DIY Picture Frames

While my mom and I were shopping for the master bedroom, we came across three picture frames that we thought would look great on the wall.  The only catch was that they didn't have hooks on the back.  We tried a few different things and then decided to rip the stands off and use twine and hot glue.  

We had to nail the twine into the wall above each picture so that they would hang right, but I really like the way it turned out.

Decorative Pillows

A few weeks ago my mom and I redid the master bedroom.  We painted and bought a few accessories and called it a day.  While I really liked the way it turned out, it was still missing a little pop of color.  While we were in World Market, I found two hand towels and decided to make a throw pillow.  I don't have pictures of the whole process, but the ladies at http://lemontreecreations.blogspot.com/2010/11/shut-up-and-sew-stuffed-throw-pillow.html have a great tutorial on how to sew pillows.  Here's how it turned out:

Master Bedroom Redo

This weekend my mom came into town to spend some quality time.  Which means..... we had a project!  I have been thinking for a while that I would like to paint our master bedroom and this weekend was the perfect opportunity.  Here are some pictures of the before:  

As you can see, the room was tan and we have black furniture.  The picture makes it look a little darker than it really was, but either way it wasn't the color I liked.  I'd been doing some research and decided to go with a lighter color.  I decided on Behr's "Natural Grey" in a semi-gloss finish.  We pulled back the curtains and got to work on the trim.  Here's one of the finished walls:

After a few more walls, (while Andy was resting) we were finished!

We added a few accessories and called it a day.  I still have a few things to add, but for now I'm really pleased with it.

Baby Clothes

Once we moved into our house, I began wondering about how to make baby clothes.  We have 5 adorable nieces and nephews and I thought it would be fun to make something cute for each one.  After I did a little blog research on one of my favorite blogs, I came across this:

http://lemontreecreations.blogspot.com/2010/12/shut-up-and-sew-appliques-for-beginners.html

I decided to make ties for the boys and do something really girlie for the ladies.  I went to Hobby Lobby and got my fabric, thread, and "Heat n' Bond."  For the ties, I put computer paper over the plain white shirts and eyeballed the ties.  I then took the "pattern" and traced it on the fabric.  Next, I followed the directions on Heat n' Bond and attached it to the material and then cut out the traced tie.  (Note: For these first projects I bought Heat n' Bond that wasn't double sided, so while it stuck to the fabric, it didn't stick to the shirt.  Not a good idea!)  

After cutting all my pieces I very carefully pinned the ties to the shirts and then hand-sewed them to the shirts.  Here's a tip:  Don't do this!!  Get the double sided Heat n' Bond!!  

While, I think these are really cute, they are a little lumpy and not as even and I would have liked.  

For my niece, my friend Molly, helped me draw and sew this on.  The legs were drawn from fabric paint and the eye is a sewn on button.  

For my other niece, I made a tutu from elastic and 3 different colors of tulle.  This was incredibly easy!  I took the elastic and sewed two ends together and then cut the 3 colors of tulle into multiple pieces of similar length.  Next, I took the pieces of tulle and tied them around the elastic, one-by-one.

(These are pictures taken in the car, because this is a great road-trip project.)

For the front of my niece's shirt, I made the J out of an old pink sock and hot glued it to the fabric.  I then hand-sewed the circle to the shirt.  

Because I was finally getting the hang of the hand-sewing, I decided to do her initials on the bottom of the onesie.   

While these might not be the most durable, they were fun to make.  Over the last few months, I've started downloading pictures offline for patterns and I bought Heat n' Bond that irons on to the fabric and shirt.  Another thing you can do is wash and dry the clothes before decorating so that they won't shrink and buy clear fabric glue so the edges don't fray.  Here are a few other projects:

(GQ for his initials:)

As you can see, the ironed on look is a little sharper than the sewn look.  However you do it, its a ton of fun and there's a lot of inspiration online.

Inspiration

I've been wanting to do something with a few blank walls in my house and this is some of my inspiration:  

Of course, I can't find the one picture that I love but these will do for now.  I'll let you know what I decide to do with these blank walls!!

Sewing Table Update

Before we moved in, my wonderful mother-in-law asked me if I wanted her old sewing machine.  My answer:  YESSSS!  I had been looking at blogs for quite sometime and thought "I should learn how to sew pillows."  This was a very clear indication that it was meant to be:)  Here are a few pictures of her generous gift:

I had a bit of time before I could get it out to our place, so I decided to do some research.  Once again, I looked to my trusty blogs for some advice.  "The Nester" had a tab on her blog ( http://www.thenester.com/ ) called "how I paint my furniture" so I clicked on it and came to http://www.altard.com/How-To-Guides.html

I read through the info and decided to download this tutorial for $10.  It was a great decision!  The author outlined exactly what products I should use in order to refinish the sewing table and the best place to get them.  I made a list of what I needed and went to Home Depot.    The first thing I did was to sand the table in order to get the shine off.  

I used a combination of a hand sander and sand paper and then wiped it clean and used spray primer.

This was important because if you don't use a primer on stained wood it may show through your finished product.  Yuck!  

My mom told me to lightly sand the table between coats to make sure the finish would be smooth, so as always,  I listened!  After sanding I began painting the table a light blue color I had in the basement and matched the guest room.

I wanted this color to show through the finished product as I was going for a distressed look.  You can't really tell from this picture, but I painted 2 coats of the blue. 

I once again sanded and then moved to the white coats of paint.  (This was all paint we had in our basement when we moved in.)  I allowed multiple hours between coats so that it was completely dry and then began lightly sanding the edges to give it a distressed look.  

After I was done, I wiped the dust off and used a few coats of high gloss polyurethane to give it a smooth and clear finish.  This also brought out the blue color and made the overall piece look richer.  The final step was to find some new handles, so I was off to Hobby Lobby! ( Before I started anything, I filled in the old screw holes with wood filler and sanded them down so they were hidden.)   Here's the finished project: