Color Outside The Lines

Days with my 2 kiddos are funny. No two are the same and everything is unpredictable. As much as I love a well planned out week of scheduled outings and events, some days (a lot lately) we fly by the seat of our pants depending on little Miss Lucy's naps. This morning she slept until after 8am, the first time she's slept 13 hours straight, and as much as that is something to be celebrated, I knew I wouldn't be able to leave the house with the way naps would fall. The old Ruthie would have a mini panic attack but today we played outside, did some chores, and Ford colored his very own t-shirt. Yes you heard that right. Last year Art Feeds sent me one of my favorite shirts that says Color Outside The Lines. And this year they've added a DIY color yourself kids t shirt with the same saying and I knew Ford would love it. The kit comes with a set of fabric crayons that are so easy to use (I'll have to hide them from here on out!). Ford is such a mixture of me and Jon and it is fun to watch his personality grow and change. He is meticulous like his daddy but he is creative like me. He loves coloring, painting, and anything having to do with crafts so it is always fun for me to find new projects he and I can do together. Being the little engineer he was, he was confused (and concerned) as to why we were coloring on a T shirt but he got the hang of it and had so much fun wearing it around all day. This Color Outside The Lines kids t shirt makes the perfect Christmas gift for your creative littles! You can purchase one here. 

  Art Feeds believes all children are artists. They exist to feed creative development and facilitate emotional expression in children through art and community. To do this, they provide free therapeutic art and creative education programs within schools and children's organizations by mobilizing teams of community members to bring all forms of art into classrooms. To learn more, visit www.artfeeds.org.
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Lucy's Nursery

A girl can never have too many headbands/wraps

Awkward picture but wanted to get the gold dots and plates in one picture. The 3 doors from left to right are her closet, door to shared Jack and Jill bathroom, and door to her room. 

I orignally made 2 of these chicken wire frames for Ford's nursery, now each baby has one right outside of their door. Lucy's displays her bows (this doesn't include the 8 I have packed for the hospital and a few more I am waiting on being shipped!) and Ford's has pictures and other fun things. 

Nursery details

Wall color- Olympic Faint Flicker

Crib/dresser color- Olympic Sweet Pea

Crib- Jenny Lind

Bumpers- Lou Lou Made

Tassel garland- Studio Mucci

Lucy Pillow- Anna Joy French Designs

Curtains/rods- Ross

Rocking chair- antique given by my grandparents

Lucy letters- handmade by me

Wall prints- Nicole Joelle Prints

Lucy Joy hoop art- The Bloom Print Project

Swaddle blankets- Weeamigo

Ernie glitter canvas- handmade by me

Small yarn wreath- handmade by me

Small gold deer canvases- handmade by me

Lace L- handmade by a friend

Lucy blocks- handmade by a friend

Hello Sweet and Beautiful Girl framed art- Hobby Lobby

Bunny plates- Pier 1

Wooden deer art- Crafted in Texas

Gold riesen bowl- Hobby Lobby

Lamp- thrifted

Pink Lucy Chair- Pottery Barn Kids

Gold dots- All Four Walls

Pink knit blanket- handmade by my Gram

Lucy Joy burp rag- Simply Made with Love

What's in my monogram/embroidery stash

If you follow me on Instagram, you'd know that I have a new hobby. Along with blogging, writing for MQ, chasing a toddler, and simultaneously baking a baby girl, I have taken up embroidery. Not old fashioned hoop and needle (although I would love to learn someday) but I've entered the world of computerized monogramming and it is quite an obsessive hobby. I have been toying around with purchasing an embroidery machine for a few years and finding out we were having a daughter really solidified my decision to buy one. I love anything and everything monogrammed and figured I would be doing a lot for our baby girl. It was an easy sell on my husband whose hobby is fixing up old cars... this is a hell of a lot cheaper! I've had a lot of emails asking about my machine and what supplies I have so I figured a blog post would be the easiest way to get the word out. After chatting with a few other women who have machines and doing quite a bit of research myself, I purchased a Brother PE770.

