I'm Daring To Be... Thankful!

I know I typically do my weekly thankful posts on Thursdays, but this week I'm switching it up a bit because I linked up to NewlyWoodwards' Dare to DIY Blog Party! Each week for the next 6 weeks, beginning on Mondays, I will be taking on one of NWs' DIY dares. This week's dare was to be thankful and, although I was planning on holding out on this project for another week or so, I thought I would debut it today. And so, without further ado, I give you our thankful tree:


Nighttime lighting... Forgive me?

Have you seen these all over Pinterest too? I like them think they are unbelievably cool and ever since I first saw one, I've been dying to try it myself. And it turns out that it wasn't even that difficult. Apparently, many people gather sticks from their yards to use, but since Josh and I have that whole living in an apartment situation to deal with, I went with the store bought versions from Michael's. I also purchased two bags of "river rocks" at Michael's, coming in at a total of $2.49 each. Everything else I had at home, so the total cost for this project was just under $17.


 First, I used one bag of rocks to fill my vase, then cut off the branch bases and put the shorter parts into the base of rocks in the vase. Then, I used the second bag (almost all of them, but not the entire bag) to fill up the rest of the vase and keep those branches in place. My next step was to cut out circles (using the tea light above as a tracing tool) and then use them to write what we're thankful for - our life, football Sunday, good books, etc. - to hang on our tree. I used a needle and quilting thread for my string because I wanted something light and unobtrusive for the hanging material. After all 12 circles were hung, I wrapped some burnt siena orange ribbon around the lip of the vase. And voila!


And here she is on our hall table (along with the DIY: Zig Zag Tray):

I have a lot of cookbooks...

Today, I'm daring to be thankful for everything in my life and, of course, linking up to the NewlyWoodwards' Dare to DIY Blog Party. I dare you to link up your projects as well - are you up to the challenge?