Happy Birthday

Happy Tuesday!  I'm back today with a card that I made for my mom's birthday this year.  I drew my inspiration from THIS card that I found on Pinterest.

I like how all the elements come together in this card.  I used Heidi Swapp Color Shine to mist the background.  The large glitter star is also from HS.  I used some sequins that I picked up at Hobby Lobby for some added shine.  The "happy" is die cut from gold posterboard using the new Heidi Swapp die cut.  The birthday is stamped onto PTI cardstock, the sentiment is from PTI as well.

I used Tombow Mono Multi adhesive to attach the star, sequins, and happy.  I like how the glue dries clear and quickly but still gives you a bit of wiggle room to adjust.  The birthday banner was attached using pop dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Best Day

Hello, I'm back today with a card that I made for my nephew.  It's so hard for me to make manly cards, and I think I may have missed the mark on this one, but I still love how personal the card is.

When we were in El Paso for Christmas, Maddie and Damian made pancakes for us.  This was the first time Maddie got to help in the kitchen and she was just thrilled that she was making pancakes with Damian.  So, I decided to use a photo of them for his card.

I wish the photos turned out better, because in real life, the colors on this card are just great and they go together perfectly.  IDK why they look so faded and blurry in the photos.  Anyways, I used several items from my Heidi Swapp and Project Life stash for this card.  The background paper is from My Mind's Eye and I like how the paper makes it seem like there's additional flags and layers without adding any bulk to the card.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Tag Card

Good Morning!  I'm back today with another card that I made for Valentine's Day.  This card was also inspired by a Pinterest find, you can see the original card HERE.  This card was for my mom so I changed the color scheme to fit her tastes and since she loves green and butterflies, why not combine the two :)

To make the card I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to texture a white piece of cardstock and then added a layer of background paper.  I used a library card pocket to hold the tag and I embellished it with a doily, some twine, a trio of felt stars and some sequins.

The sentiment on the little tag is from Verve Stamps.  To string the stars on the twine I used a large needle and my paper piercer to pre-punch the holes.

I finished off the piece with a little bit of Valentine's Day washi tape.  I like that this is a holiday card with out being overboard on the sentiments and hearts and pink and red.

I stamped a large shipping tag with this cute fairy stamp and added a die cut and stamped butterfly to the edge.  I added a vellum star behind the butterfly for some added layers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day Card - Love

Happy Valentine's Day!!  Today I have another Pinterest inspired Valentine's Day card.  This card was inspired by a beautiful Heidi Swapp Easter card.  You can see the inspiration card HERE.

I am so in love with the layered look of banners right now and this card is the perfect mix of banners, ephemera, and ribbon.  I love the overall color palette that the inspiration card has and I think it's perfect for Valentine's Day, so I tried to stick with a similar color scheme.

Instead of going with an obvious lovey-dovey background paper, I chose to use this pretty bokeh style paper to keep it light and whimsical.  I also chose to leave out the textured layer since I wanted a crisper feel to my card.

To make the banners, I used some coordinating scraps from my stash and just notched them with a pair of sharp scissors.  I topped them off with a fluffy bow made from pink dyed seam binding that I scrunched up to give it a softer appearance.  And, finished the entire embellishment off with a translucent Heidi Swapp butterfly.

The love sentiment at the bottom is from the Dear Lizzy Serendipity collection. The touch of gold gives it just the right amount of bling for me.  I tucked another translucent Heidi Swapp embellishment behind the word for symmetry.

One of the things that I really like about this design and all the other ones I chose for these cards is that they can be easily altered to fit any occasion by changing the color scheme and a couple of simple elements.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Valentine's Day Card - Black Butterfly

Happy Friday!  I'm here today with a card that I made for Valentine's Day.  Lately I haven't been making as many cards as I used to and I find that it takes me a while to start feeling creative.  Since I didn't have much time to spend making this year's cards, I decided to take some inspiration from Pinterest.  Some of the cards, I just copied exactly as I saw them, others I altered to fit my taste and supplies.  THIS is the card that inspired today's card.  And, here's my version of the card:

I changed my color scheme to make it suitable for V-day and added some background print in gray as well.  I kept all the elements that I loved from the card: the stenciled background, the paint splatters and the textured butterfly.

A lot of the supplies are from different Heidi Swapp lines.  I used her background stencil, color shine sprays, background stamp, and gold glitter paper.  The bubble embellishments are from Queen & Co.

Have you made your Valentine's Day cards yet?

So I had a baby...

and then I fell off the face of this blog!!  I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this old blog, but for those of you who are, I'm back!! 

In August 2012 we welcomed little Madison Grace into our lives.  She is the most beautiful, sweetest, funniest, and greatest blessing that anyone could ever ask for.  She's the center of our whole world and in the process of learning how to become new parents, we had to let some stuff fall through the cracks and this blog was one of them.

