Felt Christmas Ornaments + My Christmas Tree

For my new Christmas tree theme I found some sweet ornaments at IKEA that are very traditional Scandinavian and very simple.  So I bought some, but thought it would be fun (and economical) to make some of my own!  I was inspired by this post as well.

I used some inexpensive felt sheets from Hobby Lobby and some embroidery thread to add details.  I did a blanket stitch around the edges and very lightly filled them with stuffing.  I've done a blanket stitch before, but needed some refreshing so I used this youtube video, if you're interested. :)

I sort of forgot how small my tree was, so I didn't need to make too many to fill up my empty spaces.  I thought I would make a bunch that were similar, but it was too fun coming up with new shapes and patterns!  My favorite one is the star I made for the top of the tree.  I think its perfect.

And then when I put on my tree skirt it just looked so flat and limp, so my mother-in-law helped me fluff it up with some blankets and pillows.  (sorry about the cords in the back, no excuses today)

And the whole tree shot: (minus the star on top. . . this was taken on Sunday before the star was made, but I like that its taken in natural light, which is a luxury I don't have during the week!)

Have you set up your Christmas tree yet?

DIY Christmas (Stockings and ruffle tree skirt)

My husband has a very strict policy about Christmas music and decor.  Not until after Thanksgiving.  Me?  I say when ever the mood strikes after Halloween.  Like last week, it was so warm I wasn't really feelings the Christmas music until Friday's snow storm.  And then it was Tran Siberian Orchestra on Pandora all day long.

But regardless of your personal feelings as to when the Christmas season begins, the truth is if you're going to DIY Christmas presents or decor you're going to have to start before Thanksgiving.  So the other day I did something I've been threatening to do for three years: Made our Christmas stockings!!  Seriously I bought the fabric soon after we were married (Nov 21) and I always think of it post Thanksgiving.  Not this year.  And do you know how long those three stockings took me?  Maybe an hour each.  Nap time + an hour after bedtime and I was DONE! 

You'll have to excuse the picture quality.  By the time I get home from work, natural light is hard to come by!

My second DIY for Christmas this year was a ruffle tree skirt (tutorial here).  I made one last year for my student's donation to Festival of Trees, but it got donated before I got a post written about it.  My husband did take a picture of it when we went to the festival, but I'm excited to finally be posting details about this project!

Last year's tree skirt went with the "Christmas Orange" themed tree. 

I found a drop cloth that was 6' x 9'.  I cut it in half to so I had two 4 1/2' pieces and then folded them into a triangle to square it up.  And then I folded it in half a few more times and rounded the edge to make a circle.

 After adding just one layer of ruffles it starts looking so pretty!

After all the ruffles are done!  Do I cut that extra fabric at the top?  Add another ruffle?  Not worry about since presents will probably cover it?  (Probably the last one)

I'll probably put up my whole tree this weekend, so pictures coming Tuesday!!

Somethings I did differently than the tutorial:

• I used unbleached muslin for more of a homespun look.  (linen would be so much more expensive!)
• I thought about getting extra muslin for the base, but I'm glad I went with the drop cloth as its a little heavier weight and I feel like it will last longer.  
• I needed 2 1/4 yards of 90" muslin and I cut my strips into 3 1/2" instead of 2" because I didn't want it to take forever and honestly the pictures in the tutorial look like the strips are wider than 2". 
• I wish I hadn't cut the circle in the middle until the end because I didn't end with the perfect amount of space at the end. 
• Its so much easier than it sounds! 

Up next, some DIY Christmas ornaments!

What Christmas projects do you have going on this year?  Share!!

Linking up with: 

The Story of a Chair

This summer I had plans to do some decorating for my mom.  I made her a quilt for Christmas and so I originally was going to work on her master bedroom but somehow it morphed into curtains and chairs in her living room/dining area.  My sister-in-law came to help me, and thank goodness, because this is not a one person job!!  Pregnancy saps so much of my energy so we didn't get nearly as much completed as I had hoped but we did finish one of the two wingback chairs in the living room!  I used Tiffany's blog post for inspiration and tried to follow in her footsteps of using as much of the chair as possible.  We used some of the tack strips and the piping and all of the padding and cushioning.  I think that saved us a lot of money and a lot of headaches!  Here's how it all went down:

We started by removing the back.  Its important to remember how the pieces are attached.  We did the whole project in four days so that made it easier, but if you were going to spread it out over time: pictures, pictures, pictures!

