Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Merry Christmas Stocking Card

This was made by my sister,
Melissa.
The design would also be perfect for gift tags!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Headboard Makeover

I have always always always wanted a really cool bed.
My husband has never never never wanted to pay for one.

So... when my sis-in-law asked if I wanted a king sized head and footboard (for free), I was ecstatic.

I also had no idea what it would look like.

When it came (thanks again, Risse), I realized it was not exactly what I would have picked out myself:

It sat in my house for weeks, as I debated over just putting it together or trying to redo everything.  Mostly I debated over the amount of work it would take.

I finally just took the plunge.

After tearing it apart, stripping it down, putting it back together again and giving it a fresh coat I came up with this:
Pretty cool, hu?

I really wanted a tall headboard, and didn't really care for a footboard.
I loved the straight top of the fb, but hated the curved hb.
So I decided to turn the fb into the hb.

Here's how I did it:
 I started by unscrewing the molding from the top of the hb, and chipping away the design in the middle of each bow.

Then I took the fb, and broke the legs off.


This is the fb without legs:

Then I broke the legs off of the hb as well:

And it was left looking like this:

The top curvy piece was removed next:


I then took the fb, and put it on top of the hb, so I could see what it would look like (tentatively), like so:


It was going to have to be repainted or stained from all of the demolition, so that came off next:




Once the stain was removed, I sanded everything, and had my brother and cousin put the pieces together and install the new legs.
 


I decided on cream.

Some day I will (maybe) get around to putting a few coats of black glaze on it to bring out all of the cool lines.
But that will have to be when I have my own garage, instead of using my parents.

Even so, it is pretty amazing to me.
I absolutely love it!


Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Simple Shirt to Skirt Tutorial

Here is a super quick transformation from a woman's shirt into a child's skirt.
This is a really simple idea, but it does require a specific type of shirt, like the one below:

It is really cute, but was one of those shirts that makes you look prego.  Which is bad, if you aren't expecting... so I cut it up!

First, cut the top portion off, just above the elastic.

If you have a little girl (which I don't), then strap it around her waist and see if you need to take it in at all.
It seemed pretty big, so I took an inch off the side.
Just sew a straight line an inch away from the seam that already exists.

Cut off the excess...

Now wrap the elastic down over itself, wrong sides together, so you'll have a nice finish all the way around the inside of the waist.

And that's it!

Sorry no modeling photo's - I didn't have a chicka with me at the moment, and I wasn't about to strap it onto one of my boys...

The entire project took me less than 30 minutes.
I'm going to use the top portion of the shirt to make a matching flower, but that will be another post for another day.