randomness

today i have two bits of randomness to post about. 

first bit of randomness…

i discovered angela(a picture of her from her blog is to the left – isn’t she beautiful) from the blog the painted house last week and was so excited to find out that she was working on a new blog design.  you’ll see when you take a look at her blog that she is an amazing artist and a very fun blogger.  she actually incorporated her own “doodles” into her new blog design.  to celebrate her new design she is offering a giveaway of one of her original oil paintings to a lucky reader.  no, you didn’t read it wrong, i did say an original oil and a very cool one at that.  head on over and check out her blog if you get a chance.  you’ll be glad you did. 

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second bit of randomness…

how to make the silhouette nursery artwork that i posted on yesterday. {this is for you amanda} 

i wasn’t planning on doing a “how to” on this artwork while i was making it so i’m sorry for the lack of pictures to go along with the directions.

things you need: quilting fabric, staple gun, acrylic paint, paint brushes, ribbon, paper, pencil

1) to make the silhouette artwork first i figured out the silhouette i wanted to use and i drew it out on paper.  this took a while because i had to play with the size and scale of each image.  after i got my image drawn then i cut it out.  you can use any image you like.  i suggest experimenting with different images.

2) then i took my fabric and wrapped it around the canvas.  i used my staple gun to attach the fabric to the back of the canvas.  i only attached it in a few spots in case i needed to move it later.  i used 2 different fabrics – a seersucker and a polka dot.

3) next i placed my silhouettes in the center of the first pair of fabric-wrapped canvases and i lightly traced around the edges of the silhouettes with a pencil.  then i flipped the images over and traced them on the second pair of canvases so i would have a mirror image.

4) once i had my silhouette traced i used my large paint brush to paint inside the silhouettes and i used a smaller paint brush in the areas that were small (like the bird’s legs and the owl’s legs.)  then i did the same thing to the second set but i painted around the image instead of inside. (repeat with 2-3 more coats of paint.)

5) after the paint was dry, i secured all edges of the fabric to the back of the canvas with the staple gun.  i used about 5 or 6 staples per each of the 4 sides of the canvas.

6) to give the art a more finished look i painted all of the edges a darker pink.

7) finally, i attached two strands of ribbon to the back of each canvas with my staple gun and tied the ribbons in a bow.

LiveJournal Tags: the painted house blog,giveaway,my art,how to,diy

silhouettes

over the weekend i went to my friend shelley’s baby shower.  for her shower gift i decided to diy it.  i made some silhouette art similar to the ones that i posted in my “loving…” post from last friday. 

i used quilting fabric, acrylic paints and ribbon in her nursery colors to make them.  i thought they turned out pretty cute if i do say so myself, and i can’t wait until she sends me a picture of them hanging in her nursery.

LiveJournal Tags: my art,nursery,silhouettes

loving…

i’ve found a couple of great stencil ideas lately so i thought i’d share them with you.

1.  this stenciled roller shade.  marianne over at haven & home posted it a couple of weeks ago and you can view the whole diy guide here at southernliving.com.  who knew a roller shade could look so good.

2.  this d.i.y. imperial trellis stencil project featured over at the blog hello gorgeous.  you have to have extreme patience for this project, but if you want imperial trellis wallpaper and don’t want to spend a small fortune then this is the way to go.

3.  this silhouette art for little harper’s room.  it’s not quite a stencil but how cute is it!  you can view the entire post over at grace happens.  if you head over there be sure to look at grace’s kitchen and bath renovations. 

4.  this slipcovered sofa from zentique.  i am completely in love with it.  luckily for me the showroom is right around the corner so i can drop by today on my way out of town.  i’m thinking about getting it for our family room.  i have to make sure that two people can lay on it comfortably though.

happy friday to ya!

LiveJournal Tags: loving...,haven & home,sothern living,imperial trellis,stencil,grace happens,children's rooms,zentique,slipcovered sofa

Spring May Finally Be Here - Time for Spring Fashion!

Here in the Midwest we have FINALLY thawed out from this cold winter.  As of right now, we have no snow on the ground and it was 63 degrees today - hooray!!  I don't mind the beginning of winter, but after months and months, it is so nice to finally be able to play outside with my girls.

Today I had a little nap-time project that I've been wanting to accomplish and I finally got around to it and thought I would share it with all of you.  Several months back my Mom sent me this skirt that she picked up at Goodwill:

My Mom saw this skirt and loved the fabric (she and I have similar taste).  This skirt is way too big for me, but she knew that I had been really into "upcycling" things lately so she thought I could use the yardage for something.  When I got this skirt in the mail, I was in love with the fabric - gorgeous, bright, and cheery!!  I instantly new this had to be made into a dress for my oldest daughter, Savannah Rose.

