Uno!

As l may have mentioned here that my baby will be turning one on Sunday...  Not sure if I'm quite ready for it.

To keep me distracted, I've been busy with his little party that I've been trying to keep low-key, but I always usually go overboard.  My husband just rolls his eyes at me and wonders why I get stressed and can't turn my brain off.  I'm sure there's a pill for that...

I'm very excited for his UNO BBQ and I wanted to share my little dibs with ya'll.

Thanksgiving Tree

I loved the idea of having a {thankful} tree in our home so much.  I got out my little hand saw and made one.

Source: simplyvintagegirl.com  Pinterest

Yeah, I really did go in my front yard, {while my neighbors where probably wondering: "what in the world..."} and sawed off some little branches off my little out of control tree, picked off the remaining leaves and brought them inside.

{I really hope there weren't any spiders * eek * on them}

 I dusted off my cricut.

Cut out 1-1/2" circles on a few different colored paper.

 Punched holes in my circles.

 Found an empty vase {and put rocks in the bottom to help steady it}.

 And you have one beautiful {thankful} tree.  Just in time for Thanksgiving.

Now we can put our thankful {little} thoughts on our Thanksgiving tree to help us remember to be Thankful.

Even for little things like   *eek*  spiders.

{but I'm really not}

Make your own crib/toddler sheets

One request for making your own crib sheets, coming right up!
I wish I had some pictures during the making process, but it's really so simple you really won't need 'em.  But if you do, here's the website I got my idear from; one of my absolute favs: MADE.

Early on, being such a thrifty newlywed, I scored some white king sized sheets at Freddy's.  Only problem was my bed was a queen.  BUT, I thought they would totally work.  And they did, but then I got realistic and quit using them.

So as they sat, I thought about making some sheets for my sweet little E and really was dreading buying fabric because it takes me SO long to make even the simplest decisions.  SO I had a great idea of cutting up my king sheets and making her crib sheets out of them.  A pure genius moment, right?  It worked out just perfectly since I was able to get two sheets out of one.  I wish I could have made a couple more, but  I previously threw the fitted sheet away due to some gnarly holes in it.  Can't really understand how that one happened still to this day.  But, eh.

According to Dana, she suggests you use two yards of fabric and 80" of 1/4" elastic.  Besides coordinating thread and a sewing machine, (and scissors and a safety pin) that's about all you need.

I cut my sheet into two yards (72" x approx 54") I believe I actually measured my crib mattress then added about four inches to each side (for the fitted part).  Sewed a little bit less than a 1/2" inseam with a hole at the end for my elastic.  Guide your elastic with a safety pin.  I used {two} because I usually end up losing the end and have to redo it at least twice before I finally get that what I'm doing isn't working :}  I pin one end at the opening and stuff the other one through the lining.  At the end I sew both sides of the elastic together and then do a final stitch to seal the elastic in its casing -FOREVER :} hehe.

And there you have it!

Fresh homemade crib/toddler sheets for your sweet little one out of an up-cycled sheet.

10 Minute Lamp Recover Project

Can I just tell you one of the hardest things about a baby, for me at least, would have to be the well thought out design and follow through of the nursery.  

As you may have deciphered over the course of following our blog, I-Ashlie, am kind of a perfectionist.  Some may say it's a good thing, but for the most part, I consider it not so much a good thing.   

So back to our nursery!  It's been a work in progress for nearly a year and a half.  You may say, but your baby is only 10 months old?  Yes, it took me a year and a half to get my fabric. 

Luckily I knew I wanted the room painted gray.  So that's the first thing we did.  I had seen way too many rooms online painted pink and it just made me think Pepto...just saying.  So gray, I thought can go with anything.  And I {trulie} love it.  (Although it could be just a tad lighter....eeeeek!)  

  

Then about June/July she got a crib skirt.  Such an easy project that I could kick myself at how long it took me to get around to making it.  Can I also mention I made her crib sheets out of an white king sized sheet that wasn't being used?  Easy, peasy, porridge and pie! 

With a cute little slit!  It's my favorite :)  

So, after that project was completed, I moved on to her lamp....three plus months later.

I bought it at Wally World for less than $6, (Whoo!) but wasn't crazy about the zebra.  It didn't match.  So logically, I thought about covering it with some excess fabric I had left over.

I first spay painted the outside of the cover as to attempt to cover the stripes so they wouldn't show through my fabric.  

Then I got a sheet of freezer paper and traced the top and bottom of the shade...

Like so.

I started with the seam at the very edge of the paper and rolled and traced at the bottom until I reached my seam again. 

Then did the same thing with top then cut out my new pattern to pin to my fabric.  I added about an extra 1/4" top and bottom to allow me extra material to fold over the lamp edge for a clean finished look. 

Now, insert my new favorite tool HERE:

Spray adhesive.  

How awesome is it? Just spray on your cut out fabric and smooth over the surface.  Making sure you have no bubbles or bumps.  

Fold over the edges.  I cut a slit to let the material lay a little bit nicer.

I then went around the bottom and top with a glue gun to secure the material so it doesn't flip up.  The spray adhesive on the body of the lamp will stay just fine.  

 Lastly I folded over the end seam twice for a clean edge.  Sprayed a nice film of adhesive and finished!  

