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Just wanted to do a quick tutorial on the twirl flowers from this wreath.
They are super easy- just the way I like 'em. To show you how to make them, I'll actually be making a hair clip. All the steps are the same, but for the wreath flowers you just need one circle of fabric.
Start by making three circles of coordinating fabric, each slightly smaller than the other. Wow, suddenly I just had a brain contest to see if all three could be 'slightly smaller' than the other, because two inevitably have to be bigger. I concur that they can not. Back to crafting...
Fold the circle in half, then half again, then do it again. Essentially, just fold it into 1/8 of its original size.
Pinch the end together and fill the two seams you will see with glue.
Fold it over and then secure it with a little more glue.
Cut a small circle of felt and glue in the center.
Place your flower down, on the fold you made.
Pull the flower open from the top. Sorry no action shot of this, I needed both hands and I am not that talented. For the wreath you would find a cute button, glue it in the center and stop here. Well, you would glue it to the wreath and then stop here.
For the clip you'll keep going.
Do the exact same thing with the other two circles. Glue each one into the center of the previous layer. Take your hair clip and cut a piece of felt to the size of jaw of the clip, then close the clip.
Glue the entire clip and felt side, then press it down to the other side of the felt circle.
And voila! Here is your five minute new hair clip. Because that seriously is all the time it took me. No burning included. Have a great weekend! See you Monday!
Time for new curtains! Because I was pretty particular on how I wanted them to look, I had to make them myself. Don't worry, the light switch plate has been returned. :)
I was pretty impressed with myself that I could even do this, considering it's been one of my first sewing projects since high school. I felt like I should have pinned a gold star on my forehead but the act of pinning would have been quite painful so I didn't. Yea, I know you also see that tootsie roll on the floor, I polished an entire bag off- by myself. So anyway, to start your valance figure out how you want it to look. Then measure the window and allow about a 12 inches of extra material for it to gather once on the rod. Lay it out how you want it to look.
Because I wanted my black and white floral print to be ruffled I left it out for the next few steps. I took my main pieces and sewed them right sides together to make about a 1/4 inch seam.
I then finished one edge that you can see on the bottom to another 1/4 inch seam. I wasn't worried about the fabric edge that didn't line up pefectly because I was working with scraps and knew I was making a large seam for the top. I knew I wanted at least an inch of material above the curtain rod, plus the curtain rod was about 3/4" so I allowed an additional inch, so I folded it over and made the first seam 2" down from the top. If you're material doesn't match up just fold over the shortest to 2", the longer piece can be, well, longer.
After sewing the initial seam, I then sewed another seam 1' from the top. It should look like this. If you didn't want any ruffle at the top of the curtain, then you would just sew one seam, 1' down.
For my ruffles I just took the black strips and finished the edges with a 1/4 inch turn in. I sewed a basting stitch down the middle and used the bobbin thread to gather it. I then placed it on the curtain how I wanted to and sewed it down. *Important- don't sew over the curtain rod opening. You will have to sew from the bottom of the valance to the seam 2' down and back stitch. Then move your needle to the 1' seam and sew to the top and back stitch. Boy, I hope that made sense.
And voila! You're done. My rod is a cheapo one from walmart that was about $2, but it's hidden by the curtains so no biggie. The rod you see in this post over the doors is spray painted black. What do you think? I also promise to do a tutorial on the flowers from the previous post. Happy Thursday!
My newest wreath- which found a spot on my newest dresser. Huzzah. Love the look it brings! What do you think? I'm guessing you know how to make this, so I won't bore you with a tutorial. Unless you want one, then I'd be more than happy to! Happy Wednesday!
When we found out we were pregnant we were pretty happy. This one was planned and so it didn't come as a shock. What did come as a shock was the immense planning and doing that new babies require. Yikes. I think they should hand out manuals on families with every marriage certificate.
So we started getting the nursery ready, because we were lucky enough to have a room for that. It was originally the guest bedroom and originally had started as stark hospital white. Yum.
My first thought was to paint it a green that the office was in and then just add pink or blue as the accent wall when we found out the gender. So this is how it sat, for months. White can be an accent right? :) Because I'm a habitutal redecorator, I decided I didn't like it and figured I wanted something a little more classy after seeing this:
That way I could use the gray/white coloring I wanted without having to wait for the gender of the baby, and then when we resell they don't have to repaint. If they want.
So we got to work on our fake 'board and batton'. We went to the home depot and bought a regular chair molding that we liked that came in a bundle for $60. You can buy the exact amount that you want for the room so it will be cheaper, you just need to measure the walls. We just wanted extra for the master...if we ever get around to that. (I say we, but I really mean me, because Hubby would probably be content living in a cardboard box). Have I also told you hubs hates his picture taken? He does. We put the chair rail a little higher than normal at about 54". Then we bought wood strips that are also in the molding isle, they are about 3/4" wide and are $.33 a foot. We cut them at the home depot to 54" a piece because you can do that, and then you won't need a saw when you get home for them. The rail, not so much. You'll need a saw. We placed the strips 2' apart around the room, give or take a few inches in some spaces. Really you just place them how they look best to you. A nail gun is extremely helpful for this part.
Once it was all up we sealed in the top seam on the chair rail and all the strips and holes with wood filler. This is probably my worst hated job ever, and after that the room sat for another month because filling holes in wood seriously is a demotivator for me.
