DIY Ruffle Flower - An Easy, No-Sew Project

Fact #1: I hate to waste anything.
Fact #2: I hate clutter.
Fact #3: I hate throwing away something that could be useful.

I know, these three things just don't jive. Add in the fact that we don't have a lot of extra closet or cabinet space to store extra unessential "stuff," and I'm constantly faced with the internal conflict of simplicity vs. wastefulness. That's one of the reasons I don't shop much anymore. (That and taking a 3-year-old and infant in the store with me, but I digress.)

So when I had some leftover ruffle trim from embellished curtains in Baby Girl's nursery, I was faced with three options:

1. Find a place to store it.
2. Throw it away.
3. Figure out how to use it.

Since the nursery had some boring basic pieces that needed a little "something," I chose option #3.  I was already thinking of making some sort of rosette or flower, and since the trim matched the curtains, it was perfect! And so, these ruffle flowers were born.

*This post contains affiliate links for your convenience*

What You Need:

• Chiffon Ruffle Trim (I got a 3-yard spool for $1.99 at Hobby Lobby)
• Matching Felt
• Glue Gun
• Glue Sticks
• Safety Pin or Pin Back for each flower, optional

Directions:

Plug in your glue gun to heat. (I can't tell you how many times I've skipped this step and had to impatiently wait to start my project!)

Cut your ruffle trim to the desired length. (To give you an idea, an 18" length will yield two flowers roughly 2.5" in diameter.)

Using a sharp pair of sewing scissors, cut down the middle of the trim, between the two sets of stitches, to make two lengths of single-sided ruffles. (Each length will become one flower.)

Cut a 1.5 to 2-inch square of felt. This will be the base for your flower.

Roll an end of the ruffle trim, add a generous dot of glue to the center of the square, and affix the rolled end to the glue.

Wrap the trim around, adding a small dot of glue every half-inch or so.

As you continue to wrap, angle the trim out until it's flat against the felt square.

In the last few turns, add glue around the entire edge to make sure everything is secure.

I won't be quitting my day job to become a hand model. ;-)

Trim the excess felt and seal the felt to the flower using small amounts of glue
 

If desired, attach a safety pin using a small piece of felt or glue on a pin back.

And you're done!

These little pins are perfect to add a little pizzazz to so many things.

I also made some flowers similar to these with some leftover ribbon.

I used them to add a little extra color and feminine detail to Baby Girl's nursery, but they would be adorable attached to a headband, added to a necklace, or embellishing a shirt or dress.* The possibilities are endless!

Note: If you are adding a flower permanently to an article of clothing, I would recommend using fabric glue (liberally) in place of the glue gun and a sturdy washable fabric (instead of felt), so the garment will hold up in the wash.



Tell Me: What would you do with these ruffle flowers?

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Easy and Adjustable DIY Crib Skirt

Crib skirts are certainly not a necessity, but I wanted one in Baby Girl's nursery because it gives me an extra place for concealed storage  and makes the crib look more "finished." But since I was keeping myself to a pretty low budget, I was determined to make one as inexpensively as possible.

I must give credit where credit is due. I got the basic plan for this skirt from Variety By Vashti's "Easiest DIY Crib Skirt" tutorial. I loved almost everything about it!

1. It's economical. I considered saving myself the hassle and buying a skirt this time, but the more research I did, I realized that store-bought crib skirts can be quite expensive! Plus, I just didn't love any of them - most of them seemed really short.
2. It's custom. You can choose any fabric you want and make the skirt to fit your crib perfectly - length, width, and height.
3. It's not gathered. I made a gathered crib skirt for Kiddo's nursery and it used more fabric and required extra steps.
4. It's really and truly adjustable as you drop the level of the crib mattress. Kiddo's crib skirt was not. I just tucked the excess skirt under as we adjusted the mattress, but it would get caught in the wheels if I ever wanted to move the crib.
5. It's super-easy. Since my projects needed to be accomplished during naps or after Kiddo went to bed, I wanted to find something that I could bang out fairly quickly. 

