With Christmas just days away, we thought many of you would be wrapping presents like crazy – so we wanted to share this super easy tutorial on how to make the perfect Christmas bow! This bow technique can be used on any occasion, just swap out the ribbon.

Supplies:

• Wired Ribbon – this is super important to make sure the ribbon is wired, otherwise the bow won’t hold it’s shape.
• Add an ornament for extra flare!
• Scissors

Tip: Really all you do to make the bow, is make 3 loops on each side. If your ribbon has a pattern on one side, you will notice in the video that I twist it to make sure the pattern is not hidden before I make a loop.

This was our first video and we have already learned so much for next time haha! Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for the next one Happy Wrapping & Merry Christmas!

DIY Door Hangers

Supplies:

• Wood – 1in x 4in x 8ft Common Board
• Twine
• Circular Saw
• Measuring Tape
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Screw Driver
• 1/2 Inch Screws

Directions:

Step 1: Your going to need wood so get a 1in. x 4in. x 8ft. This will allow you to cut multiple pieces to have as extras.

Step 2: Make a mark every 6 1/2 inches along your board.

Step 3: Using a circular saw, cut each piece along your lines.

Step 4: Sand all of your wood pieces.

Step 5: Paint each block and let dry.

Step 6: Add whatever design you would like or you could use some classics like “Do Not Disturb” or “Room Service Please.” The world is your oyster here, so have fun with it!

Step 7: Add two screws to the back of each block making sure not to screw them all the way in and also make sure it doesn’t go all the way thru.

Step 8: Tie twine around each screw and cut the excess off the ends.

We thought these were a really fun weekend craft. We have even made a few more and added them to our guest welcome cart , so that our guests can pick their favorites when they stay. We would love to see what you come up with, so if you make your own please tag us on Instagram with #OMTcrafts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Donut Poker Chips

Supplies:

• Adorox Wooden Circles Round Disc Unfinished Wood Cutouts Ornament Craft Project Coins Dreidel Game Decor
• Paint
• Paint brush
• Optional – Donut Cards

Directions:

1. Paint the wooden circles with your base color and let dry.
2. Paint on the icing. No set design just make sure to leave an outer edge and a hole in the middle of your donut. Let dry.
3. Paint on the sprinkles. Let dry. **Tip – I tried painting smaller, thinner sprinkles first and it looked to busy. The larger sprinkles looked much better.
4. Play Poker.

Poker and Donuts!! Trust me friends you will love it and if anything else you get to have friends over to eat donuts….for dinner, that alone should have you ALL-IN lol. (See what I did there, poker puns, it’s what keeps you coming back.) Oh and look below for your Poker Hand Cheat Sheet and be sure to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments!

Poker Hand Cheat Sheet:

Listed in order of best hand to worst hand. (image courtesy of www.wsop.com)

Of course we know you have many blogchoicesto read, so we thank you for choosing us. (Southwest always says that, so I stole it.) See you next time friends!

You probably have noticed, if you have read some of our other blog posts, that we like to make things as simple as possible. Life is so crazy busy, so I don’t need to spend hours on a centerpiece! I needed something that was cute, affordable, QUICK, and tropical! I picked up these pineapples and knew they would be super cute centerpieces, but John took my idea to the next level when he came up with the idea to spray paint them bright colors! ( That’s one thing that is great about blogging together. When we combine our ideas, the project always turns out 1000x better!)

Spray Painted Pineapple Centerpieces

Choose your spray paint colors and spray paint the pineapples first. We choose lime green, yellow, and a bright blue spray paint, because it matched our plates and table runner perfectly! Then we hollowed out the pineapple. We put the clear plastic cups inside of the pineapple and filled them with water for the flowers. (You can cut the tops off the cups if they need to be shorter. For our centerpieces, you didn’t notice the cups because the flowers hid the edge of the cup.) Then pick out your favorite Summer flowers!

