PB Knock-Off Stretched Canvas Wall Art

I'm participating in DIY Day at ASPTL,
Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented,
PB Knock-Off Party at Homebody,
And Brag Monday at the Graphics Fairy!


I've been busy sprucing up my sewing/crafting studio (aka narrow hallway in the basement adjacent to the family room) I'll show you the whole finished area soon! I wanted some cute wall decor to fill out the wall above my sewing table. While perusing the PB website I saw these cute vintage-y typewriter prints:

And I thought it would be fun to make a similar series only with images of vintage sewing machines and the like. So, I hopped over to The Graphics Fairy and found these cute vintage sewing images!

First I printed out my images and used Avery Light Fabric Transfer Paper (which worked very well but was kinda pricey so I think I might try this method next time!) to iron the image onto 13"x13" squares of osnaburg fabric. my final product would have looked closer to the PB inspiration photo if I had used a bright white canvas, but I wanted to use what I had on hand, plus I just like the texture of this fabric.

I originally planned to stretch the fabric around those square blank canvases you can buy at the craft store, but they were a little more expensive than I realized (noticing a theme here?!) and since I was just going to cover them with fabric I opted to make my own square forms out of foam core scraps I already had. In order to make 3 finished square forms I cut 6 10" squares and I used another little scrap to cut some little spacers. On three of the 10" squares I glued spacers in the corners (to give the finished square form a little more depth), then I glued another 10" square on top.


Here's a side view:

I centered my fabric on the square form...

Flipped it over and hot-glued two opposing sides around the edges...

To get the corners smooth I made a couple of snips...

then I glued down the little flaps and the other two sides.

voila! Oh, I mean POOF!



There's actually much more contrast between the prints and the wall. I took these photos at night so I had to use the flash. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, but I still think they could use a little more oomph, so I'm thinking of hanging them from ribbon on the wall.

Also, while on the PB site I saw these "Wooden Spool Hooks" for $24 (seriously? Who would pay $24 for wooden thread spools?).

I happen to have some empty plastic spools. I spray painted them and added a little circle of fabric to the tops. I'll add a photo as soon as I finish hanging everything!

Update!!:
I just finished hanging everything!


I still have some sprucing to do, but you get the idea.
This is pretty simple. Paint spools, hammer a long nail into the wall leaving about an inch out of the wall. Hang spool on nail, hang ribbon on spool. Done.





I know my spool hooks look pretty different from the PB ones, but I rather like mine! I think I'll make some more- what else can I hang on them? Scissors? measuring tape? Hmmm...

Love,

All out of gum.

We were hit with Snowmageddon Part Deux on Tuesday. Into Wednesday. It snowed for more than 24 hours. We got another 18 inches of snow. Combined with the 28 inches from last Friday and the 6 inches from the Wednesday before that, we have a grand total of 52 inches of snow! In case you're math-challenged, that's more than 4 feet!


Up to this point my wonderful hubby has insisted on doing all of the shoveling himself, but it's just too much work for one back to bear so I finally convinced him to let me have a go at it this morning.

Here's a shot of the walk up to our door. I have to say, the hard part of shoveling wasn't scooping up the snow, it was finding a place to put it once it was in the shovel! The snow "dunes" are so high now that I can barely launch the snow up high enough to clear them! After two hours of shoveling I managed to clear our walk and dig out one of our cars.

When my hubby saw how much I got done he said, "wow, babe. You're all out of gum."

"huh?" I replied.

He put on his best tough guy voice and said,"I have come here to chew gum and kick butt... And I'm all out of GUM! -- Come on, babe, it's Rowdy Roddy Piper"

Okie dokie.

Do your husbands quote random wrestlemania nonsense from the early eighties?

By the way, see that black crescent shape that I circled in this photo...

That would be the top of my husband's head. He's 6 ft tall. That's how tall the snow "dunes" are!

Okay, enough of the snow coverage and on to the topic at hand- The Daddy Chair!

BTW- I don't think I mentioned where this chair resides in our home. It's in our basement media/play/family room. It's actually a really nice room (for a basement) because it gets great light and has a big stone fireplace.

I think I'm going to go one of two ways.

After inspecting this stock image of the chair...



