DIY drawer or cabinet knobs tutorial

Today I'm going to show you how I made these cute, fun little knobs for my kitchen renovation.  (This is my first real tutorial, so if it isn't clear or too wordy...sorry!) I love the idea of using something so "me" in my kitchen.  Of course, I also like that it isn't permanent, and I can change the hardware to something more "traditional" at any point.  The sky is the limit with how to customize these, and the end result looks very professional...

Swedish / Scandanavian Christmas Doll

This is a sewing project I designed and completed just before Christmas.  I gifted her to my mom.  I love her!  

I had to paint the centers in her eyes to get the look I wanted.

I really like the gray, white, and red.

Reupholstered Ottoman - DIY, No Sew!

I've been very busy since moving into our new home last month. I'm going to try to post a lot of my house projects here. The big project will be a new kitchen, and that post will come later (I'm still waiting for my Ikea domsjo single bowl sink- it's backordered!).

Yesterday I reupholstered an ottoman for my living room. I forgot to take pictures until the fabric was already detached from the ottoman...woops! I used a no-sew method (my sewing machine hasn't made it to the new house yet) where you fold fabric under at the corners to create a straight seam.

Before:





And after:

It adds nice color to my mostly white living room :) I'm planning on new turned legs, which will be white.

Adorable DIY Dog Harness

Today I wanted to take just a minute to share a fun DIY dog harness pattern I found online.  I'm making it this evening, but I have no idea if it will turn out.  Oh, I got a dog on Saturday.  A DOG!  I love him.  His name is Wilson, and that is why I am sewing a dog harness.  He is a Havanese.  And he is ADORABLE.  Here's a picture of him, just because.  And after the picture, you will find the link to the super cute "Kimono Dog Harness."

Wilson, the super adorable Havanese.

And now, for the harness, head on over to Sew, Mama, Sew!

This is her dog in the harness:

Cute!  

Free Vintage Images

Who doesn't love free art?

Example, found under the WPA Posters collection @ loc.gov/pictures.

Another fun one from the WPA Posters collection.

Thanks to Martha Stewart Living, I now have a new amazing resource for art that I can print off my computer (they mention the website in their "Changeable Art" article in the April issue).  And the website belongs to the Library of Congress!  I never would have thought in a million years to look there.  But indeed- they have a huge online catalog of prints and pictures. You'll find a lot of good quality drawings, cartoons, photos, old baseball cards, etc.  Lots of wonderful, vintage stuff.  Some of them can't be viewed as a large image, but a whole lot of them can.  ENJOY!

Link: Library of Congress Images

If you happen to check it out, let me know what you think.

Homemade Cloth Napkins!

My most recent project is homemade cloth napkins.  It's part of my "green effort" and money-saving effort!  I found a few different tutorials, and tried a few different methods.  The BEST method turned out to be from a lovely tutorial from the nobigdill.com blog.  If you're interested in trying your hand at sewing some cloth napkins, head over here to get the scoop.  It wasn't a quick process, but it was very rewarding!

Cloth Napkin w/ Mitered Corners Tutorial

That's all for today!

Super Cute Appliqued Onsies!

Everyone and their mother has either seen or made the cute appliqued onsies at this point (they are ALL over blog-world).  So, my latest project was to tackle some for myself, for my sister-in-law's baby shower. If you're my sister-in-law, stop reading now! Here they are:

 

I think this is my FAVORITE.  Lovin' the teapot.

I might be adding some ric rac trim to the plain white outfits.  Not sure yet.  But they were fun to make, and are adorable!

Winter Blue Felt House (miniature)

I'm thinking about making various small houses/shops in this style to use as Christmas ornaments next year.  This house is just made out of basic eco-felt and then hand-stitched and stuffed with a little polyester fiber-fill.

Marie Antoinette Plush Doll

This doll is based off of an embroidery pattern in the book Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love.  (FYI- Amazon has that book at a BARGAIN price right now- hardcover edition brand new for $11!  Follow the link to scoop up your copy like I did before they run out of the bargain priced lot- then it goes back up to around $19.)

I want to sew a cape in cream crushed velvet for this doll, but I'm not sure when that will happen (hopefully some day?).  I also like her as she is.  She stands about 14" tall and is just lovely.  I had a lot of fun (and, let's face it, a decent amount of difficulty) making her.

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Cupcake and Owl Felties

I did these two the other night so that I had something to occupy my hands while we watched a little TV.  They didn't take long at all.  Both are made of felt- part wool felt and part craft felt.  The patterns for these little guys can be found in the book From Felt to Fabulous. This is a thin book, and though it doesn't seem like much there are dozens of cute creature and item patterns in the back.  I love how simple everything in it is.

Cupcake Ornament

Woodland Owl

I also made a little felt flower yesterday, which I was planning on putting on my Marie Antoinette doll (which ended up being a giant 13 1/2" tall!).  But after thinking about it, I decided I want several small flowers in Marie's hair vs. one large one.  Marie will hopefully be finished in a week and I'll post pics of her then!  So far I'm loving her.

Felt flower with pearl beads