Success!

I may have done it.

I may have found ONE THING that I can make successfully with my sewing machine! WOOT! I love that I have taught myself how to sew and that I have made pretty things.

I mentioned a gift I was putting together for a little fizzle name Paisley who was born a few short weeks ago. I mailed her a couple onesies (more to come, Emily, I honestly have tons of small-sized onesies and only know a couple babes that might wear them.... soooooo you're either lucky or cursed!). I also mailed her what I consider to have been my best BIB yet:









I used "The Right Way" to sew bias tape on Made, which is a blog I follow religiously.

You think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not.

I had no idea there was a right and wrong way to sew bias tape!! Awesome. Here's a shot of my process in case you think I'm a big fat liar.



I was so thrilled with the results of Paisley's bib that I started another one right away (it's not done yet!). My friend Cassandra gave me a shirt she really liked - pink with diamonds - and asked me to make something with it. I have more material from the shirt but I'm not sure what I'll do with it.



Sorry for the crummy photos.

I blame the economy.

Slippers

I bought a couple pairs of slippers for Elana at Goodwill a couple months ago. When I brought them home, I was able to convince her to try them on, but she didn't want to wear them around the house.

Well!

Everything has changed.

She digs the slippers, both Elmo and Pooh. She sings the characters' respective songs around the house, too. "La la la, Elmosong" and "Weenah Pooh, Weenah Pooh!" Elana is quite the songbird! I love it.

Stenciling and a Bib

This weekend, I did a few quick fixer-uppers, made a couple scrap bean bags, dyed and painted. Here is some of the painting I accomplished:



The chante (sing, in french) square will get sewn to a cheap t shirt for Elana - she's become quite the songbird.

I also grabbed a Tshirt scrap and tried my hand at making my own print. I really like how it turned out.



Not sure what I'll do with it.

I wanted to finish up baby gifts for a new little fizzle named Paisley. How adorable is that name??? Begs for handmade gifts, huh? I painted a couple onesies for her with my paisley stencil (Hobby Lobby clearance, $.71!) I also started on a bib for little Paisley.

Bias tape is hard.

**waaah!**

Pinning is most of the work, or at least I think so.



Later!

from wood to good for $5... hey-oh!

okay okay okay. pretty excited about this one, because I'm going to use it right away. Well, Elana will use it.

I'm getting ahead of myself....

I saw this while flipping through Women's Day magazine:

I love easy stuff - this project is a piece of wood, an old shirt, some cabinet pulls, and a bit o' Mod Podge. Even though I have a lot of these things at home, I was going to try to hold off until that piece of wood and cabinet pulls sorta fell into my lap - I've been doing a lot of To-Do Craft SHOPPING and not much Craft Finishing....

A day or so later, whaddya know!? I went to Hobby Lobby (I'm always living dangerously) and happened upon the Clearance section, as I always do, and found one of their unfinished shelves that was missing a leg/support/piece. I snatched it for $1.80 - yay! This is a terrible picture because I snapped it in my basement. (Who am I kidding.... all my pictures kinda stink).

                                        

I didn't have to work too hard to get that second, remaining support piece of the shelf off. Add a coat of Mod Podge, a scrap of an old shirt, slapped on some more Mod Podge, and marked/drilled for my cabinet pulls. To be honest, at first I used regular hooks from the hardware section similar to the ones shown in the magazine photo - the screws were too long for the piece of wood I was working with. Plus, the cabinet pulls were about a dollar cheaper (at Target, 4 for $4, also Clearance) and much cuter.

I hung the project by my front door about three and a half feet up so that Elana can hang up all of her bazillion sweatshirts and jackets. Most of them are hand-me-downs. She's very into zippers right now - so she USUALLY wears a jacket under her coat!  I think she'll get a kick out of being able to hang her things up.

It's just so stinkin' cute, isn't it? I think it's almost completely because of the fabric that I like it so much. You could really use anything, or simply paint it - but where's the fun in that? Crafts are so much more rewarding to me when they make use of things I already have or that I need to recycle.


Go Make yours!

Beautious

I love clearance and thrift stores. Here's a gem I found at Hobby Lobby in their 80% off clearance aisle.

If you're confused by the dish and hand soap (nestled in another find, a small wooden planter from Goodwill circa January 2010, $.99!).... I'm talking about the cute, yellow, bubble vase on the window sill.

Beautious. I think I paid $3.80 for it (can't imagine that this is actually 80% off the original price....), more than I might have at a thrift store, but brand new, that's still a deal. I love how it catches the light.

I hate my view from the kitchen, so I'm glad you can't see it in the photos. My building is like 25 feet from the one nextdoor so I have a pretty clear view into a few people's living rooms.

Hey Big City, whatcha doin' in Ames, Iowa!?

Anyway. Now my view is a bit better!

Kandinsky Wears Black Satin

I recently took a weekend trip to Chicago and of course one of the places we visited was the Art Institute Museum. In fact, it was about a block from our hotel. Anyway, I bought a print of this famous Kandinsky piece:

I had a frame in mind when I bought the print. So this morning I dragged it out: a neat old frame that I found in the trash a couple years ago when a neighbor moved out and set a buncha junk on the curb.

That's right, the trash - I'm sorta gross. It's OK, I'm cool with it.

I've been carting it around with the rest of my junk for long enough! Time to make it over and put it to use. It's a beautiful frame - great details.  And it's been painted an ugly brownish-gold color. All in all, it was in decent shape, just dirty. I forgot before pics, but here it is after a quick sanding and wipe down:



I went to grab my can of black spray paint, and realized it was about empty. Why I kept it, I don't know. SO rather than run and buy a new can, I grabbed my small can of "Satin Black" interior stuff. I used a sponge brush to get the paint into the nooks and crannies. I like how it turned out. You can still see a hint of the gold underneath - very cool.



When the paint dries, I'll stick the print in and take an AFTER photo, okay?

Cool.

EDIT: After photos, as promised! I need to figure out where to hang it in my house...

For right now, it's taking over the spot by my front door. I'm going to embarrass myself by saying that I had to take down the piece of yarn that displayed our Christmas cards in order to hang it.... As I type this, I realize I have a fake poinsettia (also from Christmas) on the accent table behind the couch. Geez Luiz.

Sorry for under-par photos. I blame lack of natural light (this time). How awesome does that coat of black look with a bit of gold peeking through?!

Thanks for reading!!