DIY Embellished Flour Sack Towels

Did you know that March is National Craft Month?  I didn't until the other day when I got my JoAnn's flier in the mail.

In light of this event, I thought I'd try to share a simple craft with you each week this month that would be something easy to do over the weekend {or during a nap time if that's all you have}.  I realize crafting is not for everyone, and more often than not my crafts end up as 'failed' projects, so don't be fooled by this into thinking that I am a crafting guru!  Every once in awhile I get inspired, and once I carve out some time I get a bit of fulfillment by using some creativity and working with my hands.  It's a nice break from sweeping, folding laundry, and scrubbing toilets.

Most of my kitchen towels are looking pretty ragged these days, so after seeing some pretty flour sack towels for sale in the store, I decided to embellish my own, for a portion of the cost.  This project is easy, it's inexpensive, and it's practical--all things that are perfect for me when choosing a craft.

You can choose any type of embellishments you want, I just opted to use some items I had on hand.  They happened to be the right colors for my kitchen {you can't go wrong with black} so other than the $5 I spent for a pack of 4 flour sack towels, I didn't spend any additional money.

First, you'll want to wash and dry your towels, just as you would once they've been used.  I also ironed mine prior to adding the decorative touches.  This isn't necessary, and I certainly don't iron them now that they're being used, but I felt like it was the appropriate way to begin a sewing project.  :)

Then, simply measure your embellishments to fit across the bottom of the towel {or the top, middle, or askew--whichever you prefer}.  I used ric rac, ribbon and some pom pom trim.  Simple stitches of thread in various widths or designs would also be pretty.

At this point you can either measure and pin your ribbon/ric rac/trim, or just eyeball it like I did.

Using either coordinating thread, or a pretty contrasting color, sew a straight stitch to attach the ribbon/ric rac/trim to your towel.

So easy!  This is a great project for beginners, and these would make excellent gifts.

I literally smile when I see these hanging from the handle of my oven.

If you're looking for a quick and practical craft for your weekend, go grab a pack of flour sack towels, take advantage of some of the sales going on right now at your local craft store and whip up some of these beauties.

Linking up to:
Tatertots and Jello

Framed Silverware Tutorial & Dining Room Updates

Our dining room walls have been barren for the majority of our time in this home, a little over two years.  I just couldn't seem to decide what I wanted to do in there, and what I really wanted was too expensive. So, I waited.  Decorating a home on a small budget takes time, thought, and patience.  Sometimes that can be frustrating, but in the end it's rather rewarding when you end up with something you really love and don't have to spend tons of money to achieve.

Last summer my mother-in-law let me go through some of her silverware, I believe it was her grandmother's, and I chose a few pieces that I wanted to use as some type of wall art in the dining room.  I had some old pictures from our first house that weren't being used, so I took those apart to create something 'new' for one wall of the dining room.

This is a really easy project, and not an original!  I've seen various forms of framed silverware all over Pinterest, but here's how I did mine.

You will need:
-frame
-thin foam board
-burlap
-silverware {that you don't intend to ever use}
-hot glue gun and glue sticks

First, cut your foam board to fit the size of the frame.  It needs to rest just inside the edges of the frame pretty snugly.

Next, cut a piece of burlap to fit around the foam and be glued to the back.

Carefully apply hot glue to the back of the foam piece and push the burlap onto the glue.  Be careful that you don't burn yourself; the glue will come through the holes in the burlap.

Position your silverware where you want it on the burlap.  Apply a strip of hot glue and place the silverware directly on top, pushing down to secure.

Allow the glue to dry and hang up on your wall.

I finally took the opportunity to lengthen my Dining Room drapery panels, and I'm glad that I did.  They look much nicer right above the floor, instead of the several inches off the floor before.

And, when returning something to Sears one day last fall, I found two packs of drapery rings on clearance for $.99 each!  I had initially only purchased one package of rings for these drapes, which was not enough, so I was glad to finally have the correct amount, appropriately spaced at the top.  They weren't the right color, but after a little black spray paint job, they were just right!

Lastly, I purchased some matted pictures of peacocks from Hobby Lobby and framed those.  Someone had given me a gift card for my birthday, and these prints were 50% off on the day I went.  I love the pops of color they add to the wall.

Once the dining room table is finished, I'll take some final pictures of the whole room, but here's what it looks like now.

How long does it take you to finish decorating a room?