I wanted the highest rated but lowest priced machine that fit a 5x7 hoop. I have a friend who has a machine that will only use a 4x4 hoop and she wishes it was larger...this is exactly why I like to use recommendations from friends before purchasing! This machine was top rated on Consumer Reports and Brother is such a recognizable brand. I actually bought my machine on Overstock.com after receiving a 10% off coupon for signing up for an account with a new email address. I price shopped for a while since it is a hefty purchase, and that is the best deal I found (and I wanted brand new, not refurbished). The night my machine came in I expected to be monogramming Lucy's entire wardrobe within an hour. Boy was I wrong! Is it easy for me to do now? Yes. But easy is NOT a word I would use to describe learning how to use it. Lots of prayers, frustration, and tears...yes I can get emotional about crafting. 

I joke with people and say that this is the gift that keeps on taking because I've had to buy quite a few essentials to get it up and running. If you are looking into buying an embroidery machine, here is what I have in my stash.

• Brother 4x4 hoop- my machine came with a 5x7 hoop which I am glad to have the capability to do but most of my projects are baby items so I bought this 4x4 hoop and use it 90% of the time. 
• Embroidex thread set- instead of purchasing colors on their own, I bought this set and haven't not had a color when needed. So far I like this thread, it shreds when I'm working with super thin fabric so I think I will test out some other brands but I love how inexpensive it is!
• Wooden thread rack- I have this hanging on the wall above my machine and the thread is in color order. It's really nice to be able to see all of my options and have quick access to it. 
• Pre cut tearaway stabilizer sheets- you must use a stabilizer backing on each project and to save time and space, I prefer pre cut sheets. It tends to be more expensive than buying a roll but this is a great deal. I also have the same sheets for my 5x7 projects. I have a roll of cutaway stabilizer that I bought from JoAnn fabric but I don't use it much.
• Spray adhesive- instead of hooping my projects I float them with a spray stabilizer and it is SO much easier! 
• Super solvy- for thick fabric items (towels, fleece), using a topper stabilizer makes the embroidery look so much better, and not flat. It's water soluble so dissolves when you wash it but I just peel it away after I am done. 
• Bobbin thread- I use white bobbins instead of winding one for each color of thread I have and use this thread. You can also buy prewound bobbins and these come highly recommended (make sure you buy the specific size for your machine).
• Embroidery software- my machine came with preloaded fonts and designs but I can honestly say I will never use any of them. You can purchase tons of fonts and designs on Etsy for as little as $1 but you must have software to load into your machine. I purchased Sew What Pro (works best on a PC) for $65 and am able to create my designs on my laptop, load onto a USB, and pop into my machine. You can get a free 30 day trial before buying. Embrilliance software comes highly recommended for Mac users but I have no experience with it. 
• Fonts and designs- like I said above, there are TONS of fonts available for purchase online. I have purchased a few from different shops on Etsy but my favorite is Rivermill Embroidery. You can follow them on Facebook for coupons too. My machine takes PES files only so be sure to purchase the correct file format. 

I am 2 months into this embroidery gig and loving it. If you know me at all, you know I love thrifting, especially for baby clothes. I've bought tons of outfits for Lucy for less than a dollar and stitched her name on them, easy peasy! I have done a few gifts for friends and items for family but mostly just playing around with things for my babies. Doing a project can take a good chunk of time (creating the file in Sew What Pro, loading into my machine, and the actual stitch can take a while) so I am not sure if I will offer up my services anytime soon. I did my first fleece lovey a few weeks ago and my first backpack this week! It's fun to experiment and I am proud of myself for actually reading the manual and figuring this machine out. If you are interested in buying a machine of your own or have any questions, shoot me an email! 

(I am a sucker for girly monograms, I haven't really done much for Ford....so Lucy overload!)

DIY diaper wreath

Yesterday I shared an easy tutorial for custom water bottle labels and today I have another DIY for ya! If you know me personally, you'd know I have a thing for themed wreaths. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's, generic spring....yep wreaths are my thing. My mom actually made this diaper wreath for my sister's baby shower a few years ago and I don't know why I had forgotten about it because it is adorable and easy!

