Blog - TaylorMade

DIY Roach Costume

November 3, 2015 By Taylor 5 Comments

Yes, you read that right! My son wanted to be a roach for Halloween and I said yes :)

A few months ago I was throwing around group costume ideas for the three kids. Nothing was sticking then my oldest said, “what about bugs”? I immediately liked the idea because my daughters name is Bee so naturally she could dress as a Bee. Then my four year old got super excited cause he wanted to be a lizard. Who am I to crush his dreams and tell him that a lizard isn’t actually a bug? A Bee and a Lizard, done. But then my oldest son said he wanted to dress up as a roach?! I tried to talk him out of it because how does one even go about sewing a roach suit?? But he was determined and I like a good sewing challenge so I said let’s go for it!

There is very little roach costume inspiration out there, which is good and bad haha. I didn’t have anything to live up to in the era of Pinterest expectations but I also didn’t have a clue how to make it! After a good ol’ google search, I did find one awesome “cape” that a legit costume designer made and I pinned it HERE. After I saw that I knew a cape was the way to go. I found some brown jeans and a brown tee from the mens section so I just cut it down and sewed up the sides) for the body and got to work on the roach cape.

I bought brown suiting for the legs and ironed a very stiff fusible interfacing to the wrong side so they would be extra stiff. I used hot glue to attach a thin strip of brown faux fur to each leg… creepy right? For the antenna I used the suiting with some jewelry wire inside and a little brown pom-pom glued at the end.

Then I freehanded roach-shape-wings on to some brown satin. I used quilt batting inside them and sandwiched it between. I also sandwiched the legs between the wing layers before sewing right sides together. Then I flipped them right side out and top-stitched. The wings are two separate pieces but sewn together at the top where they connect. Then I added a neck hood/cape part with double batting and a layer of felt in between so it would stand up a little more. It was so thick that I really would have liked to hand-sew it so there wasn’t a huge line down the middle but, it was the day before Halloween and mama only has so much time.

I added a neck piece made from the suiting and used velcro to attach it.

Overall I’m really happy with the way it turned out, and he was super excited about it! I also learned that some people have quite the aversion to roaches… even when the model is a cute six year old haha! Stay tuned for the lizard and bee later this week :)

Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn

October 20, 2015 By Taylor 1 Comment

It’s finally fall! My favorite season full of pumpkins and parties and costumes and crafting! Today I have the pleasure of sharing a tutorial from Imperial Sugar, Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn in Stuffed Paper Pumpkins! It’s fun, kid friendly and delicious. Imperial Sugar has a ton of fun edible Halloween crafts to make with your kids so check them out HERE. As usual, my boys did most of this project alone, I just was the supervisor ;)

We made the homemade Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn together in the kitchen then we decorated pumpkin faces and stitched them up. These would make a fun gift but we just kept them for ourselves!

Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut oil (or canola)
2/3 cup popcorn kernels
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
2 Tablespoons Imperial Sugar Cinnamon Sugar Shaker (this wasn’t available at my grocery store yet so I mixed my own but I’m excited to find the shaker!)
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Directions for the Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn:

1. Add the coconut oil and three popcorn kernels to a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until all kernels pop. Take the three kernels out of the pot.

2. Add the rest of the popcorn kernels. Cover and take the pot off of the heat. Wait 30 seconds. Put the pot back on the heat.

3. Cook, shaking the pot occasionally until the popping slows down. After about 2 minutes, take the lid off of the pot. This lets the steam out and keeps the popcorn crisp.

4. While the popcorn is popping, melt the butter.

5. Pour over the popcorn and sprinkle with salt and cinnamon sugar. Toss until completely coated. You could also do this in a large paper bag. Let cinnamon popcorn cool completely.

Supplies for Treat Bags:

Colored yarn or string
Hole punch
Heavier weight brown craft paper, colored paper or white paper (we used orange cardstock)
Scissors
Colors, markers or colored pencils (optional)

Directions for Treat Bags:

Print out the Pumpkin and Apple Stuffed Paper Bag Patterns. You can print directly onto brown craft paper or you could use colored paper, or white paper that you hand color. Choose a heavier weight paper if your printer will allow it, as super thin paper will tear when stitching up the sides. We used orange cardstock then decorated them like jack-o-lanterns.
Cut out the pattern. Use a hole punch to punch holes where indicated.

