Here’s what you’ll need:

• Colorful markers
• White tissue paper
• Printer paper
• Scissors
• Wax paper
• HomeRight digital temperature heat gun

Step #1

Start by cutting a piece of tissue paper to the size of the candle. Then carefully tape the tissue paper to the printer paper so it won’t move around while your little one, or you, are coloring.

Step #2

Pull out the markers and let the creative juices flow. This was definitley Malea’s favorite part and I loved watching her really concentrate on what she wanted to design for each of her grandmas.

Step #3

Carefully peel the tissue paper off of the printer paper. Cut around the design, getting as close to the edge as possible. Once you’ve cut out the design lay it over the candle.

Step #4

Next tear off a large piece of wax paper, larger than the size of the candle. Lay the wax paper over the design and wrap it all the way around the candle.

Use the HomeRight heat gun to melt the design onto the candle. Turn the heat gun up to 500 degrees, then slowly move it back and forth. It takes a few seconds in each spot, you’ll know it has transferred when the tissue paper turns the same color as the candle and is no longer white. Slowly roll the candle, heating up each side, until the entire image has been transferred.

Once the image has transferred, carefully peel the wax paper away from the candle and “voila!”, you’ve got a beautiful, one of a kind candle designed by your little artist.

Malea was so proud of her creations, the only challenge now is going to be getting her to keep it a secret until Christmas time! Have fun creating! I’d love to see the designs you come up with, you can share with me on Facebook or Instagram.

And just in case you have any fun DIY projects coming up, you can enter to win a HomeRight Heat Gun. Fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer – This post is sponsored by HomeRight but all opinions are my own, as always. I will always tell you if I think a product is just “okay” but if I tell you I love it then it means I really LOVE it! I have included a few affiliate links to the products I used in this post, if you buy through the link I get a small commission but you don’t pay a cent more than you normally would. Thank you for supporting Ask Anna!

The post DIY Decorated Candles {Gift idea} & a Giveaway appeared first on Ask Anna.

They’re pretty, right. Well here’s what they looked like when I first hung them up.

Not quite the look I was going for. I knew I wanted the drapes to hang all the way from the ceiling to the floor so I had to come up with a solution for extending the drapes, and that’s what I’m here to share with you today!

Here’s what you need –

• Coordinating fabric (I went with a solid color)
• Ribbon that coordinates with both fabrics
• Peel n’ Stick Fabric Fuse Tape (this is the exact one I used)
• Fabric Scissors
• Iron and Ironing board

Step 1

I never iron my drapes when I hang them up because I’m too lazy, and I hate ironing, but before you add fabric to the bottom you’ll need to make sure both fabrics are wrinkle free, so take a few minutes to iron the bottom of the drape and the new coordinating fabric.

After they are both ironed, lay them out on a flat surface, right side up.

Step 2

Measure how long you want the extended part of the drapes to be. I wanted to add 18 inches but my fabric was 24 inches long so I overlapped it by 6 inches.

Make sure you leave at least an inch on the right and left sides, so you have room for a “hem”. Once your fabric is laid out and you’ve measured the length and the width, you’re ready to attach the fabrics.

Step 3

Flip the bottom of the drape over and attach the fabric fuse tape to the inside of the drape. I placed the tape a few inches from the bottom, you’ll see why in a minute.

Run the fuse tap along the entire width of the drape. Once you’re done pull the paper off.

Once you’ve removed all the paper flip the drape back onto the new fabric and push it down to attach the two fabrics.

Step 4

Get out the ribbon and run the fuse tape all along the backside of the ribbon. It will look like this. I recommend buying the same width fuse tape as your ribbon because it was a pain to cut off all the extra. If you have to cut excess off, don’t use your fabric scissors, use regular scissors because they will get all sticky.

Once you’ve attached the fuse tape to the ribbon, lay the ribbon out over the end of the drape, where the new fabric begins. Basically the ribbon is going to cover the seam and make the two fabrics look like they were always meant to be together. Leave at least an inch on each side so you can fold it over to hide the edge, in the next step.

Once the ribbon is where you want it to be placed, slowly pull the paper off with one hand and press it into place with the other hand. You want to make sure the ribbon is attaching to the drape and the new fabric so that it creates a perfect seam. This is the reason why you want to place the fuse tape a few inches up in step 2, because this will be your second run of fuse tape which makes the attachment of the two fabrics, even stronger.

Step 5

Now flip the drape over so the wrong side of the new fabric is facing up. Cut off the excess fabric at the top.