DIY Wooden Verse Sign Tutorial

When we started decorating the nursery for Mason, we knew we wanted to hang a verse over his crib.  Bradley cut out the wood, making it look sort of rustic, painted it white, and hung it up before Mason was born in April.  Until last Friday, it hung on the wall just like that.

I'm glad, though, because the original verse I had chosen wouldn't have been as fitting as the one that is now there.

Here's a little of the process:

We measured above the crib and then Bradley figured out how long each piece of wood should be to give it the pallet-like look that we wanted.  It's a bit staggered, on purpose, and I like it this way.  You could easily make all the pieces the same size; be creative.

A calculator is always handy when coming up with exact measurements!

We used a furring strip to make this, which is less expensive than other types of lumber.  One piece runs a little less than $1.50.  For our project, we only needed one strip.  He measured with a straight edge to get the exact cuts.

He's using a miter saw in this picture, but you don't need to, as there are no angled cuts.  Just cut right on your marks.

After all the cuts were made, he laid out the pieces to match his diagram, just to make sure it looked as good as his picture.  It did!

Back to the garage he went, and used more pieces of the furring strip {or you could use 1/4-inch plywood} to attach all the pieces together.  We wanted it to stand out a little bit from the wall, so this gave it some dimension.

No pictures of this, but he then painted it white.

My job was to put the verse on; this is probably why it sat unfinished for months!  I do not own a Silhouette machine, or a Cricut, so I knew I would either be free-handing the verse or printing it out on the computer and making some sort of stencil.

My free hand is not great, so I used Wordpad to create the words, Lucida Handwriting is the font, and just made it as large as I thought I would need to fill in the space.  I laid out the words to fit.

I ended up cutting out around the letters and used them as a stencil, tracing with a pencil.  I filled in the letters with a black Sharpie.

I've written a little bit about our journey finding out that Mason has Down Syndrome. {You can read my 31 Days of a Truth Driven Heart where I shared more of how God has worked in my heart through this}.  Even though he was born with this chromosomal disorder, he is still wonderfully made by God.  This was ordained from the beginning of time, and we trust that God's ways are perfect, good, and for His glory.  So, we are rejoicing in our sweet little boy who is such a delight to our family!  We hope that one day he will learn to praise God for being fearfully and wonderfully made.

Linking to:

How to Customize Store Bought Drapes

Decorating our Master Bedroom has been a challenge for me, as I'm trying to do it on a very tight budget, and I've had difficulty deciding how to go about it.  Last week I shared with you the paint color, and a peek of the fabric that I used for my window treatments.  Today, I'm sharing my new drapery panels.

For months I searched for the perfect fabric to make some drapes.  The fabric I loved was a gorgeous paisley and for a mere $45/yard, I could have some beautiful panels.  Why is it that I always like the expensive fabrics??  There was no way I could afford that, so I kept my eye out whenever I would shop for fabric that I liked.  I looked at fabric stores, TJMaxx, Target, etc., and not just at drapes; I was also browsing sheets, tablecloths, and anything made out of fabric to see if I could find something similar.  Finally, one day at Target I saw some panels on clearance that were the colors and paisley that I was looking for.  I purchased all four of what they had left.  The best way to describe the material is linen-sheer {if there is such a thing}, though, so a ton of light came through, which I didn't like.

What do you do when you like part of something that you bought but not all of it?  You can return it, but I decided to customize it to make it work in this space.

There are 3 windows in our bedroom.  In order to achieve the fullest look on a window, you would normally use 2 panels per window.  However, the store only had 4 panels {I even looked online, but they were all sold out and discontinued}.  Since I knew I wouldn't be closing them {we have mini-blinds on all the windows} I decided to cut 3 of the panels in half, giving me two panels for each window.  Instead of a fuller look, they would just frame the window.

Then, after cutting them in half, I added lining to each one {purchased for $1/yard at a remnant store} similar to how I added lining to my Dining Room Panels.

Once the sides were finished, I simply used stitch witchery to adhere the lining to the top of each panel, placing it right below the pocket rod.

I kept the original hem and pocket rod of the purchased portion of the panels, which made this customization quite simple.  And, the total cost for 3 windows was just about $50.  If I had gone with my favorite fabric choice in the store, I would have only been able to purchase one yard of fabric--not even enough to cover half of one window!

Later on in the week I'll show you how I made the hardware for these--another fun and very inexpensive project!  Also, for those of you math-minded folks, you might be wondering what I did with the 4th panel {you were wondering, weren't you??}, I'll share that as well.

