ellebee

things that go bump in the night.

my search continues for a cool and affordable diy headboard. i've seen lots of padded, upholstered headboards of all shapes and sizes, but none of them that really did it for me until i stumbled across this one:

salvaged window wallpaper frames.

{photo is thanks to craftynest.com!}

simple, laidback, and could be made to perfectly match your bed linens while also adding in a touch of contrasting color without being 'too much.' actually, this exact one would be pretty perfect in our room. i'm at least fairly sure that i could find a similar windowpane at our local flea market, since it's similar to the one i bought and made into a backdrop of sorts for my craft show displays.

i guess you could also use pretty scrapbooking papers, and could leave the original glass in the windows if you wanted {although i banged it all out with a hammer for this one, and it was oh-so therapeutic}.

the other idea i really loved was also a refurbished/repurposed idea... an old mantelpiece converted over a bed thanks to apartment therapy. i like the idea of having an instant mantel to put art or photos or hang little tiny stockings at christmas.

{photo thanks to aparmenttherapy.com!}

i also love the pillows on that bed. new throw pillows for our couch are so high on my to-make list right now it's not even funny!

another super-simple idea i really like is to just hang a piece of pre-made white picket fencing above it. this idea came from better homes and gardens, which has a great article on diy headboards. {also a super cute idea for a little girl's room, maybe above a daybed?}

{photo thanks to bhg.com!}

this idea also comes from a good friend of mine's beautiful house, where she has two pieces of white fence on either side of her fireplace, which looks awesome. this is me and my sister in law at her house for the baby shower she threw me. love love love it with the tan wall color and built-in bookshelves below!

i can't wait to try one of these ideas, i think it will make our bedroom feel so much more finished.

black and white wall.

i'm the kind of person who will get an idea in my head and not be able to stop with this idea until i have exhausted every possible route i can think of or afford in attempting to create it. one such idea was a wall of black and white photos in black frames arranged together. i've seriously wanted to do this since high school, and it somehow kept getting put on the "someday" list {which is ridiculous seeing as how i've been taking/loving black and white pictures for probably 90% of my life}. so... when we moved the last time, and were in the process of hanging all types of things on the walls, i finally finished it.

the black and white wall in its first incarnation:

it is a fun mix of pictures... from our wedding, trips, our dog, one of a sculpture, and one of my husband hanging upside down off a mountain {rock climbing}. my favorite part is that they are not all truly black and white, but all appear to be. the dog is a black dog against a white carpet, the sculpture is white marble against a neutral, almost-white wall... i think it adds some depth and a little something interesting.

i immediately knew which wall should become the black and white wall in the new townhouse. black and white wall in its second incarnation:
we even added some pictures of our 6 month old little girl and planned for how to expand it if we wanted to add more frames over time. i didn't doubt how happy i was with the wall.

enter a better homes and gardens diy magazine. these things get me in trouble every time! {as featured from a great decor8 feature!}

and i couldn't help it, i fell for those wonderfully summery bright yellow picture frames. immediately, i was picturing my formerly bland and boring black frames spray-painted into a wall of bright,happy, yellowy goodness... especially since the wall the frames hang on is in the kitchen/dining area. i tend to be hesitant with bright statement-making color, but love it in theory. somehow we always end up compromising on something husband and i both like, which usually means lots of neutrals + blue, which gets boring.

then, as she tends to do, i saw a martha idea that just cemented the idea even further. it was a wall of frames for cut-paper silhouettes from her craft encyclopedia:

LOVE THIS. loooooove this. not in red, but in a bright, golden, sunny yellow. love love love. my only hesitation is that i've tried spray-painting picture frames before with tragic results. ironically, i was taking some old handmedown frames and trying to paint them black for use in the original black and white wall. turns out, when you spray paint something in your garage with the door open on a windy day, it is possible for a huge gust of wind to blow the large piece of cardboard you're spraying the frames on upside down right on top of a pile of leaf bits, which will of course stick to the wet paint on them and make a huge mess. and there's just no coming back from that.

