Apron Re-Do

My daughter picked up a couple of these aprons for me at Tuesday Morning for $2.99 or $3.99. They're good heavy duty aprons. The only drawback was they were Easter aprons and had this cute little bunny on them.




I have nothing against cute little bunnies, I just didn't want one on my apron. So I picked up this fabric at Joann's, thinking I would just put a heart over the bunny.




I found a heart that was the right size on the Internet, cut it out, then traced in on my fabric. I kind of outlined the edge of the fabric with a black indelible marker to make it stand out more. Then I went around the edges of the heart with fray check and let it dry. I think stitched it to the apron, over the bunny, with a straight stitch, as close to the edge as possible.





But they also had these little metal thingies that make the apron adjustable. I detest these things! My daughter's aprons have them and I can never make them work. Too complicated for my simple mind, I guess.




So I decided to get rid of them and just sew the neck strap into the front.




I got the hearts sewed on and they looked great! But since I had fabric left over, I decided I should do something else with it.

So I added a couple of ruffles. They turned out sooooo cute!!




Here's my daughter, Ruth, modeling one of them for me. Wasn't that sweet of her? Of course, she has no idea I'm putting her picture on my blog!!


What she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?

Another Day, Another Flower!

I'm still loving these! I made this one in my spare time a couple of days ago.



I love the floral fabric. I'm going to try mixing it with some coordinating solid fabrics and see what I come up with. Maybe try some pale blue or green. Might even try red!

Now I just need to find that spare time!!

More Fabric Flowers

I've been so busy lately that I've been meeting myself coming and going! I really should be at a meeting today, but staying home just sounded so nice . . . .

Here are some more fabric flowers I've been working on in my spare time. I love making these little beauties! Each fabric I use makes such a unique flower.





I especially like this pink one! It's so full and fluffy!



Now, I really need to get outside and work on the real thing in my flower bed!!

Fabric Flowers

I've been wanting to try these for a while. I had actually bookmarked this tutorial at Restorative Living a couple months back.

So, in keeping with my "homemade" gift pledge this year, I decided to give them as Valentine gifts to my daughters and daughter-in-law.




I actually made this one first, then decided it needed less layers.




So I used less on these two, and decided I liked more layers!!





I learned a lot. What to do, what not to do, use something besides your fingers to hold the fabric over the flame, etc.!! I definitely like the tulle and I definitely like more petals.

I see a lot more of these in my future. I do have six granddaughters, after all!!

70's Wood Plaque Redo

I was at a friend's house and she was getting ready to toss this wood plaque. She asked if I wanted it, and I said, "Not really." Then she said she was throwing it away. So I said, "Well, if you're going to throw it away . . . " That always gets me into trouble. I hate to see anything that could possibly have any use be thrown away. That's why my closets look the way they do!

I showed it to my daughters, and neither of them were impressed. So that was the challenge I needed!



Since both my daughters decorate with a lot of red accents and because I was snowed in and didn't have any other paint color I wanted to use on hand, I decided on red. But, with the crazy cold temps we had last week, I was leery of using spray paint (and I didn't want to freeze to death in the process!). So I decided to use craft paint. And my black tinted glaze.





Here's what it looked like after one coat of craft paint:




Much better after the second coat.




This is what happened as I was wiping off the glazing, probably due to the fact that I'm terribly impatient and didn't give the paint enough time to dry thoroughly, rather than because I used craft paint. But it covered up nicely.




And here's the finished project:




Kind of cute now, isn't it? One of my daughters was impressed. The other hasn't seen the transformation yet.




I'm really loving this glazing kick I'm on!!

Lady Bug Nursery

I've linked this post with these parties!



When my daughter, Naomi, had their fourth girl, they had to start stacking up the kids!! The baby, Sydney, had to go in with her almost three year old sister, Sylvie. Naomi bought this lady bug crib set for the baby.






So we needed to make Sylvie's side of the room coordinate with Sydney's side of the room. Here's what we've come up with so far.

I made this blanket, the bed skirts and pillow case for Sylvie's toddler bed. I found the lady bug fabric at Hobby Lobby.




Sylvie loves her small size pillow!




This bag was given to Sydney as a baby shower gift. The colors worked perfectly!!




I picked up this cute flower hanger for a couple dollars on the clearance aisle at Hobbly Lobby.




There are two windows in the nursery, so I made a valance for each.




I tried to use fabrics and colors that worked with the crib set. You can hardly see it, but here is black baby rick rack on the dotted bed skirt. So I used that and red baby rick rack, as well as the black checked fabric to tie it all together. I found the cute lady bugs at Michael's and hot glued them to the valances.




I found this Rare Editions lady bug dress at our local DAV store and couldn't pass it up! The lady bugs are made of Styrofoam balls cut in half and covered with felt. I used pipe cleaners for the antennae.




I glued on the eyes and spots with Elmer's glue. Pardon the weird looking antennae! I think Sylvie got hold of them! The lady bugs hang above the crib and fascinate Sydney!!




The lamp was one that was already in the nursery. My daughter was going to get rid of it since is was lavender, pink, yellow and green, but I decided a little craft paint would make it work just fine.




I picked up a half dozen of the little lamp shades at a clearance sale at Lowe's a couple years back. They are a sage green, which wouldn't work, so I spray painted it white! I then hot glued on the pink and red hearts and added baby rick rack.




We still have a few things more to do to finish the nursery, so I'll wait until then to show the complete room. But for now, we're loving how it's coming together.

First Attempt At Glazing!

I've linked this post to the DIY Project Parade!





I have several pieces of furniture that I would love to paint and glaze. But, since I have absolutely no experience with glazing, (and not that much with painting, for that matter!) I've been a bit hesitant to try. Well, make that very hesitant!

I love the looks of this painted and glazed end table that I found over at All Things Thrifty.




And this yellow night stand.




All done with spray paint and glaze!

It sounds so easy, but I know me and how I can take something easy and turn it into a disaster!

So I wanted to start out with something small first. I found this nifty little organizer at the Goodwill the other day.

When I saw the detail, I knew it would become my guinea pig!








So I went to Wal Mart and bought some Krylon Ruddy Brown primer and Banner Red spray paint. Then I stopped at Lowe's and picked up some black-tinted glaze.




I carefully followed any directions I could find about glazing on the blogs I follow, and this is how it went:

Sprayed with primer:




Painted red:




Glazed:





More glazing:








And the finished product!




So what do you think? Does it look okay? I think maybe I left too much glaze in the grooves. Then I look at it again and like it!

What do you think? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated!!