Sewing Challenge #24

I took in the waist of my son's swimsuit.  Since we have a pool, the kids are in their suits almost every day and its seems that the elastic is not holding up.  Anyway....took in the waist so we can use if for the rest of the summer.

Chalkboard Labels

I am LOVING these!  (Note to self: add laundry detergent to shopping list. ;)  I originally got the paper for a project in my office which is not yet completed.  

Since I'm also re-doing my laundry room, I thought I'd add a little fun to it with these chalkboard labels.  Heck, I had a whole roll of it.  With all the "excess" I had, I figured I'd sell some off on etsy.   So I listed all of these....

 

I just added these!

and now these....

More to come! 

Want some?  Go here.

Sometimes patience pays off

This is the latest step to finishing my bathroom.  There is still a bit to do, but I've added a little character.  (Looking at this picture its evident that the next thing I should check off the list is a valence, right?)

We have this blank wall above our bathtub that, to me, always seemed like it needed something.  For months I had been looking, but nothing was quite right.  They were either too big or too small or to new...  Anyway, last November, I walked into an antique/junk store and found this in the very back...

I wanted it that bad that I took a picture with my phone.  Then I looked at the price.  $75.  Yikes.  Not willing to pay that for something I could build, I walked out of the store and left the perfect shelf behind, and always wondered about it...but I kept the picture.  Every time I looked at it I kicked myself for not getting it because it would take me a lot longer to build and paint this than $75.  

Well a few weeks ago, I happened to be back in the same store and IT WAS STILL THERE!!!  (I guess no one else wanted to pay $75.)   It was meant for me because this time it was 40% off.  Sign. Me. Up.  I grabbed it and ran to the front as quickly as I could.

I walked out the door, drove straight home and hung it up.  I LOVE it and all its lovely chippiness that I don't have to try to fake because it was naturally there..  

I'm still trying to figure out how to dress it up, but its there and is a perfect fit!

Now onto the valence.....then the mirror....then...

NOTE:
I pulled these leaf sconces off of our entry wall and put them on either side of the cabinet.

That helps, but still need that valence!

Name sign {quick tutorial}

This was a fun project that I did "pre-blog."  I moved it (again) and decided I should post it for all to see.

I first had it where it is now, but decided to try it here after I found and painted the hutch.  So I had the hubs take it down and I "set" it in place to make sure that's really where I wanted it.  There it sat for....um....over a year? :)  Lazy are we?  I was tired of it on the to-do list, so the other day I did it myself...which is what usually happens.  Hmmm....wait a second....seems like someone around here knows that!

Somewhere between moves, the board warped and cracked, but it adds to the age of it and I love it even more.

It's made from a 1x12, cut down.  I first printed my letters on paper and taped the all together to what it was going to look like.  I then cut my letters in vinyl and figured out the spacing to know how long the board needed to be.  (You could use a transfer method and hand paint the sign.  Sanding off after would make it age beautifully!)

I coated the board in black, then brushed it white, then very lightly and sporadically dry brushed a little, black, brown and red (who knows, there might even be other colors there).  I just grabbed whatever cans I had at the time.  All leftover latex.  Random, I know.  This is before I knew how to sand the age into it.  Which is how I'd do it now.  

Didn't seal it, just waited for it to dry, put the vinyl on a hung it over the window in the kitchen.  It was either there or the playroom and since the tornado playroom is upstairs and I wanted this to be in a place where it would be seen by someone who would actually appreciate it, I chose the kitchen.

This is the view from our living room, but you can pretty much see it across the room when you come into the house.

The wall adjacent on the left is where I'm going to put our giant chalkboard (more on that later) and the wall to the right was my first big furniture piece to paint, and I probably did it all wrong, but its been a couple of years and its holding up just fine!  (Looking at the pictures now, the lone rooster weather vane needs to go....)

Sewing Challenge #23

So I'm a bit behind on my sewing challenge for the year and wasn't planning on doing this today, but I did some minor surgery on one of my daughters stuffed dolls, Rapunzel.  She had sprung a leak in two places and she now has the scars to prove it.  In the process I thought I'd shove a needle through two different fingers.  Why not?

Now I have one less thing in my "to fix" pile, two less bandaids in the linen closet, and one happy 6 year old.

Lampshade Revamp {tutorial}

Yesterday I decided I wanted to change out the light in my laundry room.  I'm in the middle of an almost total overhaul in that room, so why not the light too?  (It helps that my Brother-in-Law is here visiting and he is an electrician.)

This is what I started with...

I like the after much better! ;)  I was inspired by a shade I found and posted here.

Supplies:

Wire shade or frame

Fabric

How to:

First I had to reinforce the shade frame, which I picked up for $1 at antique/junk store.  I knew I was either going to fabric wrap the entire frame or fabric tie it.  Either way there were not enough wire supports and it would end up looking like a weird square shade, so I decided to add some more joints.  I happen to have 14 gauge wire leftover (who doesn't, right?) from my Christmas bulb wreath project and mason jar lanterns, so I cut 4 lengths 2 inches taller than the shade.  I wrapped them around the top and bottom wires.

This is what some of my "joints" look like.  I knew they were going to be wrapped in fabric, so I wasn't too worried about how they looked.  (This little project has me wondering what I could do with a soldering tool....hmmm, add that to the Christmas list?)

 Here it is after my alterations.

From here I only have the after pictures as the whole thing happened too fast I forgot to take pics.

I had white eyelet fabric left over from a project 6 years ago (yes, I said SIX years!) and thought it was time to use it up.  I took two long strips of fabric and cut them 1 1/2" wide and just wrapped it around the top and bottom circular parts of the frame (not the vertical). (A sheet would be great for this.)  I almost stopped there and did that to the whole frame, but I have another wire shade I'll try that with. :)  You can see the bottom of the frame wrapped below.

