Road trip success

I have been planning our trip to Utah for some time now, and knowing that we were going to drive has lead me to think creatively about how to keep my 2-year-old entertained. After some thinking, I have come up with a face magnet pan :)

This is just an example of the faces that Link makes:

I started out with just a plain old pan that I had. It has to be metal, though, not aluminum. Then I spray painted it a soft blue. 

I found some face shape clipart on the internet and mod podged them onto the pan after the paint had dried

I then found some facial features on the internet, and sized them so that they would fit on the face shapes. I just did this in Word, and then printed them out. 

I colored a couple of them, just the lips and eyes mostly, and then gave them all flesh colored skin.

After they were all printed, colored, and cut, I added them to an adhesive magnet sheet. I got mine at Hobby Lobby for just 4.99 (with the 40% coupon). After I stuck them to the adhesive side, I cut them all out. 

Then I just stuck them all to the bottom of the pan for safe keeping during the trip, and he can pull up any of the features that he would like to add to his faces :)

So many options! And hopefully it will keep him entertained :) Not to mention, all of this was free, except for the 4.99 magnetic sheet. Can't wait to give it to him on our road trip!

Play Mat

I have wanted to have a play mat for Link for a while, but he has so many different toys that he loves I couldn't come up with just one! So I turned his rug over and made a mat of our own, with a dinosaur park for his "dragons" as he calls them, a zoo for his many animals, and then some road for his cars :)

This was such a simple and cheap way to make a fun mat for him. I already had the rug in his room, so no money there, and then just bought a ten dollar pack of markers and drew some pictures. Wolla! Playtime for hours for just ten bucks :)

1920's Oscars Party

I am taking a quick break from crafts to give some inspiration to my ladies coming to the Oscar's party :) If any of you are in Oklahoma Feb. 26th you are welcome to join us as well!

Here are some pictures of great 1920's hair, and elegant wear! Can't wait to see what you come up with at the party! Have fun :)

Hope this helps you come up with something awesome to wear to the party :)

Reupholstered Chair

Here is the after shot!

And here is the ugly before

Here is my take on reupholstering. This is my very first time EVER reupholstering something, and so if I can do it, you can do it. 

I started by looking to see if I could find anything about it online. I found a lot of people telling me how to do it, but only one thing that was helpful was this:

1.  Take it apart carefully, paying attention to each detail. I personally took pictures of each step/part of the chair that I took apart. That way when I put it back together I could look back at the pictures to make sure I was doing it right. 

2.  The other piece of advice, that I was not given but would like to give to you, is to record each thing that you take apart in order. So if you take the back off first {which would be my recommendation} then right that down first on your list. Here is a sample of my list:

Back 

Back lining

Back padding

Chair skirt

Headrest fabric

headrest padding

Headrest cardboard {you will know when you take it apart}

Ok, so that was the first part of my list and I was very meticulous. The reason is because you will want to know in what order to put it back together, and all you will have to do is start from the bottom of your list and work towards the top until you are replacing the back. 

3.  Choose a fabric that has a design. Not a geometric design because then you have to piece it just perfect which can cause a lot of stress if this is your first time. Also, do not use fabric that is just one color because then you will see every mistake that you make if you don't pull it tight enough, or it tufts in one spot. Now if you get a random pattern, like the one I used, it is perfect because it hides any mistakes, but it is not a geometric pattern {reoccuring pattner} so I didn't have to line it up perfectly. 

4.  Save ALL the pieces of fabric that you take off. You will use these pieces as the pattern to cut out your new fabric. I needed 7 yards of fabric for this chair. I would say this is a pretty safe bet for any chair that is even somewhat large. Each piece that you take off, label it. I used a big old sharpie and drew on each ugly yellow piece of fabric so I would know exactly where it needed to go. 

5. Save ALL the materials that they originally used for the chair. I reused padding, buttons {I just covered them with my fabric, gluing it over the original fabric}, the cardboard strip, and the nails. ANYTHING that you can salvage to use again will save you money. 

TAKING IT APART:

1.  On most any chair, you will start with the back. Just pry that back slab off with a screw drived. Stick the screw driver in the side and pry it off.

2. After that you will see all the staples that you will need to remove so that you can take the rest of the fabric off the chair. If you need any extra help in understanding how to remove the fabric from the chair, look up reupholstering on youtube, there were some good ideas. 