Aren’t these bright colors beautiful? I love the way these centerpieces turned out. Below are a couple pictures of the full tablescape!

Don’t these colors just scream tropical vacation? If you didn’t get to go anywhere tropical this Summer at least your house can feel like one! John and I just finished our last trip of the Summer ( he travels a lot for work this time of the year.) So now the rest of my summer will be relaxing by the pool a bit in the upcoming weekends and hopefully getting caught up on some TV shows!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lemonade Themed Summer Wreath

Supplies:

• Grapevine wreath
• 1-2 focal pieces: for this wreath, I chose the “Fresh squeezed lemonade sign” and the large burlap ribbon. I found both of these from Hobby Lobby.
• Wired Ribbon: I chose a pink, yellow striped, and a textured white ribbon. You can chose any patterns you want, just make sure you are buying wired ribbon. (otherwise, the bow won’t form correctly.)
• Artificial Flowers: I chose yellow, white, and pink flowers.
• Wire
• Hot Glue Gun

Step One:

You want to attach the large focal point pieces first. So, I attached the large burlap lemon to the center of the grapevine wreath. I wanted it to be a little at an angle.

Step Two:

I then wired the Fresh Squeezed Lemonade Sign to the wreath, allowing it to overlap on the burlap lemon.

Step Three:

The next step is to create what will be the “tails” of your bow. You can make these however long you desire. I took all three ribbon colors and layered them on top of each other. Before you cut the ribbon, hold the middle up to the center of the wreath and let the ends fall down on either side to determine if you need the ribbon to be shorter or longer on either side. I let the ribbon fall about half way down the wreath (you can always go back and make them shorter if you need too.)

Once you have the ribbon the length you want it, then use the same piece of wire and attach it to the sign in the center of the wreath.

Step Four:

Leaving a little ribbon left a the bottom, I bunch the ribbon and hot glued it in place. Then I added a flower.

Step Five:

It is time to add the top of the bow! Here is a video I shared last year on how to make a Christmas bow, but it is the same concept. You will make “loops” with the ribbon, the only difference is you will be using all three ribbon, instead of the one in the video. Don’t get discouraged if you have to do this several times! It may take a few tries, but that is the great thing about wired ribbon – it allows for you to make mistakes and just flatten it out and start over. Once you have your bow ready, then you will tie it onto the left over wire from earlier.

When you are tying the ribbon to the wire, the loops may get a little smushed. Don’t worry! Just go back through and fluff out the ribbon, when you are done.

Step Six:

Now that the bow is in place, you can go back and add in the flowers! I chose a long stem of yellow flowers. I placed it very close to the top of bow and let it come down along the right side of the wreath. To secure the flowers in place, I first wedge the stems into the grapevine wreath and then hot glue the ends in place.

Top view of the bow and flowers

That was the final step! You can just back through and fill in spots that look bare by hot gluing the flowers in and around the bow.

I purposely made my bow a little off centered and lean towards the left side. In order to balance the wreath out, I had the flowers come down farther on the right side.

I hope you enjoyed this DIY Lemonade Summer Wreath as much as I did making it! If you have any questions or need any help when making it yourself, just let me know! I am happy to answer any questions you have.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hey Y’all! We are in Europe for a much needed “off the grid” break, but before we left we enjoyed a little time by the pool for the 4th of July! Since our plane was delayed leaving for Europe, I had some time and wanted to share my favorite pool hat, swimsuit, coverup, and pool must have’s with y’all!

I know, I know – these hats are seriously everywhere right now! But they are too darn cute! It is such a fun DIY and you can personalize it to say anything you want.This Summer I went through all of my old swimsuits and decided it was time to upgrade. I really wanted something that was feminine, classy, and that I felt good in. This swimsuit was EXACTLY what I was looking for. The top is a feminine floral pattern and I love that it has the ruffle at the bottom. It is the perfect ruffle placement btw. & the bottoms are high-waisted with a bow on the back that added that classy look I was going for.

