As the title says, I have been working on many projects around the house. Again, they are still in the works but I thought I would show you, via pictures, what exactly these projects are.

I am super psyched about all of them. I hope to have one of these finished soon so I can tell you about it in length, from beginning to end. I tend to be a person that likes to have many projects going at once so I don’t get bored. I also do this with my art so I can step away, adjust and make changes, and then go back to it. Below are pictures with a small description. Let me know what looks interesting to you.

I am working on a paper wall installation above our bed and I love it! This is just one part and I am slowly getting there but as soon as I am finished I will let you all know. This might be one of the first I actually finish….fingers crossed.

This project is turning the only closet in our apartment into an amaaaazzzzing closet that will hold our clothing, shoes, tools, sports equipment and so much more. I have already begun using it and it is almost finished so this is a huge plus for us.

Again, this is a shot of inside our closet but this is a smaller project, that is inside our closet. It will be a storage solution for screw, nuts, bolts, nails…etc.

Yeah, it is a Flacco shirt. And yes I am a HUGE Baltimore Ravens fan. I am from Baltimore and they are my team. Annick got this shirt from a friend of hers. Flacco played high school football in New Jersey and this is a shirt from the high school so that is why it is not purple. I plan on turning this shirt into a dress for Annick since it is so big on her.

I am creating artwork again! I couldn’t be more thrilled. This piece is of Rome, Italy. It is the first of many in my lates series. I love where it is going and can’t wait to show the final piece.

Oh my lovely Annick. I love this picture of her. I decided to take a picture of her for “Thank you” cards. For Annick’s 3rd birthday I wanted to send a more personal card, so this is one of many pictures I took. I now just have to make the actual cards. Her birthday was back in February….oops, so I should probably get on that. So to those of you that gave Annick a gift for her birthday….we didn’t forget and we are very grateful. You will be getting a “Thank you” card….eventually.

Soooo, thoughts? I hope to finish one of these projects over the weekend and as soon as I do, I will post it for you all to judge.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful holiday weekend.

Happy Spring everyone!

I found this boat oar at one of my local antique stops for $5. I saw it and I immediately knew that I could do something with it.

 Before I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I had to change the color. I had some left over yellow paint that I used on a few pieces throughout our apartment and spring is on my mind so why not yellow? I sanded the oar down first as best as I could, then put on 3 or 4 coats of paint because the green color was so dark.

After painting it, I decided that I wanted to use it for my scarves. As I have mentioned before, I live in a loft so I try to be creative as possible with the space I have. I also try my best to make my storage solutions decorative as well as useful. The painted oar is a perfect example. Below are pictures after putting the hooks on.

I have yet to actually put it up on the wall and put it to use but as soon as I do put it up, I will post more pictures ASAP.  For now, I am holding on to it and trying to figure out where the best place is because I am also running out of wall space….boo!

What do you think? What else would you use it for? Let me hear your thoughts and thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy the first day of Spring!

Happy Tuesday!

I got this beautiful sweater from my friend Tracy (thank you!). I love it and wear it a lot. It is super cozy and is fun to wear. The only down fall was it didn’t have a way to close the sweater in the front. Tracy got it that way. When I got the sweater, I immediately started brainstorming on how I could come up with a tie or belt for the sweater.

 I was trying to figure out what the best material was and then I came across some scrap felt. I decided to use the felt because it was a great color and free.

I sewed the pieces together and then folded it over to make it stronger. I zigzag stitched then put it on my sweater.

It isn’t the best solution but I like how it turned out. It works and it was a quick project.

What do you think? I was thinking of doing leather for a more permanent solution. Thoughts would be much appreciated.

Have a good week!

A few weeks ago I wrote about organizing my daughter’s art supplies. You can read the blogpost here to catch up. In the post I mentioned how I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do with all her paper…well above is what I decided to do.

I found the metal magazine holder at IKEA and decided that was the best solution. I don’t have any closets in her room so I needed something that wouldn’t be too obtrusive and that could go on a wall.

I put it up (all by myself!) and then used my handy dandy label maker and then filled it with paper. I am so happy with the result.

My daughter helped me organize, which was fun, so it is pretty accurate on how it will look.  There is one section for scrap paper (great for projects), the middle one is for construction paper or assorted colored paper and the top one is for drawing paper (white paper).

I still have her artwork that has collected over time. It is definitely something I struggle with but I am trying to be good about displaying her work and then putting a few pieces I want to keep aside in a portfolio. The rest goes in the trash unfortunately. I display her work on a large wall in our living room. I have a bunch of different sized frames that I painted all one color to make it uniformed but unique. I change it as frequently as possible. I have written about the project a few times. You can read and see pictures about it here and here.

I also want to eventually get a bin for small pieces of scrap paper for collaging and other projects. That is still in the works of where I will put it but of course I always have something in “the works”;)

How does it look? Has anyone found a better solution for holding paper that doesn’t take up a lot of room? Tell me your thoughts.