I think I may have come up with an acceptable plan for a slipcover.
This is obviously a really rough sketch (I just sort of colored on top of the stock photo in a simple photo editing program), but I think it's enough to get an idea...



I would have to add some foam/padding around the open part of the arms, but once I do that I think they would actually resemble my favorite arm style (like on my sofa). Then I think adding a skirt makes it look less recliner-y, and as an added bonus, the skirt would cover the handle. The only problem with this design is that when the footrest is out it will not be covered by the slipcover, but I'm okay with that since in my mind no recliner looks attractive with the footrest out.

My hesitation in going ahead with this plan is the cost of the fabric (I'll need roughly 5 yards) and the foam. I think I would need to spend a minimum of $50 on this project (and that's if I can get a good deal on fabric) not to mention the sweat equity. I don't mind spending the money or the energy slipcovering a piece of furniture that we'll have around for a while, but I don't want to do it if the chair isn't going to last for a while. Realistically, this chair is already several (not sure how old, actually!) years old and in my experience recliners eventually get all creaky and crooked and need to be replaced.

While snowed in over the last few days I've been doing some craigslist shopping and I think I may have come up with option 2- buy a new chair (and sofa?) on craigslist. Here's what I've come up with.

This chair for my boogie-


still obviously a recliner, but my hubby would LOVE it and I do like the style of the upper half, especially the nailhead trim.




and perhaps this sofa for me?


The chair is listed at $150 and the sofa at $200. Both pieces say they're in like new condition. I've contacted both sellers and haven't heard anything back, so it's likely that neither of these pieces is still available.

Our sofa in the family room could use to be replaced as well and the style isn't something that I like enough now to spend the time/money/energy making a slipcover for it. However, I could probably sell them on CL and make at least a little money to put toward a new chair and sofa. Hmmmm...

Actually, from strictly a numbers point of view, and if we were only talking about the chair, I'll have to spend at least $50 to recover the chair. Meanwhile if I sell the current chair I'm pretty sure I could get $50 for it (or at least I got $50 for an older, uglier recliner less than a year ago!) and then I would only have to spend $100 for the new CL chair. What do you think? Should I spend $50 to make a slipcover? Or spend $100 to buy the new (to me) chair on CL?

Love,

Decorating Dilemma - The Daddy Chair

Do you have a decorating dilemma? If so, write up a quick post and join us at Amanda's for the decorating dilemmas party!


Here's my dilemma, my hubby insists on keeping this in our home and I just don't know what to do with it...





okay, it's really not that bad, my hubby's chair actually looks identical to this one:

only it's almost 10 years old, so it's not all new and shiny.

I don't mean to offend those of you who own reclining furniture. I swear there are only two camps on this issue- those who love reclining furniture and those who hate it. Actually, there may be a third camp. Those of us (like me) who are closet recliner lovers. I've never been crazy about the way most reclining furniture looks but when my hubby and I joined our belongings the chair appeared and I haven't been able to get rid of it. The thing is, as much as I wanted to hate everything about it I must admit it is extremely comfy and I do enjoy sitting in it. That said, our particular chair is a bit of an eyesore at this point and I would really like to replace it with something a little nicer looking.

My hubby on the other hand doesn't know how you can call a place "home" if there isn't one of these somewhere inside. I think it was written somewhere in our marriage vows that I get to decorate however I want as long as he gets a comfy recliner. It really is his only request as far as furniture/decorating is concerned so how can I deny the founder of the feast his one seemingly simple request of a "daddy chair"? I can't. So, I really need your help in finding a suitable compromise.

This may seem like a simple task, but my hubby's needs in a recliner are three-fold.

1. It must recline
   
2. It must rock or glide
   
3. Since he's 6 feet tall the back needs to be high enough to support his head in the reclined position.
   

Oh- I almost forgot number 4- it must be attractive!

To my knowledge such a chair doesn't exist, so I'm not holding my breath for the perfect solution, but maybe one of you lovelies knows of a solution??

I've considered trying to come up with some kind of slipcover solution, but because of the open design of the arm, I can't come up with an attractive design. I may keep working on this idea though.