Since then, lots of stuff has happened: new job, going back to school, hubby started playing at church on weekends, and an unplanned house remodel (a pipe burst in the bathroom, awesome times!).  But, I'm taking this semester off and I've done a few cute projects here and there and I want to share them all with you. 

I'm hoping to begin posting here again, maybe not very regularly, but as often as possible and whenever I remember to actually photograph stuff before I give them away.  So stay tuned for some stuff in the coming weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!!


PS: I almost forgot!  I very recently opened up an Etsy shop where I'm selling custom hair accessories like the ones I make for my daughter.  Please stop by, check it out and share it with your friends :) www.etsy.com/shop/PlumesandBloomz

PSS: I'm having a giveaway on the Facebook page I created for my Etsy shop, check it out here: www.facebook.com/PlumesandBloomz

A Pinteresting Nursery: More Seating

Since Maddie's room isn't very big, I tried to find pieces of furniture that would double up either in storage or in function.  I really wanted a built in window seat area, but since our windows come down so low, I knew it would be rather pricey for a built in since it would involve a window remodel.  So, off I went to my ever faithful Pinterest and started rooting around for ideas.  Here's what I found:

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I loved the idea of a toy storage bench/seat!  And, luckily, I already had the perfect piece to go there.  Once upon a time, when this room was my scrapbooking area, I had purchased a Billy wall unit from Ikea and we had taken it down since we were moving my stuff out.  It was the perfect dimensions for the space.  The height of the bench is perfect for little ones without being too short for an adult to sit on.  I shopped around and found that the Closet Maid storage boxes were a good fit for the cubbies.

To make the bench pads, I purchased a 22"x22" chair pad from JoAnn's and cut it down the middle.  It made two pads that fit the top really well.  Now by the time I was working on the bench pads, I was tired of sewing and quickly running out of patience, so instead of making a box cushion cover and adding the cute piping I had envisioned, I decided to wrap the foam in the fabric and use a simple blind stitch seam on the ends.

Lessons learned: the bench pads will slide around, use a small piece of non-skid rug pad under each one to keep them from moving; when pre-ordering fabric from Etsy, count on it being delayed at least 6 weeks!!

Cost Breakdown:
Storage Unit - Ikea - $0 (already had on hand)
Chair Pad Foam - JoAnn's (with coupon - $16.77
Fabric - Etsy - $7.25 (1 yd @ $7.25/yd)
Bins - Target - $17.97

Thanks for stopping by!

A Pinteresting Nursery: Seating

Hi, I've got another Pinteresting nursery project to show you today, our refinished glider.  Our sweet friend sold us her glider for a great price but warned us that the cushions would need some reupholstering since her son had taken at red Sharpie to them.  To me, it was the perfect opportunity to try out a Pinterest project!! :)

The glider was finished in a natural wood color with cream colored upholstery.  Since all the furniture in the nursery was white, I knew some spray painting was in order.  We took the glider outside on a sunny day, cleaned it with a degreasing agent (don't remember which one), and wiped it down really well.  Then, we primed it with two coats of Zinsser's Cover Stain primer.

After letting it dry for a couple of days, we lightly sanded it down and sprayed it with several light coats of Rustoleum's Ultra Cover Spray in Gloss White.

With the painting complete, I started on the reupholstering process.  I used this and this pin from Pinterest to help me get started.  The sides were really easy to make and were done fairly quickly.  For the bottom cushion, I decided to buy a thicker pad and had to cut it to shape, my kitchen electric knife made that job fairly easy.  Since the bottom pad was thicker, I had to cut the back portion to make it fit.  During the process I completely forgot about the snaps at the back but the cushion is snug enough to stay in place on it's own so I'm not worried.  The gray zebra fabric is the same one I used on the crib bumper.

 

Next, I covered a small pillow using this envelope tutorial.  It was so quick and easy to make, I almost wish I had more pillows to cover!  The butterfly fabric is the same as the curtains.

Finally, I made a double sided blanket using this tutorial.  I actually remembered to wash my fabrics first which was a good thing since both of them shrunk significantly!  The hardest part was how much the fluffy fabric shifted!!  I used tons of pins and safety pins and it still shifted quite a bit.  I also used a quilted fluffy fabric instead of the minky fabric the tutorial recommends, that may have affected it.

 Overall, this was probably the most involved DIY project we did for the nursery.  It did take quite a bit of time and materials, but in the end it was worth it.  The glider fits in with the room perfectly and it's a super comfy place to just sit and relax (hmm, maybe I should move into MY bedroom!!)