Then we removed the sides.

Lots and lots of staples to remove!

You might also want to have a small vaccuum ready.  There was a lot of dust and pet hair (from the former owners, my mom doesn't have pets) from years of use built up in there.  Fun.

My dad thought we were making it look to hard.  Then he found out how hard it really was! 

Eventually we got the chair down to this.  Our padding was still in really good shape, so we didn't mess with that.  Other tutorials will tell you to take it down to the bare bones and build up with all new padding.  I say, if you don't have to don't do that!  I can't imagine how much harder that would have made this project.

This is when the project started getting exciting.  We could see the beauty start to shine through the mess and exhaustion! 

From the front you almost couldn't tell it still had a long long way to go!

 And we ended right where we started, by putting on the back of the chair.

From the side.  One thing I love about this chair is the piping.  We did it in a coordinating solid blue.  Its a little hard to tell but it really makes it pop.

I feel bad we only had time for one!  We're going to have to do the other at Christmas time (joy).  In the mean time my mom is keeping this one covered so they don't wear unevenly. 

  

We made a lot of mistakes a long the way!  But thankfully no one will ever know but us.  If you have any questions about this project feel free to email me at kimmisue22@gmail.com (yeah, yeah, my email is weird.  I'd change it if it wouldn't be such a huge hassle.)

Linking up here!!

Ruffle Shower Curtain Craze!

Have you seen this awesome shower curtain from Anthro?  Its all the rage on pinterest these days.

Source: sisterview.com via Elah on Pinterest

One of my students started describing a shower curtain that sounded a lot like this one, but from Bed Bath and Beyond.  So I searched and sure enough here it is!

And of course if you're feeling crafty, you can always go with Elle Apparel's homemade version (+ you get to pick your own colors!)

Source: elleapparel.blogspot.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Anthro: $118
Bed Bath and Beyond: $49.99
Elle Apparel: $20 + lots and lots of work!

Which would you choose?

Pinterest

Most of my  projects are for this little cutey!

I always hear bloggers and twitterers (?) and facebookers saying how much they love pinterest but they wish they spent more time doing instead of just pinning.  I.  Do.  Not.  Have that problem.  I need to stop starting new projects!  In any case, here is a list of projects I have going.  Not all of them can be blamed on pinterest, but even if I came up with the idea myself, pinterest always gets the creativity flowing, ya know?

Started but need to finish:

• Embroidery art for Baby O's room (Writing a blog post about this!)
• Leg warmers for Baby O
• A drawstring bag
• A quilt
• Headband to match Baby O's Halloween tutu
• Fabric blocks for Baby O for Christmas (Good thing she doesn't read my blog!)

Bought the stuff but need to start:

• Christmas stockings
• PJ Pants (I have to make these as an example for my students, but I might as well make them a Christmas gift for someone. . . )

And then there are some projects that I did finish!

• My yoyo pillow
• A ruffle shirt for parent teacher conf (didn't finish in time though)
• Baby O's Halloween tutu 

And when it comes to food. . . you don't even want to see that list!  I made quinoa burgers last night and they were so yum. 

Are you on Pinterest?  What's the best thing you've been inspired to create?

Update: Since I wrote this post, I have finished the legwarmers.   They knit up so fast and they are super fun.  I'm probably going to make a zillion of them. 

 My little blogger in the making!

Easy Fabric Art

(I apologize for the lack of picture to illustrate the steps of this project, I did it a long time ago and didn't have the foresight to document it!)

My bedroom colors are white, gray and a hint of light pink (so far the only actual pink is from my super awesome pillow)

Anyway, when one is presented with a large white wall and a limited budget, its time to get creative!

