Pinterest Challenge: Bathroom Organizer

I cleaned off my dresser the other day. Yay!
That doesn't sound that impressive until I am humbled and honest and admit that I had to clean it because stuff was piled so high i could no longer see my own face in the mirror behind it. I had to stand on my tiptoes. I'm a slob, folks.
But the dresser is now clear and I had to figure out what to do with the stuff that was up there. Most of it was easy to distribute to other areas... but I had a large collection of hair accessories, and the logical place for those would be the bathroom, but I didn't have a great place in the bathroom to keep them together. I threw them in a box they didn't belong in under the sink.
Then I was trolling pinterest the other day and found this pin:

Source: hobbit-house-h.blogspot.com via Valerie on Pinterest

suggesting you use one of those shoe organizers on the inside of the bathroom cabinets. And I went ding! Great Idea.
And then that same day, I saw The Pinterest Challenge (Fall edition) on YHL and I was all, Challenge Accepted, let's make this happen!
But... I didn't have a shoe organizer to cut up. And I had a very small cabinet door. And I needed some different sizes for various accessories. And... I quickly knew I was going to have to custom make this thing... and I wanted it to be pretty!
Sooooo... I did some measuring, and pulled some pretty fabric from my stash, and it came together pretty quickly. All straight lines, and a couple of pleats... topped it off with a package of gray bias tape... done.
Behold:

The backing is a heavy canvas so it has a little bit of weight to it... but it didn't need to be incredibly heavy duty, because generally hair accesories are pretty light. I was going to put a grommet on each corner to hang it, but I only had one... so button holes worked instead. I used some small 3M hooks to hold it up.

 So I popped it up there, and filled it up right away. Clips, hair pins, and ribbons accross the top. Running headbands and embarrassing hair forms in the middle. (is anyone else embarrased by hair forms? Does anyone else use them? I have one for buns and... a bumpit. I'm pretty embarrassed now.) Bottom row is hair flowers and fancy pins, and decorative headbands.

Having a place for the hair stuff means I was able to organize the rest of the cabinet...

So there you go, now you have seen under my bathroom sink. Awesome, no?
So there you have it. Had a problem. Found a pin. Accepted a pinterest challenge. Put my own pretty Pin Spin on it. And now my life is better for it. Yay.
Have you completed any pinterest projects lately? Accepted any pinterest challenges? Made anything to help organize your bathroom?

(Oh, hey... side note. It just occurred to me last time I did a Pinterest Challenge I also made an organizational piece for my bathroom! that's a weird theme...)

(Also, you should go over to Young House Love and check out their Pinterest Challenge Project-- spoiler alert: It's a really cool big standing chalkboard. Oooh...)

Swingin'

 

Sam needed a swing.
He's almost seven months, he's sitting up like a pro, and he needed some backyard entertainment for Grandpa and Grandma's big backyard. Besides that, kids love swings. What kid doesn't love a swing? It was time.
But let me tell you what I hate... plastic stuff. Especially plastic stuff that stays outside and gets faded and dirty and gross. UGH. So I researched baby swings and decided I did not want plastic. A stroll through pinterest found several pretty wooden ones, but they just didn't look so comfy for my sweet little rollie baby. Then I found a picture of this canvas/hamock style swing, and I was all, YES! Then I saw that it was $135 plus shipping from Australia... and I was like... um, NO. (But if you have $135 to burn... you can check out Swingz and Thingz they've got some super cool stuff!)

Source: swingz.com.au via Valerie on Pinterest

But upon closer inspection, I uttered those dangerous words...

I could make that.

Right?

 So I gathered up my supplies:
1 inch oak dowels
25 ft nylon/poly blend braided 5/16" rope
Steel rings
steel carabiner
rope crimps
about 1 yard of outdoor canvas
Some tools: sewing machine, hammer, pliers, saw, drill press
Sturdy tree branch (still attached to the tree, thank you.)

I started by making the seat. I found this beautiful striped canvas at a fabric outlet, and I love it! I think I will start sewing exclusively with stripes, it's super easy to measure stuff... just FYI.

I cut the large piece 36"x14", the top piece is 14"x11", and the bottom leg piece is 6"x11". (I cut all my pieces from the same long strip that started 60"x14") The way they are laid out in this picture is the shape we are creating for the seat part of the swing.
The first step was to hem the sides of the two vertical pieces. You will be hemming the 11" sides. Here's how I did the hem for this project:

1. Iron over a 1/4 inch to wrong side.
2. Iron over another 1/2 inch to wrong side.
3. Sew two straight seams 1/8 inch from each side of the hem. You have a lovely finished edge, the double seam isn't necessary, but I think it looks really nice.