I am very pleased with this chair. It was a very difficult one to start with because of the tufting on the back and arms, but it was worth it because I loved the shape of the chair, but HATED the color. 

I did not put specific pictures of me taking it apart or putting it back together because none of it would have helped you unless you had a chair EXACTLY like this one. That is why I just put the steps that I used to reupholster this chair. 

However, I do have the pictures of taking this chair apart very meticulously. If you find that you are confused on a step, feel free to email me and ask questions, I would love to help you and share any knowledge that I have from finishing this chair. 

HAVE FUN!!

Kitchen Set

Ok, so I haven't been changing much in my closet very fast because I don't want to just make ANYTHING, I want to alter it into clothes that I will actually wear, and so I continue to look for inspiration and that can take some time.

However, I don't want to leave you hanging so I thought I would give you some inspiration with this kitchen set that I made for Link, for his birthday, out of an old entertainment center :)

I only spent $50 dollars TOTAL, including the cost of the entertainment center itself. Some of what I got was from Habitat for Humanity, including:

Tiles (which I painted to add some character), and 

The silver faucet

• I started with painting the tv stand an avocado color (can you tell I am obsessed with this color?hmmm)
• I antiqued it because I am also obsessed with that technique and I wanted to make this a "shabby chic" kitchen
• Then I glued each tile down on the "counter", and drilled a hole for the faucet to fit in and sealed that down as well. 
• I bought that glass bowl from Walmart for 4 dollars and used it as the "sink". 
• Then I spray painted the "stove" and "oven" with just a silver spray paint. 
• The stove top is made of wood blocks that I got from hobby lobby which I also spray painted silver and painted to look like the actual stove tops. 
• The blue knobs I also got from Hobby Lobby in their door knob section, and I just drew "low, medium and high" on them to make them look like temperature knobs for the stove top.
• The last thing I did was to add the wood to the back part of the "kitchen counter and sink". This wood is actually from wood crates, and I just sawed off the pieces that I wanted and hammered them to the back part so that it look like a solid wall behind the sink and added to the "shabby chic" feel of the kitchen. 

You could really do ANYTHING to a kitchen that you make, but you should know Link has LOVED playing with it and may just become of chef because of it :) Who knows, maybe you could come up with something even more awesome!

Denim Shirt to Denim Vest

I know this is going to come off a little 80's to a few of you, but let's face it, the styles circle round and round, and all that really changes are the fabrics and colors :)

So, here is what I started with: 

This denim shirt fits on me, the way it looks on the mannequin, with weird puffy shoulders, it is short in length, and the bottom has an odd shape, but it is denim, and since denim is the new black this season, I decided not to toss it out :)

The first order of business was to chop the sleeves off. They were so bizarre shaped I figured better to just chop them off and make a fabulous denim vest because I have been wanting one for a while. 

Next, I sewed up the sides to give it a more flattering shape and take in the giant hole left by the sleeves {they really were huge...}

and TADA! I have an awesome vest :) But I didn't stop there:

Denim is very masculine so I wanted to add a feminine touch with some pink lace on one of the pockets.

And here we go :) I paired it with a flowy pink floral blouse, denim pants {would have gone with my gray skinnies but they were in the wash}, and the gray knee high boots that got cut off of this shot by my dear husband...I swear that boy is wonderful at everything...except picture taking :) Ah well, I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world!

This vest would also look REALLY cute paired with a floral dress. Maybe I will try that when it gets warmer out :)

Getting Ready Is My Favorite Part

Ok, so before I rip my closet apart, I went online to do some inspiration shopping. Of course I always stop by Modcloth, Anthropologie and Ruche because they are amazing. {no I don't get any royalties for mentioning them, I just should...you hear that ANTHRO?!}

This turned out to be the best thing to start with, as I just barely got a sinus infection and was out cold for about 1 whole day, with nothing left of my energy bank except the small amount it takes to browse the internet.

I found some decent things to work with including some that I added to my pinterest board here:

http://pinterest.com/rubycfindley/clothing-and-style/

It is always better for me to have some idea of what I want my closet to look like if I want to transform it into something I will wear. Makes sense, right?

So now that I have quite a few ideas, it is time to start ripping everything out of the closet that I have not worn in at least 6 months.

Perfect! See you when that task is complete :)

Ruby