DIY - The Butcher's Daughter

DIY, Crafting, DIY & Craft, Seasons, Winter

Giant Nutcracker

October 11, 2023February 17, 2026by shannonleger

During the pandemic when I was looking for lots of fun and different projects to keep me occupied, I came across an amazing giant nutcracker pattern, a 6 1/2 foot tall nutcracker to be exact! I decided to give it a try and make a few changes to make it my own. I loved the outcome and he’s still one of my absolute favourite Christmas decorations. This is one of those things that really wows people whether you decide to put it outside or use it as part of your interior holiday decor. If using outside, I’d definitely recommend spraying the whole thing with a clear outdoor sealer to protect from the elements. I’d also only put it outside in a sheltered area like a covered front porch that doesn’t get a lot of wind, snow/rain. If you plan to place it outdoors, I’d also recommend laminating the face pieces. I used printer paper which would definitely not stand up to the elements. This project can be completed with a very small budget, especially if you have some of the materials laying around the house like I did. I already had a piece of Sonotube and the PVC pipes from previous home improvement projects. Most of the remaining supplies were purchased at Dollarama. If you are located in western Canada or the USA, you’ll be able to find similar items at Dollar Tree or Dollar General. Great Canadian Dollar Store has lots of really nice craft items as well but I do find them to be a little higher priced.

To create your giant nutcracker you will need:

4 foot concrete form – 12 inch diameter
12 inch round of plywood for the bottom of his body
14 inch round of plywood for the base
4 – 6 inch pieces of 2×4 lumber
8 foot piece of 4 inch diameter white PVC pipe (from this you will cut 2-28 inch pieces for his arms and 2-30 inch pieces for his legs)
2 PVC pipe end caps for his epaulettes
2 – 5 inch diameter styrofoam balls
Craft paint (I used flesh, red, black and grey)
Medium soft bristled paint brushes
Screws (sheet metal)
Roll of white fur
Black felt
Black plastic magnetic locker organizers for the foot part of his boots
Various tassels, trims, jute rope, etc. according to your taste to decorate the nutcracker
Hot glue gun and glue
Paper, printer and scissors to print and cut out face pieces
Mod Podge to glue face on
Blush to create his rosy cheeks
Rubber door stopper for nose
Clear spray sealer

Directions:

Cut out 14 inch plywood round and paint black. Screw on two 6 inch pieces of 2×4 as shown in picture. Turn right side up so 2×4’s are facing upwards. Slide legs (plumbing pipes) on to 2×4’s.
Cut out 12 inch plywood round and screw on two 6 inch pieces of 2×4 as shown in picture. Screw or glue the wood round inside the bottom of the concrete form (body) with 2×4’s facing downwards.
Slide the body piece onto the legs.

Halfway down the body, screw on the arms. Place end caps on the shoulders for epaulettes and glue in place if necessary. They may be tight enough to stay firmly in place without glue. You should be able to reach down in the top of his head to do this step.
Paint the legs black and grey (I did the bottom half black for his boots and the top half grey for his pants), paint the arms and the bottom half of the body red and paint the upper half black and flesh (so you end up with the top 1/4 of the body black, the middle 1/4 flesh and the bottom half of body red). You will need several coats of each colour. Let dry thoroughly between coats.
Paint the styrofoam balls flesh colour. Once dry, hot glue them onto the ends of the arms. Glue black felt strips where the grey and black paint meet. This creates his boot cuffs.
Print face from template and cut out. Attach with Mod Podge. Paint door stopper flesh tone and glue to face as shown in picture. Apply blush with a makeup brush.
Cut out a narrow strip of white fur and glue onto face for beard. Glue on a wider strip of fur around back of head and sides for hair. Glue on remaining embellishments of choice using picture as a guide to decorate his hat and jacket. Glue on magnetic locker organizers to finish off his boots. Spray entire nutcracker with a clear sealer if desired.

DIY, DIY & Craft, Home & Homemaking

Save Money – Sofa Repair Hack!