However, I did find the need to make some modifications:

1. Fabric width. The tutorial called for fabric 56" wide, which is unfortunately hard to find, especially since I wanted to use an inexpensive quilter's cotton.
2. Number of Panels. The original tutorial called for 3 panels. Since the crib is against the wall, you really don't need that fourth panel, but I much prefer having a skirt on all four sides of the crib.
3. Sewing. The original tutorial called for stitch-witchery to make the project no-sew. While I'm sure it would have worked fine, I chose to use my sewing machine instead.
4. Ribbon trim. This was actually a trick to save fabric. By adding the 2" ribbon to the bottom of my skirt, it made it just the right length for when the mattress is on the highest setting.
5. Attaching the skirt. I chose to use binder clips instead of ribbon or scrap fabric.

*This post contains affiliate links for your convenience*

You Will Need:

• 2.5 yards fabric, 44 inches wide
• 4 yards ribbon, 2" wide
• Measuring tape
• Rotary cutter and self-healing mat or sharp sewing scissors
• Iron
• Binder clips
• Safety pins (optional)

Instructions:

Taking Measurements: 

The beauty of this tutorial is that you can customize it to the exact dimensions of your crib. Measure the crib and determine how wide each panel should be. Be sure to add 1-1.5" to the crib dimensions so you can hem the fabric. I found the best way to figure it all out was to draw diagrams. The last thing I wanted to do was come home with my fabric and realize I had made a mistake!

Making The Cuts

Iron your fabric to remove any folds. A smooth surface really makes a difference when you cut your material!

Cut the fabric to the appropriate lengths. Using a rotary cutter is the best way to guarantee you will have straight edges and make the most of your fabric, (A big shout-out to my friend, Ruth, who was kind enough to lend me hers!), but sharp sewing scissors can work if necessary.  I was able to cut 2.5 yards of fabric into four panels, with only a 10-inch strip of fabric left over.

Sewing 

Hem the side edges of each panel. Whether you are using the sewing machine or stitch-witchery, you will want to use an iron to get a nice, crisp fold. For the 51-inch panels, I hemmed a half-inch and for the 29-inch panels I hemmed 3/4 inch.

Since my panels were only 22 inches long (before hemming the bottom) and the crib is 22.5 inches at its highest setting, I needed to find a way to add length. This is where my 2" wide ribbon came in. I sewed the ribbon to the cut edge of each panel, adding just enough length to allow the skirt to skim the ground. As a bonus, I didn't have to hem the bottom!

Attaching The Skirt

Rather than add ribbon to my skirt, I chose to use simple binder clips to attach my skirt to the crib frame. I already had some clips, but ended up buying a few more because there wasn't enough for all four panels. I also safety-pinned the panels together at the corners to make it extra-secure.

Unfortunately, when I put the mattress back into the crib, my (brand new, never used) crib sheet snagged and ripped on the crib frame (BOO!). Thank goodness for iron-on patches!

So if you have an older-style wire frame like I do, you may want to lay something between the frame and the mattress. I used some receiving blankets that we brought home from the hospital when Kiddo was born.

No, we didn't steal them. In my defense, the nurses told us we could take them - promise!

Et voila! A finished crib skirt!

I was very pleased with how quickly and easily this project came together. My only concern was that the skirt was a bit bland and boring. It "needed" something, and I figured out just the thing! Come back Friday to learn how to make these cute little flowers. They are super-easy, no-sew, and guaranteed to dress up just about anything!

I link up at these fabulous link parties.

Simple Stenciled Pillow

Is it just me, or are decorative pillows outrageously expensive? I simply cannot justify shelling out big bucks for something I can fairly easily make myself. I mean, it's just sewing some straight lines, right? If a sixth grader can make a pillow in Home Ec, surely I can throw together a pillow or two for a nursery project.

When I started making plans for baby girl's nursery, I picked very simple and basic pieces, like this quilt set for the guest bed. What a perfect blank slate for my color scheme, right? It just needs a few pops of color, and that's what throw pillows are made for!

