Pressed & Sealed

I saved almost every single petal of every single rose Anthony gave me while we were dating.  My thick college textbooks were the perfect places to press them - I’d pick the petals off dying flowers and carefully stick them in random pages.  I’d leave them there for a few weeks and into a big bowl they’d go with the rest of the pressed petals once dry.  I didn’t really have any intentions or plans to do anything special with them while I did it though.  I just saved them because of the love and thoughtfulness they signified.  Fast forward to those months in the midst of planning our wedding, when I had this great idea to have them made into a rosary for Anthony; my gift to him on our wedding day.  I had heard from a friend of a convent of sisters who would do just this out in California (I think that’s where they were at least) but when I wrote them, I was sad to receive a letter back saying they no longer made rose rosaries.  I looked into some other options but the prices were higher than I could spend while paying for our wedding so the idea wilted and life went on. 

Fast forward again, only this time to present day, and to the ziploc bags filled with those dried petals that I’ve held onto for all these years.  I’ve finally found a place for them, or at least some of them. 

See ‘em?  They’re inside that shadowbox frame on the wall above our desk!  :)  That frame was one of many inside that bargain cart we bought a few years ago at Dirt Cheap.  (Here’s a similar frame*, though not square.)  I’ve had the idea to fill it with the roses for about a year now and, per the usual, my plans always get delayed by life.  But here it was, before I got to work on it last week:The starfish that was inside had come unglued and floated around wherever gravity let it and the backing of the frame had a little dent in it.  In other words, it was bumped and bruised and the perfect piece for a project.

So, after removing it from the packaging, I turned it over and ripped off the brown paper backing.  It was just glued on around the edges.

 
Next, I took off the white carboard backing.  It was stapled to the frame so I just grabbed a small flathead screw driver to pry up and off those staples.
The hanging hardware kept me from getting the top side off because of the way it was attached, but three sides were enough to open up the frame and get inside.
Once I was in, I took out the mat.  It was held in with a bunch of staples.  I just removed all of the staples along the bottom of the frame and a few from each of the other sides so that the mat slid right out from the bottom.  When I was finished, I’d just have to slide it right back in and wouldn’t need to replace the staples.  I wasn’t diggin’ the off-white color of the mat so my next step was painting it white.  The white spray primer I had on hand did the trick.

I also wanted to ditch the blue background for a crisp white one so, I grabbed some watercolor paper I had (similar*) and used the mat to cut it to the size of the frame.

Completely undocumented because it had to be quick to beat the end of naptime, I got out a little bit of black acrylic paint, a paint brush, and some water and lettered “you & me” onto the paper.  I waffled between a lot of different sayings – the lyrics to our wedding song “When God Made You”, a favorite verse from the book of Tobit, and some other sappy sayings but in the end, settled with simple yet profound. 

Enter the bags of rose petals.  They were going to be carefully laid inside the bottom of the frame, high enough that they’d show above the mat but not encroaching upon the “you & me” that would also be in view.

At first, I didn’t think I’d have enough petals to fill the bottom of the frame enough that the flowers would peek up over the mat.  Thankfully, in this case at least, estimation has never been my strong suit, because I had way too many.  I mean, I probably used about 1/4 of the petals.  I’m really, really, really not good at estimating.  Once I realized I had too many petals, I went through and picked out the brightest red ones to use inside the frame.  The others I saved for another project; another day…maybe I’ll get that rosary made one of these days.  :)

Once I was satisfied with the amount of petals inside the frame, I glued the watercolor paper with the “you & me” lettering to the inside of the cardboard backing (covering up the blue), and then ran a thin strip of Elmer’s glue along the back of the frame to hold the backing on.

Since the back of the frame is against the wall, I didn’t add any brown paper to the back, but left it as-is.  Call it lazy or call it efficient, you decide.

Up it went, the start of a collage that will eventually make its way up this small expanse of wall. 
The evening after I shot these “after” photos, I took off, kid-less, to my favorite local haunt, Dirt Cheap, where I found this gorgeous cantilever floor lamp*.  It was on a bottom shelf, in a box that had never been opened.  I carried it around the store whilst I shopped, unsure if I wanted to spend the $25 it was marked at.  I’ve been using our desk to do finishing work on my pillow covers recently – things like cutting strings and serging edges – and the lack of light has been frustrating me.  But now, my $25 lamp has solved that problemo.  Yep, I got it.  It just makes the space, doesn’t it?    
As far as everything else goes, the chair was a Varage Sale buy ($15) that I plan on reupholsering someday, the desk was a yard sale find ($30), the rug was also a Dirt Cheap buy ($25), the basket was clearanced at JoAnn Fabrics ($7), the plant was a gift and the vase it’s in was thrifted ($1), the curtains were once sheets, the valance is fake and is a diy I’ll share one of these days, and the mirror was a cheap diy project.  The wall color is “Heaven on Earth”, by Benjamin Moore but color matched to Valspar at Lowe’s and the carpet is original to the home and something I’d replace in a heartbeat if we picked the right numbers.

