pinspiration – Page 6 – emerald city diaries

a test case: the entryway.

our entryway is small & dark, but takes care of the basics of housing a doormat & a few hooks for coats.

i wanted to jazz the space up a bit by adding some color on the wall, a little artwork, & a few hooks. at some point in the future we would like to add a light in this space, but there is no electrical in the room, so a light will have to wait.

{this is the best & only picture of the entryway before i got my hands on it.}

some of my inspiration came totally from my own head. i adore chalkboard paint & pretty much like to use it wherever i can. i loved the idea of having a chalkboard wall (you know, floor to ceiling) but there just didn’t seem to be a good space in our house for it. until i started brainstorming for the entryway. yep, it is covered in chalkboard paint. you may be thinking that i am crazy for wanting to paint such a small space with no light a dark color. you are right, i was probably a little crazy, but the great news is that the room really isn’t too dark, even with the nearly black walls.

the bad news {isn’t there always bad news?} is that i really didn’t consider how messy a chalkboard wall would be. i think all of that creativity got in the way of reality. so, i may eventually try to add some kind of board & batten wall treatment in order to keep that chalk dust at bay.

my other inspiration is actually a pinspiration.

{see original post here}

i love this simple, clean look of empty frames. i was able to find a few fun frames from etsy, but am still on the hunt for a few more. i also originally planned to paint the frames white like in the pinspiration photo, but i sort of liked the original frame color & decided to keep it until i added more frames. i am also sort of loving the idea of painting the frames gold.

so without further adieu, our entryway:

{my welcome sign in fauxligraphy & frames. that little teeny white dot next to the lower frame is actually a magnet. i painted a couple coats of magnetic primer underneath the chalkboard paint so the middle of the walls are a teeny bit magnetic.}

{two sets of hooks for aaron & me. i added a framed chalkboard mirror on this wall too.}

i did actually paint chalkboard paint in the entire little room, even above the doorways, to be consistent because it is unlikely we would ever write anything that high. although my friend amanda suggested that i write something way up high that is semi-permanent. i am still thinking about that. i seasoned the walls by rubbing them with the side of a jumbo piece of chalk. then i wiped the walls with a damp cloth many, many times to try to remove the excess chalk & help with the messiness. the purpose of seasoning a chalkboard is so that when you go to write or draw on it, whatever you write or draw won’t become permanent {well, permanent in that you will always be able to see it even after it is erased}. i am torn about the seasoning of the walls; i am glad i did so that we can erase things, but i am sad i did because (a) seasoning with the chalk is what is making the walls so messy, & (b) i wasn’t tall enough (& was too lazy to get a ladder or chair) so the seasoning only goes up about 5.5 feet. oh well.

i would like to find a fun, colorful, & durable rug for this space, but for now, our old front doormat works. any ideas on where to get a good doormat?

would you paint any of your walls with chalkboard paint, or is it just me?

source list:

doormat {target}
hooks {anthropologie}
frames {etsy}

diy baby shower gift: baby swaddler.

when it came down to the gift that i wanted to give amanda at her baby shower, i knew i wanted to make something. amanda is one who loves things handmade – you should see the beautiful cards she makes! – plus, i liked the idea of hand making something for the new baby (seems more personal).

this could be considered another pinspiration project because i found the idea from pinterest!

from the very little that i know about infants, i do know that swaddling is a way to help them feel like they are back in the womb. however, amanda & her husband are first-time parents & the process of swaddling a baby seems, well, difficult. a wailing infant with flailing arms & legs? no thank you.

so, why not a swaddler. an infant-sized sleeping bag that allows those arms & legs to be gently velcro-ed in. genius! {sidenote: i really hope this was a thoughtful present after all, meaning that i hope it really works!}

*update: the little babe i made this swaddler for was only about 7 pounds when she was born, so the size of this swaddler is too big. if you know how big the baby is, you can adjust the size accordingly.*

{original tutorial: snuggler}

{sidenote: the gal’s blog who posted the original tutorial makes an amazing amount of things by hand. if you want some inspiration, definitely check out her blog!}

supplies:

pattern printed {updated link!}
instructions (attached to the pattern pdf)
1 yard fabric – fun fabric for outside of swaddle (i used fabric from pacific fabrics)
1 yard fabric – flannel or soft cotton fabric for inside swaddle (i got organic cotton flannel from this etsy seller)
pins
fabric scissors
fadeout marker (the type of marker that either has disappearing ink or disappears with water)
velcro
thread (i used white)
iron
sewing machine
ruler (i used it to help me transfer the dart pattern)

