Thursday, July 25, 2013

Sewn Paper Garland.

I am hosting a baby shower for my sister on Sunday. At some point I decided against any sort of theme (although there are some extremely cute nautical themed baby shower photos out there!) and decided to just go with shades of blue & green that are colors I tend to gravitate towards. It may be helpful to know that she is having a boy so blues & greens definitely work. At the same time, my sister isn't really into the whole normal baby blue color. So, I was definitely trying to stay away from that.



After the success of my 4th of July garlands, I figured why not do the same. The main problem with that tended to be the fact that felt tends to come in fairly generic colors, at least from what I've seen. So, the next choice was paper.


I just went to Michael's and picked out 5 12x12s and a circle punch to eliminate the whole cutting thing, especially since circles are just so much fun. I wish I could tell you what brand of punch that is but I tore it open and threw out the packaging right away.


After I had a good amount punched out in all colors, I tested it out on the sewing machine. I was a little worried that the gaps between would make my machine angry or that the paper wouldn't work very well, but it worked fantastically.


 It took me awhile to get my groove down, but I was able to get a timing down really well. I had all of the colored circles laid out in piles by color in front of me, so I could just grab the next one. I had about 2-3 stitches between each circle which gave a decent gap between each one. It was actually really easy to just feed each one right in under the food and then it would catch on the mechanism that helps pull material through.

In terms of settings, I just used what my machine was set on. It was the same I used for the felt. I would test it out and adjust your stitch length and tightness as you go to see what works best for your machine and the paper.


Please don't mind all the felt dust on there... I should clean that off.


As of right now, I have two fairly long strands and enough to do a third (which I'm going to whip together quick in a few minutes). I did punch out the entirety of all 5 12x12 sheets. I'm not 100% sure on how I'm decorating. They do look really good with my office wall color though...


I will definitely update after the party with pics of the decor all up and with how much length I got out of all of it.

I still have tons to do and I'm actually getting nervous! I need to clean, decorate, bake, wrap gifts... And not only am I hosting on Sunday, I'm attending another on Saturday. Busy, busy, busy!


Monday, July 22, 2013

Busy, Busy, Busy.

I have officially spread myself too thin...

Most of the time, May and into June is the busiest time of the year. There is always a wedding and other related wedding events. For some reason it's filled with birthdays, our anniversary, and general chaos. Well, this year the chaos has just continued on through into July and might also hit August.

Really, this is just an apology post stating that I might lose my mind and I'm crazy busy, but I will have more to post soon! Actually, I have a back log, but making sure I have all of the pictures I need, editing,  and writing everything up is a lot of work.

Small things have been happening around the house and I've been working on getting ready for hosting a baby shower for my sister and attending a second one for her.

I'm also supposed to do a little pregnancy shoot for my sister & her boyfriend soon too... which makes me soooo nervous. I do product photography as part of my job and it doesn't normally involve people. And I'm already way backed up on some photo editing from a bachelorette party I went to at the end of June. Yikes...

But here's to making it through at least this week! I have decor to make, a house to clean, food to make.... And I'm off to Michael's (again)....

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Embroidery Hoop Earring Holder.

Awhile back, I saw some earring holder contraptions that were put together with embroidery hoops over on pinterest. After the garage sale, no one had purchased much if anything out of my mother's jumbo container of rejected crafting goods. So, I stole an embroidery hoop... Lately, I've started a quilt for sister's baby boy who is expected the end of August (hopefully she doesn't read this because that's supposed to be a surprise...) so I have some extra material floating around.


Supplies:
  • Embroidery hoop
  • Material
  • Fiskars roley fabric cutter thing or scissors
  • Cutting mat (if using a roley cutter)
  • Tape or hot glue sticks & gun


I just laid out the material and cut out a general rectangle around it. When cutting a lot of fabric up for things like quilts, those roley cutter things are fantastic! Please don't mind my random, weird name for it.

 

Then, I pulled apart the embroidery hoop and put the fabric in it. Got the screw back in, leaving it fairly loose. Then I pulled the fabric tight and tightened up the screw more. I did that a few times until everything was nice and tight.



After that, I cut off the big corners that were hanging there. For now, I have the fabric folded and taped into the inside of the embroidery hoop. I'm not sure how tight the fabric will stay, but if it all goes well, I plan on just hot gluing everything into place later on.


When it was all done, I just picked a pace on the wall where I wanted it to be. I hammered a nail into the wall and put it up to test the spot out.


Finally, I put on a couple pairs of earrings  and that's it. It looks like it's a little crooked, I should fix that.


Monday, July 8, 2013

4th of July Wrap Up

I hope everyone had a fantastic (and safe!) 4th of July!

The annual 4th of July party went well this year. I sort of got everything done in time. While everything tasted great, it didn't all look great...

Here are a few photos of the 'set up'. I should have taken more, but was just way too busy getting stuff done and then entertaining.


I found the pinwheels somewhere last year, I think it might have been Target. But they work great in plants.


This year, I found two festive table clothes on the ends of the aisle at Target. Two of these where on sale for the price of the cheap two pack of solid colored ones. The tin pails were from the dollar section at Target (purchased last year) and I added ribbon. Two flags in all of the deck rail planters.


We were still cleaning up, so don't mind the 'tools'. Here is the triangle felt garland outside. It might still be out there... Note the baby gate for dog wranglin'.

Cake Recipe  |  Cake Star Printouts

Cake pops and cake! I had never made cake pops before or dealt with confection wafers and they didn't turn out very pretty... I don't plan on ever making them again. And that cake... I can honestly say it is the most delicious cake I have ever made (possibly even ever eaten?). So good. But, I made the buttercream frosting way too runny... 


And now I need to go grab a left over piece...


And here are a couple more pinwheels in the succulents and the circle felt garland inside.

I had some other things here and there (paper lanterns, etc.) but I never took any photos of them. I even reused the awesome fabric pennant banner I purchased last year. I did not do the luminaries in jars... for a few reasons, but I they weren't really missed. Maybe next year I can try and get it more in to a mid century styled 4th of July.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

June Wrap Up

SURPRISE! It's July already...


This month, we had our gas meter moved from inside to outside, which is awesome for finishing the basement! Behr slept a lot, as usual. We lost power from the crazy storms. I did some sewing. And I went to a bachelorette party at the Cannon River Winery in Cannon Falls, MN for a good friend, Tyree.

June's To Do List...
  • Gather new 4th of July decorations
  • Invite people!
  • YARD WORK! When isn't there yard work to be done?
  • Hopefully get this whole bank thing rollin' -- get house appraised
  • Fix up visual blahs around the house
    • Caulk what needs caulking -- new nail holes, weird spaces/cracks in molding
    • Address the hole in the kitchen ceiling  -- hopefully finishing this up today/tomorrow
    • Fix kitchen paint
    • Possible remove grout between counter and back splash, replace with caulk
    • Re-caulk bathtub -- will be doing this tomorrow after we shower
I got most things done / will have them done for the 4th which was more my goal.

July's To Do List...
  • Throw a fresh coat of paint on the basement stairs if basement construction is not under way.
  • Remove grout between count and back splash, replace with caulk
  • Work on the quilt I'm secretly making for my sister's baby -- I either plan to have it done for the shower at the end of the month or for the birth at the end of August... We'll have to see how it goes.
  • Baby shower decorations, foods, etc. -- This is underway, but I've mostly been focused on the 4th of July stuff.
  • Possibly get to / start some furniture projects I have. 
 And now I have lots of baking to get started for tomorrow... Wish me luck! I'm testing out a cake recipe on the 4th of July people for the baby shower... Hopefully it turns out fantastic!