Uncategorized Archives - Page 11 of 14

How to do a Patterned Dot Wall

April 22, 2014 By Taylor 99 Comments

When I found out I was pregnant last year I was of course thrilled for a new little bundle to join our family. Soon after it sunk in, I got super excited to do another nursery! We didn’t find out the gender with either of our boys and they were so close in age that I just used the same nursery for both of them. It was gender neutral and of the “pre-pinterest era” so I have had years to collect ideas and get inspired :) I already knew what I wanted long before I even knew the gender so when I found out this girl was a girl… I knew a dot wall was happening.

I know I’m a little late to the gold-vinyl-dot-wall-party but I still love it, so I thought it would be perfect for the wall behind the crib. I have seen the gold dots randomly placed on walls and while I do love random I wanted a pattern this time. I searched and searched for a tutorial on how to get THIS LOOK in my inspiration photo but I wasn’t able to find much. I called for backup, my mom and sister. I’m sure there are many ways to achieve this look but this is what we did.

I bought gold sticky vinyl online and used my cameo to cut 1.5″ dots. I have the silhouette file saved, if anyone wants it let me know.

Other than my dots, I used these supplies: a ruler, tape measure, piece of cardstock, scissors, some very sticky double sided foam tape and a pencil. The other must have tool is a laser level. I found this one at Home Depot for around $8.

After measuring my wall, my mom (the math star of the team) figured out how far apart my dots could be based on how many dots we had. I bought 8 feet of vinyl (8’x12″) and the dots were 1.5″ in diameter so she figured each dot needed to be 6.5″ apart. The very first two rows are the hardest because you have to get everything set from those, so we started at the top of the wall. Thank goodness for my mom and sister! My sister climbed the ladder for all of the tall dots, I didn’t take over until we were about halfway done. (grainy iphone pic)

The whole trick to getting the pattern to look like a pattern is getting straight lines on your wall, enter the laser level. I’m sure you could also use other methods like an overhead projector, use a regular level with a tape measure and pencil, pop a chalk line, etc. But I really liked this little tool. We used the double sided foam tape on the back which needed to be changed every few rows. Once you get it taped it up it rotates 360 degrees so you can get it lined up correctly after mounting it to the wall.

There is a level on the back but it wasn’t super accurate because of you move it just a hair the line at the end of the wall moves inches up or down! For the first row we started measuring from the ceiling and made a pencil line 6.5″ down on both sides of the wall. For the other rows we measured from the previous dot line. Then we just played with the laser until the line was touching both pencil marks on both sides of the wall.

This is a very hard picture to see but the laser line on the left is below the pencil marks so you have to play with the laser until the the line is perfectly on the marks like the picture on the right.

As far as the spacing on each row we also spaced the dots 6.5″ apart. Instead of holding a ruler or tape measure between every dot we measured a piece of cardstock and used that as the ruler. We measured 6.5″ from outer edge of each dot and made sure the top of the dots lined up with the red laser line.

After you get your first two rows up, its pretty easy. A few other tips… every other dot on our left side had to be cut in half. And I did have one dot that I had to put under the power outlet plate.

I really love how it turned out and I can’t thank my mom and sister enough! We worked one night from about 2-3 hours then I finished it up the next afternoon so it was a pretty quick project. The most time consuming part is getting the level lined up but I love the patterned look so it was worth it!

Here is a little peek at the crib. I will have the details on the bedding and quilt next week.

So does anyone else have a dot wall at their house? Let me know if I left any info out… I am suffering from pregnancy brain lately :)

Triangle Baby Quilt

November 20, 2013 By Taylor 21 Comments

Triangle quilts are all the rage this year so I knew I had to make one for my friend. She isn’t finding out the sex of her baby which I am a big fan of, I was surprised both times too. It adds so much excitement but it can be hard to pick out a gift. I love making baby gifts and I feel like a quilt is the perfect unisex present. I went with a range of colors and even though I added two pinks I made sure to add more blues just in case. But either way- it’s a baby and a little pink on a quilt is OK for a boy in my opinion :)

For the front I used 11 different solid cottons, 1/4 yard of each color. Then I used 1 1/2 yards for both the batting and the back. I made a quilted triangle pillow a few months ago and I cut out all the triangles by measuring. So this time bought a handy little triangle ruler. The template I was using was about 7 1/2″ on every side. I didn’t realize that the flat top on the template was for another quilt pattern and all of my triangles were cut incorrectly. Bummer but since they were all consistently wrong I just went with it.

After I cut all of the triangles out I placed them in stacks. I laid the quilt out in a random pattern and I made sure no color was touching the same color. Then I sewed the triangles together horizontally making rows. I ended up cutting about 115 triangles but only used 8 rows of 12 triangles… so 96 total.