The next step would be to manipulate invite a really nice brother or neighbor to come paint it for you. That's the best way I think. If you have to paint it yourself, then good luck. Ok, well I did paint a little...
I choose a light grey satin for the top which makes the room so soothing and light, and then the base is a white semi gloss. Obviously you can pick whatever colors you want.
Even though it messed up the 2' rule, we framed in the closet and window, which really made them look a lot better. Ignore the fact my closet won't close. I'll get to that....eventually.
We're super happy with the results! It makes it so elegant and everything is coming together awesome! Do you like it? Let me know if you have any questions! Total cost for the project was about $60- $30 for the strips, $20 for the chair rail, and about $10 for paint and supplies. Happy Tuesday!
Couldn't wait to post these! Check out more from my maternity shoot here. Check out the awesome photographer here. She was even sweet enough to let me edit. :) 
I didn't quite take an effective 'before' pic, but I at least took it before it was done, so props right?
These were a wedding gift from almost two years back and they have been sitting in different part of the kitchen, but because my husband hates clutter and unessential decor, I decided to use them as the focal for this part. They were just white however and a little boring.
So I did this:
I love the numbers trend that is going around A LOT. And the family stand up I found at Ross for $3. Cheap way to change a look for the better! Let me know what you think!
This is my bedroom. Don't mind the layer of dust on the dresser, I'll get to that. Well technically, that dresser is no longer in the bedroom, so I guess I don't need to worry. What you should focus on is the hangings above the bed...I bought the frames at IKEA and covered them in toile, and well basically love them. I wanted something similar for the staircase going up to our room in our town home- because it was painfully empty and at least a gazillion feet high. So I thought, why not knock it off? hahaha.
So we'll be making this. Be patient, it looks a lot better than the picture. Actually, all the pictures look a lot better than this picture.
I have a TON of cheap dollar store frames just hanging around. These particular ones are 8x10. You'll want to make sure they have a flat side and are wood. I guess you could use plastic, but then it would be plastic.
I took the glass out and put the original cardboard backing in. You'll need some support so any cardboard will work.
I choose the fabric I wanted and cut it a little less than a half inch wider than the frame on all sides. Ok, I realize that some of these sides are bigger than that, but you get the point. :) I just ripped this fabric.
I originally attempted to staple it down as I would with the IKEA frames. The frames were too narrow/thin/cheap to do so, so I had to revise that whole plan and head down another track.
Bring on my favorite friend the glue gun. You'll be using a lot of glue for this project so make sure you are well stocked.
To glue the corners down I pulled it tight and put a glob on each side, laying it on top.
For the rest of the frames I just glued.
This is what happens when you rest your hand on the melting lava hot tip of the glue gun. You will hear a subsequent sizzling sound and then exquisite pain will shoot through it, while your husband laughs in the background at your moanings. Put some baking soda mixed with a tiny bit of water on it, it will draw the heat out. Thanks Mom. I don't really recommend this step.
Yes. So....crafting. Yea. The second material I choose was some brown felt I had hanging around. If you use a thicker material like felt you will need to be patient with the corners. I tried trimming one, but it didn't look as great.
And here they are. I laid them out how I wanted. At this point you could just call them good and hang them individually. They would make a pretty nice piece.
I however never know when to quit so I continued. I measured 5 inches in on the creme fabric and then glued each piece together subsequently. In retrospect I would have used a manlier glue like liquid nails for this part, but meh.
I found these letter at hobby lobby. They are originally $.99 a piece, but they were having a 50% off sale. I arranged them how I wanted them so I could also place where I wanted my burlap flowers to go.
To make your flowers cut five 'leaf' or 'petal' shapes out of the burlap. Try not to sneeze.
Seriously this is what everything looks like when you're done cutting. I can still smell it in the air and I'm pretty sure I have a million burlap particles attacking my nose cavity. *sneeze* *sniffle*
Put a little line of glue on each end and pinch it together.
Arrange how you want them and glue them down.
Pick a second coordinating material. I choose a charcoal felt. I love felt. Repeat the process just use smaller shapes.
For the inside I just used a circle of a lighter burlap, and then a little felt flower shape. You just roll a flower shape like here. Finish with a button and some brown leaves and you're done.
Almost. You have some more work to do still. I painted the letters a mustardy yellow and then added another flower to the other corner. Again, you could stop here and it would be a great piece.
But I'm gonna keep going. Of course. I wanted to be able to add pictures to the canvases. My original plan was to just have blank canvases and put the pictures in the middle with brads on the corners so they were interchangeable. You could do that I guess. Since I wanted to put all the fancy letters and flowers though, I had to revise so it didn't look like a third grader took a bunch of macarroni and glue to it. Maybe it still does, but again, meh.
So I decided on a 4x6 size and cut squares out that were 5x7. I guess technically that's a rectangle. Thank you ninth grade geometry class. Then I cut an inner square that was 4.5 inches wide and 5.75 inches high, so it overlapped the pic, but still gave room on the edges to glue down. And yes that is paint on my fingers, because I paint like a five year old. Actually your five year old probably does better.
Embellish it of course. Glue all sides but the top down to the canvas on the edges, that way your pics can be interchangeable.
And here it is! Sorry this could possibly be the WORST picture I've ever taken, but it is DARK in the stairwell. We're trying to find a new light to make it better, but we'll see. This project was very minimal in cost: the material, glue, frames, and paint I had on hand, so I only had to buy the letters. Happy Friday!
