{DIY} Scrapbook Fridge Magnets

 

Aren't these adorable? I love them and they are so easy to make.  We've got a stainless steel fridge, so I can only use the tiny space on the sides that stick out.  I wanted some magnets that "went" with the kitchen and I fell in love with these metal scrap-booking charms.  They are little pieces of art! Hmmm...maybe I"ll get some mini Monet's next time ;)  You can pick them up at any craft store in the scrap-booking section.  I got the magnets at a craft store too.  Of course, the super glue I already had.  Yes, between the {DIY office storage} and {no-sew burlap table runner}, you could probably tell that I am obsessed with love super glue. 

This little project couldn't be any easier...

You will want to press and hold the magnet onto the charm for a good 10-20 seconds to ensure that the super glue adheres. The other great thing about using the metal charms, is that they are already going to want to grab hold of the magnets.  The super glue just makes sure that they stay in the spot you want them to. Easy, right?!?

Vintage Travel Poster Pillows {DIY}

These pillows made the perfect birthday gift for my sister Kelsey.  She is getting her first "own place" in the fall.  We are bequeathing her our black couch and love seat, so I made a few pillows to start her out.  These are double sided, so she can flip them to mix it up. I chose this great soft cream textured fabric for the iron-on transfer side, and a cute cotton print for the back.  These are 16 inch pillows, so a yard of each kind of fabric was plenty to make 3.

Did I mention these are too easy to make?!? 

1. Cut your fabric.  For 16 inch pillows, I cut 17 inch squares.   So whatever size you want, add an inch to each side for the seam allowance.

2. Make the pillowcase.  Line up your fabric face to face, with right sides together and wrongs sides out.  Then pin them together and sew around the entire perimeter, leaving a small opening so you can flip it right side out.  Make sure this opening is at the bottom of your pillow case! 

3. Iron on your masterpiece.  I've got a simple iron transfer tutorial for you {here}.  The vintage posters I found on Etsy at {this shop}.  They so many great digital pictures and quotes that are only $1, easy to download, and you can even request them in colors.  I already have my Christmas pillow line up set!!

4. Finish your pillows.  Once your transfers are on your cases, you can stuff them.  I used pillow stuffing for these, but I have also used pillows that I just wanted recovered, or inserts that you can buy at sewing supply stores.  Once you've stuffed it, fold in the edges of your opening, pin it closed, and then hand stitch it closed. This is why you want the opening at the bottom...no one needs to know you had to hand stitch anything!

 Verona/Subway Art/Rome

And, you're done!

Baby Shower {Goin' Fishin'}

This past weekend, I co-hosted my first baby shower with my sister-in-laws.  Wesley's oldest sister is having her first little boy at the end of next month.  We went with a fishing theme...perfect for little Jacob since his dad loves it so much!  

All of the decorations we made to match the nursery so that they could be re-purposed and enjoyed for longer than just the 2 hour celebration.  The fishing panel art was my favorite thing that we made (tutorial here).  We also created a fishing net display that we hung the advise cards on with tiny fishing hooks....this was too easy - just some fishing net that we picked up at Michaels and stapled to the back of a frame we painted and sanded. The thank you gifts were simple burlap squares that we tied around a small plastic bag of goodies with some of the same yarn that we wrapped around the jars of flowers.  Our "bait & tackle" were gummy worms, goldfish grams, and pretzels broken to resemble hooks.  

All in all, it turned out to be such a cute shower!
Linking up with Shanna 

Monogrammed Pillow {DIY}

A few months ago I was at Pottery Barn looking for pillows for the living room.  Of all places, I end up running into the mom of one of my childhood friends.  She is an interior decorator that now does consulting work with Pottery Barn.  Small world, right?!? Of course, she asked what I was doing and as soon as I handed her my fabric swatches, she went to town. One of the pillows I got was this one:

It was on clearance and she had the fabulous idea of suggesting that I have it monogrammed to add some interest since it was a little plain.  Did she know that "just monogram it" is music to my ears?!?  The wheels started turning in my head and I decided that I could do it myself!

I've never tried iron transfer before but always wanted to, so I crowned this as my perfect project to try it out on.  I ordered Epson transfer paper.  It was almost as easy as 1-2-follow the directions. First, if you get inkjet paper, then use an inkjet printer.  I tried to cut corners and run it through my laser printer and it destroyed the paper.  No good.  Second, the tricky part with transfer paper is that you have to know which side is the side to print on and which side is the side to iron on.  The shinier side that had the smoother texture turned out to be the side to print on.  I downloaded this amazing font: Carribean Tool and set to town on my monogram:

Once I had it printed, I cut it out, leaving about 1/4 of an inch of excess:

Any of the excess, or negative space, you leave will transfer clear but still be the same shiny texture, which is why I wanted as little as possible. Then flip it over, get it straight, and iron it on! (Definitely follow the directions of your transfer paper!)

Once your done, let it sit and cool a good 2-5 minutes.

Then carefully peel it off

Now, take a step back and soak in your beautiful monogrammed perfection!

Linking up here and here 

Wooden Pictures {DIY}

One of my favorite birthday presents was this wooden picture that my sister, Kelsey, made for me.  I love all things vintage, personal, and handmade...and this is all three!  

Want to make one yourself?!?

Go check out her tutorial here

Spring Panel Art

You know I'm on a panel art kick right now.  Ever since I made my first one, I've been itching to make more. It's just so easy to crank out!  Spring has inspired some perfect subjects. 

Here's the one I've got on display now....

 Want to make one yourself? 

Well, here's the tutorial here, and below is the inspiration for the spring silhouettes.

