A Not Lame Shower Idea- Decorating Onesies

Two weekends ago I went down to Oregon for my good friend's baby shower. She is also having a boy. She's due just a mere 6 weeks before I am. We are both very excited for the serendipitous timing. Our boys are gonna grow up as forced bffs. At the very least they will have a cousin like friendship. They really don't get a choice in the matter. They will love each other, because we say so, dammit! I think know Katy was more emotional than I was when I found out that I was having a boy. I was excited and all, don't get me wrong, but good ole Kates was in tears. hehe

Anyway, at her shower we decorated onesies. And it was super cute. Not cheesy. Seriously, cute. I promise. Her sister-in-law (who is super crafty) executed the whole operation. There was a large supply of onesies in different colors and sizes (some long sleeve, some short, some patterned, some plain, you get the gist). There was also a lot of cute fabric squares and decal templates (as in pictures printed out of the interwebs with a strong outline- think peace signs, animals, stars, et certera). After you picked out your fabric and your design template you pin them together along with fabric interfacing. Then, cut them all out, and boom, you have your decal. Next,  iron it on to the onesies. And, there you have it. Cute, individualized, onesies.

I didn't bring my camera (because, I am a loser like that... well, actually it is because I dropped my point and shoot into a lake this summer and hate to lug around my big slr camera. I really need to get a little point and shoot... would it be wrong to add that to my baby registry? Me thinks, not.). Anywho, here are some photos other people took and I have stolen.

Here I am, crafting away.

Ames, free-styling her cutouts.

Some other guests, working hard on creating cuteness.

See how cute?

A handful of onesies on display. 

I'm totally stealing the idea for my upcoming shower. I would like to add t-shirts to the mix as well. We plan on doing cloth diapers from bum genius, which are pretty darn cute all on their own. It would be a pretty sweet baby outfit to have the colorful cloth diaper topped with a homemade t-shirt. I've registered for a bunch of baby legs, which would really just take the outfit to a whole other level. Bonus? Easiest outfit to change a diaper in (at least, I think it should be, but what do I know?).

Here are some links to similar onesies decorating... They didn't do exactly the same thing as we did, but pretty close. Check it out: here, here, and here.

Paper Craft Saturday

Today I finally put the finishing touches on a paper craft I started a month or more ago. I wish I had some nice name to call this craft, but everything I can think of is way too cheesy, and the original name on the DIYideas website is ‘freewheelin art’. Blurg. Naming fail. Here are some of the craptastic names I thought of: paper craft circles, circular paper fans, paper wheels, ummm, you get the idea. Lame names.
Anyway, lets not judge this book by its cover, shall we? After all, the actual product is pretty cute. As I was saying (ahem, typing), I started these wheels a while ago… The only problem was I didn’t create anything for them to properly hang on. They were just precariously balanced on push pins, not a good plan. They are hung over our bed and one too many times (actually, just once would have been too many) one of these plopped down on my face in the middle of the night. Now, they are only made of paper and they are round, so there are no sharp edges to gouge my eyes nor are they heavy and nose crushing, still, a definite nuisance.
However, they are now (finally) equipped with little black ribbons from which to hang. Simple and, hopefully, effective. 
These fans (or wheels or what-have-you) were really easy to make. I constructed them one evening while watching a movie. The materials you need are: craft paper (double sided is better), crafting glue, paper cutter, clothes pins, a large book (or weight), scissors, and ribbon (or string, or fishing line, or floss even). Here are my 7 all stacked like some bizarre wedding cake. A bit challenging to get them to balance. Perhaps, these could not only be wall decorations, but also children’s stacking toys! ha.
The hardest part for me was consistently getting my folds even.  And, by hardest, I mean impossible. None of my folds were even (might have something to do with my movie watching multi-tasking); therefore, when I glued together the sides they didn’t quite line up. Oh well, a little trim with the scissors on the offending edge and voila. Even.
Here are the instructions and DIY image. Well, here is my current installation. I’m still playing around with the composition. I’m not super jazzed about it as is, but that is probably because I remember really liking how they were arranged previously (when they were attacking me in my sleep). The push pins are all still in the same spots (luckily, they did not attack. Now that would have been some gouging action), so I just need to keep playing around with which one is where.   Today was actually lovely outside. Unfortunately, I ran out of my allergy pills about a week or so ago and hay fever came a knocking in full force today (which, finally prompted me to actually drive the 5 minutes to Walgreens and pick up some new ones). But, anywho, I was not up for much yard work wise. Some of the neighbors planted another 4 trees this morning (now only 3 to go!). Bill and I also went shopping at the mega home warehouses. We hit up Home Depot first, because we had a 7 month old gift card that needed to get used… Then we headed over to Lowe’s (a whopping 1/2 mile away from our first destination). I don’t know why, but I really prefer Lowe’s to Home Depot. It might just be that I am more familiar with the layout so I can actually find what I am looking for within 10 minutes, it also might be that their indoor gardening section is superior… We pretty much exclusively bought stuff for outside (wheel barrow, shovel, new gardening gloves, plants, and a ton of seed packs). Hopefully by next weekend my allergy meds will be in full operational force and we can get outside and get some more work done. Bill did do some yard work today (what with his lack of allergies). He mowed the lawn and added mulch to our new trees.
Tomorrow looks like it is going to be pretty busy. We have breakfast with friends, an opera matinee (Bill’s first, my second- hope it’s good!), and we both have some work to do (as in our actual paying jobs, not working around the house). Who knows, we might squeeze in a project or two. There is a certain gift that is almost ready to be installed…. Oh, the suspense!