step two is finding just the right shade of yellow... would it be wierd to take a kleenex box in to home depot for paint matching? i think i have one that would be perfect. ok confession: i know i have it and i know it would be perfect because i originally bought not for tissues but because it was the perfect shade of golden yellow when i had a fleeting thought of painting one wall of our dining room in the old house yellow.

step three. talking the husband into yet another crazy but-i-could-just-paint-them craft idea. maybe the fact that his favorite color is yellow will win me brownie points?

i am not martha.

i’ve always loved the undeniable amazing-ness of martha stewart. the sheer phenomena of creating an empire out of showing people how to sew ribbon onto a towel astounds me in a why-didn’t-i-think-of-that way. so when i saw a lovely big stack of books at barnes and noble entitled: martha stewart's encyclopedia of crafts: an a-to-z guide with detailed instructions and endless inspiration,i was immediately intruigued, imagining an all-inclusive tome of the many, many projects I’ve admired and intended to replicate for myself from her magazine and tv show.

dear, sweet husband purchased the book for me in a streak of extra-sweetness that i'm sure was in no way a bribe for his own book in his hand that he intended to buy. after a long, leisurely browse, i have to admit i was a bit disappointed and not endlessly inspired! there were only a few projects that really enticed me {etched glass + paper punched flowers} and even those amounted to little more than following some instructions that come on the jar of etching cream, etc. several of the good ideas {soap making!} were simply reprints from ms living magazines that i had already cut out and saved anyway. also, i just have to say i’m not that into paper marbling {which she seems obsessed with} or tiny pompom animals that are adorable but essentially useless.

enter the equally huge but unfortunately titled:  the big-ass book of crafts by mark montano. 

on the surface, this is all wrong in so many ways. could some inferior book actually seem better than the ever-referenced martha? a book that includes some {admittedly very creepy/tacky} projects such as a guilded baby doll head? a craft book written by a boy {is even that allowed?}. but alas, i have to admit that after a quick browse, this book did seem to have a greater average of projects that i would be more likely to assimilate into my own life, home, and crafting style. making your own paper japanese lantern from two wire baskets and papier mache-ing some tissue paper over them? much more my speed. maybe i am simply not perfectionistic {yeah, i made it up} enough to follow martha exclusively anymore. although I do still love her line of craft products at michael’s… never underestimate the power of simplistic, coordinating packaging that combines neatly into a notebook. hello, target audience.

on the up{down?}side, I have even more projects on my do-this-sometime-indefinitely-soon list thanks to both books.

and, heaven help us, she went and wrote a cupcake book too.

{thank you amazon, for the borrowing of these pictures!}

idea book

with all these recent ideas and new inspirations floating around, i decided it was high time i figured out some sort of organization system for my little sketches and thoughts. i have a terrible and deep-seated habit of writing my genius {haha} ideas down on random scraps of paper, and i do mean random... envelopes, receipts, and even one of those recycled paper coffee cup cozies from starbucks. enter the fun {and also recycled paper} goodness straight from the target clearance rack for less than $5:

found space journal by new leaf paper. their tagline is "paper with a past. and a future." how cool is that?

it is 100% post consumer recycled, the covers are actually from some type of cereal-type boxes with a cute leaf and butterfly print on the other side. it's the perfect size for a folded-in-half piece of printer paper {which i often grab to sketch on since it's unlined. and convenient.} and i've just been punching holes in the other scraps of paper and sticking them right into the little binder clips!

now i can work up to having all my ideas in one place, if i can remember to start carrying it with me everywhere, and can stop stressing about the little scrap of paper that got away! i also plan to jazz up the cover with some stamps and label stickers when i get a chance.

my next organizational thought is some sort of giant notebook wherein to store all sorts of patterns i've jotted down here and there, my favorite online tutorials printed out with their corresponding pictures {for fear that i will click the links one day and they might be gone gone gone}, and directions/patterns i've cut out of magazines. maybe i will keep with a theme and try out their binder as well!

