New Cards!

While I had my stamping things out from the invitations, I decided to make a few new note cards for myself, for my sister, and to sell on etsy! I just love the colors in the card with the trees. 

Shower Invitations

My cousin is getting married in June, so her sister and I are throwing a shower for her next month. I had a fun visit with Jamie last week to work out some shower plans and do a little prep shopping. I spent a few hours this weekend designing and putting together invitations. Here's what they look like! 

Jewelry Braid

I finished this project a few weeks ago, but we just got in hung this weekend. I got the idea for this jewelry hanger from the purse straps I made for my last purse. 

Here's how I did it:

1. Cut 18 strips of fabric 2" by 45" long. (I used some scraps that weren't quite long enough, so just cut them so you have enough for the total length.)
2. Sew them together in sections of 3 so that you have 6 total strips, all about 135" long. 
3. Stack them all together, and tie a knot in one end, with about 2" of strip hanging out of the knot. 
4. Attach a large safety pin to the knot, and anchor that to something sturdy in an area with a LOT of space. I used our old couches, but a mattress also works. 
5. Braid these strips. You'll have 2 strips together for a total of 3 to braid with. 
6. Knot them all at the end and trim those ends up to about 2" hanging out to match the other end. 
7. Sew as many buttons along the facing side of the braid as you'd like. I did them about every 3" or 4" with a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. 
8. Hang where you'd like. This was the trick party for me, because it needed to be anchored to the mirror. Tom put a couple small nails into the back edge where you can't see for me to hang the braid from. 

What a Swell Quilt

I started this quilt last summer! It's made with the line of fabric called Swell by Moda's Urban Chicks. I love the bright red with pale yellow and blue. I was originally going to do a scalloped edge, but that turned into far too much confusion, so it ended up with a regular old straight edge. I used 2 sets of charm packs for the center, and yardage for the borders. It ended up being a very quick job to quilt once I had it all glue basted together! 

The cats also decided they needed significant involvement in this project. Orangey helped me sew the binding together. Missy tested it for cuddliness while I took a break from whip stitching the binding to the back. Now our living room is proudly sporting a new couch-quilt, and the fall themed one is resting for a few months! 

The Dining Room Wall is Finally Happy!

When we moved into our condo 3 years ago, the back wall in our dining room was painted pink. Most of you know that I LOVE the color red. I decided the pink was close enough to red that I'd try to make it fit in with my bright red kitchen things. I didn't like the color, but thought I could tie it in by painting the same color pink around the window on the wall next to it, and by hanging a valence my mom made for me that had some cute pink/yellow/green paisley in it. I wasn't satisfied with that so I painted some paisley designs on the pink wall as well. I liked the way it turned out, but it still wasn't red, and it didn't work with the deep red drapes I now have hanging on the sliding door next to the window. Finally, I decided to paint the wall the same color as the fireplace wall I previously wrote about to help tie the living/dining area together! Here is a progressive display of the result! Tom and I both love it now! 

This is the pink wall after adding the paisley designs. 

This is the pink window box I painted, just before getting rid of it!

This was round one of the project. I painted the wall blue, then ragged the same bright green paint I have in the kitchen over the blue. Next I struggled to find a stencil I liked, so I bought one and made another. I used the one I made and didn't like it. Neither Tom nor I liked the green ragging. It looked like finger prints all over, not very classy. This is a picture of me trying the stencil we bought, which is what I used in the end.

A bigger picture of the green ragging and the stencil design I made. 

After that discouraging first try, I repainted the wall blue (2 more coats!), switching from satin to eggshell in the process so it wouldn't glare as much. Then, Tom helped me by measuring and figuring out how far apart to paint each stenciled design. He suggested that I hang string at certain points, then measure off the string and use little pieces of tape to mark where the centers should be. This worked so well! 

This is what each finished stencil looks like. 

Here's a shot of the "new" dining room! We moved the hutch over to the corner as well for a little change and better access to the kitchen. 

Dress Making is Not for Me!

I have this super cute dress pattern from Favorite Things that I've been trying to get the guts to make for the past couple months. I finally decided that since I was scared it would not fit or something, I'd make it out of some cheap $1.67 a yard Wal-Mart fabric so that I wouldn't be bummed that I'd wasted my nice fabric if that happened. Well, it's a good thing I did that! 

Back in January I made a skirt from a different Favorite Things pattern, that also came out horribly, except with that one, I used my nice fabric. It frustrated me so much! Actually it still does. I'm beginning to think it might be a problem with the pattern company. Both were pretty simple patterns, very easy to understand and follow. The skirt came out looking like it wold fit someone 3 times my size even though the top couple tiers fit well. I think I will probably end up just shortening that one. The dress also came out looking like it was made for a much larger person. This is so odd, because I made a size even smaller than I measured, because it seemed so ridiculous! I got the pattern pieces all cut out and even pinned them together on me, and it looked like it would be a fairly decent fit. I think I'm going to have to stick to the tried and true Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner patterns. At least they fit well when I make them! Anyone want to give a stab at the dress pattern? It's yours free if you do! 

Just for laughs, here are the pictures of the 2 things I've made with Favorite Things patterns. :)