DIY laptop sleeve and more kid hats and mittens

Felted wool kids mittens and hats

from Oliver + S

So I made these once before (seen here) but had previously made them with fleece and flannel rather than felted wool and flannel. I love how the felted wool worked up in this pattern, though the downside is that it is no longer machine washable. This probably makes you think that I am totally crazy for choosing cream, but they were for babies who I didn't think would have as much opportunity to get their hands dirty. To make a hat and mittens for a 1 year old I used 3/4 yard of felted wool, 1/2 yard of flannel, 1 package of  1/2" wide single-fold bias tape, 13-16" of 1/4" wide elastic, 1 yard 1/4-1/2" wide ribbon (for the boys I used more bias tape and decoratively stitched it closed, plus all your usual sewing notions. 

The directions are very detailed in the book and while I definitely had to read everything a couple of times, despite doing this once before, and making two gloves for the same hand at one point in time, it is a relatively easy and rewarding project.

 

Laptop Sleeve
So at the very last minute on our way to AK for Thanksgiving with my family, my husband decided that he would really like to take my laptop with us. I really didn't want to lug my nice bulky leather laptop bag, so I started freaking out about putting it in a laptop sleeve. We went to every store we could think of but the only choices available seemed to be extremely loud in color or black and the bag I was carrying had navy in it. I know I am neurotic. Since I didn't really want to spend $20 on something I didn't really love, I decided to repurpose leftover fabric from the chairs I reupholstered (seen here).

I measured the quantity of fabric using the laptop starting with right sides together leaving about 1" extra to trim down for the seams. I cut an envelope flap and sewed its seams in first at the top edges, with a button loop. Then stitched the bottom sides together with my outdoor canvas and batting. I trimmed the edges with pinking shears to print fraying, turned it right side out, and added a single button.

diy pressed flower pottery coasters

diy coasters

More holiday gifts thanks to early Christmas with my family in Alaska. So in my family while we were encouraged to make lists for Santa and our parents, it was certainly never treated as a grocery list we might get a few things from the list, but there were also homemade gifts and other things off list. I love homemade gifts or gifts off list especially when they hit the mark, so to speak. I feel like it demonstrates how well someone knows you, that they care enough about you to think about it, and most of all it makes you feel like just maybe you are worth that effort. 

Sure I fall back on a gift card now and then as well, but honestly I would rather not. I would even rather do what my husband Johnny and his best friend Jeremy do and exchange birthday hand shakes, which hilariously enough they have found some pretty creative ways to achieve. 

This particular gift I made for my mom primarily. She had these beautiful clay wind chimes in the shape of butterflies, that had plants pressed into them, and were painted blue. When I went to visit them last I noticed that they were broken and commented on it. At which point she shared that they had been a wedding present to them and how sad she was that they had broken. So I decided to make something in honor of them. Initially I was going to try and recreate them exactly, but upon seeing the materials that I had to work with I switched modes for something merely representational. We also had this picture of St. John the Baptist Church in Saxmundham, Suffolk, England made into canvas from our trip to the UK with them a few years ago. We chose this photo because this church was just a few hundred feet from where they lived when I was a baby. We actually had the picture made via Sam's Club it was a great price and the quality turned out great. I was so impressed!

Materials: air dry clay, acrylic paint, flowers and plants, wax paper/parchment paper/saran wrap, something to cut to your shape (cookie cutters, knife, etc), water, rolling pin

The Steps

First I rolled out the Crayola air-dry clay. I bought mine on Amazon because it had the best price that I could find and ended up with way more than I needed. I was afraid that if I went ahead and cut them into squares for coasters, then they would be altered when I pressed the flowers into them so I did it the opposite way around which had pros and cons. One of the cons being that the edges were rougher and I had a much harder time monitoring the thickness of the coasters. I guess rough hewn and naturalistic has become my signature move.
I tried to make the clay approximately a quarter of an inch thick on a piece of parchment paper. Then I took 5 different plants: 2 kinds of flowers from an arrangement Johnny had picked up for me at a grocery store, a leaf from a silver maple, leaves from some vine-like growth cover, and leaves and berries from another bush-all in our yard. Most of them I was able to lay directly on the clay and roll over it with a rolling pin then peel off. However, for some I had to place plastic wrap over the clay. This was especially true for the berries, which I couldn't get out of the clay without them squishing on my first try.
I left the clay to dry as instructed on the container for a couple days. Once dry I painted them with an all-purpose acrylic paint, using a small paint brush. I attached adhesive felt to the base of the coasters as an additional protective measure. I considered applying an additional clear protective coat to the clay but simply ran out of time.

diy chevron wall art

Yay for homemade Christmas presents.... or at least that is how I hope my family feels. So, my lovely younger sister with 3 kiddos and quite the job being a full time mom, had some housing upsets in the past year. Long story short their two story house has only been one story operable for months due to some major renovations involving black mold in their basement/lower split level in Alaska. So, she hasn't had the time or energy to hang photos or decorate as all her time and resources have been directed towards keeping everyone sane and clothed without a clean washer and only one bathroom for several months. I looked on Art.com and really thought that would be an amazing gift, but decided that in order to get more bang for my buck I would make something. She is completely obsessed with chevron and has been talking for ages about painting a chevron wall possibly somewhere in her house. Therefore I decided to create 3 panels for her master bedroom where she has a bright yellow duvet. Eventually she wants to paint the walls grey so I decided to get 3- 16x20 panels and some yellow spray paint.