Remaining Directions:
While popcorn is cooling, begin stitching up your paper patterns. Using colored yarn, stitch the front and back pieces together. Tie a knot in both ends of the yarn to keep it from coming loose. We started from one side (at the bottom) then went around to the other side across the top then stopped.

Leave the bottom part of the pattern open. Before sewing it entirely closed, fill with Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn.

Once it is full, stitch up the bottom of the stuffed paper bag and tie off ends of yarn. Cut off any excess yarn. Now you have a fun treat to take to your party, give to a friend or eat!

When ready to eat, just tear the stuffed paper bag open and enjoy.

This post was sponsored by Imperial Sugar but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tissue Paper Pom Pom Flower Kit

October 6, 2015 By Taylor 1 Comment

UPDATE: You can find the whole/cream flower kits HEREand the pink kit HERE!

If you know me you know that I can’t leave a blank wall alone for long :) Well… here is our “nook wall” as we call it the day we moved in to our house two years ago, such a sad little nook. About a year later my talented husband built some nook shelves (that I still need to post about). But I felt like it needed a little something more. When I saw this Tissue Paper Pom-Pom Flower kit from Martha Stewart Crafts in these colors I knew they were perfect for our nook wall!

We just had our kitchen remodeled this past summer and because we have a pretty open floor plan, that turned into remodeling the breakfast room and all redoing all of the flooring. The living room to the left has a lot of color and the breakfast room to the right has some amazing new wallpaper. I didn’t want to go too wild so the mix of pinks and whites were perfect for this space!

I have made a few versions of these flowers before for showers but these turned out way better! I obviously never added enough layers of tissue. These actually took me longer than I expected because there are so many layers haha!

They really look pretty anywhere, my husband even thought they were a dining room centerpiece when I was building them on the table :)

Here is our wall before…. better than when we moved in but lacking the TaylorMade pop of color.

After the perfect “floofing” of the flowers I just hung them up with thumbtacks. Ahhh the colors!! LOVE!

I just used two packs (5 each). Martha Stewart Crafts Halloween products are available in store at Michaels :)

Marble Counter Alternatives

September 25, 2015 By Taylor 8 Comments

This is a story all about my countertop woes and how I overcame them haha! Kidding… countertops aren’t that serious but they are a huge part of your kitchen and they are important! This isn’t the usual cute decor or craft post but I figured it might help someone else choose a marble counter alternative, so why not share my experience right?

We started our kitchen remodel in July this year (before pics HERE) and I just knew that I had to have white cabinets and marble countertops! I am very decisive and I usually have a clear vision in my head. Between my “vision”, magazine clippings and a Pinterest board I was armed and ready. I started asking around looking for contractors and in the process I also asked people about their selections and how everything was holding up. I was more than bummed to hear that a lot of people already had stains on their marble (sad face.) In the meantime we found a great contractor and he agreed that marble countertops might not be a great choice for us (double sad face- look how pretty they are).

Apparently marble isn’t a good option for people who want to cook in their kitchens haha! I’m only half way kidding. I started researching and learned that marble is super porous so foods that stain like wine, berries and juice could leave permanent marks even on marble that is sealed. Oil and citrus also cause etching and marring. There are two schools of thought though, some people like these marks and consider it worn-in and cozy looking like a pair of broken-in jeans. I know myself and I am not one of these people! We are messy and I like things clean and neat, so after a lot of thought and research we decided marble isn’t for us. Waaahhhh. My problem at that point was that I had the look of marble in my head and it wouldn’t leave, it’s just so pretty! My contractor told me that granite was his favorite as far as durability and cost so we started there.