This desk, you can’t see the whole thing, but it’s pretty big.  And, it’s been a big mess until recently.  It was the home for many an item labeled “to-do” and many a paper waiting to be filed.  About a month ago, I unburied the top of it so that we could utilize it and we’ve worked hard to keep it a clutter-free zone.  It’s been a much-needed space away from the kids for me to sew and a space where Anthony can study for his Masters’.  It’s not ideal for us to have an ‘office space’ in our bedroom but it’s the only place we have now that all the other bedrooms are taken by little people.  But, it’s been fun for me to make it “pretty” so that we venture more toward ‘creative space’ and farther from ‘office space’.  I mean, nobody wants to think about work when they’re in their bedroom, right?  So, the prettier and more integrated into the entire design of the room, the better in this case.

Anyone else have their office in an odd space?  Any tips on making it feel like it belongs or so that it doesn’t necessarily look like a work-only space?  I’m sure I could tweak a few things over here so I’m all eyes.  Type away.  :)

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*affiliate links

The View from the Curb

We are pretty good at boosting the curb appeal of our house…but not very good a keeping it in tip-top shape.  A lot of that has to do with time and money and not necessarily with the fact that we don’t care what it looks like.  The plants we planted several years back have been fertilized maybe three times since and there’s an area in one of the landscaping beds that has seen four different perennials get planted and then die every year.  I don’t know if we (ok, I since I did all the plant choosing) picked the wrong plant for the wrong amount of sunlight or soil or what, but we’ve had to replace those three plants way more often than we’d like.  As of this moment, there are three hydrangeas living in those spots.  I bought them on clearance at Lowe’s last year and two of them are actually doing pretty good, albeit small.  The third is hanging on by literally one, tiny leaf.  Sigh.  I guess we’ll see how they come up next spring.

On either side of that bed are the original decorative grasses we planted way back when and those bright flowers, they are f-a-k-e.  Dollar Store, fake, red-orange daises that I thought would play well with our red-orange front door.  I sorta felt like a smartie-pants when I thought of the idea to “plant” fake plants but I didn’t want to share too quickly in case they didn’t stand up against the elements and my plan failed.
 
However, I’m happy to say that, after weathering this Southern sun, heat, and rain for the past five months, they still look pretty dang good.
       
Good enough that I’ll probably head to the ‘ole Dollar Store next year to grab different flowers just to switch things up and good enough that I might “plant” more elsewhere because who doesn’t love flowers that are 100% self-sufficient?!  I mean, with all the time we don’t have in the world, it was really nice to at least look like we had some sort of green thumbs at work over here. 

Try it and see for yourself!  We highly recommend it!

One other thing we did to the front this year was install spotlights to light up the house a little more at dusk and after dark.  This has been on our to-do list for years now but we just couldn’t financially pull the trigger on lights when there were so many other things needing to be done.  But, one day last winter I was walking through Home Depot on a mission to grab a ceiling fan for our screened-in patio when I passed the landscape lighting section and, in that section, a couple of boxes of spotlight kits for 50% off.  I called the Headmaster as quick as I could and he gave me the go-ahead to grab one.  I did and he installed them a few months later.  (Anthony used to work for a landscaping company so he is a whiz at installing outdoor lighting but if you’re not sure you can, the Thrift Decor Chick, Sarah, has an awesome tutorial that even had me thinking I could.  The only reason I didn’t is because Anthony wanted to himself.  #controlfreak  ;)  )      

Our kit included four spotlights but we only ended up using three – one at each protruding corner of the front of the house.  It’s crazy what a difference just adding a little mood lighting can make!

Next up, we really need to work on our grass situation.  We’ve got a very unbanlanced mixture of sand/dirt, weeds, and grass that is really begging for help.  Sod is out of the question because of the price so a-seeding we will go next spring. 

But anyway, the moral of this whole story is…if you want to boost curb appeal in a big way with little maintenance, sink some fake flowers into the ground and grab some landscape spotlights!  The season is rolling around where outdoor stuff will be going on clearance so keep those eyes peeled!

