A Craft Room Makeover!

Hi friends! I have been hard at work on a secret project for the past couple of weeks. I decided after Georgia went back to school after Christmas break to do a little painting project in the playroom/craft room. As you may recall, we moved my sewing machine and cutting table to the playroom last January (2022). It's now a hybrid craft room/playroom! Since then it has been a little crowded, a little messy and I realized, a little dark for my creative needs. I wanted to repaint the chalkboard and the formerly gray walls to something lighter and brighter.  Here's what it looked like:

We all loved the chalkboard but it was time for a change! So after a little ruminating, I decided to paint the walls off-white and do a decorative design of birds and clouds like this wallpaper that I have long admired. It's called Daydream by Hygge & West. So lovely. So pricey. ;) Fortunately, I have lots of free time so I figured I could paint something similar without the hassle of installing wallpaper.

I began by priming the chalkboard wall and painting. I used "Dove White" by Valspar. Georgia helped me, she's a very neat roller and we're working on her cutting in skills.

It took three coats to cover that gray.  I should have primed the whole room to start! After the walls were ready, I was extremely eager to start the birds and clouds design. I decided to paint the design on only two walls because I knew it was going to be quite the endeavor. I enlarged and printed out a sample and made a stencil to transfer the design to the wall. I used a colored pencil for the markings. 

Of course, I was most excited to paint the birds.  I used some leftover paint from the bookcase project for the birds. 

It only took a few sessions to paint the birds and then I switched over to clouds. I used the blue gray paint from our bedroom for the clouds. They took a lot longer...  In between clouds, I did some outlining on the birds. I did the outlines with a black paint pen, that was nice and fun!

Before long all the outlining was done and I had to settle in and paint clouds. Over and over again... for about 11 days straight. I did take one day off in the middle there. haha!

I let Georgia practice on one of the clouds. 

After many long hours of painting while standing on a ladder, on a stepstool, kneeling or sitting on the floor, I finally finished! Whew! The hardest part was the bottom next to the baseboard. It was hard to get down there and paint with any accuracy but I did the best I could. And I think it turned out pretty awesome!

I finally got all the furniture moved back in and my dad came and resized my tabletop so it would be slightly smaller for this small room. We hung up the macrame swing again and voila! So beautiful!

I did leave a few of Georgia's toys in her room instead of putting them back in here so it feels a little cleaner and less cluttered.  We'll see how long before the mess returns! haha!

Here's a closeup of the design.

If I ever get brave enough, I might hang some more art on the walls in here, but for now I can't bring myself to cover up the birds or put any holes in the wall knowing what a difficulty it will be to patch them in the future!!

Of course it wouldn't be right to leave without a before and after comparison! 

Before:

After:

What do you think? I hope to see you all around here again soon.  When I recover from this project! 

A Garden for Fairies

Are you aware of the “fairy garden” phenomenon?  It’s sweeping the nation… truly. ;)  Okay, I don’t really know how widespread the fairies are, but I figured if there are any in my neighborhood, they might like a cute little house to live in, and a cute little garden to frolic in.  So, I’ve been gathering supplies to build a special place for them.  I had originally intended to spend no money on this little project, since I figured fairies appreciate frugality.  But then I spied this little fairy dwelling at Joann for 70% off.  Apparently a lot of people thought $20 was a bit much for a tiny house, because there were a lot of these left on clearance!  (I’ve found that most of the accessories marketed for the fairies are quite pricey.  Which is why I made most of mine or scavenged for scale-appropriate rocks and trinkets that were just laying around.)

When I got home, I realized that I already had a perfect spot for the fairy house, but I just hadn’t noticed it!  You see, one of my deck planters had an unfortunate loss, the “thriller” plant (to be joined with the filler and spiller) had suffered a mysterious fatal disease and was mostly dead.  So, I dug it up (gave it to my Mama with the green thumb) and in it’s place, I put the little fairy house.  It’s perfect… serendipity! :)  Planter saved!