Cost Breakdown
Gilder - purchased from friend - $50
Primer - Home Depot - $11.16
Spray Paint - Home Depot - $11.61
Chair Pad Foam - Hobby Lobby (with coupon) - $7.79
Zebra Fabric - JoAnn's (on sale) - $12 (3yd @ $4/yd)
Rectangle PillowForm - Hobby Lobby (with coupon) - $4.79
Butterfly Fabric - Hobby Lobby (on sale) - $2.10 (1/2yd @ $4.20/yd)
Total Cost: $99.45

Have you reupholstered a glider?  Link up your pics in the comments!

A Pinteresting Nursery: Lighting 2.0

Hi peeps, I'm back today with another lighting project I did for the nursery.  This one isn't really a Pinterest inspired project, but there's plenty of inspiration out there for something similar.

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I needed a small table lamp for the nightstand and I wanted something cute and ruffly.  After looking everywhere, I couldn't find something that I loved, so I decided to make my own.  I purchased a simple lamp at Wal-Mart and some satin ribbon from Michael's and got to work.  Here's what I came up with:

First, let me tell you, I severely underestimated the amount of time and ribbon this lamp would require.  I purchased two 10 yard spools and though I'd be fine.  Umm, no, it took 5 spools and several episodes of Once Upon A Time before I was done with this project.  Luckily, it was one of the projects I started earlier in my pregnancy and I didn't mind taking the time.

To attach the ribbon onto the lamp shade, I covered the lamp shade with 1" wide Sookwang tape all around. Then I followed Ashley Cannon Newell's video instructions here for the ribbon ruffling.  The ribbon I used is Michael's satin ribbon in Tiffany Blue.  Looking back, there's several things I would do differently if I had it all to do over again.  First, I'd probably paint the lampshade to match the ribbon.  Second, would cover the rim with ribbon for a more finished look.  And third, I would end the ruffles at each row and start a new one instead of working in a spiral.  This left me with a wonky edge at the end that is cleverly hidden towards the wall.

Cost Breakdown:
Lamp - Wal-Mart : $13.00
Ribbon - Michael's (on sale) -  $12.50 (5 rolls @ $2.50 ea)
Total Cost: $25.50


Has anyone out there made anything similar?  I'd love to see it and hear your thoughts!!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Pinteresting Nursery: Lighting

As I mentioned before, I found lots of my inspiration for Maddie's nursery on Pinterest.  One of the ideas I'd seen and loved were the bright colorful chandeliers I'd seen in model rooms and DIY boards.

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Since the room isn't decorated in traditional girly colors, I felt that there needed to be plenty of feminine features in the room.  So, I wandered through several home improvement stores and perused lots of websites in search of the perfect chandelier for the room.  Unfortunately everything was out of my price range and there really wasn't anything that I loved for the room.  I was quite frustrated and about to start looking for alternatives when I had an "aha" moment.  Why not repurpose an old chandelier instead (like the old one we had in our dining room and we got rid of, ugh!!).  So off to Craigslist I went and I found THIS advertisement!  It was exactly what I was looking for!!!  And, even though a prefinished one was out of our price range, it made me realize that what I wanted could be done.  After a bit more perusing through the ads, I found an ad for a brass chandelier that fit my requirements exactly, $20 and an hour later I was on my way to getting this done.

After picking up additional supplies from Lowe's, JoAnn's, and Hobby Lobby, I was in business.  The longest part of the makeover was painting the chandelier.  First we lightly sanded, wiped down, and taped off the lighting fixtures.  Then we started lightly coating it with Valspar's Blue Lagoon spray paint.  Between the chandelier and the medallion, we used 2 cans.  I loved the color, but I wish I'd used Rustoleum spray paint instead.  I found that Valspar's glossy spray stays tacky to the touch and didn't allow for a completely smooth and glossy finish.

Once we let the paint dry thoroughly, then I added all the beads and bling.  I couldn't find aqua beads at any of our local craft stores, so I dyed them instead.  To do this, I placed the beads in a ziplock bag with about 5 drops of Ranger's Alcohol Ink in Sail Boat and then I smushed the beads around in the bag until they were all coated evenly.  I laid them on a dry paper towel to dry and they were ready to use in less than 5 minutes.

To string the beads, I tied nylon beading thread to a small jump ring and alternated large and small beads in clear and aqua.  I used about 28 beads in each size to get the right length for this chandelier.  I tied off a second jump ring to the other end and each section was complete.  To attach them, I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes at the top and on each arm of the chandelier and used small pliers to open and insert the jump rings into the holes.

I finished off the dip in each arm with clear oval drop beads using the nylon thread to attach them directly to the chandelier.  And voila, a beautiful custom lighting fixture for less than your average ceiling fan.

Cost breakdown:
Chandelier - $25 on Craigslist (would've been free if I'd thought to keep our old one!)
Medallion - $19.97 at Lowe's
Spray Paint - $7.96 at Lowe's
Beads & Supplies - $22.50 at Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's
Total Cost: $75.43

Thanks for stopping by!