March 6, 2022February 17, 2026by shannonleger

If you’re like me, you love to save money! These times we find ourselves currently living in, require one to be resourceful. I’ve heard alot of talk lately in the media about food prices and I’ve noticed the outrageous prices myself when I’ve been out at the grocery store. What I didn’t realize as acutely was the increase in furniture. At a few thousand dollars and up, a brand new set is honestly way out of my budget at this time. Being the thrifter that I am, I searched for a week or two online both on Marketplace and local furniture stores,, both box stores and smaller local shops. No luck at first. I had grey in mind so that meant alot of what I found wasn’t going to work. I knew I wanted something with a clean tailored look, possibly tufted. I hoped for an attached chaise and because I knew I wanted at least two chairs to complete the livingroom, I didn’t want to spend more than $500.00 – $600.00 on it. Well, yesterday I finally hit the jackpot! I found a dark grey/greige sofa with chaise for my price point. It was a short drive to pick it up and fit the look I was going for as well as being in really good shape overall.

The sofa was from a home that had pets though and they did minor damage by way of some small snags over most of the sofa. I was able to remove the snags and it honestly looks like new now. I wanted to share how I did this as I know that many of you own sofas with the same type of material and may want to freshen it up a bit or you’re in a situation similar to mine where you find a great deal on a piece of furniture that fits all your specifications but it has some minor damage such as this and you need a quick, easy DIY fix.

Sofa arm with pulls and pills — Sofa arm showing minor damage of snags and pilling

As you can see in the above photo, the arm of the sofa had some minor snags and pilling. This was over the entire sofa, some area more than others. Not to worry, it’s a pretty easy fix!

Piller tool for de pilling fabric — Tool for de pilling fabric

I used a pair of sharp scissors, a razor and a de- pilling tool to repair my sofa.

Scissors cutting off pulled strings — Sharp scissors cutting off pulled strings and snags

Using a sharp pair of scissors, carefully cut off any pulled strings or snags that are long enough to reach with the scissors. Then using the razor, carefully shave off the remaining stub of the string if one remains and any other small snags that may be too small to cut with the scissors. Finally, use the de-pilling tool to smooth out any leftover pilling.

So much better! I continued this process all over the sofa and I’m so happy with the end result. I have a new to me sofa that fits all the wants and needs of my family at a fraction of the cost of new! My search continues for new chairs/recliners!

Crafting, DIY, Winter

Christmas Tree Flocking Hack!

January 5, 2022January 5, 2022by shannonleger

It’s the most wonderful time of the year again! Hard to believe it but it’’s December 1st and Santa will be here in a few short weeks. This year I decided to change things up a little with my Christmas decor. One thing I’ve been wanting to do for a year or more now is purchase a flocked tree or make my own. Seems it’s all the rage again this year.

I’ve looked around at trees but they’re pretty expensive and I already have a perfectly good little artificial tree that’s the perfect size for my entryway which is where I’d been wanting to put a tree now for a few years. I decided I didn’’t want to make the investment so on to Plan B! I decided I’d flock the tree myself with flocking powder or spray. Well, I ran into roadblocks right away even on Amazon. Seems there’s not much available that ships to Canada and the prices are crazy for what you get. So another idea down the tubes.

Plan C! I went looking around in my basement to see what we might have hanging around that I could use to transform my little tree. First glance around, nada. But then I spotted an old can of white enamel spray paint. Aha! Just the thing I needed to faux flock my tree! I took the tree outside and sprayed it from the top down, on the tops of the boughs towards the ends of the branches, just like where you’d see real snow fall. I’m absolutely in love with the end result! I ended up going with a woodland theme which looks perfect in my Farmhouse style home. Best thing of all, I didn’t have to spend a cent!

A little paint really transformed my little artificial tree. I made the burlap garland by sewing a straight stitch down the middle of an unrolled roll of burlap and pulling it to create a ruffled look. I purchased the burlap roll at Dollarama. I added the branches throughout to give texture and really bring home that woodland feeling. Branches are from my backyard.

I’ve since added more red and white balls and it looks even more amazing! Whole tree decorated for under $100 using mostly Dollarama decorations. They’ve really upped their decor game inn the past couple years! I’ve seen very similar Christmas balls at Canadian Tire this year for three times the price.

