Boots & Totty » Gettin Crafty!

I Tamed the Dragon!

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:01:15 +0000

That’s right.. I finally finished one {of the two} pelmet boxes that I started months ago for the living room. {more about that here} I’ve still got to finish the other one, then I will do the full reveal…. But here’s a sneak peak!

Also a picture of the cutie-patootie from this weekend at the pool!

DIY Push Pins

admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 23:33:44 +0000

Hey ya’ll.. back with another easy DIY project.

Remember the post about my cool new Bulletin Board and how I was looking for the perfect push pins to adorn it?

Well I found this super easy tutorial online about how to make custom push pins. It said all I would need was a little fabric, some clear “stones”, tacks, and a hot glue gun. {And in my case, a baby monitor to make sure Little Petunia was sleeping sound in his crib}

I didn’t want to be too matchy-matchy with my fabric, but I did have a swatch or two left over from the crib bedding, so I decided to use it.

I just used a stone to trace several circles and then cut them all out.

Then I put a dollop {very technical term I know} of hot glue on the back of each stone and then applied it directly to the fabric.

I learned to press each stone firmly against the fabric to push out any air bubbles.

Once the glue was set, which only took a minute or two, I applied another dollop of glue to the back side and then set a tack firmly into the glue.

That’s it! A custom push pin! I told you it was easy.

So far the only picture that adorns the bulletin board is of the amazing woman that helped Mr. vB and I during van’s birth. Her name is Sarah Paxton and if anyone is thinking about having a Natural Birth I HIGHLY recommend hiring her as your Doula!! She holds an amazing and very special place in our hearts!!

And in van’s too!!

My New “DIY” Partner in Crime

admin — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 01:39:58 +0000

So my boy van is not even 2 weeks old yet, but he is already helping momma with some DIY projects.

{Here’s a photo of my little helper before we headed out to pick up our supplies.}

During one of van’s late night feedings, I was surfing the w{orld} w{ide} w{eb} and this awesome gold wreath over at Urban Grace Interiors caught my eye. {mimicking is the sincerest form of flattery right?!}

So yesterday’s project was to make a new Christmas wreath for the front door and to paint my pumpkins green!

Off to Michael’s we went in search of a similar wreath and some gold spray paint. Here’s what I found…

And then we, well my mums actually, spray painted it gold..

And viola… An awesome new gold wreath for our front door!

And don’t forget about my pumpkin Xmas Tree. Remember it looked like this for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

And then with the help of a little green spray paint…

A very Merry Xmas Tree complete with a star on top!

Still need to do a few finishing touches on both, then I will show the whole shebang.

In the meantime I will leave you with another photo of my boy. I figured you wouldn’t mind…

DIY Lamp Shade Cover

admin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:45:28 +0000

Last but not least, I am back with the deets on how to make your own lamp shade cover.

I had done it before in the past, but decided I could use a refresher on the details in case I might have forgotten something.

Again I just googled “DIY lamp shade cover” and found this great tutorial.

Here’s the play by play in photos…

The plain-jane shade before…

First we traced a template…

Then we cut out the template…

Next we pinned the template onto the fabric…

And then we made our final cut!

What I didn’t take photos of was spraying the fabric with the spray adhesive and then attaching it to the shade. It took both set of hands {me and my mums} to make sure we pulled it taught with no wrinkles! So no hands left to snap the photos- sorry!

And here’s the finished look!

It was very easy and actually took only about 20 mins to complete! And doesn’t the lamp look so much cuter with the polka dots vs. the basic white shade?

DIY Custom Bulletin Board

admin — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 13:24:00 +0000

Here’s the scoop on the cool bulletin board that I “constructed” last weekend..

The frame started its life looking like this.

Ikea- Ung Drill… $29.99

I found it several months ago at Ikea. {And I remember seeing it on some other blogs in the past, but I believe they used it as a chalk board frame.} It was originally intended for one of the walls in my ladies lounge, but never actually made it onto the wall. Guess that ended up being a good thing!

It must have been when I was cleaning out the room that has become the nursery, that a light bulb went off. I could finally use the frame and make it into a bulletin board for van’s room. I then debated leaving it black or painting it a color. Painting it a color won… but I had to leave that to Mr. vB to accomplish.

I picked the same yellow paint that we painted the nightstand, but knew it would be a headache to paint with a brush. Luckily Mr. vB could use his air compressor paint gun to spray it on. That way he could get all the nooks and crannies.

LOVE IT! Thanks Mr. vB- you did a marvelous job!

Now it was my turn to get to work. I went on the search for a cork board that would be big/wide enough to fill the opening. All of the cork board squares I found were the right thickness, but not wide enough to span the distance I needed without having a seam down the middle. I then figured I probably just needed to get a 24 x 18 bulletin board and cut the oval shape out. Easier said than done!!

Cutting the board was the messiest thing EVER! I assumed {incorrectly} that the cork was going to be solid all the way through. Well it actually was a super thin sheet of cork applied to a pressed wood backing. When I cut the cork, it tended to tear away from the pressed board. And then when I flipped it over and tried to cut it from the opposite side I think I made it worse. The photo above kinda sums it up. But thankfully once I shoved it into the frame, you couldn’t even see the torn sections.

