Baby Crafts

I am thankful for all of my friends, and this weekend, I was especially thankful for Eleanor, who lent me some of her interior decorating talents and donated her time to help with a BIG nursery craft that I kept putting off.

Nathan's mom gave us a beautiful wooden rocker, but it was just so uncomfortable that it needed cushions.  All of the cushions I found either were not the right size or were just ugly.  So I ordered some fabric with the intent of making it into cushions. I scoured the Internet for patterns.  I look on Pinterest for ideas.  The fabric sat there for weeks, and I was pretty sure I'd never work up the courage or motivation to get the job done.

Enter Eleanor.

Eleanor didn't need patterns or Pinterest.  Once I knew the size of the cushions I wanted, we started snipping, pinning, and sewing (she did the machine sewing- I am still afraid of my sewing machine!) It took us a little over three hours, but the end result was better than anything I could have schemed up myself.

It is reversible, so when I get bored of the pattern, I can just flip it over. I forgot to buy white ribbon for the ties, so after a little bit of rummaging in my sewing trunk, we found tulle.  I love the way it adds a little bit of whimsy and frill to it!

After Eleanor left, my nesting instincts were still kicked into high gear, and I still had some batting and fabric left over for the chair cushions.  I decided to get started on a bow board, which I also have been thinking of doing for ages. All it took was the batting, fabric, elastic, a staple gun, and some hot glue.

I wasn't sure how I was going to hang the headbands, but the elastic did the trick.  Now I feel like the nursery is all set, just in case Baby girl decides to come a little bit early!  

Mom to Denver

My mom visited us this weekend.  We did our best to balance some downtime with things that require more energy, like eating and shopping.

Highlights: 

Sunday morning brunch at Lucile's.  We waited an hour and a half to be seated but when they brought out piles of Louisiana comfort food, we were thankful to be so hungry.

House browsing in Stapleton.  When I was little, I used to go to open houses with my mom (is that a typical mother-daughter pastime?) All three of us went on Sunday and saw brand new houses that are about the same price as our house but three times bigger.  Selling out to suburbia may not be such a bad idea after all.

Crafts with Cathy. I love my mom's craftiness!  She taught me how to make these stars out of scrapbooking paper.  She is like the MacGyver of crafts.

Mom also helped me make peanut butter dog treats for Kiowa.  Kiowa liked them at first but now I think she realizes that I swapped her meaty Milk Bones with vegan kitchen crafts.  Next time I'll add beef broth.

I was sad to drop her off at the airport today.  She is such an amazing mama!

Christmas Crafting

We got all decorated for Christmas a few weeks ago, and I realized that no one would see our festive house. I decided to invite my craftiest friends over for a Christmas craft party. Everyone brought enough supplies for the whole group and we painted, glued, and created for hours.


I love making centerpieces for our usually cluttered table. This one has lots of vases- my painted snowflake votives and other clear vases- that I filled with candles and epsom salt.

 I had to pretty-up these plastic wine glasses. Wine glass charms would have worked if I had had any, but different colors of ribbon were festive and helped everyone keep track of her glass.

 

I've always wanted to paint one of these glass blocks- the stick-on stencils were perfect!  

 

Glass ornaments with acrylic paint dripped inside makes for a cool affect. Mine is still drying and looks different every time I check on it!

I love these cute little bookmarks!  Popsicle stick, fancy ribbon, and 3D stickers to make these cute little bookmarks- so much better than the receipts I usually use.  I'm thinking this would be good for my class next year! 

We also made yo-yos with lots of fabric, gift tags out of paper bags and metallic paper, and snowflake vases. Now I have lots of projects to do over my break!

Being Resourceful- Snowflake Votives

I had about 15 vases leftover from our wedding that no one wanted to buy on Craigslist.  They're from the Dollar Store, so I can't blame them. I was sure that if I held onto them long enough, I'd come up with a use for them. I did.

Tomorrow, I'm turning those cheap little vases into snowflake votives with a few friends.  I practiced today on an old jar and this is what I came up with:

 I got foam snowflakes, metallic spray paint, self-adhesive beads, and a glittery sealant at Michael's. First, I stuck the snowflakes on the jar (that was cute in itself!) and did a light coat of the paint.  After it was dry, I did a layer of the sealant. When I was sure the paint was solid, I peeled the snowflakes off. I left one on for some texture but I haven't decided how I feel about that yet.  I added the beads as an afterthought but I like the way it turned out.

My first attempt was a fail- way too much spray paint and it ended up on the front walk (not sure how Nate is going to handle that when he gets home!) But going easy on the paint was the trick.


And my inspiration...the Yankee Candle votive that one of my sweet little students gave me yesterday.