This project literally took me 10 minutes to do and was very simple.  To jazz it up even more, you could run ribbon along the edges for a nice coordinating accent.  You can also dazzle it up with buttons, ruffled flowers, whatev.   I would, but it would probably time me another three months to get around to it. :)

Happy Monday!

Practically FREE mounting hardware for your {Perfect} Plate Wall Decor

There is one more phase in my {Perfect} Plate Wall Decor tute that I technically had and that is the mounting hardware.  

It's annoying (and expensive!) to go out and buy, so I cheated and used safety pins.  Yup! As if this project couldn't get any easier and cheaper!  I found this website to help guide me, but turns out I had dried up super duper glue and only had glue gun glue.  So here's what I did to improvise since I was too lazy to go buy some :) 

I used a highlighter to mark the middle of the plate (I eyeballed it)

Used a corner of sand paper to rub off some of the glaze to help set the glue.  As Craftaholic says you really only need to rub for a bout 5-10 seconds. 

Set your safetly pin in your glob of glue.  I globbed my safety pin then flipped over it and globbed it some more to make sure I had a good glob amount and secured the top portion.  It's not the loveliest mounting hardware job, but eh, it works :)

 I then left them out for 24-48 hours to let them completely set and dry. 

{It so did not take me three weeks to hang these... I just wanted to make extra sure they would stay.  Yeah, that's it ;} 

And done!  You're own little mounting hardware pieces that you never knew you had just laying around.

Enjoy!

The {Perfect} Plate Wall Decor in Thirty {two} Seconds

A Little Halloween Project

Since we will be going into one of my favorite seasons, I thought I would share a little Halloween project.  I just love the colors, the leaves, and the cool crisp air.  Maybe because it reminds me to mention  how much I love apple crisp, pumpkin bars, and hot cocoa with marshmellos...with a candy cane to stir it with. Mmmm.

I also love to "borrow" ideas from other creative peoples' blogs and make them into my own.  These guys are so cute all lit up in the dark.  I also have some orange lights that light up up on my planter shelves and when I have them both on... they look really GOOD!!

Don't ya just love 'em?!  

What are your favorite fall/Halloween decorations?

Idea borrowed from : NotSoIdleHands.blogspot.com

A Craft Week for Ashlie

Hey ya'll!  

(now read it again in a Paula Dean voice...)

{teehee.  I {heart} her southern drawl-it's my favorito}

I was thinking the other day how I have SEW many projects in my garage... just sitting there patiently waiting for me to get off my GB lump lump and create them. Yes, these are the same crafts that my sister and I were supposed to do way back when.  But um-HELLO! there was a royal wedding going on that week!  That and I just wanted to hang with my homie-g Rrrr-ozalita ---that was more important.

Besides, we were too busy giggling at the octopus hat. Yeah, the one that sold for $130,000!!!
{teehee, octopus hat...}

But now I need to take action because they are filling up my corner in the garage and I have a sneaky suspicion the neighbor's cat has been hiding out there and who knows WHERE she's been hanging out... 

Don't worry. I checked my stuff and they aren't smelly cat.  Promise.

 So today I'm getting of my GB and trying to get some of these projects DONE!  

(It's not too bad if I let Fraggle Rock bbsit for a while right? I'm sure GoBo and Boober won't entirely rot out her brain-right?)

Soooo...
This is what I did today:
I bought this sweet night stand at DI for a whopping $6.
Awesome, right?

I sanded it. 

Nailed down some soft spots.

Gave it a good slap of paint, added a knob I had laying around... 

AND we have

 a sweet $6 night stand for little E.

Tute-Sweet Tuesday: Baby Bib

Hey you {scrumptious} readers! I was just craftin' around one day and this was the result...

A bib for my perfect little niece. 

Here's what you'll need:

*A shower curtain, or another type of fabric of your choice... (I got mine from the dollar store :)

*Paper

*Pen

*Scissors

*You're favorite fabric

*A strip of your 2nd favorite fabric

*Two 6" strips of ribbon

*Pins

*sewing machine

*a cute little niece or baby to be your model

OK, Here we go!

First things first, you need to make a template.

 I just guesstimated with a pencil and when I liked it I cut it out!

Then you'll need to trace your template onto your shower curtain

 (or fabric of your choice)

Now Cut this puppy out!!

Then do the same with your fabric

Here's where you'll need your 2nd favorite fabric. 

Cut out a 1" strip the length of your bib.

Sew it on the front of your bib 

{I use a zig zag stitch, but whatever floats your boat}

Now place your 6" ribbons at the top of the bib.

 {Make sure you place it exactly like I did in the picture, I did it the opposite way before and, well.... it didn't work our so well..

so do yourself a favor and look at the picture}

We're getting closer!! Now pin this baby up with WRONG sides together and we're ready to roll...

Sew all around the edges of this beauty, but leave a small un-stitched spot so we can flip this bib inside out. 

After you've sewn it all up, switched it inside out 

(which will be the right way)

 Stitch up the un-stitched part and Voila! You're done!!

Place it on that beautiful baby of yours and enjoy...

{don't let this face fool you, she absolutely loves her bib.. I Promise}