Caroline's Dresser Makeover

It's been quite awhile since I've shared a DIY post and I am pretty pumped about my latest project -- Caroline's Ikea dresser makeover! First, I have to say that we love the Ikea Hemnes 8-drawer dresser so much that we have THREE of them -- one in each of our rooms (including our master bedroom). The dresser is high quality at an affordable price! However, I really wanted to dress Caroline's up a bit and that is where O'verlays comes in! 

O'verlays are decorative fretwork panels that come in several patterns and sizes. They are light weight and easily attach to furniture, doors, walls and glass. For my project I chose the Anne O'verlays kit in the 1/4" thick material.

The o'verlays are also paintable so I decided to use leftover paint from Caroline's room so the dresser would perfectly match the walls. This was truly a labor of love and in hindsight I would strongly recommend a quick spray paint over painting by brush. It took me several weekends sitting on the garage floor painting 34958349524 sides of each piece to complete the painting part of this project. Lesson learned.

For the next part of the project I had to call in the more patient person in our home -- Matt. He is so meticulous that I knew he would carefully glue, measure and level every single piece to get the perfect placement on each drawer. And as I suspected -- he nailed it.

His audience was very impressed.

If you're looking at both thickness options, this is what the 1/4 kit looks like up close!

I also replaced all the original hardware and am obsessed with these bow drawer knobs. They are soooo cute and perfect for Caroline's room.

Ta - da!!! The makeover reveal!

We have a few more things to finish up before I share the rest of Caroline's room but I am super excited about how we jazzed up her dresser!

Project Materials & Sources

Ikea Hemnes 8-drawer dresser

Anne O'verlays kit (1/4" thick material) c/o

Paint Color: White Dogwood by Sherwin Williams

Level

Liquid Nails

Bow Drawer Knobs

Gold Drawer Knobs
Mirror
Lamp + Shade

Five on Friday || Homemade Christmas Gifts {Teachers, Co-Workers, Neighbors, etc.}

I am always looking for new Christmas gift ideas for Thomas and Caroline's teachers. Both kiddos each have 3 teachers (and even additional part time teachers) so gifts add up quickly. With that in mind I usually craft or bake something in large, inexpensive quantities to give out around the holidays. So today I am sharing five of my go-to Christmas gifts I've made in the past for teachers, neighbors, co-workers, etc.

DIY Candy Cane Sleighs: I promise these are WAY less work than they look. Last year I gave Caroline and Thomas's teachers candy cane sleighs with $5 gift cards inside. They were BIG hits all around. You can find my tutorial here.

Homemade Jam: You can never go wrong with homemade jam! If you can carve out a day (or even just a morning) you can knock out dozens of mini jars of jam for Christmas gifts. These are so nice to have on hand for last minute gifts too. You can find my homemade jam tutorial here.

Christmas Ornament: Last year as the "room mom" I had the additional responsibility of providing gifts from the class on a budget. I found super cute ornaments at Target for $1 each then signed all of the babies names on the ornament as a keepsake gift! The teachers absolutely loved this sentimental gift.

Mini Cinnamon Bread Loafs: This is my annual go-to gift for teachers, friends, neighbors and more. First I run to Michaels and stock up on holiday ceramic mini loaf pans for $1 each.You can also use disposable tins too. I found some super cute holiday disposables (here, here & here) and ceramic pans (here, here and here) on Amazon! Depending on how much time I have to prepare the loaves, I'll either use this easy Cinnamon Bread recipe or Cinnamon Crumb Cake Mix. Once they are cool I plastic wrap them and tie a bow on top. Easy, delicious and I can make large batches quickly!

printable gift tag

Christmas Stove Top Potpourri: During the holidays you can usually find a pot of Christmas potpourri simmering on my stove top. The smell is so delicious and is definitely a fun gift worth giving. For this gift I've filled little bags or mason jars with fresh cranberries, an orange, cinnamon sticks, cloves and a sprinkle of nutmeg for a festive Christmas potpourri. Tie a bow on top and add a gift tag!

What do you gift your teachers?!

Other Gift Guides:

The Wish List for Her 
The Man Gift Guide

The Ultimate Toddler Gift Guide 

Christmas Tradition Gifts 

Gifts for Her under $35 

Toddler Bath Time Gifts 

Summertime Gifts for Kids

DIY Candy Cane Sleighs {Teacher, Neighbor, Friend or Kid Gift}

At the beginning of the year I polled our teachers on what types of gifts they like (and dislike) and there was an overwhelming response for gift cards, specifically Target gift cards. I totally get that. I love Target gift cards too and I definitely don't need any more travel size hand sanitizers. However, I still wanted to personalize their gifts a bit from our class so I got crafty. In lieu of cards I picked up some candy (for the exact same price, about $12) and whipped out my hot glue gun for a quick and fun project -- DIY Candy Cane Sleighs!

