Monday, January 28, 2013

DYI Quilt Hoop Wall Decor

This project is super easy and cheap, but looks so awesome up on the wall.




This is the wall art I have in one of our spare bedrooms.  Our guest room currently houses my closet, my dresser, and a spare bed.  I prepared the room as a sort of mother-in-law quarters for my momma to come stay with me when Birdie was born.  Turns out that plan got scratched, but at least I now have a super cute guest room.  And my momma is still welcome to stay anytime!

You will need:

Quilt hoops
Fabric (at least one inch larger than your hoop)
Glue gun
Iron
Scissors
Hammer and nails



Create, Craft, Conserve Tip:  Use fabric scraps you have lying around, old concert or sports t-shirts, or sheets.  Look for lightly used quilt hoops at yard sales and Goodwill.  You can also spray paint your hoops before beginning if you don't like the natural wood look. 

1)  Iron your fabric.  This is an important step in getting a smooth surface and avoiding wrinkles in your final product.

2)  Loosen the fastener at the top of the hoop and separate the two rings.  Lay your fabric over the outside hoop then press the inner hoop onto the fabric.  This sandwiches the fabric between the two hoops.  Tighten the fastener at the top of the hoop to hold the two hoops together securely.



Your hoop should now look like this.

 
 

4) Trim the fabric to approx. 1/2 inch all the way around the hoop. 


5) THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!  You want to pull your trimmed fabric taught on all sides of the hoop.  If you forget this step, the fabric will bunch and wrinkle, making the front of your hoop art uneven and bumpy. 




6) Almost done.  Last step!  Apply a thin layer of hot glue onto the inner hoop and press the extra fabric into the glue, towards the inside of your hoop.  The fastener on top of the hoop will keep the two hoops together.  The layer of hot glue will help keep your fabric tight and allow the hoop to lie flat against the wall.


~ Ta-Da! ~


The finished product
 
Using an old concert t-shirt


Use different sizes and shapes for an eclectic look. 




Monday, January 21, 2013

Desperately Seeking Organization...

Like I mentioned before, my life is a mess.  I'm currently on maternity leave with my 7 week old daughter, taking doctoral classes full time, and getting ready to return to work full time as a nurse practitioner in a busy rural health clinic.

 I have two weeks to get my life together before all hell breaks loose.

 Its flu season which means hundreds of patients a week.  And nothing says doctoral work like hundreds of pages of reading every week and pointless research papers that average 30+ pages. Plus trying to swing being a mom and wife and maybe lose those last few baby pounds (haha).  So 2 weeks until I return to the craziness.  I gotta get busy.

I love organization, but I have to admit I'm terrible at keeping anything clean or put away.  This year, that is going to change.  My goal is be decently organized before I get back to work and start drowning.  I decided to start with my hallway closet.  Ready, set, go...

This is what it looked like before.  Like I said, I'm a mess.



Throw in a few clear plastic containers from Wal-Mart (The most expensive was $3.99) and voila, instant organization. Turns out you can fit more towels into a space when they are all folded the same way.  Who knew, lol.   All of that mess in its place, everything labeled and within reach. 

BEFORE                                         AFTER
 I think I'm going to like this organization business...

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Follow Me...

If your following the blog, also follow me on Pintrest and Instagram.  You can click the radio buttons on the right to go directly to my pages, or look me up @  http://pinterest.com/jesswooten/    and http://instagram.com/scritch85

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Friday, January 18, 2013

Make Way for Ducklings!

When I found out we were having a baby girl, I pretty much went into shopping overdrive.  There is so much pink, glittery, frilly stuff out there!

 When we were trying to decide how to decorate her room I knew I wanted it to be super girly, but also be a little bit earthy/hippie.  I want her to be well rounded of course! Since we have finished it, we have gotten so many compliments on it, so I wanted to share it here and let you know where we came up with some of the cute details.  We love it, and we think Birdie will too, when she is big enough to actually see it!




First of all I found this gorgeous bedding at The Land of Nod.  I love that place.  I could decorate a hundred rooms with their kid stuff.  This set is called How Does Your Garden Grow?  How cute is that? 

Photo Credit The Land of Nod


Photo Credit: The Land of Nod
As you can see, it looks adorable in her crib.  

We painted the walls pale pink, then my future sister-in-law Jennifer and her mother Karen came over to dress up the walls a little bit.  Karen has done so much art for our new home, and we are so blessed to know someone with her talent. You can see more of Karen's work here.




Her closet was sort of a delimma.  First of all, its tiny.  And she already had a TON of stuff.  So I knew we needed to take advantage of the vertical space.  Second of all, it had no door.  We considered adding a door, but decided on fabric instead, to keep it dainty and girly.  We tried an adorable shower curtain from Target but it was too short. So instead, we hung two curtain panels that matched the curtains on her window.  We also painted the inside of her closet a contrasting hot pink. I got the idea for her closet organization on Pintrest from an HGTV link. 


Finally, the details.  Her mobile is the Boon Fli.  My mom loves dragonflies and they fit so well in her nursery.  Karen painted us the adorable Birdie sign to hang on our front door once she arrived. Her super comfy chair I ordered online from Walmart.  It's so great for those late night nursing sessions.
Everything on her accent wall is either handmade or purchased from Etsy. 






My favorite part of the nursery is our fingerprint tree.  Again, handcrafted by the talented Karen.  We had everyone important in our lives leave their print on the tree for baby-to-be.  Birdie's dad and I became the bluebirds and when she was finally born, she filled our nest.  It's a great reminder of how she is loved by so many, and I know we will always cherish it. 


We also have two kittens, who are very mischevious.  I was afraid they would be so curious about the new baby that they would try to get into her bed at night while we were sleeping. They can easily scale any baby gate so we needed something tall, but also something that we could still easily see/hear Birdie in her room. Enter the slam door.  Hubs and his dad installed it, and it actually turned out super cute!  It's adds a little whimsy to this princess' room.

 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

In the Beginning...

Blogging.....Do I really have time for this?  No, of course I don't, but now days what do I have time for.  Right now I am wearing a thousand hats, my favorite being brand new mommy to my sweet Little Birdie.  Having her has made me realize my life is crazy beautiful and I may have some things to share with everybody out there. 


Birdie


In short, I am a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, nurse, student, organizer, creator, and now blogger.  I am hoping to share my favorite info about taking care of Little Birdie, cooking, crafting, nursing, medicine, and life.  Oh, and as the blog's name mentions, I loooove cupcakes.  So I'm sure they will be making an appearance too!