Daniel's Room

I Would Like to Share More Creativity From My Family!

My Mom & Sister Re-Decorated My Nephew's Room (Daniel) In An Army Theme & It Turned Out So Amazing!!!  Not That Daniel Is Going To Run Out & Join The Army Any Time Soon, But It Is a Style That He is Into.

Some Of The Items Were Bought Specifially For This Room, Some Were Transformed & Others My Mom Had On Hand!

Here is The View As You Enter His Room

Here Is Another View Of The Room. My Mom Made The Blanket & Pillow On His Bed.  She Purchased the Material From Lurasfabricshop.com

The Bag Hanging on the Wall My Mom Found at A Flea Market & The Curtains Were Bought From Camo.Com

They Hung 2 Pannels Along The Closet So They Could Be Opened Up If Daniel Wanted to Watch TV.  The Pannels Were Really Long, So They Cut Them & Used The Extra Material For The Curtain Over The Window. 

My Mom Used Rope As A 'Curtain Rod' To Stay With The Theme!  I Think It Was A Brilliant Idea!

This Dresser Is Daniel's (And His Brother's) Old Changing Table!!! My Sister Simply Repainted It.  For The Drawers, The Greens Are Kelly Moore's "Cedar Lake" & "Woodland Park." The Brown is Rust-oleum Painter's Touch Satin "Nutmeg." The Dark Brown is Rust-oleum Satin "Espresso."

You Almost Can't Tell It Was A Changing Table!!

This Propeller Was Purchased From Home Goods Of All Places!!  What a Perfect Find!

The Lamp Is From IKEA. My Mom Simply Wrapped A Camoflouge Bandana Around It And Fashioned The Airplane She Found At Hobby Lobby At The Base!  Brilliant!

Close-Up of the Airplane Base

The Shelves Are Also From IKEA & To Go With The Theme, They Wrapped Them With Dark Brown Burlap & Hung It With The Rope

The Canteen on This Shelf Was My Dad's When He Was In The Army!

It's Amazing This Is Still Around!

Here is a Close Up To Show How They Hung The Shelves Using 'D' Hooks

The Army Box & Sign Are From Hobby Lobby

This Photo Collage Includes Pictures of My Grandfather (so Daniel's Great-Grandfather) & My Dad's Army/Navy Days. Pretty Amazing Way To Use Old Photos Rich With History!

The Photo Collage Is Hung By This Pully My Mom Just Happen To Have!!

This Is A Close Up of The Bag That Was Purchased At the Flea Market...

... And Hung With Rope

This Blanket Is Wrapped With Belts, Which Were Both My Dad's.  The Trunk is Also From The Flea Market

It's Truly Amazing What Was Saved Over The Years Either By My Family or By Others (such as the items found at the flea market).  My Mom & Sister (and Dad), Did a Wonderful Job Creating This Military Oasis For Daniel.  Proud of You Guys!!!

Baby Gifts

It's Been Way Too Long Since I Posted Anything, Let Alone, Anything I Have Created, So Here Are Some Simple Baby Items I Made For a Friend Who Is Having A Baby Girl In November....

 

I Sewed 1 Blanket, 4 Burp Cloths & 2 "Nap Blankets"

I Asked My Friends Picked Out The Material & Colors; That Way They

Would Be Happy With The Items Since They Represent Their Style!

I Would Hate To Make These For Them & They Not Like It!!

 

 

 

The Blanket Was Tricky With The Orange Polyester Material.  It's Silky; Therefore It Stretches Really Easy.  There Are Not Enough Pins In The World To Hold The Two Pieces Of Material In Place, So I Have Learned To Cut The Polyester Piece Larger Than The Flannel Piece.  It Always Comes Out Crooked, But That's The Beauty of Trimming & Sewing A Top Stitch!!

 

 

 

The Burp Cloths Are EASY!!!  All I Did Was Measure The Width & Length Of the Cloth Diaper, Cut Out The Flannel Fabric With Those Measurements & Sewed It Onto The Cloth Diaper Using a Zig-Zag Stitch!  Wha-La!!

