Painters cloth table runner

Super easy project....

Measure how big you want your table runner...

 sew around the edges to prevent fraying...

tape it off where you want your design to be...

paint....( i used acrulic craft paint)

let it dry...

done!

Advent Candle Calender

This year I made a simple advent calender to count down the 4 sundays before Christmas. The usual tradition in Denmark is to make a wreath and place the candles on top of it. Well, I didn't have the time this year to make a wreath, so i just used some bottles and candles, placed them in my old antique sewing machine drawer with some hazelnuts for filler. I covered the ``coca cola``  on the bottles just with some plain brown paper. I couldn't decide on what to wrap them in, so it just ended up like this. Kind of half done I think..but i now have an easy alternative to the Advent wreath for next year. Perhaps next year I will wrap with some jute or the like....

My children truly have LOVED this tradition, of lighting one candle every sunday up to Christmas. We light the candle /candles, than turn off all the lights in the house, sing christmas carols...and just enjoy the ``light`` these little candles bring.


Super easy....and I love it;-)

This is our song book we use. (Given to my husband and I on our first christmas` together, Thanks Farmor (Grandma)!

Next week by this time it will be CHRISTMAS EVE! Eeeeeee :-)

We are beyond excited in this house. :-)

Merry Christmas...

hugs
cat

Painted Painters cloth Christmas Pillow

I finally finished these Christmas pillows that I have been working on since...hmmm....October?! 

I basically had the stenciled fabric in the closet for some time now, and all it needed was some pillows and sewing. So here they are. Loving the silhouettes I found this one on the internet ( I just googled it and this little guy popped up), printed it, cut it out and stenciled this little Drummer boy in the fabric with some craf paint. I got the idea from Dear Lillie. (love her stuff). I almost broke down and just bought her whole line of these, but I knew I could save a buck making them myself. And so I did. 

 Since I covered my couch pillows with these I made sure to only stitch something easy on the machine to pull out once christmas is over.

 OH and than I had to share this little picture. I am longing for a fireplace in my own home someday (big huuuuuuge siiiiiighhh)...lol, anyhow I would LOVE to put a nice wood sign with something to this sort over my mantle... someday, BUT until than I will be making a home made chalk sign instead. Made out of Painters drop paper (is that what it is called)? And some pastels...A white chalky one:-)
I love it. Not perfect (you see...Im NOT perfect...its just like me:-) And THAT is why I love it.

NOw I am off to finish cleaning my house. I have 27 people coming over for hot chocolate tonight (we go and visit our local christmas lights village) and a tornado of a 15 months old to keep up after until than...MUST keep the HOUSE clean...Hopefully I succeed.
Merry Christmas.

linking up with:

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Children's room to CHRISTMAS room

Happy holidays everyone!

Hope you all enjoyed your thanksgiving. 

I have been super excited to share with you all the makeover that I did on my 6 year old daughter and 3 year old sons room. This is something I have DrEAmt about doing for years now; To completly transform their regular everyday bedroom to a Christmas themed bedroom.

I have planned and planned for a while now on how to do it. Basically I surprised them with new Christmas quilts and pulled out practically all their regular stuff in their room and replaced it with ChRiStMas things. I had soooo much fun doing this...

BEFORE

AFTER

The first thing i did was to find the perfect quilts. I wanted them to be holiday themed but not anything too "ugly sweater" styled ( if you know what I mean). I looked for something that could grow with them. Also in my romantic mind I would hope that when they had grown up and would someday come home from to visit their mom and dad for the holidays that they would come home to their quilts...lol...I know, I am a total sap and love anything sentimental. I found the quilt for my daughter on eBay and instantly fell in love with it! 

 Nikon Digital camera pic....mUuuuch better;-)
12/17/2013

I covered up her old wall applique with this home made christmas tree. I used command strips to keep it up and added a simple bakers  twine garland. A painted gold star to top it off.

For my sweet little boy I could not find anything that would match his sisters, and that still would be boy enough for him. I think I spent hours online...and than I realized that I would have to make one myself. Here it is...

Nikon Digital camera pic....mUuuuch better;-)
12/17/2013

My first attempt at quilting on a quilters sewing machine...my goodnes I was having WAY too much fun on this...especially with the "freehand foot". Oh dear, anyways...I LovE this new "brother" sewing machine!!!!! It ROCkS! I will have to post some more detailed pix with my Nikon, but for now folks, you get to view it through the eyes of my iPhone;-) lol ...

Next up sillouettes...

Oh dear, I have been working on some other sillouette projects ( will be posting them soon...but here's a hint..Christmas pillows). I just need to take their pictures so stay tuned!

So I replaced the old pictured sillouettes. With these new reindeer themes ones. Hello! I swoon everytime I walk by them!! I am very pleased how they turned out.:) I found some images online and than printed them out. Found my scissors and cut them out, than painted them with gold paint. I absolutely love how the texture shows through the gold. After 3-4 coats they look like they are gold leafed...stunning:) an unexpected surprise for sure! I glued them onto some music note fabric....( I also made snowflakes to cover up some stencils on the wall.

Another image....perfect for my boy and girls shares rooms.

A picture of the sillouette process

Christmas decor...

And to finish it off their very own tree ( thanks Ikea)

If I could only explain how big my kids eyes lit up when they saw the finish product! I surprised My little 6 yr old girl when she came home from scho...she walked into her room...and just stood with her mouth wide open, and a big smile on her face, her eyes wide and with both hands clasped together in complete awe!!! ( I had Christmas music playing In her room for the full effect)...The look on her face....priceless...It was .....TOTALLY worth it!! 

