Tag: diy

Craft Projects, Quick and Easy Crafts

Impromptu wood “frame”

Jessica Smith

My daughter is a lucky girl. She is so loved by our family and our friends and you can feel it in her nursery. Her walls are adorned with pieces of art that loved ones have made for her. It warms my soul.

flamingo-painting

Our friend Kate just painted a sweet flamingo painting for her, so I made an impromptu frame for it (if you can call it that).

wood

I found a piece of scrap wood in our basement and cut it down to size with a jigsaw. Then, I sanded down the edges.

tacks

After centering the painting on the wood, I tacked it down with, yes, tacks.

drillmarks

Then I drilled two holes for twine so I could hang the frame on the wall. It was a quick and easy way to display her beautiful new piece of art.

flamingoframe

Check out some of Kate’s other beautiful artwork.

 

Home Improvement

No splinters for you!

Jessica Smith

My husband and dad did the un-fun task this summer of redoing our deck. After years of weather left the decking worn and splintery, we decided it was time — especially with a baby soon to be on the move. We didn’t want to have to worry about her soft skin on the rough wood.

Speaking of our little one, I was on baby duty, so I wasn’t much help on this project. OK, I wan’t any help. And I’ll admit, it was tough to just be a spectator! But I documented, and that’s something… right?

Here’s the deck (mostly) before:

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You can see some of the damage on the individual boards here. Thankfully the supports were in good shape so they only had to replace old boards and railings.

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New treads!

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New rails:

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For the decking, they took off some of the old boards before adding the new boards. It was easier and safer for them to work that way.

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The baby liked to watch.

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They discovered the most perfect egg during the renovation.

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Progress:

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Here is the final result:

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The best part? The Maryland flag and baby swing.

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It took them a week to do the project, and it turned out wonderfully.

Craft Projects, Quick and Easy Crafts

Whimsical (Faux) Dreamcatcher

Jessica Smith

I found a bunch of unused ribbon when cleaning my craft room a few weeks ago and decided to put it to use by turning it into a whimsical dreamcatcher.

For this project I needed:

  • 1 small embroidery hoop
  • Lots of ribbon
  • Tape
  • Embellishments
  • Thread
    Dreamcatcher1

Steps:

  1. First, separate your embroidery hoop. You only need the inner circle.
  2. Take ribbon and wrap the embroidery hoop. Secure the ends with tape or glue. Mine didn’t meet up, but it didn’t matter.
    Dreamcather_2
  3. Create a hanger for the dreamcatcher by knotting a piece of ribbon in the empty area or where your ends meet. Wrap that ribbon around to cover the tape/glue used to secure the other ribbon. Knot to secure the hanger and tuck and excess ribbon  and the knot underneath ribbon wrapped around the hoop.
  4. Hang your colorful ribbon in random lengths along the bottom of your dreamcatcher, opposite the hanger. Depending on the style of ribbon, I either knotted the ribbon to keep it secure, or simply looped it through itself to keep it attached. (Tip: The thick, wavy ribbon was really hard to knot, so I looped this to secure. Thinner strands knotted and likely would’ve fallen off over time. I basically judged by the style of ribbon.)
    Dreamcatcher_3
    I wanted more color and more volume, so I ran to Michael’s to grab a few more spools of ribbon.
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  5. Add any embellishments you want! I made a felt flower for mine. You can see a tutorial for that here. To secure it to the dreamcatcher I simply stitched it through a few strands of the ribbon I’d wrapped around the hoop.
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  6. Hang and enjoy!
    Dreamcatcher_Final

It’s not a real dream catcher because I didn’t add strands of ribbon through the middle of the hoop to catch dreams, but it’s so charming nonetheless.

Pro tip: Ribbon is shockingly expensive. I had a bunch in my craft room, and for the extras I hit up the ribbon dollar bin at JoAnne’s (pre-project) and the $0.50 ribbon section at Michael’s (mid-project). Overall, this cost me $3.50 for the extra ribbon and $1.17 for felt — I had the rest of the supplies on hand. It’s even cuter since it cost under $5!