Creative Fridays: burlap no sew kitchen curtains

I am in the middle of a creative frenzy — I don’t know why. I have a million projects that I want to do and just not enough time in the day to get everything done! One of my bigger projects is a kitchen re-do. I am slowly working on this one, and one of the elements of it is new curtains.

bryn alexandra

I have been seeing so much around blogging land using burlap. I thought it would be a really fun addition to the black and tan theme that I am creating for my kitchen. So last week I went down to the craft store and bought 5 yards of burlap and some coordinating black and tan material. Then I spent some time trying to figure out what kinds of curtains I wanted to make.

I knew I didn’t want panels right next to my kitchen table — I have messy little children. So I experimented and this is what I came up with:

 {this was the before…}

And you know that I don’t sew, so this project was done using this trusty friend:

**The entire project cost me $20.00!!!**
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If you want to make this project, here is the tutorial:

Supplies:

• Burlap fabric (determine how long and wide you want your curtains to be)
• Two types of fabric – one for the top panel and another for the bottom ruffle
• glue gun and plenty of glue sticks
• iron and ironing board

Instructions:

1. Cut your burlap to approximately the size you want the panel to be — add about 1 inch to each of the ends.
2. Iron a 1 inch seam to each of the 4 sides of the burlp panel.
3. Glue each of the seam ends down.
4. Now cut a six inch wide length of your fabric which will make up the top panel of the curtains.
5. Glue the sides under of the fabric.
6. To make the curtain over the sink — you need a panel of fabric wide enough to go across the top and then you need two panels of fabric that run from the tio of the first panel at the top down and under the curtain and then around the other side — meeting the back top of the curtain. Measure this total and then cut your other panel so they are the same. This will make the curtain hang evenly.
7. To make the cafe curtain that runs across the eating nook: you need a panel of fabric that is as long as the length of your fabric. Then you need a coordinating fabric that is 1/3 longer than the length of your burlap because it is gathered.
8. The top panel of the fabric is glued at the top of the burlap and its ends meet the ends of the burlap.
9. Now you need to iron the coordinating fabric’s seam under. Once this is done, glue the seam down.
10. Turn the entire panel of burlap over and attach the coordinating fabric panel to the seam – face down. Gather the fabric approximately every 4-6 inches to make a ruffle. Make sure the seam that you just glued down is facing you.
11. Both curtains are hung using cafe curtain rings.

And thanks for stopping by my party yesterday and for the birthday wishes! I love you guys… If you want a chance to win a yummy Sprinkles cupcake kit, you can enter here — the giveaway ends tonight at midnight!

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Have a great weekend!

XOXO

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Creative Fridays: Fall wreath re-do

 

I was thinking of some ways to spruce up my old Fall wreath. I looked around for a new one, but couldn’t find anything that I liked. So I took my old wreath and decoupaged a star to use in the middle. It still needed something else. I wanted to sew some fabric leaves and add them to the wreath, but since I don’t have a machine that works, the next best thing were scissors and my trusty glue gun. 

I leaves out of some cute Amy Butler fabric that I had in my craft room. Then I found some twigs and branches in my backyard to glue the fabric leaves to.

And voila — a new Fall wreath. It’s easy to do!

 

If you want to spruce up your old wreath, this is what you will need:

• A wreath
• Some twigs/branches
• a few different patterns of fabric
• some cardstock
• glue gun
• scissors
• wire
• a star (you can find one at most craft stars). The tutorial on how to decoupage the star is HERE.

Directions:

1. Lay out your twigs and branches (take all of the leaves off)
2. Figure out how many leaves you want to make
3. Cut out a leaf pattern from the cardstock, then duplicate that leaf for as many leaves that you are going to make (I made 18 leaves – 6 each out of three different fabrics)
4. Take the leaf pattern and cut out the leaves from your fabric. You need to cut the fabric leaf a little larger than the carstock leaf. I doubled the fabric so both sides of the leaf perfectly mirror each other
5. Once all of the leaves are cut out, Open each fabric leaf and lay a cardstock leaf inside one of the fabric leaves. The correct side of the fabric should be face-down. 
6. Run a line of hot glue around the edge of the cardboard and inside the edge of the fabric. Then lay the corrdinating leaf over the top — kind of like a sandwich. Press down gently to adhere the two sides of the fabric together. Lay aside.
7. Do this for each of the leaves
8. Once the leaves are all assembled, run a line of hot glue on the outside of the leaf and attach the end of the twig/branch. Hold gently for a minute until it has cooled slightly.
9. Do this with each of the branches/twigs until you are satisfied
10. Take each of the twigs/branches and arrange them on the wreath. Don’t attach anything until all parts look pleasing to you.
11. Attach each twig/branch with light wire. Wrap the wire around the twig you are attaching and a sturdy part of the wreath. If you don’t have wire, you can use string.
12. Hot glue each twig/branch on to your wreath.
13. Attach your star by either wiring it onto your wreath or hot gluing it on.

have a creative Friday!

and a great weekend!