And there you have it...

A real little piece of Christmas heaven:)

Ps my littles have been going to bed wearing the Santa hats I left in their room...every night since!

Love it.

Thanks for stopping by:)

Cat

linking up with:
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving how I love thee...

I have been itching to put up my Thanksgiving decor...

Hurray for November!

Here is what I have been working on...

I made this pillow out of painters cloth that I bought from Walmart for like $9.99. I still have a lot left so I am excited for all the other projects I will be doing with the left overs.   I love this pillow so much that I think i will make many more in the future. SMILE.  I especially love how it has the look of linen for a fraction of the price! Now all I need to do to finish this little beauty is to sew a few buttons on it. I am on the lookout for a few cute ones, but havn`t found quite what I was thinking of yet...I will post an update when I find what I want:-)

You can find the tutorial on how to make this beauty here:

 Any suggestions what what buttons to use?

 My next project was a fun one too. I cut out pieces of painters cloth and than painted the ``Give Thanks`` letters on it. Used my glue gun to attach the pretty brown ribbon. The Tomkat Studio was my inspiration for this one. I want to add some more brown ribbon to it, but... I ran out....lol

 Now comes my favorite new Thanksgiving craft.  My inspiration for this came from when I fell in love with Dear Lillies Thanksgiving pillow. (Go buy her stuff, its AMAZING!)   I found some images online of  pilgrim silhouettes and basically made it the same way I did my kids DIY Silhouette art.  I used fine white fabric for the cream parts and glued them on. I love love LOVE it;-)  

 The best thing about these is that they remind me of my own two kids...

Next is my cute little ``give thanks`` sign. Yup...just drew it up with my sharpie pen.  

 These cute little gobblers (salt and pepper shakers) were found at Tai Pan Trading for only $3.97, just today in fact!  

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I have SO much to be grateful for this year. 

hugs

Cat

DIY birthday crown (baby`s first)

So here is my reason for not posting so much lately...this little lady of mine, my baby girl E... lol.

She just turned 1 and for that I wanted to do a cute little photo shoot. I used to have my own little photog business, and when baby E came along I had to stop. I think I might start up again, when all my kids are in school...so it could be years from now. My kids ...They just need me too much.;-) And by golly...I need them too!

 Anyhow...trying to get out of the house can sometimes be difficult with 2 little ones and one in 1st grade, so I decided to do her 1 year photo shoot at home. It is something everyone can do, and get pretty nice results. I discovered this for myself when my little boy was just a wee one too. I would open up the blinds in my bedroom, make the bed *of course, sit hime on the bed  and than just let him play. I would get some wonderful pics from that, and it was soooo much easier than taking them to a fancy outdoor location to do pictures. 

I made this crown for  baby E out of card stock, burlap,and different embellishments such as laces, rick rack, pompoms etc. I loved how it turned out. And it was so easy to make. I measured her head, and cut out a the W type crown free handed.  Super easy. Than I glued the rest on...so fun! 

Here is how it turned out.

and here are some of my favs from the shoot....

thanks for stopping by!

hugs

cat

at the party with
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

DIY Silhouette Gifts (Fathers Day)

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE silhouettes. I still remember at my Grandmothers house in Denmark, there is a tiny silhouette picture of her father (my great grandfather), one that someone made. Im not sure who did it, but I LOVE it! When I was a little girl I would always admire it. I think it is amazing what a simple silhouette can portray. 

ONce in a while I make some of our little family. And Since we added baby nr 3 I havnt had a chance to make some updated ones of all 3 of my babies. For fathers day this year I had the kids make their Daddy some art. This is what we came up with. It is SUPER fun for the littles to do, and I like it myself so here is how you do it.

AND wouldnt these make GREAT gifts for Christmas too?! 

You will need:

A camera

cardstock/colored paper

canvas (i used 8x10 i think)

craft paint & sponge brushes

modge podge

fine sharpie pen

scissors

craft knife

a steady hand;-)

First thing I take the kids pictures with my camera. From the side. So as to see their silhouette.  For my baby i had one of the kids distract her so she wouldn't look at me, but at them. Worked like a charm.

I put my kids to work by letting them paint their own canvas. Error free mind you because they had freedom to paint their all one color as they would :-) They LOVED doing this.  

Let it dry for a few hours or even overnight.

Next I uploaded the pictures to my computer and simply printed the images out on the cardstock/colored paper that I wanted to use. Played around a bit to get the size I wanted too.

Next I cut the pictures out. Pay attention to detail! ONly cut out their silhouette. I did so with my scissors. Because some of the details are lost in the image itself, I used my craft knife (or a razor blade) to etch out the hair or creases in the clothes. It helped especially for the girls pictures.  else my oldest daughters long hair would not show up on the silhouette. And I think it looks alot more like her with those details. Its totally up to you. ;-) For my son I didnt need to do that. 

Now after that I got the modge podge out and glued the silhouettes onto the canvas. (watch out for air bubbles, so smooth them out carefully). And than I let my children paint their own canvas with modge podge. They really covered them up nicely. Again Just take care they dont get any air bubbles under the silhouettes.

Once dry I wrote their names and ages on the bottom of the pictures with a sharpie pen.

 (Sorry for the glare on the pix...my hallway has not very good lighting...)

I just love having these pictures to look at.  I have made few different ones throughout the years. Its been 5 months already since we did these, and already my kids have grown SO much! Especially my baby girl.  I love having their littles profiles etched into time forever!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cat

oxoxo