Boring you with burlap

I'm sorry to show you two burlap projects, one right after the other but this was just too cute to pass up. I had to do it, I apologize.

This is my Valentine's Day version, I'll change the ribbon out with the seasons. And please tell me I'm not the only one who had a hard time finding a wire hanger?! We are just not "dry clean only" type people so no wire in this house. I had to go to the dark depths of the closet to find one, it was scary.

For the easy instructions complete with pictures, visit Where The Heart Is.

Thank you Jennifer for sharing this great project!

Hot glue and ruffles...

Before I get to the post, I just want to say THANK YOU so much for all the great advice and support on my son's sleeping issues! There is something about getting advice from other moms who have been there, done that. It's the kind of advice you just can't get out of a book (although I had gotten a recommendation for one of those I'm keeping in mind too!).

So far, so good! Day 1 we started at 8:00. We got him jammied up and read a story. Put him in his bed and....he cried. It was really, really hard. He even tried to coerce his sister to go get us for him. Although he never got out of his bed he whined on and off and finally fell asleep around 9:20. Not much fun but we were convinced it was the right thing to do.

Day 2 we started again at 8:00. He told us 1044846363 times that he didn't want to go to bed (you know, in case we didn't hear him the first time) and cried when we kissed him goodnight. BUT, he stopped quickly and was asleep by 8:30!!! Wow!

Honestly, had I known it would go this well, we would have started this routine earlier. He's still coming in our bed during the night but we're off to a great start.




With our sleeping issues on the upswing, I had all kinds of motivation to have that date with my glue gun I talked about in my last post. I had leftover ruffles...and a boring sconce.


I gathered all my supplies. Shades, fabric, ruffle trim, and of course a glue gun. The best thing would have been linen fabric but I didn't have any so I used burlap (is that stuff crazy awesome or what?). Here's the part where I make a weak attempt at showing you how to do this. I'm not a good teacher so bear with me.


Fold your fabric around the shade and glue as you go. Try to stretch the fabric a bit as you do this and hold it with one hand so it goes on without wrinkling up....

When you get to the end, cut a straight line and glue along it. Cut your fabric close to the shade all the way around. Don't worry about it being perfect, you'll cover it anyway.

Fold the top fabric over your shade, cutting a slit for the metal thingy. Technical, I know. Use your glue gun to tack it down. If you've done everything correctly, at this point your shade will look like this and your lap will be covered in lint.....

Now it's time to glue the ruffle. Sandwich your shade edge with the trim and glue the top piece along the bottom edge of the shade. All the way around....

And then you'll glue the bottom piece of the trim to the inside of the shade. Pull the ruffle down a bit as you glue so you get a tight fit and help the ruffle to sit pointing down, instead of sticking out. Easy right??

And when you're done, you end up with this!

Aren't they cute? I may not have ruffle shades but at least I have ruffle sconces!

Happy gluing!

I'm linking this post up to The DIY Show Off! Go check out the home accent party over there:

http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/

Kitchen Curtains = Drama

The time had come to put something up on those two big windows in my kitchen. Although I enjoyed having them open, sunlight pouring in....we were starting to feel like a couple of goldfish in an aquarium in a doctor's office waiting room.

I've always loved looking through the Country Curtains catalog. Although so many of their products are either too formal (see below) or too country for me, I always find something I like. And as for the other curtains, I like to sit and imagine what kind of house each one would look best in. I imagine what the room would look like, what the people who order those super formal jacquard and tapestry fabric tailored panels would be like. You don't do that? Okay, moving on...

I spotted these ruffled shades and absolutely loved them. Wasn't so crazy about the price tag so I figured I'd just make them myself. Off I went to Hobby Lobby for some cute ruffle trim and then to Home Depot for roller shades. How simple and cheap was this going to be??? The trim was cheap, the shades were cheap, a little hot glue and voila, instant magic!

After giving my measurements to the lady (measurements which I double checked with hubby so I knew they were right) I went home with my freshly cut shades all ready for an afternoon with my glue gun. Only, wait...they don't fit. Too short. Ugh. Back to Home Depot to see what the problem is. They tell me they've had issues with their machine and will gladly cut me another pair. Phew, that's a relief because I just *knew* I had given the proper measurements. Bring the next batch home, put them up to the window....one is too short and the other one is a different type completely and is also too short. ARGH!

I decide I'm done with Home Depot. Obviously they can't cut a shade properly so I'm off to Lowes! Well now I smarten up and give the measurements as being a little wider. I figure hey, I'm done with short shades. Learned that lesson. I'm having them cut longer so I know they'll fit. Go home with my new shades and wow....their machine works really well because these shades.... are too long. I'm so defeated at this point I debate if I really want these shades. But then I look over at my pretty ruffle trim and decide that yes, they'll look really nice. Back to Lowes and ask if they can cut them down a smidge. She says she'll try and it should work. I'm willing to give it a go at this point. Bring them home, put one up and ohmygosh it fits! At this point I am giddy as I pull the shade down to try it out. It unrolls all right.....it just doesn't stop. You can roll it all day long and when it decides it wants to stop, that's when it stops. The other times it just snaps right back up to the top and the entire shade then falls out of the bracket and onto your head. #^$#@^$^@$%$%$#@$#@!#&*&

About 25 minutes and one small tantrum later where I may or may not have broken the plastic stick that comes with the shade over my thigh and then stomped on it angrily as my horrified hubby looked on......I ran down to the basement, grabbed my bin of castoff curtains and a couple of tension rods and threw up the first white pair of sheers that met my sight.