Have a great week!

This past weekend we had a small party to celebrate my daughter’s 3rd birthday. We kept it small by just inviting my daughter’s friends because that is all she really wanted. She wanted to see her cousins and friends. Of course parents came, cousins and other extended family that lived in the area but compared to her two previous parties……this one was smaller.

Now, when I say small it doesn’t mean it wasn’t chaotic. Let’s just say we are at the point where kids out number the parents and my daughter is at the age that it is “crazy time” when she plays. So imagine 12 or so kids at the same age running around our apartment…yes an apartment. But, it was fun and I didn’t really do much to prepare except make some food. The party was small in the sense that I didn’t decorate or go with a theme.

I would show you more pictures but there wasn’t much to take pictures of, but I am psyched about the one thing I did do for the party….goodie bags!

I wanted to do something special for all the little ones because they happen to be the children of my very good friends. I am so lucky to have such an amazing group of friends that have children that happen to be around the same age as mine.

So I went to Target and went to the dollar bin section. It is always the first area I hit when I go there. It is a great place to get little gifts. I picked up the tins there and wrote names on each one with a paint pen.

Above is a picture of some of the goodies I put in the tin. I put pencils, stickers, a bouncy ball (not shown), bug and a mini canvas. I always like to put some art supplies in goodie bags because it is something they can take time to do. Everything I put in the tin was under a dollar and I got either at Target or Dick Blick. Both stores are my go to places for gifts for many occasions.

I made one for my daughter too and she liked it so, I’m hoping the other little ones are enjoying the goodie bags as well. It isn’t anything too special but it is different and is personalized with the name on the tin.

What do you think? If you are a parent, would you like a goodie bag like this or something else? Thoughts are welcome and appreciated.

Have a good week!

This past weekend I was going through some clothing to give away to our local thrift store and I came across a jersey knit, coral-orange dress. I had no problem giving it away but before I threw it in my donate bag I realized that the color of the dress was too pretty and I had to think of something to do with it.

So, I made a few necklaces and bracelets. The necklace I knew how to make and I have another one like it but in a different color. I keep old t-shirts around specifically for this reason. T-shirt material is really difficult for me to sew and stitch together still, so I try to think of things to do with the material that is “no sew”. The necklace is one and below is a picture of my new necklace that can be washed and looks great with a white t-shit and jeans.

The other project I accomplished was a braided bracelet that I stumbled across while looking though blogs that I follow. I can’t remember how exactly I came across this specific blog but I will definitely be following it now. The blog is called V and CO. and it is a really fantastic blog. Here is the tutorial I found on the bracelet.  Below is a picture of the finished product.

I love how the bracelet turned out and plan on making a few more to give away. The picture above is the two-finger one and I really like the thickness. I haven’t tried the 3 or 4-finger on but plan on it.

As for the necklace….it is super easy to make. I plan on writing a tutorial on it and I meant to show you all how to do it in this post but I totally forgot to take pictures of each step so I will get on that. I will get it to you all by the end of the week or in the beginning of next week, so check back.

My daughter has the cutest pair of jeans and they unfortunately developed a hole in the knee. I couldn’t bare to let them go and was definitely not going to buy a new pair of jeans since she will probably grow out of them in a month so I fixed them.

The hole is on the right side. Aren’t these pants so darn cute?!

Here is a close up of the damage.

The hole wasn’t too bad and I thought it would be easy to fix and mend since the jeans were bought with patches on them anyway. So, I went into my scrap fabric bin and found some really nice purple fabric and made a patch. I used two layers of purple fabric to make it thicker then used Steam-a-Seam 2 which is my favorite product I have in my sewing space. I ironed on the patch and then went to work with reinforcing it with stitching.

I decided to hand stitch some detail and to reinforce the patch because 1.) I wanted to do something a little more whimsical and 2.) I didn’t feel like changing the needle on the sewing machine to a heave duty denim needle…..yup I am a bit lazy sometimes.

I chose a really nice deep pink color to compliment the other fabric and had fun.

I was so happy how it turned out and think it will hold up. She has worn them once already and I know they will last in the wash because I use Steam-a-Seam 2 all the time and have put many things through the washer to test it and it holds up.

I thought the stitching was so cute that I did it with a pair of my own jeans that I couldn’t let go. Below are pictures of my jeans. Let me know what you think and happy mending!

I have a beautiful chair that I bought a few years ago and it might be my favorite piece of furniture.

I found it at a local antique store. When I walked in, it was the first thing I saw and I had to have it so I bought it and quite frankly was a good move by me. It was a great idea because 1. my husband loves it too and 2. well, it is awesome. The leather is a great color and the chair itself is well made. It is a piece of furniture that I will always have and can’t be bought just anywhere. I love CB2, West Elm and other great furniture stores but they can’t make pieces like this for the masses (well at least nothing I can afford) so I like to always have the chair where everyone can see.

