Wall Art

Lately I've felt the need to cover some of the empty spaces on the walls of our home, so I thought I'd share a couple of my latest projects with you. What's really neat about these projects is that you probably have everything you need to make them already!

First I wanted to show you what I ended up doing with the my kids' silhouettes. I'm not sure how much I like it, though. I think I want something that stands out a bit more. Maybe I'll try a dark paper on top next time.
This project is very simple. All you need is paper, an Xacto knife (or very sharp scissors) and a frame. You can find more detailed instructions in the post titled "Simple silhouettes".





Again, another super simple project using just paper, a photo and a frame. This time I wanted to display some 8"x10" photographs of our kids with their grandparents, but the frames I wanted to use were 16"x20". So rather than spend a bunch of money on mattes, I bought two rolls of clearance wrapping paper at World Market and cut them to fit the frame. Then I used some plain coordinating scrapbooking paper and cut it to 9"x11", making a perfect 1" border behind my photo. I then layered everything using double sided tape and now I've got some very pretty, very custom art in our guest room.



Yesterday I felt the need to go on a thrift store hunt, but with a specific goal in mind: find some sturdy, cheap wood frames and a bird book. I have a thing for birds lately, so my idea was to find some nice illustrations and frame them as art. I know, not very original, but it turned out quite nice, don't you think?

I actually came home with 4 books then went through them page by page and cut out each one that had a picture I liked. Now I've got a good stack that I can use how I want. This little guy is just so cute. I might end up painting the frames someday, but the wood matches the frame of my giant bulletin board, so I'll live with them as-is for a while.

And lastly, this project was also mentioned in my silhouettes post. I don't think mine turned out quite as cute as the original, but that's okay. I did it a little differently, though. Instead of painting paper then tracing and cutting out the animal shapes, I just printed them onto colored cardstock and then cut out the images. If you do it like this you need to remember that your animal will end up facing the opposite direction that you print it, because you'll need to flip it over when you're done so as not to see the printed ink. Keep this in mind especially if you're using one-sided paper like I did with the elephant. I accidentally printed onto the red side the first time, only to realize that the back was white.

Instead of printing the French text provided in the original instructions, I chose to write the lyrics to 3 lullabies that I sing to my babies. It makes this art project just a little more personal and special to me. Do you recognize the words behind the birdy? Not exactly a lullaby, but they don't mind. :) I've got a couple more ideas for some wall art that I'll be trying out soon, so I'll be sure to show you the results (if it works out!) right here. Hope you'll give some of these ideas a try!

I should be napping...

...but there's so much to get done! Instead of doing any of it, though, I thought I'd share a little bit of the spring crafting I've been doing over the past few days.

My brother is getting married next weekend so we'll be heading to Eastern Idaho for the wedding in a couple of days. We decided to take advantage of having the family gathered in one place so we're going to hold our little man's blessing while we're there. I decided to make him an outfit for the occasion.


Still not sure how I feel about it. I think it needs something but I have no idea what. I also goofed on the snap tape at the bottom and put both strips on the inside-- doh!! I hate unpicking stitching!

We'll be spending Easter Sunday driving home, but I didn't want the kids to miss out on the fun part of this holiday just because we're away. However, bringing 3 bulky woven baskets with us in our cramped vehicle just didn't seem like a good idea. Inspired by this tutorial from maya*made, I came up with a felt version.
Nothing fancy, just some felt buckets with pinked edges, handles, a little rick-rack for color, felt appliqued animals and a touch of embroidered detail.





I think they'll do nicely for gathering eggs and filling with some spring-time goodies.

This little guy was just for fun, inspired by this free knitting pattern from Rebecca Danger (by way of Whip Up). Unfortunately I don't knit (yet), so I thought I'd make one of these cuties out of felt. What else?

He's stuffed with some polyfill and I shoved a few dry pinto beans in the bottom to keep him weighted. I wish I'd taken the time to sew the pink inner ear to the ear, and I might go back and blanket stitch his tail on, but for now I think he's pretty much done. Maybe I'll make two more and put one in each of the little Easter buckets for the kids.

Okay, back to the house work. The in-laws are coming home with us next week so we've gotta have things in order before we leave. What a bummer of a way to spend a Saturday.

Just a hello

Please forgive my absence. I have a good excuse, I swear.

He's about as good as it gets, if you ask me.

Our little Finnley arrived on the 12th, so lately there's been little crafting and lots of staring and kissing.


I did recently become inspired to do a few Easter crafts, but I don't have nearly enough time to get them done before we leave for Eastern Idaho on Tuesday, so I might have to share when we get back. Don't worry, it's nothing Earth-shattering (is it ever?), just a few tutorials I found that I want to try. I know- I'll send you to the links in case you want to do them yourself, how's that? Ok, here ya go:

Easter Bunny appliques to make over tees & a sleeper, and a cute hedgehog stuffie from Lollychops, then some felt Easter baskets inspired by this maya*made tutorial.

Happy spring!

Simple silhouettes

I don't know about you, but I've been seeing a lot of silhouette art around lately. A LOT. It's very eye-catching and I've wanted to give it a try for some time. I found this image in a Pottery Barn Kids catalog and it really has some cute ideas for what you can do with silhouettes.

Luckily I tore it out of the magazine and pinned it to my bulletin board, because now I can't find this image on their website.

Anyway, here are a few more pieces that I found inspirational:

Totally smitten with this trio of children's silhouettes from this talented gal on Etsy.

Also loving her alphabet silhouette prints.

And here's a link to an adorable nursery art project that I'm definitely going to try out.

Love these silhouette sewing projects from Martha.


