New Project for a New Baby Boy

Haven't had much time to blog. I work for a Performing Arts organization and the dance department's year-end recital is at the beginning of May. Less than a month away, so I have been spending a lot of time prepping for that. But, Monday is my day off and today I decided to really take the day off, and do a project. 

A friend had a baby recently and I wanted to make my signature bunting. Also, I have been dying to try this tutorial for a Fabric Bucket from here. So I got out my adorable Squirrel Fabric, and every piece of coordinating fabric I own, and made this:

I used these fabrics, but nixed the white at the last second. Too many solids.

Started with the triangular bunting...

Best tip ever: snip the corners!

End product:

These squirrels and birdies are just adorable. 

Those are the same aqua birdies from the pillow in this post.

 Can't go wrong with grey and white polka dots.

I don't love the black bias-tape on top, but I can't find aqua or grey bias tape anywhere! Orange would have looked good, but I doubt it would have been burnt sienna enough to match the acorns... so I had to settle for black. 

 And now for my new creation, the fabric bucket. 

The top can be folded down...

Or left up...

There's a great tutorial at http://inspiredbyfamilymag.com/2012/01/15/diy-fabric-bucket/ so I won't repeat the work they've already done...

I used felt instead of interfacing... I'm too cheap to get interfacing, plus I always forget to look for it at the store. 

Btw-- the bucket is sitting on one of the Kids Pottery Barn chairs I've been working on for forever. I've completed painting 2 out of 4 of them. See full post here.

I sewed a little X on the bottom to give it an extra element.

A look inside...

Stuff diapers, wipes, etc. in it. 

I can't get over the natural lighting that was coming in when I took these photos.

I haven't given it to the recipient yet, but I hope they like it! It was fun to do a new sewing project. It was pretty easy to follow the tutorial. I got some great new fabric today that matches Ivy's room: dark blue, light greens and pink and grey and white... and... and... just kidding. Anyway, I want to make one of these fabric buckets for her room. 

Check out my other bunting posts here and here and here.

Aloha, Becca

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$2 Shelf - COMPLETED!

I took on the March "Before & After" challenge at www.shineyourlightblog.com. My first project was the $2 shelf. See the original post here.

BEFORE:

in process...

AFTER:

Painted in Shiloh

top shelf

 middle shelf...

bottom shelf...

The brown catch-alls in the center and the crystal one on the right were my grandma's. The brown one has a note in it from my grandma. Those kinds of things make me really happy.

The shelf is up on our bedroom wall, and now that it's up, I really want to paint the walls. A pool blue? Grey? Sage? Celery? I think it would make the shelf look better. But how can I justify to my landlords that I should be able to paint the walls because I want a shelf to look better? 

I had actually finished the shelf a couple weeks ago. I hung it up, staged it, didn't take any photos, then got a text from my husband a few hours later: 

"Your shelf was hanging by a thread 

with half of the stuff you had on it on the ground..."

Oops. Thank you Kit for hanging my shelf properly. Thank you to the people who had the garage sale last month who gave this to me for $2. :)

Aloha, 

Becca

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$0.50 Hanging Planter

Since I work every Saturday, I've been hitting garage sales on Sundays. One of our teenage captains at work, (yes, you, Kaitlen...) says I have a problem: "If you're going to garage sales on Sundays, I think you have a problem." This is what she says to me as we're driving to classes every Saturday and I'm looking longingly at the garage sale signs we pass, instead of at the road. 

I don't have a problem. I just have a scheduling conflict. 

Well a few Sundays ago, Ivy and I left church to go scope out the sales. I found this beauty:

$0.50. That's right... $0.50!

Then the lady threw in a ton of trinkets for Ivy-- 

-#1 reader necklace/medal thing-y

-a Jasmine Trias single from when she was on American Idol

-some more Excellent Reader memorabilia

-a thick plastic red bangle (which I plan to steal from Ivy and Modge Podge vintage fabric to it...)

The wires were a little uneven, but they adjusted soooooo easy. 

I put it up on our lanai and stole a few flowers my mom had left over from her Sunday School craft. About two weeks later she finally noticed the hanging planter was up and said, 

"I was wondering where all the flowers went." 

(We live next door to my parents... it took her 2 weeks to even notice the planter... haha, I love my mom). 

 

I got that chime at my baby shower from some friends on Kauai. It was hung above Ivy's changing table for her to stare at. Now that she's done with the changing table, we hung it on our lanai. 

It's the simple things in life. Like a $0.50 garage sale hanging planter. How long till I brush it lightly with my go-to paint color, Shiloh?

--Becca

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Pure Indulgence... No place for the Aqua Birdie Pillow

I bought a cute aqua birdie fabric from Sew Special here on Maui a few weeks back. (I also got 1/4 yard of an adorable matching squirrel print... sounds weird, i know, but it is ADORABLE). 

I love aqua. All my dishes are aqua. But for some reason, it took me a long time to figure out what project was just perfect for this aqua birdie fabric! Well, yesterday I finished Cailin's pillows she requested, and I loved the grey I used in them. Pillows take no time at all to make, so I gave in and used the aqua birdie fabric... and some white... and the leftover grey... to make a teeny little pillow. I already had a random pillow insert floating around, naked without a pillow case. 

A few seams later-- tada!

And this black vinyl chair... I had plans for this chair... but I kind of like it as is.

It was $5 @ Salvation Army. Marked down from $13. 

The metal legs have a hint of rust, but like I said, I kind of like it.

And by the way, my pic of this Urban Outfitters rug under the chair from this post, was reposted a million (exaggerating) times on pinterest. It was my first pin to go viral... !

Back to the aqua birdie pillow:

So, I have my cute pillow... but it really doesn't go anywhere in our house. I think it's because grey is not really one of our home colors... Kit wants more black in our home, so maybe that will help... but for now, I don't care that it doesn't match anything. The pillow is cute. 

Aloha,
--becca

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