Everything i do...

Refashioned Baby Leg Warmers

2011-09-13T08:24:00.000-04:00

My baby is queen of the onesie, she lives in them. And with such a hot summer this year that was perfectly fine...but now that the cooler weather is rolling in...I thought I would try out some leg warmers because I always thought that they were adorable...and with my onesie loving child, it just makes sense!

Here is how I made these:

Cut sleeves off an old long sleeved shirt.

Fold over cut seem to desired length for baby's legs. and zig zag stitch.

If they are not tight enough take in the seem a little like shown.

Put them on your baby!

Quick and easy pin cushion

2011-09-09T11:19:00.000-04:00

Here is another quick project. I didn't have a pin cushion, I had this frame:

and a piece of burlap and stuffing...

and some hot glue!

Now I have a pin cushion!

Quick Household Solution

2011-09-09T10:56:00.000-04:00

I'm not even sure if this merits its own blog post.... but it is useful, diy, so what the hay....

So Ive been in need of a small trash can for next to my dryer to throw the lint into. My laundry is in my unfinished basement, so, like usual, I didnt really want to spend money on it...like ANY. So when I spotted this sitting in my garden I had an idea....

Sprayed it up with a little left over aluminum spray paint...

And there I have it, a totally free...very useful, somewhat cute, trash receptacle!

I think Ill be on the lookout for something a little more stylish....but for now it beats throwing the lint on the floor! ;-)

Making my own art

2011-09-07T09:43:00.000-04:00

I love the idea of only having my own art hanging on my walls, I don't know what it is about hanging something someone else created that I don't like...maybe its pride? I don't know...but unless its some hugely amazing work of art that I could never do, Id rather make my own! weather it be my own photography or my own drawings/paintings or my new recent infatuation, digitally created art. I've been working on a chandelier silhouette print for my daughter's room, here it is:

I like how this one turned out...finally...after much experimenting with vector images which I have not used before. I am definitely learning as I go!

I would also like to come up with something using a grey and yellow color scheme for my bathroom....but im having a hard time coming up with something that looks "bathroomy"

I did this one....

but I'm not loving it....

so then I did this:

But it is still not saying "bathroom" to me.....

Anyone have any suggestions for inspiration? good bathroom quotes I could turn into art?

Off I go to search for ideas! I will update when I make some progress!

I also have to work on finding something to put in this beauty:

Up close of detail

My sister and I found this at a garage sale for.........

$2.00!!!!

This is after I have spray painted it white, sorry I forgot to take a before picture :-(

This was probably a $200 frame from Hobby Lobby.... hooray for yard sales and a million percent off!

So I'm thinking it might be time for a new family picture.....

Finished Desk Refinish & Coffee Bag Bulletin Board How to

2011-08-25T19:34:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! I am coming to you today for the first blog post from my newly finished workspace! A whole of 2 days in the making, and by no means top of the line, but I think it did turn out pretty cute, and functional, so I'm happy! Here it is:

Here is a reminder of how it looked before:

See more of the transformation here.

Add caption

Here's how I made the Coffee bag bulletin board, Sorry I didn't take a before picture, but it was a rather dated looking purple board in a purple rounded edged plastic frame.

Start with a large coffee bag, my sister picked this one up for my at a local coffee shop for $1

Cut to fit your board and Staple.

Brooklyn snapped a picture of me working, and yes, the baby got a hold of the scissors for 2 seconds....I took them away very shortly.....

Finished board on the wall

I even used up the rest of the aluminum spray paint that I used for the lamp on a little chair I had stitting in the basement, worked perfectly.

Breakdown:

Desk - free on the side of the road
Lamp - $3 Goodwill
Bulletin board - free dumpster save from my mom's office, + $1 for coffee bag
Char - free from my basement
Black circle mousepad - Ikea .99cents
Ruler - .50 cents at Meijer
BIG mistakes eraser - $1 at Meijer
Clock - Already had
Cutout Pencil holder - $4ish at Meijer

Total new workspace cost: $10.49!

Brooklyn's Self Portrait

2011-08-25T17:56:00.000-04:00

As I was working on the bulletin board for my new desk, Brooklyn was having her own fun with the camera....had to share:

Thrift Store Lamp Makeover and Desk in Progress

2011-08-23T14:56:00.000-04:00

So I have recently had the desire for my own workspace area to organize bills/important papers etc....and of course as usual, I didn't really want to spend money on it....so when I found this sitting by the side of the road with a free sign on it I decided now was the time!