XOXO 

linked to 
A Design Story’s Wreath party!

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Creative Fridays: Free Printables!

When I was looking around for some cute labels for the Moms’ PJ/Movie Party, I came across some other fun, free printables! Aren’t they great?These lemonade labels and cupcake pics are fantastic from Dandy Bread and Candy!

Here is the link to Eat Drink Chic who has the free downloads for a fun ice cream party!And if you have a shower or party to throw, what better favor to make then one of these wonderful tins from The Inspired Bride? You can buy the tins from most craft stores.
And, I love the idea of printing on paper bags. These from Flights of Fancy are so adorable!
And I love these popcorn bags from Mushy!
Mommy of Two gave me the One Lovely Blog award! Thank you so much! She is the cutest mom and is due to give birth to her second child any day!!!
Heidi from Blue Eyed Blessings gave me the Uplifting Blogger Award. Thanks so much Heidi! If you don’t know her, Heidi is really fun girl. She has great organizing ideas. She also has a fun monthly crafting challenge. The next one is Halloween-themed!
Thank you ladies for the love! And thanks to all of my other blogging friends for all of your kindness and support. I haven’t been very good about passing awards on lately, but I am turning over a new leaf! I would like to pass these lovely awards on to YOU!

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And one last thing — I won something!!!
Danielle from Wedding Bliss was giving away this beautiful Paris necklace:
And I won!!! Yay – I am sooo excited!!! Thank you Danielle!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Are you doing anything fun?

My husband is out of town so I am staying in — eating sushi and watching movies tonight…

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XOXO

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Creative Fridays: Mod Podge Barstool Redo

Thanks for your nice comments yesterday during my meltdown. I am feeling much better today – I even got my house cleaned – woo hoo!It’s time for Xazmin’s Mod Podge Mania! I’m so excited to join up!!!
This is a project that I have been meaning to do for about a year. I just kept putting it off. It seemed so big and time consuming. I bought these barstools about 7 years ago. They were originally red. Of course, knowing me, I got tired of the red and wanted to do something different about 4 years later. So I painted them off white with a brown glaze over the top. The problem was when I was finished I put a polyurethane coat on and it never adhered correctly. So after a while it started peeling off…

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Here they are when I started:

(sanding, sanding, sanding….)
(stripping, stripping, stripping…)

(I turned them over to mod podge the paper onto the seat aprons)

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And here they are now. I decided to mod podge the seat aprons, each chair has a different black and white paper. I put a number on each so each of my kids has their own barstool. They think it’s pretty neat.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you for being such great blogging friends!

PS: I was going to post about my Julia recipes #2 and #3, and I will do that tomorrow!

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Creative Fridays: sweater redo

I was flipping through the Boden USA catalog last night. I don’t think I had ever seen their clothes before. They have some really cute things — but they are also very expensive! I saw this sweater. How cute for Fall. Then I saw the price tag — $98. Seriously??
I loved the buttons and the stripes. I thought of all of the buttons jars that I have. Could I remake one of my old sweaters into something similar?
So I found an old black sweater. This could use a little jazzing up. I got my buttons out. I have some that are from the 40’s and 50’s and some that are new. I experimented with different placements and buttons.
I decided that I couldn’t copy the sweater exactly because I didn’t have a sweater that overlaps at the top like the one in the catalog. And when I placed the buttons on one side or the other, it just didn’t look right.

This is the one I decided to go with:

After a while, I decided on the way I was going to make it work. If you want to do this project, here are a few tips to help you.

• Get your buttons out and experiment first.
• Once you find a placement that you like, take a picture of it.
• Now get a piece of chalk and mark where each of the buttons goes.
• Take the buttons off the sweater and keep them in the order that you want to sew them on by placing them on a table in that pattern. This will save you much frustration. Also you have your picture to refer to if you can’t remember the exact placement.
• Sew the buttons on.

I went with a really minimalist look, but you could have a really fun time making a work of art!

What are you doing this weekend?

I think we are going to see The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Have a fantastic Friday!

XOXO

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Creative Fridays: Pimpify your Profile Pic

I just stumbled upon this site the other day. It is so simple to use. You can take any picture and turn it into art. Here’s what they say:

Anyone can be an artist

BeFunky Photo Effects allow everyday people to easily create photographically rich and artistic results from their digital images without the need for any technical knowledge. These “one-click” photo effect options produce desired results effortlessly and each effect comes with the option to make simple adjustments.

