Growth Chart

I had Caitlin and her family for Christmas a few weeks ago. I made them a Growth Chart as their family gift. 

I found several tutorials via pinterest. Then I did what I usually do. Look at the picture and made up my own way to do it. :)

First thing I did was go to Home Depot and found pre-sanded wood. Conveniently they are sold by the foot. I decided that since Nick's family is tall, they needed a tall one. I bought a board that was 6'1". And then when it was hung 6 inches from the floor and it would be 6'7" total. Perfect!

I was going to paint the board, but Nick is a wood purist and painted wood offends him. :) So I stained  it with Minwax PolyShades in American Chestnut Satin. I've never really stained anything before, so I thought this would be a good practice project. 

Who knew that gloves would have been a good idea...or that water doesn't wash stain off things...like a porcelain sink and that my hands would turn super sticky when I tried to wash the paintbrush with water (thus the stain in the sink). Probably everyone. But in my defense...nowhere on the can did it say that it was oil based stain, or that gloves would have been a good idea. 

Thankfully Nick is an expert in staining, so when I realized the problem, I called him and he suggested nail polish remover. Thankfully I had some and dumped it everywhere. It worked pretty well. Eventually my hands returned to their normal color and non-stickiness. :)

So I started with a pretty piece of poplar and began staining.

I did two layers of stain. For the tick marks and numbers, I cut them out with my cameo out of white textured cardstock. The numbers are inked in silver ink to give them a bit more character. They are then modpodged on and then sealed with another layer of mod podge. Vinyl is a perfectly acceptable option, and one I considered (would have been faster and eaiser), but I was afraid of little fingers picking and peeling off the vinyl . So paper and glue it is!

All done! 

Here it is hanging up in their house, tucked in nicely behind the front door. And complete with measurements of the kids. :) On Rachel's 2nd Birthday, she measured 2'11"--she really tall!  

Thanks for reading!

Bedroom Makeover: My Crafty Corner

One of my favorite parts of moving to the master bedroom has been that I have more space for a crafty corner. YAY!

I decided that I was going to take the opportunity to go through my stuff, purge, and organize everything. Most of it is scrapbook supplies and those really needed to be wrangled in. I had a couple of large boxes I picked up at IKEA that I really liked and so I decided to get more so everything matched.

I spent a whole afternoon one Saturday organizing and filling the boxes. It is so nice to have a specific place to put everything. Hopefully this will help me keep my desk a little more clutter free. Um, maybe. :) (update: Yes it has! It's AH-MAZING!)

I decided to use one of my bookcases to store the boxes and my scrapbook paper. Remember my epic fail with them? Yeah. So fabric for this bookcase too. Pretty! I just wish I could see more of it! 

Everything looks so tidy boxed up!

Right now I have 10 boxes: 2 Embellishment boxes, and then 1 for each of the following: Alphabets, Tools, Hardware, Adhesives, Stamps, Powders and Glitter, Sewing, and Inks & Sprays. They fit perfectly on the bookcase. 

Each box is pretty organized. For my glitter glue, I glued together some plumbing round things (that's the technical term) and they hold the glitter glue upside down. 

For my inks, I decided to put the blending pads velcroed to the lid of the box. It makes it easier to find the right color. All my inks and sprays fit nicely in the box. Yay!

Then I took on the task of organizing my paper. I actually don't have that much paper, but there's still enough that it took awhile. My paper was already fairly organized, but I didn't like the system since I just wasn't using the paper as much as I should. It was just easier to buy new paper. Which, as fun as that is, just is me spending more money. I needed to really go through my paper and donate what I don't want, or won't use, and start over again.

I really wanted these fancy paper holders, but at $8 for one, it was out of my budget. Then, I read on a scrapbook forum (I'm such a nerd), someone had used the free priority mail boxes from the post office to make their own. GENIUS!

So I ordered some boxes (it came in a package of 10--and hello free shipping!) that were the size I was looking for and then cut them into the shape I wanted. After lots of white spray paint to cover up the priority mail markings, I attached some fun label pulls that I had spray painted silver. I wanted them to match the white boxes so I picked up some adhesive silver foil and put it along the edges. This also helped the paper not to catch as much. So for about $20 (spray paint, label pulls, and foil) I made 8 magazine holders--vs. $64. I win. I could have made 10, but right now I only need 8.

