Project for the Day: A Special gift for a 30th b-day party

As I mentioned in my last post, we had a surprise 30th b-day party portion of the Friend's Thanksgiving, for which I created a "30" pinata. Well, one of the benefits of having a birthday is to receive presents.

So, here's what I made for my hubby.

My husband is a writer. He is currently attempting to finish his first novel (at least the first draft), by his 30th birthday, so he will shortly be needing fresh ideas to start his next big project. Hence the creation of an idea book

So, I asked several friends and family members to contribute little ideas for jump off points for new stories and ideas. They also contributed some ideas for ways to think of ideas and games to find concepts. I began this project by working on the cover. I drew the design I wanted and printed it out reverse (as I was going to cut out the pieces and have two sheets of paper be the cover. I started with the portion that would have the design on it. It was a shiny red. This portion took a long time! Especially cutting out all the little letters!

After I had gotten over the cramps in my hands from cutting out letters, I cut the other piece of paper which is a bright gold. This one was the main portion of the cover (as well as the color behind the red cover.

 Following this portion I cut book board for the spine, and both covers and then printed out all the pages. These were printed in booklet form with 8 pages per set (so I would have something to bind). Then I used a template to punch holes in the pages so I could bind them.  I then began sewing the pages to straps and each other to attach the pages to the book. I vaguely recall the type of binding being called a kettle stitch, but it's been a few years so forgive me if I'm mistaken.

Here the pages are minus the final page. (I had a few pages in the back where I put in lines for him to write in his own ideas or for others to add some more ideas later). This is where I should have glued the pages together, (but I forgot!), so there is a slight gap between pages when the book is open. the final page of the book has a portion that attaches to the cover (in addition to the straps) so it's extra strong.

 The next step involved a lot of cutting, measuring and gluing. Using a paint brush I spread the glue on the front and back covers and attached it to the book board. This involved some folding and trimming of edges so the edges were perfect. This was also where I made a second mistake (phooey). I measured and placed my spine a bit close to the cover, so it isn't as pronounced of a closure as I would have liked. It should have been twice the distance it is. (shoot). This luckily doesn't effect the book's functionality, or really the appearance much, so I got off fairly easily.

 Next, I glued down the straps, and portion of the end page (that was covered by the interior cover paper) and the interior paper. This one was a beautiful textured green paper with a lovely grain. It's definitely one of my favorite papers. (This was when I realized I forgot to glue the bound edge of the pages and that there would be gaps in the pages...I didn't want to rip up my lovely green paper, so I decided some gaps inbetween pages wasn't awful...).

Here it is! The final book! It has two levels of cut outs (the yellow with the mitered edges is on top, then the red with all the letters and silhouette cut out, and then another Yellow sheet, so it is quite visually fun!

I'm sure he'll love it, especially all the wonderful ideas from friends!

Turned out lovely!
\

Project for the day: Cushion for reading

I really wanted to be sure you had something to read today, so I did a project that my husband has been dropping hints in the hopes of me doing it for quite some time.

You see we have a 2 year old daughter who we read a chapter of a book to every night at bedtime since she was born and 99% of the time that reading falls to my husband. We've read the The Wind in the Willows, Frog and Toad Are Friends, The Complete Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Anne of Green Gables (all 9 books), and a vast variety of the American Girl books (Kit, Samantha, Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, and Molly thus far). It's my husband's favorite part of the day. The part he wanted to change (you may be wondering) was sitting on the floor. So he had requested a cushion to sit on for our daughter's room.

I had some left over fabric from the brown chair I had upholstered for our daughter's room, but not enough to do a cushion, but I also had some nice, sturdy, very light gray home decor fabric that would work for the cushion itself. I decided to use the brown suede for piping along the edges. If you've never made piping (I hadn't before) it's actually quite simple. It requires a special sewing machine foot (called a cording foot) and it turns out I had one (yipee)! All you do it fold the fabric around the cord and butt the foot right up next to it (allowing the foot to run right up next to it. I used a thick twine I had on hand for the piping itself and it looked perfect.

