Getting all brass knobby and pully up in here!

For the past two months, I've been slaving away painting a china cabinet and I'm happy to announce that after three coats of paint, two coats of hemp oil, and a final coat of wax, I'm done!  BUT, one of the hardest parts of this makeover has been trying to find new hardware that is going to take this outdated china cabinet and give it a stylish facelift.  I've been scouring the internet and Pinterest to get some inspiration and found some beautiful looking hardware.  I would never think I would ever dig the brass look, funny, it kind of reminds me of the 1980's, but I've been so drawn to it!  It's so stylish, chic, and adds such a great regal and sophisticated touch to a piece of furniture.

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What's in my bag?: New mommy edition

Call me a creep, but I love to see what other women keep in their handbags.  It is super interesting to me, and I think it can tell you a lot about a person.

You've probably seen those edited articles in magazines of what celebrities carry in their handbags, everything looks polished and pretty. Well, I wanted to share what I consider my essentials because as a new mom, I carry a lot less makeup and random things, and a lot more baby gear!

So, this is what I actually have in my handbag right now--my essentials.

My 1500 Square Pixels of Fame

Have you ever thought that there is more to life than being really, really, really ridiculously good looking? Cue voice dripping in sarcasm.  

Remember this boy?  Well, said boy took me to the sunday morning session of General Conference.  He's a real catch.  Behold, our 1500 square pixels of fame:

photo credit

After our celebrity sighting of Elaine S. Dalton, we too became celebrities. There we were, minding our own business, waiting to get into the conference center when--BAM!--out pops a man with a camera who starts snapping us like we're Lady Gaga. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm used to the paparazzi being all up in my face, but never before have I been featured by such a fine publication as the Ensign. After our photo stalker left we mused about the distant possibility of our photo actually being included in the final issue. When we first saw the photo we were surprised, but then we thought, "No surprises here!" If you need evidence of that just let your eyes wander a little bit to the north (they'll probably do that naturally). This flattering portrait falls on page 100 of the conference issue. It serves as a lovely accent to Elder Kevin S. Hamilton's talk entitled "Continually Holding Fast."

Be sure to "hold fast" by picking up this month's edition of the Ensign.  That way you can feel not only the warmth of the Spirit, but also the warmth of our smiles.

DIY Leather Baby Moccasins

A couple weeks ago I was cleaning out my closet and came across an old reddish orange suede skirt I used to wear in high school.  I kept onto this skirt for so long because it's such a classic piece and had a hard time getting rid of it.  I couldn't remember the last time I wore it and tried it on.  I wasn't surprised that it didn't fit.  I was thinking of all of the things I could do with the skirt.  Make a pillow, leather bows for Amelia, and then it came to me!  I could make Amelia some suede moccasins.  Check out how they turned out!

Celctic Knot Inspiration

I have a new obsession this summer.  I'm in love with Celtic knots!   I used to think this art form was only worn and loved by Lord of the Rings and medieval fanatics you find at the park sword fighting each other. I've changed my mind about that and this ancient insular art form is my go to for this summer and fall.  

What started this obsession was when I received two Celtic Knot Turbans from Very Jane one in black and coral.  I wear them almost every day!  I wear them to church, hanging out with my girlfriends, when I'm home all day, and I even wore them while camping (made me feel classy when I had dirt embedded in my nails).

Six Easy Embellished Onesie Designs

One morning a while back, I was doing my daily morning routine of getting Amelia and I ready.  As I was going through her closet to decide what she was going to wear that day, I started to feel that I had nothing for her to wear (I feel this way all the time in my closet).  She had plenty of clothes to choose from but I was feeling bored of them.  I had received a handful of onesies as baby shower gifts and even though onesies are practical and great to dress your baby in, they can be boring and downright ugly.  I hated how most of the onesies I owned had stupid stitched characters like monkeys and bears on them.  I didn't want to go spend extra money on clothes for her.  So a light bulb went off in my head.  I thought to myself, "Why don't I embellish and cover up the ugly parts of the onesies to make them cute!" 

 To start, I looked for inspiration. I got online and checked out some of my favorite stores that I can't afford (Anthropologie, J Crew, Nordstrom) and then my last stop is the mother load of inspiration, Pinterest.   This helped the creative juices flow.  Whenever I start a new project, I always scavenge the house to see what supplies I already have so I don't have to spend extra money.  I had a bag of old clothes I was going to donate to the Salvation Army, and I decided to take one extra look through them to make sure there wasn't items I wanted to keep.  To my surprise I found a couple of items that had some amazing textures and patterns on it and thought they would look awesome on Amelia's onesies.

