Bean Bags

 

I know I still haven't updated everyone on the exciting new creations that have been happening, but it's been so busy with work, this and the other that there's been no time =(

But today, I'm taking a break during lunch to update y'all on a little project that I started and FINISHED!!!

My niece turned 1 back in May and I had no idea what to get her... You see, I'm not sure what you give a 1 year old. My sister is the only person with a baby in my life right now - I just haven't been around children that much to know what to give for gifts...

But Cheryl from one of my favorite blogs has written about making bean bags as gifts for children. I thought "Oh how fun!!" This would be something that I would enjoy making and hopefully my niece would enjoy having it too.

So following most of Cheryl's instructions and tweeking here and there to fit the idea I had in my mind, I began this little project. :)

A while back I had written about all this wonderful fabric I had received from my mother-in-law. I scavanged through it all and found all the pink and girly fabric I could find and cut 6.5" squares. This is what I came up with...

I decided I would spell out her name - one letter in each bag. So I traced the letters on freezer paper and ironed that on the fabric. This makes it so much easier to cut out the letter.

  

Once the letters were cut out, I peeled the back side of the freezer paper and ironed the letter on the fabric.  * I took the pictures at night so the colors are a little off and the quality is not the best =/ But I think you can get the idea :)

I then thought I would add a border around the edges of the letter so 1) the fabric wouldn't fray and 2) it would give it a more finished look.

So I just did simple blanket sitches around eache letter in three different colors: yellow, pink and green. I just used some cross-stitch floss I already had avaible.

Then, placing right side to right side I sewed together two squares (front and back) leaving an opening so that the beans can be poured through later. You can tell my beginner's level sewing by the number of pins I use to keep the two fabrics straight :$ I'm obssessed with having th edges match up and I use as many pins as I think necessary - often it doesn't help but it's not for lack of trying! :)

After cutting the corners a little, I turned each back right side out.

To stuff the bean bags I used everything we had available at the house - white hominy corn, beans, peas and lentils! It took a lot more "filling" than I thought it would. Thankfully we had enough. I filled each bean bag about halfway. And Voila!! This was a super fun project and the idea is simple enough that you can personalize it to your own taste!

I hope my niece enjoys these as much as I enjoyed making them!

Something's a Brewin....

I've been busy doing lots of fun and exciting creations lately...

Can't WAIT to tell you ALL about it.

Hope everybody had a fun, creative, and productive weekend!!

Office Space

The office is currently the most disorganized room in our home.

We've got two bookcases crammed with dvds, cds, books and other junk. We have two file cabinets that sit on the corner but mail is always on the desk :o(  I always have the best intentions to keep up with the filing, but that never works. I think mostly it is because the office we have now is not functional.

So I dream of one day having a nice, organized offices with lots of shelving where I can place my books and other special mementos.

Offices that look like *these...

*  Photos taken from Better Homes and Garden Magazine website

Hope everybody had a wonderful weekend.

As promised I am updating some the blog with some projects we've actually been able to finish!!

 

We got an old library card catalog from my mother-in-law. At first I thought of using it in a craft room. I thought all the drawers would be great for storage. But since I don't even have the beginnings of a craft room, we decided to use it in our dining room. 

Here it is in the garage all taken apart ready to be painted.

We painted the old brass hardware a fresh coat of stain nickel.

And Voila! Here it is in our dining room serving as a perfect place to store all of our booze! =) We stored wine bottles inside the drawers. They were the perfect size!

 

And just for grins... here's another picture of our dining room! 

Jeremy and I did all of the chair railing and picture molding and painting. Well, he did most of it. I mainly watched and measured =) I know these are not the best quality pictures but I didn't have any others with me now. Since our house is up for sale now, I took these from the realtor's website.

I loved working on this project =) It goes to show that a piece of furniture can be much more than just an old card catalog.

WOW Can't believe it's been over three months since I've updated the blog. Time sure goes by fast!

Since my last update, yours truly has graduated from college! 

It took me six long years, but I finally have that piece of paper in my hands =) It is such a relief to be done with school. 

Before graduation I was busy trying to find a job. Luckily, I was offered a position in an engineering company before I even graduated. That was amazing! I'm so thankful that I was able to find a job so fast. I know some of my classmates were still looking for jobs after graduation, and I definitely didn't want to be in the same position.

I thought that after being done with school, I would have all this free time in my hands to do all my projects at home. Well, that doesn't seem to be the case at all. Other than the fact I don't have to worry about homework, projects or exams during the weekend, I feel just as busy.

So I haven't spent much time giving the attention I would like to give to my home and my on-going-never-ending projects... =(

And in the meantime, Jeremy and I decided to put our house for sale! So, with the impending possibility of a move it is difficult to concentrate on anything but keeping the house cleaned and organized!