Once I had made the piping, I used the same foot I attached the piping to the right side of the fabric (please note, at this point I wish I would have decided on a round cushion. Corners are not fun). The piping was attached to both the top and bottom edges of the cushion and then I sewed the sides onto it still using the cording foot to ensure that the edge got as close as possible to that piping. I let the siding overlap slightly so I would have material to sew together to close off the cushion once it was done, but I made sure to sew around the entire cushion so everything would be nice and snug. and then flipped it right side out (see the picture at right once the edge was sewn on).

At this point I stuffed it using fiber fill and then sewed the opening shut.
I stuffed it pretty firmly so it would be keep it's shape for a longer time and not take a beating after being sat on for a long time.

I was contemplating screen-printing the actual fabric (which I may do at some point, but I wanted to use it this evening, so I guess if I do, I'll save that for another blog post).

Here it is being tested by a cute little girl who took some time out from dancing to ensure it worked well. I'm pretty sure hubby will love it. My daughter sure does!

 PS -You know what's tough about doing crafts...I take pictures of the nice things I make, but I have to stare at the stuff I want to fix that I don't have the expertise to tackle. For example, I can't wait till I can replace that carpet! It's definitely seen better days!

If you want to donate, so you don't have to stare at it in my pictures, I would be sure to make you something in return! You know, if you've been just trying to figure out what to do with a pile of cash lying about or something :)

Presents I've been working on - 4

I recently completed a quilt as a gift for a lady for her niece-to-be as a baby shower gift.

She had decided she wanted a modern/fun design, with a nice soft back. We went to a fabric store, picked out all the materials, and got the supplies and then I began work on it. This type of pattern/design is slightly complicated because you have to make sure that you have straight lines to sew and can split it up into sections (so it ends up mostly straight and such as you go). It is also necessary to ensure that you leave extra fabric for seam allowance (for example if you want a square that is 12 inches next to a series of 3 inch squares when laying it out you need to make sure that each 3 inch square is really 3.5 inches as you loose a 1/4 inch for each seam). In addition, you may notice that every fabric is never touching the same fabric or within 2 blocks of it. this was intentional, so this design actually took way more thinking than a typical pattern, but is more forgiving of mistakes as it appears absolutely random.

 I also wanted to use a specific fabric for the edging, so I knew I wanted to make sure that fabric was never touching an edge. After I had finished the inside and put on the first edge, I decided it was too plain, so I added the colored border (using squares of all interior fabrics except the edge). Once I added the second border in the fabric I decided it was still too plain for a baby quilt and the ruffle was added (see picture of making the ruffle the the left - this took a LOT of fabric - 24 feet worth actually)!
This took some major effort as I had made it about twice the full diameter of the quilt and then used a thread the exact length of the outside of the quilt to ruffle the fabric the correct amount. After it was appropriately ruffled I attached it to the edge of the quilt and then pinned the entire front to the backing (which is a really soft fleece that is safe for baby bedding in a light yellow). I had to sew the entire ruffle and backing by hand as I found out that it was too thick for my sewing machine to sew without trouble. So I did it similar to a pillow case by turning it right sides together and sewing the edge in a whip stitch, flipping it inside out and then using the machine to put a seam to hold it all together and in place. Then I quilted it in the ditch of some of the squares so it would maintain the soft backing and not add to the busy front.

I then washed the whole thing to make sure all the fabric was nice and tightly sewn so the mom wouldn't have to fix anything that came apart in the wash.

Have I ever mentioned that I make sure all my quilts are machine washable? If not, I make an effort at all times to do so because I hate nothing more than not being able to treat stains and with a baby quilt it is particularly important to have something you can clean. To the right is the finished quilt which turned out adorable!

As an added bonus, I tried my hand at embroidery by adding a little message in the corner for the baby from her aunt. (this was a chain stitch I believe). I think I did a pretty good job for a first time on the embroidery, but if I ever do that again, I'm going to try to remember to do it prior to attaching the front and back as that really complicated the moving between letters. Overall, turned out wonderfully I think!

