Fabric Wrapped Photo Albums

I am tired of looking at these ugly photo albums sitting on my shelf! I hated them so much I really just wanted to toss them out but I couldn’t get myself to do that with all my childhood pictures in them! I had a kind of “light bulb” moment the other day and decided that they needed to be wrapped in fabric. GENIUS ! Why have I not thought of this before?! Here’s the before/after:

So, Here’s how I did it.
I first went through and decided if there was anything I could get rid of. It’s amazing how organized you can get just by purging!! I threw out my old scrapbooks from High School and college. I know, I might be crazy. I put a lot of time and energy into those, but they were falling apart and getting junky and I have digital copies of those photos so it wasn’t too hard to part with them. Plus, there were lots of pages of me with ex boyfriends so who wants to look at those?! lol I also threw out a lot of prints from elementary/junior high/high school that I just didn’t care to keep.
I was able to narrow it down it the 4 binders I had and kept the 3 scrapbooks of stuff  from my childhood. Luckily, I had gone through those and condensed that stuff several years ago. I found a binder laying around the house that I put some other photo prints into and replaced the fabric wrapped one that I had. Remember when this was popular?

I vividly remember making this in Girls Scouts in elementary school. yikes! Needless to say I threw it out and replaced it with another binder.

All in all I ended up with 5 binders full of childhood prints from my birth to my wedding.

I went to Hobby Lobby and got some thick canvas material. I originally wanted Linen but it wasn’t thick enough to cover the patterns of the old binders.

I cut strips of the fabric just about an inch wider that the width and length of the binder

I then coated the outside with spray adhesive, flipped it over and laid it on the fabric

I did the binding first. I cut a tab out of the fabric and glued it down first using rubber cement.

P.S. Clothes pins work great for this and I feel like a genius for thinking of this! lol

I then went around to each edge and glued the fabric down with the spray adhesive, clipping it until it dried. The spray is nice because it dries really fast  but you have to be ready to glue and try not to make a mistake! I messed up on one binder and was able to pull it off so there is some give to it, but if you have the super permanent kind, it is not as forgiving!!

There you have it. Pretty, clean line and simplified binders that don’t look like ancient photo albums.
The best part is that this project only cost me about $10 for the fabric! (would have been cheaper but the lady at hobby lobby fought with me over the fabric being on sale. I know it was 30% off but sometimes a few bucks just isnt worth the argument)

19 hilarious signs you're definitely a parent

Jeff emailed me this link and I was definitely in need of some comic relief!

http://now.msn.com/funny-parenting-photos

If you're a parent I hope you enjoy!

Homemade Play Dough

My sister is the leader on this little project but I thought I would take pictures and feature it on here.
She has been staying with us for a while now with their transition to move back to Houston, so we have had a house full of toddlers. We decided today that it would be fun to make our own play dough. I ran out of the store bought stuff since they let it sit out a few days ago and it all dried up. That stuff was never that great anyways, since it dries out fast and crumbles all over the place.
She found this recipe a while back and tested it out and really liked it, so that is what we used.
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar
1 Tablespoon oil
1 cup water
food coloring

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a sauce pan and whisk together.

Add food color of your choice and enough to make it as dark as you want.

Cook over medium low heat stirring continuously with a metal spoon until it just starts to come together into a dough ball.

Immediately take it out of the pot and onto a plate. At this point the dough should still be pretty sticky but still able to be picked up into a ball. knead the dough until it forms a smooth ball with the consistency of normal play dough.

Put it into a tupperware with the lid on to cool. I actually put the dough into a tupperware and left the lid off, thinking that the condensation would be bad and needed to cool without the lid, but Emily said that if you leave the lid off it will dry your dough out. You want to keep all of the moisture with in the container!
After it cools, it’s time to play! We made pink and blue (2 batches) but you can obviously do as much as you want and as many colors as you want. I am out of cream of tartar so once I can get some more, I will be making lots of other colors!