Next run the fuse tape along the wrong side edge of the new fabric. Run it almost all the way down to the bottom of the fabric, leaving a few inches at the bottom for your bottom hem.

Once you’re finished, remove the paper and fold the fabric over attaching it to itself, creating a seam.

Then fold the end of the ribbon over to hide its edge.

Repeat this on both sides of the drape.

Step 6

I left 4 inches at the bottom of my fabric to create a 2 inch hem at the bottom. Attach the fuse tape where you want your seam to be and then fold your fabric up to attach it, just like you did on the sides.

After folding the fabric up onto the fuse tape, iron the bottom of the fabric so it looks like a nice finished edge.

And that’s it! Now you have a really tall drape that looks like it’s worth a lot more than you paid for it!

Shop this look –

• Drapes
• Dining chairs
• Chevron pillows
• “Life is a Journey” pillow
• Chenille swirls pillow
• Fretwork pillows
• BHG Pumpkin ceramic salt & pepper shaker (in stores only)

Disclosure: I have included affiliate links in this post but if you purchase through them you will not pay a cent more than you would otherwise. Thank you for supporting Ask Anna!

The post A No-Sew way to Make Short Drapes Floor Length appeared first on Ask Anna.

So a couple of weekends ago we finally had the time and it turned out even better that I could have dreamed! And in case you noticed, yes, we did also get a new kitchen window. We figured now was the time to do it before we tiled the whole wall, so we did away with the 80’s black window frame and installed a nice, new, pretty white window. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier about it!

We learned a few tips along the way so I wanted to share them with you to make your next tiling project a little easier!

Tip #1

When we went to Lowe’s to buy the supplies my husband talked to a salesman there that gave us a great tip and saved us a TON of time! He told us since our tile job wasn’t in an area that would be getting wet (other than the occasional splashes from the kitchen sink) to use a tile adhesive instead of the cement you’d typically use.

This made the job so much easier and it saved us from stressing that the cement was drying too fast, it was WAY less messy and it allowed us to stop and take breaks when we needed to, like stopping for an entire day because we ran out of time on the weekend!

If you have a tile job coming up and it’s not on a floor, or in a bathroom, then I highly recommend this Type 1 Tile Adhesive, I don’t want to tile any other way now!

Tip #2

This was actually my husband’s idea, and when he mentioned it I thought it was going to be a huge waste of time, but I was totally wrong. First lay your first row of tile and make sure it’s level. After you’ve laid the first row, use a large level and draw lines vertically, up the wall, to mark where each row of tiles will start and end.

I didn’t think this was going to be necessary but as I worked my way up the wall the lines totally helped me keep the tiles level, and in the end the entire wall came out perfectly level with straight lines all the way up. Check out how perfectly the tiles line up with the corbels for our shelves (this was a pre-grout picture).

I was pretty proud of myself when I saw how it turned out. Talking to our contractor friend, I know even the pros have a hard time getting everything level!

Tip #3

Did you know there are different types of subway tiles? I had no idea that some of them are made with self spacers and others are not.

My husband accidentally bought both kinds and when we realized that some of them had self spacers on them we decided to use those tiles instead of the ones without. This was also a HUGE time saver because we didn’t have to worry about inserting the plastic tile spacers to making sure they were all even. If your hardware store carries the subway tiles with self spacers, buy those ones, trust me it will make your life WAY easier!

So those are all my tile tips! This job went quickly and easily and I realized I really liked laying subway tiles. And I especially like the way it looks when it’s finished!!!

Now that we’ve tiled the wall there’s only a few things left to do in the kitchen and I can’t wait to get it done! All we have left to do now is remove the 80’s light fixture above the island, add single bead hardboard to the ceiling, install crown molding (which is why the subway tile doesn’t go ALL the way up to the ceiling) and add a couple pendants over the island. I think it’s only a couple weekends worth of work so hopefully we can get it finished before the busy holiday season.

It can get overwhelming thinking that there’s still more to do but when I look back at this picture it makes me feel good thinking about how far we’ve come.

Stay tuned, full kitchen {final} reveal coming soon!!! Oh and if you have a tile project coming up, make sure to pin this so you can tile like a pro too!

The post Subway Tile Kitchen Wall & Tips for making it an EASY job appeared first on Ask Anna.