Pretty awesome, right?!

The answer is yes. :)

So I organized my paper and it is lovely now. The scraps are in the ziplock bags that I used for the paper before and go in the box with the rest of that color.

I needed more light in the corner, so I hung up my paper lantern with a light in it. It made a big difference. I wanted to spice up the lantern a bit and found a pretty inspiration picture on pinterest and started cutting away on my cameo.

I really like how it turned out.

I finally was able to put up this pretty organizer that I bought on clearance at Michaels months ago...way before I knew I was moving. Normally it's over a $100, but it was on sale for $20. I knew that someday, somewhere, I would find a place for it, so I snagged it and it's been sitting in my garage ever since. I love having it up and excited fill it with pretty things. :)

I was able to squeeze my ribbon holder in the corner. It was exactly the right size. Above it I put my bulletin board. Eventually I do want a new, bigger table. But that will happen in time.

So that's my crafty corner. I now feel like I have a studio area in my bedroom, instead of a bed in my studio. haha. It's nice to feel like I can breath in my room. :)

Bedroom Makeover: The Duvet

Alrighty folks, this is the big one.

After much debate, fears, tears, and mental swearing, I have a new duvet! YAY!!!!

Why can't I just dream small for once? Oh, no! It's impossible. Once I get a mental picture of what I want, I have to go for it. And it always is way more complicated that it really needs to be. I think it's a disease. (Exhibit A: New Christmas Stockings)

But go big, or go home, right? RIGHT?! Please someone agree with me...

So I went big. Lit-trally. (hehehe)

My duvet is King size. Yup. I have a Queen size bed. But I really wanted the blanket to go down the sides of my bed. Especially with all the ruffles. It looks so pretty on the sides. :)

Originally I was going to do a pretty, light turquoise/Tiffany blue color for the duvet with white sheets. But that turned out very difficult to do unless I wanted to pay major bucks. Turns out that its really, really hard to find 6, yes SIX, king size flat sheets in that right blue color. Even online. boo. I did find some at one store, but it was $40--just for ONE flat sheet. Yikes!

I considered getting white sheets and then dyeing them the color I wanted. But then I got really worried I wouldn't like color and would have wasted everything and that the project was going to fall apart. [taking deep breaths]

So, hello compromise. (You'll be so proud Mom--I am flexible in my grand plans!) I decided to make a white ruffle duvet and use pretty blue sheets. I found soft, nice sheets at Target. Turns out white is MUCH easier to find. Imagine that.

Several paychecks later, I had enough sheets. :)

And then came the sweat, fears, tears, and mental swearing.

I used this fabulous tutorial to help guide in my adventure. I started measuring, cutting, sewing, ruffling, pinning and sewing.

Thankfully Caitlin volunteered to help and was willing to iron. I think she just wanted to make Nick watch the kids all day. :)  WHY IS THERE ALWAYS SOO MUCH IRONING IN SEWING?!

Ahem.

Caitlin had been convinced that we could bust out a fully ruffled KING size duvet in one day. Ha! Even I knew that would have been impossible. It took hours and hours and hours and many episodes of Ugly Betty to get only part of the strips ironed.

But I slowly worked on it. Then I got really worried...what if I actually finished it....and then I hated it. All that work for nothing!  Caitlin's nonchalant words of comfort: "Well, you could probably sell it if you don't like it." Oh, okay. Gee. Thanks.

Good thing that didn't happen. I do love it. Like really love it.

So...let's take a moment to talk about how much fabric was involved here. Remember SIX King-sized sheets? So the base the ruffles are sewed to and the actual bottom of the cover are 92" wide and 104" long--which is slightly cut down from the sheet size.

For each ruffle strip, I cut 4 sheets up into 52--7" strips which were 104" each. Then I took two strips and sewed them together to make one horrendously long finished strip (208" long)--of which there are 27 on the duvet. Yeah, doing the math, my duvet has 156 YARDS of ruffles. That's a lot of ruffles. 

