DIY picture hanger

***Click on picture for larger view***


















What I used:

An old canvas

Fabric

Twine

Nails

Buttons

Wood clothespins

Tools:

Hot glue gun

Hammer

This project was really easy! I just wrapped the canvas with fabric and tucked it into the back (I thought I would need a staple gun, but good thing I didn't cause I don't have one!). Then I put nails into the wood part on the two sides, wrapped one long piece of twine around them, and hot-glued buttons to the top of the nails so the twine wouldn't slip off. Then hung the pictures that were once on my fridge with the clothespins. Piece of cake!

I think this smaller canvas would look better with mini clothespins (if they exist?), but I have a large canvas that I'm going to do next, and the regular clothespins should work fine with those. 

I need ideas and/or tips for making over our hutch and dining set!

I'd like to re-vamp our hutch and dining set, but I'm not sure exactly what to do and need advice!

My ideas for the hutch are to paint it black, replace the hardware with brushed nickel, and do the back splash (? not sure what to call it) a different color. You know, the background... does that make sense? Also, I'd like to open it up by completely removing the upper cabinet doors so the top part is just open shelving. Maybe the background could be done with an awesome wallpaper. Thoughts? Would black be too dark? Ideally I would do white but our walls are white. I could get approval to paint the walls but with how much we move with the military, I'd rather have furniture/decor that goes with white walls. We'll go paint crazy when we settle down in the future =]

And for the table, black seems like the best option right?

Hope you can help! =]

My first attempt at gardening.

A little over a month ago I planted some flowers. This is my first time actually planting my own stuff. My mother taught me the basics when I was little, so that combined with the advice in this book, my flowers are doing quite well! The Pansies have been looking nice and healthy since I planted them (what a lovely shade of purple!), and the Impatiens are finally getting there. Impatiens are supposed to be in the shade only, but there's no where in my back or front yard that only gets shade. So, they get a bit of unfortunate early-morning sun up against the house, but that's the best I can do, sorry flowers!

The tall, light purple flowers (below) are Butterfly Blue Pincushions. They are a full-sun flower, but I accidentally paired them with a trailing plant that's only supposed to get partial sun =/ I guess these are the things you learn as you go! The trailing plant seems to be thriving except for one place where the leaves are looking burned. Whoops.

The White Saxifraga (the tiny white flowers surrounding the tall, skinny pink ones) were beautiful up until about a week ago, and they're no longer in full bloom. I think they may be getting a tad too much sun. Also, I have no idea what flowers the tall skinny pink ones are! Help?

I was getting annoyed with the Cyclamen flowers (the pink and yellow ones in the small pot on the table) because I was having to pick off so many dead ones and none of them would bloom, but they are now in full bloom and really pretty! I think I may have planted too many in that small pot though. In fact, I think I may have over planted in all my pots =/ They're all doing fine as of right now but it's only April. I hope they don't strangle each other and die! What's the rule on how much to plant in one pot? Again... I guess it's something you learn as you go.

Now, I have prepped the soil for my little garden space (about 5'x 4'). But I have no idea what to plant. My sister-in-law said zucchini was really easy to grow, so I might do some of that. Also, my husband is literally addicted to tomatoes, so I really have no choice but to grow those =) but what else should I plant? The problem is that the garden is in the corner of my house and a rock wall fence. It only gets partial sunlight in the morning. I know tomatoes are supposed to get full light, but I'm going to try anyways. We also bought some seeds to grow giant sunflowers, but again... they need full sun. (My mom grows giant sunflowers in Reno every year and they are HUGE and awesome... probably about 10-11 feet tall!) Ideally I would love to tear out some of the "grass" in our yard and build an above ground garden, but being that we're a military family and moving every 2.5 years or so, I don't think it's worth it. Plus, we might get in trouble with housing for tearing up the yard. But on the bright side. It's probably best I don't start off with a full on garden. I can get all my practice in now, and when we settle down sometime in the distant future I will know what I'm doing (hopefully!) and won't have any doubts about taking care of a huge garden. Imagine never having to get your veggies, lettuce, and some herbs at the grocery store! That would be awesome.

Well, any advice is more then welcome (for whoever reads this)! Also, here is a picture of a GIANT bee that scared the hell out of me! It... was... huge. And buzzed so loud you'd think there were ten bees. I guess it's a carpenter bee? It was black as death and scary. That's all I have to say about that.

A [starving] Bunny Foo Foo & felt fruit!

Aren't these and these just adorable?! I thought I'd take a whack at some bunny making for Evie, since it is Easter and all. My bunny looks malnourished... but it was still made with love and I got to use the cutest argyle fabric that I've been saving! Sure the buttons are crooked, the bottom isn't straight, and a seam is already busting... but hey, he's cute anyways! Or she?