looking up

i'm learning that as a new mom, things almost never go exactly as planned. or according to schedule. and because of this, a whole new level of flexibility is required of me. which is good, but takes some getting used to. it also takes some getting used to that i can't finish every project that i want to, when i want to finish it, and that productive is not always a word that is conducive to motherhood. so, instead of productively churning projects out of my little studio today, instead i will simply stop to enjoy the little things like smiles and toes, and be happy with the tiny slice of 'productivity' that was posted in my shop today.

day 5

make-a-day: day 5: quilted coasters

these coasters are ridiculously quick and easy to make! you just sandwich the "quilt" layers together (i make mine 4 inches square so that they're nice and generous for big coffee cups!), then do the quilt stitching, then double zig zag the edges! i did these with kenna in her peanut shell today since she was a little fussy and trying to resist naptime. who would have thought the humm of a sewing machine would be soothing? her nana would be so proud!

day 4

make-a-day: day 4: crocheted dishcloths

there has been lots of crocheting going on around this house recently... it just seems right when it's snowing out to curl up under a blanket with some coffee and a yarn-related project keeping your hands warm! these little dishcloths are super fun and easy to make, and only take about half an hour each to make. you can knock one out in one episode of friends! plus, the lily sugar and cream cotton comes cheap and in a ton of pretty colors. these yellow and white ones are for part of a gift basket for my grannie's 80th birthday next month! i had no idea so many folks were still excited about a seemingly "old" project!

day 3

make-a-day: day 3: quilted coffee cozy

i had been wanting to make one of these little guys for awhile after seeing some really cool ones on etsy. when i went through all the fabric i inherited from my mom, i kept sitting aside any that were particularly coffee-ish specifically for this project... i ended up with enough to almost make a coffee quilt! i used one of the little cardboard ones as a pattern for the shape, and then quilted the tiny strips of fabric to a little scrap of cotton batting (for insulation) with decorative stitching. such a fun little project, perfect for the snowy weather we've been having!

day 2

make-a-day: day 2: granny square afghan

when i finally taught myself how to make a granny square, i went a little crazy with it and made a little blue granny square afghan for my little nephew. now, my little baby nephew is almost 2 years old, and is going to have a baby sister this summer! i cheated a little bit with this project since it isn't a finish-it-in-one-day kind of project, but i've been making progress on it while watching t.v. at night or riding in the car and it's almost done!

happy birthday, mom (day 1)

today would have been my mom's 54th birthday, and is the first birthday of hers that has passed since she went to heaven last january. after several trips to help my dad sort through her things, and the inheritance of a lifetime's worth of her crafting supplies, i've been a bit overwhelmed at not only the amount of supplies i have, but the wealth of unfinished projects, both hers and my own, that i have accumulated. and as any maker knows, there is no end to the ideas and projects that want to be started! in that vein, i've decided to start a month-long sort of celebration, a crafting commemoration of sorts, in honor of her and with the intent of finishing projects...

make-a-day for a month!

each day for a month, starting on her birthday, i'm going to make (or put the finishing touches on) at least one craft project every single day. even if the dishes are dirty. between nursing and changing diapers. even if i'm tired. even if it's the only thing i get done all day. i'll do it, and think of my mom as i make each thing, using the supplies she left me and the skills she taught me. i might even make it tradition and do it every year!

i'll be posting pictures of each project as i get it done, and will be celebrating her life and memory with each thing made. i cheated a tiny bit for this first project by making it yesterday, but only because i needed it for today on her actual birthday. i'm headed back into raleigh (my hometown) to celebrate "nana day" with my brother's kids and mine. this is also something we're doing this year to remember mom, and will also probably become a yearly tradition. the first make-a-day project is a little party favor for nana day.

mom loved celebrations (especially the little things), and loved to make party favors for any party. tea parties, birthday parties, wedding showers, baby showers... mom always had it all together in the party planning arena. so for this first nana day, i made some simple fabric-covered button magnets with fabric from her massive stash in her favorite colors, pink and brown! mom would never let a party go un-favored!