Bulletin Board

I've had ideas of some sort of family bulletin board/message center in my head for a while now, and have been inspired by many different images and blog posts, but when I was talking with my friend, Becca, and she brought it up that she was trying to put one together, I got motivated to just get it done!  A few of the inspirations I used: I originally got the idea for a "Learning Board" from a book I read, and really enjoyed, on motherhood called Steady Days and I used her ideas for what to put on the board. There is a calendar on it with pictures, a sticker chart, a few pictures of Spring, a country that we talk about (so far we're checking a few books out from the library on our "country" and looking at it on the map. Maybe in the future I'll get around to cooking foods from a certain country we talk about. We'll see.) and a holiday (I still need to get some pictures of Easter things up!). It's hung low on the wall in our hallway so it's accessible to Kate. I plan to rotate what we put on the board, and it could eventually just become a family message center or display board. For now it is working well. Kate enjoys looking at the calendar especially. Most mornings she asks "What day is it today?" And it's been helpful to direct her here and show her what might be going on that day or the next.

I followed my favorite design blogs instructions for the bulletin board and it was really simple. I got the board at Micheals, although they sell them everywhere. Just paint the frame, use some fabric tac or spray adhesive for the fabric and cover the edges with gimp or trim. I want to do a few more of these for the walls of our office. I love seeing the pretty fabric on the wall--especially since I found it for $3 a yard. If you live near a Home Fabrics outlet, you've got to check it out!

A few other inspirations:

Soulemama's family board

Family Command Center

Playbill Project

One of my favorite things about living in Manhattan was all of the great theater we got to see. We usually went to a show when visitors were in town. We went for our anniversary once and quite a few times just because. I saved most of my playbills thinking someday I would do something with them. This was one of the first projects I did when we moved into the new house. They are hanging in the girls playroom. Kate likes looking at all of the pictures and I like lying on the rug, daydreaming about when we used to be urbanites and singing show tunes. It makes for a good time at 3 in the afternoon. :)

This project was very simple and could be done with any sort of memorabilia. Maybe some favorite pages from a children's book would be cool? I used these frames from ikea and some posterboard.

Another related project to these are shadow boxes. I made a shadow box right after we got married that we have in our bedroom with things from our wedding--Invitations, placecards, a few candid photos, swatches of bridesmaids dresses, a boutonniere and ribbon. I love looking at it and remembering our wedding day.

easy pillows

My energy for sewing projects is definitely waning, however I do have a few I want to get finished before this baby comes. These pillows have been on my list for a while and they were a quick, one evening, gratifying project that I should have done much earlier! I bought the fabric back in October at my visit to Purl Patchwork and really love it. I made the pillows myself out of muslin and batting which actually made constructing the pillowcases even easier than using pre-made pillows because I was able to cut the fabric all together, just making the case fabric a 1/2 inch or so bigger. I've used this template before from this book and love it. It's easy, looks nice, requires no zippers, yet can be removed to wash. I made one pillow for the rocking chair (that already gets it's fair share of use) and one little one for Kate's crib that is slowly becoming a big girl bed. They are already nice and wrinkled and worn in, and my back feels much better!

toddler's placemat

Kate loves to help around the house and is getting quite good at some tasks. She helps to set the table but doesn't seem to know where to put things, so the forks or spoons just end up in one big pile in the middle of the table. I've seen place mats similar to these before and thought it would be easy enough to make one up with materials I had on had. I went with oilcloth for easy cleanup, it just wipes clean! I used pinking shears around the edges and used a plate, fork, cup and spoon to trace around. I then used the bright blue thread and did a wide zig zag stitch around the tracing so it would stand out a bit. It has really helped Kate figure out where to put things and it's now a little game. You could use regular fabric for this and some embroidery thread, or just fabric markers--the only downside being if your toddler is as messy as mine you'd have to wash it after every meal! See here for more examples.

quick, easy and inexpensive napkins

We use a lot of napkins in this house. It's either the little hands that are always messy (or the big ones), I need something to put the toast on or to wipe up the floor. We are always using {and buying} a lot of napkins. We usually use cloth napkins at dinner but we don't have very many. So here are the red polka dots again in action! I cut rectangles, ironed the edges (folding in 1/4 inch twice so the raw edge isn't exposed) and sewed! It took about 30 mins from start to finish and couldn't be more simple. {Just a side note, I bought this red fabric sometime in college on a random trip to walmart. It was before I was really even sewing, I just remember it was on clearance for $1 a yard so I bought 3. I've had it forever and it has served many purposes! Suddenly my kitchen is made up of red polka dots. Maybe one day I will use it all up...} So help save the planet and yourself some money and sew some napkins!

Simple Pillows

These pillows came together so quickly. I got the general idea from this book, but basically it's just three pieces of fabric, 1 front and 2 for the back. The back pieces overlap creating a nice pillowcase. No zippers but still easily removable and washable for all of kate's messes. Really simple and really fast. Finally our pillows match!

Sew Organized

So this is nothing creative or crafty, but it is simple and does have to do with sewing! We’ve been busy around here trying to be happy it’s still February. You know, being sick, traveling, studying, being sick, going to the doctor, crying, being sick… you get the idea. I also have been organizing! My sewing/miscellaneous closet has been in desperate need of an organization makeover. I should have taken before pictures! So thanks to an old hanging sweater storage, now I have a place to fold and store all of my extra fabric and scraps instead of throwing them in one big messy pile. I like to look in the closet a few times a day just to marvel at how neat it is. Sometimes I get OCD about these things, sometimes. There are a few projects in the wings though! Hopefully I can get some done before we leave again on Thursday. At least we are going to a warmer climate! Some sunshine would definitely be helpful!

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.