Next you are going to attach those two pieces to the long horizontal piece. Here's how I attached them and double enforced the seams so they would be extra safe for my little boy...

 1. I ironed over 1/4 inch then another 1/2 inch just like i did in the first two steps above. Then I measured and centered the vertical pieces and pinned them, wrong sides together, just underneath that ironed down hem.
2. Sew two seams, just as you did in part 3 above.
3. Now flip the vertical piece up over the hem you just created, and iron it flat.
4. Top stitch over the two seams you created previously, securing the vertical piece in that position and reinforcing your seams.

The next step is to fold over 3 and sew down 3 inches on all 4 sides (which I unfortunately did not take a picture of...) This creates the casing that your dowel will go through for the frame of the swing. This is the last step of the sewing portion, and your completed seat looks like this:

(note: for smaller children you may want to also sew a cushion or pillow to go behind their back. I made a 12x12" square pillow out of coordinating outdoor canvas to go behind Sam, it was the perfect size.)

Next you create the frame and ropes to hang the swing.
I used 1 inch oak dowels, and cut them to 16". My dad took them to his fancy shop and used fancy tools to put beautiful radius on each end, but that is not structurally important. You can just cut and sand the ends really well so no one gets splinters.

Next you will put a 3/8" hole 1" from  both ends of each dowel. You will want you use a drill press to get the holes exactly straight. You can stain your dowels at this point, if you so desire.

Okay, time for the ropework! I cut 2 lengths of rope (I used a braided nylon/poly blend that was 5/16") 10 feet. You need to use a lighter to melt the ends of the rope so it doesn't fray. Then find the center of the two ropes and thread them through your steel ring and pull it to the center. (When you purchase your ring, make sure it is weight bearing. Though it will never need to hold that much, ALL the materials I used for this project were rated to hold up to 200 lbs. Safety first!)

Then I used a metal rope clamp to bind the four ropes together. You can see an unused one sitting above the ropes, and I have only hammered two of the four prongs onto the rope. (just wanted you to see how this works.)

The completed clamped rope looks like this.The rope clamp is another important safety feature in this swing, without it, the ropes could slide freely through the ring and topple the swing and the little one inside. So be sure to include that!

Now it's time for the fun part... assembly! I was literally dancing about the house by the time it got to assembly. I was SO EXCITED to complete this project and get it up in a tree and a baby in it! So here's how you do it...
Thread your dowels through all four casings in the fabric seat. The front and back dowels will be below the side dowels.

Thread the rope through the holes of two crossed dowels, and create a stopper knot leaving a 2 inch tail of rope. (A simple overhand knot would likely be sufficient, but the stopper knot is a little more sturdy, and I didn't want ANY chance of those knots slipping out when holding my precious and breakable baby) (By the way... I did a ton of research before doing this project and learned a lot about knots and what kinds are appropriate for securing or bearing what kinds of loads... Anyway, I kinda feel like I earned my boyscout badge in knots. Is there even such a thing?)

Oh my gosh! You have a swing! Now you need a safe place to hang it from.  Pick a sturdy branch or beam. This little picture is from the original website where I copied my swing design from... an excellent and informative graphic so I will save my breath... (fingers?)

Again, make sure your carabiner is a weight bearing one. ours was purchased from the hardware store and rated to hold 200 lbs. Check the rating on any hardware you use--for your child's safety!

My dad also decided that Sam might like to swing on their fancy shady porch where we all like to hang out, so he got and eye bolt and hung that in their pergola. (this bolt, when properly installed was rated to hold up to 300 lbs. I know I sound like a broken record here... but when suspending your child double and triple check that all your hardware and rope is rated to hold weight and is installed correctly and safely.)

Okay, are you wiggling so much you can't stand it??? Because I definitely was at this point... my dad was tying knots to the tree and literally could not hold still from swing excitement! Check it out!

Okay, and now, brace yourself for gratuitous photos of cute baby swinging...

Favorite!

Sam loved it! He spent his entire afternoon just swinging and swinging. Then after dinner my dad moved his swing up to the porch... where he fell asleep, still in his swing.

Okay, take a few moments to recover from your cuteness coma, because I am certain you want to know about the price breakdown. Did we swing it for under $135?

2 - 1" oak dowels each 3 ft long : $10
50 ft nylon/poly blend braided 5/16" rope: $12
Package of 2 Steel rings: $2
steel carabiner: $3
Package of 2 rope crimps: $2
1 yard of outdoor canvas + 1/3 yard contrasting: $11
Total cost: $40

However... you'll note that I had to buy 50 ft of rope, but only used 25... And several things I had to buy packages of 2... and I had enough fabric left that I could make a second seat... so if I purchased more dowels and another carabiner, that would total $53... 