This cover up has been my go-to this Summer! ( I have even worn it as a long shirt over a pair of white jeans.)

My pool must have’s are:

1. A HUGE beach tote. This one from Francesca’s literally holds everything!
2. Fun Floats – we obviously have an obsession with donuts, so the pool float and mini donut drink holder were a no brainer!
3. Can’t go wrong with a cute pineapple cup

Hope you are having a great Summer so far! We are fixing to leave now for Day 2 of touring around London! We can’t wait to show you all the pics we have been taking!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

If there is one thing we love in our family, it’s trophies. We are very competitive and before you go and say “Oh not sweet Lindsey” she is the MOST competitive and she will shank you if it means getting a win haha. But seriously, she is scary & we love trophies. We even created a family Christmas competition called “The Reindeer Games” and the winner each year gets their name on the Santa trophy. We also have trophies not only for the winner of our fantasy football league, but for all the rivalry games too.So in the spirit of trophies we thought all the Dad’s out there could use one for Father’s Day, but not just any trophy, no it’s a trophy made with love.

Materials:

• 1:12 Black Iron BBQ Grill Miniature Garden Outdoor Doll House Accessory Gift (S)
• Dollhouse Miniature Tool Box with Tools
• Glue
• Base for Grill
• Base for Tool Box
• Spray Paint
• Alphabet Stamps
• Stamp Ink

Directions:

• Spray paint the wooden bases – Gold or which ever color you prefer and let dry
• Glue the Miniature grill to one base and the miniature tool box to the other. let dry
• Using the stamps, write out your message “Grill Master” or “Mr. Fix It” or “World’s Greatest Dad”
• Give the gift to the deserving DAD.

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I hope the options I gave were simple enough, I found that the miniature isle was loaded with ideas and I’m sure you could look at the dollhouse area at your local craft store to find more ideas as well. These trophies will be a huge hit this year in our family, (Sorry Dad, guess if your ready this it’s not a surprise anymore haha!) Leave some of your ideas for me in the comments, I would love to hear what you think your Dad’s trophy would have on it. And as always thanks for stopping by!

Farmhouse Wooden Bottle Tote

Materials:

• 1 (1in x 8in x 6ft) poplar board
• Circular saw
• Drill
• Tape Measure
• Speed Square
• Clamps
• Hobby Boards
• Jig Saw
• 3/4 in Dowel Rod
• 3/4 spade bit
• 2 in Square trim screws
• 220 grit sanding block
• paint brush
• Wood stain
• Bottle opener (optional)

Directions:

Takethe 1 x 8 Poplar Board and measure to cut it to 7⅜ x 11⅞ inches long, then using the circular saw make your cuts. This will be the bottom of the bottle tote.

Next, measure and mark the hobby board to get four pieces measuring 2½-in. x 13⅜-in. long, then cut them using your circular saw.

To create the side pieces we get to do a little art. Take a sheet of paper and fold it in have length wise. Now draw half of your design on one side of the paper starting at the crease. Then while the paper is still folded cut out your shape and BAM, you have your template! The peak of my sides measure 11 3/4 in.

Once you have traced your template onto the Poplar board cut out the shape using your Jigsaw, then repeat the process for the other side.

Taking the 3/4 Spade bit, drill a hole towards the top of your two side pieces for the dowel to fit into.

Cut the ¾-in. wooden dowel down to 13⅜ in. long using a circular saw.

Now take the wood glue and ad some to the holes and on the ends of the dowel and then place each end into the side pieces to form your handle.

Apply wood glue to the bottom of the side pieces, then with the drill, secure frame together using 2-in. square trim screws.

Next, you’ll measure, mark and cut hobby boards for the inserts. These will divide the bottle tote’s interior into six sections.

Using a circular saw, cut one piece to 2½-in. x 11⅞-in. and 2 pieces to 2½-in. x 7⅜-in.

Next, using the jig saw, on the (2)7⅜-in notch out each insert a ½-in. every 3¾ inches. Make your notches 1¾-in. deep.

