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!!!

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!

Nettle Tea!

I love spring, especially once we get past that "brown" phase and things start to green up!  And boy, is it finally happening here!  I wanted to share this recipe/how-to with you because it helped me so much last spring.  Towards the end of my pregnancy with Percival (I was due around the 1st of May) I started getting this awful, itchy red rash on my arms and legs.  The best thing I could figure out was that it was PUPPS, not uncommon during pregnancy.  It was the most annoying thing.  Ever.  I couldn't sleep (as if sleeping wasn't hard enough at 8 months + already!) and I could hardly enjoy anything even during the daytime because I itched ALL the time.  I showed it to my doc at a checkup and his answer was basically, "Put some steroid cream on it and hope you have that baby soon."  Well, sorry doc.  Wrong answer.  I started researching online and found that many believe PUPPS is caused by an overtaxed liver--your blood volume increases so much during pregnancy that your liver just can't keep up, so those extra toxins start rearing their ugly heads as a nasty rash.  One of the remedies listed on some herbal sites was nettle tea, and we had nettles in abundance!  I started drinking several big glasses of it every day and within just a few days, the rash was almost all gone.  Now a year later, I'm going to try it again just to see how it helps.  I haven't been eating too well lately, so it probably won't hurt to give my body a little cleansing boost.  The taste is just sort of "green". Nettles are LOADED with vitamins: vitamin A, C, B vitamins, and antioxidants. God's natural energy booster! 


Here's how:
Pick a bowlful of nettles.  WEAR GLOVES.  They're nicknamed fireweed for good reason.  And whenever you're going to consume wild foods, make sure you've correctly identified it!  You'll find tons of pics of nettles with a quick google search.
Wash them well.  I use a salad spinner.

Put in a pitcher, cover with boiling water, and steep well.  I prefer to drink it cold.  After a day or so it'll start to turn really pretty bluish.  This is normal and fine!

How to Repair Fruit Trees with Rodent Damage

...hopefully.  As we were happily off playing in the caves of Kentucky, the fauna back home were having a heyday with all the fresh plantings we left for them.  Dan and the kids got me a small orchard for my birthday/mother's day--10 trees in all.  And it sure didn't take the critters long to find them.  When we got back from vacation, the worst of them looked like this:

I did a little searching online and about the only solution I found was to cover the wounds with tar to prevent further infection and hope for the best.  Here's what you need:

Small amount of tar (like driveway sealer...check the back corners of your basement before you go buying any!)

plastic/latex gloves

old paintbrush

flexible drainage tile

cable ties (zip ties)

Wearing latex gloves, just paint the tar over the wound with the paintbrush to completely cover it. Supposedly as long as there is at least a small amount of bark left going from below the wound to above it, the tree can recover.  I really hope so...I was looking forward to homegrown fruit in a few years!  To prevent further damage, we just cut lengths of flexible drainage tile to cover the lower portion of the tree, cut it lengthwise to slip around the trunk, and secured it with cable ties, like this:

At the other end of the yard...the boys got to spend an hour planting about 20 blue spruce across the front of the property for privacy.  It cut our school day a little short, but quality workin' time with Grandpa is hard to beat!

Music Unit Study, part 1

This is just a rough outline of ideas for a week-long unit study on the basics of classical music from a biblical perspective.  Feel free to use my ideas, tweak them, and give me suggestions too!  We did this a few weeks ago in place of our regular history/science stuff because it seemed like music was always getting overlooked.  And to a music major and music lover, that's just unacceptable:)  Eventually I would like to turn this into a full-blown music curriculum...one of those "someday" ideas!

I should preface this by saying that we're studying ancient history this year and have talked a fair amount throughout the year about ancient music, Hebrew worship, ancient instruments, etc., so we had already covered Hebrew words of praise and things like that.  Maybe I'll put up a post of that sometime soon too, if anyone is interested!

I have broken the unit into 5 days of material; some days heavier than others depending on the amount of "other stuff" we had to do that day.  Of course you can feel free to schedule it however you want!

Materials:
The Story of the Orchestra
The Bible
Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament



Monday:
1.  Song: "Shabach" (words can be found here, a video is here)
2.  Review Hebrew words for praise
3.  Read pages 42-43 in The Story of the Orchestra for an overview of the string   section
4.  Listen to the corresponding track on the cd

Tuesday:
1.  Sword drills from Eph. 5:19-20, Psalm 100:1-2
2.  Review "Shabach"
3.  Read pages 44-45 in SOTO about violins and listen to the cd
4.  Color a violin

Wednesday:
1.  Write a song of praise.  This turned out to be a tougher assignment than I expected.  We read a few Psalms and then I explained to my 8 and 6 year olds that they were going to get to write their own "psalm".  They panicked.  So we spent a few minutes writing words that described God on a dry erase board.  I then told them to use those words to write down what they wanted to say about God.  The results were not particularly "song-ish", but still a profound expression of the faith of children.
2.  Read pages 46-47 in SOTO about violas and cellos, listen to the cd
3.  Color a cello

Thursday:
1.  Word studies on "psalm", "hymn" using Webster's 1828 Dictionary and Vine's Dictionary.
2.  Read pages 48-49 of SOTO about the double bass and harp, listen to the cd
3.  Color a double bass

Friday:
1.  Review string family instruments
2.  Make flipbooks to hang on your orchestra poster: String family mini-books
I laid out our poster in the same configuration as the diagram on page 43 of SOTO.  
3.  Sing songs of praise!

My goal is to continue doing a special "music week" maybe once a quarter until we get through all the instrument families (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and keyboard instruments).  From there I hope to begin working our way through the composers in The Story of the Orchestra.  I hope this is of some use, and I would love to hear your feedback!

American Dictionary of the English Language (1828 Facsimile Edition)

Our orchestra layout chart!