Stockings!

The other day at the store my husband saw a 49ers stocking and he was going to BUY it! I was appalled because the stockings in my family were always homemade by my mom. She made them when we were babies and they were always our stockings. I couldn't let my husband BUY one! So to get him not to buy that one, I had to promise I would make him a 49ers stocking.

So I bought this fabric and then I was in a pickle. How do you make this fabric Christmas-y?

The answer to that question is to spend hours at Joann's scouring their fabric until you find the right one, a task I did not mind at all ;)

And I also found the perfect, adorable fabric to make my own stocking with too. I bought 1/2 a yard of each fabric, just in case I messed up.

Many, many moons ago (3 years to be exact because the Christmas after I got married I wanted to make stockings... I'm a bit of a procrastinator) my mother gave me her stocking pattern. I believe she made this pattern herself:

I did not use the heel or toe cuts. She makes these stockings out of felt and I was using fabric and doing the heel and toe felt like too much work.

I folded my fabric in half, wrong side up, so that when I cut out the pattern I could simply pin and sew. I laid the pattern out on my fabric and traced it in black colored pencil:

I forgot to take pictures of the next step but it is super simple. Cut out the stocking, sew the wrong sides together, leaving the top open, and then flip the stocking inside out.

Then for the top seam I simply folded the top over about 1/2 an inch and sewed along the edge:

For the top of the stocking, I used the Christmas-y fabric and cut this out: (again I folded the fabric in half, wrong side up)

Again, I forgot pictures but sew the wrong sides together and flip inside out again.

Then sew that to the top and side of the stocking: 

For the loop, I used the cut from the pattern but you can simply cut out a straight piece of fabric:

 

Then fold it over and sew it to the inside of the stocking:

 

(For some reason I am absurdly proud of this picture and how the background is blurry and I have no idea how I did it)

And TA-DA!

 

 A stocking that a 49er fan is very happy with!

And a stocking that a seamstress is super proud of!

I can't wait to hang them up!!

til next time,

nik

A (very) easy and (very) cheap dog bed!

Did you know that dog beds range from $40 up to like $100!?!?!? I was shocked! I knew there had to be an easy and much, much cheaper way to make a dog bed. So I headed on over to the thrift store. After playing around with a couple ideas, we decided a comforter inside a fleece blanket would be soft, warm, and easy to clean (in case of accidents).

The comforter cost me $5 and the fleece was $3 (thank goodnesss for 50% off days!!)

I sewed the fleece blanket in half. I just followed along the seam that was already there so no pinning! (Score! I hate pinning!)

I sewed two sides and left the third open so I could stuff the blanket inside. When I got to the corner I just followed the seam right around.

Then I flipped the blanket inside out so my seam was on the inside.

And I stuffed that comforter inside!

 

And actually I had to steal some old shirts of my husbands to stuff inside because the comforter was a little bit shorter than the fleece. When we were at the store we were debating about getting a sheet to stuff inside but I thought that would be too much. When I got to this point I was really wishing I had gotten that sheet!

Then I laid the whole bed on my sewing table. That made it easier to sew the last side shut.

Because this was for my dogs, I wasn't big on sewing the whole side by hand so that the seam wouldn't show. I just sewed it shut.

The whole project probably took me twenty minutes and that was with taking pictures and going to find old shirts. It cost me less than $10, all I had to buy was the comforter and blanket, I already had thread and everything else.

Oh, and the dogs love it.

I told them to sit on their beds and act happy, so they did! I even made another bed for them so they wouldn't have to share and that one cost less than $10 too!

til next time,
nik

A Place to Hang Our Keys

My husband and I are notorious for misplacing our keys. Whenever we get ready to go somewhere, one of us is always saying "have you seen my keys?" or "I can't find my keys". I decided it was finally time to solve that problem. My husband had started hanging his keys on a nail by the door and I decided we needed something much prettier than that to hang our keys on.

I originally wanted something that would hold the mail as well but I could not find anything suitable. So I decided I'd just make something to hold our keys and the mail would go in another spot.

