Craft room to Nursery

When we found out we were having a new little girl, we decided it was time for my craft room to become her Nursery. Bye bye craft room…

 

Because we live in a 1950s house and for some reason they liked the idea of needing to go through one bedroom to get to the next…we had to do a little remodeling.  Hubby decided to take out one of the built in shelves and put in a new hallway…

 

 

 

Bye bye wall…

Hello Hubby! Everyone say hi and thank you!

By the way…this used to be a closet for our office…

   

Old wall gone…new hallway installed…new door installed.

Old office…

Old shelves…

Come back tomorrow to see what it looks like now….

Guest Posting today

Hello sweet readers!

I'm guest posting over at 

Karen {At} Home

Stop by and see my post and also check out the other Stay at Home Mom posts. It's really neat to see everyone's take on this awesome job...we call Mom!

Also, check out the items in my Etsy shop! I listed a few items last night and I'm very excited about my new business venture!

Hugs to you all!

Annette

It's official...I have a Facebook Fan Page

Just wanted to let you know....

I'm now on Facebook. Just click over and give me a "Like" if you will.

Designs By A Rose

Thanks to my awesome readers, friends and family...my sewing/crafty biz dream is about to become a reality!

Valentine's Day gift...

I LOVE love LOVE purple roses.

The hubby decided to get me purple roses for Valentine's Day, but wanted something that would keep giving.

He ordered a purple rose bush online and had it delivered to me. 

When it came in he planted it and we watered it and watered it and watered it.

Now look what I have greeting me every morning when I walk out the door...

Such prettiness!!!

He tells me I can have purple roses all year now....

I love my husband!!!!

Chalkboard earring holder

Here is an easy way to make an earring holder 

(and a good excuse to use the chalkboard paint I bought forever ago)

Get yourself an old picture frame and a screen. You can use a piece of window screen, chicken wire, etc. I've even seen people string yarn or wire across a picture frame. Whatever suits you.

Prime and paint the picture frame. I painted it black to make a nice base for the black chalkboard paint.

Once the primer and paint dries, spray on / brush on a coat of chalkboard paint. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby, but Wal-mart, Lowe's and many other places sell the stuff.

Make sure to let the chalkboard paint dry for at least 24 hours before touching it!

Once the paint has dried, attach your screen to the back of the frame. I used hot glue. You could also use a heavy duty stapler.

I also added a couple pieces of pretty ribbon to make a hanger. You can do whatever your heart desires at this point.

Run a piece of chalk (held sideways) all over the frame, then rub off. This makes the chalkboard paint set and you can write until you are a happy camper. 

I just wrote my daughter's initials.

Put you some pretty earrings on it and hang it on the wall. 

Lovely!!!

Bassinet skirt

As you know...we're getting ready for a new baby girl. 

I can't resist going all out girlie with her room. (You probably already figured that out with the rosette lamp.)

I started searching for the perfect bassinet skirt. I found a few really awesome versions, but just couldn't afford their prices.

Source Price: $899.00

Source Price: $1100.00

Source Price: $1044.00

So, I decided to make my own version. Here's what I came up with...

Won't my sweet Scarlett be sleeping in style?

Just wait until you see the crib bedding!!!

Oh, and if anyone's interested...I'm going to be selling custom bassinet skirts and crib bedding on etsy soon! Just have to get all my pics uploaded.

 I'm VERY excited!!!!

Edited to add: I'm linking up with the following parties:  

 House of Hepworths

Rosette tutorial

After posting the rosette lamp and a few other rosette crafts, I had a friend ask...how do you make those rosettes? There are quite a few tutorials out there and many ways to make them, but this is my version.

First gather your supplies: 

1 to 2 inch wide strips of fabric. The length is dependent on how large you want your rosette to be. I tend to start with 10" long strips and can add additional strips as I need them. (20 inches long, will make about a 2 inch diameter rosette), needle, and thread. 

If you plan to attach to a head band or alligator clip you will need the head band or clip, a piece of felt and hot glue

You will notice that the fabric strips do not have to be exactly the same size. Also, I like the way the frayed edges look. If you prefer a more finished look you could stitch the sections and turn them to make the seam hidden and all finished sides.

Begin by tying one end into a knot. It can be loose or tight depending on how you want your rosette to look. I like the way it looks when I start with a loose knot. Play with it until you find what you prefer.

Start your stitches. I run one stitch through the knot and then start twisting my fabric around the knot.

Twist as you go and wrap around the original knot. 

