Ombre + Ruching + DIY = Colorful Bliss

If you love ombre, and you love ruching, you just might love this little DIY project I did this month...either for yourself or the favorite little girls in your life.

 

 

That's right. An ombred ruched duvet cover...out of a plain ol' cheap ol' Walmart flat sheet. I don't think it gets cuter than this. Really.
 

Come on over and check it out!

Brains & Their Juices....or Hey, Nice To See You

You guys... You all know me well enough by now that I don't mind you rolling your eyes at me. In fact, most of the time I'll beat you to it.

 

But some seriously great stuff is happening in my brain lately. And it's called: Creative Juices Are Flowing.

 

 

And, although they're not as good as Minute Maid 5-calorie Lemonade juices (that stuff is delicious), these creative juices are making me both happy AND productive. So.

 

Red rover red rover,

just come on over.



HomeStyle: Kids Art & Decorative Tape

Random thought: Is there anything you'd rather hear LESS than someone saying, "Bless your heart"? Such a nice-sounding phrase...and yet, so potentially cutting to the core.

Ahem.

If I'm being honest with you all, today's post is the antithesis of a must-read, so I'll be brief. Have you ever had a collection of random "artwork" (I use the term very loosely, as you'll soon see) that you feel like you need to display but can't quite justify the nail-holes required to hang all the frames? Plus you don't even have enough frames so you'd need to buy more but aren't even sure if you want to? So instead of solving the problem you go eat the last piece of chocolate cake with a big glass of milk?

Bingo. Totally me.

Fortunately, I've seen a new (to me) trend in the cyberwaves involving obvious taping-up of stuff, particularly in kids' spaces. I thought this the perfect solution to my dilemma. Got some cute turquoise tape from Michael's:

(p.s. I'm dying at the Martha Stewart line lately at Michael's and, randomly, Home Depot, where I spied among other things a great sunburst mirror, and for just $35! Can't find it online or I'd link it up.)

Anyway. I'm trying to think of a way to make this "project" sound better than it actually is. Can't. I used the tape to put up a bunch of paper on the nursery wall. Like this cuteness from my 5-year-old Layla:

And a pretty watercolor we've had for a while:

There's way too much stuff here right now (remember how I said I had a hard time editing when it comes to home decor? Bingo), but I just put it all up and will live with it for a while until I figure out where, exactly, I want to go with this wall. 



I'm more of the do-stuff-then-figure-it-out decorator. Which sometimes gets me into trouble but sometimes results in a major turquoise-tape-induced-adrenaline-rush. Regardless of the wall's obvious overcrowding, do you like the tape idea, or are you more of a traditional frame girl? Either way...bless your little heart.

Happy Thursday.

HomeStyle: Vintage Button Art

Inspired by this post (and every other post on her blog, let's be honest) and having been given many vintage buttons from my mom (and my MIL's having a fine collection useful for filling in the color gaps), I decided to make a piece of vintage button art for the nursery.

 I had an old, ugly frame with an old, ugly rooster pic attached directly to it. Perfect. After a quick spray painting and light distressing of the frame, it was ready to go.

My kids helped me pick out the buttons. Since it was going into the nursery, my girls thought the baby would most appreciate a rainbow formation. Easy enough. I spray-adhesed (awesome verb) some old burlappy cotton fabric over the ugly rooster art and, after spreading out all the buttons on the floor to get the layout right, I began gluing them to the framed fabric.

To me, few things beat heirloom buttons. So much diversity and strangeness and awesomeness in the buttons' design and colors.

 

I did add some contrasting thread to some of the simpler buttons, just for interest... and because I'm addicted to pairing red with aqua these days.

I really like how it turned out. I can sit and study this thing for a long time, because the buttons themselves are so interesting individually and collectively. And I like the textural contrast of the organic cotton fabric.

Overall, I think it's perfect art for a nursery corner where, let's face it, many hours upon hours are going to be spent. Plus, total cost: $free$. Sweetness.

Happy Monday!

stylish nursery on the cheap: sweet fabric bunting

(See this post about my quest to create a sweet, airy nursery for this coming baby.)

Have you guys seen fabric bunting, garland, flags, whatever you want to call them all over the cyberwaves lately? Me too. All different colors and sizes. I'm loving the insta-festivity they add to a space without going over-the-top, particularly in kids' bedrooms and/or playrooms.

As a girl who likes to dabble in sewing, I have a few fabric scraps and remnants on-hand, so I thought this project would be right up my alley (translation: cute. and also: cheap). Because I still haven't exactly figured out the color scheme for the nursery, I decided to keep the flags feminine and fairly light but also diverse.

I made up my triangle pattern and cut out a bunch of scraps in that shape. Then I used the pattern to also cut out triangle iron-on interfacing and ironed them together. This will make each flag hang much more nicely than an un-lined piece of fabric. (This also made it possible to NOT have to sew the edges of each triangle; however, if I were making a two-sided bunting I would've bypassed the interfacing step.)

After interfacing was attached to each triangle, I trimmed all edges with pinking shears and sewed 'em right onto a stream of grosgrain ribbon (I imagine you could even use fabric glue for that step to create yo'self a completely-no-sew project). I couldn't love how this turned out any more than I do. It adds visual interest to almost a whole wall and brings in some great color. (Recognize that circle paint chip mobile?)

Plus, hello, free. Yeehaw. Does anyone else find their creativity juices enhanced by budget constraints? This is becoming highly addictive and fun for me.

Once again: my older girls want one of these in their room. I'm sensing a trend here...

Happy Monday.

p.s. Check out great weekend blog reading at Serenity Now.