Crafty Project - Homemade Crib Skirt #babyburf Nursery

The nursery is almost done.  Which I consider a accomplishment since it's been drawn on for the last 4 or so months.  We just need to get him a hamper and pick up the dresser Kathleen is giving us.  Final photos coming soon.  But in the meantime here's a little share of the crib skirt I sewed from $5 worth of clearance houndstooth fabric from hobby lobby's. 

I made it simply by sewing four rectangle panels.  Adding ribbon to attach it and then tying it onto the crib.  The rectangles are 50x7 and 25x7 and I merely sewed the hems to make them washable.  I didn't even bother with ironing and making sure they are perfect retangles since you can't tell when it's in the crib.  A simple project with nice results.  Kathleen thinks it's a little busy since the crib sheets aren't solid but I think it's fine.  I don't mind having an extra pop of pattern.  And with that as well my #26 4 crafty projects are done.  And no doubt I'll make another 4 before the end of the year as well.  

Shower Decor For Lo

Well I couldn't go to Lo's shower in Ohio this weekend but I did take some time and make some decor for her mom.  Both were Pinterest projects or my adaptation of them.  

This first one was super simple it's basically card stock mounted on card stock linked with brads and tied up with lace (blue lace that once belonged to my grandma).  It's hanging from our wedding cutout just for lack of a better place to photograph it.  

This second one was a little more challenging I wanted Los mom aka "Momlo" to be able to change things out if she wanted so I made the quote interchangeable and everything can be swapped out and reused easily too.  The frame was a scratched one at Hobby Lobby for like 75% off.  The quote is something that reminds me of my brother and they went to red rock last year to see the Avett Brothers.  This actually has an easel too but works leaned up against a wall too.  Paper, ribbon and dolly all from my stash photo from they engagement pics.

And as a bonus I am considering this one of the crafts for the 2014 List so boom 2/4 donezo!

Quilt with Vintage Sheets and Modern Prints

I started this quilt over a year ago for a fall baby regardless to say it its a bit small for an almost 1 year old baby.  So I might save it for the next baby girl sadly everyone is having boys now.  Ugh.  It uses vintage sheets from the IMQG swap from two summers ago, plus a few prints I got at Crimson Tate and some scrap solids I had on hand.  I realized in doing this quilt that I really struggle with wanting to use prints with many colors, it was like I was forcing myself.  But I do like the blend of old and new.

Sorry for all the wrinkles it was in moms car and then in a box and then I took it out to snap these photos.

Round Robin Again

I spent like two weeks looking at this one.    The color pallet to me was just too much.  Too much muted tones.  Too much orange.   Too much variety.  Just too much.  Then when I finally decided to start it I have also NO fabric in these colors literally I found a 5x8 swatch of the orange and that grey blue hullabaloo.  Then I remembered this scrapbox I have from when I made people over mitts several years back.  And wouldn't you know someone's kitchen was like pale mint, cream and someone's else's browns and tans - BOOM!  

I thought seriously about starting a second center block but I it would have been much smaller than the original. So instead I scraped this together and surprisingly I don't hate it - the last border after the chocolate is my addition.  I like actually like it better with my addition.  I didn't have enough cream and none of that orangey red or I would have added a border of that too.  

Project Life - Week 21

This fell together super easy.  Most of the photos are from the weekend but really the week week part was super boring.  I printed out journalling about the week in review and title on cardstock.  I added in some ribbon and some bling and boom we had a week done.