(Forgive the nails. I gave up on manicures when I started taking prenatal vitamins. I'd have to get a manicure once a week to keep up with these crazy growing things!)

Continue twisting and wrapping. Remember to add a stitch every so often. The more stiches, the sturdier your rosette. If you plan to use as a hairbow or on a headband, you will definitely want to use extra stiches. If you plan to attach to something more permanent, you can get a way with less.

Here is the rosette after about 20 inches of fabric. I could stop here, but I want to make it a little larger.

This is after another 10 inches. Looks good to me.

It looks so pretty attached to a baby crocheted headband.

But, it can easily be made into a hairclip. Just cut a circle of felt, a little smaller than the rosette.

Put a good amount of hot glue on the felt and stick on your rosette. Attach your alligator clip with hot glue and you have a cute hairbow.

If you want to attach to an adult style headband, you would attach the felt the same way, then attach to the headband. Using another piece of felt and a little more hot glue you would attach the 2 pieces of felt over the headband. (Sorry didn't have one here to show you)

Let me know if you have any questions or need more explanation.

I was featured...

I'm so honored! My Pottery Barn knockoff lamp was featured on Homebody! 

Thanks Holly!!!

Click over to see Holly's awesome blog!

Pottery Barn knockoff - Pink rosette lamp

I have been eyeing a lamp at Pottery Barn for months. As soon as we found out we were having a girl, I knew I had to have it. The hubby didn't agree when he saw the price! The original one we found was $169.00

I just absolutely love all it's pink girly-ness (and yes that is a word, I made it one!!!)

When I went back to Pottery Barn to find it, I couldn't find that version anymore, but did find a slightly less expensive version at $99.00. Hubby still wouldn't go for it!

(source)

Wouldn't it just be perfect in a sweet little baby girl's nursery? Yep, I thought so too!

Why doesn't the hubby see it my way! Ugh!!!

Oh well, in comes Goodwill! Hubby likes their prices much better. Now just to find the perfect lamp...

Lamp shade: $2.99, lamp base: $3.99. Half off Saturday makes the total: $3.50! Score!!!! The mechanical part was a little loose, but Hubby said he could fix it and if it didn't work could buy the replacement parts at Lowe's for just a few dollars. Luckily, he was able to tighten it down and it works!!!

It's a cute lamp to begin with, but I knew I could make it better. First, I had to remove the little rosettes. I don't know if they were professionally glued on or if someone tried to do a lamp makeover, but those suckers didn't want to come off. I finally gave in to leaving the glue behind. I knew it wouldn't be seen. 

Cover it with pink material. (I just used a light pink cotton lining material. I only needed it for the areas where the new rosettes wouldn't cover.) I also ran a piece of pink satin ribbon along the top and bottom to clean up those areas. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect the rosettes will cover it. I forgot to take a pic with the ribbon. 

After I made, what felt like a million rosettes, I started gluing them on. How many you need will depend on your lamp shade and the size of the rosettes. Even though I cut all the fabric strips 1 1/2" by 30" they came out in different sizes. That's fine, it actually helped cover the lampshade better. No I didn't count the final amount of rosettes, but I can say I ended up using about 3 yards of fabric!!! 

To glue them on, I just used my glue gun and glue sticks. I put a medium size glob of glue in the center of the rosette and then placed it where I wanted. Holding it down for a few minutes til it set. I didn't glue the outside edges of the rosettes, because I was going for a puffy look.

If you look closely in this pic, you can see the pink ribbon around the top of the lampshade.

I forgot to mention..I painted the base of the lamp with a white gloss paint before I started on the shade. It's much better than the yucky yellow color it was before.

Here she is in all her glory! I think I love it better than the original Pottery Barn version!

Since the cord was a ugly yellow see through thing, I covered it with a cord cover. One thought on making those...make sure you cut your fabric wide enough to go over the plug end! I thought I had it wide enough, but when I finished sewing all 70 inches, and turning it right side out...it wasn't long enough. Luckily, I was at the point where Hubby was working on the mechanical parts, so he just took the wire out of the lamp and let me put the cord cover on, then put the wire back in. Have I told you lately how much I LOVE the Hubby?

Now for a side by side comparison:

What do you think?

Okay, now for the cost breakdown:

Lamp and lampshade $3.50

Paint $0.99

Fabric: $3.00

Glue sticks: Free - already had

Total: $7.49

Suh-weet!!!!!

I'm partying with Holly at Homebody today. Click over to see other knockoffs.

Also linking up with The Girl Creative. Click over to see what other's whipped up!