Projects I've completed for Presents - 3

After the doll dresses were done I set about doing a more complicated project.

I was doing a themed b-day present! This one revolved around some lovely floating candy corn candles I had gotten for my sister-in-law. Since the little candles were mostly just cute I decided to add some actual candy corn, and once I had done that. I needed to make a candy corn table runner! (Her birthday being in October, it seemed appropriate).

 First I sewed together strips of orange, yellow and white fabric and then cut out a bunch of "candy corn" shapes. made from a template I made for the correct height. Then I sewed them the pieces of black fabric cut at the same angle as the edge of the candy corn. Once that was completed I added trim to each side to make the candy corn surrounded. Then I worked on the back. I took a fun striped/polka dotted fabric and quilt batting onto which I sewed a spiders web. (If you know me personally, you are aware of my intense, paralyzing fear of spiders) so this was really a challenge. I did this spider web in Silver thread so it stood out (sadly it's a bit hard to see in the pictures. I intended to sew spiders on there too. But it freaked me out...

I then attached the two strips of candy corn to another 'beetlejuice-esque' fabric to make the front the same size as the back. Then I sewed right sides together and turned the whole thing inside out (Using a chop stick to push the corners out). Then I sewed along the edge of the two to close up the hole I had left for turning the runner inside out.

And it was done! To the right there is the front and the back. It turned out cute and made the themed gift extra nice.

Hopefully when you zoom in you can see the spider web. It actually is pretty fun looking.

Projects I've completed for Presents - 2

So after the little elephant was done, I got to work on doll dresses for my niece's 3rd birthday. I actually made 2 dresses, but sadly it appears I only photographed the first one. (shoot)

 This dress is a reversible dolls dress. It's closures are velcro (so it's easy to put on). You can see both sides in the pictures below. It's a very simple pattern that crosses in the back and fits very snuggly on a standard size baby doll.

I do like this dress, but it seemed a bit plain, so I made a second one that was a summer dress that tied in the back, which I didn't use a pattern for. (sorry no pictures on that one!) That one was measuring the doll and sewing pieces together like I used to do as a kid when I would make clothes for my barbie dolls. (Trust me, I did that A LOT!) It has a more full skirt

My niece who adores baby dolls, seemed to like them, so I was pleased.

Projects I've completed for presents - 1

Making presents causes a little bit of an issue when blogging...I'm not sure if the people I make things for are looking/reading my blog, so I don't like putting them up before I give the item to the recipient, but then I look like I'm not crafting at all.

Well, I recently gave some items away, so you can see what I've been up to.

First, there was a tiny elephant toy for a baby shower. I've done one of these before and it turned out as cute as ever. Just in case you want the step by step it's pretty easy. I started by putting right sides together and cutting out a front and back template.

I sewed along all the seams after pinning everything. making sure to sew the eyes first (I just did eyes that were thread, so by doing them first I could make sure they were nice and tight and the knots were inside the body).

Then I turned the little fella right side out and sewed the ears shut (so when I stuffed him he wouldn't have chubby ears). Then I used a chopstick to get all the corners nicely flat before stuffing.

I used fiber fill to stuff him, while making sure to get some in the nose and all the extremities before doing the head and body.
Once he was done being stuffed, I sewed up the back and sewed on a permanent bow so it couldn't be untied. Here he is sitting up waiting to be given to my friend for her little boy who will be arriving in December.

I can tell he can't wait to meet his new friend. Can't you?

Project for the Day: The window seat cushion

So, it's been forever since my last post. This of course is partly due to our intensive budget project, but also due to my having worked nearly all of August to finish several large projects (and therefore had no time for crafting).

But here I am. I'm sure you are rejoicing :)

First off, it is nearing my birthday and I had told one of my very good friends that I wanted foam to make a window seat cushion (I walk on the wild side... and I had coupons! Score). So, she came with me to get the foam (ended up with a 24 x 72 x 2 inch piece and I started out working the very next day. The first step was to make a template for the window seat I used some paper we had been given that was no longer needed at an office and taped it together to make a template. I wanted to be sure not to get my foam (it being $32/yard it's not exactly something you want to ruin) dirty, but also, I knew the small size would be easier to use to get around the various angles and such. Also, making the template didn't spoil my daughter's ability to use it for art (which is why we got it anyway).

