We’re all about fairies, princesses and now, after our trip to Hawaii and a television program starring a large-headed Spanish-speaking character, mermaids too. Since I’ve started sewing, the kids are asking me to make things (often unrealistic, elaborate things, by the way).
My younger daughter wanted a fairy crown yesterday so her sweet sister made her the one pictured above and fitted it properly with no assistance from me; just the stapler. Are you tired of me showing my child’s drawings? If you’re my mother, you’re not. Today the little one once again requested a mermaid crown, so I obliged with this fabric, some leftover shells from our beach trip last year and a glue gun.
What? The holidays are over? We have a dead Christmas tree and I just now completed my ornaments for the Holiday Ornament Swap.
Now granted; I never did receive my list of swapmates, but finally got the list from someone who graciously sent me an ornament. Thank you! So here are my ornaments all made and ready to ship. Better late than never? The first photo shows all nine ornaments stacked up and makes me wish I’d made little yo-yo accordion ornaments, but the next photo is what the ornaments look like on their own. This is the first time I have made fabric yo-yos and I love them! Here are some very nice instructions. So many possibilities and you can make them while watching Project Runway.
So I managed to get a large number of toys to Goodwill before the onslaught of birthdays and Christmas, and I think we have it pared down pretty well. But our playroom has always been a mish-mash of furniture with toys thrown in baskets. I got some great storage from IKEA last year and I decided to finally put it all together last week. I had a few yards of the fabric pictured above (also from IKEA) that I had been planning to use for another project. Since it looks like there will be only female children around here, I went with the flowers.
I made these felt stool covers (for IKEA stools) with appliqued flowers. I made a few floor pillows and some quilted chair cushions. We painted our table and chairs by mixing up some leftover house paint (which sort of came out as weird colors), and now I need to add a coat of polyurethane. I say “we” because I let my very young children help. Oh how frustrating, but they enjoyed it. I’m also working on a checkerboard quilt and hope to have that completed this weekend. I really didn’t have to buy anything new, we just rearranged and renewed what we already had, which was nice.
If you’re looking for some design inspiration, think vintage wallpaper. The pattern of the wallpaper in my grandmother’s kitchen is forever burned in my memory. It was a floral with navy stripes. I’ve never been daring enough to install wallpaper in my own home, but I love the designs. The wallpaper pictured above is from Secondhand Rose in New York and would look great in a little girl’s bathroom. A great site for browsing and inspiration.
These note cards from Paperhill Studio available on Etsy are made from vintage wallpaper. Set of 6 note cards for $11.
I love this switch plate from Fondue Art + Design, also available on Etsy for $20.
Or how about this gorgeous lampshade from When in Doubt Draw Flowers, available here for $250.
Here‘s a list of sources for vintage wallpaper from domino magazine.
