bells, I got out a needle and red thread and sewed them onto the letter.

Step 3 - To attach the hanging hook, I used the needle and thread again so that it would stay put.

andddd that's it! Not too difficult, and these little letters will look super cute and add a little jingle to my Christmas wrapping this year.
 

Anthropologie Hack: DIY Woodblock Calendar

I was browsing the Anthropologie website last week lusting after all the amazing products they have that are wayyyyyy out of my price range. I kept thing, "pshhh, why is this so expensive? I could totally make this." So, I picked a cute item and put my do-it-yourself skills to the test!

I decided to try my hand at making this cute woodblock calendar. I liked the modern geometric pattern, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the colors, so I made it my own.

Here's what you need:
Paint: I chose three colors of Martha Stewart paints in coordinating colors. I used Pea Shoot, Arrowhead, and Beetle Black.
Wood Blocks: They can be found in the wood section of any craft store. I found mine at Michael's. They had a variety of sizes, I chose the 1 inch. I ended up using 17 blocks. I'm sure some of you smarter people can figure out how to make this craft with less. For instance, the Anthropologie website says their calendar consists of 12 blocks.
Brushes
Painter's Tape
** Alphabet Stencils: I had intended to make the lettering with stencils, however, I couldn't find any in a font that I liked so I just free-handed the letters and used sharpies.

Steps:
First, I sketched out the letters and numbers on the blocks. Starting with January, I went through the months to make sure I had every letter accounted for. Don't be afraid to reuse letters and blocks! For instance, the UARY in January is the same UARY in February, I just put the F on the same block as the J. Does that make sense? You can absolutely get creative with this. I didn't want to have any blocks that were entirely letters, I wanted at least one side with a design, so that's what I did!

After all the letters and numbers were complete, I started painting. I added some painters tape to blocks that would have the triangle pattern. I also just painted some sides of the blocks solid colors.

The paint dried pretty quickly, so I was able to complete this project in no time at all.

I especially love how versatile this project is. You don't have to make a calendar! You can pretty much have the blocks say whatever you want... or nothing at all and just keep them geometric.  I'm thinking maybe a "Merry Christmas" set would be cute, or maybe a "Go Tigers Go".