My Favorite Home & Crafting Projects of 2016

At the end of every year I like to  reflect on all my favorite posts in the three categories of fashion, crafts, and travel.  I've already shown you my favorite outfits of the year HERE, and today I'd like to share my favorite crafting projects of 2016.

I will be the first to admit that I did not spend a whole lot of time in my craft room this year.  One reason is that we had a glorious early spring and a long, warm fall, so I used those great weather opportunities to rejuvenate my overgrown gardens.  I was quite pleased with my progress and I'm beginning to see some hope of getting my yard back to it's original glorious state again.  Another reason I didn't spend much time in my craft room was because I quit doing a card ministry so I did not need to make as many cards this year.  I also made the change from paper scrapbooks to digital ones.

Here are the highlights of this past year's home and crafting projects.

                                                  January

Original Post HERE

With January being an indoor month, I actually completed a lot of crafting projects.  It was hard to choose just one project for this month, but in the end I chose my "How to Make a Swag in Minutes" post.  I really liked this project because other than the twig base, I was able to use products I already owned and I didn't have to spend much money on it.  It also took hardly any time at all to put together.

February



In February, I made this cute little country boy card.  You can see that post HERE.
March



Easter came early in 2016, (so happy it's back in April, as it should be, for 2017!) and my favorite crafting projects were these Easter cards I made for my children.  The original post is HERE.

April

April brought a special photography project I worked on with my daughter.  I spent two weeks with her in Florida and I took a lot of fun pictures of her on the beach and other beautiful locations.  You can see more photographs of Ashley on this post HERE.

                                                       May

May was a happy month because my new beauty room that I worked most of the winter on was complete.  I did many hand-made projects for this room, but one of my favorites was when I made two king size pillow shams out of a vintage chenille bedspread.  I loved the way it turned out, and that it didn't cost me a dime!  You can see that post HERE.

                                                    June

By June, all the crafting and sewing projects for my new beauty room were complete and I was able to show it off.  You can see the big reveal HERE.

                                                     July

July brought a lot of computer problems so I wasn't able to post much.  I also spent a lot of time in my garden since I did not have a computer, so my pick for this month would be a garden post.  You can catch a glimpse of my midsummer garden HERE.

August

In August I decided to try putting some of my leftover fabric scraps to use and I made this cute little owl pot holder.  You can get instructions HERE.

                                                September

In September I made this cute thank you card for a good Samaritan.  You can read that story HERE.

October

In the fall I ended up with more garden tomatoes than I knew what to do with, so I hunted the web for recipes.  My favorite recipe of all was this home-made tomato soup, but I also liked the Pasta Pomodoro I made in this post as well.  Get the recipes HERE.

November

In the fall I made Halloween cards for my children (see that post HERE), and also this birthday card for my dear old friends.  You can see the original post HERE.

December

In December I didn't do any home or crafting posts other than this Winter Garden post HERE.  I was too busy doing Christmas stuff...you know, shopping, decorating, cooking, having fun with family.  But I did want to show you how I wrapped my Christmas presents this year.  I used red and white snowflake paper, and I wrapped each present with a big white bow from ribbon left over from my daughter's wedding six years ago.  Then I hand made a snowflake and tags using paper-crafting dies.  

And that is my year of home and crafting projects for 2016.  And you know what, I'm really glad I took the time to write this post.  I did a lot more crafting than I thought I did...I just crafted in different ways other than just paper-crafts.  My beauty room took up most of my crafting time this year, along with my garden.  I'm looking forward to seeing what 2017 brings to my creative side.  I know I have a LOT of sewing projects I need to complete!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE.

The Big Beauty Room Reveal Is Finally Here!

 It all started back in January with a post titled "My Normal, Boring Daily Life".  Now, four months later, it is finally totally and completely FINISHED!  Yes, the time has finally arrived.  My new "Beauty Room" is complete.  The last decorative item has been placed.  No more painting, sewing, or hunting for decorative pieces.  It is finished!

Now my regular blog readers know exactly what I'm talking about, but any new readers that have stumbled across this post may be slightly perplexed so I will first do a quick summary.

My son moved out of the house last August.  His bedroom had not been touched since he was a little boy and it really showed signs of wear and tear.  It needed to be redecorated for aesthetic reasons, but we weren't quite sure what to do with it.  Since it's a very tiny room, at first I was just going to make it a walk-in closet.  But my children wanted to keep a bed in the room for visiting and my husband thought removing a bedroom would lower the resale value of the house.  So then I decided to make it a walk-in closet/bedroom.  That did not work out because the bed took up so much space, there wasn't much room left for shelves and clothing rods:  one side of the room is a large window, another side a closet, leaving only a small wall for shelves.  And that's when I discovered THE BEAUTY ROOM concept.  Believe it or not, prior to this redecoration project, I had no idea such rooms even existed.  But it was the perfect solution to my small, unused room in my house.  I could still use the room as a guest room, but I had an extra closet for all my clothes, and a pretty place in the house just for me!