Lets Get Married - Homemade Burlap Roses

 I am not entirely sure why I thought making flowers for our wedding would be easy or would be a good idea.  But I did it anyway - I ended up having to make almost 50 of these burlap roses and they took way too long.   I love how they turned out anyway, and even though  they were used for like 1 hour each day it probably wasn't my best decision, but they were pretty and they will last forever so everyone can save them.  Oh and did I mention they use about $6 worth of burlap, $6 worth of ribbon and $6 for the cones, leaves and baby's breath $6 so for $24 I had all the wedding flowers.  So they saved us money.  
The flowers are made by cutting petals, coating them in glue, and rolling and forming them into roses one by one,  They are sewn together so they would hold, and I inserted a floral wires that is the stem and I already had the wire in my craft stash.  Some 48 flowers later I had enough flowers.  I finished them off by arranging them in a floral cone added ribbon and a few leaves.  The boutineers were very simple one rose a leaf, and a little baby's breath - they were pinned on with a straight pin very simple.  (Just a few more wedding posts.)

Let's Get Married - Wedding Programs

I created the programs for our  wedding as well. I created covers using green office paper that I had from a prior project, Washi Tape, Wrapping Paper Scraps and our wedding stamp we used on the invite.  I designed the content in Visio taking language found on the net and changing it to fit us.  I printed the insides on 8.5x11 paper 2 per sheet, trimmed it up stitched covers on and then viola! - I had wedding programs.  These were relatively simple in design to put together but in reality they took far too much time, especially trimming the pages next time I make programs I will make the covers from larger sized paper to avoid the excess trimming.   
They weren't perfect - and I wished I had actually made about 50 or so less of these we had 185 RSVPed guests and I made 148 programs well 100 would have been more than enough - and I was worried we would run out - I told our greeters to be stingy because we didn't have enough - HA!   Lessons learned either way I like how they turned out and that they matched other wedding items, and were relatively inexpensive with probably $10 in copier paper and $6 in washi tape, and another $4 in adhesive.    

Let's Get Married - Handmade Wedding Invitations

So I wanted to make all my invitations by hand (yup I’m crafty like that).  I pulled up some ideas from pinterest that I liked.  

From Here.

 (From Here)

I decided I liked the idea of pockets the best.  And the idea I could sew the pocket would a) be relatively easy b) save money c) be created from fabric in my stash – so I went around that.

My brother Jay helped me design the wording.  We downloaded free fonts and laid it out in Visio.  Deciding on the wording may have been the biggest challenge.  I’m anything but traditional and formal so that was immediately scrapped.   I also wanted to inject some of our own personalities into it.  As we were reading samples I remembered something someone said when we got engaged it will be a union of “bossy fresh and sweet action”.  We decided to roll with this and the rest of the wording was history. 

With all the different pieces laid out to print several at a time to save paper and jamming of the printer, they were printed on white cardstock.  I rounded up all supplies Kelly Green and Fuchsia from my stash in the studio, and we took everything to Archiver’s to use their tools and move along faster.   Everything came together so fast with many helpers and before I knew it we had cut and punched all the individual pieces for 130 cards.

I had an assistant sewist who knocked out a big chunk of the sewing for me almost immediately after I dropped them off (thanks Rachael).  With some embellishing and pocket stuffing they were finished off.  Then Kathleen came and helped me address them all and figure out what to do with all the Indiana’s – originally I was going to stamp them but the stamp was slightly big, then I was going to put photos on them but the photos were blurry.  Finally I just decided to do our initials.   With that they were sealed up and mailed.  Oh and I should mention that I spent about $20 on paper & ribbon and adhesive, the heart stamp was $5, and the custom one $25(which we’ll be using later too.)   So roughly $50  out of pocket for invitations – I didn’t even need to purchase envelopes as perhaps you remember that one time I scored a mother load at a thrift store (granted the average bride probably doesn’t have a warehouse of cardstock, paper, and glue).  I think that’s pretty reasonable for custom invites with some personality – which I love.  And here’s the final products coming to a mailbox near you soon.

Big HUGE THANK YOUS to:

• Rachael and Jill for sewing pockets
• Monica, JJ, Lita, Mom for cutting and stamping endlessly
• Amy for mounting invites to cardstock
• And to my maid of honor Kathleen who tirelessly helped me stuff and address envelopes until almost 2 in the morning. 