Now this.....



Is just fine by me. We have privacy, they still let the light come through and no more trips to have shades cut. Yup, I'm one happy camper.

And I did get to order from Country Curtains after all. I bought these holdbacks that I've coveted for months but didn't have a place for. I love the large size and how they sparkle.


Now, what should I do with that ruffle trim? I feel a project coming on. hmmmmmmmmm.....

Bedtime

I've decided to start off 2010 with a confession. Here it goes...deep breath. My confession is that my 4 year old son doesn't sleep in his bed. And that's not the worst part. The real confession is that he often doesn't fall asleep until 10 or 11 PM. We've been super horrible parents and have slacked off in the bedtime department. He's the 3rd child and the "baby" so you know how that goes.

Most nights he just falls asleep on the couch. Other nights he's wide awake and coming to bed with us wayyyyyy later than he should. On those days I drop him off at preschool the next day and get in my car just hoping and praying that he doesn't act up out of sheer exhaustion. I know he should be in bed at a reasonable hour, I really do, but we've been lazy.

That's all about to change. We've decided it's time to Supernanny him. This week we're going to attempt to undo the bad bedtime habits we've allowed him to get away with and enforce a bedtime routine. And enforce him sleeping in his own room, in his own bed. For his sake and for ours because that boy does not stay still all.night.long. He moves and kicks and takes all the blankets. Yup, it's definitely time for him to sleep on his own.

Wish us luck! If you have any advice, I'm all ears!! I have a feeling this week the entire house will be lacking in sleep. We're all going to look like this....

Project Supernanny Day 1, here we go....

My Top 9 of 2009

2010! We're so excited to see you! This is going to be a special year, I can just feel it. This will be the year my husband and I celebrate our 10th anniversary, so it has to be a good year. I'm sure of it. I'm looking forward to a year full of home renovations. (When I said this to my husband earlier he kind of made a grunting sound. What did that mean? Don't worry....I'm sure he'll get on board soon.)



Did you all stay up to ring in the New Year? We had a good time counting down with friends and family. We chatted, ate some good food, had a few drinks, took some pictures to remember 2009 by...pictures.....*sigh*.....that made me realize I need to crack open the Wii Active I got for Christmas sooner rather than later. Anywho, it was a nice evening to say hello to a brand new year full of possibilities.



Just one last look back before we move forward with a fresh outlook and a clean slate. These are my favorite projects of 2009 in no particular order. Click below the pics to visit the post:

1. Sweater Pillow

2. Our kitchen shelf

3. The Everything Room Redo

4. Cabinet Makeover

5. Wallpapering the dishwasher

Which is now white but you know, things change often around here. ;)

6. That crazy blue door

(It's still blue and yes, I love it now!)

7. Organizing the pantry

8. The slamming screen door I dreamt of which I talked about Here and also Here

9. Procrastination turned pretty rocker

Bloggery Flattery

Picture source: Click here

Bloggery....made that up if you couldn't tell. What? I needed something to rhyme with flattery!

Cindy at Cottage Instincts recently did a post all about design. She talks about blogs and the feeling she gets while reading them.

She says,

"Below a listing of bloggers whose style either closely matches mine or who have perfected one of my 'loves' such that I still glean much inspiration from their taste. I applaud and support those who have managed to mold their homes to their unique personalities and not just to the latest catalogue of Pottery Barn whether or not their tastes perfectly match mine or not. Some of these are the 'big guys', but some are just creative genius' waiting to be discovered. Surfing blogs can give you a 'real life' picture of how 'real life' decorating looks without all the glitz and glamour and staging of a magazine shoot...but these gals give the mags a run for their money IMO."

I'm flattered and honored to be included in this list, along with some fantastic bloggers. Be sure to check out her post and visit the others, you won't be disappointed!

Read the post here!

Please have a safe and happy New Years! See you in 2010!

Might need an intervention...

This is really, really fun. If I knew I could love digital photos this much, I wouldn't have been so mean to my digital camera. I say nasty things about it because I was convinced I could never love digital as much as my "real" camera. And then along comes Picnik....

I owe my fake camera an apology.

Now who is going to come over and pry me off this chair? I have company coming for New Years Eve and I think they may be expecting a clean house...and something to eat....and possibly a drink or two.

What are your plans for New Years? Do you go out or stay in? Do you make resolutions? I heard a guy on the radio today say the only resolutions he could stick to would be to eat more and to be lazier. Sounds good to me! ;)