Now with the exception of the bed, all these pictures will be 'AFTER' pictures.  If you want to see 'Before' or 'How-To' posts, here is the list of links to everything I have been posting since January.

The Beginning:  Tearing the Room Apart
Getting Somewhere:  The Drapes and Flooring
Making Progress:  Bed Construction and New Furniture
Personalized Art Work For The Room
How to Make a Customized Floral Arrangement
A Custom Made End Table
Handmade Pillow Case and Duvet Cover
How to Make a Pillow Sham
How to Make a Bed Skirt
How to Make a Bow Pillow

And now, without further ado, lets begin the tour of my new beauty room!

This is the only wall space available in the room.  We decided to put a cozy chair in the corner with a end table.  I selected inspirational wall art that had something to do with beauty to coordinate with the theme of the room.  Plus it's great motivation when getting dressed for the day!

The space above the moulding was long and narrow and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to hang some of my hats.

 I found these pretty silver hooks at a home improvement store and had my handy-dandy husband make some wood blocks to adhere them to.

 We picked up this pretty ornate silver and crystal wall organizer/hanger at Kirklands.  We thought the design went perfectly with the room and that it would be great to display some of my favorite necklaces.

This is the view of the room when your standing in the doorway and looking to your right.

 I've been hinting about my new amazing day bed for months, and I'm so excited to finally reveal it!  Wa-la!  Here it is!  Isn't it gorgeous?

 The bed was a design that my husband and I worked on together.  I first looked on Pinterest for ideas, and then we talked and came up with the design that incorporated their ideas, but fit the awkward space in our room.

The room has angled ceilings, so after building a wooden base to fit from wall to wall, my husband then built the shelves to fit the angled part of the ceiling.  The shelves were built not just for decorative reasons, but also because the the space was a little longer than the mattress and it needed to be filled in.  After the shelves were constructed, he then built a frame or faux wall, around the bed. I then painted everything with a high gloss white paint.

All the bedding was custom made by myself.  We hung sparkly, sheer curtains inside the frame that can be open and closed for a more romantic feel.  We found the wrought iron piece at Kirklands, but it was originally black.  We spray painted it white to match the room better.

Under the bed there is room for 10 under-the-bed storage containers.  I put items in here I don't wear often or have way too much of...like tee shirts!

Every tote is well-organized and labeled so I can find items easily.  I also roll my items to keep wrinkles at bay and also so I can fit as much as possible inside every tote.

I know I said the room was finished, and it is, but I'm still looking for more little treasures to put on my shelves.  I don't want to just buy anything to fill the space.  I want it to have personal meaning to me as well as functionality.

Many of my readers know I just returned home from a trip to Las Vegas where we stayed at the Flamingo Hotel.  Well in a gift shop inside the hotel they sold these beautiful hand-blown glass flamingoes.  I thought it was the perfect souvenir, for it would not only look great in my new beauty room, but it would remind me of my trip...plus, I really do love flamingoes!

The book is just a notebook, but I loved the gold embossed title...it's so me!  And again, the pink and black colors with the picture of the Eiffel tower made it the perfect accent piece for the room.

What's a beauty room without beautiful flowers?  I made this arrangement myself and you can see how by clicking on the link above "How to Make a Customized Floral Arrangement".

On the bottom shelf I placed a gorgeous shell shaped pink bowl I found at HomeGoods along with a vintage purse and pink women's bible I already owned.  I found the gold 'A' at T.J. Maxx.

 When the shelves were put in and the bed was complete we felt something was missing for the wall space above the bed.  We then began our search for the piece that would complete our bed nook and tie everything together.  This wrought iron piece from Kirklands did just that!

As I stated earlier, it was black so we spray painted it white.  It could have worked if we left it black because there are some black accents in the room, but I just thought it looked better white.  Always remember when shopping for items for your home, if you find something that you think would look great for your space, but it's not quite perfect, you may be able to alter it to fit your space better.

Here is the opposite set of shelves.

I found these pretty jeweled boxes at Ross. I store my headbands inside of them.

The middle shelf holds an empty Sephora Bag.  I thought it went perfectly with the theme of the room, and it costs me nothing (well, other than the $50 worth of make up I bought inside!).

I also have one of my personalized art work pieces on this shelf, along with a pretty silver bowl from T.J. Maxx to hold more headbands.