Making the approximate cost PER SWING about $26.50

I'd say that's a heck of a lot better than $135+shipping from Australia. Yes? SCORE.

This may be the favorite project I have EVER made. I know that's a pretty dramatic use of absolute qualifiers there, but I love this little swing so much... and I love it even more watching my little Sam swing and squeal with delight. Happy Swingin'!

(I also linked this too the Summer Pinterest Challenge at YHL if you wanna check out some other cool projects...) 

 UPDATED 3/1/13: Check out OSH Revisited: Swingin' for more pics and updates on the swing, and also for an explanation on how to add pics of your swing to the flickr pool! If you have created a swing for your kiddo, I would LOVE to see it! Would you please please share pics with all of us??? Please?

Sam's Quilt

Well, you have already seen glimpses of the finished product (here) but I thought I'd give you a little more detail on Sam's quilt.
I started this quilt in September during the Pinterest Challenge. Here I found the instructions to make a quilt top, and I completed it! Yay!

But after completing the quilt top... I hemmed and hawed and spent a long time trying to decide what to back it with. After much deliberation I decided on a fabric-- the same fabric I covered the changing pad with. I went back to the store to purchase more... and they didn't have it anymore. AUGH! I searched for something else for a few more weeks, and couldn't find anything else I liked as well, so I broke down and ordered the fabric online.

Sooo... This quilt is 'crib size' which turns out is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. When I went to put the back on I all of a sudden realized there would have to be a seam... ugh. I didn't want a seam down the back. I didn't know how to match up the pattern... ugh. So I came up with this solution... I had a bunch of scraps that had been trimmed off the blocks that made the front. I pieced together a strip of irregularly shaped black and white blocks and used that accross the "seam" on the back side. Yay. Crisis averted.
Next I laid it all out and pinned the layers together. (I used an organic cotton quilt batting, already cut to crib size) Then it was time to start quilting. After some deliberation on that subject I decided to just 'stitch in the ditch' along the chevrons with white thread.

...and it took forever. As I have found quilting usually does. sigh. At first I was all... oh, yay, I'm making a quilt for my baby, isn't this lovely and stress releiving. Then it got down to those last weeks before the baby came and I was all I'm ready to be done with this. ALLLLLL of this.  But I DID complete the quilting before Sam got here.

All that was left to be done was to trim the edges and bind the quilt. Which really should not have taken as long as it did to accomplish. But I was indecisive again... and couldn't decide upon a binding fabric (pattern or no? Do I use a solid color? Something already used in the quilt? Just black?) Soooo... I kept putting it off and then!
I had a baby.
So I am just going to point out that it would be a few weeks before I would care about a quilt again. Mmm... okay.
It actually took me four weeks to get back to it after Sam was born. And I bought some green fabric to bind the quilt and got it all home and started it, and decided I didn't like it. SIGH.  So I ran to The Lob one night late while my husband was watching the boy... and bought some black fabric. I gritted my teeth and said URRGH! This must get done!
I used this tutorial to create my binding. I sewed the strips on the back side first...

Then flipped it and sewed down the front with my machine... if I were hardcore I would have hand finished my binding... but I was not that hardcore at this point. Either that, or I don't love my son that much. Yeah, one of those two.

Anywho... I finished it!

 And I love the way it turned out. I presented it to Samuel when he was four weeks old. He snuggled and studied it, and cooed his approval. Which made mama feel good. (Yes, my self esteem is wrapped up in my infant's approval. Don't judge me.)



(Those of you super observant might notice that we got a new fence between quilt top and quilt completion. Don't you like our new fence? It's pretty! Also... the snow you see on the ground there is the total amount of snow we have had so far this season. We were pretty much snowed in for days. It was dramatic.)

See... the new quilt is just a great place to stretch out and take an afternoon nap... mmmm... nap time. (Don't you just love those chubby baby legs? Ahhh! I could just eat him up!)

Pinterest Challenge: Project #4 And Wrap-up!

This post should probably be sub-titled: We hot glued EVERYTHING to this wreath.

SO! Are you getting tired of baby projects yet? If you aren't, you are in luck, becuase I have a ton more coming. If you are, you are in luck... because this one is in no way baby related! YAY.
This project has been over a year in the making. No joke. It's part of the Pinterest Challenge, but it's from back in the day when my personal pinterest use was more like a word document where I posted links to things I wanted to remember... (long before I knew of the wonders and ease of pinterest!)  
(Okay side note again about what was it even LIKE to be crafty before people had the internet-- yes, I know I am showing my age here, but I have pretty much had access to computers as long as I can remember, and access to internet since middle school-- but seriously, old school crafty people are hard core because they either had to be original or go to a lot more trouble to find and steal other people's ideas. I mean, right now... If I wanted to silver leaf a side table, all I would have to do is type it into google, and about 50 images and tutorials would pop up.  Easy as apple pie... which oh man sounds really good. I was thinking about making one this weekend, I think thats going to have to happen. I love fall. Wait... what was I talking about? Crap, I think I just tangent-ed my tangent. Awesome.)