I went to Hobby Lobby and found the PERFECT thing. (By the way, if you don't have Hobby Lobby's app on your phone, GO DOWNLOAD IT NOW! They ALWAYS have a 40% coupon available)

I love how this plaque looks and I got the little screw-hangy-things (I'm pretty sure that's the real name) to screw into the bottom for hanging keys.

When I purchased this, my husband asked me if I was going to stencil my quote onto it. I looked at him and said "nope that's why I purchased my Silhouette so I never have to stencil again!" I know I've said this before but I really, really, really love my Silhouette. I have never regretted the money I spent on it.

I already had ideas flying through my brain about what I was going to do and when I got home, I picked out a matching vinyl and paint color. (I purchased 27 (I think) 6x12 vinyl sheets off of Amazon for about $10, even though the sheets are not big, I got a lot of colors for a little price)

Then I painted the middle of the plaque white because that's where I was going to put my quote:

And I painted the outer edges yellow:

 

I came up with my quote when we were leaving Hobby Lobby. I was going to do "Home Sweet Home" but that is just so cliche and I like to be original!

 

Love the quote!! Unfortunately when I hung it on the wall, my matchy-matchy scheme didn't work out so well. You couldn't read what it said from across the room. So...I peeled off all the vinyl and picked a different color. 

 

Much better!! (Plus it's Oregon Duck colors so it really worked out for the best!) The matchy-matchy was cute but this was easier to read and it's cute too!

Hanging on the wall after I got my handy husband to screw in those screw-hangy-things:

I just notice the picture is crooked but be assured that it does hang straight in real life!

Since hanging this up, I have noticed that we have both been better about hanging our keys here!

I'm going to try (fingers crossed) to blog more often. I just realized I haven't blogged about doing anything crafty since May! I just bought my first sewing machine and made curtains so hopefully I will have some time soon to blog about that fun process!

til next time,

nik

Cheap, Easy Outlet Covers

When I say cheap, I mean CHEAP. This has to be the cheapest craft I have ever done.

Tools Needed:
Old, ugly Outlet Covers (already had)
Mod Podge (I made my own and it was cheap, cheap, cheap, more on that in a sec)
Scrapbook Paper (I got two large sheets for .59 each)
X-acto knife (already had, it probably cost me a couple bucks, but incredibly worth it, I use it all the time)
THAT'S IT!!

For the "homemade" mod podge, I had seen a couple blogs where some people had made their own. It's equal parts water and white glue. Fill up your jar halfway with glue, then the rest with water and shake! Simple! I figured I had nothing to lose by making my own, because if you have ever looked, Mod Podge is EXPENSIVE. I made this a couple months ago but had never used it on anything important so I figured I would try it for this project.

First I gathered all my materials together:

I wanted my paper to wrap around the sides of my outlet cover, so I cut the paper extra big. I actually took two outlet covers, lined them up next to each other and cut around both. That gave me more than enough paper for one cover.

The first cover I did, I put mod podge on the outlet and the paper and it ended up really gooey, it did dry fine though. The rest of them I only put mod podge on the cover itself and they turned out fine.

Once they were dry, I cut off the excess paper on the back:

And this is what I had:

I love how the paper covers the whole outlet and you can't see any of the cream from before.

Then I took my x-acto knife and cut from the back:

Here's the finished product:

One of the blogs I read put another coat of mod podge on top, I guess to make it shiny. I put another coat of mod podge on mine and they looked the same. That doesn't bother me at all, but if you want it shiny, this homemade mod podge is not the way to go.

In the end, I would definitely recommend this as a cheap, easy way to make your outlet covers pop. I can't wait to do the rest of my house!!!

see ya soon,
nik

Making a Dining Room Table

About a month ago, we set out on a mission to find a thrift store salvageable dining room set. We went to every thrift store in this area and even drove 45 minutes away to hit the thrift stores there! No luck :( For a crappy looking table and chairs, people were still asking over $100! That seemed like too much to me, so my husband decided he would build a table.