 I used masking tape to tape off the chevron first by creating diamonds then using a box cutter to remove the in between lines. To tape it evenly I used a pencil and ruler to mark the sides in quarters and the bottom at the mid-line. I got this idea after looking online and seeing 2 Crafty 4 My Skirt's blog. It worked really well and was incredibly easy.

 However, I did somehow knock off the nozzle for the cheap spray paint that I bought which lead to some inconsistencies in the paint job. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable-sigh the best laid plans.

 After the paint dried I began to remove the tape.

 Lastly, I took some blue acrylic paint that I bought for a coaster project (to be shared later) and created a rough heart. I was inspired by Wed Loft blog, though I did kick around a few other ideas. Especially since my sister has an entire page of quotes that could have totally worked in this scenario. A friend also suggested maybe using the state of AK, but for the sake of time and storm windows (also to be shared later) a heart it was. I figured if they didn't like the panel I decorated they could just use the two plain chevron ones,  no harm no foul.

 Anyone else celebrating Christmas at Thanksgiving due to the distance that you have to travel? Clearly that is the mischief we are up to since my husband and I still alternate between TN and AK and our respective families. While this is understandable, I am still of the frame of mind that in general or in an ideal world Christmas shouldn't be seen or discussed until you get the turkey out of the way. I certainly don't want to see giant inflatables in Lowes and Home Depot in September. disturbing!

painting, faux frosted glass, and some other miscellaneous odds and ends

So this was several weeks ago, but essentially what you need to know is that I went crazy with paint and other small projects.

I turned a shadow box that I had had forever sitting in my closet into a jewelry box, lining the back with a vintage handkerchief that was my nana's.

I painted the interior of this door with a free sample of the Redstone Blue Spruce that we also ended up using on the exterior of the doors. I don't know if I would have chosen it otherwise so way to go Lowes/Valspar free coupon for pulling me in.

Then I started working on a faux frosted glass look with clear laminate as seen in the tutorial from 7th House on the Left who was so kind as to include a template.

I took off the panes to the door and spray painted them white, while I was also painting the paper towel roll art seen a in a previous post.

I chose to do a Moroccan print, echoing the fabric that I picked when reupholstering the chairs in our bonus room. I cut out the template, then traced it repeatedly on the paper side of some clear contact paper while seated on the floor of the bonus room watching TV with Johnny. I cut them all out in one fell swoop and even made some that were halves going all the way to the edge of the paper, which ended up working out extremely well! Then I just free handed peeling and sticking them, trying to smooth without bubbles and not being finicky about orientation.

I tried to do the second door in a concentric circle design, but I didn't like it as well as the Moroccan print. I made my own template by just overlaying circle and tracing. 

I finally finished stitching up the dining room bench pillows- now butt barely fits on them lol.

I repainted the door in the laundry room white, rather than more of the muted gray purple in the laundry room.

I painted the old garage storage area that wooden siding with a mix of primer and white paint and hung salvaged shelves for storage. Of which I am too ashamed to show a before picture. Scratch that I think I was too ashamed to ever take a before photo!

Then I dabbled with painting an ancient bookshelf that has been in my family for as long as I can remember - my earliest memory with it being yellow and holding a variety of kid things, such as coloring books and crayons. I mixed white and leftover Perfectly Greige paint and just started to paint the outside without taking anything off. Yes I am that lazy! Now... should I finish painting the interior? probably haha maybe with a fun chevron in the back. I don't want too much chevron anywhere despite my admiration of it, I just feel like I would be jumping on the band wagon a bit late.

natural coffee filter wreath and toilet paper roll art

Natural Coffee Filter Wreath

I primarily followed Martha Stewarts video available on Youtube as seen here, but I enjoyed looking at so many different versions different people had made both on Google images and Pinterest. I made mine using a straw wreath (it was the least expensive) and hot glued natural coffee filters after folding into quarters. I glued them in three rows: middle, interior, and exterior. I was going to hang them by a roughly put together fabric ribbon, but it didn't quite fit the door so I attached it to the bottom temporarily.

Paper Towel/Toilet Paper Roll Wall Art

Once again I looked at numerous Google images and Pinterest ideas before deciding on an adaption of Just a Girl's blog tutorial. I knew I wanted to leave the rolls in compresses circle shape without getting into cutting and shaping them. I cut them in 1 inch slivers, hot glued four together into a flower/star shape, then sprayed the a single time with white spray paint from Rustoleum in a glossy finish. I bought a cheap 3 pack of thin blank canvases and did nothing to them other than add wall hanging materials to the back of them. I used hot glue to attach to the canvas after laying them out to see if I liked the design. So far only one person has guessed the material and I am happy to have some inexpensive art in the guest bedroom!

apple cheddar scones recipe

minimally adapted from Smitten Kitchen

really the only thing that I changed is that I was too lazy to take the peel off - not a problem for taste or texture in my opinion and I am a little more rustic in my baking. I like to shape my scones into a circle then score them with a knife. So I say, visit Smitten Kitchen's blog she is amazing!

sorry I failed to get a completely baked picture of these scones - I kept meaning to make more and apparently that isn't going to happen. I froze this particular batch of scones to take to laid back viewing of Top Chef with friends, so that they would be fresh out of the oven. yum! they were a big hit needless to say.