Bedroom Makeover!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far. We've been pretty busy around here today, but didn't get much paper crafting done. Just business of the cleaning sort. Boring, right? But I wanted to make a quick post showing off some of the bedroom decor I made earlier this summer. It was definitely time for a change from my darker, winter colors.

Here's the room before:

It didn't really need a style update, for me at least, but the color was dark and it was just time for a change. I will probably go back to it come fall, but for now, it looks like this:

I love the gray and yellow color scheme. It brightens up the room a lot, perfect for summer. Even with the gray, it is pretty cheery. I found the directions for the duvet cover at Be Sweetly Inspired here. I didn't quite follow all of her directions, but got the general idea there. It was a set of king sized sheets and after it was pintucked, sewn wrong sides together. It looks hard, time consuming, and expensive, but wasn't at all!

The next step was the accents and extras around the room. I went over to Joann's, and after getting distracted and looking at everything in the store, went over to the fabric section. Luckily, since I had the solid gray and yellow, finding a pattern that matched wasn't hard. I got about 3 1/2 yards and was able to do all of those little pretties around. (It was a couple of months ago, but I think it was 3 1/2, maybe 3, maybe 4... somewhere in there. And of course you'd have to measure your own, but that's a rough estimate to start with.)

I cut the strips for the bed skirt by measuring the length (times two) and the width of the bed, and then how far I wanted it to be on the floor. After those three easy cuts, I attached the skirt with Velcro. This way, later on when I want to change it, it just pulls off, and a new one can be put up.

The bed skirt took up most of the fabric, but there was still enough to cover up the two lampshades. They needed it after a previous not-so-well-done decor project. There are a ton of tutorials out there to learn how to do this.

I don't have a headboard with my bed, but I needed something on the wall behind the bed. You can see the one that was there before, which clearly wouldn't match the yellow and gray. So we had one canvas at home, left over from another project, and I got two more for the set of three. They were recovered with the fabric rectangles. The hardest part of this was making sure they were straight and spaced evenly, or evenly enough.

And there was just enough left over to recover the small pillow in the middle, finishing off the look. I love the update and it makes going to sleep even more inviting at night! Or sleeping in.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Note of Thanks

Happy Friday! We hope everyone has had a good week and now looking forward to the weekend. Let's just say, Friday couldn't come soon enough this week.
So, the other day we received a note in our mailbox, saying we had a package waiting for us up in the office. We had no idea who it was from, so we kind of let it sit up there for a few days (and because we don't head up that way too often.) Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised when we opened the package and got an awesome scarf from our aunt:

The other is in shades of blue- she knows us so well! Between the two of us, we got so many compliments on them. We love them and wish we knew how to do it. (Can't say we weren't trying to figure it out!) Today's project is a thank you card we made for her:

She is an avid (and amazing) sewer and knitter, so we decided to make her card with a quilt design. We chose the colors because they were bright and cheery. We also added some embossing to make it look a bit more quilted and finished off with some stitching around the two main pieces. I hope she likes it!
Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the weekend!

An Oldie But Goodie

 Hi there! Today's project is one that I worked on at the end of last year for the holidays, but I don't think I shared here. (This is a very picture-heavy post.)

Over the past few years, since I found the art of quilting, I've made mom a new quilt for Christmas. So far, this one is my favorite. I used the Cricut to cut all of the fabric pieces to make appliques of all of us. The hardest parts were the eyes, since they ended up kind of small. Other than that, it was surprisingly easy, but definitely packed a punch with the "wow" factor.
Here are close-ups of the blocks.

Dad and Mom as Santa and Mrs. Claus

And us kids as Santa's helpers

Erik

Adam

Dawn

Robyn

And can't forget the kitty as a reindeer!

I think it's time to start planning this year's projects. It's not too early for Christmas, is it??

Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day Blanket

We are still going with the Valentine's Day theme, but skipping the paper crafts for the day. We have had this fabric for a while. It's been collecting dust on it and we just didn't know what to do with it. I had started a small blanket with it a couple of months ago, but got sidetracked working on it. Well, now it's finished and looks great! It is perfect for Valentine's Day, without being to lovey-dovey and red. My favorite fabric choice is definitely the hearts with the flourishes in them. Just right for the holiday! They look like they could be in a box of chocolates! And the sparkly pink on the outside and the binding make it extra special.

One More Gift…

Yesterday’s Answer: “Fleas Navidad!”

(You’re all probably glad those are done!)

I hope everyone enjoyed their day yesterday. Here’s one more Christmas gift that we made this year. Sarah loves Tinkerbell, and what better way to show than with a quilt?! I bet Erik will love it, too; it’s very girly. I must say, I’m pretty impressed with how well the squares all match up! This year was all about the appliqué, apparently… This one was harder than mom’s because the background is darker. Tink was looking kind of blue before the couple of extra layers! I love the color combinations. I hope she does too!

Another Quilt

Yesterday’s Answer: A point-setter!

(I’m posting this because it is kind of hard to hide things from each other, so she kind of already knows what it looks like. Oh well. She’ll still enjoy it!)

