DIY Embroidered Canvas–2013 Spring Pinterest Challenge

    Ladies and gentleman… I am finally posting something new! Can you believe it?? I can hardly believe I made time to write a post.  Thank goodness for being able to write a post and schedule publishing it!! Anyway, …

Pinterest challenge time again!

It’s that time people! Another Pinterest challenge has been given…and I am on board this time! Go check it out and join in the fun!

Thanks to younghouselove and Bower Power for getting us moving on those pins!

They are joining up with 2 great blogs for this challenge. Go check them out!

younghouselove
Bower Power
Red Bird Blue
Sparkle Meets Pop

Let’s meet back here next Wednesday May 8th and share what we did!

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I will be making a few changes to the site in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

Projects, projects everywhere!

I am actually, truly, seriously working on some stuff. It’s a little ADD at the moment since I don’t have any one project pulled together. I am in super organize mode so there are little spots here and there getting tweaks. Did you know we have 6 people living in a 3 bedroom house? Did I mention said house is a good bit under 2000 sq ft? We are stepping all over each other. Add in baby gear and my crafting/project hoard and you have a house that is insanely out-of-order. After I returned to work, I have not had time to put things in order. And with a complete lack of storage in this place I am having a hard time getting things to flow in our home. We have never been neat freaks, and it’s really hard to keep everyone on board with picking up after themselves. My time at home is so limited during the week. As in, I get home at 6-6:30 and it’s bed time for the kids between 8-9 and I am not too far behind them. So I squeeze in what I can for cleaning, organizing and projects on weekends and spare minutes here and there. I plan to take a day off work in the near future and put things in order – but first I need all the tools at my disposal. I have been scouring Craigslist and Goodwill trying to find the items I need (namely a dresser and some sort of cabinet or bookshelf – and maybe a table for the entry way). NO luck so far, but I know I will come across the perfect pieces.

My project list is growing, but then it has never been small and ever-changing. I come up with a “great” idea and by the time I get to it I have either decided it won’t function well in our home or adapted it a little differently. So as of now, my project list looks like this:

Complete Hannah’s room
Organize and store craft supplies
Organize our mail and general paraphernalia that gets dropped on the bars
Start on the boy’s room
Redo guest bath
Finish master bedroom

I haven’t decided how I will post on Hannah’s room. I will either give you tutorials along the way as I complete them, or churn those out after the reveal. We shall see what time allows me. I have her room started…just getting into it deeper now. The to do list in there is not too bad.

1. New curtains
2. Paint the walls
3. Hang her chandelier
4. hang a TV on the wall
5. New bed
6. Get and makeover a dresser
7. Address storage in her room
8. Possibly a desk
9. Art for all walls
10. Bedding and pillows
11. Closet organization

I have paint for the guest bath and have already primed over the color that was in there. I have ideas and pinned some things for in there. It’s basically needing to be made more grown up and less polka-dotted. I have lots of organizing tools and plans, just need to execute those in the main living areas. I have also decided to rethink how we use our kitchen and bathroom cabinets. So much wasted space!! The boy’s room is the least planned out right now, but I feel like it will come together really easily once I get started.

And of course I can’t have a post without a pic of some sort.. so here is some inspiration I have for the guest bath and organizing.

Awesome bath found HERE
Go and check out the rest of Meredith’s handy work. She just revealed their guest bath remodel. Wow, it looks amazing.

Awesome organizing found HERE

If you haven’t checked out iHeart Organizing, I strongly recommend it. This woman makes organizing look fun, and pretty!! Her site is so motivational.

So I am just going to keep on keeping on. Hopefully that will include some fun blog posts as well!

2013 Resolutions

Or something like that. I tend to avoid resolutions. I feel that if you have a goal, start it when you decide it’s a goal, and it doesn’t need to wait till the new year. But with that said, it’s nice to put together a combined list of goals you want to work towards. This year, I have decided that I am going to put some goals together so I can actually track some progress. And hey, just for fun – have a family resolution for the year!

#1 The easiest goal for me this year is health and fitness. We have been a health-minded family for a long time, and with the birth of a baby and a busy schedule, we have to find time to eat well and exercise. Winter makes it a little harder on the exercise front, but it shouldnt’ be an excuse to not do anything at all. So it’s time to get back on board with being healthy.

#2 A little different goal for me is to get to a comfortable place with going green. I am having a hard time finding a place where I feel like we are being green, but not forgoing all the things in life that make me happy (or just make life much easier). I love make-up, hair products and food. I have been trying to find products that are organic and as few chemicals as possible. Let’s face it though, I need some products in my life that make me feel good about me. So how much of that can I allow without feeling like I am loading my body up with chemicals? I am not sure..but I intend to find out this year.

#3 A common goal this year – put my house in order!!! Organize, clean and make keeping it clean a little easier. Although decor is my love, at this point I think just getting things put away and clean is going to be a challenge. I must put some time, money and effort into making that job al little easier on all of us in the house.