Source: thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com via Valerie on Pinterest

Anywho... well over a year ago I found this lovely wreath. I liked it because it was simple, unique, and mostly because it was square. And I wanted one. Bad enough that I bought the supplies to make it. And... then I didn't. And fall came and went, as did Christmas, and I packed up my fall decor when Christmas went up and forgot about it, until a couple weeks ago I found the same image on pinterest again and though... YES! It's going to happen this year!
So last night Amy Lee came over and we crafted late into the night. But I knew I wanted to get this done for my final pinterest challenge. So let me assure you that this project was, in fact, completed (not much) before midnight on the 30th of Sept... qualifying it for the challenge, by decree of those strict strict rules.

The original inspiration included a tutorial, so check her's out if you want a how to. But it's mostly something like this: Cut a square out of foam board, glue leaves to it, done!
We got fancy and added sparkly berries. And I didn't have a nifty wreath hanger, so we improvised with some gold ribbon. But then I was all, wait, what do I tie the ribbon to? And Amy asked if I had any 3M hooks or tape. Um... no? But I did have a glue gun all hot and bubbling... So uh... you can see where this is going. We hot glued the ribbons to the top of the door, and crisis averted. Because it's so light, it holds easily to the door, but the hot glue peels off with minimal damage (just in case you were wondering.) Win.

 Glued to my door. I love it. It was late and dark out, but I wanted a picture of it from the outside too. Becuase it is made of foamboard and paper leaves it is nice and lightweight and THIN, meaning it fits nicely between our storm door and front door. But it did flop around when you opened the door... nothing a little dollup of hot glue couldn't fix. Yup we glued it to the door. Again.

 I told you we hot glued EVERYTHING to this wreath. Or this wreath to everything. Or something.

Here's a close up, I know it's a little busy, but I kinda like it, and I like how colorful it is. And I am proud that I actually finished it this year. Yay. And thank you Amy Lee for your wreath gluing help. :)
Happy Fall!

...........................................................................

And... That, my friends, wraps up the Pinterest Challenge. I am glad you followed along, and I love those of you who participated! It's my hope that we all learned something from this, becuase here's what I learned: Pinterest (or the internet, or creative blogs...) can be a great resource for inspiration, but they can also be a worthless time-suck if you never stop clicking and start doing. So my personal challenge is keep it up. To continue to let the inspiration be just that-- inspiring me to create and be wonderful things-- and not just stop with a computer click. Amen.

Pinterest Challenge: Stacia Partied!

(I apologize in advance that you will have this song stuck in your head the rest of the day.)

So it's a small world, (after all) and it's amazing how people can appear and reappear in your life over time. Like... Stacia. Who was a floormate and friend my freshman year of college (I think I may have bummed a ride to walmart and church with her a time or two...) but after that year, she left the school and I didn't figure I would ever see or hear from her again. Well her life took her to CO and landed her at the same church (and bible study) as my Grandma, and also the home church of a mutual friend Danielle, who's blog we both read and through which we became re-acquainted. Whew! Did you follow that? (yeah, me neither... really.) But anyway, we are now bloggy friends and... she likes to sew and be crafty and make things for her kids, and when I issued the the Pinterest Challenge, she was already pinning and planning a DIY party for her kiddo...
Fate. Or small world. Or great minds thinking alike. Or sheer coincidence that I want to claim so life seems more exciting.
Anywho... Pinterest Challenge projects:
She made really fun Very Hungry Caterpillar invites, that were sent out in 'bug jars'... so cute!

As well as monogrammed aprons:

(notice the Eric Carle print? I LOVE that so much...)
And also bunting, everyone's fav... which got recycled as decor in her sons room after the party-- smart idea!

And... last but not least some Butterfly and Caterpillar artwork that kiddos created at the party:

So very fun! Oh goodness, what did people do before they had the internet to peruse for genius ideas and inspiration? Did people have to come up with their own ideas? Sounds awful to me. I'm glad I have limitless resources for party planning these days! :)
I'm also glad Stacia picked some fun projects, and it looks like the party was a success!
Soooo... yay! Good work. To see more pictures, and explanations and original links to her inspiration, check out Stacia's blog Five of Spaids.

You can also check out the rest of the Pinterest Challenge if you haven't been following along closely already. This has been so much fun, and great to see people getting stuff done and inspiring each other!