Each of the blocks is a different pattern from the Quilter’s Cache website, which has a ton of quilt blocks and all of the directions needed to make them. I knew that I wanted them to be 12x12 squares, so I looked at those first. Then I realized there were different block patterns for each state. After this summer’s epic road trip, I knew I would use the ones from the states that we visited. I used the same fabrics from other projects (the chair covers and cushions, tree skirt and stockings, and the aprons). I think it looks adorable!

Today’s Joke: What do you call an elf that steals gift wrap?

An Early Christmas Gift

Yesterday’s Answer: Silent Night!

Today’s project is the quilt we worked on for our mom. It’s kind of become a tradition over the last few years to make her a Christmas quilt. We actually gave it to her a little early so she could enjoy it and show it off, instead of packing it away with all of the other Christmas decorations. Back in 2009, we made one with our family members as snowmen. (It was actually the very first one we made.) This year, we decided to make everyone again but this time they look like people! We used the “Paper Doll Dress Up” Cricut cartridge to make the appliqués. After cutting everything out, we sewed it all onto the white background. We had some of the green holly print fabric leftover from other decorations over the years (some of the earlier posts have it in there too). It brings the room together nicely. The pictures aren't that great, but they get the point across!

And here’s a picture of the snowman quilt:

Today’s Joke: What do you get if Santa goes down a lit chimney?

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Yesterday’s Answer: An ice cap!

I just love these Cricut paper doll characters and wanted to make something with them, so here are two table runners we made. (There are some other projects we’ll share over the next few weeks with them, too.) I’m glad I tried the fabric technique with the Cricut again. It makes appliqués so much more fun and personalized! Mom thinks that the kitchen needs more “Christmas spirit,” i.e. less gingerbread and more Santa, so there’s your Santa, mom.

Today’s Joke: What did one cow say to the other on Christmas?

Kitchen Decor

Yesterday's Answer: Santa Paws

The next few posts this week all have a theme. I’m pretty sure it’ll be easy to tell. Today’s project shows off our kitchen decorations. Since Mom gave us reign over the kitchen, we thought it would be fitting to put two of our favorite hobbies together. So, we decorated it like a gingerbread house!! Robyn found fabric that is absolutely adorable and started making kitchen accessories with it. Some of them may show up in pictures, but it’s not all finished yet.  There are quite a few pictures in this post. The brown cabinets actually worked well, with their frosting and candy borders. The gingerbread house on the refrigerator is hand-made. We weren’t sure where we were going to use it when we first made it, but it found its home for the season. Each cabinet and drawer handle has its own candy canes, too. The wall says “Baking spirits bright”, since that’s what you do in the kitchen! The third picture is of the table. The pink curtains are certainly different in the kitchen! And the wreath from Thanksgiving works nicely on the door. It’s kind of hard to tell, but on the closest chair, there is a cushion that Robyn made with the gingerbread fabric. There are more, just not in the picture! The last picture is of the chair cover she made. It is a textured bright pink fabric with the gingerbread fabric for the tie! We have to add a few more touches, but it looks so cute!

Today's Joke: What kind of bird can write?

Time to Unwind!

After "one of those weeks", it's finally Friday and time to unwind. And the best way to do that? Crafting, of course!! So, before I relax, I have some pictures to put up.
This is a picture of the card we made for our cousin and his wife- they're expecting a baby in October!! I think this card is absolutely adorable!!

And here is a picture our new adventure- keychain fobs. I love these because you can make a different one to match each holiday/season!! Now, if only it will help me keep track of my keys...

And now, it's time to get working on the next project!

Snowy Weekend!

An unexpected three day weekend is always nice, except in June. Especially this year. So we made the most of it and decided to finish a few of our crafts that have been on our "to-do list" for quite a while. Robyn was able to finish a dress for this summer. It's so cute! I finally put the finishing touches on my wall. We also spent some time in the kitchen and made delicious chocolate-peanut butter cupcakes. It's a good thing they're so big because then they'd be all gone by now!

Happy New Year!

It's been awhile since I've added pictures here. It's been a bit busy here. However, since I have some time tonight, I decided to update. This post has pictures of most of our holiday projects.
First, this is a picture of our cards for the holidays. We did three different designs- a gingerbread, penguin, and a "'twas the night before Christmas". The cards are double side-step cards.



Last year, we decided to make ornaments for our family members. We wanted to make a new one for each year. The ones for this year are amazing- because they sparkle so much! Everything should sparkle and be as bright! This is just one that we made. There were about 18 in total. We added the year to one side of them.



The last set of pictures are some of the other gifts we made. I have to give all of the credit to Robyn, who worked endlessly on these projects- and finished them in time! She made simple fleece blankets for our aunts and uncles, and a wonderful quilt for our mom. She made 2 more amazing projects, but I don't want to post those pictures yet because we still have to surprise one of our brothers.  

 

*Updated- Here are our last two quilts, made for our brothers*

 
The one on the left is made with UConn Huskies fabric and the one on the right is made with Dallas Cowboys fabric.

And, for our last projects (I think), here is our Christmas Eve cake. It was a green, red, and white checkerboard cake. I must say that the cake wasn't decorated necessarily to our liking, but we pulled it off, enough! The inside picture isn't great, but it gets the point across.

Phew! I think that is the end of the list of Christmas projects! Now that it's already another year...