I knew I wanted to add a pop of coral and gold, so I set to work finding inspiration. After perusing pinterest, I fell in love with the idea of a "message pillow." Coral fabric and gold lettering would be perfect! Two pillows caught my eye.

The "Love" pillow, at $39.95, was WAAAY out of my price range, and the letters were white instead of gold. Then I found this "hello" pillow tutorial from Shabby Creek Cottage. I loved the gold lettering! One problem: I don't have a Silhouette or a Cricut. So what's a girl to do? I considered asking around to see if any of my local friends owned one, but then I would probably have to buy a roll of vinyl for just one project. I also looked into purchasing a vinyl cut-out on Etsy. Meh. I had a hard time finding a place that took custom orders. But then, I had a brilliant idea: Stencils!

Thankfully (or dangerously), Hobby Lobby is only about 10 minutes from my house, so I went over there one day to pick up the perfect one. My original plan was to use the word "Faith" (the middle name we chose for baby girl), but when I saw this adorable stencil, I couldn't leave without it!

The phrase actually has special significance for me. I gave Guess How Much I Love You?, the children's book that made this line famous, to Hubby for Valentine's Day when we were engaged. (What can I say? I'm an elementary school teacher by trade.) I have to go find it now... It's probably in a bin of books I've been saving for when Kiddo no longer tears pages. :)

Anyway, back to stenciled pillows...


You could make this project even easier by starting with a pre-made pillow cover (Hobby Lobby sells a great selection of solid colored covers for $5-10), but since I had a very specific color in mind, and I wanted a lumbar style pillow, I sewed one myself (and saved myself some moolah in the process).

Tips For Stenciling: 

For this project, I took a trip down memory lane to Arts & Crafts at camp when I first learned to stencil. Believe it or not, there is a right and wrong way to stencil. In order for your design to have clean, crisp edges, there are two things you definitely want to avoid:

1. Applying too much paint at one time.
2. Swiping the brush from side to side.

So instead, you want to dip the brush in the paint, pat the excess paint off on some newspaper or paper towel, and then dab the paint onto your stencil at a right angle. I think it's also a good idea, especially with fabric, to carefully remove the stencil while the paint is still wet so nothing sticks.

I'll admit that I was nervous that the design would be blurry, but I followed these guidelines and I was really pleased with the results!

DIY Stenciled Pillow Tutorial

Materials:

• stencil
• acrylic paint (I have never used fabric medium. For better or worse, once it dries, acrylic paint does not wash out of fabric.)
• stencil brush
• tape
• cardboard
• fabric for the pillow
• iron
• Fiber fill
• Thread

 

Directions:

 *Note: You can skip steps 1 and 8 by purchasing a ready-made pillow cover and pillow form*

1. Cut pillow fabric to the desired shape and size. Sew on three sides, like a pillowcase.
2. Turn the pillow right-side-out and iron smooth.
3. Cover your work surface (I use a vinyl tablecloth for crafting.)
4. Slip a piece of cardboard inside the pillow so the paint doesn't bleed through to the other side.
5. Position the stencil on the pillow and secure in place with tape. (You can purchase special stencil tape, but I just used painter's tape and it worked well.)

6. Dab the stencil brush (it's important to use a brush specifically for stencils) into the paint, and then pat off excess paint onto a paper towel or newspaper.

7. Holding the brush vertically, gently tap the paint onto the stencil. This will give you the crisp edges you're looking for. Do not brush from side to side or the paint will bleed and the edges will not be clear.

8. Repeat until the entire stencil is covered. I used two coats of paint to achieve this look, and I probably could have done a little more, especially on the moon.
9. While the paint is still wet, carefully peel the stencil off the fabric. Wash the stencil and allow the painted pillow to dry completely.

10. Stuff the pillow with fiber fill and sew shut.

And viola!

I'm really pleased with the way the coral pink complements the navy quilt. I have two matching DIY pillows in the works, and then the bed will be complete!

A Simple And Inexpensive DIY

The stencil was $2.99, the brush was $1.99, the paint was $1.17, and the fabric was $0.75 for half a yard at Walmart (a perfect match to the coral pink in my inspiration fabric). Since I already had fiber fill and thread, I didn't need to purchase them.

