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A Gallery Wall

July 26, 2012 By Taylor 8 Comments

Hi Guys! I feel liked I haven’t blogged in a long time (only a week) but time is really slow when everyone in your family has the stomach flu one. after. another. And “Mom” isn’t the best role to have when it comes to puke. Anyway we are all better and getting ready for Finn’s Big 3yr Old Birthday Party! I will have a Party Post for you next week… but in the mean time, here is my new Gallery Wall.

To me, the beauty of a gallery wall is that its a work in progress at all times. I am a big lover of “change”. I mean- when I list my hobbies, one of them is rearranging. So the Gallery Wall is perfect for me because I can change it easily, I can add to it and I can be on the hunt for unique stuff. Its also perfect for small pieces that would look weird on a large wall. Speaking of looking weird, here is my living room haha… I don’t like the layout at all, this isn’t our forever house and to be honest we have already outgrown it. See the faux playroom in the corner :/ Why do kids have so much stuff??

So what exactly are all of those pieces and what do they mean to me?

1. One of my favorites: When I was a teacher, a cute student of mine made me this bird puppet. The best part is if you open it, there is a detailed bird mouth. I love it!

2. My mom painted this when she was 20 and it has been somewhere in my room the whole time I was growing up.

3. from Target
4. from Ampersand
5. Ahh, I LOVE this, its new and it’s my very own Katie Daisy :) I love the saying, the colors and everything about it… this pic doesn’t do it justice but it is so pretty in real life. You can find it HERE. I really love THIS one too… I’m thinking about it

6. This was a deal of the day on Pick Your Plum one morning, its our last name :)
7. I loved THIS ancestry chart tutorial from Homemade by Jill, she was so sweet to email me the file so I could print it on my silhouette too! I have only done mine and hope to do another one for my husband. I didn’t realize how hard it would be but I love searching and asking all of my grandparents what they know. (which apparently isn’t a lot from the looks of it – oh cool dad, glad you know your parents name :)

8. from my aunt’s local store – Nana’s Attic
9. Lula and Gus – love this! You can find it HERE. I have a total bird theme in my house so it fits right in :)

So does anyone else have a gallery wall? I hope to one day have a full wall floor to ceiling full of cool pieces.

Sweet Dreams Puppy Pillow

April 20, 2012 By Taylor 14 Comments

Remember my sneak peak yesterday? In case you missed it, Martha Stewart for Plaid sent me the best package ever and I was asked to make a Mother’s Day Craft using the supplies. It was Christmas in March the day all of the supplies came :)

Can you believe it? Ahh craft overload. Anyway, my Mom loves the outdoors and animals and specifically her dogs :) They are like her second set of kids, so when I thought about a Mother’s Day craft I thought about dogs. Enter the Puppy Pillow. The coolest thing in my Martha Stewart Package was the Heating Tool. I was kind of scared at first but no need to be scared! This thing is soooo cool!

You use this stencil film & tape:

And you tape the film down to a piece of glass. Then you place whatever you want under the glass as a template and you can make your own stencil! I just sketched that puppy but you can use anything to guide you.

The next part is really exciting haha… the heating tool cuts through the plastic like butter. My tip is to go at a consistent somewhat quick pace because if you go to slow or have to stop and start then it melts the plastic in a blob.

Then I used the adhesive stencil spray which sticks the stencil down once you are ready to paint. Because my stencil was so large, it wanted to roll up, so I taped it right side down so the adhesive covered evenly.

Then I stuck it to the fabric for my pillow. My happy rocks also double as pattern weights.

I used these brushes to paint in the stencil.

And this is my new favorite thing, the brush cleaner… the paint comes off really easily.

When I was telling my Mom about the project I told her I wanted to either do a gold glittered dog or a solid bright color and she said why not a gold glittered nose, so cute!

I let the painted pup dry and then I added a little reverse appliqued bone dream :)

Proceed with the pillow making.