IKEA used to carry these awesome wood frames, which I have yet to find again, but no worries! I found canvas stretcher bars at Hobby Lobby and I'm sure other art stores carry them as well. The upside of these stretcher bars is more flexibility for size and shape, as you buy each side individually and they are very easy to assemble. But the frames I bought from IKEA were about 20" x 20", which was a bit small for my space so I bought four to group together. (If you had a longer space, say above a couch, three in a row would be really rad.)

Then you select a fabric to wrap around the frames. Its best to chose a print that is large to fit the scale of the space. I decided to chose a gray fabric with a large white flower for three of the frames and a white with small gray flowers for the fourth (even though this is a small print, the flowers are grouped together read like a larger print).

When wrapping the frames in fabric its important to work with all four sides at once, from the inside out. I used a hammer and nails but when my students did this project, they used a staple gun, which they preferred. Begin by stapling the center of the top of your fabric to the center of the top of your frame. Second staple the center of the bottom of your fabric to the center of the bottom of the frame, pulling very tight. Repeat on the right and left sides. Then continue to staple, moving out from the center and pulling tight as you rotate between stapling all four sides. IKEA totally gets how a picture is worth a thousand words and so I'm going to put a picture of the instructions that came with these niffty frames, because hopefully my rambling and these pics together will be easier to understand.

And now for the finished product:

I absolutely love these art pieces and I can't believe how affordable they were. Def a DIY that looks super professional.

Pretty Yo Yo Pillow

Inspiration is a funny thing. Sometimes it can be hard to trace, but this one I remember. I was reading a blog about Christmas decorations and it made me so excited for fall and Christmas so I was googling other decorations and I came across some yo yos made with Christmas fabric. Maybe everyone else knows what yo yos are, but I didn't. So a little more googling and I learned how to make them and then I thought how cute they would be to make a throw pillow for my bedroom! So here is my craft project! I don't have a step by step tutorial, but I do have a few tips if you want to attempt it on your own.

1. I learned how to make yo yos by following these instructions.

2. I used felt for my pillow case.

3. I bought an old pillow from a thrift shop, because it was much cheaper than a pillow form (only $1)

4. I used a 4" circle for my yo yos and I made as many as I could with a 1/4 yard of each color of fabric. Then I played with different arrangements on my pillows.

5. I sewed the yo yos together before attaching them onto the pillow case.

6. I sewed my pillow case together before attaching the yo yos. It made it super hard/impossible to sew them on, so I used hot glue instead. Kinda bummed about that.

7. One of my pillows wasn't a pillow form, but stuffed with fistfuls of crappy polyfill, so once I took the cover off of it, it wasn't really useable. So I don't have a picture of that pillow yet. I'm going to have to figure something out for that one because its not a traditional size.

Here is the before picture of my pillow from the thrift store:

And this is my after picture! I love this pillow SO much! Hopefully my lame photography skills convey just how cute it really turned out.
What have you been inspired by lately?

Olivia's Room

When I found out I was pregnant with Baby O, we had a month left on our 1 bedroom apt lease. I figured if we renewed it for 9 months, we would only have to have three people in one room for a month or two. Well, O is about to be 5 months and we're still there! So for now she sleeps in a mini crib (shown in brown, but ours is white. The white on white made it so hard to see!) in our walk in closet.

Its been hard to read other bloggers who posted beautiful pictures of their baby's nurseries. None of her bedding matches, because I don't have real bedding for her small crib. And this is her mobile, which she loves, but doesn't go with any particular theme I have in mind.

And so, I present to you: Olivia's Dream Bedroom! (Except, for now, the dream is mine.) Hopefully I'll get to put this together when we move into a place with more than one bedroom. It better be soon, because she won't fit in her mini crib much longer!!

This picture is the inspiration for the colors I want to use. The blue is slightly different than my baby bedding, but I want to compliment it with yellows and pinks.

Source: nattybydesign.blogspot.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

This is the bedding I have still in the packaging. Its designed by my sister-in-law, Annalisa Thomas. She has a lot of beautiful designs on her website. I obviously loved the one I picked, but her sticks or modern berries designs are probably the most popular.

Source: oilostudio.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

I don't have the light fixture, but I do have the largest one of these pillows.

