A Soft Place to Land

It's official...Mr. Pickup and I own a bit of earth again.  I must say that it feels good.  We'll be building a new home, just down the road from our old house (remember the 3D paper diorama I made of it?)

Tips for Selling Your House

I've had a few emails about how we were able to sell our home so quickly.  I thought I'd share my tips, with the hopes it may help someone in a similar situation.

At least we're not mossy.

You could call us rolling stones I suppose.  Remember when we moved last September?  Um, yeah.  We're doing it again.  I've alluded to the extra stress in my life.  This is why.  Mr. Pickup was offered the chance to transfer to an office closer to our families, and we had to take the opportunity.

Patchwork of Another Sort

I mentioned how things have been crazy.  More details to come...but for now I'll show you one of our many projects lately.

Cardboard Monograms

What can I say?...cardboard is free.  After we painted the boys' room, I wanted to do something fun to decorate and personalize the space.  So, I made simple mongrams for each boy.  All I used was a cereal box, some craft foam I had on hand to give it some dimension, and spray paint left from a previous project.

Even bigger painting project

I could hardly wait to show you this.  The people who owned this house previously would leave their dog in the downstairs half bath.  It was a big dog, and it didn't like being in the bathroom.  Can you tell?

We had to replace the bottom pieces, recaulking it as needed.  I repaired the chipped and scraped paint by sanding, smoothing with spackle, and then priming and painting the door.  I used cabinet and trim paint from Sherwin Williams in a lovely white called alabaster.

We've been painting

Sorry to leave you guys hanging...the big announcement will have to be postponed one week.  My husband decided we needed to paint our house.  Since this is a rare occurrence, everything else took a back seat.   We've painted in three bedrooms, in the hallway, and two bathrooms.  I'm kinda sick of painting, and never thought I'd say that.

I'm still touching up a few projects, but here are a couple that are finished:
First up, our girls' room.
Celeste's scallop painting was my inspiration.

Goodbye winter gloom.

It has been cold, cloudy, and now rainy.  We needed something cheerful in our family room, and an update for the wreath on our front door.  I dug through my scraps, and decided I had enough to make a couple wintry banners.  I'll share a tutorial and template next week, but I was so excited to get them done, I had to show you, despite the horrible lighting (where or where is the sun???)

I went with a white/ aqua/ green with touches of brown color scheme.  There are some of my favorite fabrics in there, including Nicey Jane stripes, Anna Maria plaid, Momo floral, and even some Riley Blake snowmen.  The rounded pennants are a little longer than my previous ones here and here.  The template I used for those was worn out, so I tried something new.  I think I like this a bit better. 

The turquoise bias tape was left from a previous project.  The white fabrics are all different textures.  Since we don't have any snow at the moment, I wanted something to remind me of it. 

You can see the sheers from the outside in this photo.

While I was picking out fabrics, I thought a similar idea in a bit larger size would be perfect for my wintry mantle.  Forgive the poor lighting.  I tried really hard to get some decent natural light...the weather would not cooperate today.

 I tried again tonight with our overhead fluorescent lights on.  Not a lot better, but at least it's a little more clear.

My mom and I made those big snowmen years ago, from warm and natural batting.  We saw something similar in a craft store and totally copied them.  Mom even made the carrot noses from sculpey.  See where a lot of my creativity comes from?  The sock snowman in the bowl was made by Big Brother in cub scouts last month.  The snowballs in the funky crystal vase were made last year.  I got a little teary looking at that post.  I  miss my mountain views. 

And just one more for the fun of it.

So there you have it, two happy little banners to help banish the winter gloom.  Tutorial and template to make your own banners coming next week!

Sharing with Freckled Laundry, Creation Corner, Tatertots and Jello, and Along for the Ride.

New Sheers, take one.

So way back in October I showed you this picture:

I bought this filmy stuff wanting to make some sheers for the sidelights of our front door (we had to get rid of those hideous mini blinds) and the master bedroom.  Then all the craziness of the holidays set in, and I got sidetracked.  I know I have adult ADD.  I just get so easily distracted these days.  Anyhoo, I did get the sheers made for our front door.

These were my inspiration:

image via Pottery Barn

I found cheap hardware at Wally World which I spray painted ORB, and then got going on the drapes.

My son took this photo without me knowing!