Once the template was made, I placed it on the  foam and began trimming. The window seat itself is 96 inches long by 18 inches, but I was able to cut all of the window seat out of the above piece. Yay! The strangest part about this step was my normal scissors weren't sharp enough to cut the foam so I had to use my good sewing scissors (gasp!) to do it, since I didn't have a utility knife (or at least a really sharp one) handy.

After I had cut out all the pieces, I was able to test it in the window seat area to make sure it fit, as well as do any trimming necessary to make it nice and straight on the front (I used the factory cut edge on the front to ensure a smooth front, but if the back was strange it would cover more or less of the window seat ledge. Once it was perfectly fit, I had a helper test it out. Looks like it met approval.

Then on to the fun portion. If you remember way back when, I used to have three green curtains in that window prior to the window seat going in. Well, that third curtain became the fabric of the window seat. That curtain wasn't going to be big enough to cover the whole thing, and also, I wanted the cushion to stay on the window seat, so the bottom became the white grippy fabric that you often see on the bottom of kids slippers for going downstairs without slipping. I got 1 yard of that at $12.99 (also not cheap). That grippy fabric I cut and sewed as close to the perfect fit of the bottom as I could. All additional fabric needed on the bottom was covered by the former curtain.

The down side of this cushion was that the shape (and the clingy aspect of the grippy fabric) prohibited the normal techniques I use for covering furniture of turning the material inside out, pinning, and sewing up with my machine. So instead I sewed everything into a giant flat portion and then I had to close this thing up by hand, so that took quite a while.  ( you can see I pinned it closed as I went along).

Once I finished that, I put it into place (praying that it still fit) and it was immediately taken over by individuals ready to test it out when I went to get my camera. After the initial test, it was scotch guarded (love that stuff) to protect the fabric as well as the wood seat underneath.

So there you have it. A new window seat cushion. Happy Birthday (early) to me!

An anniversary present for my husband

Today is my 8th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has been 8 years since I wore a really big poofy dress; was surrounded by friends and family; and married the man I had fallen for at first sight. This fall I will have known him 10 years and that too boggles the mind!

Well this year posed a bit of a problem for me anniversary wise. Elliot and I have never really exchanged anniversary gifts (or at least nothing too remarkably large). We've only gone out for dinner on our anniversary 3 of the last 8 years as well. In 2009, we had a candlelit dinner of mac and cheese because I had been laid off for crying out loud. So this year, when we are in the process of doing a big "pay off all our debt" project I certainly wasn't going to go out and buy something to give Elliot, but he wanted to make me dinner, so I had to think of something else. Didn't really feel like baking either as it's extra hot here which didn't put me in the mood for a cake or pie.

So what did I do? Well, I've been bugging my spouse for a few weeks...ever since we finished the swing set (back in mid June) that we need to finish the last wall so we can plant the pampas grass to hide the compost bin from being able to be seen from the street. (If you look at the picture closely you can see the topsoil piled up in the bags in the top of the picture. The pampas grass will go in the triangle of space to the right of this picture (on the other side of the fence to cover the big black compost bin (you can see one of the legs of the compost bin in the bottom right of the picture)).

So today, while my daughter was napping, I started and finished the wall. The first thing I had to do was remove the bricks we had originally put in along the side of the garden. I needed to make a raised garden, so those didn't need to be there. Also, I needed those to contain the side of the other garden (on the left of this picture). So those came out, then I dug out and leveled the ground around the right garden and started putting in the blocks.

I used some remnants of blocks we had pulled out of the ground from when we had removed the falling down shed as the back of the garden (as they are thinner and I didn't want to take up that much space). I was also one block short, so I have to go out and get that, but I placed all the other blocks, and the back ones, and emptied all the topsoil we had into the garden. So now the driveway is clean. After that I buried the bricks half way into the ground (which is good, since you can't open the gate forward with them out all the way) as they are on the rest of the garden and dusted off the path.