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P.S.  In case the clearance section around you isn’t turning anything good up or you just want to know, this kit (affiliate link) off Amazon is just like the one we bought.  :) 

To the Max-is

Oh, me and my ideas.  This one is two parts awesome and one part comical.  Comical because sometimes I start doing something and then I get carried away; ending up much farther downstream than I had in mind when I began.  This is one of those times when the current just kept pulling…

It all started with this dress:
I’ve always loved the colors and pattern but it’s always been just a little bit too tight up top and therefore, passed by during many a round in my closet.

As it happens though, I know two little chickies on whom it wouldn’t be too tight if I just did a little snipping and sewing here and there.

Meet chick 1 and chick 2:
So cute, right? 

Here’s how I did it!  (PS, this won’t just work for twins!  You could take in or shorten each dress differently to fit different-sized sisters!)

You might remember that I made similar dresses out of a shirred top last year.  For those dresses, I cut the shirred part of the top in half vertically and sewed the sides together.  For these dresses, I cut the shirred part in half horizontally, making it shorter.
 
First, I figured out where the horizontal halfway point of the shirred part of the dress was by counting the elastic strips on the inside and dividing by two.  Then I grabbed my seam ripper and ripped out the elastic strip in the middle and the thread holding it in, all the way around. 

Then I cut the shirred part of the dress in half right where that elastic had been.

Now I had two shirred pieces – one still attached to the rest of the dress and one completely separate.
Each one had an unfinished edge so, to finish that edge, I just folded it over and secured it with a straight stitch.
I did all of that right before naptime while the kids were awake and did the rest during naptime.  Also during that naptime I listened to Young House Love’s podcast while I worked and took two whole pictures of the rest of the process.  Those two pictures are completely inadequate at showing what happens next so I give you my best apology and hope my words will suffice for any of ya who want to copy this refashion.

Next, I cut the bottom, unshirred part of the original maxi in half horizontally.  Then, I grabbed the unshirred part of the dress that was now completely separate and attached it to the lone shirred piece of fabric.  To do this, I turned each piece inside out so that the right sides of the dress were facing eachother, lined up the two edges at which they would be attached, and stitched them together.  To make sure the dress gathered correctly, I pulled the shirred part tight while I sewed the non-shirred, bottom part on.

The bottom half of the original maxi was wider than the middle (or the dress part right below the shirring), so I had to trim off the excess fabric once I had it almost completely attached and then stitch up the side to complete it.
With that excess fabric, I made four strips of fabric just like I made these fabric strips for my gladiator sandals a couple of years ago.  I sewed two on each dress for straps.  Originally I wanted to attach them so that they ran from the front to the back and crossed at the back but, when I did that, I either didn’t measure correctly (aka, I really eye-balled it wrong) or the dresses are just a little too big on the girls right now to have a crossed back.  Either way, they just looked plain awkward.  So I went with Plan B and just attached them at the front to tie behind the neck, halter-style.

Because they’re a little big, they’ll fit the girls for a long time; going from dress to tunic and maybe even to just a top or long skirt.  Until then though, the colors make them perfect for fall right now.  As soon as it sinks below the 80 degree mark down here, I’ve got their scarves and vests ready (click the links for the tutorials on those!). 
Good golly, girls are so fun to dress.  :)  

BUT, I didn’t stop there.

I went a little farther and became “that mom”…

Ohhhh yes, yes I did.  Learning how to make a bow-tie has been on my radar since the boy child was born so, since I had even more extra fabric left after making the girls’ straps, I thought “why not now?”  To make the bow, I used this tutorial by Erika at Life Unfluffed (it’s no-sew and so easy!!) except I sewed mine.  Then I made another fabric strap like the ones on the girls’ dresses to go around Sebastian’s neck, secured with velcro strips that I glued to each end.

Oh but wait, there’s more.  You thought I was done, didn’t you?  Oh heck no!  There’s one more kid to deck over here.  We can’t leave anybody out now, can we?

You better believe that if I’d had enough fabric leftover to make the baby a mini-dress, I would’ve.  Haha!  Instead, I whipped up a second bow and added it to a thin elastic band to adorn her bitty noggin’. 

One dress.  One family affair. 

And a few outtakes.





Note how differently the boy takes pictures vs. the girls.  What a goof.  I’m going to go ahead and say that that’s probably an inherent difference across the board.  ;) 

Sebastian realized his red cap matched his red shorts and I promised him he could wear the two together after I took the ‘serious’ pictures.  And I did.  And I can’t…I just can’t… 





I’ll just leave it at that.