Crafting, DIY

Farmhouse Kitchen Hand Towel How-To

June 7, 2021by shannonleger

Hope you are all staying cool! Here in Eastern Canada we are having a bit of a heatwave. Today is feeling like 43 degrees Celsius with the humidex. Crazy times we are living in for sure! I never remember early June being this hot! It’s nice though to have summer come a bit early. I’m good with it as long as my A/C holds out, haha! Tonight’s supper will most definitely be BBQ something. Burgers I think….I’m excited to try a new green sauce on them. My Epicure order just arrived and one of my items was their new Feisty Green Sauce. It sure smells good, I’ll let you know how it tastes!

Since I’m mostly stuck inside today due to the heat, I thought I’d whip up some new Farmhouse style kitchen hand towels with a few basic items I purchased. I have looked and looked for just the right kitchen towels for so long and haven’t had a whole lot of luck! They are either too cheap looking, too much crochet on them, too expensive or just not my style/colour. I don’t go to craft shows anymore due to the whole pandemic situation so I often simply can’t find them. But like I said, they never seem just right for me when I do. DIY is the best option I think if you are wanting a specific style or colour. These were so easy to do and all I needed was kitchen tea towels and coordinating potholders. Oh, and a few buttons!

Find the center of a tea towel by folding in half. Mark it and unfold, On the wrong side, stitch a running stitch across from one side to the other. Gather by gently pulling your running stitch. Before tying it off, size it up based on the width of the potholder you will be using for the topper. (My stitching doesn’t look centred in the photo but it is!)

Find the center of your potholder and with right sides together stitch to your gathered tea towel making sure the potholder is centred on the gathered fold of the tea towel.

Fold up potholder in half and attach a coordinating button to the top of one side. You will use the hanger that’s on the potholder to “button” it and join the two sides of the kitchen hand towel around the handle off your stove, dishwasher, etc. Very easy, kitchen appropriate, and oh so cute! Oh, and it fits a multitude of handle widths!

The options are endless! They remind me of little dresses. I love them!

I decided to try a more tailored version as well. For these ones, I folded the tea towels in thirds lengthwise….the way they’d be folded normally when you purchase them.

I folded the towels in thirds but to a width that looked nice with the width of the pot holders I was using. With right sides together as shown, I machine stitched through the center (where the towel would fold over when hung)

I folded the potholder in half, added a coordinating button and voila! Ready to hang and gorgeous! A fantastic addition to any kitchen!

Aren’t they pretty? I’m so excited to finally have pretty (and large) kitchen hand towels that aren’t tattered and stained! Hope you will try this out for yourself! If not, I’ll be selling a few so you can message me here or through The Butchers Daughter FB page. Love to hear from you!

DIY

Where are My Keys Hun?

May 5, 2021May 5, 2021by shannonlegerLeave a Comment

Last year when we began our kitchen updates, I took down an old key holder I’d had up since 1998 or so. I know, I know, crazy! Let’s just say I get my money’s worth out of things! Haha! It was time for an upgrade for sure! I looked online as in-store shopping wasn’t really an option at the time, then looked locally at discount stores once we could shop for non-essentials. No luck finding just what I wanted so of course I went the DIY route! With my husband Colin’s help, we created a simple key holder that fit in nicely with the Farmhouse theme of our home.

We had a piece of solid oak leftover from our living-room step makeover, so Colin cut a piece to fit the space we wanted to place it and then stained it to match our new luxury vinyl floors. I sealed it with gloss Modge Podge and attached a cast iron key with key hooks onto the piece of oak. Just to give it a little extra punch, Colin painted the key black and added a bit of white here and there to age it a bit. I then sealed the paint on the key by applying a thin coat of the gloss Modge Podge.