The best parts of this play dough is that it doesn’t dry out fast, doesn’t crumble, and the colors do not rub off on their hands!
PS. I love that my breakfast table is perfect for things like this! I don’t have to be paranoid the whole time about them scratching it up and making messes (to a certain extent, of course). I look forward to the day it can be refinished to be beautiful again, but for now, it gets lots of toddler “love” :)

New antique heirloom

I mentioned before that I am spending a few days at my grandmother's house this week. I was outside with the kids when I spotted a beautiful piece of furniture sitting in her garage. (Excuse the horrible pics from my phone. They don't do it justice).



I asked her about it and she said it was her grandmother's, so my great great grandmothers. She also said that no one wants it and it has been sitting there for years. I am appalled that this is just sitting outside rotting when it has so much potential! My mom checked with my aunt and she said they both didn't mind if I took it so hopefully I can find a way to get it home one day. Yippee!! I am normally not an antique person but I love family pieces that have a personal history. I really hope I can give it some love and make it beautiful again! Here's a few (really bad) close up shots of the details.

Beautiful turned legs


Looks like it used to be red then painted white.


Wood etchings


The stretcher and details under the hutch.



I want to do some research on what year this was possibly made. Had to of been the late 1800s!
Can't wait to do this refinish job!

Norah’s Toddler Room Reveal

I am finally finished!!
Her grey and pink room turned out very pretty and simple and I think it is something that she can easily grow up with.
I am so incredibly happy with the way the bedding turned out. I made it into more of a duvet cover than a quilt, but I think it is beautiful and I wish it was mine! lol  I included some close ups of the rosettes I gave the tutorial on. Unfortunately I have to keep it turned down since it is too heavy for her right now, so I have a think grey blanket on there. At least that gets to show the pretty back fabric.
The bedrails kind of throw off my groove, but they are too hard to take on and off the bed, so that’s just the way it is!
The bed frame that I found started out as a grey distressed finish but there was just something “off” about it and there was just too much grey so everything was blending together. I needed it to pop like my original plan of the iron bed would have. So, I got brave and painted it black. I know some people may think I am crazy for doing that but I really like it and it makes the bedding pop and gives some contrast against the grey walls and furniture.
The walls are kind of a blue, green, grey color. very soft and pretty.
I got the white plaster pieces from Target. I love the texture and they give a little femininity without being too “girly”
Her name block was cut out by my father in law when she was born and I just happened to paint it pink and white at the time. Another one of those times when a past project happens to work out later.
I have had the pink lamp since Avery’s first nursery. Another perfect reused piece!
The shelves were in the room already, I just moved them. The long one is holding my collection of music boxes from when I was younger. The small one has a few night time books and has some piece glass knobs that I use to hang her bath time hooded towel on. (she LOVES that towel!)
Her favorite teddy bear and blankey are on the bed.
I got a small iron bird cage at Hobby Lobby (intending to match the iron bed, but I think it still goes). I found the small ceramic bird there, too for $4 and spray painted it pink to match.
She has her baptism certificate hanging up with a  cross that was given to her at her baptism that I have been meaning to hang since she got baptized as a baby.
The “boys have cooties” sign was given to me at my first baby shower and I think it is adorable and hilarious. I hope she remembers that! ;)
The jewelry box was given to her by her daddy when she was born. He got Avery one too so I guess he needs to work on filling them up now! lol
The classic Pooh and Piglet are just some stuffed animals that we have had that I thought were sweet in there.
I found the curtains at JCPenney for only $30! I love that the shape in them mimics the shape of the night stand legs but part of me thinks pink curtains would have been better. hmmm too late now, not changing them. The rod was the one I had hanging in there already and since I didn’t want to throw out a good rod I just spray painted it to a black color.
The pink oval mirror I found at a furniture resale store for only $45! It had a gold frame so all it needed was some pink spray paint and hangers on the back.
Hope you like it!