Don't be afraid to customize things that you purchase, even items that are brand new!  With just a little bit of work and a few supplies you can get the look you want for much less.

Linking to:
Home Stories A to Z

Pinterest Inspired Project: DIY Ruffled Tote Bag

Ever since I joined Pinterest last year, I've enjoyed finding great ideas, being inspired, and collecting lots of pins for my boards.  Recently, my goal has been to actually do something with all of that inspiration that's gathered.

My plan was to put together tote bags for the girls for when our baby was born.  Inside would be little handmade matching outfits to wear to the hospital for their first visit, some little gifts to occupy their time while I was in the hospital, and some candy.  So, I cut out the fabric for these little bags, and my son was born the next day, 2 weeks early.  Needless to say, the outfits were not made and the bags were incomplete.  For our road trip a few weeks ago, I finally finished these bags and filled them with special things for the girls to do in the car.

My inspiration was from something I saw on Pinterest, but I wanted to change it a little bit; I wasn't too thrilled about using so much glue for mine, so I decided to sew it onto my bag.

Here's the original picture that inspired me from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom:

Source: scatteredthoughtsofasahm.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterestt

This was a really quick project and very easy, even for beginners.  I had the girls choose their fabric from my stash, and then I added the colored ribbon, just using what I had on hand.  The girls loved their bags for the road and now we use them as library bags!  These would make a great gift for a little girl!  What little girl doesn't like having a bag to fill up?  Here's my tutorial, not too different from my inspiration, but I thought I'd share mine with you too.

Supplies:
-plain canvas tote bag {I purchased mine at Wal-Mart, in a pack of 3 for about $5}
-fabric strips
-coordinating thread
-ribbon, or other trims as desired

1. Measure the bag and mark where to put the ruffles.  I only wanted three ruffles on mine, so I made them a bit thicker than my inspiration photo.

2. Cut out the fabric strips to the desired width {mine were 4-inch wide strips} and length {cut a strip twice as long as the width of the bag, plus 1/2 inch}.  My bag was 13.5 inches wide, so I cut my strip 28 inches long.

3. Using a long stitch on your sewing machine, stitch 1/4-inch from the top of the fabric.  Pull on the bottom thread to gather the stitches and create a ruffle.

4. Place fabric strip on lowest marking of the bag, pin in place, gathering more or less as needed to fit the length of the bag, and sew in place with a straight stitch. {make sure you change the stitch between the ruffling and this step!}

5. Repeat with remaining strips, working your way up the bag.

6. Place ribbon over the top ruffled seam, covering the raw edges.  Pin in place and sew.  Then, sew another stitch along the top of the ribbon directly onto the bag.   You can add flowers or other accessories to the bag as well.


Have you done anything with your pins lately?  

Summer Wreath

Now that we're in the middle of June, I decided it was time to take my spring wreath off of the dining room table, where it has been in the construction phase since April, and finish it for my front door.

This was the least expensive wreath I've ever made!  Want to know why?  I used plumbing piping from Home Depot to make the form.  It costs $0.97.  Everything else I already had, so for $1 I have a wreath that I love!

I don't remember what this stuff is really called, but you can find it in the plumbing aisle of the store. There is a slit in it {see picture below}, but that doesn't affect its ability to perform as a wreath.
I am NOT going to take credit for the idea to use this stuff.  I first read about it on East Coast Creative's blog.  I've also seen pool noodles used in the same way.

When I shaped the tube into a circle it was a tad too large, so I just snipped it and cut out the excess tubing.

Using a little packaging tape, I taped the ends together to make my circle.

Then, I wrapped the entire thing with strips of burlap {my never-ending supply}.  No glue required, just kept wrapping it around tightly so that it stayed in place.

Be sure to work with burlap in a place where you can clean it up, because it sure does shed and leave a mess!

I made two different kinds of fabric flowers, attached brooch pins to the back and placed them on the wreath.

 Each of these fabrics are either tablecloths or napkins that I have used in pillows and other decor in my home.  Never forget to look at non-traditional ways of purchasing fabric!  I wanted to tie my front door in with the interior of my home, creating a cohesion throughout.

 

 I hung it with a rustic looking piece of the yellow fabric, simply just tied in knots, nothing fancy!

And, here is the photo of the missing element from this post.  I didn't go with the 'W' as several of you thought, but perhaps some other time.