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Sweaters Blanket Tutorial

This is one of my favorite projects. I have one of these blankets in my living room, my mom has one in her television room, and I gave one to my cousin for her wedding this summer. It’s certainly a bit more involved than the last several days of tutorial projects that I have shared, but it makes for such a lovely finished project and is so easy to customize for anyone on your gift list (or yourself!).
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There’s a T-Rex in My Living Room, or How to Paint a Plastic Toy Tutorial

This is a tutorial for painting a plastic dinosaur  to make it an item of decor. While this is a tutorial for painting a dinosaur, I suppose that you could use it to paint other plastic toys. It doesn’t have to be used on dinosaurs. Additionally, it doesn’t have to be white. If you think another solid color would go better with your décor, go for it! This is a great gift for anyone who likes kitsch and a perfect decorating compromise for me and Adam – subtle and classic yet kitschy at the same time!
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Mom Made Household Dec

Welcome to my mom’s house! This is just a tiny glimpse of some of the lovely handmade touches she has added to her house to make it a home. Here is a shelf in her TV room. The folded quilt is all made of fall fabrics and is displayed seasonally. The red white and blue quilt and begonia applique (design by Primitive Gatherings by Lisa Bongean), while designed to be overtly Fourth of July, become more subtle and year-round when part of a broader decorating scheme that includes other colors (yellow) and lots of pattern.
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Quirky Additions to a Chandelier

I love chandeliers. I’ve pinned several that I would love to have some day. But, right now we live in an apartment. Fortunately, the apartment we live in has interesting antique chandeliers (not what I would pick myself, but I’m quite content to live with them.) I’ve spiced them up a tiny bit by adding my own touch to the center of the chandeliers.

This chandelier hangs our dining room. I attached a glass feather that my mom bought from a local artist for me and Adam to celebrate our moving in together. I like that it’s a very subtle way to add a pop of color to the chandelier.

This chandelier is in our living room. I hung a crocheted jellyfish from it. The jellyfish was crocheted for me by my godbrother’s girlfriend, Amanda. It was so much fun receiving it from her because she crocheted it from a pattern written by my dear friend Jessica. Amanda told me that she learned to crochet so that she could crochet Jessica’s patterns and was elated to learn that she and I are good friends. So, the crocheted jellyfish represents (to me) friendship, and family, and inspiration, and creativity, and excitement. And, it’s a little bit silly to have a crocheted jellyfish hanging from the chandelier in your living room, and I like that.

 

DIY Mini Bulletin Board Tutorial

This is a quick and easy tutorial for DIY mini bulletin board. It uses a square of styrofoam, a hot glue gun, fabric shears, and some fabric. I found my styrofoam lining the inside of a box as packing material. It’s 3/4″ thick and roughly 10″x10″, but thickness and dimensions don’t really matter here. For fabric, I used the legs from an old pair of jeans, cut open. You can use just about any fabric, thick or thin, just make sure that a pin will go through it easily.

It doesn’t matter how wide around your styrofoam you cut your piece of fabric, just make sure that it will fold up and over the side and reach the back of the styrofoam piece.

Once you have the fabric glued on, flip it over and nail it into the wall. You can hammer straight through the front of the board as you’ll cover the nails with pretty things you’ve pinned.

That’s it. You’re done! Now starting pinning fun things to your new bulletin board.

I recommend using dressmakers pins (instead of pushpins) to pin things onto your board as the smaller pin tip works better in the styrofoam. Styrofoam isn’t as sturdy as corkboard, but when it’s worn out, you can just rip off the fabric and glue it to a new piece.

I’m currently using my boards to hold inspiring photos, lists of things that I want to work on, and a vintage pattern that I’m thinking about sewing. I love making lists and it helps me to plan and organize if I can see all my lists lined up in front of me. What will you put on your bulletin board?