Inspiration Weekend

Last weekend Bill and I made an impromptu trip down to Portland.  We had a great time seeing family and friends (we saw about 30 people in 48 hours- not too shabby). Besides getting to spend some quality time with loved ones we also did some house research. You see, I’m calling it research only because we resisted the urge to actually buy anything (well, anything for the house… I definitely made some purchases for me. How could I not? With no sales tax it is like everything is 10% off!).

On Sunday Bill and I hit up a couple of different inspiring stores. The first was Anthropologie. Their clothes are fine and all (okay some things are absolute fug and some I covet a bit too much), but their home goods make me ache. I love the colorful, hand crafted look, which has roots in traditional/vintage style but with just the right touch of contemporary. Plus, their window dresser (or whatever the official title is of the person who does their in-shop and window displays) has the keys to my heart. Such pretty and eclectic design, but does it really count as eclectic if it in a national chain?

Anyway, I their current window display is flowers made of painted recycled (repurposed?) plastic bottles. I am going to try to figure out how to make them and then put them up this summer on our backyard fence to add some whimsy and color to our yard.

Our trolley was about to arrive so I didn’t have time to get a stellar picture. It was pretty sunny and there was a lot reflecting in the glass. Lets pretend there is no glare/reflection and this is on a much larger scale, shall we? Well, I think this could look quite cute cascading down the length of the fence. I’m a big fan of fun colorful things outside.

The latest Anthropologie catalog was waiting for me when I returned to Tacoma, and, again, am looking to try recreating some of their styling. And, again, it is not with their clothes, but the paper cutouts they used to display jewelry. I am thinking that some more paper art with cutout butterflies, leaves, and flowers would be a nice addition to my framed origami lotuses. 

While I was able to resist Anthropologie’s siren song, I did buy a book there- domino: The Book of Decorating. It is filled with pretty pretty pictures and lots of good tips. It is sad that domino magazine stopped production last year. They would really complete my home improvement/decorating magazine supply.

Bill and I also went to Rejuvenation. It was absolutely wonderful. Just stepping in their showroom made me instantly regret any and all purchases we have made at those big home supply stores (you know which two I’m talking about). Their period lighting, fixtures, and hardware was really too much for Bill and me to handle. We started out making a list of items we would purchase, but the list kept growing and growing and growing. We had to make the (responsible) decision to not buy anything that day, but go home, do some research on what size fixtures would be just right in our spaces. And, we need to be reasonable and buy a just a few items at a time and slowly renovate room by room. Hopefully, we can return some light fixtures we had previously bought but not yet installed to those aforementioned giant warehouses.

So many options… And this was just one small display case. Surely you can understand why we became overwhelmed so quickly.

We already have some period lighting in our house (in the foyer, living room, and dining room). So, there is no need to search for new lights for those rooms, however when it comes time to repaint the living room (this summer) I definitely want to install a ceiling medallion.