Sanded it down and got me some spray paint (so far I have spent the most on plain for this project)

After one coat of paint

I found this lamp at Goodwill and I liked the style. So what do you think I did? yup, spray paint!

Good start to my work space project, more to come as I find more to finish it and get it all moved into place!

Fabric Covered Travel Baby Wipes Case

2011-08-22T20:32:00.000-04:00

Yup, I am still crafting....some before/after projects SOON to come I promise, but until then, here is something I have been having fun working on making, I made one for my cousin for her baby shower, and then a bunch more :-) to give away/sell/use.... whatever, here's how:

Start with a plastic travel wipes case, you can get them at Meijer or walmart I know for sure, but probably pretty much anywhere

Trace out the outline twice on your fabric and once on quilt batting and cut.

Hot glue batting to the top of the case

stretch fabric over the batting and begin to glue around the edges.

Continue till you are all glued up all around,

Cover unfinished edge with trim or ribbon to finish!

Handmade headbands

2011-08-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

Recently I have been making my flower headbands slightly more elaborate.

I made these for my daughters and the neighbor girls, but I am considering selling them on eBay or Etsy...let me know....would you like to be able to buy one??

Miss Gracey helped design this one for helself

Brooklyn's 3rd Birthday Party

2011-08-15T16:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our 3rd birthday party for Brooklyn, despite the cooler than normal august weather, and lots of clouds, she had a blast celebrating with her friends at her vintagey themed party! Here are some pics, let me know if you would like to see tutorial on anything....

Diy pennant banner made from scrapbook paper,
and tissue paper pom poms

Homemade cake, birthday kid helped :-P

Rose Ring Love

2011-08-08T21:11:00.000-04:00

This is somewhat of a drool post I suppose, I am in love with the rose jewelry over at Liz Hutnick's Etsy Shop.

They
are
soooooo
pretty!!

I have not ordered one yet but I plan to soon.............as soon as I can narrow it down to just one that I want the most..............best of all though, there is FREE Shipping!

Birthday Banner

2011-08-02T17:24:00.000-04:00

This is just quick post to show off the Happy Birthday banner that I made for her 3rd birthday party coming up in two weeks. I am going for a kinda of vintage theme and I absolutely love the look of these pennant banners, so I checked out a few online and decided to make mine with scrapbook paper I already had.

I cut out a template just by eyeing the approximate size I was going for, it ended up being a base of 6 inches on the flat side.

Then I just traced onto whatever paper I had til I had 24 flags. I think I did each pattern twice.

I then punched a hole in each side of the tops on each flag and strung them on ribbon. I printed the letters out from Microsoft word and cut them out by hand and stuck them onto each flag using scrapbook glue, and that's it!

Here are some more of my ideas and party inspiration to go with my vintage theme:

Jones Soda - Berry Lemonade

Rock Candy

Tissue Paper Pom poms

More after the party!!

Excuses

2011-07-31T12:30:00.000-04:00

Sorry for my lack of posting for the last....for a while now. I do have a couple different things I have been working on to share shortly, but until then, I offer this excuse:

DIY No Sew Tattered Flower Headbands

2011-05-23T17:37:00.000-04:00

I know I haven't been posting on here a whole lot, we've had some beautiful weather finally and the girls and I have been out enjoying it. Here is one project I've managed to get posted up here for you guys. Im thinking of possibly selling these tattered flower headbands at the flee market this year, adorable, right?

Here's how I made them:

I went to hobby lobby and purchased a few different patterns of fabric. 1/4 yard each. (this is enough fabric to make MANY flowers, you only need a 1 inch strip per flower)

Cut your strip and trip the ends with the funky edges.

Fold strip in half with wrong sides together and iron all the way down the strip.

Out of scrap fabric, trace a circle slightly smaller than you want your finished flower to be and cut out.

I bought hair clips from hobby lobby and cut two slits in the center of the fabric circle and inserted the clip with a dot of hot glue to make sure it was secure.

With your hot glue gun, begin securing the strip along the outside of the circle and spiral in

Continue to spiral until you reach the center, trim excess and your done!