 

 

 

I Stole This "Nap Blanket" Idea From My Friend Kim (Thanks Kim!!!).  She Made One For My Daughter & It Was A Wonderful Tool To Associate Nap Time With. Now It's Become A Comfort Item! I Made My Friends Two So They Would Have a Back-Up...You Never Know!

 

This Too Is Tricky To Sew Because Of The Polyester Material.  The Nice Thing About This Blanket Is It's Much Smaller Than The Other Blanket, So You Have A Bit More Control When Sewing The Edges. I Still Cut A Larger Piece of The Polyester Than The Flannel, Just To Be Safe!

 

 

If You Can Sew A Straight Line, You Can Sew These Items Easily!!!  Happy Sewing!

More Creativity From Papa

I Was Able To Get My Hands On More Pictures Of Papa Craftsmanship...Enjoy...

 

 

 

Such A Wonderfully Crafted Bench!

 

 

 

Look At All Of That Solid Wood!

 

 

 

Another View

 

 

 

Papa Enjoying His Own Handy Work. He Made A Handful of These Rocking Chairs!

 

 

 

This Wagon Is So Adorable! Imagine The Detail In The Wheels!

 

 

 

He Also Made A Handful of These Smaller Rocking Chairs

 

 

 

Proof He Made The Windmill!  He Sure Is Proud Of It!

 

 

What An Amazing Talent That Has Been & Will Continue to Be Shared For Many Years!

Papa's Creativity

In This Post, I Would Like To Introduce You To A Wonderful & Creative Man Named Marvin 'Buck' Adams.  This Man Happens to Be My Aunt's Daddy, And Sadly, He Passed Away Last Week (which was preceded a few weeks prior by the death of her Mama). Since This Blog Is About Creativity, I Wanted To Share With You Papa's Creativity In His Honor.

 

Papa Was A Very Friendly Man! He Would Share The Best Stories, Which Were Hilarious Because Most Of Them Were About His Wife!  He Loved His Wife, His Children, His Grandchildren, & Most Importantly, He Loved The Lord.

 

But Aside From His Character, Papa Was Creative With Wood.  Between Me, My Mom, Sister, Aunt & Cousin, We Have A Lot Of Things Papa Has Crafted Over The Years.

 

He Mainly Crafted Things Out Of Wood.  He Would Gather The Scraps From Lumber Yards That Were Saved Just For Him By The Owners.  Although, Some Of The Items He Made Were Out of The Wood In Pallets & It Just So Happens, That is the Trend Now....Needless To Say, Papa Was Ahead of His Time!

 

He Truly Had a Talent.  Not Only Were The Items He Made Useful To All Of Us, They Were Also Wonderful For Decorating.  Everything Was Made So Well Too...You Would Have To Work At Breaking Any Of Them!!

 

Here is My Aunt Jennifer and Her Mama Ernestine Adams (Granny to me) & Her Daddy Marvin 'Buck' Adams (Papa to me)

 

 

He Made This Windmill, Which My Mom Painted & Uses As Decor In Her Garden.

 

 

 

Here is The Rocking Bench He Made Out of a Pallet! Here Is My Daughter Enjoying Her Snacks In The Sun....What A Life!

 

 

 

This Cute Little Bench Has Been Used To Hold Stuffed Animals, Books, You Name It, But Now It Is A Perfect Decor Piece in My Mother's House

 

 

 

Papa Made My Cousin, Sister & Me Each A Table & Chairs For When We Had Kids. My Mom Has Been Hanging Onto Mine Until I Recently Redecorated My Daughter's Room.  She Loves It!

 

 

 

He Also Made This Rocking Horse, Which At The Time This Picture Was Taken, It Was A Little Big For My Daughter, but It Is The Perfect Size For Her Now!

 

 

There Are Many More Things That He Made Out Of Wood, Such A Rocking Chair (Big & Small) & A Toy Rocking Horse, But These Are The Only Ones I Have Pictures Of. 