{sidenote: please excuse the bad lighting in the last set of photos. i was taking them in the evening without sunlight, so the color is funky. the real color of the green fabric is mint green & is best seen in the first part of the tutorial.}

this was the first time i made something from a pattern, so i was a bit nervous. plus, it was intended to be a gift to a crafty girlfriend who was expecting her first baby – no pressure! after my first read-thru (& second & third!) i found some of the instructions a little confusing. my remedy was to just go ahead & start, & i would work out the finer details as i came to them; turns out, this was a pretty good method!

first, print out, cut out & tape together the pattern (there are two main pieces). then iron your fabrics (after pre-washing them in hot or warm water to prevent later shrinking!).

fold the printed fabric in half & pin the patterns to the wrong side of the fabric, lining up the folded edge to the inside of the pattern (there is a note on the pattern where it should line up with the folded edge). cut out the fabric along the pattern.

before removing the pins, trace the dart pattern onto the wrong side of the fabric. i placed a pin at the top point of the dart triangle (so that i could lift the paper to expose the fabric) & then used a ruler to draw very faint dotted lines onto the fabric with my fadeout marker.

the instructions also tell you to transfer dotted lines where the velcro strips will be placed. {sidenote: i did this, but in hindsight i think it is unnecessary. the velcro “placeholders” that i made were much bigger than the velcro i ended up using & so there was a lot of blotting with water to remove the ink from the fadeout marker. i think that once you are at the point where you add the velcro – later in the tutorial – you can look back to the pattern to determine where the velcro strips should be sewn on.}

sew the darts into place. this was my first time sewing darts, but it is a fairly easy process. you basically fold the fabric in half (the middle dart line becomes the fold) & pin. then you run a seam towards the raw edge of the fabric. then you cut off the extra fabric.

{darts completed on both fabrics. you can see the remaining ink lines here; i blotted the ink with a damp washcloth to make it disappear before i sewed the pieces together.}

repeat all above steps with the flannel fabric. then, you should have two identical pieces, one in printed fabric & the other in flannel fabric.

then you place the flannel piece (inside out) into the fabric piece (inside out) & pin the pieces together. then attach the pieces by sewing around the half moon piece, as well as along the arm pieces, leaving a couple inches at the bottom of the left arm open (to flip the fabric). trim the seams.

flip the swaddler right-side out. i used a chopstick (clean, of course!) to help turn the corners & edges.

then hand sew the remainder of the edge shut.

grab your velcro & lay out the pieces. cut three lengths of velcro (both pieces!) a couple of inches long. one piece goes on the front half-moon piece (middle picture) & two go on the outside left arm/inside right arm (far right picture). i sewed the rough piece of velcro to the front half-moon & also to the front side of the left arm; the soft velcro pieces are placed accordingly so that the velcro will properly close.

{the final swaddler!}

what do you think of handmade baby shower presents? also, to my readers who have infants or kids, did you swaddle?

diy baby shower project: paper flags.

i wanted to add some extras to the baby shower dessert table & thought cupcake toppers & stripey straws would be perfect accessories! {sidenote: we didn’t actually use the straws during the shower, but they were very festive!}

not surprising that i found some pinspiration!

{ribbon flags on drink stirrers: oh joy! blog}

{paper flags on stripey straws: etsy}

amanda (the mama-to-be) loved dalmations as a child – the dog breed, not the movie! – & so i incorporated a bit of animal print into the shower theme.

i couldn’t find any dalmation printed paper at my local craft stores, so i scoured the interwebs & found this pdf of dalmation spots. i simply printed a few pages on my home laser jet printer.

supplies:

paper for flags
glue stick
ruler
pencil
something to glue flag onto (straw, lollipop stick, bamboo skewer)

{stripey straws from amazon//lollipop sticks i picked up at michael’s}

i turned the paper so the printed side was down (this way you can see your pencil marks!) & began measuring. i wanted pretty small flags & ended up cutting paper strips that were 3/4” by 3 1/2”.

then i ran a glue stick along the entire back of the paper strip & wrapped it around the straw/stick about an inch or so from the top (this is totally a personal preference). i also pinched the paper closed right near the edge of the straw/stick in order to make sure it was well adhered (see last picture below).

finally, i cut a small triangle from the outside edge of the paper strip. you could use a pencil & ruler to mark this, but i did it just with scissors since it was such a small cut.

VOILA!