Happy Thursday y’all!

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Easy Homemade Latte

We love our cups o’ joe in the morning.  The kids wake us up and, right after filling their sippies, one of us heads straight to our coffee maker to get that liquid fuel brewin’.  Anthony takes his black and I usually douse mine with more creamer than I probably should but a mom wants what a mom wants, right?  My j-o-b definitely warrants it so I’m totally justified…or so I tell myself.  Calories shmalories.

Coffee-mate’s Caramel Macchiato creamer is my favorite (not sugar-free or light; gimme all the calories and taste plz) and up until the beginning of the year, I’d just do the normal brew, pour, dump, and stir but then Anthony casually made himself a latte with said creamer one afternoon and it was so good that it’s now become a daily for me.

All you need is the coffee you normally brew, the creamer you love, and a frother (link heads to the one we bought years ago at Bed, Bath, & Beyond that’still running like a champ or here’s another that has great reviews and is under $7!!  Both can be found on amazon so you won’t even have to leave the house!)*

I rolled out a little Instagram video last week to show you just how easy it is to make one of these lattes from the comfort of your own kitchen but I realized that the ‘half-inch’ instruction might’ve been a little silly so, after you watch the vid, read the six easy steps below and then go make yourself one (or three if that’s your jam…errr, joe).

 

[Latte from Sheena Tobin on Vimeo.]

Step 1:  Brew your coffee.  (If you go the k-cup route, skip to step 2 and brew your coffee after you’ve frothed your creamer.)
Step 2:  Pour creamer into your empty cup.  We have two sizes of mugs in our cupboard; these two:In our 12 oz. cups, I pour about six tablespoons of creamer and in the 16 oz. I pour about eight.  You can adjust to taste but you just need to make sure you have enough to completely or almost completely submerge your frother.
Step 3:  Microwave the creamer for 25 seconds.  I *think* I read somewhere that, when making lattes, the milk (or creamer in this case) froths better when it’s warm vs. hot so, unless I completely made that up, you might want to run a few test rounds with your microwave to figure out what gets the creamer warm but not boiling.)
Step 4:  Froth that warm creamer until it’s nice and fluffy.
Step 5:  Pour in your coffee and give it a little stir.  (Or stick your mug under your k-cup and press play if you’re going thatta way.)
Step 6 (optional):  Add a little more creamer and give it another whirl.

And that’s it!  Let me know if you try it!

Making your coffee this way probably doesn’t taste much different but, while it feels lighter and more coffeehouse-ish, it’s definitely a little more fun, and sometimes, a little more fun in the morning just makes the whole day better.  ;)

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*links to frothers are affiliate links

Acting on a Hutch

This post will show the snail’s pace at which we project these days…in case you’ve ever wondered how we get it all done with four kids in tow.  Answer:  WE DON’T!  Haha…oh *sigh*. 

The hutch I’m about to unveil has been around and waiting to be finished for a few months now.  Actually, it was part of the yard sale fundraiser that this table was also a part of.  One of the teens going on the mission trip painted it and it was up to me to do some slight distressing and stenciling of the back.  I didn’t get a before shot but I did find this one Googling, and it’s kind of similar to what ours (ours as in the donated-to-the-fundraising-effort) looked like: 
It was brown all around with that dated gold pattern on the glass doors but thankfully, in really good shape.  Perfect for a few coats of paint and a trip to 2016.

We put the teens to work on giving it a light sanding, giving it a coat of white primer, and then going over that with a couple of coats of a creamy white latex.  We removed the backing behind the top part of the hutch (it was just held on by several small nails) and, on it and on the back on the inside of the doors, the teens painted on a coat of the leftover chalk paint we used on the table mentioned earlier. 

And then that backing sat,

and sat,

and sat,

and sat at our house, waiting for me to stencil it.

And finally, I got around to it one night last week.  I used the Beads Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils (the same stencil I used on an accent wall in the twins’ room last year) and some of that creamy white latex paint to add a unique touch to the hutch.

And pretty unique it is:

It’s currently sitting in the youth center waiting for a buyer and for sale pictures, I ran around Anthony’s office, trying to find what I could stage her shelves with.  I didn’t have many options, as you can tell but either way, it was a fun challenge.

