Photo Troubles

It looks like I have run into photo storage problems with Google which will not allow me to download photos from my files into the blogger program so I can share them with you.  I am not sure if there is a resolution to this problem, if not, I will not be able to continue using Blogspot for my blog hosting site and I will have to wait until the new year to see what can be done to transfer it to a new site, not sure how that works.  What a total pain in the behind!!!!  Sooo.... I won't be able to share the toy room reveal or the Apron a Day series, or all the holiday projects I had planned.

In case this cannot be resolved:

I wish each and everyone of you a Very Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year!!!!

I hope to see you then!!!  Look for me on the web in 2013!!!

Hugs,

Laurette

Apron A Day # 3

Today’s spiffy little number is a black, white and yellow double ruffle, waist tie apron.  I made this one of a kind apron for someone very special but I did not give it to her because she changed her kitchen décor when she moved away, all before I could present her with her gift.

The apron has a French Country feel in the colors, double ruffles, black and white bow at the hem and the antique buttons sewn just in front of the ties in the back.  The pattern was one of my designs and the retro buttons came from my long time button collection.  I hope to someday give it to that special young lady once she moves again and decides on her new kitchen colors, fingers crossed, if not I may just put it up for sale.

Thanks for letting me share apron #3, I hope you are feeling inspired to make some aprons of your own for the up coming holidays. There are more aprons in the series I want to share with you, the toy rooms reveal and plenty of holiday gifts and decorations so keep reading, you don’t want to miss all the fun.

See you soon.

Laurette

You might also like:

Apron A Day Series - # 1 & # 2

Flowers In Pumpkins

Thanksgiving is on the way and I am way behind getting my decorations completed.  I decorate for fall, then Halloween and finally Thanksgiving which is usually last on my list for making new decorations.  This year after looking at so many beautiful fall decorations on Pinterest I decided to give a few of the ideas a try using the inspiration not the exact craft.  I wanted some fresh fall flowers to decorate my porch giving it a pop of color, but as I found out the hard way, the sun beats down on the porch from sun up to late into the afternoon killing any kind of plant or flower I put there.  I really wanted fresh flowers and real pumpkins for that space but I was going to have to settle for faux pumpkins and silk flowers if I wanted the look and color I saw in those photos.

I gathered up some of my fall craft supplies and went to work. The first thing I did was to ask my husband to carve up the pumpkins by using a hot knife to cut the top open so I could insert the flowers and greens. He went through a couple of blades and some muscle to carve out the tops, once that was done the rest was a breeze.  I think they came out just great and will add just the right amount of color; drawing all eyes to that small but useful space.

Look how bright and cheerful the oranges, reds, yellows and greens look against the tan walls and black rod iron.  They also look really lovely with the red front door, very eye catching, just the look I was going for even if I could not use the real thing.

Thanks for letting me share my pretty fall flower decorations with you, I hope they inspire you to make some new decorations for your porch, front door or yard to give your curb appeal a boost.  I still have a decoration or two to finish up for Thanksgiving, I am not sure if I will have enough time to finish them with everything else I am working on, only time will tell. Coming soon are more aprons from the series and the toy room reveal, keep watching for those.

See you soon.

Laurette

You might also like:

Falling In Love With Fall

Fall Windowpane Quilt

Toy Room Makeover Projects

We have been working like crazy to finish our projects for the toy room and we are almost done. I was going to break down each project into individual posts but time is flying and I am afraid I will not have time to show them all to you so I am going to bunch up a couple of them with just one more final reveal post with the before and after photos.  The holidays are approaching fast and I always have gift making projects and decorating projects and event projects….. Oh my, I better get busy and get this one finished so I can move on.  Today’s projects are; the cushions for the benches, the wall mural and the curtains.  This is going to be a long one, a triple post, so grab your coffee, sit back and enjoy!

We needed some kind of padding for the benches in the play area so I took a page from the iheart organizing blog, which is where I got the inspiration and how to directions for the toy room project.  I think Jen’s blog is one of my all time favorite blogs; you really have to check it out at: iheartorganizing.blogspot.com. 

The first thing we did was to cut the 2” foam to size, Joann’s cut the foam to the right length but we had to cut down the width to fit the top of the benches, my husband used a turkey carving knife, cuts it like butter. Once the foam was the right size I cut the fabric to fit the foam. I could have sewn cushions but time is an issue so I decided to make it Jen’s way which is super easy and very quick, anyone can do it.

Step two was cutting some MDF to fit the foam; my husband did that for me as well, what a handy guy he is.  The MDF was placed on top of the foam ready for the final step.

For the final step I pulled up the sides of the fabric turned under the edges and used the staple gun to tack the fabric to the boards folding the ends like gift wrapping a package, all done, nice and neat and ready to place on the benches.  For detailed instructions you can go to Jen’s blog and see what she did, her playroom makeover is just fantastic.

Up next was the wall mural, I debated where it should go in the room, I was thinking of adding it to the one I already started on the closet but decided to put it on the wall I originally planned it for. Even though I could have painted one on the wall, again time was an issue so I went with peel and stick wall decals I got at Target; they were in my color theme and just the right size.  I would not have to paint over it if I decided to makeover the room later down the road.