I could fill this entire post with inspirational sihouette images, but if you want to find your own I suggest just doing a search on Etsy for "silhouette" and be prepared to squeal!

So the other day I decided to give this artform a try. I found a photo of my kids that I thought might work and started experimenting. Here's what I came up with.



TWO silhouettes and only cutting ONCE! Wanna know how I did it? Okay, I'll show ya. (Keep in mind that there are PLENTY of paper silhouette tutorials out there, but I think this method is the least time-consuming because it doesn't involve any tracing and you only cut the paper one time to produce two silhouettes.)

Here's what you'll need:
digital camera
photo editing program (like Photoshop)
printer
cardstock (whatever color & texture you want)
Xacto knife
cutting mat (or something to protect your cutting surface)
archival glue stick
background cardstock (again, whatever you like)

First find or take a photo of whoever or whatever you want. I chose to do my son in profile for a classic silhouette portrait.

Next, upload the image to a photo editing program. (I used Adobe Photoshop.) Begin erasing the background, coming as close to the edges of your subject as possible without getting rid of any details. I purposely erased Hakan's monstrous bedhead, but you get to decide what to keep and what to erase.

When you've gotten most of the background erased, it should look like this.

Next, change your image to "grayscale" or black and white.
Then flip the image horizontally, making it face the opposite direction that you want your final product to face. (I want my final silhouette to face the right, so I flipped the image to face left. I'll explain why later.)

Adjust your image size to whatever you want. I'm planning on putting this in an 8x10 frame with a matte for a 5x7, so I made my image about 4x6.

Print onto cardstock. (I chose a textured white cardstock, but feel free to use one that's smooth, colored, or even something that has a print.)

Take a close look at your printed image. If there are any areas where you have a hard time distinguishing your subject from the background, use a pencil to draw in a defining line. The shine of the pencil will be visible without being permanent or bleeding through your paper.

Using a very sharp Xacto knife, begin cutting around your subject.

When you're finished cutting, flip your two pieces over and tada! TWO silhouettes. (This is why you reverse your image before you print it. Once you turn the papers over your silhouettes will be facing the right direction. And the reason I erased the background was a.) to save my precious printer ink and b.) so you don't have a big grey square on the back of your paper that may show through if the areas are really dark.)

Now the hard part- choosing how to display your beautiful silhouettes! The possibilities are endless.

Here's the full sheet of paper with black cardstock behind, which creates a traditional looking silhouette portrait.

Or you could choose something a little more fun and colorful like this one.

Then of course you've got the piece that you cut out, which can also be mounted on whatever you want!





Whatever you choose to do with your cut pieces, a simple glue stick is all you need to adhere your image to its backing, though an archival adhesive is probably best.

So go nuts! I know I'm going to. :)

a little embroidery

I stitched up this cute little fella while on a car ride across the state earlier this month. Definitely helped keep my mind off the fact that I had to sit for 5 hours in my 8th month of pregnancy. He is a design by Andrea Zuill (who also designed the elephant in this post) and is offered on her blog as a free embroidery pattern.

I love that little face!




I've gotten much better at ironing out my finished pieces, no? :)

Baby's box

As I'm counting down the final weeks of my pregnancy, it's no surprise that I've got baby crafts on the brain. This weekend I noticed a memory box that I made for my son shortly after he was born. It sits on a shelf in his room and I see it everyday, but for some reason it caught my eye, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's so simple, yet very sweet and functional.

All this project takes is a wooden box (found at a craft store), acrylic paint, some decorative paper, Modge Podge (decoupage medium), and a couple of sponge brushes.


The first step is to paint your box, inside and out. Easy! Then you get to decide what will go on the box. I chose to decorate the top and sides with various cute animals cut from scrapbooking paper, but this is really where you could let your imagination run wild. Decorate with anything you find appealing- don't limit yourself to what immediately comes to mind when you think "baby".

I took some inspiration from a onesie my son had and duplicated a couple of the animals it had on it. The other animals came from somewhere online, though now I'm not sure where.

Cut out your paper images (if that's what you decide to do) and "paint" the area you'll be adhering them to with some of the Modge Podge using a sponge brush. Apply the paper pieces, carefully working out any air bubbles as you go. Then put on another coat or two of Modge Podge all over so everything is sealed and has a uniform sheen. I used a tiny hole punch and black paper to make the eyes on each animal and also chose to outline everything with a very fine Sharpie marker (this proved trickier than I expected, so go slow and try to be very steady if you do this). For his name on top I just used a die cut machine at my local craft store to punch them out for me.

Now for the fun part- filling it! I can't stand to throw away things that are from my children's earliest days, so this box became the safe and pretty way for me to store all of Hakan's little newborn treasures.
Inside you'll find a card I made of his footprints on his one week birthday, our hospital bracelets, his hospital crib cards, the newspaper clipping announcing his birth, onesie-shaped congratulations card from the ladies at church, sweet socks that he wore for his blessing, first and last binkies, one of the first pairs of felt shoes I attempted to make... ...teeny tiny hospital cap and another made by great-grandma, his hospital shirt, the tiniest newborn diaper, sonogram prints, bib from the university Hubby and I attended, and one of the birth announcements that I made.
This box contains items that I'll treasure forever, and maybe someday (if I can stand to part with it) will be able to give to Hakan when he's grown.

I really want to make another of these boxes for our newest addition. This time I'm thinking I'll go with a woodland animals theme... owl, hedgehog, squirrel, bird, deer...

Can't wait to get started!

(P.S. Even if you don't have a baby in your house to make one of these for, it would make an awesome gift for someone who's expecting or recently given birth!)