Super easy fall decorating

I'm always on the lookout for crafts that are easy enough to do with my daughter.  Today I went to BigLots and bought a few decorative pumpkins for $1 each.  They were pretty cute on their own, but they did look a little cheap, and when I brought them home I realized that I didn't love the colors.  That is when I remembered that I had this paint.  As you can see by the price tag still on it, it was not expensive.  And I think I got it when paints were 40% off (craft stores have sales like that all the time.) 

And painting them was easy enough for Violet to do.  

 Here are the two I did; I applied a pretty thin layer because I liked the different colors to show through. Also, they were much more metallic than they look in these pictures.  They didn't photograph too well.

 Violet applied the paint much more liberally, as 2-year-olds noramally do.

I have used this metallic paint on a couple of different projects and I will say that I am a huge fan.  They also have several different colors, and it would be cool to see how silver or bronze ones turn out.  Happy Autumn!

A non-commital makeover

Remember this fabric dressing room that I made for my parents' play room last summer?  It actually turned out really well. Unfortunately, kids under the age of 6 don't really care who sees them in their underwear and they think it's fascinating to pull apart PVC joints.  So it was short-lived.

 

But yesterday I bought a new bookcase for my living room and almost immediately decided that it needed something extra.  I had seen bookshelf makeovers where people put wallpaper on the backing, so I decided to try out fabric.  The fabric from the dressing room happened to fit it exactly, so I decided that it was meant to be.  I did have one dilemma, though: I wasn't sure if my husband would like it. I know that most people's husbands could care less about home decor as long as they don't have to sleep in a pink bed.  I do not have a typical husband. 

 

Then a light bulb went off.  I laid the fabric over the back of the shelf, put the backing over it, and nailed it down on the sides but not the top or bottom. The backing held the fabric in place but since the fabric wasn't actually attatched to anything, I could slide it out in case my husband decided he didn't like it. 

 I then stuck it against the wall. Nobody has to know that there is a mess of extra fabric behind it.  Now my toddler can take it over and put all her crap on it.  Wonderful.

Chalkboard place cards

This post was originally supposed to be a knock-off of these place cards that I saw in my parents' Williams-Sonoma catalog ($29 for a set of 4).  I now live dangerously close to a dollar store but when I went to look for mini-frames there, they only had them in a chrome finish, and that didn't really accomplish the cute country look I was going for.  So I abandoned the frame idea and went for a different approach to these. 

Williams-Sonoma place cards

 I found some wood plaques for 69 cents each at Michaels.  I got some chalkboard spray paint (about $5 at Lowes) and it was pretty self-explanatory from there.  (Please excuse the smeared chalk and tiny feet in the picture.  My daughter is now 2 and doesn't take naps, so staging good pictures during daylight hours is nigh impossible.  And when she saw the chalk she obviously thought this project was way too fun not to mess with.)

Why Batman?  Well, look at the shape and color of the plaque.  I couldn't stop the "Na na na na na na na na... BATMAN!" from going through my head.

So there you have it, four for less than $8 instead of four for $29.  And you could easily do the little frames if you were to find some in the right size and color.  They would also work great as food labels for a buffet party.  Now I just need to throw a party fancy enough to use them.  It may be awhile before I do.

And as for a product review on the chalkboard paint... it worked fine.  The chalk wiped off cleanly with a damp cloth.  It didn't come off too easily with a dry cloth, but that's probably because my base was made of wood and the chalk got caught in the grain.  That being said, I'm not sure if I could tell the difference between chalkboard paint and black matte spray paint.  I'll try it on another project before making up my mind on this product.

Back in Action

I know, a 6-month gap in between posts is inexcusable.  But I'm going to come up with some excuses anyways.  First, I had a baby.  And in case you didn't know, I tend to use the "I just had a baby" bit as an excuse to get out of pretty much anything.  But while I did get back in to sewing after about a month or so, I just never got up the motivation to blog about it.  I fully intended to but I just wasn't cranking out enough projects to have a steady flow of posts again.  After awhile I figured that nobody cared anyways and I may as well abandon all hope of being a productive sewing blogger.