Each side has a 1/4" double turned hem, leaving the finished strip 6" wide. Then one of the long sides was ruffled. I tried to use the finished edges as much as possible to save me some sewing.

Each ruffle was sewed 10 cm apart so there would be about a 2" overlap of each ruffle, making the ruffles fuller. I took the time to draw lines every 10 cm on the base sheet. This saved a lot of time and frustration later when I had to pin and sew the ruffles on.

Doesn't the ruffle foot look terrifying? It sounds scary too! I kept thinking that something was going to break because of all the loud metal clicking, but nothing did. The foot worked like a charm. Best investment. And I love that I found it on Amazon for $10 with free shipping! Sure beats the $45-60 I saw everywhere else!

Sewing the ruffles on was hard and I very quickly discovered it was much faster and easier to sew with the ruffle than against it.

I actually had fun sewing--in between all the broken needles, broken threads, and bobbins that wouldn't wind. I should have bought a sewing machine years ago. Apparently that was all that was necessary for me to get over my inability to sew. :)

Here's a peek at the back of the top. I loved the way the zig zag strips look on the back.

After a couple of months, I finally finished. It is sooo hard to find time to cut, iron, sew and sew and sew between working full time and going to school full time. The only reason it got done so quickly was because it's getting cold and I need a blanket. hahaha. We won't talk about what should have but didn't get done while I sewing. :)


The comforter had corner loops to tie to a duvet, so I sewed in some ties, which were just 1/4"   white bias tape, cut in 8" strips, folded in half. I also sewed some 4 additional loops and ties along the top to help keep the comforter in place. 

I have yet to sew in a closure at the bottom. I think I'm going to eventually put in velcro.

So here it is, all done!

I really do love how it turned out and the thin comforter I put in it is the perfect thickness. The duvet is freakishly heavy when carrying it around, but when it's on my bed it feels quite thin. It's perfect.

Future plans: Eventually I will have blue sheets and a blue bed skirt under the duvet. And I have plans for a cool tufted headboard. Thank you internet for all the inspiration!

Bedroom Makeover: A New Lamp

I decided a while back that my little 10" lamp on my nightstand just isn't cutting it anymore. I like to read in bed and need a taller lamp. So I've been looking. And I've found lamps that I like, but I wanted something tall, glass, and different looking. That's hard to find in price I could afford. Then I on pinterest (shock!) I saw a DIY lamp tutorial.

WHAT?! YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN LAMP?!

The tutorial made it seem so easy. (And it was.) I could totally do that. (And I did.)

So I went to a couple of thrift stores and then ended up finding just about everything at DI. Yay! I did have to go to Lowes to get a harp (the loopy thing that holds the shade--not a musical instrument) and a cap to hold the shade in place.

Here's what I started with:

Glass candle holder with a cool crackle effect on the bottom: $3
Old Lamp base to be cannibalized: $3 (major plus that I realized when I got home--it's actually a three way lamp--something that I forgot to check for at the store.)
Lamp Shade: $1
Harp: $4.25
Knob for the top: Clearanced to $0.80. Normally $3.98.

Lamp cost: $13. Yay!!

Close up of the glass. I wish the awesome crackle look went all the way to the top, but I can't complain too much since it's the shape and height I was looking for. And it was $3.

Because the original lamp's wiring came out through the bottom of the bulb holder thingy (techincal term), and I couldn't and didn't want to have my wiring come out the bottom of the glass, I had to "drill" a hole in the side of the plastic covering for the switch & bulb.

I don't have a drill. This lead to a clever and probably dangerous solution. I took a screwdriver and heated it up with an open flame and sort of melted and screwed a hole into the plastic. I wouldn't recommend this way. My hands cramped up and it took a long time to get it done. But it worked and the wiring went through.

 As far as wiring the actual lamp. I made it a little harder than it needed to be because I didn't label which wire went to which tab. I didn't realize till later that it matters. Turns out it does in a big way. So after watching multiple videos on youtube, I figured it out. I'd recommend doing research and watching videos before you get started.

Next, was to figure out how to mount the bulb/switch to the candle holder. I tried several variations, including the picture below--which was too wobbly.