The stencil goes horizontally but actually I meant to paint it on vertically.  We sort of guessed on which way the backing went on while it was sitting at our house, miles from its counterpart hutch and our guess was wrong.  But it’s okay because we were both pleasantly surprised at how good it looked going the “wrong” way.  But really, with a stencil this pretty, there’s probably no wrong way anyway.  :)

(spot the selfie)

The mission trip is done and over this year so the proceeds from this hutch will go towards the trip next summer.  One of the coffee tables I’m working on turning into a tufted bench is also a part of the fundraiser so you’ll see that finished on the blog in approx. three months.  Ha!  Slow and steady does not win the race folks but as long as what you’ve got looks better than what you had, hopefully no one will notice. 

Spotted: Goodwill

Last weekend I had to make a run to Lowe’s and just down the street from Lowe’s here is a Goodwill.  I left Anthony at home with all the kids and don’t tell him, but I did a quick swing by that thrift store.  ;)

I left without buying anything but I did grab a few pictures of things I liked and so, once again, we have yet another post in the ‘Spotted’ series (you can read more if you click ‘Spotted’ under the drop-down, archive menu in the sidebar).

I don’t know what it was about this picture but I really loved it.  I might nix the existing finish of the frame, painting over it with a creamy white but then again, maybe not.  I think it’d be pretty in a little/preteen/teen girl’s room – I’d pull the bright coral color out for curtains or bedding or maybe both.


On the docket over here is turning two coffee tables into tufted benches (stay tuned!) and so, of course, that’s what popped into my mind when I saw this coffee table.
I have a thing for bamboo and the bamboo on this thing was in pristine condition.  It was only $4 (!!!!) because the glass was missing.  I’d remove that thick top part and replace it with a piece of plywood.  Stick some foam, some creamy white linen, and some tufting over that and it’d warrant all the heart eyes.

 
At first glance, these tables weren’t anything special beyond their mid-century modern vibe.  But, had I the time, I’d have swooped them up and dolled them up.  The white tops were a faux marble that I might try to extend or paint down around the sides of the tops to make them look like they were slabs.  Then I’d probably paint those sides with the diamonds and the legs (white?  gold?) only because I’m pretty sure they weren’t wood.  But, I didn’t look close enough to know for sure.  If in fact they were wood, I’d sand them down and stain them a light, ashy brown.


This chair.
Gosh, I wanted it.  But, I’d have an entire houseful of furniture with no room to walk if I grabbed every good piece I saw.  But, it might’ve been perfecto out on the screened-in patio.  Either way, I walked out without it.  It was marked at $34.99 and in great condition.  The cushion was boring so I’d probably make another but the bamboo (how I love it) looked incredible.  And I don’t know if it came off the base or not but how awesome would it be if you took it off the base and hung it?  Swoon…


This was a fancy map of the Rocky Mountains:
I loved it because I have all the sentimental feels for the Rockies; lots of great childhood memories.  I also loved the colors in it; the minty green was so pretty.  I’d ditch the frame and find another though and it could be hung anywhere – office, playroom, bedroom, bathroom, etc…


I had a hard time walking away from this little hexagonal dish:
I couldn’t think of a place to put it off the top of my head and now I’m wishing I’d have just grabbed it.  Our bathroom counter is crying.  My first thought was to stick some succulents in it to add a natural element to a space.

I have absolutely no use for teacups and saucers but these were so pretty.  There were only two anyway and if I were to start a high tea tradition here in this roost, we’d need just a few more.  The teacups might’ve made cute little succulent planters though.


I’m really not much of a dog person (hello allergies) but this little guy was cute.
Sometimes styling shelves can be ruff but the addition of this pup would make any shelf quite fetching, ya know?


And last, I spotted this gem:
’Reconstructive Plastic Surgery’ – this one would be the star in a frame collage.  Hang it somewhere prominent and you’ll forever have the perfect ‘statement piece’.

*wink wink*

Wall to Pillow

Let’s see how I do at writing quick, short posts, shall we?

I’m just flying by today to commemorate some old pillow covers.  It’s out (and into the donate pile) with the old…

and in with the new!

Just over five years ago I wrote a post about those old covers; how I sewed them and then used a free stencil to paint a design on them.  I used latex paint leftover from painting the walls to paint the design, thinking I’d bring the exact wall color to the bed in the form of pillows.  I didn’t add any fabric medium or anything to the paint, just brushed it on straight from the can.  To this day, after being tossed in the washing machine a bajillion times, the paint hasnt peeled, cracked, or worn off one bit.


So, go grab yourself some plain pillow covers and grab that leftover paint you’ve got laying around!  There’s design to be had!