In Spring: Wall Art from Stickers and Thrift Store Art

A while back I was about ready to lose it if I didn't get to do just a little something creative so I took on a tiny project with a piece of thrift store art I bought a couple of years ago. Like thrift store art plus stickers tiny.



I had some sparkly pink stickers that came with one of the page kits I bought for my pregnancy scrap book, but hadn't used yet. The only problem was I had to decide what to write. Indecision kicked in and it took me a whole day to pick something.

Once I knew what I was writing I was feeling impatient and couldn't be bothered to take multiple shots or stand still long enough for a clear shot. Quick little projects like this get me way too excited. I didn't take any mid project either. Bad blogger. But seriously, do you really need pictures of how to peel off stickers and stick them on something?

The Complete Guides to Sewing & Needlework

I only purchased two things during my little Craft Weekend. Both of them were books (go figure). There was a buy one, get one sale in one of the booths at Rerun Consignments & Mall in Council Grove and for $7.95 I just couldn't pass them up.

I am absolutely in love with the cover art of Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, but the inside is beyond amazing. If I actually read that I'll know how to sew anything and impress your grandma with my needlework skills.

The diagrams are absolutely awesome. Here's a little sampling.

How to tell if your pressure is off and adjust it.

A glossary of handstitches AND pictures of how to stitch them (this is just one page there are several).

A whole chapter on zippers.

Explanations of what the hell all those funny feet that came with your sewing machine do.

I read some reviews and it sounds like if you buy one yourself you want to get this 1978 version which is apparently way more awesome than the newer ones. Go me.

I'm not quite as in love with the cover art of the Complete Guide to Needlework, but the inside more than makes up for it.

Embroidery, crochet and rug making all in one super duper awesome book. Oh my! It even has directions for making the most awesome quilt ever. Did I ever post about it? I'm not sure if I did. Norie got it from her great grandma Millie and I know I've posted pictures with it, but it totally deserves its own independent post.

And last, but certainly not least, how to make a braided rug. It's been on my list of to-dos for a while.



My grandmother used to make them out of bread bags. Or maybe she crocheted them out of bread bags. She was thrifty to the core and you know what? They were awesome beyond reason. I don't eat a ton of bread so I think I'll just use fabric, but I'll be thinking of her when I do.

I'd love to tell you I'm going to post a project from either of them on some sort of regular basis, like a Wednesday sewing workshop, but you and I both know I'm not that organized or predictable. I'll try to actually read some of them and tell you all about it when I do though. Promise.

Craft Weekend!

No, not that Craft Weekend. I'm still on the waiting list for THAT Craft Weekend.

This one was just me, my sister-in-law Jamie, Norie staying over at my mom's to junk and craft and eat Mexican food. It was cut short by the unseasonably wintery weather, but we had a great time anyway. Unfortunately I was so busy trying to keep Norie from freezing to death (why do I always take her on fabulous junking trips in extreme weather?) I didn't take any pictures while we were at Bearly Makin-It which is the coolest place ever.

Here's what I did document.

My sister is plotting a dinosaur theme for her son's room, but I thought this monster was super cool. 

This vintage baby scale that would look super cute in an upscale nursery or as an awesome prop for newborn photo shoots.

 

With our shortened timeline we only got one craft done, wall art made from thrift store canvases and vinyl letters. I got excited and forgot to snap a before before I started so it's a little bit into the process. 

 

Jamie added some color before she started so I had plenty of time to get a shot. Norie was all about the crafting and loved that teal paint. If you want to know more about that floor go check out my mom's blog.

Since I didn't have to wait for a coat of teal paint to dry before I could stick on my letters I got mine finished that night.

Jamie's had to dry overnight and I woke up to this. It took all my self control to leave the letters on until she woke up.

I forgot to take an after shot of Jamie's, but she posted this one to Facebook.

Craft Weekend Number One: Check.

How Tuesday: Super Cheap Baby Name Nursery Wall Art

A couple of months ago I posted about my plans for wall art in the nursery. I've been meaning to post about this one for a while. It's one of my favorites AND I made for less than $2.

Yep. I said TWO dollars. I really wish I'd taken pictures throughout the process, but it just really didn't take that long or involve that many steps.