Thankfully this next project turned out much better! I decided to try making fruit out of felt when I saw this tutorial for a felt tomato. Then I made the carrot (with slight variation), and loved it! I thought I'd be adventurous and try making my own grapes, which I thought would be extremely difficult but they turned out pretty good! Evie thinks it's hilarious when I act like Roger Rabbit and eat the carrot, then she tries it herself. Too cute =) When she's older and starts playing "kitchen" I'll probably make her even more goodies. I see a whole cabinet full of felt food in our future!



And below is just a cute picture of her gazing out the window while I take a picture of her fruit. Cuteness Monster!

Green Apple Tree Applique How-To

Materials you will need:
-One sheet of Iron-on "steam a seam" (fusible webbing)
-Scissors
-Thin plain white paper
-Pencil
-Iron & Ironing board
-Green fabric or felt
-Brown fabric or felt
-Dark pink fabric for bird body
-Light pink fabric for bird wings
-Assorted green buttons
-Thread to match fabrics
-Pins & needle
-Embroidery hoop
-Blank t-shirt or onesie

TIP: Pre-wash all your fabrics (especially if you're using felt) and the t-shirt to avoid awkward shrinkage (that's what she said).





Step 1: Draw the apple tree on a piece of blank, thin white paper. Draw it to scale using the t-shirt or onesie as a guide to the size you want. The bird will be the hardest part to do, so you don't want it TOO small. This shirt is an 18month onesie with the bottom cut off to make a t-shirt. You can do whatever design you want for the tree, I liked the look of a simple circle.



Notice in the picture below that the lines are over lapping each other. This is necessary for the next step, so there is no need to erase lines that should be hidden.



Step 2: Trace each piece of the picture separately onto the sheet of fusible webbing (trace onto the smooth side, not the bumpy side). Make sure to leave enough space in between pieces to cut out each piece with room to trim. You won't need the initial tree drawing anymore.



Step 3: Cut out each piece from the fusible sheet, leaving room for trim all the way around. Lay each piece on it's corresponding fabric and cut fabric to size (as shown).



Step 4: To iron the steam a seam, place the bumpy side of the sheet (the side you didn't trance onto) against the WRONG side of the fabric (the side that won't be showing on the shirt). Bumpy side to wrong side. Don't mess this part up! Iron for 10-15 seconds or following the instructions on your brand of fusible webbing. Iron each piece to its corresponding fabric.



Step 5: Following the line you traced onto the sheet, cut out each piece of fabric, trimming off the excess. ***Edit: My bird beak and eye turned out to be too small to sew the fabric on, so I just used thread to make them, as you'll see in the end photo***



Step 6: You should now have all the correct cut outs for your tree and bird!



Step 7: Peel away the sheet from each piece of fabric, leaving a sticky residue on the wrong side of the fabric. This is what will fuse the fabric to the t-shirt when ironed.



Step 8: You are now ready to iron on the fabric to the shirt. Iron one layer at a time starting with the bottom layer. So, first iron on the circle, iron for 20 seconds and then place and iron the tree trunk, etc.



Step 9: Use an embroidery loop to pull the fabric tight to make it easier to stitch around the applique. When sewing onto a shirt it's easy to accidentally grab up the back of the shirt, so tuck the shirt up around the loop (as shown) as much as you can to avoid having to undo stitches.





Step 10: Use your corresponding thread to stitch around each piece of fabric. Big stitches for the bigger pieces, small stitches for the wee little bird. Use a thimble! For the beak and eye of the bird I just sort of winged it and stitched a little dot and a little triangle using black thread, it worked pretty well! If you are using embroidery thread, it comes in six strands, so you'll need to peel them apart and just use one.



Step 11: Now time for cute buttons... err... I mean, green apples! =) I used various colors of greens and yellows in different sizes for more whimsy. After all, not every apple that falls from a tree is the same, right? Using the embroidery loop again, arrange the buttons where you want them. Once you are satisfied with their placement you can either take a picture to refer back to or use pins (as shown) to keep them in place. Sew one button at a time and careful not to prick yourself with the other pins!




Step 12: You are done! Give the shirt one last iron to get out the wrinkle caused by the embroidery loop, stick on your cute little one, and then step back and admire your craftiness! *high five!*






Other Ideas: For a boy shirt just take out the bird and use less girly fabrics (like felt). For a very girly shirt, do a pink tree with pink and purple buttons for apples with a different color tree trunk!

This may seem like a lot of work for a t-shirt that will only be worn for a short time, as children grow like weeds. No worries! Save the shirt for another child, a quilt for your child, or cut out the square of t-shirt and frame it for your child's room! As you can see I've already gotten another use for the one I made since it is the the picture for my blog =]