Project 8: Birthday T-shirt

My oldest daughter, Lili, is a leapster. As in, she was born on a leap day. She is a special girl and I love that she has a special birthday. Typically we celebrate on March 1st as I always draw in the 29 on our calendar. This year however, there was a special movie night at her elementary school on the 28th. Lili has intellectual disabilities so I worried she wouldn't be able to communicate to her peers that it was her special day. I decided to make her a special birthday Tshirt that would make it clear to everyone. She was so excited after she saw it she wanted to sleep in it. She has even worn it after her birthday. I used fabric markers for the tshirt and colored in the letters in an ombre style. I then decided to make her a paper badge to let everyone know she was turning 10.

Project 7: Munchkin Attire

My daughter, Josie, is a drama queen. So naturally, she loves acting. She was recently cast as Toto in her middle school production of The Wizard of Oz. I volunteered to help with costumes, specifically the munchkins and of course, Toto. It was a nice challenge as I don't typically sew much from scratch (hemming not withstanding) and it's been a while since I put in hours at the machine. I don't have photos yet but I also volunteered to take the official production photos and design a "meet the cast" board with all of the actors photos. So they will be coming shortly!

Paczki Day 2014

Since we moved to the West Coast we can't find Paczki polish donuts anymore. We tried making them ourselves and it has since become a family tradition.

Project 6: Fabric Bookholders

This is a project I've had on my to-do list for a while. I saw this project on pinterest or craftgawker or make.....somewhere out there. I thought it would be perfect for my daughter Josie because she is the ultimate bed hoarder. You know the type: 47 stuffed animals, 4 pillows, 13 books....I don't even know how she sleeps.

The bookholders are hung with double curtain rod brackets. I found mine on clearance at Lowe's almost a year ago with this project in mind. Here is a close up of what they look like, they are actually installed upside down.

You can see in the photo I just used black thread and I didn't trim off the edge of the fabric. This is from a lesson I learned when I quit my full time job and went back to college as an adult with a mortgage and THEN proceeded to have two babies 4 months apart. I call it "D in Pottery" - as in nobody is gonna care that you got a D in pottery once you are working and have your degree. Do what you can and keep going. Good enough. I can get a lot of things done because I'm fine with good enough instead of perfect. In this instance I finished three bookholders and had them hung before my kids got off the bus. They love them.

I made my little "hoarder" a deeper one than the others. This meant that the dowels snapped in half after one use. I bought thicker dowels for hers and now it's holding up fine. 

I love that I can change the fabric as their tastes change. They have also started using them in creative ways. Instead of holding any books, my son's holds all of his ocean creature toys. When he's laying in bed he gets them out and starts intricate play stories usually involving a sea monster chasing someone. So far a nice benefit is that I don't have to start flipping mattresses when it's 7:30 am and we can't find a library book when the bus is waiting outside. Win.

A cozy corner of my world

I headed out to the local thrift stores to look for some storage to anchor my newly covered dining room seating.   I only knew I was looking for something that would fit my space and had some closed storage.   At the local St. Vincent DePaul's, I happened upon a coordinating set of cabinets for $25 each!  They fit perfectly, maximize our vertical space and have fun features like a wine rack, pull out bar and lighted shelves.

I took them home and mixed up a fresh batch of white chalk paint.  Not white, white, more of an antique white.   It took about 3-4 coats of paint to cover up the dark espresso finish of the pair, but the effort paid off in a big way.

And yes, I do typically paint things right where they are. Without a drop cloth. It works for me. I waxed them, which for most people is the most tiring part of using chalk paint. But I found this handy waxing pad that fits on my drill. It was sold as a part of a headlight repair kit, but I knew just what I would use it for. No more achy arms for me!

I put the hardware on and loaded them up with wine from our Fall trip to Napa and our collection of 1950s Anchor Hocking Capri Colony glass dishes.

We had been searching for padded chairs that were sturdy and wipeable.  We had gone to numerous furniture stores and thrift shops.   As I was putting the cabinets in place, I realized I only needed to go "shopping" in my own house.  These chairs were part of a set I purchased off of Craigslist a few years ago.  The 1950's aqua formica table and matching vinyl chairs live in our lower "kids" level of the house and is frequently used for crafts, coloring and bug making.   Moved to our dining room, these chairs look retro- modern, bright and are super comfortable!  

So here's our dining space  ...........

rewritten...................

Project 4: Lazy Susan

This is a small, quick project. I wasn't going to share this one because I had a much bigger one I've been working on and I thought it would be done by today. But life is what happens when you're busy making other plans right? My life today consists of disinfecting the house and picking up a sick little boy from school. We are a family that catches every bug. But not the boy...until today. Like his usual self though, it's not keeping him from playing video games or watching Legends of Chima.

But, on to project number 4. This was my mother's lazy susan. It's just a cheap Ikea-ish thing. Now that we have a round table is has become an intricate part of our dinner routine. Most condiments and small sides are placed on it and everyone can serve themselves. This has become the best part of our new dining room set up. I can eat. Usually I'm interrupted 10 times during dinner having to serve someone more helpings, pass a dish or just hand the salt. Now I get to eat my own food during dinner. It's luxurious. Like being able to pee by yourself. Ahhh the joys of small children. :)

I liked the lazy susan but knew I was going to end up painting it. I'm trying not to paint EVERYTHING aqua blue so the next best thing was Jadeite green. A while back our local paint store sent a coupon for a free color matched quart of paint. The guy was a little perplexed about matching a glass bowl but I think he got it pretty spot on. These little jadeite restaurant ware dishes from the 1940's are possibly the most used dish in my kitchen. Perfect for microwaving one egg or holding anything small....like a bunch of hardware while you're painting, as they are doing here. I made the jadeite paint color into a batch of homemade chalk paint. The basic recipe is one part plaster of paris to three parts paint. Add enough water to the plaster of paris to make it smooth and creamy and then mix in the paint. After painting I wax over the paint with Paste Wax. I ran out of the Annie Sloan clear wax long ago. I still have a full can of the dark wax I don't think I'll ever finish with.

I like how it turned out but the color is grating on me. It's so bright....I'll probably just paint it aqua anyway. Oh well. I tried.

Project 3: Banquette seating slipcover

I knew I wanted a slipcover on the banquette but I didn't think I'd have to do it this soon. My dog loves this bench, she might think it is her dog bed. I went shopping at Joann's for a fabric but didn't find anything I loved. I'm very picky when it comes to prints. So many times I feel like I'm looking at one of those magic eye puzzles. I rarely wear prints as well. I did find a print I liked in my hall closet. An old shower curtain! Not the plastic kind though, the fabric decorative ones. I knew the colors would work because I always pick the same colors. Brown, tan, cream and my signature color, aqua. My friends don't even call it anything but "your color". The funny thing is my oldest sister has a very similar color, turquoise, just a bit brighter. Maybe I take after her more than my other sisters ;)


I cut off the top portion of the shower curtain that you would normally hang the rings through.

 Next I started pinning the pieces directly on the banquette, wrong side up of course.

 I then market the contours of the sofa so when I sewed it on the machine I would have the lines exact. I used one of my kids washable markers so it will disappear the first time I wash the slipcover.

Next I used a flat iron to shape a rolled shirt hem into the edges.

Then I took the slipcover to my machine a sewed.

It was mostly a box shape so it was a pretty easy project for my first ever slipcover.