Woodland Baby Shower

Every once in a while I get the pleasure of doing some party throwing. A few weeks ago, along with three other ladies, I helped throw a baby shower for our friend Kerry. 

Kerry is having a little baby girl, but she is not a lover of pink and frills. No problem because we all happen to be lovers of rustic junky stuff and woodland nurseries. So, it was a match made in heaven.

We looked into a popular junk place an hour away initially but it didn't work out with what we wanted to plan. Time to start hunting again!

So we started looking around our area for a good space with lots of character. Lucky for us, The Good News Room was now hosting parties, and the place couldn't have been more perfect. Not to mention they handled food (that was delish) and even did some decorating of their own that was perfect for the event!

After we got the place, we picked up and made some different decorations. We also had some of the most amazing cookies EVER made. No seriously. Check them out and then check out Crilly's Creations. Amy is one TALENTED lady!

German Chocolate Mini Cakes by The Good News Room. Cupcake sticks by co-host Jenny.

Refreshment table! Decorations by The Good News Room

The infamous mason jars. They have made an appearance several times over on this blog. Mini banner made from some scrapbook paper and bakers twine.

Crilly's Creations Cookies!!!

The room. Burlap runners and center pieces from the hostesses and everything else from The Good News Room.

Food area. Decorations mostly from The Good News Room.

Tutu and hair bow bar. It was very fun. Definitely cool to see people make things with love for the baby girl!

Banner I made on my Silhouette.

The planning gang and little baby B hiding under Kerry's pink shirt. She's SO little for being ready to pop!

 

DIY Sunday: Removing Embroidery

Hello Friends!

I thought I would share a little adventure I had started last night. I had gotten a lunch thermal from a friend and it was customized with the embroidery that really wasn’t me. I thought that I would cause too much damage removing the thread so I left it alone. I got brave last night, was watching some Revenge and Homeland (I’m a drama junky), and decided to try to remove the embroidery. It worked great, and I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. 

Tools:

Seam Ripper

Tweezers

 

Directions:

First off, I was lucky because the embroidery was on the outside pocket and therefore wouldn’t affect the integrity of the thermal itself. I think you would have to be careful if the embroidery was right on the item. Also, a pattern will make the holes less noticeable. 

Before

Using your seam ripper on the front of the item, carefully work your way down the middle of each letter.

The "O" after being ripped out.

After you’re done with the front, move to the back. Rip down each letter with the seam ripper. Using your tweezers or hand, start pulling out threads. You will probably need to use the seam ripper once you remove some thread and can see what you miss.  The name of the game is slow and steady. Take care not to rip the fabric and create bigger holes.

The back will have both threads and a felt like material.

After you’re done pulling out the threads, throw the item in the wash. This probably won’t do much for a vinyl type fabric but with a softer fabric, the holes should be less noticeable. My item isn’t really an item you should wash, so I just did a cold delicate wash. It probably didn’t do much for the holes, but I thought it needed a good clean anyways.

Before washing the item.

Not perfect, but it works!

After washing. The holes seem to be a little less obvious. 

 

DIY Sunday: No Sew Hair Bow

Hello There!

Today we braved family pictures . Kristin Zehner (of Kristin Zehner Photography) did a great job with our semi-grumpy children (well, one very unimpressed 10 month old and one hyper 3 year old). I saw one picture in camera, and I loved what I saw. I took some pictures of my own this past week since I had my nice camera out from a baby shower I helped throw for a friend (blog post to come on those DIY projects). I realized about 10 seconds into taking pictures of my daughter that I could never be a child photographer. She either was 1) moving 2) sticking her tongue out or 3) giving me a super cheese smile. I did get a few cute pictures, but it solidified my choice to hire Kristin.

Since these were our first official family pictures (I have always done them myself), I spent a few days obsessing on what my family should wear. Heeding a pinterst post advice, I first picked my outfit and then picked everyone's clothes after that.

My daughter didn't have a thing to wear (she had pretty much out grown any "nice" fall clothes), so I bit the bullet and ordered a dress from Crazy 8.

Since nothing ever goes according to plan, the dress is going to be delivered to my house tomorrow. Less than impressed that my item shipped with FedEX from California last week, and it took almost 8 days to get here.

So we were back to the drawing board. I found a pretty cute denim dress from Gap, but it lacked the yellow color that we had been weaving into each outfit. Time for a hair bow! Since my daughter now has short hair, we're starting to "girl" it up more lately with bows. 

This fabric came from a fabric de-stash of my grandma's basement. It's funny that this was in style about 40 years ago and is now back in style.

Okay. Enough rambling. Time for the No Sew Hair Bow!

Supplies

Headband (great project for a older headband sitting around that is stained)

Fabric (very small amount...good scrap busting project)

Hot Glue Gun & Sticks

Scissors

Cost: Free! I had all the supplies already. Time: About a half hour.

Directions

1. Cut a long strip that is about 2.25 times wider than your headband and just a bit longer. No need to be exactly straight since you'll trim the excess.

2. Leaving enough space on each side to wrap the fabric around the headband, use your hot glue to affix the fabric to the top of the headband.

3. Stretch the fabric to the back and glue in place. You will need to also fold over and glue the ends on the bottom of the headband once you're done with the back. Use some small detail scissors to cut the excess fabric. You can do a thin layer of glue on the seam to keep it from fraying.

4. Next you will need to cut a piece for the bow. The size depends on how big you want the bow. I cut a few pieces, folded over and held in a bow design so I could see how big the bow would be before picking a piece.

5. You will fold "hot dog" style right side to ride side. Putting the glue on the right side (inside the 'sandwich'), glue the long side down.

6. Pull the fabric inside out through the small opening on either end so you now see the right side.

7. Fold over each side so the bow is the size you'd like it to be. Glue down

8. Cut a thin strip of fabric to wind around the bow. (I did not do a inside out piece, but to avoid fraying you may want to do the same method you used for the bow) Secure the end of the strip to the back of the bow and then wind a couple of times, then glue down on the back. Put on the headband where you desire and wind around a couple more times around the bow and the headband. Secure end with some hot glue on the back of the headband. 

 

We wore the bow for almost the entire time we took pictures! Then promptly threw it on the ground when we got home. 

Here's a couple of the pictures I took last week. At least I got one good one of both kids.