The Reading Workshop

     My kids are so excited about trick-or-treating tonight despite the lingering drizzle from Sandy. This year we have a robot, a kitty, Jake {from the Neverland Pirates} and a boy who wants to dress up as a girl. {I know, I'm not a big fan of this choice but the rest of his 10 year old friends are doing this as well so I caved!}. I'm also super excited and honored that Aimee from Its Overflowing asked to do a tour of our home on her blog! I think she's posting it tomorrow, go on over and check it out and while you're there check out all the great ideas she has!

     Today I am going to share with you a space that you've seen bits and pieces of before, Brady and Hudson's "workshop" as they call it.

     When I went downstairs today, this is what I saw:

     Ya, not so pretty! I usually have them do the clean up but sometimes it just needs the kind of touch only an OCD mother can provide! ;)

     They love this space {especially when its clean} because they do all kinds of projects down there and then they can display them on their art wall.

     If you look really close you can see that this art wall is made from guitar strings. {Where there's a will there's a way!} Guitar strings are great for this kind of thing because on the end they have a round metal thing that is perfect for hammer a nail through. For this wall I used four guitar strings and just did a small twist in the middle to join two together. {This has really held up great. We've been using this art wall for two years and it hasn't come apart yet!}

     They have a corner for reading.

     .........and an art table with supplies for crafting.

     This handy little bar was $1.99 at ikea and the cups keep things organized {until they take them all out and scatter them on the floor}.

     This space is divided by curtain panels {another ikea find} and their bedroom is on the other side. You can see that this room is just a half flight of stairs down from the main level. This makes for a perfect set up to see what's going on down there. {Sometimes I'd rather not know! ;) }

Don't forget to check out our home tour on Its Overflowing tomorrow! See you there!




I'm sharing this here:
At the Picket Fence
Tatertots and Jello
Too Much Time
Between Naps on the Porch
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Not Just a Housewife

Snowflake Pillow

     We had some awesomely warm weather this past week but its turned cold this weekend. I have even heard a rumor that there is snow in the forecast! I feel it only right to start some snow inspired projects, so I decided to make a snowflake pillow, and this one's super cute!

     This is another project that uses the ever versatile drop cloth fabric that you can find at any home improvement store. I always wash and dry my drop cloths before I use them because they are really stiff if you leave them au natural.

     If you want to make one too, here's what you'll need:

• Drop cloth fabric
• Pillow form {I found mine at Hobby Lobby on sale for $5.00}
• One sheet of white felt {$ .50 at HL}
• Pom fringe

     First start by cutting out 2 pieces of your fabric with 1/2 seam allowance on all sides. Iron your fabric too! 

     Next you are going to make your snowflake. I googled 'snowflake images' and found one I liked. It was a template to print and cut out your own. Once it was cut out I pinned it to the felt, and cut it out. {This was the most time consuming part of the project}

     Once its cut out measure the dead center of your fabric and attach it. You can use a number of methods. Because it isn't my intent to wash this pillow and I will be only pulling it out seasonally I hot glued mine to my fabric. But wouldn't a blanket stitch in red thread be pretty too?

     I decided to add the pom fringe. I have never used pom fringe for a pillow before so I made sure I pinned everything carefully before. The corners were the trickiest.

     Lay your fabric pieces face to face with the fringe in the middle. Hopefully this picture illustrates what I mean:

     Now we're going to stitch it up. I started on the top left corner and went all the way around until I came to the last side. Here I wanted to leave a pocket open to stuff my pillow in so I only stitched the fringe to one side. Again, hopefully the pic will show you what I mean:

     To stitch everything I moved my needle to the left so that I could get as close to the top of the fringe as possible.

     Once it is done, stuff your pillow in and whip stitch it closed.

     And now you have a super cute snowflake pillow! I'm not sure where he will land so I tried him out in a few places.

     If snowflakes aren't your thing you could use this same concept with an animal silhouette, leaf, or profile!

     Now, its awful cute on a pillow but I'm not sure I'm ready to see it on the ground!