Sweet Bone Dreams Puppy…

Thanks to Martha Stewart and Plaid for my amazing bag of craft supplies and inspiration for my pillow! I think pup fits in nicely. Check out Plaid on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for more inspiration.

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are 100% my own.

Burlap Pennant Banner and Bias Tape

February 1, 2012 By Taylor 12 Comments

Happy February! Don’t you just love February, its so festive and fun and for me it means Baby Boy’s Birthday, Rodeo, the beginning of Spring and of course the obvious – Valentine’s Day. I wanted to make a Valentine Banner for my mantle but then I realized how long the word “V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E” really is. And “LOVE” and “BE MINE” are a little overplayed (which I don’t really even mind ha :) So I came up with the word “HEART”, it fits right?

The “burlap pennant” craze has taken over and it really is such an easy craft, so if you are new at crafting its a great simple little project. Not to mention burlap is super cheap. Simple Steps:Cut your burlap into the flags. If you plan on keeping this decoration then I recommend doing a zig-zag stitch around each flag to keep from fraying.

Then use a stencil to spell out your word. You can just use regular cheap acrylic craft paint and a sponge brush.

Once the flags dry, you can attach them a number of ways… you could just hot glue them to some twine or yarn, but I sewed mine onto bias tape.

Let’s talk about bias tape… there are options. You can get most solid colors at the fabric store in various sizes. For projects where the bias tape is going to add a lot, like a quilt or this tablecloth, I like to make my own.

It speed things up if you have a bias tape maker. They even make bias tape maker machines. Fancy Pants.

Once you have made/bought your bias tape, just sandwich your flags between and sew directly over the bias tape.

I’m not getting crazy with the V-day decor cause little man’s Bday is next week. If you know me at all you know that I don’t think it’s festive unless we have streamers and balloons. I hope he likes red.

So how do you feel about bias tape, do you make your own? I think it is much cuter than store bought, and does anyone have that machine? I eyeball it all the time and wonder if anyone has one.

Color Wheel Clock

July 5, 2011 By Taylor 17 Comments

Have you noticed the “embroidery hoop craze” that is going around? Just search “embroidery hoop” on Pinterest and see what I mean… everything from chalkboards, cork boards, picture frames, and wall art. I thought I’d jump on the Embroidery Hoop bandwagon and I need a clock in the living room, perfect! Fun fact: I went through a small phase in 8th grade when I wanted to collect clocks then I realized they are really noisy at night and got rid of them all. Meet The Color Wheel Clock.

You can get really creative with this, I actually went to the store for an embroidery hoop and a Clock Kit then came home and decided on the Color Wheel and fabric idea. You can use anything for the “hours” of the clock. I thought about buttons, rocks and abstract numbers. But being an art dork I really loved the Color Wheel. What You Need:-Clock Kit (I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $5.99)– One fat quarter for the background of the clock-Embroidery Hoop (mine is 10″)-fabric scraps in 12 different colors– fusible interfacing

Directions: Cut your fabric Scraps out and iron the fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric

Trace a 1″ circle on the back of the interfacing and cut it out

I painted the outside of my embroidery hoop gold to match the clock hands and the screw on the hoop

Fit your background fabric on the embroidery hoop. Measure 5″ from side to side and top to bottom to find the exact center and mark it.

Also mark the spots for each hour

Remove the fabric from the hoop and start placing the color wheel circles in place. Do this on your ironing board so you don’t have to move it once everything is in place. Don’t forget to remove the paper on the back of the interfacing. Iron them down.

Read the instructions on that came with your clock… (it was boring enough the first time so I don’t remember the exact steps; but I did take a pic) It looks daunting but it was really simple.

Cut a little “X” in the middle where you marked your center spot

Push the clock back through and assemble the clock.

Trim the excess fabric around the hoop

I think I am addicted to embroidery hoops now, I have already bought three more, good thing they are only about $2 each! What have you made with embroidery hoops that I need to know about? Or even better if you have a picture upload them to the Taylor Made flickr group and show me what ur workin with.