Granite: durable and won’t break the bank but hard to find in grey tones

Guys, it’s really hard to find any granite that looks like marble. I don’t mind the texture as much as the colors. I don’t have any brown tones in my house at all. No beige, cream, tan, taupe… none. Those colors look great in so many peoples homes but our house is very “cool”. We have blues and greys and aquas with bright whites. The main problem I had with granite was I couldn’t really find any without brown/tan/cream undertones. There were still plenty that I liked but didn’t think they would work. I liked the “marble look” of these.

I also liked this one which is called “fantasy brown”. Of all the granite that this yard had I liked this one best. We decided to keep looking though…

Quartzite (not to be confused with Quartz): durable, looks a lot like marble, so pretty but expensive $

During my research I learned that my favorite kind of countertops are quartzite! They are natural, earthy and so gorgeous. They almost look like a salt block to me. I asked the employees for details and they said that it isn’t nearly as porous as marble so the staining wouldn’t be as bad! Perfect right?? Perfect until I learned about the price :( We have a lot of countertops and this was just out of our budget. But I can’t get over how pretty they are.

Quartz: only slightly more expensive than granite, very durable and messy family friendly, comes in grey tones

After searching for the perfect thing and being sad that nothing was marble (I was getting annoying about it) I spotted this… Definitely the right color and still natural looking without being too busy. I think I liked it. I asked a million questions and found out that it was quartz. A manmade countertop that was super durable and not nearly as expensive as quartzite.

They showed me the other colors; all the ones I liked had grey or white backgrounds with what looked like glass rocks inside and some even had mirrored looking rocks. Some of these are not name brand but some are Silestone. They are anti-microbial and had a warranty! Yay!

My husband went to the Silestone warehouse to get a closer look so he sent me this picture and the background caught my attention. It had a marble-esque pattern!

They gave him a book with every single color that they carry. I immediately loved the look of two of their colors, Lyra and Helix. Here they are next to real Carrara Marble… pretty close for a durable option!

Left is Silestone in Helix, Middle is Silestone in Lyra and right is marble. I had found our winner!

Our kitchen is very white so we ended up going with Helix (on the left) to give it more contrast. I was super nervous because of my marble expectation but the day it showed up I was really happy! We have lived with it for over a month now and we LOOOOVE them!! So easy to take care of and doesn’t show anything at all! Here are the guys installing it :)

There you have our countertop “journey” haha… and hopefully this post helped someone with their marble countertop debacle! Let me know if you have any questions, and stay tuned for the big kitchen reveal coming soon!

Mid Century Dresser Makeover

September 14, 2015 By Taylor Leave a Comment

We are still settling in to our newly remolded kitchen (follow along on instagram @taylormadecreates). So, in the meantime I have a few things I’ve been meaning to post. Like this dresser that I finished in January, at least I’m posting it in the same year right haha?! This dresser started out off-white with gold “speckles” on it, not really my style. But… I know good bones when I see them. I had been searching online for the perfect buffet with the right pop of color for our dining room. My dad had a friend getting rid of it and thought I might like it… he was right! I know it would be the perfect DIY for our space.

I sanded it down a little and cleaned it but the real star of the show is the paint I used. I went with Luscious Green by Valspar that I got at Lowes. I also bought a decent brush which I don’t usually do. Here is a super non-glamourous cell phone progress pic. I did two good coats then touched up ares that needed it with a third coat. The paint was amazing and covered really well without having to use too much. This was my first time using this paint and- no this post isn’t sponsored by them at all, I just really liked this paint!

I unscrewed the hardware and thought about replacing it but ended up spraying it gold and loving it! It didn’t take long to dry but I just left it in the garage overnight and then brought her in the next. She’s SO perfect for our dining room under the plate wall.

I added a few things to style the top.

Lamp: Homegoods

Cloth Napkins: Vintage from my Mimo :)

8×10 Print: Minted

11×14 Print: Yang Yang Pan Etsy (LOVE this artist!)