I chose the only wall large enough to work with right above one of the benches creating a nice focal point, the other bench sits under the window, no room there. There were a lot of pieces to the tree and no instructions; thank goodness there was a very detailed photo.  It did take longer then I thought trying to match up the pieces with the photo and as usual several pieces were not there in the correct sizes so I ended up moving things around to fit better.

The tree came out just as I saw it in my head and really helps to pull all the pieces in the room together, everything makes sense now, and I love it!  The photo shows it just above the bench, it looks kind of small in the picture but the dimensions are 50” (127cm) high by 36” (91.44cm) wide, not small at all as you will see in the final before and after photos of the reveal.

Last but certainly not least are the curtains for the windows. Even though there are white wooden blinds on the window the room bakes in the sun from September until spring so very heavy curtains are necessary to keep the heat out until the cold weather sets in.  The 10’x10’ room is the hottest and the coldest room in the house, it sits on the outside corner wall and gets all the elements year round.  We purchased the fabric from IKEA; it was a steal at $3.99 a yard for 60” width heavy printed canvas upholstery fabric, perfect to cut down the heat and cold.  I chose a bronze rod to coordinate with the browns in the fabric and the tree trunk on the wall mural, actually I already had it in my stash from a previous home, re-purposing at its best.  Unfortunately, the curtains are still not finished, I have one more panel to make they take forever due to the size and weight of the fabric. The curtain fabric was what I used as the jumping off point for the color scheme for the whole room; you will see them in the final reveal.  That about wraps up the projects for the toy room makeover, oops.... I forgot I still have one more very important painting project left to do.  I am not sure if I will write a post on it or just show it off in the final reveal of the whole project, I guess you will just have to keep reading to find out.

Thanks for letting me share my toy room makeover, it has been quite a project and I can not wait to show you how it all came out. I am not sure how soon that will be since our daughter and her husband just bought a new home and we are helping them fix it up so they can move into it next week.  There are lots of projects, cleaning, packing, moving and babysitting my darling granddaughters which is taking up all my time and energy making it hard to write more then a quick post or two.  I still have posts of the apron series scheduled to share with you; they are fun and quick so keep watching for those.

See you soon.

Laurette

You might also like:

Toy Room Makeover – Day 1, 2 & 3

Apron A Day # 2

Welcome to the Apron A Day Blog Series, I am happy you are here to check out my next featured apron.  I made today’s apron from two matching fat quarters because I could not find any full yardage in this cute sewing fabric.  I wanted an apron to wear during my sewing classes and this darling fabric had just the right theme with all the sewing notions pictured on it.  The fabric featured hot pink, red and white so I made the waist band, ties, pocket and hem trim from some sweet mini heart fabric leftover from another project.  The pattern is one of my designs which I adapted so I could use fat quarters instead of full yardage.  My apron cost about $7.00 or less to make; cute and cost effective too.

Thanks for letting me share today’s pretty little sewing apron with you. Be sure you look for the next toy room makeover project in the series; it will be coming right up.

See you soon.

Laurette

You might also like:

Apron A Day - # 1 (The story behind the series)

Apron A Day Series - # 1

Here it is, the apron series I have been talking about for a couple of weeks, I will be sharing aprons I made over the years some of which are now considered vintage by today’s standards.  In addition I will be sharing some of the aprons my mom designed and made for me as gifts.  If you have been following me for a while you know my mother was a master seamstress who made her living from the things she designed, stitched and sold at craft shows and other venues, she is my true inspiration every single day. I grew up working the shows with her and eventually we both designed and sold our products together, sometimes I don’t even remember who designed what since we traded patterns back and forth regularly.  I have most of those patterns, her sewing notions and some of her fabric, the rest was divided up among my two sisters who also sew and crochet.  I think of her everyday when go into my studio to work, I really feel her looking over my shoulder, especially when I pull out some of her notions, fabric and patterns to begin a project. My mother wore an apron everyday of her life whenever she cooked a meal or cleaned the house to protect her clothing from stains. Because of her strong influence I grew up with a fascination for aprons both in wearing one when I cook, clean or work on messy craft projects and with collecting and making them.  I have books, patterns and a good size stash of fabrics set aside just for apron making, I am obsessed.  I dedicate this series to my mom who passed away from breast cancer fourteen years ago this month, this one is for you mom.

I had so many aprons to pick from I had a tough time deciding on an apron to start with so I just picked the one I took the first picture of.  This pretty blue and green print with the polka dot waist band, tie and trim is one of my own apron designs, very simple with lots of coverage and very eye catching.

I added a loop in the back so a light weight hand towel could be hung there for easy clean up, no more searching for a clean towel.  This pretty little apron only took a couple of hours to make from start to finish, quick and easy with great results.

Thanks for letting me share the first apron from my new series, I hope it inspires you to start sewing and wearing aprons by the time the series is done.  For those of you who are not in love with aprons, like I am, there will be several new projects inserted in between the apron posts, for example, I have some Thanksgiving craft projects and more photos of the toy room makeover projects so keep checking in to see what is on tap for the day. There will be a lot of creativity going on in the studio during the next couple of months as the holidays approach, I hope the projects on my blog will be a hub of creative inspiration for all of you so keep reading, get out those glue guns, paints and sewing machines and get busy with me.

See you soon.

Laurette