Ta-Da!

I love how it turned out! Now I just want to find some really cute push pins to use with it.

What?? It’s all in the details you know!!

PS. after some quick googling I just saw something about DIY push pins.. hmm… Looks like I know what I will be up to this afternoon.

Decisions, Decisions

admin — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:49:51 +0000

So I think I mentioned in this previous post that I have been searching for the perfect fabric for van’s crib skirt and bumper.

I’ve had trouble finding what I’m been envisioning in my head, so I’m wondering if I just need to switch gears and do something different. {Not that van is going to notice if his crib doesn’t have a skirt on it come November, but his momma will.}

Here are 2 options that I’m currently debating.

I’m worried that the yellow ticking is “too stripy” and Mr. vB called the yellow print “too grandma”.

I really liked this fabric from SpoonFlower…

but once I got the actual sample {thanks to free sample day}, it proved to be way too marigold yellow instead of the soft yellow that I need. DARN!

I also liked this one and this one…

But I’m just not sure.

I HAVE made my mind up though that the decorative bumper will be out of this white diamond matelasse fabric.

And then the piping and ties will be made out of whatever fabric the skirt is made out of.

So I’m halfway there…

If you’re interested in making your own crib skirt and bumpers too, check out these links.

For bed skirts go here and for crib bumpers go here!

Happy Sewing!

Idea Book

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:33:16 +0000

So what I love most about reading other people’s blogs are the ideas they give me… As you can see in my blog roll to the right, I have several blogs I regularly stalk because I love their style and creativity. {you should check them all out too!}

From those blogs and blogs linked to their blogs, I have a stack of {idea} printouts for bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms and more. Each printout has a different design idea that I would like to implement around this house. But currently these ideas are in a messy pile tucked into a manila folder and that is no way to treat fabulous ideas!!

So tonight I thought it would be good to make…

My Rosewood Ave Idea book.

Pretty Cute eh?

I took a simple photo album from Target.. Some paper from my scrapbook-ing pile..

and these fun thickers (chip board stickers)..

And Viola!

A inspiring idea book for inspiring ideas!

HomeMade Gift #1

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:42:58 +0000

Remember how I was “tooting my own horn” about some homemade gifts I had created? I can finally share them with you!

So Gift #1 was something that had caught my eye in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Home.

I immediately thought this would be a great gift for my Mums. Her mother, Mary Stuart Ransone aka Granny, was an amazing cook and made everything from scratch. I had casually asked my mom if she had any old recipes of Granny’s that I could borrow. I think she knew I was up to something, but obliged my request and found several recipe’s for me that Granny had handwritten.

PERFECT!

Next step was to acquire some Color Fast Printer Fabric and a white apron.

I scanned each recipe and then printed it on the fabric paper. After the ink dried, I removed the paper backer and ran the fabric through some cold water. I then laid out each piece of fabric to air dry.

Once dry, I trimmed the edges around each recipe and use my iron to create a finished edge.

“Martha” suggested just putting the recipe directly on the apron, but I thought it needed a little more pizazz. I found this great fabric at a local quilting store that screamed Vintage to me. My plan was to sew each recipe to the vintage fabric and then the fabric to the apron.

One on , one to go!

WOO-HOO!! I did it! I was stressing that I was going to mess something up halfway through. {Disclaimer- my sewing skills are R-O-U-G-H and I tend to jump in head first without thinking it all out.} But I did it!

I also thought it would be a cute touch to add the same fabric to the strap around the neck.

Here’s a close up detail…

And here it is all folded up ready to wrap up for my Mums! Pretty cute isn’t it?

My Mums loved it and I couldn’t be happier!

Can You Tell??

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:11:45 +0000

So I found this great idea on one of the blogs I follow on a daily basis- {FRECKLES CHICK}. She is much like I in the sense that I love Orchids, but I just can’t give them the kind of TLC they need to stay alive. I followed her lead and created an almost real version for the new bathroom. Here’s how.

I started by making a list of items I would need to create my almost real Orchid:

1. An orchid stem with Buds/flowers

2. Spanish Moss

3. A small container

4. A bamboo stick

5. Florist foam

I first hit up Ben Franklin Crafts, but was quite disappointed in their selection of almost real flowers. Then I remembered {Freckles Chick} saying that she had gotten her supplies at Micheal’s. I also hit up the Secret Marshall’s and scored a super cute container for dirt cheap!

Here’s a picture of all my supplies.

The next step was to cut the florist foam down to fit into the container. Then I cut the stems to size and pushed them securely into the foam. I also added the bamboo stick to the mix. (The stick is purely for looks as we all know that this orchid isn’t going to be growing. Normally the Stem is tied to the stick to help support the weight of the blooms)

Once that was done, all I had to do was add the Spanish moss to the base and VIOLA! This project could not have been any easier. Putting it all together took only 10 minutes tops!

Here’s a close up of how I tied the Stem to the Bamboo stick.

Here’s the Finished Product. Not bad if I do say so myself!

I definitely think from far away this sucker looks pretty darn real. Can you tell it’s not?