 Wouldn’t one of those pretty babies be fantastic?  Next time we go down to Portland we will have a plan about what to purchase at Rejuvenation. There will absolutely be a few light fixtures on that list, a medallion, and drawer pulls for our kitchen, beyond that I am not sure. 

Oh, did I mention that besides having the regular showroom Rejuvenation also has antique section? It is wonderful (and overwhelming). It would be great to be able to stop by and just poke around and get a few things here and there (after all the stock in that section of the store is constantly changing), but living in Tacoma that is just not a possibility for us. So, all you Portlanders, live it up for us!

Someday all my door hinges and window sashes will look like that. Someday. Also, someday I will have a lion knocker on my front door.

 A peek into the vintage section of the store. Every nook and cranny is bursting with awesomeness.

We also discovered that the Schoolhouse Electric showroom was just a few blocks from Rejuvenation. I had no clue that there Schoolhouse Electric only had two showrooms: one in P-town and the other in New York. By the time we were finished at Rejuvenation we needed to get on the road and head North, but next time we will certainly be checking out Schoolhouse’s store. I have since them gone to their webpage and requested a catalog so we (hopefully) won’t be overwhelmed when we go in there.  Damn, Portland, how did you get to be so lucky with your plethora of period stores? Tacoma would like it if you would share the love.

 

Pretty Origami Lotus

Best part? It is seriously easy. So easy even I could do it. Now that is really saying something because I suck at folding paper. I have never made a paper airplane that could actually fly (or was symmetrical) and have consistently failed at making paper cranes and other supposedly easy origami crafts.

See, isn’t it pretty? This is one the folks at Better Homes & Gardens made. I first came across the paper flower in a magazine last summer, it included a link with the directions on how to make it. All you need is pretty paper, a paper cutter (or good old fashioned scissors), a rubber band, yarn, and frame (I used crafting glue to affix the flower to the frame). Anyway, I knew right away I HAD to make it… and it only took me 6 months to actually do so. I even bought the frames to house the flowers last fall at Ikea. I was prepared and ready, finally the day came to actually make them.

In the magazine spread they had the hanging in triplicate in a bedroom. So… uh… I did the same. Not very original on my part, I know. I did vary slightly from their directions. Obviously, I chose to pair mine with a kitty, which makes anything look better. I didn’t  like how big their yarn heart was, so I just tied one knot instead. I also left my leaves upside down so they looked all green (instead of seeing the other side of the paper). I  made the flowers a bit smaller, so they could fit in my frames. I would, however, also be interested in creating one on a much lager scale. Hmmm…

I used a color scheme of a pinky-purple, light blue, pale yellow, and green. I used a darker more neutral toned purple paper for the background. From a distance it blends a bit, but up close I think it is nice and subtle. These were really quick and easy to make and they are a nice addition to our guest bedroom. Need proof? Here is one last picture (with a kitty) to convince you.

 

P.S. Please ignore my crappy Venetian blinds. They will be gone soon. I hope.

Thanks be Given

I realize it is now February, therefore, this post is not-so-timely... but, what the hey, I'm going to post it anyway. Side-note: Did you know I'm a poet and I didn't even know it? Okay, enough with the cheese and on with the patronizing.
Everyone should send 'thank you' cards. Everyone. They are nice to get. And, if nothing else they let the person know you received the gift (if it was sent by mail). If you choose not to send an actual card, please, I beg you; DO NOT send an e-card. They are horrible things that are the bane of my inbox. If you insist on going the virtual route a simple email would suffice. Anywho, homemade cards are far and away the best option. Even simple ones are far superior to the store bought variety (and, of course, in a completely different league than the aforementioned dreaded e-cards... Can they even really be considered a card? This blogger says, "No.").
I whipped up my holiday 'thank you' cards in less than 10 minutes. True, I didn't have ton to create, nor are they very thrilling and awe inspiring, but they get the job done. The real key is having the proper supplies: craft paper, a handy-dandy paper cutter, a cute hole-punch, and craft tape. Here is a shoddy picture of the cards. 

I assure you, they were at least slightly better looking in person. And, most importantly, they were used to communicate thanks to those folks who gave me gifts. I have even subjected my students to multiple card making assignments. When I assigned Thank You cards after winter break, one lone student (out of 25) asked, "What if your parents already have you write Thank Yous?" To which I say, "Well done, one set of parents, well done."