I really love the look of this chair from ballard- never thought I'd say that about a recliner! I don't however like its $1400 price tag. Ouch! Unfortunately, even if I had $1400 to spend on one chair ( I don't!) I'm pretty sure this chair doesn't rock or glide and I think my hubby's head would come up higher than the top of this chair, so as pretty as it is it's out of the running.




Ideas? Suggestions?


Love,

Pippers and Bunnimins

Just to warn you, this post has absolutely nothing to do with decorating, but if you're up for some random snow day fun and cuteness read on!

We started getting hammered with snow on Friday afternoon ...

and it didn't stop until yesterday evening! We got a total of 28 inches, and there was already about 6 inches of snow on the ground from Wednesday so we're pretty much buried in snow right now. You can't tell in this photo, but my little side porch there is actually several feet higher than the ground and the snow comes all the way up onto the porch. We actually had some trouble opening the front door!



Seemed like the perfect morning for homemade cinnamon buns, or as Jellybean calls them- bunnimins!

I used this recipe which has you make the dough in a bread machine, but if you scroll through the recipe reviews you'll find instructions for making the recipe without a bread machine. Oh- I also followed one reviewers tip and made the dough and assembled the buns the night before. In the morning I just popped them in the oven and frosted them. I don't know about you, but there's no chance my little ones would wait patiently for two hours for their breakfast!




They were yummy.

Seriously yummy.


Here's some gratuitous sweetness...

This little girl LOVES her daddy!

After breakfast it was time to brave the elements.
Jellybean got all suited up, stepped outside for several seconds and then ran back in asking for glasses beacause as she put it- the cold was getting in her eyes.
There, that's better! AWESOME!!

When I asked her what was in her backpack she said, "princess stuff".

there you have it.

I did not venture outside. Instead I started going through my fabric stash and found some cute printed flannel and fleece pieces that my SIL gave me a while back (thanks, Andrea!). Seemed like a good day to try out this pattern to make some slippers for my girls (or as my nearly 2-year-old calls them, "pippers!"). I first traced my girls' feet and figured out how much to enlarge the pattern for each girl. Once I got the pieces cut out, it went really fast.

They are printed flannel on the outside and they're lined in fleece. The soles are a heavy cotton twill. I added an extra layer of fleece to the soles to make them a little warmer and cushier.

I placed the toe pattern piece carefully so that there would be a princess on top of each foot.

They may look upside down,

but to the wearer they are right side up!

Can you tell she put her socks on all by herself?

Love,

5 Reasons Why My Blog Rocks!

In case you're wondering about my title, no, I don't need a big slice of humble pie. I'm participating in the "5 Reasons Why My Blog Rocks" party at Serenity Now!

Amanda created this party as an opportunity for those of us who couldn't go to Blissdom to network and get to know each other.

Actually this is sorta hard for me- as I suspect it is for most women. We're generally taught at a pretty young age that it's not nice to brag, and while men seem to learn the difference between bragging and self-promotion, most women I know (myself included) can't even take a compliment! I guess we think we'll seem full of ourselves if we just say "thank you" when someone says something nice about us?

My Boogie (in case you're new here, that's my goofy pet name for my husband) has been trying to cure me of this since we met. On one of our first dates while answering all of the typical getting-to-know-you questions it came up that he was a fine art minor in college. Then he said something like, "I paint. I'm actually really good at it." I was a little startled that he could state his talent so plainly. Then it was my turn. I told him I was a music major with a vocal concentration. He said something like, "so, you sing. Are you good?" To him it was a simle question, but I couldn't bring myself to say "yes, I'm quite good" even though I had a degree to prove it! Since then he has been forcing me to just smile and say thank you every time he gives me a compliment, no matter what. Sometimes it takes all I've got not to disqualify the compliment with some sarcastic comment, but I'm getting better at it!

So here it goes, my 5 reasons why my blog rocks!

1. No filler posts here!

I don't post everyday, but I'm trying for 3 times a week, and while my posts are not as frequent as some other bloggers, I only post when I really have somthing interesting to share.

2. I love a good makeover!

Most of my posts involve before and after photos, either of simple solutions for problem spots around the house, room makeovers, or furniture makeovers.