You all are AWESOME!  I cannot thank you enough for all your effort!
 

Get Crafty - #5 Pillows

Oh look I've been craftier project #5 complete.  I bought this fabric for pillows oh back in April on a trip to IKEA with Tisha. It was cheap and durable and the stripes were what just what I wanted. Well I finally got around to finishing those pillows. These are bring basic I just cut squares sewed almost all the way around them leaving a 3 inch hole,  reversed the fabric and I filled them with recycled stuffing from my old sofa pillows. Then blanket stitched them closed. I love the stripes and I love the bunch of color it adds to the living room.    Oh and that aqua stripe matches my blue velvet sofa perfectly.  If you look closely you can also see my end table there too yes that's right it's an old dough tin - I purchased two of them for like $20 back in January and I love them as end tables + storage (that was #17 on da list).  

Get Crafty #4 - T-Rex Planter

When I saw this planter Mandy made. I knew I needed to make one. So I did and I love it.  I even gave him a little tie to jazz him up.  It seems a little small for the cactus but I backed in some extra dirt.  And ta da I have my 4th (sad day) craft project complete for 2012.  If you want instructions on how to make your own check out Mandy's Blog Something Monumental here.

PS.  Rooster now has the coolest cactus ever decorating his room - I'm sure his roommates are jealous.

Tuesday Tutorial - Spoon Getter - Crafty #2

I have been crafty recently I promise I just NEVER finish anything well the other night I finished a few kitchen projects.  Including my second crafty project for the year which I like to call the "Spoon Getter".  Inspired by this photo from Pinterest from Toodeloo's Kitchen, when I saw it I knew I needed something similar for my kitchen because I hate having things on the counters.  So I set off to find tins to match my kitchen. 

Sorry these step-by-steps are not really that helpful this was completely trial and error for me I hadn't a clue how to do it. 

1. Gather supplies.  I found three with good prospects all various sizes and the right color pallet for less than $8 total at thrift stores and the flea market.  Thanks to Brittney and Dustin for helping me locate them.  In addition to the tins you also need various sized screws, nuts to fit, drywall screws, scrap wood, and pocket brackets.  I also used a good old DeWalt drill and a Stanley wrench. 

2. Wash the tins really well. 

3. Determine the order and placement of your tins.  I did mine kind of staggered because they are different sizes and I thought it added character.

4. Mark your tin's placement on the side. 

5. Drill holes in middle tin first then line them back up and mark the outer ones. 

6. Insert the flat machine screws into the holes to join the side tins to the center and affix a nut to each of the ends to hold it together, tighter with a wrench.

7. Cut scrap wood to size. I had some thin pine that was used to hang peg board in the garage so it was not to thick and easy to cut with the Rockwell tool however if you don't have a Rockwell you could use a handsaw just as easy - my friend thought the rockwell was overkill. 

8.Mark where the wood goes it needs to be at the top and even a second piece could have made it hang flush to the wall however I like mine tilted so it's easier to grab the spoons.  

9.  Attach the pocket brackets to the back of the wood.  They cost about $1.50 at Lowes and they allow you to put screws in the wall and then slide in the spoon getter otherwise I don't know how to describe them.

10. Put screws in the wall that measure EXACTLY from the center of each of the pocket brackets you just screwed on the wood.  Trust me when I say even the slightest off-ness will mess this up - this girl added about 8 holes to the wall on this. Leave them out about 1/4 of an inch to slide on the pocket bracket. 

11. Pre-drill holes in the tins to affix the wood with the brackets to the spoon getter.  Screw in the screws and then put a nut on the end so it's not poking you when you get a spoon.  

12.  Slide the spoon getter pocket brackets onto the exact right screws on the wall.  

13.  Add Spoons and boom Spoon Getter!

Project total less than $10 for all the tins and screws.  Thanks Pinterest and Toodeloo for inspiring this project.  I love it.  I can't wait to make more things and get my spoons from the spoon getter.