Grand total for this project? $7.31 with tax!


Seriously, people - the total cost to make this was less than a quarter of the original $39.95 pillow I found for inspiration. Plus I had the satisfaction of making it myself, with a message that's special to me. Win-win-win!

Now, I'll admit that the pillow isn't perfectly square, but that's part of what gives it charm and makes it a special handmade piece. :-) I know that every time I go in that nursery for a diaper change or midnight feeding, it will bring a smile to my face.


So next time you balk at the price of a cute throw pillow, see if you can make it yourself. You might even love it more than the original!

Have you ever attempted a DIY and fallen in love with the result? I'd love to hear about it!

What I Learned Designing My Firstborn's Nursery, And What I'll Do Differently This Time

How I Designed My First Nursery

Just under four years ago, I embarked on planning and decorating my first baby nursery. I spent hours obsessing over researching baby bedding and decor, but I just didn't love anything. And then there was the cost. I couldn't stomach paying well over $100 for a four-piece crib set, especially since I had no intention of using the included big, fluffy, bumper for safety reasons. I felt so torn about what to do, until I saw an adorable jungle animal quilt on Etsy.
 

Image originally from Jo-Ann's, but no longer available

I loved everything about it - the cute animals, the cheerful non-traditional colors, and that it didn't look too "baby-ish" to me (at least at the time).

At the time I was a fifth grade teacher. Kiddo was due in September, and my normal summer job as a day camp counselor was out of the question since it required lots of activity in the summer heat without access to air conditioning. So I knew that once school ended, I would have a bunch of time on my hands. Why not purchase the fabric myself and DIY the bedding over the summer? I always loved sewing in Home Ec classes, and my mom and mother-in-law have sewing experience, so I knew I had people to turn to if I got stuck.

So that's exactly what I did. I made my first-ever mood board of sorts. And with the help of internet tutorials, I was able to make a crib skirt, curtain valance, and quilt - almost completely by myself! I learned a lot and was pretty proud of my accomplishments.

In the meantime, Hubby refinished the rocker that had once been in my classroom so it would match our hand-me-down crib. It was a lot of work, but he did a wonderful job.

Once everything was ready, it was time to choose a paint color. I decided on a fun green in the quilt and matched it to Behr's Honeydew.  Hubby tried to suggest a lighter color, but I wouldn't have it. At this point we had painted all the rooms in our house, so I felt confident that I could choose the right one. But wow, when it was first painted, the walls literally glowed! It definitely isn't for everyone, but thankfully, once it completely dried and all the furniture and decorations were in, I actually really liked it.

While the dresser didn't match the rest of the furniture,
we scored it for less than $30 on Craigslist. Fine by me!

 What I'm Doing Differently This Time

I still look back at this nursery fondly. It was so fun to put together, and I loved everything about it!

However, I learned a few things that definitely have affected my design choices as I create our baby girl's nursery.

• Avoiding just about anything that is marketed as "baby."

  Don't buy into the hype. Just like anything labeled "wedding," anything with the word "baby" attached to it will automatically have a mark-up. This time around, I don't think I'll need to buy anything specifically baby-related, so I should be able to avoid the extra expense.

• Putting DIY spins on ready-made pieces to save money.

  I could have paid big bucks for a custom-made bedding set on Etsy, but by sewing everything at home, I only paid for raw materials. Plus, I had the satisfaction of making everything myself.
  This time around, I'm a busy scratch-cooking, toddler-chasing, full-schedule mom. Rather than starting from raw materials, I plan to do some simple DIY's to get the look I want on a budget.

• Avoiding "themed" decor.

  Even though I saved money by doing things myself, I still ended up spending a chunk of change by choosing a theme. "Baby" patterned fabric and themed wall hangings, crib sheets, etc. definitely cost more than neutral basics. This time around, I plan to add my own embellishments to solid fabrics in an effort to keep a low budget.

• Choosing a neutral paint color.

