Learning to crawl

There's a side benefit to having a beautiful finished sunroom with light and bright walls and floors: great light.

My bebe's learning to crawl, well, frustratingly trying with all her might but we're just not there yet... 

Baby Bryce

A few sneak peek shots from my first newborn shoot for mama's viewing pleasure:

Hanging around: a tutorial

Here are the supplies you'll need to make one of these stellar hanging photo boards.

Printed image on plain paper
acrylic paint
rope, jute, twine {whatever your preference}
paint brush
drill bit {I used 3/8"}
power drill
sandpaper
mod podge {not pictured here}
wood cutout {I purchased mine at ACMoore for a couple of dollars}

Step 1: Mark and drill the corner holes in your wood. Make sure not to get too close to the edge to avoid splitting and damaging your board. Once done, sand and clean up the holes. Don't worry too much about perfection here, they'll be covered by the rope knots.

Step 2: Pick your paint color and cover the board, edges too. I mixed a sky blue with a little black for a grey blue color.

Step 3: Once the paint is completely dry, take your sandpaper to the edges for a more distressed look. You can skip this step, but I like how it brings more dimension to the board.

Step 4: Apply a thin layer of mod podge on your board. Place your trimmed photo onto the board and smooth out to remove any bubbles. Once it's dry, apply a thin layer on the top of the photo for protection. It also gives the colors a deeper rich look.

Step 5: Tie a knot in one end of your rope. Feed through one hole and into the other. Now tie a knot in the other side and trim off any excess.

Step 6: Hang that custom sucker and impress all your crafty friends.

the last straw

This is her new favorite thing, chewing on straws.

And making grumpy old man faces while doing it.

floor poofs, or puffs I suppose

I made these fabulous little floor cushions for my porch design, because well, I'm cheap. I couldn't see spending all that money on something that I could so clearly make. So heed my warning, next time you think that craziness in your head, just pony up the money and go home happy.

As lovely as they are and as happy as I am with the final product, this was NOT an easy project. At first I thought the idea of an insert was genius, and then I realized the only fabric I had for the insert was a stretch jersey instead of muslin. Dumb. Then after all that cutting and sewing time, I filled the insert with my k-mart bought bean bag fill. Brilliant. Now to push that sucker into the outer cover...NOT happening. Empty some beans out. Shove in insert, fill back up and sew shut. That sucker is never EVER coming back out of that insert. So the whole, 'Oh I can just throw the cover in the wash when it gets dirty!' thing just ain't happenin'. Had I known that ahead of time I would have opted for a darker more versatile fabric. Oh well, fashion over function I guess.

So the next cushion was smaller, missing an insert and oh so easy to do. Lesson learned life, thanks. Total for both cushions was only $28, but an entire lost Saturday isn't worth the savings...so don't do as I did, BUT if you are crazycakes enough to try this on your own, skip the insert and just pour those foam beans in to your hearts content.

stylin' and profilin'

I'm a sucker for cute little dresses and adorable bebe shoes. Lucky for my budget, I don't buy anything not on clearance or at the consignment store...

rock on

Bebe's got a new pony. Best part is it's custom made with love from mama. Of course she can't ride it yet, but I'm hoping she'll love it once she can.

Here's what it looked like when I bought it from the consignment store for $12. Boring right? But I liked that it didn't have any gross yarn hair. So it got a good sanding to prep for paint.

I had to get creative with setting it up for painting, so a couple of saw horses {ironic yes?} and a tarp later, I was priming that bad boy. After primer, a couple of coats of white spraypaint.

The hardest part was definitely the stenciling. I printed a chevron print onto cardstock, using photoshop to get the size I wanted. Then I used an exacto knife to cut out the zig zags and held it onto the seat as I used a stamping foam brush to apply the color. It took some touching up after the fact and probably would have been better to create a pattern directly on the seat with painters tape, but that would have been just as time consuming.

The finished product however was well worth it and for just about $20 dollars, I think this boutique horse will have a happy life here in our home.

bebe's new shoes: a tutorial

Who wants to make some of these adorable sandals?

So here's what you need, along with scissors, thread and a sewing machine unless you're not opposed to hand sewing. I messed up a couple of things I noticed as I was working {trial and error, what can I say?} so since I couldn't retake this photo, I just updated it with scribbles. Very professional, I know. I used a thin decorative elastic but on the next pair I think I will try something thicker, even though this works just fine. Also I think I will try leather for the soles, but felt is a fine option if they're not walking yet. To get your foot template, just trace bebes feet onto some thin cardboard...

Now loop and pin your ribbon pieces like so, along with the shortest pieces of elastic to the front of the soles in between the two pieces of felt. Machine or hand sew the two pieces together securing all pieces to your base.

Now slip your largest piece of elastic through the ribbon loops and sew the ends creating a circle. This is your ankle strap.

Make your flowers for embellishment. Use premade or any one of the million tutorials on Pinterest! I've made these flowers before and they're super simple. You can follow this tutorial. Then attach to the ankle strap using hot glue. I tend to use a circle and sandwich the strap between the circle and the flower for more stability but you don't have to do this, it just finishes it off a little better.

Now I did some hand stitching on the ribbon loops to close them up closer to the ankle straps, so the straps wouldn't have too much play. It's a totally optional step. There, now you have some completed bebe shoes, but they're not for walking, I repeat not for the walking bebes! Enjoy!

picture perfect

Here's a quick inexpensive DIY canvas project. All you need is some mod podge, an 8x8 canvas, acrylic paint and a printed image on plain white office paper. I found these canvas' at Dick Blicks for a few dollars a piece. I like to keep an eye out for sale canvas since there are so many other projects you can do with these...

First print your image, trim and set aside. Now paint the outer edges of your canvas with acrylic paint and a sponge brush, making sure to go slightly over the edges so there won't be a white gap when you adhere your image on the front. Allow to dry and when ready cover the canvas front with a thin even coat of mod podge. Apply your image, flatten out with your fingers and keep an eye on any bubbling. Just press out bubbles with your fingers gently to avoid tearing the paper. If you haven't oversaturated the canvas you shouldn't run into that problem. Allow to dry and coat entire image with another thin coat of mod podge. Allow to dry and you're ready to hang! I think the top coat of mod podge really makes the image pop and protects the paper so don't skip this step, you'll be glad you didn't...

Here's the problem with Pinterest if it actually has one. It's a lot like Wikepedia in that anyone can post anything whether or not it's actually true {or works}. So It's hit or miss with some things such as writing on mugs with Sharpies, baking them and expecting that to work. It doesn't, I tried. I then proceeded to wash the marker off by hand right after they cooled. Fail. But with lots of pins, they do actually work, and you will find yourself pleased with the results and eager to either host a party or give a random person a handmade gift. 

For example, adding glitter to mod podge and painting glass. It worked, and I love it. Although, taping off a section is more difficult than it seems since the mod podge will peel off with the tape leaving you a dodgy edge. Unless you do a quick swipe around the tape/glue edge with an xacto knife. Regardless, it's an easy process.

The mod podge/glitter mixture:

Drying on the HOT sunporch {I wasn't thrilled with the clothespin results}:

And since I was trying to use up what mixture I had left, I decided to pull a couple of frames I painted a while back and glam them up a bit. I really liked the glitter effect on the frames, it added some glimmer but it's a very girly effect, so maybe not appropriate for the family gallery wall. The chalkboard centers are actual scrapbook paper, can you believe they make a chalkboard scrapping paper? How cool is that?! Anyway, if you were thinking of this Pinterest project, I highly recommend it, you might just find yourself putting glitter on everything...