I picked the frame up off my mom's driveway several years ago. It's been waiting for me to put something in the middle ever since. My mom painted it with ASCP in Provence while she was here for Hibbs House Project Week back in March. That paint is super expensive, but it didn't take much. I'm figuring a dollar and I'm sure that's high.

I bought the cardboard letters at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off. The whole alphabet was originally $4.99, so I got it for $2.50 and I only used 5 of the 26 letters, $0.48.

I glued a fancy sheet of polka dot scrapbooking paper I got for a quarter at a second hand store (it was a leftover from the Dream Dollhouse) to them. Then I remembered I should take a picture, a blurry one with my phone.

I wasn't sure what kind of ribbon to hang them from. Thank goodness for picture messages to my mom.

She was totally right about the yellow.

I hung the letters from the frame's wire with about two yards of ribbon I bought at Wal-Mart. Ten yards for $0.48. Let's call it 10 cents.

Total Cost: 1.00+0.48+0.25+0.10 = $1.77

Super easy. Super cheap. Super cute.

I really like it next to the piece I got from my sister for Christmas. :)

25 Things: Day 2

I did it. Again.

I know. You're shocked. Two whole days in a row is more consistency from me than you've come to expect.

Before I get to my accomplishment there are two other super awesome things I want to mention that happened yesterday.

First, our glorious new shiny refrigerator was delivered.

Isn't she pretty? Austin got her for roughly half of the MSRP and I am thrilled. It's a little big for the space, but that's about to change. I'm even more excited about that, but that project deserves its own post and really isn't going to get done in the hour between Norie and I going to sleep.

I also made Beer and Bacon Mac & Cheese for dinner. It had Halcyon in it. It was GOOD.

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I can't. It was The Beeroness. If you like craft beer and cooking you should go subscribe to her RSS feed right now. It's amazing. She has about a million recipes I want to try and she obviously blogs during the day based on the quality of her photos. Don't get me started about fall lighting and blog photography when you have a full time job.

Short version: it sucks.

Slightly longer version: it sucks more when you don't feel like you have the time to import the pictures from your real camera and quickly snap some shots with your phone.

I promise I'll replace these pictures some weekend when I can take them during the day. Well, at least the ones of things I haven't eaten.

That brings me to my 25 Things plan.

I didn't have a ton of time so instead of using the prioritization I did the thing I thought I could finish the fastest and without making too much noise. I started this page months ago and only had a couple of bits to stick down and the month label to create. 

In case you are counting and wondering why my October page is about finding out I was pregnant if Norie was born in May, I found out I was pregnant about 6 weeks after conception (a.k.a. when I was 8 weeks pregnant). There is a page for September too since I was pregnant for the whole month even though I didn't know it yet. No wonder I felt so icky at the Great American Beer Festival. By the time we found out about her she was the size of a strawberry. We were trying so it was a major relief to find out I didn't just have some freaky weird endocrine problem. The blog posts around that whole situation would have been hilarious if I had been ready to tell people.

On a photographic note, if your infant has attempted to use the corner of your phone with the camera as a chew toy the images get blurry. Lesson learned; clean the lens.

Day 2 of my 25 Things plan: check.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Paper Bunting + Office Pinboard = Pretty Productive Workspace

I did it.

I worked on one of the projects from my list yesterday and actually finished it. Woo fricking hoo!!!!

Maybe it's sad how excited I am about such a little thing, but your ability to find joy in the little things is what determines whether your life is super fun or super boring. I choose to have a great time. :)

I took five minutes to pretty up my pin board a bit while I was at it. An attractive work space is really important to my mood and my productivity so it's totally legit.

Since I had already made some paper bunting for my fall mantel I just whipped this out from the leftovers I had precut (I thought I estimated how many triangles I would need pretty well, but I was off by about a third. Whoops.)

Want to know how to make your own awesome paper bunting? Read this post by Mel over at Adventuroo. I cut my paper into 4"x12" rectangles so the individual triangles would be skinnier and I skipped the letters. I stuck them to some sisal rope instead of ribbon because I like the texture it gives, but otherwise I did it just like she did.