Then I sewed each row together vertically. Because of the flat tops on the triangles it made them more of a trapezoid shape, which turned out OK it just made the quilting part a little different. I placed the back fabric right side down, then the batting then the top. I used very thick and fluffy batting because I thought it would make a perfect “play-on-the-floor-tummy-time-quilt”. Then I placed the quilt on top, right side up. Here is a very rough diagram of how I quilted the whole thing.

I started with 1 and sewed horizontally all the way across each line. The diagram just shows 4 lines but I actually did all the the horizontal lines down the full length of the quilt. After I was done with that I started the zig-zag quilting. Because of the trapezoid shape I wasn’t able to just make diagonal lines. I actually started in the middle and did that zig-zag pattern down each “line”. This made it look like every “triangle” was separate, which I loved!

I just used some white cotton that I already had lying around for the binding so I’m not really sure how much I used. The quilt ended up to be 42″ x 52″ so that will give you an idea for the length of the binding. Also, The day I went out and took pictures I got some awesome sun-flares… Baby Quilt Magic :)

Before I quilted everything I added this little TaylorMade tag to one of the triangles.

I honestly thought about keeping it for myself because I loved it so much. I guess that makes a good gift, if you want to keep it! Now I just need to make one in my size.

Skunk Costume

October 29, 2013 By Taylor 15 Comments

A few months ago we were in the car and my oldest announced that he wanted to be a skunk for Halloween. Kind of awesome and pretty random. But I just knew he would change his mind. Then a few weeks later he asked if I made his skunk costume yet (smart boy). He is very in to super heroes so I was still thinking he would change his mind, but then on a trip to Joann’s, he pointed out fabric that would make a good skunk costume. I guess he was serious.

First, I bought a black long sleeved shirt and some black pants. Then I got some back and white fur and thought about how it would all come together. But I spotted this post from Ari where she used Sarah’s Bimaa Pattern to make a Viking Hoodie for her adorable son. Both of these ladies are super talented InstaGram friends of mine :) I knew it would be the perfect skunk head. I already had the shirt so instead of making a new one, I just did a little hacking!

I used the pattern for the hoodie part. I added my little skunk ears before sewing the panels together. Then I used the Bimaa pattern to make a new neckline so the hoodie and shirt would match up correctly. Yall, this pattern is awesome!

I cut a strip from the white fur and sewed a hem around all four sides, that fur is messy business. I pinned it right down the middle and sewed it directly on the shirt (before I added the hoodie).

For the tail I used the fur, batting and a clothes hanger so it stands up! I just used a piece of elastic for the band around the waist and that is what the tail is sewn to.

The best thing is this costume is really comfortable. It’s soft and cozy and I had to bribe him to take it off after out photo shoot!

So there you have the skunk. I love how it turned out! Stay tuned tomorrow for his brother’s costume reveal, it’s another woodland creature… any guesses?

Make a Fabric Flower Pot

October 2, 2013 By Taylor 5 Comments

Back in 2011, one of the very first things I ever “pinned” was this. A fabric covered flower pot, which also led me to one of my favorite bloggers Ashley Ann Photography. I have thought about them for years but the main problem is that I am not a “plant person”. I am crafty and I am a mom yes, but I kill all plants. But I am trying to change that and I thought a cute pot would help.

I used my new Martha Decoupage because it’s waterproof and it’s my new obsession. I want to cover everything in it.

I cut pieces of fabric and started wrapping them around the pot. I started with decoupage underneath. The terracotta really soaks it up so I had to add a thick layer. I just folded the fabric under on the bottom of the pot.

I used 3 big sections of fabric and overlapped them so I didn’t have any folds.

It dried pretty quickly and I attempted to pot my plant which is a funny story. I bought the plant a week before potting it and I left it in my hot, Houston garage in the middle of summer for a week. My mom came over and let me know I was suffocating it. I didn’t even know that was a thing. Wish me luck keeping it alive, it already has one strike against it.

She lives in my craft room now, I have already remembered to water her :) Is anyone else not a green thumb at all?

Also, (this is totally unrelated to flower pots) this month I was featured in an online publication, DIY Lifestyle Magazine! I am super excited! They are letting all of you guys have the issue for free :) If you have an iPad… Check out the September issue of the DIY Lifestyle Magazine. Many DIY projects were contributed by talented bloggers and my article was published in this month’s issue! For your free trial download the magazine here: http://bit.ly/T2rMXd then click on subscribe. Next, click current subscribers and enter in the promo code: septfree1 to get the current issue for free; and do it soon because the coupon is only valid until October 8, 2013. Enjoy!