The Countdown Begins!

Emma’s birthday is just around the corner and this weekend we made her a paper chain so she could see just how many days away it is!

Ignore the goofy faces throughout if you can! Emma was in a weird goofy mood 😛 So I pulled out paper, scissors, scrapbooking glue, and I didn’t really need anything else 😉 The pen was to entertain Emma if she got bored.

I folded it in half (hot dog way 😉 haha)

And again just to make the guided lines. These in no way shape or form need to be pretty since your child is just going to rip them up each day.

After unfolding it I just cut each strip out to how many days I needed.

I like to use multiple colors so it’s easy to see which is the next chain.

Take the scrapbook glue and run it along one side folding it into a circle and pushing it so it sticks.

Slide the next piece in the ring and repat until you’ve used all your pieces!

Emma was excited as I explained it to her. We counted how many rings and jumped up and down at the excitement that it’s not too far away!!

Each morning we are going to wake up and rip off one more!

Do you remember doing this when you were a kid? I am pretty sure I made a million of these chains for all different occasions!

 

 

Crafty Party!

This past weekend our team had a craft party! Everyone met up together and got crafty 😉 There was food, drinks, and craft supplies galore! I thought I’d take a break from the usual crafty posts and let you in on what a crafty party around here looks like!

 

I think we all have enough supplies here to keep us busy for days!

 

You can’t have a craft get together without some crafty inspiration!

Afterwards we decided to make this an ongoing event. Every three months we’ll be meeting up to get crafty together and enjoy each other’s company. This group of people have become a great way to share my experience of blogging, crafting, etsy, and being a mom. When I started out with all of this – I didn’t have many people to share my experiences with and what better way to do it, then get crafty with people who share the same interests as you!?

Thanks for stopping by!

Love Always,

J

If you like this blog, please click on the button below daily to vote for me!

Bed Sheet Headband

One more bedsheet project for those of you who are needing ideas for all that fabric and extra pieces!!

What can you do with the elastic edges of a bedsheet?

Oh I can think of a few things 😉 But today I’ll just show you one of them!

I took the elastic piece and wrapped it around Emma’s head and measured it. I then pinned it and grabbed some thread. All it took was sewing the two pieces together and tada! A cute little headband for my cute little girl!

She loved it so much she decided she wanted to make one so I let her “help me” with a second one. After cutting of a small excess piece I decided I was going to make a little flower out of it and attach it to the headband. I’ll have pictures of that later 😉

Love that little girl 🙂 and her new headband!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love Always,

J

If you like this blog, please click on the button below daily to vote for me!

Scrap Fabric Baby Blocks

So I’ve been trying to find ways to use up some of my scraps and I saw some a cute idea for scrap fabric blocks on pinterest and decided I would try it out. Since there wasn’t a tutorial with it – I was going blind by trial but I am pretty darn proud at how they turned out!!

 

I drew out a plan and cut out my squares from my fabric pile.

 

I then began to sew each piece together the way I had it laid out.

Next came the two pieces on the side to start creating the box form.

Then I took the bottom and wrapped it around the sides.

I left an inch open in order to flip it right side out and stuff it.

Then it was stuffed!! I will say I need a little more practice with stuffing but overall – I am happy with the project!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Don’t forget to sign up for my book giveaway – the winner will be announced Saturday 15th!

 

Love Always,

J

If you like this blog, please click on the button below daily to vote for me!

My Favorite Thrift Store!

I talk about going to Blue Ridge Hospice Thrift shop a lot – but I’ve never shown you what it’s like to shop there so I thought the next time I go I’m taking pictures – and I did!

My favorite things about this thrift store are:

• All the proceeds go the Blue Ridge Hospice
• You get a points card and a punch for every time you shop there! I’m halfway through mine and I’ll get $10 off my next purchase of $20 bucks or more (which is not hard to do here).
• They have everything in sections that are clearly defined so if you are searching for something specific you can easily find it.
• They have two floors of thrifty goodness!! (This place is huge)
• They have a room dedicated just to craft supplies ❤ They had me at hello.

This mirror was so cool – I am actually mad I didn’t buy it. I’ve been seeing these pins on pinterest where people design things around a mirror and this one seemed like a perfect match – but since my storage is overflowing I’m not allowed to buy any new big projects until I finish the ones I have 😦

These chairs were AWESOME! In this family we like dark wood and these would be perfect for us. I even like the fabric choice but it was a little stained so I would need to reupholster it (not a problem). The problem? We don’t need chairs, nor do we have room to store them. Another bummer.

Apparently I have a thing for chairs – but can’t you see these in a little kids playroom!? Oh so adorable 🙂

Then we come to the craft room -which I only took to pictures of because I was entirely to destracted by all the goodies to stop and take more pictures (sorry!) but check out this wall of baskets! If you can’t find a basket here – I’m afraid you need to make your own! They have every size and every kind you could as for – even cute picnic baskets!

Tada!!! The fabric section. I could probably spend a lifetime in here if they let me. In fact the lady checking me out said she might almost pay me to take it away ❤ I told her I’d gladly take her up on that offer any day!!

So the pictures you are missing from the rest of that room are ribbon, yarn, thread, patterns, paper crafts, and more. It’s like a mini craft store in there! They even have a sewing machine!

More on my thrifty shopping later – this isn’t the last Blue Ridge Hospice post and I can promise you that 😉

Love Always,

J

 

If you like my blog – click on the link below daily to vote for me!