So in less than 30 minutes during nap-time this is what I came up with -

A cute spring/summer dress for my sweet Savannah Rose.  I took in about 8-10 inches on each side of the skirt to make it fit my daughters chest measurement (21 inches).  No hemming was required because the hem was already in place.  I folded over the waistband about two inches on the top in order to get the desired length.  I decided to leave it longer for now so it will grow with my daughter.

The side of the skirt had a zipper closure, but I just decided to use that as the back of the dress.  How easy was that?  I didn't even have to put in a zipper!!  I did two additional tucks/darts in the back of the dress (about two inches from the zipper on either side), that way as my daughter grows, I can easily seam rip the darts out (which are just sewn at the top) and the chest size will expand.

I used two pieces of polka-dot bias tape for the straps and simply sewed them into place.

For the front detail I sewed two fabric yo-yo's in coordinating fabrics layered on top of one another and stitched them together.

I then covered a button with fabric, using additional yardage from the skirt and stitched it on top of the two yo-yo's.  I think I may be addicted to yo-yo's - they are so cute and add vintage charm to just about anything!

Happy Start of Spring!

Cottage Mama's Note:  If you would like any further explanation on how this dress came together, feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email and I can answer any questions you may have.

som

i thought i’d give you guys a break from my guest room.  i’ll do the post on the crown moulding a little later.

kay doglass’ home {atlanta homes and lifestyle} 

last week i took a little trip over to south of market (som) in buckhead.  it’s located right next door to adac.  south of market is one of my FAVORITE design stores here in atlanta.  kay douglass has filled it with antiques from belgium and france as well as unique re-purposed industrial artifacts.  they have amazing upholstery and lighting too.  the prices are a little more than i can personally afford but the inspiration is priceless.

i won’t say much of anything else.  i’ll just let the my pictures speak for themselves.  swoon with me, won’t you??

 

south of market has recently started a blog.  so welcome them to the blog world and give them some bloggy love by checking it out.  click here for their blog.

LiveJournal Tags: south of market,adac,kay douglass,antiques

bargains in buckhead

i want to give a big thanks to anna, author of the blog bargains in buckhead, for featuring my review of the dump on their website.  you can check out the post here.

if you are from atlanta and haven't checked out the bargains in buckhead blog make sure that you check it out.  anna does a great job at posting about all kinds of bargains and deals in and around the buckhead area.  she's even just recently expanded her bargain hunting to include other atlanta-metro areas.  check her blog out here.

our guest room (the details)

on friday i showed you what all i’ve done with our guest room so far.  now i’m going to give you the run down on how i did everything and where i got it all.

the paint colors

walls – sherwin williams comfort gray (SW 6205)

trim – benjamin moore calm (OC-22)

the bedding

i love my bedding.  and it’s all from target.  i actually initially wanted the pin-tuck duvet from west elm but then i found this smocked duvet from target and quickly changed my mind.  i also found a perfect channel-stitch linen quilt and this pillow.

the accessories

all from homegoods

the non-built in built-ins 

my inspiration for the window wall came from john and sherry over at young house love.  like us, they too live in an older home with little storage space.  i bought two wardrobe units from ikea to fit beside our window.  i ended up getting them while ikea was having a sale so they were only $35 a piece.  they didn’t have any of the white left so i had to get birch and paint them white myself.  i anchored them to the wall so we wouldn’t have to worry about them falling over.  to give them a more finished look i installed a header just in front of the units.  this also helps to hide the drapery hardware. 

the no sew drop cloth window treatments

to save money i used drop cloths from lowe’s instead of a more expensive fabric.  they work so well.  2 packs of the extra large drop cloths was all that i needed.  i used stich-witchery to hem the edges.  the most important step in any window treatment is one that most people skip…training the window treatments.  in case you aren’t familiar with this term then let show you what it looks like when you are training them.  please disregard the clutter in the closets.  they’ve been stuffed full every since we got them.

basically to train window treatments you have to fold them while they are pushed back.  then you tie them in about three places(top, middle and bottom).  keep them tied for about 2-3 days.  this helps them lay correctly and fold in the correct places once they are untied.

the mullions

one thing that made a huge difference in our room was the mullion paint.  the mullions on our window were originally aluminum.  they really were an eye-sore.

i primed them with zinsser oil-based primer then painted over the primer with our latex trim paint.  i didn’t tape off the windows i just used a razor to scrape the paint off of the windows once everything was painted.  it really gave the room a quick and easy update.  the window looks brand new now.

 

and last but not least…

the crown moulding

since this post is already quite long.  i’ll bring the crown moulding to you tomorrow.

LiveJournal Tags: our house,my guest bedroom,paint,target,lowe's,sherwin williams,benjamin moore,bedding,my design,homegoods,ikea hack