{sorry this isn’t a better picture of the cupcake toppers, but you get the gist!}

what do you think of paper flags to decorate cupcakes & straws?

diy baby shower project: paper pinwheel board.

i had a few requests for the projects that were part of amanda’s baby shower. as i mentioned in the original post, i looked to pinterest for inspiration and ideas, so these are all definitely pinspiration projects (this will be a series of project posts).

…

i was fortunate because very early on in the shower planning process i found the ultimate inspiration on pinterest & pretty much ran with that idea. i loved the look of white serving dishes & stands & i knew that i wanted to create a paper pinwheel board that would be the focal point for the dessert table.

{original post here: vintage themed dessert table.}

gorgeous, huh? i hadn’t made pinwheels before, but just a few days later i was catching up on blogs and found this tutorial on making paper pinwheels. it was definitely a sign that i had to at least attempt this project. {sidenote: this was a bit of a time-intensive project that spanned over about five evenings spent in front of the TV.}

supplies:

paper or colored cardstock (i used three different scrapbook papers, plain white computer paper & two different cardstocks; the paper is definitely easier to fold!)
doilies (optional)
hot glue gun & lots of glue sticks
thick cardboard (i cut apart two boxes i had from amazon.com)
thick poster board with a foam core
scissors
medium-sized circle punch (optional)
ruler
pencil

i don’t have any pictures of the process & i apologize. i really didn’t think i would be doing a tutorial of this project, plus my fingers were covered in hot glue which is not conducive to taking photos.

i followed the tutorial from the lovely cupboard: cut strips of paper, fold & glue. the paper strips i used were between two and five inches. i also learned that the bigger the pinwheel, the more strips of paper that you need to glue together before making it into a circle.

perhaps it was because my folds were not always perfectly the same, but my pinwheels didn’t want to lay flat on their own. i remedied this by gluing a small (about one inch by one inch, or so) piece of cardboard to the back of the pinwheel in the center. this kept most of them together & lying flat on their own, & also gave me a good flat surface to attach it to the poster board.

i am not sure how the pinwheel board in the inspiration picture was constructed, but once i started laying out my pinwheels on the poster board, i figured out that i would need to elevate some of them in order to get the right effect (i.e., no white poster showing thru) & to get the pinwheels to overlap. i made about a quarter of the pinwheels before i glued any of them to the poster board, just so i could make changes in the positions of the pinwheels to get the right look. only a few of the pinwheels are actually glued directly to the poster board; most of them are raised up by cardboard. in order to get the pinwheels up off the board, but still attached, i cut lots of little cardboard squares (like the ones i talked about for the back of the pinwheels) & stacked & glued them together into little cardboard towers until i had the right height. {sidenote: if you are interested in seeing more pictures, let me know and i will update the post.}

some of the larger pinwheels also have doilies & smaller pinwheels on top of them; i liked the look of this layering, but you could skip this part. also, i added a paper circle in the middle of each pinwheel in a contrasting paper to give it a more finished look (but also to hide the imperfect folding!). i just cut out circles by hand so they aren’t perfect, but if you had a circle punch that was big enough, you could use that too.

{the pinwheel board right after i finished it. the colors in this picture are really close to what they are in real life.}

{the pinwheel board on the dessert table}

in order to make it stand (it was quite heavy considering it was made out of paper!) i had aaron add cardboard triangles to the back to prop it up; you could also hang it from a wall with poster hangers (like the ones made by 3M) which is probably how it will be displayed at the new house once i find a place for it {anyone have ideas as to where it should go?}.

if you end up making a paper pinwheel board, i would love to see it, so please share pictures!

would you make a pinwheel board for a shower, party or just a fun house decoration?

a baby shower.

last weekend i was lucky enough to co-host a baby shower for one of my dear friends amanda. amanda & her husband are expecting their baby girl this summer!

i was in charge of decorations & dessert which was so much fun! i had lots of ideas at first but really used pinterest to help me organize the details. {you can see the baby shower pinboard here.} the other co-hosts (sam & denaye) and i decided that we would keep the shower theme simple, so we went with a theme of purple (the mom-to-be’s favorite color!).