#4 Make more meaningful time with friends and family. Not only do we have 4 kids in the house, but we both work full-time jobs outside of the home. Time is something we don’t have a lot of. I want to have more memories of family time with the kids and my husband. We also have local family that deserves more of our time than they get. Oh and friends? Well…let’s just say that if you aren’t family living in our home, you don’t really get my time. That’s a little bit of a problem if I want to have a life outside my kids to feel like “me”. I need female time to keep from getting lost in mommyhood and losing myself. I need to be able to have conversations that don’t always include breastfeeding, cloth diapers or sleeping habits. Don’t get me wrong, I am very passionate about those topics, especially breastfeeding, but there IS more to life.

And that family resolution I mentioned? We have decided that we will all perform at least one random act of kindness each month for the year. Each month we will sit down and talk about what we did. It always feels good to help someone out for no other reason than we can, and there is a need. I would love to see the kids be more attentive to other’s needs, and it can’t hurt myself or my husband either.

So that’s it… I am ready for this year. Are you? What are your resolutions or goals??

DIY Key Holder

I spent some time working on a long over-due need in our home…a key holder. Things like keys get lost too easily in our home, so we needed somewhere to keep them handy. I didn’t want to buy anything for this project, so I culled my collection of craft and project “stuff” and came up with this. I had some leftover wood from a bedroom project (that I will be posting about soon! The final product) and parts to an IKEA curtain system that I had never used. In the picture below are the tools needed for this simple project.

1. small piece of wood
2. finishing nails
3. eye hooks
4. wire (I used picture wire)
5. masking tape or painters tape
6. wire cutters
7. paint (I used some acrylic paint I had)
8. paintbrushes (I couldn’t find my craft brushes – so I used what I could find)

I started by painting the wood white, letting it dry for a few hours, then taping off the pattern I wanted. This was the toughest part of the project since I am not a measure and tape kind of person with little projects.

Once all of the paint was dry, I screwed in the eye hooks, measured out the picture wire for how long I needed and attached that to the eye hooks. I strung the key hooks in before I attached both sides.

The last step was to determine where I wanted to hang it and get it on the wall. The front door above the light switch was where we needed it.

Once hung, I went over the nails with the acrylic paint to hide the nail heads. And.. hang the keys!! Super simple and useful project.

Anyone else get a little project knocked out over the holidays? How about a big project? I would love to hear what you have been up to!

2013 and what it will bring

Well, it’s a new year. There was way too much going on for me in 2012, some good, some not so much. I took a little break here to keep the rest of my life in order during a pregnancy. 7 weeks postpartum and I have finally found my fuel to get going again! I have completed a project, started a couple more and I may just have the time to write about them in the near future. I have had my hands full with a 2 yr old and this little guy for the last 7 weeks and I returned to work full-time. It’s going to be challenging, but I enjoy the projects and sharing them so much that I would be doing an injustice to myself to not get back in the game. So be looking for some new stuff!!

And an introduction is in order… meet the newest member of our family – taking us from 5 to an even 6!

Brantley Cole

DIY Maternity Pants

First, let me apologize for that “teaser” post earlier… I was working from my iPhone and hit publish when I meant to hit save.  Oops!!  Anyway… here is the full post – Finally!!!

I must also apologize for these crappy pics… our camera died on us, so the iPhone is all I had available.  I think a new camera will be a good purchase for Christmas this year!!

 

I had mentioned before that I have been making my own maternity pants.  Well, truth be told, I have made about 6 or 7 pairs.  It’s a little addicting.  And the total cost of the 6 or 7?  Probably around 30 dollars if I am rounding up.  Have you priced maternity clothes lately???  They are so overpriced.  Especially after I found making my own to be so simple and cheap.  And I will once again state – I do not sew!!!  I can sew a straight line, I can do things that are simple, but if it requires a lot of thought or measuring – um, nope.  There are a bunch of tutorials out there, well, a few.  I figured one more couldn’t hurt. 

 

My method…easy.  here goes…

 

My first step was to find a pair of pants and some sort of top to use for my belly band.  I picked up a pair of grey slacks from Goodwill, then found a tube top that I have had for about 10 years – and I do not exaggerate there lol.  Tube tops are actually my preferred top for this project since they already come equipped with elastic around the top. 

 

Other supplies needed:

Scissors

pins

sewing machine

thread

patience!

 

I started out by removing the zipper

 

 

I think this was the most tedious part of this project.  Once it was removed I needed to close up the fly.  I simply pinned it closed and sewed a quick straight stich close to the outer edge.  Most tutorials tell you to hand sew it…and this might have been a little prettier – but it was much easier to just use the sewing machine to sew it closed.  I forgot to get a pic of that right after I sewed the fly shut.

I found it to be easier to finish the fly before I moved on to the waistband, you may find it doesn’t matter.  So next I cut off the waist band right below it.

I chose to leave on the bottom part of the belt loops.  It just looks nicer once completed.  When I made jeans though, I removed those because it was just so difficult to sew over them.  I also noticed that on these pants, the pockets were sewn to the waistband, so once that was removed, the front of the pocket wasn’t attached to anything.  Although I could have pinned this together and sewn it all at one time when I put together the pants and the top, I find it easier to secure these parts before trying to deal with the top.  I pinned it down and put a quick stitch in the top of each pocket.  Every pair of pants you work with will have a different little glitch like this… just do what you think will work!