Enjoy!

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Linking up here and here

Grocery Bag Holder {DIY}

I don't know about you, but I am a sucker for cute storage options.  All of the plastic grocery bags that we save where hanging in a giant wad in the pantry and I could not look at it another second!  My mom has one of these grocery bag holders that a friend got her on a trip to Switzerland (I know, right?!?), and I really wanted one for our house. 

When I remade my old messanger board into a calendar frame, I missed the toile fabric in the kitchen.  I had to find a way to bring it back!  It was perfect for this project.  I'm such a sucker for toile.  And the kids in this print are too cute.

Here's how I made it:

My fabric measured 21" x 18"

Lay your fabric out wrong side up.

On the longest sides of the fabric, measure out 1/4 of an inch and fold the fabric. 

Iron it, then fold it over again (above) and iron it again.

Pin it!

And sew up the sides.  Leave the shorter side for now, you'll take care of them when you sew the holder closed.

Next, you'll need elastic. I got this kind:

With elastic, the smaller the piece you cut, the tighter the closure will be. In order to know how much elastic you will need, you have to stretch it.  I held on end with one hand, stretched it, and where the stretched elastic met the other end, I cut at that point.

Un-stretched, my pieces were 12.5 inches

You'll need two pieces, one for the top and one for the bottom

Fold each piece in half and mark the fold with a marker.  I used a black sharpie, since you won't see the elastic once it is all together.

Pin one end of the elastic to the edge of the wrong side of the fabric.  For mine, I put the elastic 2 inches from the top to create a ruffle.

Fold your fabric in half, matching the ends together, with the wrong side of the fabric facing towards you.  Pin the middle of the elastic (perfectly displayed by the mark you just made) to the fold of the fabric.  Remember to pin the elastic as far down from the top edge that you did on the side in the step above.

Now, pin the other edge of the elastic to the other edge of the fabric.  Keep it the same distance from the top as your other two pins and on the wrong side of the fabric.  Repeat attaching the elastic on the bottom of your fabric.  Once you have attached the elastic, it'll look like this:

Kind of funny, right?!? When you sew it, you'll have to stretch the elastic with the fabric...demonstrated below...

I am pulling with each hand while I am holding the fabric and elastic.  It is a little tricky to start.  Don't try and hold the fabric end to end, do it by small sections.  In the picture above, I was able to control the stretch by holding it at one end and at the midpoint.  I am pulling with both arms in opposite directions to stretch it out, and then slowly feeding it through the machine.  Set your machine to zig zag...it's the strongest stitch to attach the elastic with.

Once you've attached both pieces of elastic, flip it over and admire your work. Ta-da!!

To sew it up together, flip it wrong side out again and fold it in half, right sides together.

Use pins to help you match up the edges together.  Because of the elastic, it is not going to fold perfectly, as you can see above.

Now, sew up the side! I left a good width to ensure that I would get the elastic in the seam.

Once you've done that, trim up the edge!

Flip it right side out, attach a small piece of ribbon, twine, lace...whatever your heart desires...and you are done!

So much cuter!!

Linking up here and here

Notes on Installing Hardwood Floors

We installed hardwoods last weekend in our living room.  I documented every step, with the intention of writing a DIY post on installing hardwoods.  However, I quickly realized that even though I worked incredibly hard along side Wesley in putting them in, it in no way gave me any authority on posting a "how-to."

With that being said, I did want to share some notes on being successful in installing your own hardwoods...

1. Get someone with experience to show you how.  I would never have been confident enough to tackle this by simply reading how to do it off of the internet, no matter how many times I may have seen it on HGTV.  We were so lucky that Wesley's dad, who had done this several times, was able to come up and show us the ropes.  This is definitely one thing that you need hands on teaching for!

2. Clean up as you go.  As we were installing the pieces, usually you had to hit it with the mallet a few times to get it in the right place, so there were scuff marks everywhere.  Having one of us wipe them off  once we were out of that area was a huge help.  I can't imagine having to do it all at the end...

3. Get a magic eraser.  For scuff marks, we quickly found that a rag with water or cleaning solution was just not cutting it.  We pulled the magic eraser out hoping it would work, and with one wipe, it was gone.

4. Many hands make light work.  We had 5 sets of hands working on 1 room, and it still took us a day and a half for this project.  By having a few people, we were able to rotate tasks, which kept us from burning out quickly.  That power nailer will take a lot out of you, especially your lower back, so be sure that a few of your crew can switch out using it.

5. Go slow and be patient.  It can be easy to get frustrated when the work moves slow, but by starting off patiently, you will learn how to install them correctly.  Make sure to cut the pieces with 1/4" from the walls to allow for expanding/contracting.  That may mean a few runs to the saw for each piece at first in order to get the hang of it.  After a few hours, we had a solid rhythm down and were able to pick up the pace.  I'm so glad we did that because it turned out like a professional job.

The Big Reveal

Over the weekend we ripped up the carpet in the living room and put down hardwoods! 

We have been talking about doing this for a long time and decided it was finally the perfect time.

Here's how it turned out....

Disclaimer: One of the disadvantages to working full time is that by the time you get home, 

the sun is down .....ergo no natural light in my pictures. 

Just another reason to add to the long list of why spring needs to hurry up and get here! 

And yes, I have already started pulling out some Easter stuff.  

That is indeed a tiny bunny you see on the mantle, and not your imagination.

We are so happy with it.  A huge thanks to my in-laws who came up and showed us the ropes.

Now I get the fun task of picking out a rug...

and maybe new curtains, or pillow, or knick knacks...

or all of the above.

I love that decorating is never officially over.