After some trial and error, I ended up using the metal discs that were decoration in the old lamp as the base for the new one. They were almost exactly the diameter of the top of the candle holder. YES! Using the washers and screw/rod thingy, I tightened everything together and hot glued the metal disc to the candle holder. So far it's holding up. And the nice thing about hot glue is that with a bit of effort, I can take off the lamp fixture to put some pretty filler in the candle holder.

If the hot glue ends up not holding, I can always use e6000 glue.

I added the harp, shade and top knob and voila! I have a lamp!

I wanted to do something fun with the lamp shade. I like the color and, considering it's a thrift store find, it's actually in excellent condition. But it was needing something else.

I thought about drawing/painting french script document images. Those look so cool--but it doesn't exactly go with the coastal, peaceful vibe I'm going for. And then I thought that I should do something that means something to me. I saw an image of a custom lampshade that had song lyrics, and that inspired me to draw sheet music for one of my favorite hymns on it, but when I started tracing it with pencil, I didn't love it.

I saw a picture of a ruffled lamp shade that was cute, but I was worried that it would be too much because my bedspread is a lot of ruffles. But I couldn't think of anything else and then when looking at my fabric, I realized that the muslin I bought was the same color as the lamp shade, so I went for it. And this would be good practice for ruffling since I made this before the duvet.

I took measurements of the top and bottom of the lamp shade and then doubled it because of the ruffle. I cut several 5" strips of muslin and then sewed the stips together as need be. The top needed two 20" strips and the bottom needed three 20" strips, plus a little extra. Then I began ironing and sewing. I sewed the stips so they were folded like bias tape (a folded hem and then folded in half). I sewed the stips along the hems and then along the center fold so both sides were sewed.

Then I ran a basting stich (Mom! I know what a basting stitch is! ha!) down the middle of the strips. I began gathering. It was rather frustrating because I kept breaking the threads and having to sew new ones and tie them off and so on. But eventually I ended up with a decent looking ruffle.

All I did to attach them was hot glue them to the edges of the lamp shade.

I really like it. It turned out much better than I thought it would! And the last picture is a sneak peak at my nightstand makeover. :)

Perfect.

I've been using the lamp for several months and I LOVE it.

Next up: Ruffles!!

Bedroom Makeover: The Nightstand

I decided to experiment on my nightstand and repaint it. I liked the dark brown/black look, but it didn't really go with my new room decor. So a makeover it is!

My experiment was successful and I love it. Which is nice, because I was coming off a fail (the tall bookcases) and a little frustrated. 

I don't have a sander anymore (boo hoo!) so I was going to borrow my brother-in-law's to sand down the stain (paint?) on the nightstand. Then I remembered about Chalk Paint. I've never used it before. It sounds intriguing and totally awesome.

(This is the experimenting part.)

I've been curious if it really would be as awesome as I've heard. And I've seen tutorials on pinterest advertising "Make Your Own Chalk Paint!" Well considering that a tiny jar at a craft store is almost $20, I was all about making my own.

And I did. And it was fantastic!

I did a lot of research online for recipes and reviews. Since I already had baking soda (vs. plaster of paris or unsanded grout), I settled to try that one.

I picked up my two colors of paint (Vintage by Valspar and Gem Turquoise by Behr). I'm a fan of the Behr Premium Plus (primer & paint in one!) so I picked up the sample size at Home Depot and they matched the two colors.

I wasn't too sure what I was doing as far as making the actual "Chalk Paint" so I wanted to make a small batch first of the cream paint. Its a good thing I did because didn't need as much paint as I thought I would.

So I mixed up a 1/2 cup of paint and 4 tablespoons of Baking Soda (mixed one tablespoon at a time). Some recipes suggested adding water, but I liked the thickness of the paint since I was covering up a dark color with a light color. I only had 1" sponge brushes handy so I used that, although a smaller brush would have been nicer for the small spots.

Then I started painting with no prep of the nightstand (other than cleaning it). I did two coats. I was a little surprised at how obvious the paint strokes were (maybe I shouldn't have been?) but after two coats it wasn't quite as obvious. The paint covered well and was nice and thick. It dried quickly too, which was really nice. I was able to get the nightstand completed in just a few hours!