Plant: IKEA

3 tier tower: Pick Your Plum

Kitchen Before Photos

July 30, 2015 By Taylor 1 Comment

Guess what?! We started our kitchen remodel! We have been planning this for years and it’s finally here! We found a great carpenter and they started a few weeks ago. I wanted to post a few “before pictures” because who doesn’t love a good before & after :) We fell in love with this house because of the open floor plan, the size of the kitchen and the fact that it’s the center of the home! We have been here a little over two years and even thought the kitchen was very 1994, thankfully it wasn’t offensive…. neutral nineties haha. The worst part honestly was the boxed florescent lighting and my husband fixed that last year. We are keeping the same layout but making a bunch of little changes (and some big ones)… I’ll post some pictures of our selections and our process over the next few weeks. Goodbye pickled oak, linoleum, vinyl and wallpaper. If you want more behind the scenes follow along on my Instagram @taylormadecreates

Fiesta Birthday Party!

June 30, 2015 By Taylor 24 Comments

This past weekend I threw my favorite party yet! Well, besides my wedding :) My daughter and I share a birthday and since I was a little busy last year on my 30th birthday having her we decided to go all out this year! She is our last baby and I’ve never done a big 1st birthday party for any of my kiddos so I was excited. One of my favorite things are margaritas so last year in the hospital I told my family “next year I want a big fiesta birthday party with Mexican food and margaritas and a Mexican dress”! I called it Bee’s Birthday party but aren’t all one year old parties really for the parents anyway? It’s like YAY, WE SURVIVED!!

I loved how everything turned out, but my house is kind of dark and I was having so much fun I didn’t take many pictures. So, some of these pictures aren’t great and some aren’t even mine… (thanks friends for your cell phone pics). I wanted to post about it anyway so I can remember it forever! That and I’ve had a bunch of questions about where I got everything.

My favorite fiesta item that I bought was the Mexican Cutout Banners which I love and don’t ever want to take down!! I bought them from Amazon HERE. I bought 8 sets and hung them everywhere!! I actually hung them up weeks ago because I was so excited about them haha! My poor husband.

We invited a lot of people so for the first time ever I actually catered food, fancy right? We had fajitas, quesadillas and my personal favorite… chips with red sauce, pico, guacamole and queso! I also rented a margarita machine which was so fun! My sister came over early and helped me cut all of the fruit for the margarita bar. We made regular margaritas in the machine then everyone could add their own fruit to the top. My sister also broke our her cute calligraphy handwriting for some of the cups :)

I made two “Aguas Frescas”. One was just pineapple muddled in water and one was Lime, Mint and Kiwi.

The hit of the backyard was the water slide we rented! If you guys are in the Houston Area you have to check out City Wide Part Rentals! We rented the Tropical Water Slide. They were awesome to work with and the slide was super fun! (If you use them, mention TaylorMade and they will give you a discount!!) They came and set it up early which was a life saver because then I was able to set up the entire party while the boys played on the slide. I even went down it before the party started haha!

I borrowed Mexican Blankets from my friend Michelle and I just folded them and used them as table runners. I saw this cute centerpiece idea on Pinterest. I emptied out Mexican looking cans for vases and filled them with fake flowers.

I used this recipe and made some Churro Puppy Chow. It was so good and people couldn’t stop raving! I got all of the plates, napkins, straws, toothpicks and this blow up cactus from Oriental Trading Co.

I got our dresses from Amazon HERE and HERE. Can’t have a fiesta without a good Mexican Dress right? My mom, the family baker, made both of us a cake! She made me Tres Leches with fresh whipped cream and strawberries and she made Bee a butter cake with chocolate frosting.

She got to eat her cake and then she got a sink bath :)

I used all of Bee’s monthly pics to make a little collage on a chalkboard.

It was basically the best fiesta I’ve been to :) Thanks so much to all my family and friends for making it so special! I leave you with a million party pics! Let me know if I left any sources out!

DIY Ombre Curtains

June 15, 2015 By Taylor 4 Comments

When I envisioned my dream craft room I knew I wanted everything very white so I could decorate with my bright (and loud) craft supplies and fabric. I searched for some fun curtains for months but couldn’t find any (that I could afford ha!). So I decided to make my own DIY ombre curtains! I went with pink but the color possibilities are endless. This project was so simple but I took a few pictures of my steps, I also did this in the middle of the day and the garage lighting is terrible.