So I experimented with some of the effects. I think it’s an awesome way to spiff up a profile picture.{Here’s my boring profile picture}

{now with the Warholizer}

{this is the Charcola effect}

{Inkify}

{I really like this one: Sunburst}

{Patriotic}

{I think this is my favorite one of all: Cartoonizer}

There are also different effects that you can add to your picture like frames, graphics, shapes and text. All in all — a fun and easy way to do something different to your pictures. Also, it’s FREE!

And thanks to everyone who has entered my Blogoversary Giveaway! If you would like to enter, click HERE. It ends Tuesday night.

Have a Fantastic Friday!

XOXO

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Creative Fridays: Chalkboard Projects

Ok, I know these projects have been around the block here in blogland, but they have been on my to-do list for awhile and I finally got them done.

I found this cute platter at my local thrift store for $1.

{I hung it on my front door for now.
Repainting this door is on my list of things to do this Summer.}

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I don’t know where I first saw this project done. I loved the idea of a chalkboard wall somewhere in my home, but couldn’t find a wall that would work. I painted the door to my food pantry and now I have a place where I can put reminders in the kitchen. I also painted the bottom panel so the kids could decorate it.

Have a Fantastic Friday and a super weekend!

XOXO

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Creative Fridays: ooh la la!!

Hannah is turning 10 next week. I can’t believe it!!! She has decided that instead of a friend party she would like to re-do her room. She has always been a fan of fashion and Paris. So she wants to a Paris theme for her bedroom.

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These are some pictures I am using as inspiration for her room:

This is a project I am making to give her for her birthday. Paris collages. I am going to decoupage them (a set of three) on canvas and then embellish the tops with flowers, ribbon and glitter. I think it is going to be fun in her new room!

I will post pictures of them when they are finished.

Have a Fantastic Friday!!!

XOXO

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Creative Fridays: Decoupaged Eggs

I’ve probably told you about my Mod Podge addiction. I have mod podged all sorts of things all over my house. Well, the other day, I was looking at blogs and saw this from Nesting Place.

{How cute!}

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Now, I need some Easter decorations! I got my box out and there was hardly anything in it. Did I donate some things I didn’t mean to donate??? So this project was perfect for me!

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I found some paper mache eggs and some scrapbook paper that matches my family room. Some of the eggs I cut strips of paper and decoupaged it on the eggs. Some of the eggs I tore pieces from the paper and attached them.

**Note: Because I used scrapbook paper, not tissue paper, it was harder to apply because the paper is so much thicker, I found it easier to get the paper pieces wet first so the paper was more pliable.

And voila – a little Easter centerpiece!

{Ella just had to sneak in the shot!}

Have a Fantastic Friday

Sorry this post is so early, I am leaving out of town to see Wenderful

( I think she said something about building a chicken coop???)

and wanted to post this before I left.

Have a super weekend!

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Creative Fridays: Springtime Cupcakes

Need a springtime pick me up? Nothing beats a cute cupcake! There are so many great ideas floating around. Here are a couple of cute, simple cupcakes I have made with my kids.

{Notes: To make the flower cupcake, take a marshmallow and press it down flat with a knife. Then cut it into strips with kitchen scissors. Put a gumdrop in the middle and you’re done!

The beachy cupcake is frosted, then sprinkled with finely ground graham cracker crumbs.

The flower (lollipop) cupcake’s stem is made out of green Laffy Taffy.}

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Some other, more complicated cupcakes I love are:

{ Apple Kitchen on Flickr has made these amazing creations}

{And, of course Bakerella}

Oh – I also have an award to give out!!!

I just love this wonderful blogging world. It’s so fun to meet new people. There’s nothing that makes me smile more than your wonderful comments (unless it’s my kids).

Your comments just make my day!

How can we thank our loyal friends and readers for giving us these bloggy treasures? First and foremost, we can return the favor! We can visit their blogs and leave them comments. “The golden rule of blogging – do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. It makes the blogosphere go round.”

It really made my day last Friday when I found this award waiting for me over at Tamy’s. She is such a wonderful person. I love going over to her blog to find wonderful recipes, great cleaning ideas and bits of wisdom. Stop by Tamy’s and say hello!!! So, in the spirit of paying it forward, I would like to give this award to one of my loyal commenters each Friday.

There are so many wonderful bloggers that come to mind when I think of passing this on – and I will get to you all! This week I choose Rhonda from Down Memory Lane. I haven’t known Rhonda long, but she is a wonderful mom, she’s funny, and she makes these green shakes that are so good for you and sound so delicious. It’s also been fun to connect with her on Facebook too.

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Thanks to everyone who comes to visit and for your sweet comments!

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Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

We are planning a Twilight Party – I will let you know how it goes!

Have a Fun Friday!

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