All that was left after that was to rearrange some of the “shrubbery” for a little yard and garden path.  The pathway is little striped seashells that I had collected on a beach trip.  (I like the smooth, flat kind.)  I rummaged through my jewelry box and found a little seashell tortoise to live in the yard.  Then I added a little rock sign welcoming fairy dwellers to the “Fairy Cove”.  :) 

Next, I added a little twig birdhouse and a couple of blue birds to the side yard.  The birdhouse my brother and I made with a stick cut into a short piece.  We drilled a hole for the door, notched the top and added a copper roof.  The perch is a piece of matchstick that we stuck into a tiny hole on the front.  Then we hung it on a tiny shepherd’s hook made from a coat hanger.  Thanks John! 

The finishing touch was a tiny fence made from wooden skewers cut to length and glued to a ribbon.  That will keep the flowers from invading the side yard. :) 

I hope some fairies come along and take up residence!  I hear purple flowers are their favorite!

A Springtime wreath

Spring is only days away and I am ready to say sayonara to Winter!  To welcome my favorite season, I have whipped up a fancy new Springtime wreath for my living room.

My inspiration came from Karin Lidbeck-Brent and a bird’s nest wreath she designed in a basket:

I thought that was pretty cute and innovative, so I set out to create my own.  Since I didn’t have a cute basket and I did have a spare grapevine wreath I used that for my base.  A quick trip to Michael’s yielded a spray of pussy willow and a cute little bird.  Combined with some moss from my stash and a bird’s nest (thanks nature!) I was able to assemble the whole thing for less than $10!

Here is my version:

The tiny nest is filled with little blue eggs.  The blue bird is made from natural fibers and has a twig “feathered” tail!  I put a little branch across the bottom of the wreath so she would have somewhere to perch.

I thought the top was feeling a little empty and since I didn’t have any fun ribbon for a bow, I added this tiny banner welcoming Spring!

I accented mine with forsythia and hydrangea to complement the decor in the living room.  I think it turned out pretty cute! 

Happy Spring!

I’ll be back soon with more seasonal updates in the yard and the house! :)  Stay tuned!

DIY Cowboy Party Decorations

Last time I told you how we celebrated my nephew’s first birthday with a “Cowboys Down on the Farm” themed party.  Today I am back to share how we created the various DIY elements for the party.  We crafted a banner, several fabric garlands, the paper fan backdrop, the party favors, and a scattering of printables.

I designed the invitation in Publisher; it’s modeled after one I found on etsy.  Ours featured a red bandana and cow print background with a rope border and plenty of country charm.  The western fonts I used are Nashville, Coffee Tin, HFF Young Wanna, Pointedly Mad, and EcuyerDAX.  The back of the invite included a photo of the birthday boy and directions to the farm.  I love it!

The rest of the printed cards and signs incorporated the same graphics and fonts.  I made several signs directing guests to games, favors, drinks, and food.  There was also plenty of cow print garland in various sizes decorating the tables and even the little birthday boy’s high chair!

The birthday banner was also created using Publisher.  I drew out all the shapes and filled them with graphics that I found online.  There was cow print, plaid, dots, horseshoes, chickens, pigs, and stars in shades of red, blue, brown and yellow.  Then I punched holes in each square and tied them together with little twine knots.

The photo wall below the banner showcased photos from Ruger’s first year.  We backed all the photos with cardstock in red, blue, brown, green, orange and yellow to coordinate with each photo.  The photos were pinned onto twine strung from the siding.   This was a highlight of the party.  It was colorful and decorative and also really fun for people to see all the pictures of baby Ruger!

The fabric pennant garlands were made with red and blue bandana fabrics that I cut in triangles and stitched together on a bias binding.  These garlands went all around the open sides of the carport.  The piece on the front was something I made for my fourth of July party last year.  I figured since it was red, white and blue it would work with our theme.

My favorite thing that we made for the party was the paper fan backdrop and centerpieces.  I saw these centerpieces on Kara’s Party Ideas and I knew I had to make them!  It took me a while to figure out what these little paper things are called.  But eventually I found a great tutorial for “paper fan rosettes” over at A Blissful Nest and set to work folding and cutting.  I got all my scrapbook paper from Scrapbook.com.  They have a wonderful selection of double-sided cowboy and farm themed paper!  It was so much fun combining all the different prints.  After I cut and folded my fans, I simply glued a wooden skewer into the folds at the bottom.  I filled my tin buckets (from Walmart) with floral foam and pea gravel (so they would be heavy enough not to blow over) and then I stuck the sticks in the foam.  After I was happy with my color combinations and heights, I hot glued crinkled brown paper filler on top of the foam.  Voila!  Cheap, easy and reusable centerpieces!

