Fun (Cheap!) Custom Wall Art Tutorial

Somewhere in between painting a whole house and trying to finish up the school year, I got this idea for some fun wall art for our new house.  And when the inspiration strikes, sometimes you just gotta go with it.  So after a couple runs to Joann's, Walmart, and several late nights, I've managed to complete the project!  The basic idea was for some kind of large-ish wall art display to go behind our couch in the new living room.  I wanted it to be something displaying the kids, but not come off looking like the "shrine of boys".  I love the retro look of silhouette portraits, but wanted something a little more casual and fun, so I came up with the idea of using a picture of the "whole" kid (not just head and shoulders) and mix-and-matching some colorful papers.  Here is the super cute end result:

notice my big toe...proof that I have indeed been painting!

The best thing about this project is that it hardly costs anything more than the cost of the frames, especially if you're into scrapbooking or papercrafting and already have some cardstock on hand.  It's really simple too...here's how!

1.  Take a picture of your child standing more or less directly facing you.  Take a bunch of shots of them doing different poses, jumping, etc.  It's sort of nice actually taking their picture without having to make sure they're smiling nice or their clothes aren't dirty!  All you're looking for is a good profile.  Make sure you can see both arms and legs...you don't want them looking like an amputee in the silhouette:)

2.  Load your pics on your computer and choose your favorite pose.  Copy and paste it into a Word document and adjust the size until the figure (not the whole picture) is about 5"x7".  Then I adjusted the contrast of the photo just a little higher so it would be easier to see a nice crisp edge to cut along.  Print the photo (black and white is fine) onto cardstock.

3.  Carefully cut out the figure, making sure not to cut off any cute little details like a little bit of hair sticking up (see below).  I used regular scissors for this, but an exacto knife sure would have been a brilliant idea.

4.  Select your coordinating cardstocks.  Try to choose patterns that aren't too busy, so the silhouettes stand out clearly against the background.  I used several designs from the "Tahiti Beach" Stack from Joann's.  Originally I was going to use more "traditional" patterns, but you'd be surprised how hard it is to find papers that aren't totally feminine!  I loved lots of them, but just didn't feel right mounting my tough little guys on pick florals.  And deep down I think I'm part beach bum at heart.  After all, when I was 4 I said I wanted to be a surfer when I grew up.  Try as I might to stick with timeless, traditional home decor, I just can't do it.  I always seem to gravitate back to more modern, colorful stuff...

5.  Put a few pieces of scotch tape on the back of your printed picture and tape it onto the back of the cardstock.  Carefully trace around it--I found a mechanical pencil worked great here!  Remove your printed image and carefully cut out your figure (once again, a "real" crafter would have used an exacto knife...)

6.  Trim your background sheet of cardstock to 8"x10" with a large paper cutter.

7.  Stick double-sided foam tape on the trunk and appendages of your figure.  I opted for foam tape to give it a little pop from the background.  

8.  Stick your silhouette on your background and toss it in the frame of your choice and...voila!  Artsy fun for your living room, kids' rooms, or wherever!  These frames are 11"x14" with an 8"x10" matted opening, for $13.96 at WalMart.

Please let me know if you try this or some variation of it...I'd love to see pictures of your ideas!  And once we move in I'll show you how they look on the wall, too!

And a little bonus...here's some music suggestions to accompany this particular crafting project:)

"Come to California"--Matthew Sweet

"Reptilia" cover by the Punch Brothers

"Surfin' USA" by the Beach Boys (of course!)

Have fun!!!

Where Have I Been?

Not blogging much, obviously!  These last two weeks have been pretty crazy...mostly in a good way.  A lot has happened, so let me just bring things up to speed.  In the last two weeks I:

1.Sprained my ankle.
2. Attended the INCH (homeschool) Convention.
3. Bought most of our curriculum for next year.
4. Learned about Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and Augustus Caesar.
5. Made strawberry rhubarb crisp.
6. Did not weed the strawberry patch as intended.
7. Chose paint colors for the whole house.
8. Learned to conjugate the verb to love in Latin (amo, amas, amat...)
9. Sewed 10 fitted cloth diapers for my best childhood friend...oops, my friend's baby, I mean!  haha...
10. Primed and painted the kitchen with my dad.
11. Gave a tour of our property as a potential movie filming location.
12. Dropped the ball on the healthy diet.  see below
13. Celebrated my birthday.  (the big ol' 31, as the kids would say!)

Whew!

Here's a little sneak peak at our kitchen...almost done!  This is the paint color:

Watch for more coming soon...the house is really starting to come together!  Also hopefully in the near future...a tutorial for personal handmade wall art (I've got some ideas brewing that require a trip to Joann's) and some fast-paced house progress.  Thanks for reading!

One-size Pocket Fitted Diaper Tutorial

Here's my first attempt at a sewing photo tutorial!  I found this free pattern for a one-size fitted pocket diaper at Little Bean Bum's blog.  She has photo instructions there too, but I changed a few things, so I thought I would show you what I did!  This is a great pattern.  Easy and quick to make, and it fits my one-year-old very well.  The fact that you stuff it in the front makes it much easier to sew, and I love that you can use just about anything stuffed in the pocket!  I bought a big bag of microfiber towels in the automotive department of our local Meijer store for really cheap.  One of them works ok for shorter period, but I would recommend using 2 for naps or overnight.  If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment.  Alright...here we go!