PS...it's too dry and hot currently to even think about moving/planting any pampas grass there right now, so it will remain empty until the fall probably when I can divide my large stash of pampas grass in back. That will significantly hide the composter and also will contain the pampas grass enough where it shouldn't take over the neighbor's yard or anything.

Done! Happy Anniversary Studmuffin! I look forward to many more years of projects with you!

Using up old Magnets

Hope you are all having a lovely Friday the 13th! I know I should be hiding under the covers or some such item to prevent disaster, but I had to craft something today because my daughter is an art protegee (as much as a two year old can be) and I must put it on the refrigerator.

How many times have you received some promotional magnet from a bank, restaurant, radio station,  insurance company, etc? You know the ones with contact info or a baseball schedule or something.

I had an overabundance of these at my house, but I kind of hate throwing them away since magnets are kind of expensive when you want to buy them. But, they aren't the most attractive item in the world and I prefer the front of my fridge to be fairly clean. I want only the most important info up there and I still want my fridge to be cute - so the important ones went on the side of the fridge where I could find them quickly and the rest go in a box in my craft drawer.

So, today I determined I needed additional magnets to keep my daughter's drawings up like any proud mama as well as attach the latest and greatest pictures to the refrigerator of cousins and such. I certainly didn't want to buy some, and also didn't want to use these as they aren't, well, cute. You know what that means? CRAFT PROJECT!

First I pulled out a few duplicate pictures that are adorable of my daughter from her first year (cause who doesn't want pictures of  their kids on a refrigerator). And some cute fortune cookies and found objects that I thought were interesting enough to be up there. Then I got out the magnets and mod podge. Then we were ready to roll!

First, I cut the magnets to size, put a thin coat of mod podge over the advertising, put down my new "art" and put a second thin coat of mod podge over the top AND EDGES of the magnet (I don't want them to peel up or get gross as they age).

Then I let them all dry and PRESTO! NEW custom magnets! And no injuries (though using scissors could have spelled disaster on this most superstitious of days). Easy and fast project...as well as bonus- practically free (especially if you already have Mod Podge laying around like me :) )

The Arbor Swing set

You know those large swing set/slide/clubhouse/sandbox/jungle gym systems that allow a kid to have a whole park in the comfort of their own backyard? We were given a wonderful gift from my husband's parents (my daughter's granny and poppy) that they wanted our little one to have a swing set/ slide combo for her second birthday (coming up in August). I was really impressed with this offer (as those are a rather large investment).

We have a city-run and maintained park just two blocks from our house with a plethora of slides, but no swings (it must be a thing as we have been hard-pressed to find a park with swings - I would guess because of liability (like the long-gone teeter-totter)) so I was really excited about the prospect of having a swing in our backyard.

We ran into just a few issues (some physical, others personal). The first physical issue was our yard's landscaping. We have an extremely hilly backyard- which meant the area for this swing set is very limited. Not only did the footprint of this swing set need to be small, but it also couldn't be too tall (we have a phone line under our oak tree on one side of the yard, and a power line on the other. This meant that after searching the only swing sets that would fit in our yard were the little cheap metal ones.

The designer in me personally hoped to be able to find something a bit more aesthetically pleasing than the metal swing sets, the mom in me was hoped for something more sturdy/safer and the frugal part of me wanted something that would be useful well past my daughter's swinging years.

Here's what I came up with- I would design a swingset that would be able to convert into a porch swing holder in the future. It would be an arbor-style for the beauty as well. So I read all over the internet regarding building techniques/fastners/wood types, swing set safety and such; drew up a sketch of what I wanted; went to the hardware store with my father-in-law to purchase all the pieces; and came home and began cutting, drilling and bolting items together to create the set. Then I went back to the hardware store to exchange items that I discovered didn't work for my design and get ones that would.

I wanted to finish (from buying the pieces, to digging and pouring concrete footings, to hanging the swings) in one weekend- and that was a tall order. My husband and I were finally checking the swings at 10:17pm (with some worklights on). It was a good thing we finished because it poured rain the next day and that would have made my project very delayed and swampy.