{the dessert table: mini cupcakes from trophy, cupcake flags (diy), paper pinwheel board (diy), tablecloth (diy), flowers from pike place market, tall glass cake stand from tj maxx, white cake stands and platter from crate & barrel, stripey straws from amazon & diy flags, “cupcake” sign (diy).}

{the book check-in. denaye had the idea that guests could bring a book in lieu of a card to help the baby’s library grow. i thought it would be fun to include a card inside each book that had a note to the baby, so we used old school library cards.}

{i gave the baby my very favorite book the very hungry caterpillar.}

{sam made a cute little diaper cake.}

{sam, denaye, me & amanda.}

{the food table: homemade mexican enchiladas & fajitas by sam & her husband, sangria by sam, lavender lemonade by denaye, tablecloth (diy).}

{baby shower games: name that baby food which entailed guests tasting (or smelling) baby food & writing down their best guess. wishes for baby allowed each guest to fill-in-the-blank. fill-in-the-nursery-rhyme (sorry there isn’t a picture) which had guests fill in the missing words to the nursery rhymes we all grew up with. sidenote: i totally rocked this game & walked away as the winner with a set of bubbles! on the other hand, i failed miserably at the baby food game.}

{amanda isn’t big on really girly stuff for the baby, but this outfit was insanely cute!}

thanks to sam & denaye for being fantastic co-hosts! {the food was so delish (thanks sam!) & denaye brought the cutest (and tastiest) macaroons from chicago as party favors.} thanks also to amanda for letting us throw a shower in your honor & letting us surprise you with all of the details! i can’t wait to meet your baby girl.

i am planning on posting later in the week about all the diy projects!

also visit amanda’s blog for scenes from the baby shower & a shower game.

have you attended or thrown any showers lately?

pinspiration: floor cushion.

crafternoon (noun): a mid-day spent crafting.*

my friend amanda & i had a crafternoon this week and it was a perfect time to bust out another pinspiration project!

{the original tutorial link: floor cushion}

i didn’t take pictures during the process to create my own tutorial because i thought the original tutorial was really well done. we didn’t have a compass on hand, so we used a piece of string tied to a pencil which resulted in non-perfect circles that were closer to 15 inches in diameter than the original 17 inches. oh well!

this is the first time i sewed piping onto anything & it was much easier than i expected! {sidenote: i apologize for the blurry first picture. the lighting is terrible since we have grey & rainy.}

have you been crafting in the afternoon lately (that would be referred to as crafternooning)?

*i thought i was so smart thinking up this term, but alas, it has already been coined. formally. see here.

pinspiration: sewing machine pin cushion.

i have a few sewing projects on my mind, but have yet to find a pin cushion. i realize that something like a pin cushion is really a practical thing, but i have been holding out for a pin cushion that i really like.

i am clumsy & drop boxes of pins all the time resulting in pins all over the floor & occasionally in stepping on pins – ouch! after this happened to me for the millionth time this afternoon, i knew that i had to do something about my pin cushion situation.

{story of my life.}

enter pinterest & the genius ideas that i pinned months ago…

{see original pinterest link: sewing machine pin cushion}

supplies:

scrap fabric
ribbon
hand needle
thread
sewing machine {you could do this by hand, but it would be ironic to make this by hand for a sewing machine}
scissors

i already had fabric scraps & ribbon, so it was just a matter of sewing a few simple seams. my pin cushion is a bit squarer due to the shape of my machine’s arm & the ribbon length is only one time around the arm for each side.

i will still be on the quest to find the perfect pin cushion, but for now, this one will do!

do you have a habit of dropping pins all over? do you use a pin cushion?

pinspiration: faux calligraphy.

it really isn’t a secret that i love pinterest. the problem is that i pin & pin & pin but that’s it. i attempted to change the pinning into doing at the end of last year with my a pinterest christmas series of diy projects. it was so fun to actually do something with all of those pins! so, i decided that even if it isn’t a regular occurrence, i should really do more of the diy projects that i pin on my boards aptly titled: my ever-growing to do list. so here it goes with my first pinspiration project!

{faux calligraphy (i prefer faux to fake).}

see original tutorial here: how to create fake calligraphy.

i used my very favorite fine sharpie pen and my moleskine journal (that holds my to-do lists, doodles & notes). the tutorial is really straight-forward & the trick is really to remember how to write in cursive. i wrote my letters in pencil first & then traced over the letter with the pen before i added the thick marks on the downward strokes.

practice makes perfect, but here is a sample of my first attempts.

{lower case letters}

{upper case letters}

faux calligraphy definitely isn’t as elegant as real calligraphy but it is still fun. i have a few projects up my sleeve that i am hoping to use this form of lettering, so i better get practicing!

{sidenote: this pinspiration project (which i hope to be the first of many) is pretty much exactly what sherry is doing over at young house love with the pinterest challenge. i may add my pinspiration projects to the challenge at some point, but it seems like a little too much for me; over three hundred projects pinned – eeps!}

what do you think of faux calligraphy? are you just a pinner or are you a do-er too?