Cut out the pattern according to Little Bean Bum's measurements.  I did make the narrowest section in the middle a little slimmer after my first trial run.  A full sheet of newspaper works great.

Trace pattern onto fabric and cut out.  I used terrycloth for the outer layer and Alova suedecloth for the inner layer (both from JoAnn's)

Pin pieces right sides together, using a few extras around the wings to keep them matched up just right.

Stitch all the way around using 3/8" seam allowance...

...but leave the front open!!

Sew in elastic right on your seams.  Little Bean Bums' tutorial shows to make a casing for the back elastic, but that sounded like a lot of work to me, so I did the back elastic just like the sides.  I stretched the side elastic starting about 3" from the front of the diaper all the way to about 1 1/2" from the wings.  To sew elastic, lay it on the wrong side of the inner layer where you want it to start.  Stitch back and forth a few times, then switch to a medium zigzag stitch.  With the needle in the fabric, pull elastic tight and begin stitching.  Continue stretching the elastic as you go, stopping to readjust as needed.  When you reach the point where you want your elastic to end, switch back to a straight stitch and go back a forth a few times to lock in your stitches.  Cut the elastic off close to your stitching.  This sounds complicated at first, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of it!

Trim seam allowances all the way around the diaper.  Hem the front opening with a zigzag stitch (but don't sew it shut!)  

Turn the diaper right side out and push the wings all the way out...I like to use a pen tip with the pen not out.  Topstitch all the way around (again, don't stitch the front closed!) about 1/4" from the edges.  When you reach the sections with elastic, make sure to widen your allowance to about 1/2" so as not to stitch over the elastic.  When topstitching the elastic portion, stretch the diaper out tight.

All done!  Here it is on my 12 month old, secured with a safety pin.  This diaper will require a cover, of course:-)  Snappis also work great since the outside is terry.  You can adjust the size by simply tucking the front pocket of the diaper into itself.  Enjoy, and happy sewing!

Naturally dyed Easter Eggs

Easter has totally crept up on us, once again!  This post may be a little last-minute, but hopefully you'll find it in time to maybe give this a try!  We're planning on coloring our eggs on Friday, so these pics are from last year (at our old house...pics coming soon of our new house!)  This is really simple and I thought the eggs turned out quite nicely!  The procedure is basically the same for both blueberries and cranberries:

1.  Put 1 bag/1 lb. fresh or frozen berries in a sauce pan
2.  Add 2 cups water, bring to a boil, and cook and stir for about 5 minutes.
3.  Strain, cool
4.  Add a few tablespoons vinegar to help the dye adhere to eggs
5.  Dip away!  We found it helps to leave the eggs in the dye a little longer than with regular food dyes.

The yellowish eggs were dyed with tea.  Just steep it nice and strong and add a little vinegar.  This year I would also like to try using onion skins...I think they might give a deeper yellow.  We didn't find the tea dye to be very effective...

Let me know if you try any of these...simple, cheap family fun!  And please, whatever you do to celebrate Easter, make sure you share the real meaning with your children.  Easter eggs are fun, but they are only a reminder to us of the real thing: new life in Christ.  Jesus died for us, was buried, and rose again to save us from sin, death and the devil.  Take some time to read about it straight from the Bible and talk about it with your kids.  Your family will be blessed!

Eggs before...

Eggs in process...definitely best done outside!

...and here's the hat to match!

The little shoes from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones turned out so cute that I just had to make the military-style cap to match.  And I must admit, the directions for this one were a leeeetle bit tricky.  I got turned around between all the right sides, wrong sides, linings, exteriors, and turning and ended up stitching it with the bill stuck in between the hat and the lining.  Oops.  But, it turned out ok in the end.  It only involved ripping off the bill and lining and redoing the second half of the instructions...

The sizing was a little off.  The hat definitely fits my 3 year old better than Sir Percival, but that was ok too because Percival would not keep the hat on for more than a second, but Sir Gawain loves it!  (Sorry about the picture quality...he was pretty excited about the hat.  Made it hard to "shoot" a moving target.)

I just had to sew something...

so here they are!  I decided to go for the "Cutie Booties" from Amy Butler's adorable book Little Stitches for Little Ones.  I made them in the 9-12 month size and they barely still fit Sir Percival at 11 months...I guess he must have big feet.  Or I wasn't being very careful with the seam allowances:)  I'm not quite sure why I chose to sew booties for a baby that won't keep anything on his feet for longer than 3 seconds (I had to stick him in the high chair where he couldn't reach his feet just to get the photo!), but it sure was fun.

This was the first project I have attempted from the book, and it was really easy to use.  The included patterns were simple to read and all the directions were very understandable.  And in usual Amy Butler fashion, the pictures of the completed projects are just so beautiful that it's pretty much impossible to say no!  My next project is going to be the "military-style cap" to match the booties...