Supplies
Small package of diapers (the bigger the diapers, the less you need, I used approximately 20 size 1 diapers)
Wire wreath (bought at a crafting store)
Scissors
Ribbon
Embellishments (I made a paper banner and paper pinwheels, you can use a wooden letter with the baby's initial, teddy bear, baby clothes/shoes, etc)
Wreath hanger

1. Depending on which side you want facing out (back of diaper, all white, or front of diaper with characters), open up each diaper, place around the wreath and tie with ribbon. You can use fun colored grosgrain ribbon or simple wrapping ribbon
2. Continue until wreath is overed
3. Add embellishments
4.  Hang on door!

DIY custom water bottle labels

Last weekend I hosted a baby shower for a sweet friend who will be welcoming her little boy into this world next month. I wanted to create lots of personal touches bur because the shower was so large, I knew I needed to put myself on a budget. Water bottles are always a lot easier to serve to a large group rather than filling cups and ended up with a pile of dishes so even though it's not the most "green" route, it is the easiest. I decided to make custom water bottle labels to serve at the shower that would also act as decor. Y'all. They are super easy and not too time intensive! They make any party feel a bit more special and intimate.

Supplies
Water bottles
8''x2.5" labels (I made mind in Word and printed from my home computer)
Paper cutter or scissors
Clear packing tape

1. Remove the labels from the water bottles
2. Create your custom label in Word or Photoshop using fun fonts, personal photos, or clip art. Be sure the label ends up to be 8"x2.5" or else the packing tape won't fit over it. Cut your labels into stripes.
3. Place the labels face down on a strip of clear packing tape
4. Wrap around the water bottle

Fall wreath tutorial

It has been decided that our door is naked without a wreath and thus, will be adorned with a wreath for every holiday. When no holiday is being celebrated, this fun scalloped wreath will be door candy. I looked around on Pinterest for a fall/Thanksgiving themed wreath and took a few ideas to come up with this...

and I love it!

Believe it or not, this baby cost me around $5 and took just a couple hours while simultaneously watching Breaking Bad episodes, to complete. To be completely honest, I have gone outside a few times just to look at it because I love it so much. It goes perfectly with my wooden pumpkins (and a leftover real one from Halloween).

Supplies

• Stick wreath (purchased mine at Michael's for $4.99, minus $2 using my 40% off coupon...you can use your smart phone!)
• Felt- I used about 8 pieces of felt in different colors but you can use more/less depending on how much of the wreath you want to cover
• Fabric scissors 
• Hot glue gun

How to make the rosettes
1. Cut different sized circles with your felt. The larger the circle, the larger the rosette will be so try to get a variety of sizes. I didn't use a template and it doesn't have to be a perfect circle. 

2. Start cutting a spiral into the circle

3. Create a bud with the center part of the spiral and secure with hot glue. Keep rolling and secure with more hot glue at the bottom. The flower will start to form as you keep rolling/gluing

4. As you roll and glue, be sure to remove any hot glue strings so they don't mess up the rosette

Now you will make multiple rosettes with different colors of felt and in different sizes. Once you have a bunch made, lay them out in a half circle (to mock the shape of the wreath) and plan what colors will go where. Then go hot glue happy and secure them to the stick wreath. Make sure you use a lot of glue and press hard so they stick to the sticks!

Scalloped Felt Wreath

I realized my pinning of wreaths on Pinterest was out of control and I needed to actually make one! I made it last month and wanted something fun and colorful before fall and Christmas colors take over. I wanted to make a scalloped felt wreath with inspiration from this post. I think I spent 30 minutes at Hobby Lobby setting down different combos of felt colors on the floor before buying the exact colors from my inspiration wreath. 

Supplies

• 1 large foam wreath
• 10 sheets of felt, 5 different colors of your choice
• Extra felt for a flower or ribbon for a bow
• Fabric scissors
• Hot glue

1. I created my own scallop template about an inch longer than the circumference of the wreath
2. Cut about 15 scallops of each color and lay them in piles by color (you may need more, you may need less, depending on the size of the scallop template you made)
3. Start gluing the scallops around the wreath, securing in the back. Make sure you follow the correct color pattern!
4. I made a felt pom pom flower to dress it up, a tutorial can be found here