I have a weird hang up when it comes to putting nails, screws or hooks in drywall, especially freshly painted drywall, so I used 3M Command Strips to hang our new key holder. After a few days with all our keys on it, it fell off the wall. It was the part of the strips that attached to the back of the holder, not the ones on the wall that were the issue. I think this was due to the fact that I applied the gloss Modge Podge to the back as well. To compensate for this, I used a bit of crazy glue under each strip and it’s held well since. I’m really happy with the end result! It’s custom, fits the space perfectly, matches our decor and serves the purpose of keeping our keys all in one spot right where we need them. Best of all, this project came in well under $20!

Stained oak board cut to size. A little paint, a couple of screws and a bottle of Modge Podge to seal are all you need to create a cute Farmhouse style key holder. You could also use a piece of reclaimed barn board, or even a piece of wood from a pallet.

The end result! It’s so nice to finally have a place to hang our keys again. I added this sweet little metal organizer where we keep reusable bags that need to be returned to our vehicles, masks, mail that needs to be sent, etc. It’s conveniently located right by the door to the garage so it’s very easy to grab keys and other things on the way out the door!

DIY, Home Improvement

Blinded By The Light!

April 30, 2021March 7, 2024by shannonlegerLeave a Comment

Hello everyone! It’s been far too long since we’ve chatted! I really missed you guys! I hope you missed me too. I’ve been on this huge journey over the past year and a bit, I think a lot of us have been. I decided at the beginning of the pandemic that I’d use the extra time (and money saved from not going out to eat, shopping, travelling, etc) to change up my home and get some things done around here that had been put off for far too long! In the process of renovating my home, I honestly have begun to change my life too! More on that in another post, haha!

One of the things I’d been putting off since last year was getting some window treatments up. I took down all my window coverings…..curtains, blinds last spring when we were in the thick of our kitchen turned main floor renovations. For all the many months since then, we’ve been blindless. Is that a word? Haha. I decided to forego curtains altogether and stick with inside mount cellular blinds. I love the clean look of them, tons of light still gets in but they do give a bit of privacy and help block UV rays, not to mention heat and cold. Finally, back in March, I took the plunge and ordered blinds for my whole home through Blindselect.ca. I’m so happy with the quality and aesthetic of these blinds. They often have discounts and I was able to order during a 50% off sale. Even better.

The only problem was, I couldn’t find a good solution for my exterior steel doors. I needed something that would block the blinding light coming in, especially my front door where I also wanted some privacy. I wanted something that would look good but that would work with a very small budget. I also didn’t want anything too permanent (I have a thing about putting holes in walls, doors, etc). My solution was to DIY Roman blinds using old pvc mini blinds that we took down from one of my boys’ rooms when we installed the new blinds. I thought I would share this DIY with you because I know there’s someone out there in the same predicament I was in! Here’s what I did and the end result. I’m so pleased!

Step 1: Choose a mini blind that’s the correct width for your steel door window. You will also need approximately a yard of fabric of your choice. A heavier fabric will hang well but do keep in mind this is going up with magnets so you won’t want it to be too heavy. You will also need a pack of nickel sized magnets and some fabric/craft glue.

Step 2: Remove the small plugs from the bottom of the blinds. This will allow access to the main cord on either side of the blinds. Untie the knots and remove the bottom rail.

Step 3: Cut all the ladder cords. These literally look like a ladder and connect the ladder cord in the front to the ones in the back. Once they are all cut, remove the ladder cords completely. You will be left with the two main cords that pull the blind up and down, as seen on the right in the photo. It’s a thicker cord. Do NOT cut these main cords.

Step 4: Remove all the slats of the blinds, except for 3 or 4 depending on the length of your window and how many folds you want in your finished Roman blind.

Step 5: You will be left with something that looks like this. Put your bottom rail back on, knot the cords and place your plugs back on the bottom rail.

Step 6: Cut your fabric 3 inches larger than your window on all sides (top, bottom, sides). Fold and iron a 1.5 inch seam.

Step 7: Apply fabric glue. I ironed it lightly after folding over onto the glue.

Step 8: Apply fabric glue onto first fold and fold over another 1.5 inches. Iron in place. This gives your seam a completely finished look with no raw edges to fray. All with NO sewing!

Finished seams. Loving it! Now for the really fun part!

