Joy & Peace!

What do you do with a crib skirt once you drop your crib?  Turn it into a valance!  That’s what I did for my friend when her Lil’ Bug needed her crib dropped. She had this gorgeous bedding done for her daughter’s room and it would have been a waste to see it not being used. So she called on me for some sewing help!

Here is the crib skirt before!

What was really great about the whole process was that some of the fabric that she had in her crib bumper I had in my wonderful stash of fabric at home.  Take a look at her bedding, see the pretty paisley print?

Well I took my stash of that paisley print from Premier Prints and added it to the crib skirt.  Look how great it turned out!

I even sewed a pillow to match!

If you can’t find matching window treatments then you can also use crib skirts from coordinating sets.  I did that for these 2 rooms. I didn’t need crib skirts for my 2 cribs and I couldn’t find any valances that I loved or that matched my bedding. So I used the coordinating skirts that matched my bedding sets.

This one is from Lil M’s Room, which I plan on featuring one day.

This one is from my Room Redo at Grandma and Baba’s house.

One day I will do a tutorial on these!

A special thanks to my friend, AC, for the great inspirational project for her Lil’ Bug’s room!

Posted in Gettin' Crafty, Room Renovations ]]> http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/repurposing-a-crib-skirt/feed/ 2 Auntie Jo Jo sew_web IMG_1597 Girls 32 (41) IMG_1612 IMG_1607 IMG_1618 IMG_1602 IMG_1620 IMG_1595 4_19_07 016 brianas-pics-7_08-0492 http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/new-adventures-craft-show/ http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/new-adventures-craft-show/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:20:15 +0000 Auntie Jo Jo http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/?p=2160 ]]>

I did it! I put myself out there. I did my first ever craft show. Whew….exhale. I loved it!  But I am so glad it’s over. It’s definitely a lot of work. I made a promise to myself that I would do it as long as I could take my time, work on the items here and there. I kept to that…….well sort of.

Thanks “Honey-Do” and mom!  The last few days were a bit crazy…and without the 2 of them, I would never have made it. It didn’t help that we are in the middle of a renovation and that I still have 2 beautiful babies that need my attention.   They took over mommy duties in the final stretch while I slaved away to finish all some of the things I set out to get done.  It wasn’t perfect but I am proud of what I pulled together.

All summer long my friend “L” and I have been making these cute little felt stitched hair clips and giving them out as gifts.  My plan was to do these for the show but also take it up a notch and add some other fun things. And I did!  I made felt hair clips, felt flower clips, headbands, and tutu sets.  I ran out of time or I probably would had the table filled with many more different things (reusable lunch bags, tooth fairy bags, appliqued onesies, burp cloths)  My inspired list is endless.  I will make sure to add or try to add them to the next one.  And yes, I think I will give this a go again! Maybe sometime in the Spring?  Late, late Spring.  This momma has some other plans until then. Big Girl Combo room and fresh redo of the office/craft room are next on the list.  BUT… in the meantime I am certainly and willing to do anything made to order  So if you see something you like…just ask!

I loved the way the table came out. Not bad for a first time crafty girl right?  That’s my mom in the background, isn’t she cute?  I found most of the display items at Marshalls.  I am feeling a lot of love for Marshalls right about now.

My skinny headbands with stitched felt flowers. Most of the flowers were cut with my sizzix machine and then stitched together. I think these are adorable. Great for adults and kids!

My favorite of all of my tutu sets. Minnie Mouse. Love it. I even made matching Minnie Mouse clips to coordinate.  My goal was to make a birthday banner and cupcake toppers to also go with but that was one of the things that didn’t make the cut.  I dressed both of my girls in tutus for the their first birthdays. It’s such a girlie thing I know, but they are so darn cute in them.

The adorable mannequin was $15 bucks at Marshalls.  Can we say “score”?!?!

I am embarrassed to even show this image because I obviously didn’t check it before I moved on to the next photo. Oh well. I still wanted to feature it because it’s the only one I have that shows all of the newborn and toddler hair clippies.  These were a big hit.

These were my favorite clips. You can attach them in your hair in many ways or even add them to headbands. So cute!  PS–these things are fun to make if you want to give it a try. There are a zillion tutorials out there to use.

I have a brilliant little model coming over to wear these so I can photograph her in them this weekend. She is still young enough to boss around.  I would have used my girls…but they were uncooperative and unwilling.  Honey-Do caught these 2 pix of them. See…..unwilling. But still cute as buttons.

Here are a list of great tutorials that I book marked if you want to  give some of these a try!  Come on, you can do it too!

Appliqued Onesie Tutorials

World’s Easiest Appliqued Onesie Tutorial

Nifty Little Onesies

Tutu Tutorials

The Extremely Detailed Tutu Tutorial

Tutu Tutorial Time

Felt Hair Clips & Headbands

Felt Flower Tutorials

Lovely Summer Headband Tutorial

DIY: Felt Flower Headband Tutorial

Posted in Gettin' Crafty ]]> http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/new-adventures-craft-show/feed/ 3 Auntie Jo Jo sew_web IMG_1536 IMG_1511 IMG_1523 IMG_1514 IMG_1512 IMG_1524 IMG_1521 IMG_1449 IMG_1451 http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/i-love-fall/ http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/i-love-fall/#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:15:54 +0000 Auntie Jo Jo http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/?p=2107 ]]>

If it weren’t for the fact that Winter was right around the corner, Fall would officially be my favorite time of year. But everyone who knows me knows that I just don’t like to be cold. But with that said there is something very comforting about Fall. I love to layer with new sweaters and curl up in my mom Aud’s cuddly quilts and put the girls in their warm fuzzy footsy pj’s!  Don’t you just love the color change on a sunny Fall day and colorful mums on doorsteps?  Just beautiful!