  Painting rooms can be a pain, especially in a bedroom. Not only do we have to move and cover furniture, but especially in the case of a kid's bedroom, we also have to disrupt their sleep routine by moving them to a different room while the paint dries. Since we moved just after Kiddo's first birthday, we didn't have to re-paint his room, but I'm sure I would have wanted to when we transitioned him to a "big boy" bed.
  By choosing a neutral paint background, we can paint once and change out bedding, decor, and accessories easily as baby girl grows.

• Thinking timeless.

  I tried to picture the room five years from now. Obviously, there won't be a crib in there. But would the basic pieces (bedding, furniture, curtains, etc.) be age-appropriate for a five-year-old? It helps that baby girl's room will also be a guest room, but I already knew I wanted to go with something classic that could grow with her. 

Ultimately, I'm going for a different feel this time around. I want to create a calming space rather than a bright, cheerful, stimulating one. It's been a fun challenge so far, though a bit stressful when I think of all I want to accomplish before our baby girl arrives. I'm so excited to share my progress with you as I go!

What Do You Think?

What do you think of the space? Was I crazy to paint Kiddo's walls that bright green?
Have you learned valuable lessons from past design decisions? I'd love to hear about it!

 I link up at these fabulous link parties.

Baby Girl Nursery: The Color Scheme

 

First of all, I realized this afternoon that today marks exactly two months until my due date. ACK! When I shared that little tidbit on my personal Facebook (and admitted in the comments how overwhelming it feels to realize that I'm JUST. THAT. CLOSE.), I received some awesome encouragement (and even offers for help). I just have to give a shout-out to my sweet, supportive, encouraging friends. I am so blessed to know you!

But I digress... What was the point of this post? Oh, right! The nursery.

I know I've established that decor isn't really my thing, but call it nesting instinct or insanity, because I just HAD to do something (especially once I found out we were having a girl). Considering the impending arrival of our little lady, I thought it was high time to share the plans I've been making for her room.

Baby Girl Nursery: Dual Purpose

This room will not only be a traditional nursery where baby girl will be sleeping and inevitably waking for midnight feedings; it will also serve as a guest room when my in-laws and others come to town.

The room already has a full-sized bed, which will stay. In addition, there will be a dresser, crib, rocking chair, and hopefully a small bedside table/bookshelf of some kind (I'm still working on that). It's not a huge room, so I know I'll have to play around with the arrangement to find what works. However, Kiddo's nursery in the last house was TINY and I was able to fit everything in (minus a full bed) without an issue. 

The Plan: Neutral and Sophisticated

I'm not much of a girly-girl, so I didn't feel the need to go crazy with the pink and tulle in this room. I learned from Kiddo's adorable-but-decidedly-baby jungle themed nursery that babies grow into "big kids" way too fast. (I will be sure to give a virtual tour of his old nursery in a future post.) I know I won't have the time, energy, or motivation to be constantly re-doing bedrooms, so my goal is to go more neutral and timeless this time around, especially since this will also be a bedroom.

Are you intrigued? 

Here is a teaser for the color scheme I have in mind for baby girl's nursery:

Photo sources: Color Inspiration, Dresser, Rocker, Knob, Flooring, Paint

The Budget:

My goal is to stay under $150 for all bedding and decor, not including furniture, wall paint and flooring.

Yes, you read that right: under $150. 

I am well aware that lot of crib bedding sets sell for more than that! 

But I have a plan. I've already picked several pieces out and, with some DIY's, I should be on target to stay on (and hopefully under) budget. I can't wait to share my plans with you!

The details are already in motion. Hubby picked up the comforter for the bed while he was out yesterday and I have plans to go shopping on Friday for nursery stuff. I'm getting so excited!!

So stay, tuned folks! In the next few weeks I'll be sharing my plans and (hopefully) progress as I create a functional, budget-friendly nursery/guest room.

So, what do you think?

Do nurseries excite you as much as this mama? Do you have any ideas or tips for me? What are some ways that you decorate on a budget? 
I'd love to hear from you!

I link up at these fabulous link parties.