Source: oilostudio.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

The next three items I would make using the same papers so that they would coordinate.

This paper balloon garland idea I got from an origami website. I love it! Not sure if I would use Christmas lights or if I would just string them up. The lights might be a nice night light. . .

Source: origami-instructions.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

I love these art blocks using 12"x12" scrapbook paper.

Source: jensidea.blogspot.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

I love the modern look of this DIY mobile.

Source: e-tells-tales.blogspot.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

These are the colors of paper I want to use in creating the paper balloon decoration, the art blocks and the mobile.

Source: google.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Source: joann.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

To avoid this becoming too over the top primary colors, I would use mostly yellows and blues with just a touch of the pink.

And one final art piece I would like to create for the space. It would be fun to hang this linen piece above the changing table, since there is no danger of it falling and hurting my girl. I'm going to make it with blue, yellow and maybe a little bit of pink.

Source: decor8blog.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

I also have a regular crib and changing table in a light wood color, but I'm going to paint them white. Ah! I'm so excited!

What room would make over if you could?

Magnet Board Tutorial

So I used to be big into crafts as a kid, but one day after finishing a cross stitch I realized it looked exactly like the picture on the package. Where was the creativity? I had basically completed a glorified coloring book, AND I didn't even pick the colors myself. So I wrote off crafting. BUT lately I've realized there are a LOT of crafts you can do that allow creativity to shine through, and this was one of them. I prefer to call my creations "custom home decor", it feels a little more upscale :)

A few days ago I wrote this post about needing some ideas for some fabric I purchase with no project in mind. Caley suggested I frame it, which I am actually looking for a cute fabric/print to frame in my bedroom, but this fabric doesn't match my gray/white/pink color scheme I have going. My friend Liz suggested an ottoman cushion and I loved that idea. She also suggested a magnet board, which at first I didn't think much of, but just to fully understand I looked up some magnet board and then. . . INSPIRATION! I decided to make a magnet board for my sister serving an LDS Mission. I knew this fabric was her style, but I wasn't feeling a skirt out of it. AND her birthday is today and I had no idea what to get her. I thought this would be perfect! She could hang it up in her apt. with one small pin and have a place to hang lots of pictures from home. So here is what I did:

1. I went to Lowe's and bought a piece of sheet metal. The piece I bought was 6" x 18" and there was a variety of sizes to chose from. The helpful worker told me to make sure I didn't get aluminum as it is NOT magnetic. So I got steel. Be careful, the edges are pretty sharp. One piece was a little under $5. (Much more reasonable than the piece I found at Hobby Lobby that was bigger, more flimsy and cost $9)


2. From Hobby Lobby I bought magnets and some tiles to glue onto the magnets.
3. I started by making the back of the project because once I started the front I wouldn't be able to use my metal as pressing guide. First iron two of the four sides and then place the sheet metal so it hangs off the edge a little less than 1/4". (This way, the back piece will be a little smaller than the metal and wont hang over the edge) Using the sheet metal as a guide, press the other two sides.
4. Once all four sides are pressed, you're going to want to miter the corners, by opening them up and folding the extra fabric down. (Does that not make sense? Hopefully the picture will help. If not, google it.) Then fold the edges back down on the pressing lines. This just makes your edges look nice and smooth.

So now the back is finished and you can see how its a little smaller than the piece of sheet metal.
5. Now you get to glue the front piece of fabric on! Glue one of the short sides first (I don't have pics because I was working alone and you have to work fast with hot glue) and then glue the other short side, pulling the fabric nice and tight. Then start from the middle of the long side and then pull the other side tight. Work back and forth from side to side, pulling the fabric tight as you glue. Then trim off as much extra fabric as you can.


6. Glue on cord or ribbon or rick rack, what ever you want to hang it by and then glue the back on top.

7. Here's the money shot (and of course its the worst looking one of all). I wanted to show how it would look with a picture on it and my baby was just waking up from her nap (I did this whole project during one 45 minute nap!) and so I just grabbed a similac coupon off the fridge! But you get the idea.

So excited to give this to my sister!!