The plan we ended up settling on consisted of seven 2x8x8, four mailbox post anchors, and two 2x4's for the legs. Here's what we ended up with:

We took six of the 2x8x8's and laid them like a picnic table. We took the other 2x8x8 and cut it in half and that was how we put the table together. It looks like this:

See how the boards on top lay on another board and then the leg is drilled into that board? To put it together we simply took long screws, not too long because we didn't want them to go all the way through, but long enough that they went through both boards, and screwed each board into the bottom 2x8x8. (Of course we drilled them into the bottom so you don't see anything from the top of the table).

To put the legs on we used mailbox post anchor. We wanted something that would be really really sturdy and the lowe's people said that would be the sturdiest. They cost $15 each (and we had to get four, eek!) but we don't want our table falling apart! This is how each leg looks:

The mailbox anchors were a really ugly green but I used my FAVORITE spray paint to darken them to match the table:

The picture is a little blurry (sorry!), but the color is oil rubbed bronze. This stuff is honestly the best!

The table started out as a light wood but we darkened it up using this stain:

After we stained, we used polyurethane to give it that glossy look. Word to the wise: in order for your table to have a smooth feel, you HAVE to use the coarsest sandpaper. We used a medium coarse and (after we had stained and polyurethaned) we had to go back and re-sand it so we could get the smooth feeling we were going for. (We thought the polyurethane would give it that feel but we were wrong, its sandpaper). We also learned after this process that they DO make a stain that contains polyurethane and we will be using that next time! Also, don't use the cheap brushes, we ended up with brush hairs all over our table, which luckily sanded out, and when we stained again, we used pricier brushes.

Here's the color of the table:

During the process, I was afraid it wouldn't end up with that nice reddish color that was on the can but after everything, it did turn out with some red and I LOVE it!

Overall, this project was pretty easy. It would have been easier if we hadn't had to re-sand it, but even with all that, it still only took us about three days. That's mainly because we only worked on it in the evenings and every time we stained or polyurethaned it, we had to wait about 24 hours for it to dry.

It measures 6 ft. long and 3 1/2 ft. wide. It will easily fit six people and if they are really skinny, it would probably fit eight. I can't wait to try it out when my family comes for Thanksgiving!

See ya soon!
Nik

Knife Block Makeover

I'm back! It has been a crazy month and I haven't had a lot of energy for crafting but I decided this would be easy (and it really was)!

Ever since I saw a picture on Pinterest (that's where I get most of my crafty ideas) of someone who had painted their knife block, I was dying to paint mine! Every time I looked at my knife block, I knew I had to paint it!

My kitchen is the most beautiful blue-ish color I have ever seen. From the moment I saw it in the big book of colors at Home Depot, I knew it was the one. My dining room is yellow ( I didn't realize it until I did this project but the yellow I picked for my dining room is the same yellow in my craft room and I picked them out at different times! I guess I just REALLY REALLY love this yellow!). Originally I thought I would paint my knife block the same blue that my kitchen is. Then I realized that it would just blend in and that's kind of boring. So then I realized that if I painted it yellow, not only would it pop, but it would also match my dining room. Even though from the kitchen you cannot see the dining room yellow, at least I know it matches!

I forgot to take a before picture before I started painting, so there is a little paint at the top, but this is what my knife block looked like before! Just a boring regular knife block:

I used a tiny paintbrush to paint around the knife openings so I didn't get paint in them and then I used a bigger brush to paint the top and a biggest brush to paint the sides, front and back!

Here's the fully painted knife block! It looks very mustardy in the picture, but trust me, it's beautiful in real life!

In the original picture, they had put their last name initial on their knife block. I'm not really a put-my-last-name-initial-all-over-everything kind of gal so I chose something funkier, which is more me!

 I have a Silhouette Cameo, which is how I cut out this fun piece on vinyl. (I love that machine!)

And here's the finished product back in the kitchen where it belongs! I love how the yellow pops out from the blue walls!

See ya soon!
Nik