Here's what my daughter got!

I kind of love it :) I also look forward to bragging to my daughter that I built it myself as I rock on a porch swing attached to it several years from now.

Projects from the wedding and a toddler pillowcase

I've been fairly busy since the last post. Several projects of various sizes and materials.

As you recall I was hiding some jewelry pictures from before the wedding in the chance that my sister (the bride) or my mother would see them prior to receipt. This is the major issue I have with a craft blog where I make gifts...

 The first item was for my daughter. She was a flower girl for the wedding and had to wear a lovely wreath (I made a while ago) as part of the outfit. The difficulty arose in that she in not quite 2 and wasn't too thrilled about the "hat" for more than about 2 minutes. We practiced all the time trying to get her to wear it, but she just wouldn't do it. Enter puppy. Puppy is my daughter's lovey. She sleeps with it and carried it around everywhere we went for months. Puppy came everywhere with her- so I decided to make puppy a wreath too (with a little elastic band to keep it on his head). From that moment on my little girl would wear the wreath as long as puppy would. So she wore it through all the pictures and walking up the aisle (with puppy of course in tow). Win-win for everyone.
The next item is a bracelet I made for the bride. This was with champagne-colored pearls similar to the bridesmaid jewelry I had made. These beads were from old necklaces my mother had been given or acquired over the years (some of which were my grandmothers) so it definitely counted as a something old, it also was a new to her and newly created, and I used blue seed beads on the wire so it would be her something blue too. It looked lovely on her and she seemed to love it too.

The third item I created as a gift for the wedding was a necklace for my mother that matched the wedding party a little bit. She seemed to really like getting some of her necklaces back and it was a nice addition to her outfit as well. Kind of fun having all the women in the family wearing matching jewelry (oddly enough I don't remember being fond of it as a kid...don't tell mom :) )


So the wedding was lovely. One thing we learned from the trip though was (since we were sharing a room with our daughter- her being in a pack-n-play at the end of the bed) that she used her puppy as a pillow. It hadn't occurred to us that she might want one, but from that moment on I had noticed she puts her head on stuffed animals or balls up her blankets under her head when she sleeps.

This called for a trip to Target to pick up a toddler sized pillow. We ended up purchasing a travel sized pillow (same size as the toddler pillows, but 1/3 the price and they don't come with a character-themed pillow case). I was completely fine with the lack of pillow case as I intended to make my own anyway.

Here is what I did- I created two pillowcases that were the pocket variety (where the end has a flap that prevents the cover from falling off the pillow) that match my daughter's quilt I had made her (that hangs above the crib (mostly because she has several crafty friends and family members who gave her beautiful quilts that are on her bed and we used for play surfaces) as a large art piece. These pillow cases are two colors each (the top is a green with a white and yellow floral pocket end. The other is the white and yellow floral fabric with a different green patterned fabric pocket end.

Both turned out pretty well (though I did have to resize the pillowcase once after I had put it on as I wanted a pretty snug cover for the pillow and the size listed on the package made a much to large case).

Then I started on a BIG project which I will discuss in another post. (I know...so cruel to make you wait- but I'd hate to not have anything for you to read later :) )

It's been forever- Sorry!

I know, I know. I haven't posted in ages! It appears I haven't done any crafting since March...well that isn't strictly true...but overall I haven't done a whole lot...

I've mostly been focusing my efforts on my sister's wedding. I made the jewelry for the bridesmaids, painted her a picture for her shower gift (I thought better to send a painting than the items I bought for a shower gift, all of which are various breakable materials and heavy), and then I have managed to be rather busy with additional work/efforts around the area that are not quite exciting enough to blog about.