Step 9: Lay out your slats spaced apart evenly. Glue in place with fabric glue. Let dry. You will also glue the top and bottom rails in place.

Step 10: Decide how many magnets you will need to hold your particular blinds in place. I ended up adding magnets in between the ones you see in the photo, after doing a trial run and realizing they weren’t going to hold the blind in place. Glue magnets in place with fabric glue or crazy glue. Or both, haha!

This was my door prior to having the Roman blinds installed.

As you can see, lots of light still comes into my foyer (which I wanted) but it’s not as blinding and the door area just looks more polished. The project was $20 or less and I got the style and fabric colour/design I wanted. I reused an old blind saving it from heading to the landfill and best of all, it was an easy no-sew project that didn’t require holes to be drilled into my steel door. It can be taken down and changed out easily if you tire of the colour, design, etc. It’s a great solution for those who are renting and you don’t want anything permanent installed that may keep you from getting damage deposits back, etc.

I chose a dark grey and white ticking which complements the Farmhouse style of my home.

Night time view of the blinds…..a little easier to see the colour.

Can be completely lowered to cover the
window at night.

I hope you will find these instructions helpful and enjoy the process and the pride that comes when you make something yourself for your home!

Crafting, DIY

DIY Greeting Card Books

March 4, 2021by shannonlegerLeave a Comment

During the early part of the Pandemic, many of us took on home renovation projects, took up a new hobby or revisited an old one, organized our homes, and a plethora of other things we’d put off doing previously. One of the early DIY’s I did was to organize my many special greeting cards I’d accumulated over the years.

I’m not a hoarder I promise! I do collect certain things though. Being a pretty sentimental person, I tend to find it difficult to let go of greeting cards that special people have given me to mark special occasions in my life. I’ve sworn more times than I can count that I was going to throw them out but could never bring myself to do just that. So I set out to find a creative way to organize them that would cost next to nothing and allow my family and I to enjoy them when we are feeling nostalgic. Here’s what I came up with:

1. I saved all the corrugated cardboard we were bringing into the house (Hello, Amazon boxes, haha!).

2. I went through my big box of cards and divided them into categories. Ex. Wedding, Baby Shower for each child, Christmas (I just kept particularly special ones), Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Birthday, Sympathy.

3. Once I had groupings I ordered them with the largest cards in the back of the pile. I based my “cover” size on the largest sized card in the group. I then measured, marked and cut out pieces of the corrugated cardboard.

4. I punched holes in the covers using a large three hole punch, it’s preferable if you can center the holes along the edge of your cardboard pieces instead of being too close to either the top or bottom of the cover. You will likely only use 2 of the 3 holes that the hole punch can cut due to the sizing of most greeting cards.

5. Line up your cards with the newly punched covers to decide where to place the holes so that the cards will align with your front and back covers as neatly as possible. I marked with a pencil so I’d know exactly where to cut when I got each card into the punch. You will likely have to do each card separately due to the thickness of the card stock.

6. Decorate your covers. You can do just the front cover or front and back covers. You can even do inside the covers. It’s up to you and how creative you want to get and how much time you want to spend. I liked the “kraft paper brown” colour of the cardboard so I left it mostly naked and used stick on letters, patterned papers, gel markers and various other little scrapbooking decorations to decorate my covers. I kept it basic and did only the front covers on one side.

7. I then attached the covers to the groupings of cards using binder rings. I used two different sizes. In the pictures attached you will see one package says Shower Curtain Rings. I had a hard time finding the larger sized rings when I ran out mid way through the project and found these at Dollarama for $2 per package. Great find and they are EXACTLY the same as the more expensive binder rings you’d find at an office supply store.

Note: If you have other little mementos you’d like to add to your card books but they are too small to punch or you don’t want to punch a hole in them, you can put them in a pretty envelope and punch the envelope instead. You can then easily add to your card book and keep everything organized with the grouping it belongs with.

When I had the books completed, I placed them in a pretty keepsake box to protect them. The box can then be stored or put out on display in a living area where you can take a peek whenever you’re feeling a little sentimental or want to share with friends or family.