Doily lamp tutorial. Finally!

Well, it only took me three months, but I promised that I'd finally get around to showing you how I made the doily light for Penelope's nursery.  Unfortunately I can't take credit for this awesome idea - I saw this version on Pinterest awhile back - but here's my version it and some tips that I found useful....

So a mere week before Christmas, and only ten days before I went into labor, my husband came home to this going on in the middle of our kitchen.  Luckily, we've been together for about 11 years, so he's pretty used to my crazy projects taking over our house.

I used one of those giant punching bag balloons that I found at the dollar store since they are perfectly spherical vs the typical balloon shape.  Plus, they seem to be a little thicker than a normal balloon, and less likely to pop during the process.

The original poster used wallpaper glue, but I just went with what I had on hand which was regular old Elmer's school glue, that I watered down a bit.  I simply placed the doilies on the balloon and painted them with the glue until they were completely saturated.  The glue seemed to have just enough tack to hold them in place and I didn't have any problems with them falling off before they were dry.

I let this dry for about 24 hours and then went back and touched up some areas that didn't feel quite stiff enough (if your doilies seem too pliable, just increase your glue to water ratio).  Then I let this dry for another day.  Then it hung there for another couple of days just because.

Finally I popped the balloon (which was Phoebe's favorite part) and used this lighting kit from Ikea to hang it up.  I intentionally left an opening between a couple of the doilies so that I could fit the bulb and socket into the center without having to cut out a hole in the lamp.

And there you go!  It was incredibly simple, and it only cost me around $10.  Four for the lighting kit and I probably used about six doilies (thrifted at about $1 each) to cover the balloon. 

The light has held up beautifully.  It gets turned on every evening, and I haven't had any problems with it warping, or getting too hot, or anything.  And Penelope just loves looking at it and all of the beautiful shadows that it makes on the walls.

Next up - one for every room of the house!

Ruffled Waterfall Crib Skirt

I was planning on doing a tutorial on how to make this lovely crib skirt, but I ended up going into labor just after I started making it.  I wanted to be really sure it was true labor before I went to the hospital, so I kept working away on this project, pausing every 10 minutes, 7 minutes, 5 minutes to grab the table, white-knuckled and try not to scream my head off.  So sufficient to say, I did not take any pictures of the process.  But I'll try to walk you through the construction nonetheless.

So basically a crib skirt is made up of a deck and three panels (I didn't make one for the 4th side since it would be up against a wall and you wouldn't see it anyway).  The deck is just a measurement of the crib mattress size, which is a standard 28" x 52".  The side panels are the length of the side and then the measurement of where you want the skirt to hit the floor.

With this crib skirt, I left it hanging a good 6 inches or so off of the floor.  That way when the crib mattress is lowered when Penelope gets older, it will just brush the floor as opposed to puddling in a crinkled mess.

I ended up using exactly one yard of each fabric for the ruffles.  I cut the bottom two colors into 6 inch tall strips and the top color into 5 inch tall strips (this makes all of the ruffles appear the same size since there is about one inch of overlap on the bottom two ruffles). 

To get a full ruffle-y effect I cut my strips 2 1/2 times as long as each panel.  So for the short sides, my strips were 70" and the long front panel strips were 130".  Hem the two short ends and one of the long sides.  Then I simply ruffled the strips by sewing a long basting stitch along the unhemmed side and gathering the fabric until it was the length of the panel, pinned it down like crazy, and sewed it to the panel.

 

For the topmost strips, I sewed them to the panels - wrong sides facing - so that the raw edges would not be exposed, but for the middle and bottom strips, I simply laid them so they were laying right side up because the raw edges would be covered by the ruffle from above.  I didn't even bother to remove my gathering stitches since they won't be seen anyways.

Then I sewed the panels to the deck.

Ta-da!

Now since you've tackled the crib skirt, you can go on to make one of those fancy shower curtains from Anthropologie.  But probably not for awhile.  You'll be super sick of ruffling.

Penelope's Nursery

Deer print is from here, bunny was thrifted.

I'm happy to say that so far Penelope has proved to be a pretty patient little baby, and didn't seem to mind that her nursery was still in shambles when she arrived.
 
Thankfully, she's also been a great sleeper, so I've been able to finish it up before she outgrew it! 


We recycled most of the furniture and main baby items from Phoebe's nursery, but went with a completely different color palette. 