Posted in Thoughts ]]> http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/i-love-fall/feed/ 1 Auntie Jo Jo http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/happy-composting/ http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/happy-composting/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:20:46 +0000 Auntie Jo Jo http://paintchipsandcupcakes.wordpress.com/?p=1960 ]]>

We finally did it, we finally bought our first compost bin. After much research and back and forth discussion on what would work best, we settled on the (easiest & very affordable) compost tumbler from Costco.  And I LOVE it!

Mainly our discussion was “What will the neighbor’s think?”  Not that we thought it was weird or embarrassing to have a compost bin but rather the close proximity that we are to them. We just didn’t want to take the chance that our novice composting skills would lead to smell and little unwanted critters with an open compost pile. But we also didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for an expensive tumbler.  The other option that I considered was a worm bin. Luckily on one of our many trips to Costco we wandered down the seasonal aisle and saw exactly what we were looking for.  I will keep you posted on how it does and how much black gold it produces for my garden next year!!

Here is a great quote from Mother Earth News on the benefit of Compost Tumblers:

“Although the decomposition time is not increased, compost tumblers do have advantages in addition to ease of turning. By and large, they are clean, neat, unobtrusive, pest-resistant and odor-free. Because of this, tumblers often can be used in urban and suburban areas, where local laws or restrictive covenants may prohibit open compost piles.“

For more reviews on different composting options and bins, check out these sites:

Compost Info Guide

Composters

Clean Air Gardening

Come on, you know you want to have one too!?  It makes the guilt of cleaning out your fridge so much less knowing that you are putting it right into your compost bin and right back into the garden.

We have been busy.  There is never enough time to do all the things I would like to do. That’s okay. I just do what I can when I can and in the meantime enjoy life in the fast lane with 2 toddlers! Blogging is one of the things I haven’t made a priority.  Here’s a quick update!

In a nutshell, we have had tons of visitors and in between tons of yukkies! I am pretty sure we sent a few visitors home with the yukkies!  Whoops!!

First a visit from our good friend Nettie! She is always so much fun!

And then a visit from Auntie Tay Tay, Papa & Nana.

Although we seemed to miss getting some pix of Papa and Nana, but we got plenty from Auntie Tay Tay

The worst feeling, 2 babies feeling blue!

But it didn’t take long for daddy to cheer them up!

Lots going on and lots to share. My to do list is a mile long but includes some fun things….sewing, composting, blogging, crafting, photographing…and some not so fun things….cleaning, organizing, renovating!!!  Hopefully I can keep up on it all!

This was a fun candid shot from our trip to the beach!

I have been really behind on blogging. Really behind on everything…..meeting new babies, projects, laundry, sending care packages to my friends who are recovering (sorry Paula), helping with Sweet “16″ planning (sorry Suzie), pretty much everything!  I hope you all forgive me!!!  We have had some yukky viruses.  But we also have had lots of fun with our family from California. I will be sure to share some pix soon and hopefully get caught up with everyone and everything! In the meantime, here is another entry for the I Heart Faces photo challenge.  This week’s theme is “Blue”. Be sure to check out all the other entries.

This is my first time entering this fun contest. I have been lurking on their site for a while now.  This week’s theme is “Contemplative”. I instantly knew which picture to choose. It was right after we had Lil S and we took the girls out for a walk in a nearby reservation.  My husband caught this pix of my daugther, Princess M.  Just beautiful. Still one of my all time favorites.  Check out more amazing and talented entries at i heart faces blog!

I think my passion for planning parties began at a very young age but I think it came to life when I planned my first major event, my wedding.  I know some people get overwhelmed with planning such a big day but I LOVED every minute of it and if I had the chance I would do it all over again.  Since it’s going to be our 5th Wedding Anniversary this weekend I thought I would share on some of the more memorable details of our big day. It was an amazing start to our new life together!

Happy 5th Anniversary Honey-Do, I love you!

We recently celebrated my MIL’s 65th Birthday!   Stu and I had such a blast planning and throwing this party and it turned out to be a wonderful and heartfelt day with family and friends.

We really wanted this party to be a full DIY event and Ev insisted that we keep it simple, so we did. I found my initial inspiration at the local Salvation Army and it snowballed from there. I found all sorts of more goodies during my thrift shop run and was able to pull most of my resources from around our homes. A trip to Michael’s and the flower shop and it all came together beautifully!

This was the inspirational piece that brought it all together. Ev told me she loved this color blue and she loved pink flowers. How perfect are the 2 together? All the arrangements were simply done with fresh cuts from my local flower shop.

These cute little birthday tags were made with my Big Kick Cutting Machine. I mounted the printed photo on the back of some pretty cardstock. It came out perfect, nice and thick, good quality!  Isn’t she a doll?

We hung various pictures of Ev with all of  her family and friends around the trees.  It added such a great flare and personalized touch for Ev to enjoy at the party.  She loved it.

A handmade birthday banner for the guest, using my new cricut machine. What fun that was! I can’t wait to make more!

The best part of her day was celebrating with all 4 of her grandgirls!

These little pies were so much fun to make and super yummy!

Best wishes Ev for many more birthdays to come!

I usually use wedding resources as my main resource and inspirational guide. You can pretty much take any of those ideas and minimize them for smaller affairs.  Here are some of my favorite sites:

Style Me Pretty

Hostess Blog

The Knot

Thanks to Stu for being the best party planning assistant! Ev…You’re Fired!