I attached mine to these headbands that I also found at Hobby Lobby for under a buck.

I made some smaller flowers also and skipped the headband and just used them as hair clips for my older daughter.

Candle Love

2011-05-04T17:13:00.000-04:00

I fell in love with the 3 wick tin candles when Holly over at In the Fun Lane featured these on her most amazing blog...

Voluspa Tin candle featured on In the Fun Lane

But at $18 each, plus shipping, I was a little hesitant to just order one to fulfill my want, I figured I would have to wait for an occasion like Christmas or something, until I found this oh so similar little beauty at target for $12.99! At nearly half the price, and smelling wonderful, I snatched one up and brought it home! I still want a Voluspa for Christmas, but in the meantime, I have this one to enjoy....

Pretty Much the Easiest Before & After Ever

2011-04-29T08:30:00.001-04:00

Im always looking for ways to reuse things, so when I purchased there Pepperridge Farm Purouette cookie stick things at a recent grocery shopping trip and noticed they came in a METAL can.....I new I could do something with it. So here is my first Idea...

This:

Plus This:

Rustoleum's Painter's touch, gloss white, or any white gloss spraypaint.

Equals:

This! A handy dandy new utensil holder for my kitchen!

If you are feeling super creative you could even add a design, number or letter decals or chalkboard labels

I have several of these cans lying around since I buy these cookies regularly...so I'm trying to think of more ways to use them. If you have a great idea please let me know!

Thrift Store Shopping

2011-04-27T16:12:00.000-04:00

Today started out rainy and cold, so I loaded up my girls and decided that it was a good day for grocery shopping, AND of course couldn't resist stopping at Goodwill on the way! Here is what I got:

I always snatch up cheap fabric at Goodwill when I find it, you can usually get several yards for around $1.99, which is what I paid for this chunk today!

Since my new basement living room will actually have bookcases, I need interesting books to put in them!
I found these two today, .60 cents each, thank you very much!

I needed a simple glass vase for displaying flowers in, so here I go, for a buck fifty!

DIY Ruffle Pillow

2011-04-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

I came across the idea for this pillow over at Oh So Crafty, I loved how she used old clothes to make something so cute and useful! Here is a tutorial on my practice run making her ruffle pillow. I leaned some how to's and how not to's for my next time, I'll explain along the way....

Start with a large men's button down dress shirt. Iron and lay out on your cutting board. Cut straight across the front right at the level just under the armpits, and again to even off the bottom if your shirt has slits on the sides. you should be left with a rectangle shape with the buttons running down the front.

This is what the shirt looked like after I cut the chunk out. You can set this part aside and save for possible future projects!

My shirt was a little too wide so I just sewed some straight seams parallel to the to side seams that were already there to take it in a bit.

Next you will need a bunch of strips cut from another fabric. I used a old Goodwill men's T-shirt. I cut my strips about one to one and a half inches wide, and decided in the end that they were to skinny...next time I will make them closer to 2 or 2 1/2 inches.

Sew a wide stitch down the center of each strip with out backstitching either end.

Pin on the front of your pillow case form and pull the bottom thread to ruffle. Or, you can ruffle it before you pin it, I did it both ways....so do however its easiest for you.

Once its ruffled, pin strip in place at top, bottom and middle. and stitch right down the middle again to sew it in place.

fold over to the side to place the next strip slightly overlapping. I ended up not having enough strips to overlap very much so mine look a little more spaced out. Another tip for my next attempt!

Once you cover the whole front, turn inside out and stitch closed along the top and the bottom. Unbutton the buttons and turn right side out.

Mine looked like this before it was stuffed.

I used this for stuffing because I already had it and because I didn't measure to cover a specific Pillow form.
It was $2.99 at JoAnn's.

Stuff it!

Button it up!

And thats how my first attempt Ruffle Pillow turned out! its kinda sloppy, rustic cute! I am itching to try my hand at another one!

Mood Board for New Basement Living Space

2011-04-26T18:54:00.000-04:00

Another one of my bigger projects I am working on this spring is finishing up at least one room of our walkout basement. Today, out of our boredom on what was both of our last days of work (Okay I still have to go back for a few hours on Thrusday and Saturday, but it was my last FULL day) we created this mood board for my space.

