mindless monday: popsicle

it is 95-degress today.  in minnesota.  in may.  anyone want a popsicle?  i know i do.

                            

until next time....

             

my first upcycle: tank to toddler dress

when recently going through my clothes i came across a tank that i have had for a number of years.  probably more years than i would like to admit.  i threw it in the "to donate" pile but having just read numerous blogs about upcycling old clothing for toddler clothes i decided to throw it in the "maybe-someday-if-i-get-a-chance-to-upcycle" pile.  and as the weather turned warmer, i grabbed the tank to make into a dress for little miss.  after all, pink is her signature color.  

here i am back in 2005 sporting the tank... with the mister and mr big (back when he wasn't so big!)  i am disappointed in myself that i didn't take any action shots of the project, but i will try to give a little play-by-play of how the project played out.  please feel free to email me or leave a comment if you have any questions!  


before......

step 1: i cut the top off the tank right below the yellow lace and cut off the straps


step 2: to resize the top, i put a shirt of little miss' over the recently cut yellow lace top and cut off the remaining fabric leaving just a little extra fabric for seam allowance


step 3: with right sides facing i sewed the sides of the top.  so now the top was finished and ready for the strap again.  


step 4:  i shortened the straps by holding them up to little miss and figuring out how long they needed to be cutting off the extra length.  then using the middle of the dress i measured out equal distance from the middle of the top and sewed on the straps.  i think it was roughly about 1.5" from the middle.  and once the straps were back on that completed the top....


step 5: using a basting stitch i stitched along the top of the body of the tank and ruffled the body of the tank so that it was the equal width of the newly resized top


step 6: with right sides together i lined up the seams on the top and bottom and pined all around the dress.


step 7: i sewed the top and the body of the dress together and voila!  an easy-peasy tank to toddler dress!   

.....after

found

this brand new, super cute dwell blanket at goodwill for a price of $1.50 .....  now my only question is what can i make with it?  any fun ideas out there?

try it tuesday: bonnet 2.0

well, i did it again.  here i am posting try it tuesday on wednesday.  guess that might happen more then i would like but i will just do what i can do when i can do it.  know what i mean?  

bonnet 2.0

i came across this bonnet tutorial from made by petchy (who also has a few other *awesome* tutorials that you will probably see me attempt!) and thought i would give it a try.  i liked the fact that it was sized bigger (2-4t) so both the girls could wear it.   and as i said, i will post my project whether it turned out or not and this one went fairly well.  i had to change it from the pattern just a wee bit, but i will get there.....

after printing out the pattern from made by petchy i had to resize it.... one would think that would be easy but it took me a while to get it right... so after a few tries and a few papers put in the recycler, i finally found the right size (which for me was at 150%). after i taped the pattern together, i got cutting. 

step two was pinning and sewing each side.  as i said, i am very new to sewing and it was a bit tricky to pin on a curve, but by the fourth seam i had it figured out.


once both the sides were sewn it was time to sew the two sides together.  so with right sides facing, i lined up the edges, pinned, and sewed.  i left a couple of inches at the bottom of the bonnet in order to turn right side out after sewing. 

 and this is where i had to veer off the pattern a bit.  not sure what i did when cutting (maybe it was because it was waaay past my bedtime or after a glass of wine) but my fabric got all wonky around the "brim" of the bonnet.  one side was a lot longer then the other.  you will notice on the bonnet that petchy made there is an adorable little brim.  yeah, mine doesn't have that.  instead i sewed across the brim to make a straight seam and then snipped off the extra fabric.

 before turning i used the pinking sheers around the edges.....







and then for some reason, well actually i do know the reason.... and then my beautiful 3-year-old daughter took my camera hostage so i don't have any photos of the rest of my project in action but it looks pretty identical to bonnet 1.0.   the only difference before sewing on the bias tape was that i top stitched around the bonnet to give it a finished look and to close off the opening ..... 

and i just might, just maybe, attempt bonnet 3.0 for next week's try it tuesday.  would that be crazy?  a bit boring with yet another bonnet?  but prudent baby posted a tutorial that looks awesome.   plus, i am a total sucker for ruffles.


until next time.....           

             

mindless monday & happy syttende mai

today begins my mindless monday posts where i will probably just post fun, amazing, inspiring, etc pictures because let's face it, mondays are no fun.  mondays are consumed with thoughts for the week ahead.  what needs to happen?  what did i forget to do over the weekend?   who needs to go where?  what appointments do we have?  what do we need to get at the store?  and the daily million dollar question, what is for dinner?  even us stay at home moms get the monday blahs... and the last thing my brain needs on monday is to work harder than it needs to.   

so to kick start mindless monday i am going to celebrate my norske heritage and wish you a happy syttende mai (meaning may 17th) which is norway's constitution day.   not only did my family on my father's side come from norway but i attended norwegian camp for five years (and yes you read that correctly, there *is* a norwegian camp), graduated from a norwegian college, and explored norway for five weeks while in college.  syttende mai is near and dear to my 

norske hjerte and hope these photos bring some joy to yours as well.

 

until next time....

             

color my world

we bought our home almost seven years ago.  a 60's rambler that was quite outdated. we spent the first nine months we lived in our house painting every.single.surface of the first/main floor.  walls, trim, doors, cabinets.  everything.  we wanted it painted and fast.  why the mad rush you ask?  we were expecting our first and we knew time would be short once parenthood hit.  and we were right. after our son was born i don't think we touched a paint brush for 4 years.  not sure if it was in fact because of parenthood or because the sight of a paint brush after holding one for almost 9 months straight made me cringe.  after all, too much of anything is never a good thing, right?

fast forward to today. our house is basically the same colors they were after we first moved in.  those that know me well know that i need change.  often.  and those that know me well also know that when i want to change something, i change it.   (a trait that the mister loves most and likes least about me.)

so i wanted a change.  and i wanted to change our family room where we spend 95% of our time.  it was beginning to feel a bit, well, tired. it was beige (brick), on beige (wall), on beige (carpet).  i was puking beige.  so i began by fixating on the fireplace.  it is a large brick wall with a fairly unattractive brass fireplace door.   i knew i wanted to change the fireplace door.  i first looked into buying a new door, but it wasn't in the budget.  so next best thing?  paint.

the paint that can take the heat found at a fireplace store.  tried home depot first but they didn't have the silver paint that is heat resistant.











we took down the doors and put them outside.  when using this kind of paint you want a lot of ventilation.  (i also used a mask when spraying.)  taped the doors with plain ole paper so not to get paint on the glass.






before spraying i used steel wool to scratch up the surface a bit.  after sanding i wiped the doors from any dust.

then i was ready to spray away.....

finished!









after letting the door dry overnight we put the door back up..... always nice to have a helper with home projects!

voila!  a new(er) looking fireplace door!








but i needed to do more then change the fireplace door.  i started to think i wanted to change the brick.   paint it?  tile over it?  rock veneer?  but then it dawned on me.  it wasn't so much the brick that was driving me up the wall, it was the wall itself.  time put some color in my world.


before.....

........ after

enough bookshelves

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  

                          ~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991

(1)                          (2)

(3)                   (4)

(5)                                        (6)

(7)                                    (8)

(1) wisdom tree                                              bookinist (5)

(2) tree bookshelf                                                 piola (6)

(3) legend bookcase                                tree bookshelf (7)

(4) lunuganga                                          igloo bookcase (8)