There you have it. Day 1 of my 25 Things plan accomplished.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Booyah.

Pregnancy Scrapbook

I've been trying to post more consistently lately, but today when I went to write something I just didn't want to. All I wanted to do was think about how I'm going to scrap book my pregnancy (and Little Miss when she comes along).

During my all afternoon shopping extravaganza last weekend I spent a good hour in the scrap booking aisles of Hobby Lobby looking through materials and trying to decide what to buy. I'm a novice scrap booker although I did have what some would call a scrap wall in high school. (I'll try to find a picture of that to post at some point). I'm really good at the collecting things from memorable events part, not so good at the organizing them beyond throwing them in shoebox part. I've decided I'm going to do something about that so I can better document her impending childhood.

I had no idea there was so much stuff involved in scrap booking. I looked a ton of it and decided on just a few items that I think fit with my style.

Since I have nothing but the scrapbooking paper left over from our wedding placemats, (Which reminds me I need to post about our wedding. I didn't start my blog until after the wedding but it was Country Living fabulous and I have a ton of pictures to share) I went with a page kit. I'm sure that's sacrilage to a real scrapbooker, but I figured it was a good way to get a bunch of stuff all together and not have to find all the individual bits. It also comes with ideas on how to put them together which I like. I've never done this before so I need a little more inspiration than I do with some other creative projects.  I got this one since it was 40% off.

I used a very similar pattern on one of the walls in the original Dream Dollhouse I built for my nieces. I must like it. It has brightly mis-colored animals (see the realization from this weekend) so that's not exactly surprising.

There was another baby girl one I liked too, and some sticker sets I thought were cute but they weren't on sale and I just refuse to pay full price for anything at HB. I'll go back with a 40% off coupon for it one of these days.

Between the two page kits, the Dream Dollhouse wallpaper leftovers, and the wedding placemat paper I think I'll have enough to create a sufficiently adorable yet not quite obnoxiously baby girl themed scrapbook.

I picked out this bright, Barbie pink cloth album after about 20 minutes of debating between it and the same one in aqua. There was another one in pink with white polka dots, but I wasn't super keen on the vinyl cover.

I'm going to write her name on it with these awesome pea green letters with white polka dots. I loved them the moment I saw them.

I'm also thinking I'll add a couple of other elements like the three dimensional lion sticker from the kit and something else to spice it up.  Since I'm not a hardcore scrapbooker I'm thinking this will be a pregnancy/baby book not two separate ones so her name makes more sense than "Pregnancy" or some other title.

All of this is, of course, is at home along with all the bits I would scrap rather than in my office where I am on my lunch break. No scrapbooking for me. Just fantasizing about scrapbooking.


I searched the internet for inspiration instead. I found advice on creating a pregnancy scrapbook. Hint: I'm already WAY behind. Not a single picture to my knowledge of me from the last several months. Ooops. But seriously, how many pictures of me expanding does the world really need?

I also found some lovely page ideas. I'm sure I'll spice it up Amber style, but I like a little creative inspiration. 

How to Make Throw Pillows from Target Placemats

I made that. From a placemat. I'm VERY proud of myself.

While I was out shopping Saturday afternoon I found these placemats. I've been looking at them for months, maybe even a year or so. I don't really need placemats, but I really like the stitching pattern.

At $1.18 on clearance I just couldn't pass them up.

I used on old pillow as the stuffing. The pillow was about twice the size of the placemats so I cut it in half.

I measured it and marked the center line.

Yep, that's a bump shot. I swear it grew substantially this weekend.

Then I cut the pillow in half.

and pinned the open edges together.
 

I just did a straight seam since I don't have a serger and it's going on the inside of the pillow so it really doesn't matter if the edges were to fray. Austin got an action sewing shot for me.

Then I ripped one of the side seams in both placemats most of the way

and jammed the pillow forms I made into them. Then I pinned them back together and sewed another straight seam along the edge. TIP: if you add a couple extra pins to hold the fabric flat and the stuffing away from the seam it's a heck of a lot easier to sew this seam straight.

That's it. Done. I made both in about a half an hour including dragging out my sewing machine. I'm not sure where they will eventually end up, but I bet at least one will find a home in the nursery.