The post DIY Fabric Covered Bulletin Board appeared first on Ask Anna.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Your choice of wood, we used Ipe (a tropical wood)
• Table saw or a chop saw
• Drill
• Wood screws
• Stain or sealer (or both)

Step 1:

The first step is figuring out how big you want your table to be. Use a measuring tape to layout the size, in the space you are going to use it in. You will need to determine how long, how wide and how tall you want it. Once you’ve determined those measurements, you can start your project!

Step 2:

Measure and cut the table top pieces.

We used a chop saw to cut our boards because it’s fast and easy. A table saw works well too. Set them aside.

Step 3:

Next you’ll determine how tall the legs need to be. Subtract the height of the table top boards from the total height to determine how tall the legs need to be, otherwise your table will end up a little taller than you were planning.

Once you’ve determined how tall they need to be, measure and cut.

Step 4:

After you’ve cut them all pair them up, you should have 8 legs, which equals 4 pairs. They will look like this when you match them up.

Of course that won’t work because you’ll need a flat surface to lay your next board onto. Determine how far apart you want your legs, to figure out the angle to cut them at. I didn’t want my legs to be too far apart so our angle was pretty steep.

Figuring out the angle is honestly the hardest part of the project. Neither one of us remember geometry so we did a couple rounds of trial and error to get the perfect angle. I recommend using a scrap board for all the trail and error, until you have it figured out.

Step 5:

Next you’re going to cut the boards that will be the tops of the 2 sawhorses. The length of these boards will be determined by how wide your table top is going to be. It can be the exact width of the table, or a little smaller. We cut ours to be a little smaller so the table top boards hang over almost 2″. This picture is a few steps ahead but it will show you what I’m talking about.

Step 6:

Once you have the tops of your sawhorses cut, it’s time to attach the legs. The Ipe wood we used is a really hard wood so we had to pre-drill all our holes. These next 3 pictures explain how to do that. If you are using a softer wood, and don’t need to pre-drill holes, go down 3 pictures and then start reading.

Lay the top board on the ground and place the leg boards, upright, on top of it. Trace around them so you can remove them to mark where you will drill the holes.

Then using a small drill bit, pre-drill the holes. I recommend laying the board you are drilling the holes in, on top of a scrap pieces of wood, so you don’t drill through anything else on accident.

Once the holes are drilled, place the legs underneath and screw them in. We took turns, one of us holding everything in place and one of us screwing it together. This is definitely a 2-person job.

Repeat these steps will all 4 sets of legs until both sawhorses are built.

Step 7:

To secure the legs in place the next step is to measure, and cut, a “foot board”. Turn the sawhorse over and measure how far apart each of the legs are. You can also set the sawhorse directly on top of another board and use a pen to mark the length needed.

Cut a board that is the exact width and screw it in place. This will keep the legs strong and prevent them from giving away under too much pressure.

Here’s what it will look like when you’re done.

Step 8:

Now that you have your sawhorses built, lay the table top out and place the sawhorses on top of it, to determine where you want to place them.

Carefully measure the placement of each sawhorse to make sure they are in the same place on both sides. I placed ours 5 1/4″ in from the ends of the table and split the difference on the width, which ended up being a little less than 2″.

Next screw all the table top boards to the top board of the sawhorse.

I wanted to make sure the boards didn’t move while my husband was screwing them in, so I stood on the sawhorse while he pre-drilled the holes and putting the screws in.

Step 9:

Don’t worry, we are ALMOST done! Flip the coffee table over and give it a good wipe down with a damp cloth. It’s probably covered in saw dust, or like ours, sticky because it decided to downpour in the middle of us building the table.

Once the table is dry, you can stain it, if you’d like, or seal it, or both! Since our table is going to be outside, I applied the same sealer they used on our outdoor kitchen cabinets.

It’s amazing to me how moisturizing the sealer is to this particular type of wood. It goes from dried out and orange colored, to a rich, beautiful red color.

It was totally not on purpose but I love how the colors of the tabletop start out lighter and then gradually get darker, it ended up a pretty cool accident.

I love the way it turned out! It’s a rustic style, keeping with the outdoor theme, and the color coordinates perfectly with our kitchen. It was also fairly easy to make and now we have a custom coffee table that’s one of a kind!

If you use this tutorial to make your own DIY sawhorse coffee table please email me a picture, I’d love to see how it turned out!

Shop the look –

• Sofa – Arhaus
• Calypso cut-out lantern
• Calypso 17″ lantern
• Wire basket and blankets – T.J. Maxx
• Decorative pillows – Target
• Rug – Walmart

The post DIY Sawhorse Coffee Table appeared first on Ask Anna.