crafting Archives - Page 3 of 10

Vintage Book Bunting

July 10, 2013 By Taylor 14 Comments

We are still unpacking boxes over here but that doesn’t mean I can’t decorate. We spend a lot of time in this room. When we were looking for a house, a playroom was something I really wanted. It wasn’t a deal breaker but I thought it would be nice. Now that I have had one for a month… I am all about the playroom. It is one of the bedrooms which is also nice because it isn’t in the main living area. The boys love it and I hang out in here a lot too. This room will change in the coming years but for now, its perfect for us. It needs some love… paint the trim, curtains, stuff on the walls. I have a fun closet organization post coming soon too.

My Moms’s Mom gave me a big box of old family books a few years ago and I have been saving them for something special. We read the ones from my childhood. But there were a few from when my mom was little, so pretty and vintage but falling apart.

I wanted to display them but preserve them too so I made a bunting to go around two walls of the playroom.

I started by carefully removing the pages from the binding. Some of the pages were especially loved and I tried to include those too.

Then I cut them all into a flag shape using my paper cutter.

Then my favorite part, I sewed them together.

I love how it turned out!

Happy boy and a happy room. How many of you have playrooms, do you find yourself spending a lot of time there? And do you have any special books that are just begging to become bunting?

How to Save Your Leaves – Leaf Art

May 15, 2013 By Taylor 7 Comments

Last fall my Mom, Sister and I took a girls trip to the East Coast. It was on my Mom’s bucket list to see the leaves change and we came along for the ride :) Here in Texas we have no seasons… we have warm, hot, hotter, warm again then a series of cool fronts for a winter with mild days between. We were in awe with all of the colors and the history of the cities. The locals there told us we “were a week late” to see the really good colors- Of course we didn’t know that! To anyone who lives on the east coast and sees this every year- I think you take this for granted.

I wanted a way to “save” some leaves so I placed them away in a notebook and brought them home. My mom is going to start a gallery wall for her office so I though some leaf art from New England might be the perfect touch. I measured the frame and used craft paper cut the the right dimensions and taped it down.

Then I mod podged the back of the leaves and placed them on the craft paper where I wanted.

I pressed them down a little and then mod-podged the tops. Careful not to get it too thick outside of the leaf or it will dry darker.

Then I added a little trip reminder.

The Mod Podge makes the paper a little “rumply” so I stacked book on top after it dried.

Then frame it. The Mod Podge has sealed in the colors so far so hopefully they don’t fade too much.

So who all is from the East Coast and gets to live in this beauty… and who is with me on no seasons?

A Chevron Painting + a Video

October 8, 2012 By Taylor 12 Comments

I did a painting last week and had the bright idea to record myself painting then I could play it in fast mode and it would look really cool. Well, lets just put it this way, I wanted to post this last week because it took me 53 minutes from start to finish to paint. Then it took me five days to figure out the video. Some long nights included. Anyone who does anything with video- good job. I am not going to stick to photos because I get along a lot better with them.
I like to set “art goals” for myself and one of them is to be a messy painter. You know those people who get all crazy and messy with paint then it ends up coming out amazing, well that is not me. I am always too controlled and I tend to over work everything. When I saw Jennifer Moreman’s work, I instantly fell in love! Her work is awesome and if you can afford it you should totally own a piece of hers. I was really inspired and I thought this messy chevron painting would be perfect. I still like hers one hundred times better, but I think I did a pretty good job at not being perfect.

If you want to see just how messy I was, here is my video that took me five days to “produce” haha…
(Internet Explorer Users have to click on the link here:)
Chevron Movie by TM from taylor on Vimeo.
music: Van Morrison – Bright Side of the Moon

Here it is in my living room, right next to my Hippo. No, you have never seen this side of the living room before, can you blame me? Look at the embarrassing tv… and just to keep with the theme, you can also see random toys lying around and a channel changer on the coffee table. (Not picture ready – but keeping it real)

Even if you didn’t, please lie to me and tell me you watched my video haha… it was a labor of love :)

How To Be A Gentleman

September 28, 2012 By Taylor 17 Comments

I can’t seem to get enough of hand embroidered wall art lately. When I saw THIS PIN a few months ago, I knew I wanted to make something similar for Finn’s room. I used it as inspiration but I also changed and added a few rules of my own.

The last rule is totally me… it says “always call your mom”. This is my biggest fear of having two boys, I hope they don’t turn 18, say bye mom thanks for everything, I’m off to find a new girl then call once every few months. Maybe if I start brainwashing them now they will call me :)

I used iron on vinyl for the small letters but hand embroidered the rest. I printed out a template for the embroidery and then just used a pencil and traced to give myself a guide.

I also traced a border around the outside with pencil.

Then I started to embroider. I find it very relaxing for some reason… I like to sit in bed and do it while I watch TV… Geez how old am I? My husband calls me the youngest old person he knows.

Lastly, I ironed on my vinyl.

I love how it turned out. So far this makes one thing to hang on poor Finn’s walls haha.

So do you have any rules to add? I live in Texas y’all, I have to raise gentlemen. Also, does anyone else have sons and want to weigh in on how often they call? Go easy on me :/

Also, I entered this into the Borderline Brilliant Contest, so PRETTY PLEASE vote for me, #14 :)