Then I cut A LOT of 1 1/2" strips about 14" long.  Measure the length in between your joints and add a few inches.  It might take a little experimenting to get the right length.

Start tying.  And tying.  And tying.  Put a good movie in and tie some more.  I tied a knot around one wire, then strung it across and tied another knot around the next one and trimmed the end off.  With my next strip, I tied a knot just below the knot I just finished, strung it across and tied on the next wire.  Working my way around back to the first and then kept going around and around, stopping to shove them snug against the top.

After a few rounds I was kinda worried about what it was going to look like, but I kept going.  I figure if I hated it, I could cut it apart and I was only out some scrap fabric.  

Many rounds later, here ya go...

I had my BIL remove the fixture that was there.  I don't have a before pic, but trust me....it was random for a laundry room, and dark.  We actually had to retrofit a pendant fixture.  I bought a new ceiling cap (because that one that came with it was really ugly plain.)  I would love to run you through how to hang a fixture, but since I am not an electrician I would hate to mess up directions.  This shade can be used on a lamp as well.

I even like how the inside looks, which is good because we have tall ceilings and the door opens up under the fixture so it has to be hung rather high.  

This room is about as big as a shoebox, so its really hard to get a good picture.  Plus there is NO natural light.

Hopefully I will have more to show from the laundry room soon....

Camera Strap Slipcover

For my first one...

(yes, I said first...I'm going to make another...a girl's gotta have options, right? :) 

...I decided to skip the ruffle.  I wanted to make sure I was going to like it and it would fit before I "ruffled" it.  Plus, I didn't have a fabric I liked on hand (hard to believe), and its after hours at my local craft store.

Not bad for timing; I found/posted the idea here and its not even 6 weeks later.  And its summer.  And I have all 4 kids home.  And family in town visiting.  

But I snuck a way to my office for a bit and sewed.  I sewed something for me!  (I haven't been doing much of that lately.)  Anyway...the only change I made from the tutorial I followed was to top stitch both sides.  I'm a symmetrical person so had to have it even.

I lengthened the strap an inch because I made it to fit my camera strap.  I love that its removable and washable.  It only took 45 mins and that included getting everything out and cleaning everything up AND I was watching a movie.  The next one will go much quicker.

{This is sewing challenge #22...I'm a bit behind so must get moving!}

Bowling Pin + Vinyl = Door Stop

This is another of those totally random things that I saw at an antique/junk store and bought.  I had NO idea what I would do with it, I just wanted it.  Totally an impulse buy....and I don't do that very often, so I guess when I do, at least its good that its less than $10.

I put it in my office closet where it sat and sat and sat and since I knew the hubs would wonder why in the world I bought a bowling pin for.  I think he's kinda stopped asking lately....he just shakes his head now.  Luckily, most of the "junk" I bring home ends up transformed and I redeem myself.

I took some scrap vinyl (from a project I thought I had already posted, but apparently haven't yet...) and hand cut the "5" after tracing a stencil.  I have a lovely silhouette, but it seems like more trouble to drag it out, format a number, set it up and cut than it did to just trace a cut.  

Anyway...trace, cut, peel, stick.  New doorstop.  

I was featured on One Thrifty Gurl

Well, my etsy shop was!  :)

I had an old atlas book from when we lived in the Pacific NW and since I wasn't using it anymore and can't stand to throw things away, I made some things out of it.

Like this card set

And this pennant garland

And from those scraps I punched these embellies

 Sometimes it pays (literally) to think outside of the box!

Go check her out at OneThriftyGurl.  I'm hosting a $25 gift certificate give away to my shop!

Stamped Garden Marker Spoons {tutorial}

Taking the metal jewelry stamping in a different twist, I stamped some spoons.  I am NOT a gardener.  I love the look of plants, but just cannot keep them alive (maybe its because I forget to water them???  Just a thought...)

Anyway...I've seen these garden marker spoons around and have found some old spoons for pennies at garage and estate sales. So...here ya go.

Supplies:

Old spoons

Metal stamping set

Dish towel

Rubber mallet

Hammer
Permanent marker

How to:

I first took the spoons out onto the driveway, set them (one by one) on a dish towel, and pounded them out with a rubber mallet.  My kids rode circles around me in the driveway and the neighbors were wondering what the heck I was doing (especially since it was in the high 90's and late afternoon.)  Put the spoon bowl side up and start pounding away.  

Tip:I found that they all flattened differently.  Some got a little curvy in the middle, so I took a regular hammer and gently pounded (can you do that?) the roundness flat.  Next time I'm going to try the hubs vice and see if I can get them totally flat.

Once you have them relatively flat, go inside and nurse the blister on your hand then proceed onto the next step.

Figure out what you want to write (stamp) on the spoons.  Like I said before, I am no gardener so I had to google common herbs.  Silly, I know, but I did.  I wrote my words down the spoon because I was worried about spacing the letters across.  The shorter herbs would have worked fine across.

I marked where my letters were going to go with a dot of the permanent marker before I stamped.  Then stamped the letter, colored over the letters again with the marker and polished it off.

A perfect gift idea for someone who grows their own herbs, mother's day gift, thank you gift or for yourself.  (Maybe I should have stamped "please water me?")  The best part...if you already have a stamping set, these are dirt cheap. (Hee hee :)  You could give them with a live herb, or pot and seeds.

Next I'm going to try to flatten them and bend the handles to make hooks.  Saw that somewhere? and LOVED it!