Blue Lace Bow Onesie

This onesie is one of my favorites because of the fabric I used on it.  Get this, I had some old lingerie that had seen better days (wink, wink) and it was made from this blue stretch lace.  I loved the texture and color of the lace, so that's when I decided I would make a big bow in the front of the onesie to cover up the, "Daddy's little girl" wording in the center. To make this onesie I first cut two six inch strips out of the cups (the bust part of the lingerie top) pinned them to the edge of the sleeve and sewn over it.  Easy.  For the bow I took the midsection (make sure you have both seams on the sides intact to make it easier) of the lingerie top and folded it back and forth like an accordion.  I squished the middle and tied some thread around it to keep it secure.  I used a cream and gold stripped piece of fabric from an old dress and hot glued it around the middle to make the bow.  To attach the bow I pinned it in the center of the onesie to cover up the words.   Then took some matching thread and hand sewn the outline of the bow to the onesie.   

Cream Doily Onesie

My great-great-grandmother was known for her lace and crochet work.  I actually own a couple of pieces in my home and WOW, what a piece of art they are!  Well I didn't want to use one of old granny's antique doilies so I went to Joann's and purchased this cream one for .99 cents!  I cut a circle out of cream fabric that I already had, put the doily on top of the fabric, pinned both the fabric and doily it to the center of the onesie (to cover up the not so cute looking flowers), used my sewing machine with cream thread and sewn a small circle in the middle and a large circle towards the edge to secure it to the onesie.  To make this even more unique, add some color or textured fabric behind the doily! 

Lace Bib Onesie

To make a this Lace Bib Onesie, I took an old brown lace shirt and cut two six inch strips from the lacy trim (there was two different type of trims on this shirt).  I cut a 12 inch piece of that cream and gold stripped fabric I had from an old dress.  On the cream and gold fabric, I sewn a long length stitch at the top of the fabric and then ruched the fabric to make it look gathered.  I layered each layer on top of each other to give it a waterfall effect.  I pinned them to the onesie and sewn across each layer at the top.   

Green Flower Onesie

I got the inspiration for this Green Flower Onesie from a very expensive Anthropologie shirt I saw a couple months back (I still wish to this day I would have gotten it).  This was one of the easiest onesies to make.  I used an old green ribbed tank top as the fabric for my flowers because I knew it wasn't going to fray.  To make the flowers I free handed it and cut out different sizes of flowers: large, medium and small.  The less perfect, the better. I then layered them on top of each other (2 flowers per flower) and arranged them in a random sequence on the onesie.  I pinned them to the onesie and hand sewn them on with matching green thread.  To get a "curling" effect, just sew the flower petals to the onesie.  Learn how to make Amelia's bow headband here.

Victorian Cameo Onesie

I always loved the look of Victorian Cameos.  My grandma had a cameo pin she would wear all the time, this onesie reminds me of her and how classy she is.  To make the cameo, I used two different colors of felt  for the oval and for the lady.  Draw a medium size oval on one color of felt and cut it out.  For the cameo, I looked at cameos on the internet and hand draw it onto a different colored felt and cut it out. Super glue the lady to the center of the oval.  For the lace fringe behind the oval, I used up more fringe from that lace brown shirt I used in the Lace Bib Onesie.  I cut out a 12 inch section of lace and hot glued it to the back of the oval.  For the cute cheetah print bow, I used an earring who had lost it's mate, so I ripped the bow off the earring and hot glued it to the lady.  Once I was done with all that, I made sure the cameo was centered onto the onesie, and hot glued the entire cameo on the shirt.  For the fringe on the sleeves, I took two six inch strips of lace fringe from the brown lace shirt I used in the Lace Bib Onesie, pinned it to the the edge of the sleeve, and sewn it on there.  BTW, the cute headband Amelia is wearing is from Cozette Couture.  