So far, the room is drywalled all but the ceiling...and thats it. Ill add some before pictures soon. And we shall see how it all comes together with the ideas I have in mind!

An Easter Getting to Know Pinterest

2011-04-24T19:57:00.000-04:00

So, many of you may have heard of this new, all the rage, website phenomenon....but I bet many of you have not! Pinterest is a new website community that lets its its user "pin" photos of things they love, are interested in or that are just cool to look at. Its like a virtual pinboard. And, once you start, its a rather addicting pastime....here are some of my first pins:

Source: bellemaison23.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: piewacketblog.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: anabundanceof.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: prettystuff.tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: navajo-moon.tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: gotbyouthblog.tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: becolorful.typepad.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: doors-sliding.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: ohhellofriendblog.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: happydayvintage.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

And this was all on my first day! Sound like fun? It very much is! So head on over to Pinterest to get started yourself! you do need to be invited to join the site, and its much quicker to be invited by someone who is already a member, so if you need an invite just email me with your email address and I'll send one to you asap! arens_33 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Shelf re-do

2011-04-22T14:22:00.001-04:00

So I was getting the feeling that my floating shelf wasn't performing as well as it could be. I wasn't liking the white frames, on a white shelf on a tan wall...blah blah blah....

Here is what it originally looked like:

I played around in photoshop to test what I wanted it to look like, here is my rough idea:

Next was a trip to Dollar General, I picked up 5 of their TrueLiving brand black frames.

They are surprisingly good quality for the price! Everything seen below for $24 total! The price of only one of the 11x14's most other places....

And up they go, together with my wallflowers I happened to find at my last Meijer grocery shopping trip for $19.99

I like it so much better now! much more dramatic and less blah. And dont mind the model lady's picture still in the frames, I still have to make some prints to fill them all, :-P

Here are some other things I also picked up at Dollar General while I was there:

Kitchen Tour

2011-04-19T17:22:00.001-04:00

Since my kitchen is the room that I've made the most changes too, I figured I should show it off alittle more!

quick reminder of the before:

And here are my much lighter, brighter and whiter afters!

DIY valance, is actually totally unfinished...its just cut out and pinned at the
top to make a loop for the rod to go though...I just slapped it up there to
see if I liked it and obviously, I did!

Spring Project

2011-04-19T11:29:00.004-04:00

I want to make this. A slightly modified version.

Here's what I have to work with:

My Plan:

Level out ground under and around beneath the deck.

Lay some sort of ground/floor with either cement/ pavers/landscape stones

Attach 4 to 6 white flat sheets for curtains to the corners for curtains by either rods or by nailing straight to the wood and add cute tie backs
or possibly like this?

Add table and seating and citronella candles

Hang lanterns. or maybe the chandelier from the girls room?

Im done!

Off I go to get to work! Ill show off what I come up with as soon as its ready! (that is, if it ever stops snowing in April!)

Here are a few more inspiration pics meanwhile:

Drop Cloth Drapes

2011-04-14T16:48:00.000-04:00

I first heard about using drop cloths as drapes out there in blog land, from I believe The Lettered Cottage. It was one of those, "IM DOING THAT" type of things. :-) so here are mine:

I actually made these in my bedroom first, I accidentally bought the kind with a plastic backing to prevent leaks. they were really stiff at first but after a wash and dry they looked much better, and I actually prefer how these look to the non- plastic ones I used in my living room. They just seem to sag and look sloppier even after ironing....so I will probably replace them with the plastic back sooner or later.

Both sets were purchased at Menard's. 6.99 each for the small bedroom ones (5'x5')
$19 for the 9x12 for the living room ( I cut them in half because they were all out of the 9x6 size)

Mini Closet Makeover

2011-04-13T21:04:00.000-04:00

Okay this is a somewhat of an embarrassing before picture....I think laundry was one of those things that made me sick this recent pregnancy, and being busy with a newborn, a two year old, work and so many other more fun things to do....I found my closet was looking like this:

BEFORE:

yikes....

So with a little blog magic.......

AFTER:

This project actually took me about a week, I was put it off alot because I was pretty much dreading it.

so, lots of folding, hanging and tossing out later I am finally done!

I printed out some simple lables for my bins from Word

Now if I can only keep it organized!