A new window = a new blind

I had a couple of new windows and a sliding glass door put in last week, so I had to make a new window treatment, natch ;)

I used the same curtain that I bought last week to create the slip covers for my lamp shades (see the tutorial here).  One $10 curtain sure went a long way.

This is my first attempt at making a “real” roman blind, overall it turned out well.  I should have made it a little longer to cover the whole length of the window when let out, but it’s all the fabric that I had left. 

Rudimentary skills, just a little time consuming. I have made roman shades using mini blinds and they are just as good, and  a lot less work.

Christmas Craft #5 – Memorial plaque

I made this for my parents. My sisters sudden passing on the 1st of this year still has us all reeling. I hope that this brings them some comfort.

Slipcovered lamp shades

I have been using this method to change my lampshades for a while now, and thought I’d share how I do it.  The beauty of creating a slip cover rather than gluing on the fabric, is that it’s so easy to change when you are ready.



I bought a curtain in the clearance section at Home Sense for $10



The shades are not drum shaped, they are slightly tapered at the top. I placed the shade on some kraft paper and traced it to create my pattern.



I cut it out 1/2” bigger all around to allow for seam allowance.  I then traced it on to my fabric and cut them out. 

Turn the top and bottom edges over 1/2” and iron, then sew.



Right side facing in, wrap the fabric around the shade, brining the ends together, then pin down the length of the fabric.

Remove the slipcover and sew down the edge that you marked with your pins.

Turn it right side out matching your seam to the seam on the shade,  and slip it over.

That’s it. Easy to do and easy to change.

Before

After

Christmas Craft #4 – laundry supply tub

I guess I crafted this but it’s not really a craft, it’s a Christmas gift for my youngest sister, who is a freak about doing laundry. She hates having any dirty laundry and when I call to ask her what she is doing, more often than not she will say “laundry” LOL

I found the original idea on Pinterest, but the source is no longer available.  Here is what I came up with.  I will fill it with all of her favourite laundry supplies and even if she never uses it, it was fun to put it together.

I found the tub at a garage sale this past summer for 50 cents.

I really like the colour of this spray paint which is Krylon’s  smoke grey.

The laundry images are free clipart and were found online here

I don’t enjoy doing laundry. I wish my sister lived here so she could fulfill all of her laundry wishes, forever :)

A solution to getting my boxes up

Normally I wouldn’t make an entire post on putting boxes up on the wall, but I was perplexed as to how to get them there.  I got a few opinions on how best to do it, but the one that worked best for me was to use toggle bolts.  It worked!!!

It involved math or something like that; measuring at least to get them centered and level and where to drill the hole in the box and where to drill the hole in the wall and get it all to mesh together.  I am a total dork when it comes to measuring.



Now that it’s daylight, you can see a better likeness of the Minwax special walnut stain. I will definitely use it again.

Love them.

Nested Herb Crates DIY

This is not the first time I made a set of these crates, but the previous ones were all the same size and there were only three.  This time I sourced out a set of four nested boxes and made a new set.



Thank you to Claire at A Little Something in the Meantime, she told me about these boxes that can be found at Jysk, a Canadian store similar to Ikea. They are fairly inexpensive and very lightweight.



I stained them with Minwax’s special walnut, a little haphazardly as I didn’t want them to look too uniform.



I cut out black vinyl on my cricut and applied that rather than painting them in.  As before, I don’t have a way to hang them but I’m working on an idea ;)

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

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Christmas Craft # 3 – Merry Little Christmas sign

I’ve wanted a sign like this since I saw them at Barn Owl Primitives (you can get one there), but it’s not exactly something I can afford to buy, not now, well maybe not ever.  A lot of work goes into making them, so the cost is well worth it.



I made my own version using vinyl which I cut out with my cricut (natch). Once I had it cut, I weeded out the letters and placed it on to my already painted white, board. I burnished it really well to the wood with a credit card then painted in the lettering. Once the lettering is dry, the vinyl was removed. A wish and prayer was said as I removed it, hoping that there was no bleeding. There wasn’t, thank goodness.



Once all of the vinyl was removed, I sanded the entire thing to make it look like it was a little aged. Now I have my own sweet sign.

Christmas Craft #2 – Nativity Scene

I originally saw this nativity scene on Pinterest. I followed the source to Classy Clutter’s Etsy shop that sells the vinyl to make your own sign.

Of course I have my own cutter, so I found a nativity scene and created the same thing. I painted my 24” x 6” board white to begin with, then painted dark blue over top of that. I sanded it down to achieve variation in the blue, just as you would see in the night sky.



And just so you don’t think I have gone Christmas crazy, here are some photos of my african violet.  I kill most plants, but these have done really well. They were a mother’s day gift from my kids and they haven’t stopped blooming for more than a week or two since I received them.

Christmas Craft # 1 - Advent Calendar

I know it’s a little early, but once December rolls around, I’m busy every weekend with my entertaining biz. If I’m going to get anything done, I have to do it now.

I made this with supplies that I had on hand and a downloaded pillow box file from Birds Cards. If you haven’t been to her site, you will be happy you do if you are interested in paper crafting. Oh, and all of her files are free!



I cut the numbers out of the middle of the snowflakes, added some brown kraft paper that I cut in strips, attached some burlap to a piece of wood from the garage, and pounded in some nails.



The hardest part was lining up the nails.  I have zero math skills so I use a piece of tape to mark my holes, then move it down to the next row for a perfect match. Lot’s of trial and error on where to place each nail, but once I got it, I didn’t have to measure for the next rows.





My kids are too old for this, so it’s going to my great nieces that are 5 and 3. I can’t wait to fill each box with little treasures.

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