Want to see a before picture (as in, before we bought the house)? Click here. But be warned, it's a little scary.
 

Once again, Polly finds herself right at home in the crib.



I want to secure and paint that darn cord the same color as the wall, but with a newborn and a 2 1/2 year old, I've got better things to do with my (almost nonexistent) free time.
 

I found that sweet little Hansel and Gretal lamp for $3 at my local thrift store and added a clearance lampshade from Target.  The house lights up too!

More info on the ABC crewelwork sampler here.
 

I totally copied these doily clouds from here.


I picked up the bird screen print from local artist Marcy Davy of All Things Grow, the book was thrifted, and the cat was my great-grandmothers.


I made the crib sheet from one of my favorite vintage sheets using Dana's tutorial - which is ridiculously simple and fantastic.  I ended up getting Phoebe to sleep in her big girl bed by letting her pick out her own fabric for her sheets.  Now she has kitty sheets, snowman sheets, and butterfly sheets.  It's crazy how much joy a fitted sheet brings her.

The stuffed lamb has been around for awhile, but has seemed to take up residence in the crib because she matches so darn well.
 

Stay tuned for a post on how I made this super-sweet crib skirt!
*The post is up!  Click here for a how-to*






The doily lamp will be getting it's own post too. 
 

The nursery at night.  Such a cozy place for a sweet baby!

Martha Stewart craft paint review and project

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you're probably sick of hearing me talk about my love affair with Martha Stewart's new craft paint line.  And no, I am not being paid to go on and on about this stuff (I wish I was!).

First I was awestruck by the rainbow of amazing colors available in all sorts of finishes and their ability to paint on anything (wood, glass, plastic, fabric, metal, etc.), but what I really fell in love with was all of her specialty paints and finishes - specifically the magnetic and chalkboard paints.  I've seen these types of paint before at hardware stores, but only for upwards of $20 or so for a small container.  With my trusty Michael's coupons, I paid a grand total of $3.50 for the magnetic and $3.00 for the chalkboard paint.  And hey, slap a Martha Stewart logo on something and throw on some lovely packaging, and I'm pretty much sold before I even know what it is.  Sad, I know.

 

When we moved into our new house, we were lucky enough to have an updated kitchen with one of those fancy, stainless steel refrigerators.  Attractive - yes.  But I was bummed out about it's un-magnetic capabilities.  So I decided to transform this skinny 2 foot wide section of wall into a magnetic chalkboard  

I taped off a 14" x 56" rectangle and first painted it with 2 coats of the magnetic paint which used up the entire container - it is some really thick and gloopy paint - but of course myself and a couple of friends all squealed in delight when it actually held magnets :)  And then painted it with 2 coats of the chalkboard paint, which took about 1/2 of the bottle.

Then I put my husband to work framing it out with some simple trim that he picked up from the hardware store (I have a bit of a difficult time cutting miters the correct length).  

Next on the agenda?  To whip up some cute magnets to accessorize this baby!  I'm thinking some of these, some of these, and definitely some of these.

Have any of you tried out these paints yet?  I'd love to see some of your projects!

More furniture makeovers

I think that my husband is more excited than I am to have this piece of furniture finally finished, since it's been taking up a good chunk of garage space for the past 4 or 5 months.  I'm always on the lookout for this style of furniture (whatever it's called) because it reminds me so much of my childhood.  I had standup dresser with similar curves when I was younger and my great-grandmother's house was filled with pieces like this.

When I saw this dresser at an estate sale this past spring for a mere ten dollars I could barely contain my excitement.  

Nevermind that I had to drive back and forth across town to borrow my friends truck, or that I had to lug most of it by myself (with some help from strangers who took pity on me) down a super steep set of stairs.  And let me tell you, this baby is solid wood.

Aside from the surface looking like crap, it was in pretty good condition and just needed a lot of sanding and a couple coats of primer and paint.  You can see a bit of a before shot here.  I ended up going with the color Sea Glass from Martha Stewart's line, and I'm still debating about painting that hardware.  It actually doesn't look so blatantly gold in person (it's much more dull and distressed) and I don't terribly mind it, but some white might brighten the whole thing up. 

I'm slowly working on transitioning Phoebe's nursery into more of a big girl room, so I'll be swapping and moving around her current furniture and giving the room a fresh coat of paint.  If only we could do something about that hideous carpeting, but it's just not in the budget right now.