 

 

The next step was to attach the tube top.  I simply turned it inside and and slid it top down over the top of the pants.  Right sides should be facing each other, and the top part should be down towards the feet.  If you are in doubt of how you put them together, hold them as best you can together and turn the tube top back up – does that work?  I pinned it all the way around starting at the seams and working around the back first.  I pulled the back tight so that the tube top covered it all, and this part of the pants doesn’t need to be extra stretchy to wear.  The front on the other hand you want to try and avoid stretching too much since it will need some room to stretch once your belly grows.  I should also note that I put my pins up and down, rather than running horizontal to the waist.  I found that putting them horizontal they would slip and not hold the pieces together quite as snugly. 

Your in the homestretch now!  Now you need to sew the two pieces together.  I started the machine at the seam, and chose a stitch that I thought would be the strongest.  This seam will take a lot of abuse, so use strong thread and a strong stitch.

I kept getting hung up in the thick spots – as you can see from that little blob of thread where the fly is.  I was just patient, didn’t try to push things through and used a function on my machine that raised the back of the foot some to allow for bulkier fabrics. (I had to look that up in the owner’s manual)

 

And here you go… all done!!

And I did see a mistake… see the right side pocket?  Here, I will give you a close up…

Yea, missed that.. I should be more careful in the pinning process to get those spots under a pin!  My mistake and lesson learned hopefully helps one of you!  And to see them in action?

 

I hadn’t adjusted the top of the tube top yet to fit right above my belly.  I wanted to wait a bit until my belly was bigger, and I wore them for a while just folded down until I decided how I liked it. 

I didn’t take any pictures of that process, but it was also super simple.  I folded the top part down, and then sewed right above the elastic, then cut off the extra part.  It was a lot like the jean hemming tutes you see out there (which DO work FYI).  It was nice to wear it like a tube top for a while though as you can see in one of the above photos, it doubled as a cami. 

 

Well… that is it.. my DIY maternity pants.  I have done shorts, jeans, and some capris.  And  I know that if I need more, it’s so simple and cheap to do!  Anyone else been doing some simple sewing lately?

Maternity pants diy

Start

Updates on life and pregnancy

Can you beleive that I am actually writing a post? Nah, me either. Seems like it has been forever since I have had the energy or even desire to write a post. Now that I am past all the morning sickness, well into the second trimester, I am getting some more pep in my step.

So what have I been doing for the last few months? Well, besides just trying to make it through bouts of morning sickness, we have seen the new munchkin a couple of times and even found out that we will be having another little boy. I have finally gotten back at some of my home decor/DIY projects. I have even been trying my hand with sewing some repurposed maternity clothes. The kids are now on summer break and getting back from camp today….. and planning vacations and other fun summer stuff before school starts back up.

I bet your wondering what I am talking about with those repurposed maternity clothes? Well, when I’m pregnant, I love me some full panel maternity bottoms. They are just comfy and make me feel all supported in my belly. Did I mention that maternity clothes can get pricey? And they will only be worn for, umm, 129 more days. Give or take a few of course. I have no desire to spend a bunch of money on clothes right now. So I culled the web for alternatives. Of course, the web delivered. I came across a bunch of pants tutorials as well as shirts.

Here are a couple that I found:

All via Pinterest. Here are the links to the blogs: 1. Create Studio 2. icandy handmade 3. Sew like my mom

My game plan was to pick up a couple pairs of jeans from Goodwill, maybe a couple of baby Ts and make some jeans. So I stopped by and picked up 2 pairs of jeans. I wore each pair before I made changes to be sure I really liked them. Wel turns out one pair I can’t bear to cut up, so they will go in my rotation for post-baby. I will just go ahead and grab a pair from my drawer to replace them. I started on the other pair of jeans. I followed the tutorials, but kind of mixed 2. I didn’t want to cut the back waist off so I just cut the front. No go. I will need to make some adjustments on that pair. Oh and get some elastic, cause they must have that. I am going to see what I can do with them this weekend. I also plan on making some shorts and dress pants. I came across 2 tube tops I was going to get rid of that would be perfect to just sew onto a pair of jeans for the full panel. Score! I will post pics once I have them finished!

Oh and about this new little munchkin – I had a great reveal pic planned. Something like this:

Photo found here.

But… I was afraid I couldn’t get the box in the car with the kids, then I forgot to get the balloons. Ugh… preggo brain!!! So we improvised. I ran to the dollar store and we did this:

Ashton was supposed to be holding an “a” but after 2 popped balloons we said forget it, just get a smiling pic!!! Oh and please disregard how incredibly dirty Ashton is… he is ALL little boy! He and Garrett were playing..lol

Oh and I swapped the kids rooms around. Garrett and Ashton will be sharing a room, and Hannah’s will be getting a fun makeover. Hannah had the bigger room, so it just made sense to have the 2 boys take that one and set Hannah up in the other. I am excited to get it all done. I’m also excited for Ashton to move in there with Garrett, that will prove to be much harder than painting all the walls and moving furniture!!

But that’s me… at least what I can think of at the moment. What about you?