After it dried, it was gritty (as expected) and so I did a light sanding and it smoothed out beautifully. I pressed a little hard on the edges and accidentally distressed it, but I liked the dark color peaking through so I rolled with it and did a light distressing along the edges.

I had made my own stencil with my cameo for the backs of my bookcases (hello frustrating project fail!) and so I decided to use it on the nightstand--just so it wouldn't go to waste. 

I made a little chalk paint for the blue (1/4 cup paint and 2 tablespoons of baking soda). That was way too much paint, but oh well. I then began painting with the stencil. I was too excited and forgot pictures of this part. :) The stencil worked pretty well. There was some leakage underneath, but I just painted the cream over the top to cover it up.

Once the paint was dry, I distressed the top to give it some character. For the finish, I waxed it with some paste wax I had left over from a different project.  I let it sit overnight in my garage to help the smell from the wax dissipate before I put it in my room. I finished it off with a fun knob I've had for a couple of years in the drawer and declared the work done.

I love it in my room. I love the pretty blue and it looks awesome with my glass lamp I made--coming soon!

I was actually pretty nervous since I've never made or used chalk paint before. And since I had a rough time with the stencil before, I was worried it wouldn't look very good here. Glad I was brave and did it anyway.

Best part? The whole thing only cost me $6.00 for the paint. And I have lots of paint left over. (hmmm...what to do with it?!) I think Chalk Paint (baking soda paint?) might be my new best friend!

Winning!

Bedroom Makeover: Bookcase Fail--with a Happy Ending

I had a frustrating failure in my journey to make over my bedroom. I had grand plans for the bookcases in my room. I wanted to incorporate the pretty beachy blue/turquoise color I had decided on and stencil the backs for a fun pop of color.

Problem: Two of the bookcases are already built.

Problem: I'm really lazy and didn't want to take them apart.

Problem: What if I did take them apart, paint them, put them together, and then hated them...or decided in the future to change them?

So I came upon what I thought was a good idea. I had yards of white butcher paper I had bought for a different project, but ended up not using.

What if I made my own fake wallpaper?

Brilliant, right? Cut the paper to right size and then paint and attach. Bam. Done. Easy.

Yeah, no.

I cut the butch paper in the right size (I actually cut it a little big so that I had room to work with and didn't end up with something too small).

I cut the stencil out--which took FOR-EV-VER! Five pieces of 12x12" chipboard that had to be cut 4 times each to go all the way through. But it worked, was glued together, and looked lovely. Exactly what I wanted.

I thought I wanted the lines of the design to be blue so I realized that in order to do that, I needed to have blue paper. That meant spray painting the paper blue. Okay. No prob. Several hours and two blue feet later, I had pretty blue paper. So far so good.

Then I laid the stencil down and began spray painting the paper white again. (Ridiculous right?!) I began moving the stencil down the first strip of paper and I noticed that the spray paint was leaking underneath the stencil. Well, duh! The stencil wasn't laying perfectly flush and there were gaps. Should have thought that through better. I had been afraid to use a spray adhesive since all I have is permanent adhesive.

I finished the one strip, holding out hope that it would look okay when all was said and done.

Yeah, no. I didn't like it. Too much white. And totally uneven.

So on to strip two. Well now I wanted white strips and the paper was blue. Ugh. Not wanting to waste the $2 paper, I had the brilliant idea to draw the pattern on the paper and paint it in with white paint. By the way, the book cases are over six feet tall.

So I drew the lines in from the stencil. That took much longer than $2 paper is worth, by the way. Then I began painting. Fortunately (?) it didn't take long for me to realize that I didn't like this either.

This was not working out well.

All I wanted was a fun background for my bookcases! Waaaaaaahhhhh!

So I started over again. This time with plain white paper, cut to size and then painstakingly painted in the stencil blue (like a normal person--instead of trying to find an easy way).

This didn't work either. Fail.

Fast foward several months because I was really frustrated...and poor.

