brown {beauty}- Felt Flower Wreath

So I've had this wreath for a while. It started with us over at our first apartment. Almost two years ago. Quite literally the ribbon was off some of our wedding gifts. The large grape vine wreath was around $3 at Walmart. I'm cheap.

I've been meaning to do something different, because not only does the wreath blend right into the door, but the gold ribbon was only a 'little' tacky. But again, I'm cheap.

I finally bought some spraypaint for $0.99 to paint the wreath because I had seen some felt flowers that I LOVED on a headband. And I thought they would be oh so cute on a wreath. I'm pretty sure this is not an original idea, but hey, we'll go with it. I spray painted the wreath white, but only enough to give it more of an antique'y look rather than full on white.
I tried first cutting smaller circles with the bottom of a glass, but decided the cd would give a little more of the size I wanted. So I traced it onto a 1/2 yard of felt that I had bought at Walmart. For all I needed, I didn't even use more than a third, making the felt about 75 cents.
I cut the cd circles into a spiral and wrapped the long piece into the rose form. I put a little glue at the end to hold it together enough to put on the wreath. Some of the longer spirals I cut in half, and other roses I used smaller circles to give different size dimensions.
When I had as many as I wanted, I placed them on the wreath till I liked them.
Then just put a generous amount with your hot glue gun to make them stay.
I also put a little wheat to add a little color and variety. It seemed like the crafty thing to do.
Happy Monday!

new {lengths}- Dress Length Alteration

I found this tutorial and knew since I owned the exact same dress and had the exact same problem, it was totally meant to be. So I chose a creme broadcloth for the alteration of making my dress longer.
I began by measuring 10 inches down (you can choose whatever length suits you) and ripped across the bias. I finished the edges of the broadcloth, turning it in twice and doing a simple stitch, backed at the edges.
I then did one basting stitch across the unfinished top and gathered it in. I did two seperate pieces, one for the front and back and had them overlap at the seams so there is a slight slit on each side. I turned the top under when I sewed it to the dress, using an already existing seam at the bottom and sewing the piece with the dress overlaping, rather than both seams together.
Finally I cut a rectangle and folded it in half sewing across the fold to give it a more finished look. I turned the dress inside out and pinned it, then turned it right side out to sew again across the existing seam for the neck line. (It was a bit low).

Voila! A new dress- well new to me since I had to stop wearing it for a while because I washed it and lost a little length.
I also did it to my college graduation dress that I had the same problem with. Except this time because of the more prominant gather at the empire waist, I simply sewed the material in-seam with the dress because I didn't want it to be too puffy. Huzzah! Oh, and this was my very first project since High School, and that was, well, forever ago. My handy dandy mom came down to 'remind' me how to thread the machine, etc. Wow, good times.

a {new} swan

I'm a big fan of KSL classified. Like a REALLY big fan. I hear Craigs list is also amazing. So many things from my house were bought off KSL. Our latest treasure: this solid oak, six chair set. Total beauty. Price tag for this baby: $75. I was ecstatic after hours (ok, maybe not hours) of perusing the site when I found it. We loaded it up that night and brought it home. Here's the problem. My husband and I are big dreamers. We have all kinds of plans. But not all kinds of time. So this little baby sat. For AWHILE. Until we attacked it one evening and seven hours one Saturday. We stripped and sanded the tables and chairs. Then stripped and sanded them some more.
Then we painted them brown. Then a thin coat of black to give them a slightly distressed feel, without being too obvious. We did the same to the base of the table, then sealed it. The top took the longest, because it had to be perfectly sanded. After acquiring such perfectness, we stained it a cherry color and then lacquered it.

And after a lot of grueling hours, and $20 worth of pain paint and supplies later, here is our $95 table set. Huzzah.



See the tile saw? Yea I promise its not a permanant fixture...basement is almost finished!

an office {paint-over}

When we bought our home, most everything was painted neutral. Except this room. Starch hospital white wasn't really working. After purchasing some Ikea desks, and some goodwill chairs, we decided it was time to paint. We bought less expensive Walmart brand paint called Verde Antique.
My husband does the work...

...and I take funny pictures of myself. Seems like a fair trade.

The initial completeness. The color really warmed it up, or brought it together, or whatever, but you can see the serious lack of shelf/drawer space in the desks. This turned into a problem rather quickly.

So completeness number two. We bought a couple of cheapo walmart shelves for $15 and some canvas baskets on clearance at Lowes and gave myself some much needed de-clutter room. Because my desk would get...sick. I also opted for a simpler wall photo collage because the other one just added to the clutter, despite being some fun work from my day job. Oh and the dried roses are sentimental. I'm a sucker, but I can't get rid of them.

The closet door shuts now and is no longer barfing out its contents. *sigh of relief*

And hubby lost half of his desk to my new sewing endeavors. Poor hubby. And you know the saying, do what you can with what you have? Well maybe that's a saying. Besides the desks and the shelves, this room is a prime example of that. You'll also notice my frames and chairs don't match exactly. I think it brings character and dimension to a room. My neighbor, who got her degree in Interior design agrees. Shazam.

my {first} attempt

So one day I decided I NEEDED a white board in the office. Everything is darker brown and black framed in there so I new this cheapo $8 board from walmart would need some help. Yes I realize I could have just spray painted it, but where is the fun in that? So I also picked up some cheap Seamaid Ribbon and some colorful buttons. I love color, what can I say. A little glue and stick later, voila.
Hmm, I think you can tell the difference in the two cameras I used. I also glued some buttons to magnets for fun little holders. Ok, here is where the problem is. My office is traditional. The buttons are not. So here it is, in all its glory, right next to some non colorful things.
Oh well, better luck next time right? Maybe it will make its way into a kids playroom eventually. When I have one of those. Kids, that is. Oh and the white board? It's been used ONCE. Apparently I didn't need it that bad.

Need Ideas?

Me & Mine

Sometimes my brain dies right at the moment I sit down to write an 'About Me' page. It's quite the phenomenon really. I figure its probably because the universe would be uterly bored with my life so in an effort to stop me it shuts down my brain.

Well take this universe. My name is Camilla. Phew. I'm married to a great man. We have one child in heaven. We used to have a child in my belly. She's out now, determined to tear my entire house up at the squat age of 8 months or so. I once had a parasite in my belly too. That was not as exciting as a child.

We live in Utah. We have lived in a total of four states and two countries. Not always together. He digs in the dirt, I take pictures. That makes for very interesting dinner conversations.

I am not a born crafter. But I do love pretty things.
So, in an effort to join the popular and oh so magical world of design and crafting I have started this blog, mostly to document my attempts at learning to sew. Wish me luck! Because I am going to need it.

Happy Thursdays

Because Photography is better for thursday

i want...

To make these:

Ruffle Butt Onesie

Burp Cloths

Pacifier Clips Anthro Pillowcase
Car Seat Tent

Boppy Pillow

High Chair Cover

Laminated Bib

Nursing Cover

Baby Leggings

Quiet Books

Paper Wreath

Ruffle Skirt

Baby Sling

Ruffled Peplum Skirt

Tutorials

Contact Me!

Not a fan of forms? I'm all ears at rosyredbuttons@gmail.com.

here is a post. i'm fabulous.