I'm sharing this here:
Between naps on the porch
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Not Just a Housewife
At the Picket Fence
Tatertots and Jello
Too Much Time
Homa Style
Thrifty Decor Chick
House of Smiths
Made to Treasure

Color Inspiration: Gray

   
     I'm in need of some inspiration! I have planned for quite a while now to repaint my upstairs bathroom. {Its currently light blue}. I think I'm heading in a gray direction but needed some help! I wanted to share with you some of the shades I came across. Gray is such an amazing color because it is so versatile. It is the new neutral!

     If you missed the other colors in my series, you can check them out here:

    Orange

Teal

     This first picture from Better Homes and Gardens is a charcoal shade. To me these darker shades of gray are very elegant. 

I think that gray is the color that my next couch is going to be! Its a great neutral that you could put any color on and it has to be better at hiding stains than most lighter colored couches.

This two tone effect from Real Simple is a great wall treatment that helps ground a space.

Target.com has these pillows on clearance right now for under $8.00. I love the large pom poms! 

I had to throw this one in there. Gray ice cream, Really??? I wonder what flavor gray ice cream would be?

The next three pictures are also from Better Homes and Gardens. Yep definitely going with a gray couch. {Now how could I fit one in my bathroom?}

   

     This amazing bathroom redo is from When Decades Collide I love the gray walls and the striped towel {besides everything else}. You will have to pop on over and check out the before pics on this baby!

This living room is designed by Kelly Deck. I love the charcoal curtains and light couch. This really could be a backdrop for any color scheme.

This next room is from Laura Casey Interiors and has so many great things! Of course I love the barn doors but that light fixture is amazing. The gray kitchen cabinets are awesome too and I love that this shade of gray is such a warm one.

     Are you feeling the gray yet? It certainly doesn't have to be dreary! I think I'm ready this week to pick out my gray shade for the bathroom. I will keep you posted!









I'm sharing this here:

Tatertots and Jello
Too Much Time
Funky Junk Interiors
Its Overflowing
Between naps on the porch
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Not Just a Housewife
At the PIcket Fence

DIY Deer Art

    Today I want to share a fun little project with you! I've been admiring those animal silhouette art, but was always disappointed when I would check them out only to find they used one of those vinyl machines to create them. I knew there had to be a way to make them without an expensive machine so thus started my quest!

     I'm still crushing on this chevron fabric I had and used it to cover another art project I had laying around.  Plan 'A' was to use a staple gun to attach my fabric to the canvas frame. But do you think it was where it belongs? Of course not! So plan 'B' was to use the trusty glue gun. I have to admit, it worked pretty good.

     If you want to make one too, here's what you'll need:

• Canvas frame {I think mine is 11x14}
• Fabric to cover it
• Staple or glue gun
• Craft paint/brush
• Computer for printing image

     To begin with I ironed my fabric. Because this frame had something already painted on it I used a piece of white fabric to act as a liner.

     Trim your fabric so there is just about an inch around. You don't want a lot of bulk on the back. My mother would be proud of my "hospital corner"!

     Then I did the same thing with my top fabric.

     Next I googled 'deer silhouette' and the very first thing that came up I clicked on. At first the image was way to big {it was an 8x10 size}, then I printed the 4x6. In hindsight I should have done the 5x7 but oh well!

     Using a paper punch I punched a hole in the deer for a starting point for my scissors. The goal is to cut the center out leaving the silhouette.

     This is harder than you think! I kept having to stop myself from wanting to trim away the white part!

     When you're done, there are two things you can do. You can either tape this guy down and fill in with paint or you can go around the inside image with chalk to leave an image for you to paint over.

     I did both. First I traced but then decided that for such a small image I would try to use the paper as a stencil. With the thin paper you have to hold down the paper as you paint so you get a clean line.

     I love how he turned out! Next time I would go with a bigger image, but this guy's cute too!

     Hopefully this will add just a bit of manliness that my guys will like!





I'm sharing this project here:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Not Just a Housewife
DIY by Design
The Real Housewives of Riverton
At the Picket Fence
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Remodelaholic
Tatertots and Jello
Too Much Time
Funky Junk Interiors
Its Overflowing