The tables were decorated with red and blue bandanas which I found on Ebay and at Walmart and then topped with a paper fan centerpiece.  The best part was that the fans are double-sided so opposite sides of the table got a different view!

The centerpieces complemented the paper fan backdrop on the far wall of the carport.  We wanted to have access to the doors which go into a storage building during the party.  It was great to have that space for coolers and party boxes.  So, I suggested using large solid color paper fans to decorate the doors without impeding their function.  Hannah and I had a “party crafts” day and made a bunch of red, blue, brown, and cow print rosettes in various sizes to hang on the doors.  (The solid colors ones could be reused for other parties by changing the center circle paper… I’m thinking they would look awesome for July 4th, too!)

Hannah had the brilliant idea to glue magnets to the backs of the fans so they would easily stick to the metal doors.  We added layers of cardboard on the back of the smaller ones before sticking the magnet on.  That gave them a bit of height so we could layer them on top of the larger ones.  It worked so well!  And none of them blew away in the breeze! 

After a few tries we had them arranged like we liked.  :)  In the end, it was a gorgeous, colorful backdrop for photos, cake and presents.  And the brown doors tied in with our color scheme, too! 

And last but not least, we have the cake—a true DIY masterpiece! :)  I spent five hours the night before the party baking and decorating all the cakes and cupcakes.  But it was worth it!

I saw this cake featured in a different cowboy birthday party at Kara’s Party Ideas.  I made a white cake (with a recipe from Betty Crocker) and crusting no-melt buttercream frosting (from Thyme Bombe).  The cupcakes and smash cake are the same recipe, but the tiered cake was the piece de resistance!  I frosted the layers using the Viva paper towel method for smoothing and then added black icing (store bought in a tube) in random spotty shapes.  After letting it set a bit in the fridge, I used my paper towel to smooth out the black icing and kind of smush it into the white icing.  It made the spots flatter and more integrated into the rest of the frosting.  I think it turned out awesome!  I especially like the little squiggly edges of the spots, which look more realistic than pieces of fondant cut out.  The “rope” border is caramel icing piped with a star tip. 

For the topper, Hannah wanted a number “1”.  I made this one using foam board and bandana fabric.  Basically I printed a number 1 and cut out three copies from foam core.  Then I taped them all together so it would be really thick.  Next I cut a piece of bandana fabric and started gluing it onto the foam, starting with a flat plane of fabric on the front.  I just kept clipping and gluing until the whole thing was secure and covered with fabric.  I had to piece a couple of places with a small section of fabric to cover all the foam.  After it was covered with fabric, I painted on a nice layer of Mod Podge so it couldn’t fray or come unglued.  Isn’t it cute?  After this picture was taken, I stuck the end of a wooden skewer (cut off short) into the bottom, which held it in place on the cake.

The little banner on top of the cake was an afterthought that I saw on Kara’s Party Ideas.  I created it in Publisher using a banner graphic and adding the text on top.  I cut it out and glued wooden skewers on the back before sticking it in the cake, although I think the striped straws would have been cute standards, too!  These are easy decorations that don’t take hours of tedious frosting. :)

For the cupcake toppers I created graphics in Publisher and cut them out using my new circle punch!  I did four designs, two with phrases and two with the number “1”.  Then I simply taped toothpicks on the back of each circle before sticking them in the cupcakes.  The cupcake papers were red and blue bandana print, they are made by Wilton. :)

The favors were also a DIY project.  We made cowboy cookie mix in a mason jar for the guests to take home and bake themselves.  The recipe can be found here.  After pressing the ingredients into the jars, we tied a little tag on the top with twine.  Ruger’s Cowboy Cookies were a big hit! :)

I had so much fun working on all the decorations and projects for this party.  The best part about our decor is that except for the balloons, it is totally reusable.  I wanted to spend money on things that we could keep and use again instead of throwing away.  So of course all of these creations are going into my growing “party vault” so we can bring them back out for the next family cowboy party! :) 

Hope you find some inspiration here for your next shindig.  If not, mosey on over to my “Party Time” category for more ideas! :)