 

Again, Papa Was Very Creative & Very Talented!

 

He Will Be Missed...

Car Seat Canopy Tutorial ~ FREE!!!

A While Back, I Saw A Car Seat Canopy on My Friend's Daughter's Car Seat & She Told Me That Someone Had Made It For Her.  So, My First Thought Was, "I Can Make Those Too"!!! It Just So Happened That I Had Planned a Trip Up To Hobby Lobby (the closest one to me is 45 minutes away!!!), So I Figured I Could Pick Out The Material While I Was There Since They Have the Most Adorable Patterns! I Went A Little Nuts & Bought Enough Material to Make 10 Canopy's! Now That I'm Blogging I Had to Purchase More Material so I Can Post on My Blog a Step-by-Step Tutorial on How To Make One Yourself!

Now, These Tutorials are All Over the Internet & There Are so Many Versions (some I would like to try at some point), But Mine is the Simple Car Seat Canopy....

Items You Will Need:

1. 1 1/2 Yards of Two Different Materials (pre washed & ironed)

2. Thread

3. Sew On Velcro (not shown)

4. Buttons

The Process:

Lay Both Pieces Out Flat, Right Sides Together

Measure From One Sided Salvaged Edge 41" & Mark All The Way Across

Cut Off Piece Using Your Mat & Rotary Cutter (if you have them)

Save That Strip for The Straps!!!

Square Up Your Material By Cutting Off One of The Other Edges. This Allows You To Have A Straight Edge To Measure From For The Next Step

Now That 3 Edges of Your Material Are Straight, Measure 31" From One Side To The Other Starting From The Edge You Just Trimmed Up

*** Basically You Want Your Material To Be 41" x 35" ***

Now Grab Something Round (a plate is a great choice) & Round All 4 Corners

Pin All The Way Around Your Material

Be Sure To Leave An Opening (a trick I learned is to use 2 red pins to mark your opening!!!)

Sew a 1/2" Seam All The Way Around

(don't forget to backstitch where you start & stop)

Cut Out Notches on All 4 Corners. This Makes The Corners Smoother When You Turn The Fabric Right Side Out

Now For Your Straps ~ Same Idea ~ Lay Your Fabric Flat With Right Sides Together & Cut Two 5" x 9" Pieces (you'll see why so much, later)

Pin & Sew a 1/2" Seam, But DON'T FORGET To Leave An Opening!!!

(sorry this picture is turned sideways. I need a better photo program on my computer!)

Turn Both Your Canopy & Straps Right Side Out & Iron Flat

Now Sew Your Top Stich. Sew a 1/4" Seam All The Way Around. Be Sure To Close Up The Openings On Both the Canopy & Straps With Your Top Stich!

Next You Sew The Velcro To Your Straps.

(not sure what happened to that picture, but it's pretty basic and you can see some of it below)

Placing The Straps In The Right Spot Can Be Tricky, But This Is The Best Place I Found...

The Center of Your Straps Should Measure 15" Down From The Top Of The Canopy 

Then, They Should Be 6" Apart From One Another. You Will Want to Find The Center of The Canopy's Width & Measure Out 3" For Each Strap.

In My Case, The Canopy's Width Was 34", So The Center Was 17", So I Place The Straps At The 14" & 20" Mark.

 

Pin The Straps In Place & Make Your Mark For Where You Will Sew Them Onto The Canopy. I Used My Ruler Because I like The Width, But You Can Use Whatever Width You Like.

Now Sew Along The Marks You Just Made, Starting & Stopping At The Seams On The Sides

Now It's Time To Sew On Your Buttons. I Hand Sew Them On, But If Your Machine Can Do It & That's Easier For You, Then By All Means...Go For It!

Tah-Dah!!!  You're Done!

Pretty Simple, Right?!

Here Are A Few Others I Did Before. I Didn't Do The Rounded Edges On These, But I Prefer The Way It Looks, So I Am Doing That From Now On.