Bedroom Curtains

Our apartment now has 19 windows. Considering our apartment in Manhattan only had 1 (yes, sounds sad I know—but it was a big window and it was a studio) 19 windows seems like a lot to us! Most of the window coverings in the house were left by the previous tenants and are neutral, but the drapes left in our bedroom were hideous. By the time we bought new furniture and did our other fix ups on the place (this apartment is 3 times the size of our old place—we had to do some shopping) we just ignored the bedroom. No one really goes in there besides us and even then we don’t spend much time in there other than to sleep.

One of my new year’s goals/projects has been to spruce up our bedroom. It has 3 windows and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on drapes considering we will only be here for another year and a half. I wanted something cheap, easy and something that blocked out more light than our flimsy (practically sheer) curtains that we had before. Joann’s was having a 50% off sale on all their home décor fabrics (I think it may still be going on) so I went over and picked up some fabric to sew some (very simple) window coverings.

These new ones block out the light much better and while I can’t say I love them, they’ll do for the next while and are much more acceptable than the ones we had before. Now I'm searching for a new night stand (something used on craigslist) to replace the plastic drawers serving as Paul's night stand now... shoddy, I know.

Birthday Fun

We had a lot of fun celebrating Kate's first birthday. We tried to stay pretty minimal considering she is 1 and doesn’t really understand the concept of birthdays yet. She seemed happy at her little party and enjoyed eating the cake!

I saw this banner in a Pottery Barn Kids catalog and thought it was so cute. Until I saw that it was $40. A little ridiculous for a birthday banner. It looked easy to make and it was {much cheaper too!} I bought felt squares from Joann’s. Cut out letters using scrap fabric and hot glued them on. The only sewing involved was folding down the top of the felt square and doing a zigzag stitch. I used rickrack to string and hang the letters. It came together in one evening and was fun to do. Hopefully it will store well and we can use it in future years as our “birthday sign”. {We still need to get a special “birthday” plate or mug. I remember always looking forward to using that birthday mug on my birthday. Maybe for her 3rd or 4th birthday…}



Anyway, for kate’s little party I found this idea from Martha Stewart Kids for party hats and thought it would be a good use of my scrapbooking paper now that I’ve given that up! They were really easy and fun. We even tricked kate into wearing it for a little while--it lasted about 3 minutes. (Enough to get a picture at least!)

Baby Shoes

The theme of “handmade holidays” was all over the crafting blogosphere this past holiday season and some ambitious people even took pledges to give only handmade gifts. I am certainly not one of those ambitious people, and my gift recipients are probably grateful for that, but I couldn’t resist giving my smallest recipient {my new niece Leah} something handmade. That and I really wanted to try and make these soft baby shoes. These shoes were one of the most fun projects I have ever made. Relatively simple and quick, they came together in one evening. The sole is made out of 2 layers of fleece and while these wouldn’t be great for walkers or even crawlers (such as mine) they seem perfect for keeping newborn toes cozy. I’m not sure if Leah will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them, but at least her little piggies will be warm!

Seams Simple

I have been reading and admiring crafty blogs for some time now. I love seeing what people come up with and borrowing ideas. There are some wonderfully talented people out there and for fear of being compared to them I hesitated starting my own craft blog. I've enjoyed posting some of my projects on our family blog--but certainly don't want to turn it into "Jill's craft extravaganza" as Paul calls it. So this blog will be for ME! Don't expect anything great, just me trying to be crafty and journaling my attempts. If anything, it will get me motivated to stop watching television and be productive. Seams Simple, right?

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." -Laura Ingalls Wilder