burlap bean bag door stop tutorial.

my door was driving me crazy. 

 

i love to have it open when we're expecting guests, so they can just come right in, but i always had to move our ottoman to prop it open.

i wanted a small, simple door stop but didn't feel like shelling out much cash. i searched on pinterest {like always} for different ideas and came across a few super cute burlap ones on etsy. they had basic silhouettes painted on them, but were $10 plus shipping and handling. i have burlap (only a dollar or 2 per yard, with coupon), i have black paint, i have a bag of beans, and i have a hot glue gun. how hard can this be?

crazy easy.

first, i found the images i wanted through a google image search for clip art silhouettes {i did 2 different pictures, one on each side.}

second, i cut out and traced the images on the burlap.

third, i filled in the images with black paint, 3 times because it was hard to fill in all the holes.

fourth, i cut out the images in a square shape {i wish i had left more room around the edges :-( allow space for glue!!}

fifth, i layed the burlap pieces on top of each other with the pictures facing each other. then i hot glued 3 of the 4 sides together IN BETWEEN the burlap pieces. {sry, i was so focused i forgot to take pics}

sixth, once cooled off, turn the burlap right side out, fill with beans half way. fold the edges of the opening and hot glue HALF of the last side.

seventh, fill bag rest of the way. finish gluing  {if you try to fill it all the way with beans and then glue the whole thing all at once, the beans pull the sides too far away from each other to glue easily. and if you, on step 5, glue 3 and a half sides, when you flip it right side out, the burlap rips apart because the hole is too small. trust me, i speak from experience.}

love and a welcoming door, 

amber.

how to quickly cut a watermelon.

a few years ago i was over at my husband's aunt house and as usual, she was working in the kitchen. i pretty much always sit at the counter and watch her work because i always learn something new at her house!

i dont even know that she knows this, but one particular day i'm pretty sure my eyes were bugging out of my head and my jaw was on the floor {but i think i was trying to play it cool because she was telling me story}

as a little background to this event - i got married when i was 19. i was super insecure in pretty much everything homemaking related and was pretty positive everyone out there knew exactly what they were doing except me. being 25 now and having talked with many married friends, i now know this isn't true. there are tons of homemakers out there that are totally winging it! i'm not alone!

so, back to my story. i went on with my life for years assuming everyone else knew this trick but me until just a few weeks ago my mom needed to cut up a watermelon and i offered to do it for her. she went upstairs for a few minutes and when she came back down, i was done. i'm pretty sure her eyes were bugging out of her head and her jaw was on the floor. she wanted to know how in the heck it didn't take me 14 hours to wrestle with and conquer the watermelon.

this, dear people, is the answer:

get yourself a watermelon.
and a knife.
and a cutting board.

cut the beast into 4 sections.

from the back of the rind
to the front of the fruit,
cut even sections.

then, coming down from the top,
cut from rind to rind
to make bite sized chunks.

then, going from front to back,
make the final cut, separating the chunks
from the rind and rest of the watermelon.

as you loosen a section,
keep the chunks on the knife,
secure them with your hand,
and dump them in the bowl.

pour the juice from the rind
into a glass and drink it!
have flashbacks to my honeymoon in mexico.

sit back and enjoy the fact
that you did that wicked fast.

if you're looking for something to do with all the watermelon you  bought and cut just to try out this trick, i have a solution. last night we made this amazing watermelon and arugula salad from the Whole Foods website. i left out the red onion cause we were going to someone's house and wanted to be able to talk to them after dinner, but you can leave it in if you don't mind onion breath. 

hopefully this helped some newbie 19 year old wife out there...if not, at least my mom now has photos to go along with my verbal explanation.

love and watermelon juice,

amber.