Children's Artwork

Kaye Winiecki has THE best idea for saving children's artwork

My sister has been struggling with what to do with her boys' artwork.  She refuses to throw it away because well, she's a mom and completely in love with her kids.  I totally get it.  So when we found this idea were were in love!

Scan it.  Put it in a book.

Great idea huh?!  Now you can hang on to all those fun memories and cute stories without having loads and loads of space to store it all.  Plus it's all organized and in one place!  Check out Blurb books- my favorite publishing company and check out my blurb post here!

Little projects!

My sister Mel is super creative.  I keep telling her she needs to start a blog- share her ideas with the world.  She says she can just share them with me and I'll take care of it.  No fair!  I want in on the crafts and less computer!

Anyway, here are just a few little projects she's been working on

Cute clipboard countdown for Christmas yeah?

Love these journals!

  

I am so doing this.  The reason why I love this is because these notebooks are 99 cents at Wal-Mart.  AND, when you start accumulating journals it's annoying when they are all different shapes and sizes.  On a bookcase, in a drawer, whatever and wherever you end up putting your full journals, using a consistent size will make things look so much cleaner!

Birthday posters!

CAUUUUUTE HUH?!  Her kids absolutely LOVE these posters.  The posters are right next to their dinner table and the boys were constantly talking about the pictures and "remember when's".  It was so cute!

Anyway.  Just a few cute ideas for ya!

Upholstered Headboard Tutorial- king size

This was definitely a project.  Super fun, but had we known what we know now, things could have gone so much smoother!  Ya live and learn I guess right?

The lighting in that first picture was super yellow due to those lamps being turned on.  When I fixed it, it changed the color of the material.  The photo below is the actual color of the material.  Much better!

Alright, what you need:

• (1) White Peg Board - $17.48 at Home Depot.  Cut to size- 84 x 48
• (3) 1 x 2 x 8 - $2.61
• (4) 1 x 3 x 8 - $6.72
• 1 pack of 1-inch dry wall screws- $6.50 at Home Depot
• 3-inch foam- We got ours in the camping section at Home Depot.  They were having a crazy good deal.   We bought 2 twin sized mattress pads for $19.99.  Foam is EXPENSIVE.  Before we found the mattress pads I was going to buy 2-inch foam for $12.00 a yard at a fabric store.  That was with a 40% off coupon too. RIDICULOUS.  So before you start this project make sure you can afford the foam in your budget!
• 1 large thing of Beacon Fabri-Tac Permanent adhesive.  I think it cost $10
• 1 King size package of thick batting.  I can't remember how much this cost, I'm gonna go with $10 bucks.  Total guess though.  It wasn't expensive like the foam though and you can always find it on sale.
• 2 2/3 yards of 54" fabric.  I bought mine at Calico Corners for $11 something a yard.  Spent $32
• A jig saw, a compound mitre saw and some saw horses.  Borrow from a neighbor.  Neighbors have everything!

First cut your peg board to size.  We just got a new sleep number bed, which I LOOOVE.  And we figured a good size for a headboard would be 84 x 48.  Those measurements should work for any standard king.

Take some scrap fabric and figure out the shape of headboard you want.  I folded white fabric in half and kept drawing lines until it was what I wanted.

I then took the middle of the sheet, lined it up with the middle of the headboard and used the holes in the board to help me get it perfectly straight and even on both sides.  See my little numbers on the fabric?  

Next trace the fabric line with a marker.  You don't want to cut the board with the fabric taped to it!

Jig saw baby 

Now use that saw and cut out your 1 x 2 x 8's and your 1 x 3 x 8's to fit the back of the board.  The peg board just isn't strong enough.  If you want to start out with a strong board, by all means.  I was going to tuft a headboard, decided it would be too pricey with all the fabric you needed.  So I know nothing about using a different board!  Sorry folks.

This is what ours looked like.  Our mistake was that top part.  If we had to do it again we would take the 1 x 3 x 8's all the way up to the top of the headboard and then shave them down with the jigsaw.  The way we did it just made upholstering the headboard really hard.

Add your foam!  Use that fabri-tac glue and just start gluing it on.  Make sure you don't waste the foam.  Remember, it's expensive!

This is how we managed our mistake.  We added foam into the crevices of wood.  Am I making sense?

This way worked but the fabric doesn't lay completely flat on the top of the board and... it kind of bugs me.  Not a big deal though.

Next I sewed more of that white fabric onto the ends of my fabric.  I was worried that my 54" wide fabric wouldn't be wide enough to wrap around the top and bottom of the board.

While I was sewing, Brian and my mom were stapling the batting over the foam.  We got a king size and doubled it over, it was plenty thick. 

Here's how you do the corners.

Next we laid out our fabric, found the center and stapled it to the center of our board

This next part was tricky.  I chose a geometrical pattern.  It needed to be level horizontally and vertically which made this part so hard!  You just tug and tug, staple, pull out staples, staple again until you finally have it right!

This is how we did the corners.

And it's finished!!!

Like my new lamps.  Home Goods.  I'm kind of in love with them!

Bad picture, bad lighting.  I don't even have pillows or a comforter yet!  Those are my next projects!

Do you love it?!

I would strongly recommend making a headboard to save money.  This project ended up costing us around $130.00.  That stupid foam!  Plus if I fall out of love with the material in the next few years, all I have to do is reupholster it.  The board is finished and made!  If you're thinking of making your own and have any questions, feel free to ask!  I'd love to help where I can!

I have an addiction

It's time for Brian and I to get new bedroom furniture.  

Don't think for a second we'll be able to afford any of these though!  In fact, no one should be able to afford these.  Ever.  Okay, if you were really rich and had all the clothes you wanted, and the house of your dreams and a few really perfect cars for your family... and your children's college funds were beefy enough... and you got to go on vacations with your family... yes.  Then even I might toy with the idea of buying a $2,000 bed.  But who ever has all those things?  I feel like there is always something better for me to spend my money on!  Ha ha, so what if I'm just trying to make myself feel better!!  

While I might not be buying a Pottery Barn bedroom set anytime in the near future.  I still love to look.  Because hey, I'm thrifty enough.  And you know when you really really want something, and you save up to buy it?  And then you buy it, and you're happy for like 5 seconds and then you've already started saving up for the next thing?  That's just the way we humans are I guess.  Never fully satisfied with what we have!  But in this case, there's nothing that a piece of sandpaper and a can of paint can't fix.  And there are some pretty awesome finds right now on KSL that will do just perfectly.  Awe, and then there is the bedding, oh don't get me started!  I'm not the best seamstress in the whole world, but I sew.  And I'm feeling a sale coming on at Joanne's...  make the best of what we have yeah?!

Anyway.  Just thought I would share with you my crushes!!