I love mid-century modern furniture and I think this is a great example of that period. So when the leather started to crack and wear I became very sad. On top of that, my daughter started to get her little hands in there and make the hole bigger. Luckily I have a wonderful upholstery business around the corner from me. It is a father and son business and they do fantastic work at a reasonable price. They came over and took a look and gave me a price. I will eventually do it but right now things are tight and re-doing the chair is low on my priority list so I needed a solution to cover up the hole.

Below….the damage.

yup.

I decided to make a little cushion to go over the problem area and I am happy with what I came up with. I took some fabric I had in my collection and created a cushion with leftover quilting batting, bias tape and….voila! It does the job for now and I think it looks good too. As soon as I do get it re-upholstered I will let you know via pictures. Below are pictures of my work. I would love to hear thoughts and if you would of done anything different. I am still new to the sewing scene so if you have a better idea…bring it on and thank you in advance.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Christmas is almost here and I wanted to show you all some more decorating I have finished. Above you will see a cork wreath. Yes, I drank a lot of wine but those corks are not all mine. I happen to also work at a BYOB here in Philadelphia so I collect a lot of corks.

I love wreaths and I wanted to make some new ones this year to help make it festive in our house. I actually have two cork wreaths that I hot glued together then spray painted white. Below are pictures with a little description of all the wreaths I have made. Enjoy!

This is a picture of the two cork wreaths on the two large barn doors in out house…they were begging to be decorated

This is an older wreath. I made this one last year out of old sweaters that I got at the thrift store. I then felted them by putting them in the washer with hot water on a high spin cycle. It works only with 100% wool sweaters because the fibers naturally have barbs on them to help keep them tangled. After they dried, I cut out leaves and started hot gluing. I really like this wreath because it is made out of all recycled materials.

Here is a close up of the flowers I made out of fabric I had laying around. I also have a button collection and I found ones that I thought looked nice and put them on there. This one is on the inside of our front door.

Above is another wreath I made this year. This might be my favorite. I used burlap “ribbon” that I wound around the mold and hot glued in here and there to keep it in place. The greens are from the bottom of our Christmas tree and the white is real cotton. I got some cotton plants for decorating and took a few pieces off the plant and put it on the wreath.

The glass pieces are actually old light bulbs. I love the look of the old round light bulbs so I save them when they burn out. This year I dipped them in acrylic paint and used them all over the house.

This wreath is on the front door of our apartment that faces the hallway so everyone can see it.

What do you all think? Is it getting you into the holiday spirit or at least inspring you to make your own? Have any of you made some  interesting wreaths?

Love to hear your comments. Have a great weekend. Hope all your shopping is done and you all can relax a little bit. Safe travels and I will see you all here next week…I hope

I love Sundays. Sundays are our family day and it is a day where we just lay around the house and have fun. Basically this means I get to watch football (yay!) and we do some activities with the kids. We usually do brunch then head home, have naps and then we do an activity in the afternoon. This Sunday I decided it would be fun to make homemade ornaments.

I remember making them with my mom and always had fun. It is the same recipe that we used to make homemade playdough. I asked my mom a while ago for the homemade playdough recipe so I got that out and went to work. It is super easy and Annick helped me mix everything together. If she ate it, no big deal and it was an easy clean up.

Ingredients: 

4 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

1 1/2 c of water

This makes a pretty good amount depending on how thin you roll out the dough. You want to throw everything in a bowl and mix. After it gets difficult to stir…get your hands in there and knead the dough for about 15 minutes or until it all comes together nicely (this is where my daughter had some fun). Once you have the dough ready, dust your “rolling out” area with some flour so the doug doesn’t stick. After it is rolled out (thickness depends on you and what you are trying to make) start making your ornaments. We used cookie cutters ans some of my clay tools to make marks in the dough. I also took the opportunity to get footprints and handprints of the kids.

Once you are finished with making the ornaments put them on a cookie sheet. Make sure that you have parchment paper down or have sprayed the cookie sheet because they will stick. Put it in the oven at 300 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes. Some of my ornaments were pretty thick so I went a little longer. They won’t change color much so just keep an eye on the timer. Also, poke small holes in the ornaments so air can escape.

Once the have baked, take them off the pan and let them cool. The ornaments will harden as they cool.

I haven’t painted them yet but I plan on doing that today since it is raining today. I will let you know what they look like when we finish. I do recommend using acrylic paint and then sealing them with mod podge.

I hope you all feel inspired to do this with your kids. I think it is a great project to do with the rest of the family especially with everyone around for the holidays. It is pretty difficult to mess up and it is really fun to get messy and be creative.

Let me know how it works out and happy baking!

P.S. The picture of the ornament in the beginning of the post, I used letter stamps I had and love how it turned out.