Draped Metallic Bib Onesie

This white onesie was almost thrown out a couple times.  When I had Amelia I thought I knew how to do laundry and get rid of stains, well let's just say a lot of Amelia's clothes were ruined because I was so ignorant when it came to getting formula, poop, and other bodily fluid stains out of her clothes.  FYI, I've gotten a lot better with getting stains out of clothes.  This onesie had disgusting yellow stains all over the front.  Amelia looked pretty ghetto whenever she wore this poor onesie.  I got the idea to drape the stains with a piece of an old metallic shirt I used to wear.  I cut out a 6" X 12" rectangle piece out of this metallic shirt.  I used my sewing machine to sew a long length stitch at the top of it.  To get the gathered look, I then ruched it, pinned it to the onesie, and sewn over it!  Now no one know there's nasty stains because they're hiding behind the bib.  

I hope you enjoyed reading how I designed these onesies.  I feel that having a stylish baby doesn't have to come at a premium price, it just takes some extra time and some creativity.  Hopefully this has inspired you to create new things out of old things. 

I was featured on My Craft Channel where I demonstrated how I created the onesies. Check out the video here!

Also, check out my Studio 5 debut below! 

7 Easy Baby Headbands

I'm always looking for ways to use scraps of  fabric, old clothing, and embellishments I have laying around the house into my projects.  One night last week, I couldn't shut off my overstimulated mind, so instead of laying in bed for hours, I decided I was going to get up and do something.  I got this creative burst of energy at 1:00 a.m. and went downstairs to my "creative" room and created seven headbands for Amelia.  I felt so productive and as soon as I was done, I went upstairs and was able to go back to sleep!  Creating things, help my mind to calm down.  FYI, these were all easy and I was able to make them all within a hour.  

To make this headband was so EASY!  For this flower headband I purchased a white baby satin stretch trim, you can get this at Joann's Fabric (if you have a 50% coupon, it makes it really cheap).  The plastic flowers are from Pick Your Plum.  I measure the headband so it will fit her head.  I used this as a guide for the length of the stretch trim:

Infant and Baby Headbands Size Chart You may also provide your head measurement for a perfect fit!
Newborn (12 inches) 0-6 Months (13 inches) 6-12 Months (14 inches) 12-18 Months (15 inches)	18-24 Months (16 inches) 2-3 Years (17 inches) 4-5 Years (17 inches) Older (18 inches)

 Once I cut the trim, I hot glued it together.  Then to finish it, I added each tiny plastic flower to the headband in a random sequence.  Five minutes later I was done!  Done in a SNAP!   

I had a couple of thick headbands I bought many years ago for me and never liked them because they were too tight on my head :(  I got fed up with storing them in my bathroom and I was just about to throw them away, when I had the idea to use them for Amelia!  A couple months ago, I made a DIY Glitter Peter Pan Collar on a shirt and let's just stay it was a disaster.  Instead of throwing away the shirt, I cut the glittered collar off the shirt, and cut leaf shapes out of it and layered them (with hot glue) on the headband to get this fan effect.  

If you don't have a glitter Peter Pan collar, to make a glitter fabric you'll need to get some permanent fabric glue.  I used a foam brush to brush the glue evenly on the fabric.  I used a generous amount of glue on the fabric and poured a lot of glitter on top of it.  Press glitter into glue and let it dry overnight and violia!    

This headband took the most time, which was 10 minutes!  I found this awesome no sew tutorial on how to make the bow.  I got the fabric from Riley Blake Designs.  Once I made the bow, I glued it to the headband.  

This headband was also incredibly easy.  I cut a piece of gold striped fabric, took the headband and squished it together to get the gathered look.  Hot glued the gathered part together on the headband and wrapped the stripped fabric around it and hot glued it in the back to secure it and tada!  

This year I made a felt heart garland where it hung across our mantel in our family room.  I had some left over hearts, I took colored thread and sewed a colorful border around the shape of the heart.  I made three of these in different colors and sizes and hot glued them to the headband.  

This is one of my favorites.  I got a scrap of fun Art Deco fabric from Modern Yardage and cut out a piece of it, hot glued it to some white felt that was cut to the shape of the fabric, and hot glued it to the headband.  

I cut a piece of an old white embroidered skirt I used to wear ages ago and pinched the bottom of the fabric  together to make the gather and hot glued it together.  I took a piece of chartreuse green wool and wrapped the base of the gather and glued it in the back to secure it.  Then I glued the entire thing onto the headband.  

I hope you enjoy making these headbands as much as I did. Let's hope you don't have to make them at 1:00 a.m., but if you do, more power to you!