3. My projects are either cheap or free

I'm a sahm, and living on one salary means I can't spend much (or sometimes anything!) on my decorating projects. I find that this actually works to my advantage since necessity is the mother of all invention- motherhood has necessitated my inventions! So along with some cool diy projects I'll offer ways to procure the materials for next to nothing.

4. I offer clear instructions and lots of encouragement!

Some of my projects are simple, others may seem pretty lofty, but I'll always do my best to give you all the information and encouragement you need to get the job done!

5. I'll be the guinea pig!

All this necessity makes me come up with some pretty hair-brained ideas (like turning garbage into furniture) and I'm crazy enough to try them out! I'll work the kinks out so you get the benefit of my mistakes and my successes!

There, I guess that wasn't so hard! I hope you'll come back to visit me again soon!

Love,

Clementine Crate Footstool Tutorial

Sorry about the lack of details in my last post! Here's the how-to if you'd like to make something like this:












Out of this!




By the way- I did this as a footstool for my living room, but I think this would be super cute as little kid seats or tea party "tuffets" as my girls are calling it!


Materials:

• Clementine Crate



• Foam



• Fabric (my crate required a 20" x 24" piece, not sure if all brands are the same size?)



• Dresser knobs, old finials, whatever you have on hand to act as feet!



• Fabric



• Trim



• Hot Glue



• Sewing Machine- Optional

• Lipped Piping- Optional

• Butter Knife- Optional
  

Step One: Trim foam pieces to fit the top and sides of your crate and hot glue them in place. Note- my pic below is incorrect! Learn from my msitake! If you use egg crate foam (like the blue foam in the pic below) glue it bumpy-side in! Otherwise the bumpy surface will show through your fabric. I pulled mine off and reglued it but I forgot to take another photo!

Step Two: Hot Glue or drill knobs onto the ends of the little posts on the crate to act as feet for your footstool. Spray paint them first if yours are all crazy mis-matched colors like mine! Sorry I forgot to get a photo of this step!







Step Three: Cover your crate in fabric. I used fabric leftover from my slipcovered coffee table project and I used my embroidery machine to add the "F". Just center your 20" x 24" fabric piece over your padded crate(measure your crate first to make sure this size is adequate since I'm not sure if all clementine crates are the exact same size!), make hospital corners just like making a bed or wrapping a gift and pin in place snugly.




If you're slightly less nuts than I am (Like crazy enough to try making a footstool out of garbage, but not crazy enough to put a whole afternoon into it!) You can hot glue the raw edges of the fabric to the inside of the crate, take the pins out, hot glue some trim around the bottom and call it a day. But if "you are just my brand of crazy" (sweet words spoken to me by my Boogie when we realized we were falling for each other!) then here are a few more steps for you...







Step Four: Top stitch the four corners in place on your sewing machine and slip your little cover onto your padded crate.





Step Five: Tuck the raw edges under making them level with the sides (not the posts) of the box. Hot glue purchased lipped piping just under the folded-under edge of the fabric.





Step Six: Measure the perimeter of your padded crate and multiply by 3. That's the length of fabric you'll need if you want to make the little knife-edge pleated ruffle at the bottom. Piece together a strip of fabric 2" wide by (perimeter times 3) for the length. Make sense? Turn under about 1/8" hem with your fingers while feeding the strip through your sewing machine (I could have used more width and turned it under twice, but then I would have had to press in place first and that just seemed like way to much effort for this little project.) Then, using a butter knife as a guide, pleat the hemmed strip around the knife and use little dots of hot glue to hold the pleats in place. You could certainly pin and stitch the pleats in place, but I wanted this project done before Puxatawney Phil rears his head again, so I opted for glue.





Step Seven: Hot glue the raw edge of the pleated trim under the edge of the piping.

You're Done!!





Love,

Oh my darlin'...

What do you get when you cross a clementine crate, some leftover fabric and foam, and 4 old dresser knobs?



an upholstered footstool, of course!

In the interest of time I'm keeping this one short and sweet, but I will gladly do a tutorial if anyone's interested.

Update: I just posted the tutorial here.

BTW- am I the only one who can't keep track of the linky parties I want to participate in? Anyone know if McLinky has a calendar with all of the parties listed by topic or something?


Today I'm participating in:

Trash to Treasure at Reinvented

DIY day at ASPTL

Before and After Party at TDC

Love,