I did it again – Framing It Up!

Another one of Saturday’s projects: Frames!

I started out by picking out what paint and paper I wanted for each one:

I always pick out the paint and paper first so that I know if I have the right color to match. I have about six other sheets I wanted to try but I’ll be running to the store today to pick out the perfect paint colors!

Then it was prime time! To make the paint colors really pop the exact color they are shown always use a primer white paint or the tan of the wood will change the shade of the paint.

I decided to focus on these while the others dried. I picked two neutral and a bright blue!

This gray needs another top coat layer – some paint colors need more coats in than others.

I picked some gray paper that had pops of color. I think I want to use this same paper again and do one of the pop colors as the frame!

This white one is my favorite one so far! I loooove how vibrant the green is and how the white frame pops out the white pattern.

A close up of the awesome pattern!

And last but not least the blue set! I can just picture this in a little boys room 🙂

This paper also has a couple options for color choices!

Which one was your favorite?

Next week I’ll have some more frames with some new colors to share! These frames will also be on etsy by tomorrow so if you are interested in one of them let me know – I can reserve it for you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love Always,

J

If you like my blog – click on the button below daily to vote for me!

A Get it Done Moment

When you come across a couple uninterrupted hours and a nice day outside you have to take it for all it’s worth! I packed up my painting supplies and went to work:

Who’s ready to get messy!? I am!! With three separate frames and two solid frames I was ready to go to town!

It took about two solid coats of white for me to be happy with them primed and bring on some color!

I went with three totally different colors in hopes of getting some variety. Bright red, light purple, and a POP of blue 🙂

Then I added some decorative paper to give it a little fun. They are all ready to be hung for some fun wall art or I can add letters/initials to each one to give them some personal love ❤

A fun purple with multiple colored polka dots is a fun way to spice up any little girls room or even a hallway that needs a little life!

These are definitely a statement piece! A great way to brighten up any room that’s ready for some fun – maybe a family room or playroom? I could even see these in a kitchen 🙂

This one is my absolute favorite. This bright pop of blue brings out the leaf design in the paper and what can I say – I am crazy about a bright blue! I could see this in my bedroom, bathroom, or even my hallway! I might even add hooks on the bottom to hang keys on.

Keep an eye out – these will be in my Etsy shop soon!

Which one is your favorite and why?

Thanks for stopping by!

Love Always,

J

Frame It!

When you don’t know what else to do – FRAME IT! I love these little frames and I’ll continue to make wonders with these things. What better way to show off things you love than framing them for all to see? My little girl is getting her name framed for her birthday party 🙂

Here’s the start:

I’ll be adding ribbon to hang them from – now I just need to decide where to hang them 😀 That’s the best part!!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Love Always,

J

Living in Fabric

I’ve stored fabric in so many different ways I can’t even begin to explain it! But what I can explain is that if you can’t see it – you’ll forget you have it if you have as much fabric as I do.

This was my previous way of storing fabric. Which was actually working out quite well for me until I moved into my studio and didn’t take this handy cabinet with me..

What happened to that fabric? It got stuffed in under the bed bins like this:

Under both tables you can see boxes and boxes stacked with fabric. One thing that I can’t stand – not being able to see fabric or having to search through, under, and around a pile just to find what I’m looking for. So what was my solution?

Since that old cabinet is filled now with yarn and stock grocery items I had to come up with a better plan. I cleaned off this old shelves we had in storage that were holding paint cans. My dad is building a shelf to put all the cans on so I went ahead and snatched them up, cleaned them, and hauled them to the studio space.

Welcome to my new way of knowing what fabrics I have and where the heck they are! Now if only find a way to stash scraps that are easier to find.. that will be my next thing to tackle 😛

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Love Always,

J

The Perfect Finds!

After a day long trip of thrift store hunting I found some AWESOME finds! I also found some awesome places to go back for some more shopping as well as other’s I’ll probably skip unless I’m looking for something specific..

Check out my awesome finds:

My mother-in-law found this perfect bench for Emma at the Blue Ridge Hospice Thrift shop! It doesn’t need anything done to it and we’ve already put it to use a few times 😉

I found this desk at Unique in Falls Church! I’m going to sand it down, paint it or stain it, and paint the top of the desk with chalkboard paint! I’m so excited to see how this turns out!

Here is Emma’s new desk chair! It needs a few touch ups so we’ll be sanding and painting this one as well. It’s a little big for her but she can get in and out of it on her own so I think this will be something she grows with perfectly!

This was an impulse buy! It was only two bucks so I’m going to touch up the paint, lay a thin sheet of wood down in it and wrap that with fabric to make a cute tray to place things in!

Heck yes for cheap patterns! Especially home decor patterns! I hate spending a bunch of money on patterns not knowing whether I’m going to like them or change them 😉 This is a great way to try new patterns without feeling that guilt of paying too much! I also bought some awesome fabric by the bunch that you’ll see when I show off my work with these new patterns 😀

Hooray for two dollar batting! I spend a fortune on batting and usually buy it in bulk like this but you can’t beat less than 50 cents a yard!

So those were my awesome finds this weekend! The Blue Ridge Hospice Thrift Shop in Purcellville is going to be my first trip each weekend from now on. That thrift store was AMAZING!

Stay tuned to see what I do with these perfect finds!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love Always,

J