You love my painting outfit?  Those jeans are smeared with paint and caulk from our old house.  Ahh, the memories. 

Almost ready...

Halfway there...

Here is a close up of the drape before I hung it.  All the sides were narrow-hemmed, with a casing at top and bottom for the curtain rods.  Then, at equal intervals, I added small seams which alternated by row to create a smocked effect.

Hung up, with mixed results.  I've learned a few things.  First up, I need to add a lot more smocking.   I think next go-around I'll shirr the fabric on the rod and then mark where I want the smocking to go.  Second issue, these are WAY too transparent, as you can see.  So, they work for now, but definitely not a final solution. 

The trouble with closets.

One of the things I missed most about our old house was the storage.  We custom-designed each closet, and everything had it's place. 

A few weeks ago, my cute husband decided to add shelving in the playroom closet (we set aside the fourth bedroom for toys for now, yippee!)  We learned how to create custom shelving when we built our first home, which has been the blessing that keeps on blessing us.   We discussed what we wanted to keep in the closet, and designed the look together.  He did all the cutting and installing...I spackled, sanded, and painted everything. 

The closet started with your typical builder grade shelf and a rod.

First we added a second upper shelf and also a lower shelf.

My little guy loved being able to help Daddy.

A divider and additional shelves were added.

And now all of this stuff:

Looks like this.  Ahhh, much better.

Now onto the next project.

Linked to Blue Cricket Design, and Someday Crafts.

Box Pleat Shelf Skirt Tutorial

The following is the tutorial I shared on The Polka Dot Chair a couple weeks ago. Enjoy!

My sweet husband helped me to build some shelves for my new crafty space which I shared earlier HERE.  Today I'm posting the tutorial for how I spiffied them up. 


Ready to learn how to make a box-pleat shelf skirt?  Here's the how to.

You'll need:

• Chosen fabric, plan on about a yard.
• 1 package bias tape
• Cutting tools, a rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat are preferred
• Matching thread
• Fabric marking pen
• Sewing tools; including scissors, seam ripper, pins , and sewing machine

Step one.  Measure the shelf you want to dress up.
My finished size needed to be 71 inches, to cover all three sides.  I knew I wanted pleats every 12 inches, with 5 inches needed for each pleat...this meant 9 pleats.  In order to account for each pleat, I added 45" (9x5) to the desired finished size for a total of 116". You'll need the same amount plus 21 inches for the bias tape. 

Step two.  Cut your fabric.
The pleats will be made with folded fabric, so your width should be double your desired finished size.  I cut my fabric in 9 inch strips, along the full width of the fabric.

The only tick for using the plaid is trying to match up the design.  I cut off 2.5" between strips to create a continuous look.  Depending on your fabric you'll need to match up designs.  I cut three 9" wide strips total.

Step two.  Join the cut pieces into one continuous strip.
Since we're using the whole width from the bolt, you will be joining the selvage edges.  Bonus, no seams to finish!

Press the seams open, and then fold the whole length in half.

Iron the whole length of fabric in half, wrong sides together, and mark the center from each end.  Iron that spot to mark it.

Optional.   If you want to have a crisp edge to the ends, open your fabric up again, and with right sides together, sew the edge closed.

Step three.  Mark the pleats and pin in place. 
The funnest thing about box pleats is that they are easy, but look difficult.  To begin, mark the center of each pleat. Be sure to start at the center of your fabric strip.

Next, using your fabric marker, mark your folds.  I numbered mine in the diagram so you can follow along.

To create a box pleat, you bring two folds of fabric to the center.  Pinch the fabric at f2, and bring it to the center.  Pin in place.  F3 should end up over f1.  

 

Now just repeat making box pleats until you have all the pleats pinned in place.

Step four.  Sew pleats in place and bind with bias tape.

Now to finish off the top edge, insert the pleats inside the bias tape.  I left 10 inches of bias tape off each edge.  That gives you some extra to tie with if you wanted to use this as a bunting or banner. 

As you're going, make sure that the back edge of the bias tape is in line with your pleated fabric.

To apply mine to the shelf, I just pulled out my staple gun and stapled it into place.

There you have it!  A fun way to dress up a utilitarian shelf.  These would look wonderful on a  smaller scale on bookshelves, or as a fun new bunting.


The original guest post was featured on Craft Gossip and One Pretty Thing.

Linked to Blue Cricket Design, and Someday Crafts.