This "Dream" metal piece I found at Michaels.  I thought it was the perfect sentiment to put near a bed.  I then completed the vignette with a fashion book and a candle.

The bottom shelf I'm still working on finding items to place there.  In the meantime, I just filled it with some Vegas souvenirs.

 This is a close up of the sheers that hang by the bed.  They have pretty silver sparkly threads woven through them.

And here is a picture of how we hung the sheers.  A silver curtain rod was placed behind the cornice.

 And for those of you who want to see and know more, we also made an 11+ minute video.  The beginning of the video is a bit dark because the light from the window hits the camera, but when I move away from the window, you will be able to see everything more clearly.  I also show the INSIDE of my closet in this video and explain how I organize all my clothes and cosmetics.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

How To Make A Bow Pillow

After I completed all the bedding for my new Beauty Room, I still felt the bed needed one more pillow.  You can never have too many throw pillows on a bed, right?  I decided I wanted to make a Bow Pillow for I felt it would be the perfect accent pillow for the glamorous room.

After searching various tutorials on Pinterest on "How to Make a Bow Pillow", I gave up.  They either seemed too complicated, weren't exactly what I had in mind, or they were a no-sew kind (which in my opinion is often more difficult than just sewing it in the first place).  So, I decided to venture out on my own, and this is what I came up with.

First, I needed a pillow.  Rather than go out and buy a new pillow form or stuffing, I just tore the cover off an old throw pillow that was previously in my son's old bedroom.  Waste not,  want not right?   This is what I found inside the pillow.  Some pretty mashed down stuffing.  I was surprised.  It felt like a pillow form when it was covered in fabric.  I decided to use it anyway and placed it on my cutting mat to measure it.

Once I had my dimensions of the stuffing, I simply cut two squares of pink silk fabric, adding 5/8 of an inch to each side for a seam allowance.  I did not buy this fabric.  I already had it in my stash.  If you've read any of my previous Beauty Room sewing posts, you would already know I have enough fabric in my house to open my own fabric store...so the fact that I already owned this pretty silk fabric wouldn't surprise you.  I use to work at a fabric store for six years, so I have accumulated a ton of fabric in all those years!

I used a rotary cutter and mat to cut this fabric, but getting a straight edge was nearly impossible so I eventually gave up.  The material is not only silky, but it's stretchy as well.  No matter how many times I measure and cut, it looked like this.

After several frustrating attempts to get a straight edge with this material, I finally just pinned them together.  You can tell by the picture below how one side is bigger than the other.

I then just sewed the two pieces together leaving an opening to stuff the fiberfill into.  Once the edges were sewn, I cut off the excess fabric and trimmed the corners.

Next, I put the pillow stuffing inside the pillow and hand-sewed the opening closed.  That was probably the hardest part of the entire project as I am terrible with a blind-stitch.

Now to do the bow.  I cut another piece of material 15 inches wide and 36 inches long.

I then folded it right sides together, pinned it, and sewed it.

 Then I turned it right side out and ironed it so that the seam was in the middle back.

 I then sewed the two ends together (it doesn't matter that they are unfinished, you won't see them on the completed pillow), then simply slid the band over the finished pillow.

 Now to make a knot.  I just cut a small square of fabric.  Mine was 4 by 4 but sizes are irrelevant in this tutorial because everything will be different depending on the size pillow you are making.

Similar to constructing the band, I folded the knot in half wrong sides together, pinned, and sewed.

 Then I turned it inside out and ironed it so that the seam was in the back.

Now, to put my knot over my band so it looks like a bow.  To make it easy for myself, I first used a thin piece of the material to tie a knot in the center of the band.  This holds my band/bow in place while I put the real "knot" on.

 I then take the real knot, and pin it in place.

Then I sew the raw edges together.  Again, it doesn't matter that the edges aren't finished.  You won't see them when the pillow is complete.

I then turn the seam/raw edges so that they face they are touching the pillow, and look...you have a perfect bow!  You do not see any raw edges or unfinished seams.

You could also tack your knot/bow down to the pillow at this point if you wanted to, but I didn't.

This is what the pillow looks like from the back.

And here is the finished pillow.  Pretty cute eh?  It looks really nice up against the grey satin bedding too!

To see more of my Beauty Room redecoration projects, go to these links:

The Beginning:  Tearing the Room Apart
Getting Somewhere:  The Drapes and Flooring
Making Progress:  Bed Construction and New Furniture
Personalized Art Work For The Room
A Custom Made End Table
Handmade Pillow Case and Duvet Cover
How to Make a Pillow Sham
How to Make a Bed Skirt

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE.

Be sure to check out this week over-fifty bloggers too!

   

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