Now we just have to see if all of these drawers will hold the wardrobe of a 2 year old girl.  It's gonna be pretty close...

Coffee table before & after

Remember this little guy?  Of course you do!  I just posted this before shot a couple of days ago.

I picked him up at an estate sale for a mere $3.  Yup three whole dollars.  

And with one child free weekend, some white paint, Mod Podge, and fabric from my stash, my little thrifty find was transformed into....

The cutest darn coffee table you've ever seen!

After sanding, priming, and painting the legs, I cut a piece of fabric to fit the table top and glued it down with Mod Podge Hard Coat.  It's actually still not quite finished, as I have a couple more coats of Mod Podge to apply to the surface, but aside from building up a good topcoat it's pretty much done.

And isn't this fabric just fantastic?!  I found it at Hancock's not too long ago for a mere $4 a yard.  It actually looks suspiciously similar to some of these Orla Kiely prints, with some variations.  Unfortunately there is absolutely no information on the selvedge (it's printed edge to edge), so it stands to remain a mystery....

Open for Business!

Even though I've still got 4 months before this baby gets here, I have been in major nesting mode lately - which I have been quite enjoying since it never really kicked in when I was pregnant with Phoebe. 

I guess I just keep thinking that if I don't do it now, then it will never get done once I have two kids.  Plus, I might as well use all of this energy while I have it.  I remember all too well how I felt last time during my 3rd trimester! 

So we've been doing lots of cosmetic work on the house lately - painting, making curtains, rearranging rooms, hanging pictures, and refinishing some recent thrift store finds.  I can't wait to show you the final reveal on the dresser above - including the amazing price I got it for!  Here it is all sanded, primed, and ready for paint.

This little table has gotten a new paint job, and I just need to pick out some fabric that is going to cover the top.

To go along with the nesting, I've decided to put a few things in my Etsy shop that has been sitting abandoned for way too long.  I'm still not quite sure which direction my shop is going to take - be it quilts and other handmade goods, custom orders, vintage finds, or fabric destash (particularly vintage sheets :), but I'll add a few things here or there until I get a better idea of where it's going.

This quilt was actually made over a year ago as a gift, but it didn't end up being large enough after I used up all of my Jenean Morrison's Moondance line.  However I think it would make a perfect baby quilt and playmat - especially for a boy or gender neutral nursery!

I'm also putting this little gem in the shop as well.  I love it to death, but we seriously just have more quilts than we know what to do with around here.  I'm sure it will find a great home with someone who will really treasure it!

I hope you all are having a great weekend.  Wish me luck in the coming week - we've decided it's time to break Phoebe of her paci, so I'm hoping we can all make it through in one piece!

Tutorial: Fabric Covered Shelves

I've slowly but steadily been making some progress on my studio.  Up until recently, I've been scrounging around for my crafting supplies amongst 15 half-unpacked boxes sitting smack dab in the middle of the room.  It didn't really lend itself to a very efficient or organized creative process - both of which I lack in even the best of circumstances.

While I was hoping to thrift or purchase some sort of lovely storage system, our budget didn't have room for anything to my liking, so we ended up installing a super cheap track shelving system.  It definitely gets the job done, but isn't very pretty to look at - especially when all that we were using as the shelves themselves were 6 foot unfinished pine boards.

I decided to pretty them up with some vintage sheets this past weekend, and here's how I did it....

First I painted the boards with two coats of primer.  I'm not entirely sure if this is a necessary step, but some of the sheets were on the sheer side, so it keeps the knots and the wood grain from showing through.

Starting at one end, I coated a section of the board in spray adhesive and smoothed the sheet flat. 

I continued all the way down the board until the first side was covered.

Then I flipped it over and did the same thing to the other side.

I folded the ends up - gift wrap style - after giving it another good shot of spray adhesive.

Then I painted a good coat of Mod Podge all the way down the seam and on the folded over edges.

And voila!  It took about 15 minutes in the sunshine to dry, and I had them screwed into the shelving system in no time.  Overall this project took maybe an hour to complete and didn't even use up the entire can of adhesive.  

Even my husband was impressed at how smooth and clean they turned out.  And I thought for sure I was going to end up in a sticky mess of glue and frayed sheets. 

The only thing left to do is load it up with craft supplies and think about what else I'm going to cover in fabric!