Then last weekend I was having a friend take me to pick up something I found on Craigslist and she asked me about the blog.  I told her the same lame excuses that I just told everyone else and she said "Oh, you and your sister always used to post really cool things on there."  And then I got all teary-eyed and said, "Really? You thought they were cool?  You.... care about the blog?"  (Just kidding.  I didn't get teary-eyed and sentimental.  At least not on the outside...) I then told her about some of the projects I had been working on lately and being the supportive friend that she is, she assured me that they were cool and I should start posting again.  So here I am.

And I know, I don't have any project on this post.  But I have an old wingback chair, fabric, and chalkboard paint in my arsenal, so I can assure you that there will be some interesting things coming up soon.

Also, we now have a Pin It button, but it's only visible if you click on an individual post, and not on the main blog.  Lame, I know.  I'm working on it.

Crib bumpers: what I learned.

I never used crib bumpers when Violet was a baby.  Technically, the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't recommend them because the baby can roll into them while it is sleeping and suffocate on them.    However, when Violet was about 6 months old, she started doing this:

 Yep, that's Violet with her legs wedged between the crib slats.  When she was first learning to crawl, she would only go backwards and then this would happen.  At that point I started wishing that I had bumpers.  But I never got around to making any.

Until this pregnancy.  This is what I did with my on-sale designer fabric.  I love how they turned out.  I feel like they are gender-neutral enough to use with either a boy or a girl, since I don't know which I'm having.

They weren't as easy as I had planned.  I underestimated how many ties I would need (I ended up using 8 for each long side and 4 for each short side).  I also bought thick satin ribbon for the ties.  It looks pretty, but thinner, coarser ribbon is actually easier to tie.  I also didn't think about how expensive foam is (to fill the bumpers).  I resorted to cutting up an old foam mattress pad and  using that as the filling.  It actually works quite nicely.

I should let you know that you probably won't be saving any money by making these yourself.  You can find ones that aren't too expensive online.  But if you want to be able to customize the fabric and make them exactly match your room, this is the way to go.  Besides, if you buy them, you won't have the frustration of messing up and redoing fulfillment of making these on your own.

And as for the safety part of these, I have decided that if the baby starts to roll (which Violet never figured out how to do), then I will take them out.  Just to be safe.  But I have no reservations about putting them back in the second this kid learns how to crawl backwards.

Online store rave

I don't normally go for designer labels.  The budget-consious side of me simply will not let myself be won over by a brand name.  I do, however, LOVE designer fabrics.  (Amy Butler, anyone?)  Maybe it's because they're not really any more expensive than normal fabrics.  The only problem is that I can never seem to find designer fabrics in fabric stores; only online.  And I don't like buying fabrics online.  I like to be able to see and feel the fabric before I purchase it.  I like being super specific with how much I tell the lady at the cut counter to cut for me (I've been known to have them hold it up for me and show me what 1/2 yard would look like, and so on).  I like using the coupons that let you get anything in the store for 40% off.  And most of all, I hate paying for shipping and having to wait 4-7 business days before I can start sewing.

Okay, maybe I'm high-maintenance.  But I was able to let that all go today.  Today I found a site called quilthome.com.  It looks like any normal fabric site, and the prices are almost identical to other sites (because apparently someone decided that $8.75 per yard is the golden number for designer fabrics, and they seem to cost that much no matter what site you go to.)  But, they do have a huge selection of designer fabrics and if you look at the right side of the page, they have a bar that says "Specials" where you can get fabrics for up to 60% off.  These aren't fabrics that are on clearance because they're too ugly to sell, either.  The specials change every day.  Above that, they have a coupon special that changes daily.  They also let you purchase in half-yard quantities.

I was able to get this fabric for $3.58 per yard (normally $8.75)

I ended up saving so much money that I got coordinating fabric ($4.03 per yard) for the same project.  I had planned on just going to a fabric store and buying something solid to go with the fabric, but I'm pretty sure this is a better deal.

After that, I didn't mind spending the money on shipping.  Score.

Fancy little dress

Remember the dress I made for my anniversary?  I had a ton of leftover fabric from it.  For Violet's birthday I threw together this cute, fancy dress.  I put a liner in it (which I had never done before) so it was kind of tricky, but I'm glad I did because the fabric is not super soft.  I also added some sheer sequined fabric to the skirt to make it look less plain. 

 The flowers required a LOT of cutting and hand-stitching.  I hate hand stitching. 

 And I found the perfect buttons for the back. 

I can't wait for her to try it out on Sunday!