Petal Pusher

I saw this really awesome display piece on Pinterest (below)

                                                                     Source: everydaymomideas.com via Nicole on Pinterest

and decided to make one of my own! You can read the tutorial for better pictures and step by step instructions. But here's a quick summary.

Supplies
- Floral wire
- Scrap paper
- Glue gun
- Branches
- Vase

How To
1. Cut floral wire into ~3in strips
2. Cut scrap paper into leaves. Try to keep them a similar shape. I ended up using a template I made out of some light cardboard. If you keep the leaf shape similar, it will look better.
3. Glue one cut wire strip between two leaves. I chose to use different paper leaves so the pattern is different on each side.
4. Lay down a strip of hot glue with the glue gun on the back of one paper leaf.
5. Press the wire into the strip of glue while it's hot so that half of the wire is pressed in the glue and the rest of the wire stick out like a lollipop.
6. Then place another leaf over the wire to sandwich it between the papers.
7. Trim the edges of of the leaf sandwich so that you don't see any of the overlap.
8. Repeat this until you have the desires amount of leaves
9. Attach your leaves to the branches with the floral wire. Add as many leaves as you want!
10. Arrange your branches in a lovely vase and now you have a wonderful display.

I took the liberty of making three different leaf sizes, a big fat round one, a long skinny one, and a tiny baby one. I used papers with all sorts of patterns like stripes, floral and polka dot and textures like glittery, velvet and shiny.

Sitting in the Shade

Here are a couple upcyles of a few old lamp shades I found at Goodwill. On one, I took a drum shade and hot glue-gunned some stripes of folded muslin in a squiggle shape. And the other, I wrapped some cording material around the shade and added some trim around the bottom. Easy Peasy! And it makes the home unique. 

Before

After

Romantic Lamp

Long Shelf Life

I found this shelf on Craigslist. I liked the look of the legs. It was some how vintage and modern at the same time. The only problem with it was the manly slate blue color. So I stripped the paint off with some paint stripper. Then I reprimed and painted the shelf. Then lined the back with some velvety fabric. Pretty simple. And highly satisfying :-)

Before

After

Pillow Talk

I was inspired by the multitude of cute pillows I saw on Pinterest. A nurse I met recommended that I go to Zinmann's in Lynn, MA (about 30min away from my home in Boston). When I went in, I was awed at the sheer numbers of amazing home decor fabrics they had there. If I were a millionaire, I would honestly buy up half of this shop. The fabrics are pretty expensive. So I bought half yards of only some of the fabrics I couldn't bear to live without...and then I made pillows. 

I wanted to make fancy pillows out of my oh-so-fancy fabrics. Since I had never made pillows before, I thought pillows with piping would be a great start. 

How to Make Piping Hot Pillows

Supplies:

- Fabrics

- Piping cord or rope

- Wondertape

- Pins

- Sewing Machine

- Ruler/Seam Gauge

- Pillow stuffing or pillow insert

Step 1: Decide what size you want your pillow to be. I think a standard square sofa pillow is about 18" x 18". Whatever you decide, add and inch to each side and cut out your fabric. That is, for an 18 by 18 inch pillow, you would cut out two 19 by 19 inch squares. For a 12 by 20 inch pillow, you would measure and cut out 13 by 21 inch rectangles

Step 2: Make your piping. I decided to make my own piping so it would match the fabric better and look more professional. Measured out the length of piping cord that you need to go around the edge of the pillow. Th wrap it with long strips of fabric with the right side of the fabric on the outside. I used WonderTape, a clear double stick tape used in sewing that dissolves in the washer, to keep the fabric pinched tightly around the cord. After taping, sew fabric together making sure to sew as closely to the cord as possible

Step 3: Once your piping is made, Pin the piping to the right side of the front of your pillow square. Since I did not really measure the fabric I used to cover the cord, I pinned the piping so that the edge of the cord was always half an inch from the edge of the pillow square. Make sure that the raw edges are facing outward. When pinning the piping around the corner, make cuts in the raw edges around the corner to make the piping bend more easily. I found pinning the piping perpendicular to it with the needle facing in was the best method. The pressure from the pin helped to flatten out the cording underneath and keep it from moving. That way, when I was sewing, I could get really close to the edge of the piping. 