I found fabric that was exactly what I was looking for, on sale and with a coupon, to use as the background. Much, much easier--and it looks better too! I LOVE it!

All I did was cut the fabric slightly larger than the background and fold the edges over and use a staple gun to attach it to the back board. Easy, peasy...but for real this time.

Eventually there will be another bookcase to the left of this one, and then around the corner to the right, facing the bed. The rose painting will be moved to be above the short bookcase, next to my TV.

Yay! So all is well that ends well. Right?

Bedroom Makeover: Master Bathroom

One of the perks to having the master bedroom is having my own bathroom! Yay!

I didn't really do too much, especially since the walls were already painted a awesome blue color and the white shelves were already in place.

I had some white netted curtains (ikea) that I thought I was going to use to over the sliding glass door, but ended up not using. And since I had an extra shower curtain rod, I decided to hang those up over the shower doors. The curtains were really long so I put the rod right at the ceiling. I love the way it looks!

I also wanted some glass jars to hold my cotton balls and q-tips, but I was running low on funds so I found some candle jars that were left behind when my roommates moved out and emptied out the wax. They smelled nasty.

Once they were clean, I used them, but thought they were kind of boring. I wanted to bring some color to the counter so I looked up ways to paint glass. In my hunt, I came across a Martha Stewart paint that is for glass, but is frosted so it looks like sea glass. Perfect!

I picked some up and, after reading directions online, began painting. I really like how they turned out. The only thing I would change was that I put on two layers because I wasn't sure what it would look like when they were done baking. I should have just done one layer. But not a big deal.

Then I found a scrap of cream ribbon that was exactly the right length to split between the two jars, cut a cardboard circle, covered it in teal glitter, and hot glued some starfish I had laying around from a different project.

My bamboo plant was in the kitchen, but was in the way so I moved it to the bathroom. I love it in there. The mirror makes the plant feel a lot bigger than it really is, and it's pretty big.

I really love how my bathroom turned out.

Bedroom Makeover: The Trunk

I've had this awesome trunk since my freshman year of college. My mom bought it for me as a "Yay! Megan's-moving-out-of-my-house-gift." Okay. Everything I had when I moved away to college was pretty much that type of gift. It was pretty obvious she was a little excited for me to move out and go out of state to college.

Anyway. So I've had this trunk for, um, a long time. And unfortunately it's had to live in my garage for the last couple of years. I love it. I thought it would be perfect to sit at the end of my bed, put a little cushion on it and instant seat! Unfortunately, the colors don't match my room.

I considered painting it cream and then painting the hardware silver. Yay for spray paint!

But then I realized how many cans of cream paint it would take to cover up the black faux leather (vinyl?).

So I decided to make a little slip cover so the trunk is still accessible and I can continue to use it as extra storage.

Let's recall that my sewing skills are very, uh, non-existent. So this little project was going to be a stretch. A simple box shaped slipcover and a cushion. Well, bring it on!

I picked up some beautiful turquoise damask pattern fabric for the cushion and a solid dark turquoise ($3 for 3.75 yards!) as the slipcover.

I don't really know what I'm doing so I won't make a tutorial.

For the slipcover, I measured the trunk, added an inch for a 1/2 inch on each side and then somehow the measurements actually worked out--with a finished seam at the bottom.

It fits perfectly! I really not sure how that happened, but I'll take it. :) Just don't look to close to the corners. I had a bit of a tough time figuring out how to sew them. But it worked out. And the seam matches up on all the sides. It's a miracle! :)

For the cushion, I picked up some foam from Home Depot (MUCH cheaper than a craft store) and then some batting to wrap the foam. I ultimately decided to make the cushion double sided instead of using a wood base. I wasn't sure how to make the batting stay in place without lots of hand sewing and so I grabbed some muslin and created a cover. (A feat unto it's self...it's hard to sew tightly against 3" foam).

Then I started sewing the slipcover, complete with cream piping. And surprisingly it worked! I'm not sure why me sewing is working, it never has in the past, but hey, I'll take it. haha. I hand sewed in snaps to close the side. 

I really love this damask fabric and was excited to be able to use it in my room. :)

Coming soon...bookcases, an epic fail, and bedding!