The last cut is the side rail. Cut 2 hobby boards to be 13 1/4 in long and cut with the circular saw. Then assemble them using the square trim screws.

Once fully assembled the last step is to stain. Using your brush and the wood stain, apply stain and remove any excess stain. Let dry and then wipe off the stain.

As an optional finishing touch you can add a bottle opener to one of the sides.

That’s it. I really enjoyed making this wooden tote and Lindsey really did a fantastic job making it a beautiful centerpiece. We found those Milk Glasses from Micheal’s and they added a great farmhouse rustic feel to the whole thing. Tell me your thoughts in the comments or if you need help at any of the stages. And as always thanks for stopping by!

Use #omtcrafts so we can follow along with any diy projects you are making!

Emoji Mason Jars

It is no secret that I love Emoji’s! Ask any of my friends, I OVERuse them for sure when texting! They are just so fun and can add a lot of pazaz to an otherwise boring text message. Also, how are you supposed to know how much I love something, if I don’t send you the “heart-eye emoji” or how funny something is, if you don’t get the “hysterically crying, laughing” emoji? Sure you could just say you are excited, but doesn’t 3 clappy hands, a party hat and the big smiling emoji say it better?

Materials:

• Baby food jars
• Acrylic Paint – Yellow for the body and then other colors depending on the emoji’s you choose
• Black Sharpie Marker
• Small Paint brush

Directions:

First pour a little bit of yellow paint inside the jar and then put the lid back on the jar.

(Thanks for being the hand model, John!)

Now shake the jar until it is evenly coated on the inside and pour any excess paint back into the container, then let it dry.

Once the inside is dry, simply decorate each jar by painting your favorite faces on each jar.

Fun and simple. I am using these on my desk to store everyday office supplies! Tell us what you think and if you make these be sure to use #OMTcrafts so we can see all your emoji mason jars!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsey

I have a deep longing in my soul to see the world. I can’t explain where it comes from I just know it to be true. I never traveled much as a kid except to see family, but as I read more I learned the world was massive and I wanted to see it all. There is to much to see and do and it would a shame if I cheated myself out of a mighty big adventure. I’m blessed to have a wife who shares this passion and so now I have someone to share these adventures with. This idea came out of wanting to document those adventures. We selected a color pin for us each individually and then a color for us together, marking all the places we have been and allowing us to dream of where the next pin will go. This Pin Board Travel Map is a fun and simple project for anyone who loves to travel.

Pin Board Travel Map

Materials:

• Map
• Cork Board
• Wood Glue
• Spray Glue
• 1 x 2.5 x 8 Common Board (2)
• 4 x 4 Plywood Sheet
• Wood Screws
• Wood Stain
• Pins

Directions:

• First thing is to measure the map so that you can have an idea of what size to cut the plywood, leaving a 2.5 space around the edge in order to make room for the frame.
• Next cut the plywood and cut the common board to fit the outside of the frame.
• Once cut, sand and stain the outer frame pieces and let dry.
• While those pieces are drying, measure of the cork board to fit the map size and cut it accordingly.
• Using the Spray Glue, attach the cork board to the plywood.
• Once that is dry, glue the map to the cork board making sure to flatten out any bubbles.
• Now one at a time use the wood glue to attach the frame pieces to the plywood at the edges of the map. Use clamps to hold the two pieces together and then from the back, drill the pieces together using the wood screws.
• Repeat this for each frame piece.
• Add a hanging fixture to the back of the frame making sure to center it on the back.
• Now find your favorite spot on the wall and hang it using a level.
• Finally place the pins on all the places you have been and then dream of where you will go next.

I hope this map has given you a fun and simple project that will inspire you to see the world. I’d love to hear some of your favorite places you have been or places that are at the top of your list to see. Let’s be adventurers. You can follow alongwith us at we travelwith #omttravel!

Thanks for stopping by!

John