Being Crafty...

I've been doing some serious nesting over here lately, and, besides washing lots of baby clothes, that has included starting/wrapping up a few DIY projects for Claire's room. Despite the fact that I'm no Martha Stewart, I am really happy with how everything has turned out so I wanted to pass along the tutorials to you guys. If I can do it, anyone can do it!

This first one is a hair bow and head band holder made from an old picture frame (I already had it laying around, but it was bronze and not so pretty) and ribbon. I found the cute flower accents for the corners on sale at Tuesday Morning for $.99. Score!

You can find the tutorial here: bow holder

This next project was also super cheap and pretty easy. Both the hot pink birds and the yellow gingham background are made from scrapbook paper. The nice thing about this is that scrapbook paper is only about $.50 a piece, and there are a ton of colors and patterns to choose from (I found mine at Joanns). The frames were $1.99 a piece from Goodwill and were super ugly (but matched!) until given their fresh coat of white paint.

How to #2: scrapbook silhouettes (When you click on the pin, it doesn't go anywhere, but the directions are included with the picture. So easy!)

This was maybe my most exciting pinterest project because I was surprised that it actually worked. I love wooden signs and have paid good money for a few in my house already. Now I can crank them out myself! The lighting makes it kind of hard to make out, but it says "you are my sunshine" and will go above Claire's closet. My dad has piles and piles of wood at my parents' from when they built our house, so the wood was free, and he was nice enough to put a finished edge around it for me, too. All I needed for the lettering was my ink jet printer, a paintbrush, water, and a sharpie. AND I got to pick any font I wanted instead of attempting this free hand or tracing out a lot of stencils.

Look and see how to do #3!: painted wooden sign

 This one is not a pinterest project, but I have been making easy baby blankets for a while, and these taggy blankets are just another variation of the same thing but smaller and with ribbon. Although there's always room for improvement, I love them and have a fun time putting them together when my sewing machine is cooperating. 

This is the one I made for Claire. 

See, not perfect, but still pretty cute. :)

I can't leave out the Hubby, who has been hard at work as well. While we were home with family, he cranked out this train table for Avery. Because we have a lot of carpet here, this is a perfect spot for both his trains and his hotwheel cars. I was super impressed with how it turned out, and it has gotten a lot of use already. This is the first time Phil has really put his table saw to use (thanks, Dad!), and he did a great job! hmm..what else do I need him to whip up around here?!? ;) 

Until Phil gets more breaks from studying and finishes stripping, sanding, repainting/ refinishing Claire's craigslist crib (a bigger project than I had planned on, but isn't that how they always end up?!),  I can't show you what the finished nursery looks like. So send some extra motivational vibes our way and stay tuned...