Step 4: Sew your piping on! I used a zipper foot so I could sew the piping very close to the cord. Go slowly, especially on the turns!

Step 5: Place your two pillows squares (one with piping sewn onto it, the other without) right sides facing together and pin. Pin on the side of square without piping and use the same technique as above, using the pins to press against the cording underneath so that it flattens a little and doesn't move


Step 6: Sew again on the side without the piping facing the top. Be sure to try to sew as close to the piping as possible. Go Slow! Don't sew all the way around. Leave a small opening on one of the sides of the pillow

Step 7: Turn the pillow inside out through the small hole. Make sure your corners are fully flipped out.

Step 8: Stuff the pillow with pillow stuffing. I ran out of pillow stuffing after my first two pillows so I ended up just opening up some old pillows I was going to give away to Goodwill and used that instead. It worked great.

Step 9: Once your pillow is stuffed to your satisfaction, sew the small opening closed using a slip stitch or a blind hem stitch in a coordinating color.

After that, you're done! You can look at your pillow with with pride. One pillow took me about 30-40 minutes total. I did all of these within a couple of days while watching TV. Get creative! I added fringe to one of the pillows instead of piping. In others, I used contrasting piping. In some, I used a faux velvet for the piping and the back of the pillow so as to not use up so much of the ridiculously expensive and fabulous fabric. Check out my lovelies!

Tray Chic

Here is something I saw from Martha Stewart a long time ago. I saved it in my bookmarks for about a year. After many  tries, I finally made it without it falling apart.

Here's the original...

Source: marthastewart.com via Nicole on Pinterest

I found an old tray at Goodwill. I painted it black (did not use good technique and there were drippies everywhere), and I used wook glue to attach some cute knobs I picked up at Home Depot for $2.50 each. It worked for a while but the knobs kept coming off. No matter if I used Gorrilla Glue or what, the tray was inevitably always three legged. Sigh. You can see where the paint came off when the knob snapped off.

So I finally got the good sense to drill some holes into the tray. Got out my trusty hand drill and went to work. I had to go back to Home Depot to get new screws to attach the knobs because the screws that came with them were too long and had a dome shaped head. I wanted the new screws to be shorter and with a flat head so they wouldn't poke up into the tray area. It took about 2 months for me to finally get to the store with the knob so I could find the right one. Once I did, It was a snap, I just drilled the hole and attached them!


Then I decided to line the inside of the tray with some velour fabric. I did this to cover the unsightly look of the screws but also give it some more pizzazz. In the end, the original pain job didn't turn out great, but its been knocked around enough to acquire a sort of distressed look. I didn't repaint the bottom where the original paint had peeled off since it's at the bottom and you can't really see it. It now sits on my coffee table holding my new coasters and the remotes! Hoorah.

Coaster Boaster

I've been obsessed with Pinterest since I've found it. Gave me a lot of things to do during my time off. Here is another thing I did. Super cute DIY coasters. Here is the inspiration

Source: thecottagehome.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

It was pretty easy. All you do is get some tiles at your local hardware store. I got mine at Home Depot for about 16 cents each. Then I took out my pretty papers! I must say that I like the paper from the ones above a little better than mine. But I think mine are pretty cute too.

Supplies:
- Tiles
- Modge Podge
- Foam Brush
- Pretty paper
- Ruler
- Scissors or paper cutter
- Clear Glaze (I used Krylon Triple Thick Clear Glaze found at Michael's)

Step 1: Cut you paper to size. About 4in x 4in for my tiles
Step 2: Spread thin layer of Modge Podge over tiles.

Step 3: Lay paper on immediately and firmly press and smooth paper to get out any wrinkles or bubbles. Let dry.
Step 4: Spread a new thin layer of Modge Podge on top of paper. Let dry again and repeat once more. I did a second coat of this just to make sure it was really on there.


Step 5: Once everything is dry, spray a couple coats of clear glaze over the tiles to make them shiny and seal/protect your beautiful paper. After that, you have gorgeous coasters. I made way more than I need to so I can give them out as gifts. Easy Peasy!