Materials:

– White Curtains ( I found mine at World Market)

– Liquid dye (I used Rit Liquid Dye in Fuchsia)

– A large bucket

Instructions:

Fill your dye bucket with the hottest water from your sink and add a little salt. The salt helps the color stay vibrant! Then add your dye, I used two bottles because I had four panels and I wanted the color really bright.

Hang the curtains up somewhere that you can adjust the height, I used two hangers and my overhead garage door. My curtains were super long so I had to fold the fabric over on the top.

Then, start dipping the bottoms of the curtains in and out of the dye bath.

Pull them out a little then hang them and leave them in that spot for about 8-10 minutes or so.

Repeat this same thing a few more times. Every 8-10 minutes, pull the curtains in and out of the dye bath a few times then hang them a few inches higher than you did the last time and leave them for another 8-10 minutes. I did this about 4-5 times total until I was at the bottom of the curtains.

Then, ring the remaining dye out and rinse them in cool water. I sprayed mine out with the hose and let them drip dry in a tree because I like to make my neighbors think I’m crazy ;)

I let mine dry over night then I ironed them. I didn’t want to wash and dry them because I was afraid of them shrinking and mine are just the right length but washing and drying after dying would be just fine!

I really love how they turned out! They are a fun pop of color but still mostly white just how I like it :) Stay tuned later this week for some updated craft room shots!

Infinite A-Line Dress

May 29, 2015 By Taylor 11 Comments

Hi, My name is Taylor and I’m a gingham-a-holic. I can’t get enough this summer. I spotted this light purple gingham a few months ago and I was saving it for the perfect project… well I found the perfect project! Meet your favorite new girl pattern… The Infinite A-Line Dress! Bonnie from Whisk’em is the talented designer and she emailed me a few weeks ago asking if I would participate in her Blog Tour for her first ever pattern. I have made a LOT of sewing patterns but this one is super smart y’all! I can’t even believe this is Bonnie’s first pattern.

The idea behind the pattern is that it is a jumping off point for any a-line dress that you see in a store and you can customize it to make it your own. It has three skirt choices, five sleeve options, two back options and two pocket styles! You can mix and match and use a variety of fabric. When I sew a homemade dress I make sure to size up because my kids grow super fast and I don’t want them growing out of my handmade clothes as soon as they do in store bought. Bee is just now in 18 mo clothing so I sized up and went with the 2T making it pretty big on her. My husband even told me she looked a little prarie-esque in her baggy gingham but I love gingham so much that I’m fine with it :) I also want to say that my kids are not skinny and sometimes patterns are on the skinny side.. but this one is definitely true to size.

I took to Instagram and polled everyone about my button choice… the winner was the yellow heart button and I’m so glad cause it’s perfect.

The bodice is fully lined and Bonnie even taught me a really cool new technique (with a video that comes with the pattern) on how to attach the dress to the bodice. The pattern is for 12 mos-8 years. I went with the flutter sleeve and gathered skirt (version D) this time but I already have ideas for more… It’s calling for some pom pom trim. Thanks for having me Bonnie and congrats on a beautiful pattern!

You can purchase the pattern HERE and make sure to check out the other talented ladies on the blog hop!

Baby Coyote Quilt

April 15, 2015 By Taylor 13 Comments

Another Baby Quilt in the books :) I love making teeny tiny baby quilts, they are quick and easy and I don’t have time to get sick of them haha! I have a group of high school girlfriends that I have talked about here on the blog. We call ourselves the coyotes, which we made up when we were 14 so don’t judge… but one of the coyotes is having a baby and all coyote babies deserve quilts.

I was online looking for fabric and then came across the most perfect fabric that has ever been created for a coyote quilt ever!! COYOTES! Cotton and Steel to the rescue!

I got a charm pack of the Cotton and Steel Mesa line then I ordered extra coyote fabric and used five solid colors for the rest of the squares. It’s so super easy… I just cut 5.5″ squares and used 1.5 yds for the back.

We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl so I went with pink binding and a navy backing. I also went with my typical machine binding :) Hopefully coyote baby #7 loves it!!

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