Pinteresting Party

A sporadic post every day this week.  Whoa. 

Remember that time I met this girl from the internet?  Her name is Kim. You might know her from NewlyWoodwards fame.   I initially thought she might chop me into pieces during our first meeting.  That's what people from the internet do, right?  Turns out she has been an incredible influence on me.  She's incredibly involved, bubbly and motivating.  If you don't have a Kim in your life, find one.

Enough with my love letter.  The point of this point is to invite you to a party.  A party Kim and I are hosting for a great organization! 

Photos above are inspiration for our crafts via Maybe Matilda (sugar scrub), The Preppy Owl (fabric flower) and Our Sweet Serindipity (chalkboard).

Who doesn't love a good crafting party that helps empower women? 

I have information for locals and my interweb friends.  Keep reading!

Local readers can join us:

Thursday, Sept. 19, 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Moline Public Library, 3210 41st Street, Moline, Ill. 61265

Get in touch with your crafty side at this fun, creative event. You’ll have the opportunity to try your hand at several crafty projects and take home your own creations – including a rustic chalkboard, fabric flower pin and body scrub.

In lieu of a cost for the workshop, please make a donation to Dress for Success Quad Cities. 100 percent of donations go to the organization, which empowers women toward economic stability by providing them with business-appropriate clothing, mentoring and professional development programs.

RSVP online!

When you RSVP, you will have the opportunity to donate to Dress for Success online through a secure PayPal transaction. Remember – all supplies will be provided. There is no cost to craft, get your swag bag or indulge in some delicious food.  I'm baking.  Get excited.

Not local? Want to help?

Your donation helps women working toward economic independence. Plus, if you RSVP now and donate at least $30 through the link below, We’ll send you a special swag bag and put together a small craft kit to complete the fabric flower pin on your own. (The kit will ship by October.) So you can help women and also participate in the craft night on your own time! 

Fun, right?  I thought so.

To take part, RSVP now online and donate securely through PayPal.

Feel free to pass this along to your friends and family. Share this invite to other women you think would be interested in making their own decorative signs, meeting other women and helping Dress for Success Quad Cities. The more, the merrier! (Please ask friends to RSVP if they plan to attend so I can be prepared with enough supplies.)

Thanks for your support!

Craft Room Tour

My craft room is clean.  What?  And it's done.  I think.  Sort of.

Ike just wants to know where his dog bed is.  Poor guy.

I have shown you all each piece of the room but I don't have a post with the room as a whole.  Mainly because I would photograph one section and shove everything else to the other side of the room. 

This room is probably temporary.  As in, it will exist until our spawn take over.  I figured since it was temporary, I could do whatever the heck I wanted.  Everything in here is something that makes me happy.  It may not necessarily go together but who cares!

The room started with me wanting to stencil a wall.  I decided to go with the chevron wall stencil from Royal Design Studios.   I know chevron is a love it or hate it thing.  Chevron belongs in my happy place.

I found the rocking chair at the Salvation Army.  It was hunter green.  I then painted it grey.  And then I painted it 100 different shades of spray paint coral until I gave up and bought a paint sprayer.  I then used Sherwin Williams Dishy Coral that I used elsewhere in the room.  Nate has renamed this the million dollar chair because he loves it so much.  Or he thinks I sunk a million dollars in spray paint into it.  I don't remember which.

The lamp is from Urban Outfitters. I really wanted a gold floor lamp.  It's just the right amount of vintage for me. It really doesn't go with the room but that's the beauty of it. I made that pillow cover in 5.4 minutes using some Amy Butler fabric. I'm still pretty impressed with that one. 

One of my coworkers gave me an antique buffet.  It was in rough shape so I removed the veneer and painted it Sherwin Williams Agate green.   I added the button art when I co-hosted the Pinterest Challenge.  The buffet is storage for my crafting supplies.

I love having this room to sew.  I can start projects without worrying about needing to clean up.  Which explains why this room is never presentable.  Nate built me a sewing table.  We hung the crib spring to display my Instagram photos.  I found the chairs at a thrift store and gave them a coat of paint.

Speaking of Instagram, I framed a couple of Instagram photos to hang on the left side of the window.  Ike is quite the quilter.

I painted a chalkboard wall.  I had been wanting a chalkboard wall but I was too chicken to put one anywhere else in my house.  My craft room is a great place for it because I kind of lost interest in it after I painted it.   Oops.

Behind those closet doors is where I store my fabric.  And junk. I don't recommend opening them.

Ike and I are love crafting/sewing in this room.  It's bright and happy (I need a thesaurus).

Little craft room has come a long ways. 

Did you enjoy playing the Ike edition of Where's Waldo?  What items belong in your happy place? Gold lamps, dogs, chevron?

Layered Fabric Hoop Art {DIY}

Happy Tuesday!  The long holiday weekend gave me enough energy to get some stuff done.  Including this cute layered fabric hoop art.

After a long hike at a nearby state park with Nate and Ike, I decided to get crafty.  I had been itching to create something small but cute.  Always important criteria. 

I had previously seen some hoop art at an antique store. I forgot to snap a photo of it but it was basically fabric scraps smushed into a hoop.  I thought I could totally make that.  I did and it was surprisingly easy.  Like I didn't even yell at my sewing machine easy.  (It's out to get me.  Don't try to tell me otherwise.)

I grabbed some scraps that I had left over from baby quilt that I made recently.   I decided to go with the black and gold for my hoop art.  The Iowa football team is going to need any kind of positive energy they can get this year and I figured my hoop couldn't hurt.

Supplies

• Fabric scraps cut to whatever size you would like. I choose 3"x3"  
• 1" wide fabric or ribbon
• Embroidery hoop
• Hot glue gun

Step 1: Sew fabric squares together.  My Type A self is having a hard time writing this but the beauty of this project is that things do not need to be perfect.  Wow.  That was hard.  You don't have to sew a perfectly straight line.  Your squares don't have to line up perfectly.  (Who am I?) It's actually a great beginner project.  I laid my squares out over the hoop and guessed how many I would need for each row.  Press seams open.

Step 2:   Use your 1" wide strip of fabric or ribbon to wrap the outside hoop.  I used a small amount of hot glue at the beginning and end of each strip.

Step 3:   Stack your fabric rows onto the inner hoop. I started at the bottom and overlapped a little on each row.

Step 4: Place the outer hoop over top the inner hoop and fabric.  Pull the fabric tight while securing.

 Step 5:   Trim the edges from the back side and enjoy your quirky hoop art!

Now I think I need to make some matching bunting and find a place to hang my Hawkeye spirit.  Go team.  Or something sports like.

 Did you enjoy the weekend?  Do you have any favorite fabric scrap projects?  Who thinks I need more than hoop art and bunting to make this a tolerable football season?  {Don't answer this little brother.}