DIY Candy Cane Sleighs

Materials 

5 miniature candy bars (for each sleigh you make)
2 candy canes

1 candy bar of your choice (I used a Russel Stover Christmas brownie)
1 full size KitKat
Glue (or tape)
Ribbon
Bow

Gift card box (optional)

Directions:
1. Glue the candy canes onto the bottom of the KitKat as the base of your sleigh. I reinforced with tape too.
2. Stuff your gift card box and on top of the KitKat.
3. Stack your candy layers, gluing them down as you go. Use smaller pieces as you add layers to create a pyramid shape.
3. Wrap the ribbon around the sleigh and tape it down.
4. Top with a bow!

As part of the teacher survey, I also collected their candy preferences so I kept that in mind when picking out the sleigh materials.

I found a pack of these pretty gold gift card holders in the Target dollar aisle.

Voila! A thoughtful way to give a gift card!   Would love to know what you get your kiddo's teachers during the holidays! I'm always looking for new ideas!

Delicious & Easy Christmas Gift: Homemade Blackberry Jam

Looking for a quick gift to make this weekend for teachers, neighbors, friends, co-workers and more? I have a sweet idea for you...

For as far back as I can remember my mom has made strawberry jam for Christmas gifts. Each year friends and family have come to expect this delicious treat and her list of recipients has grown quite a bit! In fact, her list as grown so much that she makes a ton of extra jam to have on hand in case someone stops by unexpectedly with a gift during the holidays. So once a year she devotes an entire day to jam making and freezes it for Christmastime. And because she's an overachiever she always bakes a fresh loaf of cinnamon bread to accompany her jam gift too.

A few years ago I started baking mini loaves of cinnamon bread as Christmas gifts for neighbors and friends but decided to step up my game this year by adding some homemade blackberry jam. Plus, I have a longer list of people to give gifts to now that both Caroline and Thomas have 3 teachers each (6 teacher gifts adds up quickly!). Here is how I packaged the teacher gifts...

Simple Strawberry Jam
Instructions by The Pioneer Woman and adapted for Blackberries

Ingredients
5 cups hulled mashed strawberries
7 cups sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 49g package powdered fruit pectin

Directions
1. Place 8 or 9 8-ounce mason jars in a large hot water bath canner (or pot). Cover with water and bring to a simmer.
2. Simmer center lids in separate saucepan full of water.
3. Place mashed strawberries and lemon juice in a separate pot. Stir in pectin until dissolved. Bring strawberries to a strong boil.
4. Add sugar (measure beforehand so you can add it all at once), then return mixture to a full (violent) boil that can’t be stirred down. Boil hard for 1 minute 15 seconds.
5. Skim foam off the top.
6. Remove one jar at a time from the simmering water. Pour water back into the pot. Using a wide-mouth funnel, fill each jar with jam, being careful to keep the liquid/fruit ratio consistent. Fill jars so that they have 1/4-inch of space at the top.
7. Run a knife down the side of the jar to get rid of air bubbles.
8. Wipe rim of jar with a wet cloth to remove any residue or stickiness.
9. Remove center lid from simmering water and position it on top.
10. Put screw bands on jars, but do not overtighten!
11. Repeat with all jars, then place jars on canning rack and lower into the water.
12. Place lid on canner, then bring water to a full boil. Boil hard for 10 to 12 minutes.
13. Turn off heat and allow jars to remain in hot water for an addition five minutes.
14. Remove jars from water using a jar lifter, and allow them to sit undisturbed for 24 hours.
15. After 24 hours, remove screw bands and check the seal of the jars. Center lids should have no give whatsoever. If any seals are compromised, store those jars in the fridge.

I highly recommend using a canning kit for jam making. These tools make the process so much easier. I borrowed this kit from my friend to see if I'd actually follow through with jam making and now I am absolutely going to buy one for myself.

Also, I chose 4 ounce jam jars instead of the big boys because I wanted to stretch my jam across as many jars as possible.

 

 

 

 

I recommend waiting to make your jam when your choice of fruit is in season. I love blackberries so I waited until they were buy one, get one free at the Teeter. My friend Lisa makes jam several times a year during each fruit season - peaches, blackberries, strawberries, etc.! The peach jam is on my list for sure this summer!

And that's a wrap on jam! So far our recipients have been pretty excited about their surprise jam delivery!