But enough with this talk- I'm sure you want to SEE what I've been up to:

Here is the jewelry:

 First portion I made was the earrings. These are standard pearl beads- nothing too fancy and actually off of an old necklace that had several different sizes (the color is a bit deceiving they are a little more champagne than the standard pearl. The flowers were purchased on Etsy (because- trust me- these are not easy to make...I tried, but mine looked like I made them...these don't). The colors for the wedding are champagne, silver and plum. The bridesmaids are wearing plum dresses with some detail towards the necks so it was decided the simpler the jewelry the better. Below is a close up of the earrings. Again, very simple. There are 5 bridesmaids (including a junior bridesmaid) so I made 4 sets just like the one shown and 1 with a medium sized pearl for the necklace and small stud earrings (as the junior bridesmaid just had her ears pierced :) )

They should look lovely and understated with the flowers in the hair and bouquets.

Then, just for fun...I made a few gifts for various individuals...but you have to wait until after the wedding to see them - sorry :)


Here is the painting:
My sister has a very romantic style and has sayings all over her walls when I was there, she also loves working with kids- so I decided to paint her a very colorful and fun painting that would go with her style.

Here's what I came up with:

I'm sure you've all seen those paintings that use crayons melted on them...similar concept here. I originally had only purples and blues as the "rain" but it looked too depressing so in came the yellow, green, red and lilac. I also originally had white silhouettes, but that looked odd, so they became classic black. The details on the silhouettes are actually my sister and her fiance from one of their engagement photos, but "changed" into what they will be wearing at their wedding. The saying on it says "Being Soaked Alone is Cold. Being Soaked with your Best Friend is an Adventure." I was originally going to make the saying much bigger, but then decided there was so much going on in the painting that I should keep it small. 

It's not something I think I would hang on my walls because the saying is a bit sweet for me, but the bride loved it! So I was pleased. 

Remarkably that is all I can think of that I have worked on these last two months! It's amazing how time seems to both creep and speed forward isn't it?

Once the wedding's over, life will be a bit more calm around here...then I shall see about making some more items...or preparing for my daughter's second birthday in August...it'll be here before I'm ready I'm sure!

Project for the day: Another curtain

While getting the fabric for the curtains in the bow window, I found a gorgeous semi-sheer fabric with stripes and flowers on it that was also on sale! I always love a good deal and knew exactly where this fabric would look wonderful- in my black and white kitchen! So now I have a cool curtain over my sink (using the 6th rod from my bow window experiment). Excellent!

I've been extra crafty these last few days- be impressed :) This is rare to have that many projects in such a short time. What to do next? hmm....

Project for the Day: Curtains

 Remember that gorgeous bow window we had installed? If not, here's what it looks like with my normal curtains tucked behind stuff so you can see it. I like being able to see the bow window but this way there is no privacy... I've been struggling with how to fix this since I'm not a huge fan of being on constant display, but I definitely want to see the lovely woodwork on that seat. Here's the major issue- the top of the window is also oak and I really don't want to drill into it, but there aren't many options for attaching a window treatment to a bow window. Especially a vinyl window (because I don't want to void the warranty on the windows by drilling into them.

Remember how I said I love solving problems...here's what I came up with:
Magnetic cafe rods and dowels with command strip tape. The only magnetic curtain rods I could find were these (which were not quite long enough, but the rod portion was hollow, so I used a small dowel instead of the small portion of the rod. I then connected the magnetic edge to a command strip and attached it to the vinyl window (since vinyl isn't magnetic). This allowed me to attach the curtains with no holes in either my windows or woodwork. Yay! Also, a bonus - these rods come with two per pack, so I only needed three to do the whole window.

After I figured out how to attach curtains- I had to make curtains to fit these small rods. I decided on sheers since they give some basic privacy while still letting in lots of light and prevent the necessity to move the curtains to see outside in addition to being relatively light in weight so they shouldn't pull down my rods. I waited until decorators fabric went on sale at the fabric store and scored 6 yards of a sheer fabric perfect for my windows for less than $4/yard.

Sheer fabric is tough to work with, since it slips all over, but I got it cut and hemmed for each curtain rod and then put up the panels. I think it looks pretty good! And I love that I can see and use the window seat. I removed the other sheer fabric curtains that were previously on the bow window and hung those over the patio sliding door to give us a bit more privacy there too. Aren't they lovely :D