I day-dream constantly of lazy days that I can spend sewing and painting, and rearraging furniture... The list of things in my head I would like to do keeps getting bigger and bigger!! =)

I do have some pictures of some quick projects we were able to finish before graduation and before putting our house for sale. I will have to post about them here.

Hope everyoby has a wonderful weekend!

Laundry Room Makeover

I found that the laundry room was always neglected at our house. It is usually a mess, with baskets on top of baskets, and everything on top of everything else. As you can see, we use the laundry room to store left-over paint. Actual laundry detergent and such are stored on top of the washing machine. Yikes! :(

 

 

So about a month ago when I received all of that fabric from my mother-in-law, I thought of the perfect idea for the laundry room.  I decided to make a curtain that would hide all the paint and laundry products on the shelf. Everything then could be neatly tucked away.  I thought this would be a good idea to "brighten up" and add some "character" to our laundry room. 

So I sewed my FIRST ever curtains! =) I'm pretty happy about the results. 

They are not perfect, or all that straight, but I tried my best. But for their use,  I think they will do pretty well. I even added lining to it! :)

As you can see, the curtains now hide everything! Laundry detergent, oxy clean, fabric softeners and the like, are now placed on the shelf (as they should be) and hidden behind the curtains :)  We have a small step-ladder (you can see it standing against the wall by the washing machine) that we use to get the laundry products out. 

Once we are done with laundry, we put the laundry products back where they go.

I'm very pleased with our curtains :)  I have a couple more things to add to the room that I'm working on right now. I will post on that when it is finished. 

So moral of the story is: don't neglect your laundry room! lol  Spending some time to make it unique and beautiful might help you enjoy doing the laundry. I know I need all the help I can get. :)

Yard Work

Couple of weekends ago, we spent a Saturday doing yard work. Our flower-beds in the backyard were looking pretty dismal. They needed to be re-mulched. And our poor bushes also caught some type of fungus during the winter and lost most of their leaves. =( So as you can see, it was time they received some TLC.

 

 

It took a total of 3 trips to Home Depot, 35 bags of mulch and about 90 bricks used for the flower-bed border. We love the result. The grass is not super green yet, but it is getting there. I love how the black mulch contrasts with the red bricks and the grass.

 

After all that hard work, we took time to enjoy our view. Because the bushes had caught the fungus, we had to trim them back quite a bit.  We now can see lots of little buds growing, so we are hoping that this time they will grow nice and full.

 

We now plan on using the same brick border around the flower-beds in the front-yard. They also need to be re-mulched. That will be a project for another weekend. :)

Updated Home List

Just to make me feel better :)

 

2 items crossed - 19 items to go. 

Free Fabric!

Jeremy and I have been helping my mother-in-law clean out her home. She's planning on selling the house and moving to a new home but until we can get to that point, there's lots of cleaning up and organizing to do. 

A couple of weekends ago, we went over to her house to help her rearrange and organize her sewing room. She has tons of stuff. It's a DREAM!

In the process of cleaning out, guess who got tons of free fabric?! =D

Yay!  After we got home that day, I laid out all the fabric on the hallway... It looks busy since they are on top of the rug, but you can get an idea right?

That little horse my mom gave to me after she visited Thailand (I think). I love that horse. I'm just having a difficult time figuring out where to put it.

So with all this new, FREE, fabric I got I've been working on a little project! :) Should finish all the other ones I have, but I couldn't resist.

Guest Bedroom

Oh wow, I haven't updated this in ages!!

So school has started and I have been a busy bee with all the homework, quizzes and group projects! To top if off, I found out I had one more English class to take before I can graduate, so in addition to everything else, I now also have papers to write. Ugh... 

But on to happier news =) It's only 3 months until graduation and I CAN'T WAIT!! 

A few weeks ago, I was finally able to cross some items off of my list. That was a nice feeling.  I got around to finishing the curtain tie backs for the guest bedroom and sewing closed these white pillows my mom had helped me make. 

Here are the pillows laid on the bed =) That middle pillow was a gift my mother-in-law gave us to match our curtains.

 

 

And here are some pictures of the curtains and a close-up of the tie-backs! I LOVE this curtain. Some might think it's old-fashioned with the floral pattern but I think it's lovely and so romantic! 

And I love the little beads on the trim. Just a nice addition. =)

Finally, here are some pictures of the whole room. This guest bedroom has to be one of my favorite rooms in the house. There are a few things I still want to do with it such as add a new mirror (I think the one I have there is too small), change the knobs on the dresser, get another lamp, add a nicer lamp/fan and maybe add some small sized pictures.

Also, whenever we finally get our rocking chair done, I think it's going to go in this room as well on the right side of the dresser by the wall.

Hope you enjoy!

Don't know what those white spots on the photo are about. Could be our camera is getting old.