It's Raining Felt

Over a year ago I saw this darling felt cloud and raindrops from Etsy seller Butterflying.

When I started planning baby boy's nursery I knew I wanted to include this idea over the crib. See, I'm paranoid about anything framed or heavy falling off the wall and injuring baby, so this idea was perfect. I customized it to match my nursery and made my own.

Once I have Ava moved into her new room and the baby moved into the nursery, I'll share photos of the whole room. I still haven't shown you the crib bedding, have I? I will. 

Clever Design: Magazine Walls

I never cease to be amazed at the ingenious ideas people come up with and execute. For example... this design studio has walls made out of magazines! (Do you know how many thick magazines design studios get? A lot.) To see more and find links, click here.

Father & Son Tie Shirts

One last little Father's Day item. I appliqued this shirt & onesie for Ryan and the new little guy, full well knowing Ryan will never wear it, but I just couldn't help myself. At least the baby will wear his.

Happy Father's Day!

World's Best Pop

Here's a little glimpse of what the father in our house will be getting on Sunday. A collection of "Pop" items! Soda Pop (IBC Rootbeer), Popcorn, Pop-tarts, and a Blow Pop lollipop.

Wrap it all up and throw a ribbon on it, and there you go. A sweet little treat for your special Pop.

(To make the label, take a 1" x 12" strip of scrapbooking paper and fold it in small accordian folds. Glue the 2 ends together with a hot glue gun. The center part is just printed on a color printer and punched out with a scallop circle craft punch. Flatten your accordian folded paper into a circle and hot glue the scallop circle label onto the center. Then just glue it onto a cute ribbon and drape it over your bag of goodies.)

More Father's Day Goodness

More fun Father's Day ideas! And these come with a free downloadable template. Don't you love that? So nice of people to share. From the Lifestyle Crafts Blog.

via Armelle blog

Bow Ties

Still looking for Father's Day ideas? I am. And Twig and Thistle has some fun images and links that are all about the bow tie trend. It could be a fun theme for Daddy's big day. Head on over there for the complete gathering of ideas.

Twin Duvet Cover

Ava will soon be moving into a new room and bed to make room for the new baby (though I plan to procrastinate as long as possible). Her nursery is pretty un-girly, so I thought this time I'd try to be more feminine for her. I'm not a big fan of pink and purple, but decided I'd let Ava decide for herself about such things. It's no ruffles and lace, but I'm taking baby steps here, okay?
Her room starts with the bed and duvet cover. Since all the duvet covers I liked were pretty expensive, I decided to make my own. I used this Tina Given's fabric by Free Spirit. (And I have extra yardage, so if you want some you can go to my Etsy site).

The bed is from IKEA but I got it from the local classifieds for around $100. 

See the cute dots on the sheets? Awww. So cute. (I didn't make the sheets, I got them here.)

See those snaps below? Yeah, I hammered those in myself. It was my first time doing that kind of snaps, and it was so super easy. Instructions are just on the back of the package and all you need is a hammer and a spool of thread. You should try it, if you never have. I want to put snaps on everything now.

Next I have to figure out what color to paint the room. I was planning on doing a really pale yellow, but now I'm afriad that with the tan carpet that might turn pretty blah. And I don't know if I can bring myself to go pink on the walls (even a very light pink)... Especially because this duvet reflects quite a bit of pink into the room (and hallway) already. But if I put a cute little yellow night stand next to the bed, it would sure be cute. There is a bit of very light aqua in the duvet, but the new boy's nursery is that color so I don't want two rooms the same color. Suggestions?
If you are looking for a good duvet tutorial, this is the one that gave me basic direction. Just make sure you square up/true up your fabric before you cut it! I didn't and it caused a bit of headache for me. And keep in mind, as you calculate your measurements, that home decor fabric is like 54" wide on the bolt and quilting cottons (standard fabrics) are like 44". That will make a difference in how many yards you need.

Simplest Sewn Fabric Bag (Tutorial)

I needed to make 15 simple cute bags for Girl's Camp in a few weeks (for 12-18 yr. old girls). So I used a little bag from Anthropologie as my pattern (even their baggies are cute!). You can make these any size you want, and they are about as fast and easy as it comes.
(Since mine are basically going to be disposable, I didn't bother ironing).

I started with a scrap of fabric that was 8x10 inches.

Next, just barely fold in the top edges on both sides, about and inch and a half or two inches.

And sew that.

Like so.

Now you are going to roll over a seam, so fold it down once along the top, then fold again and pin it down.

And sew along the bottom of that fold, leaving a big enough gap for a safety pin to pass through.

Fold the whole thing in half (vertically), right sides together, and pin.

Starting at the seam stitch you just sewed, sew along the outside edge and bottom.

 

Flip inside out (or actually outside out)...

 Tie a piece of twine, embroidery floss, ribbon, or whatever around the end of a safety pin and feed it through the gap in the top of the bag and out the other side.

Tie a knot in the end and voila!

Fill your cute bag with whatever you see fit! Pretzels, candy, manicure kit, sunglasses, money, etc. But if you fill it with money, send it to me, okay? Thanks.

Father's Day Crafting

With how long it takes me to get things done sometimes, I have to start thinking early. Martha is always a reliable source for fun ideas, and this Father's Day she and her team have done it again. Here are a few ideas I think would be fun.

Jacket Pocket card

 

Bow Tie Wrap

And from Schlosser Designs, necktie and bow tie cards:

Free Printables from 9 to 5 Mom:

Cupcake toppers and necktie banner.

Sew a tie with Purl Bee:

 

 Happy Father's Day crafting!