Fairy Doors, Fancy Napkins, Corkboard Calendars & Appliques
We are not alone… (Fairy Doors)
~:: Kate’s Creative Space ::~
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Strange noises have been heard in our house of late. Scratching and skittering from behind the paneling, often at night. Things are also going missing; tiny things, like single earrings, and crumbs from the floor. My husband, ever the pragmatist, is convinced that we have mice. Whilst he headed off to the rodent-control section of the hardware store yesterday, Harry and I stumbled across the truth, and it’s much more exciting; We Are Not Alone!
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ABOUT KATE: I’m Kate; a mum, a wife and a career woman who dabbles in many different things and doesn’t necessarily excel at any of them. I decided in a fit of Champagne-fueled determination on New Year’s Eve 2011 to document a year of my many and diverse passions and projects in a blog. Mostly for me and my young son Harry as a record of the fun we’ve had – a sort of rambling, visual love letter capturing the magic of these early years – but also as a way of reaching out to anyone who feels they must somehow be related to Martha Stewart, but perhaps were cruelly switched at birth…
We live in a small village on the outskirts of London, England, and have just begun restoring a big old house which is quietly falling down around our ears; if you lie quietly enough in bed at night you can hear the gentle rustle of plaster skittering to the floor and the chimney pots sinking ever lower…
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Embellishing Plain Napkins
~:: Design Megillah ::~
I wanted to transform these plain cotton napkins into something special for Chanukah. Taking the idea of the number of nights we light the menorah (eight nights) I embellished my napkins with the numbers one through eight.
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ABOUT RITA: Rita Milos Brownstein is the creator of Design Megillah, the source for Jewish holiday and decorating style. She is the author of two books; Jewish Holiday Style and Jewish Weddings and a former magazine Art Director. She loves to come up with fresh ways to celebrate the Jewish holidays, crafting ideas and decorating on a dime.
Corkboard Calendar
~:: Inspiration Cafe ::~
One of my biggest challenges as a mom, teacher, and DIYer is keeping my busy family organized. But, when everything is organized and accessible, I have much more motivation to work on my projects. Recently I had a light bulb moment when staring at a plain old, boring cork board that had been given to me. Here’s what I did to make it into something really helpful at organizing my family’s activities, multiple schedules, and social invitations:
ABOUT SHERRY: Hi! I’m Sherry. I’m a wife, mother to two super sweet kids, and a preschool teacher by day.
I blog over at Pondered Primed Perfected. I have been doing DIY projects with my husband for many years. We are inspired to create something out of nothing, so to speak. It is so rewarding for us to take something discarded, outdated, or unwanted and transform it into something new and useful. We’ve rescued quite a few Roadside finds over the years. We’ve scoured thrift stores, made over Craig’s List freebies, and even pulled things from trash piles. Sometimes we just want to upgrade something we already have instead of throwing it away.
Recently I’ve had the privilege of teaming up with four amazing women from all over the US and abroad, to “open the doors” on a new blog called Inspiration Cafe. We’ve designed the Cafe to be a place where others can come to find and share inspiration of all types in a comfortable, encouraging atmosphere. We hope you’ll stop in for a latte and some inspiration. We are also looking for Guests to share some of their inspirational projects here!
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How To Make Your Own Appliqués
~:: Sew Can Do ::~
Appliqués are a great way to turn something drab into fab and make coordinating looks. Give a basic tote new style or a plain shirt some extra flair. It’s easy and inexpensive too – especially when using scraps. Earlier this week I shared my how-to for making lined pants with fold-over detailing (aka Ants In My Pants) using some darling Timeless Treasures Itsy Bitsy Ant print fabric.
ABOUT CHERYL: I’m a self-taught crafter, designer and homeschooling mom of 3. I started sewing 3 1/2 yrs ago out of both thriftiness & frustration at not finding what I wanted in stores. I began to think “Maybe I could make it myself…”. I could barely sew a straight line back then (barely surviving 7th grade Home Economics was the extent of my “crafting expertise”). I got over my fear of the unknown and gave it a try. It was so satisfying and exciting to be able to imagine something and then create it. I got hooked and haven’t stopped crafting since!
