My {DIY} Car Play Mat + cute car mat links

I think I may have finally convinced my husband that I NEED a Silhouette.   Here is my big fat sewing project for my boys- which might be a more appropriate title for this post.  Drum roll please...

This was seriously a huge undertaking and a labor of love. I had to recruit my husband and my mother-in-law to help me cut out the letters a few days before Christmas. And then I was up until 3:30 A.M. on Christmas Eve working on it. Since I originally started this TWO years ago, I decided it was time to just get it done! I would estimate I spent around 30-40 hours on it, possibly more.
You can see when and where I started on this thing HERE and a shower curtain version I made years ago here.

I orginally intended for this to be much larger, but it ended up being about 60 inches by 50 inches. I made 4 panels, and pieced them together with my road, which is 5 inches wide, finished. I used felt for the panels and flannel for the roads. If I were to do it again, I would use the same fabric for roads and panels but I would probably NOT use felt. Felt is not really washable, so I think I would use a canvas or denim fabric,  something washable. Flannel tends to stretch slightly so that is why I would use the same fabric for both the panels and the flannel. Since I already had a lot of it done on felt and flannel, I decided just to keep it the same. It was a learning experience!

I cut out all of the buildings, mostly designing them myself using basic shapes and also looked at some photos when I wanted something more than just a square or rectangle. (Many thanks to the wonderful people who share their great photos- which gave me lots of inspiration.)  I also used Wonder Under on just about everything to iron it to the main fabrics, and then I stitched around the buildings after that. To cut out the letters, I printed them off from the computer, then traced them onto Freezer Paper, and then ironed that onto the felt. From here, I cut them out, and then cut them out of Wonder Under. Yep, that is how  I do it when I don't own a fancy cutting machine. The freezer paper peels right off the felt when you are done cutting and you don't have any marks on your fabric/felt.

 I backed this with the same car fabric  that I used over the gas station. I also added a piece of white flannel between the mat and the backing, which acts like a thin batting. I stitched in the ditch around all the roads, after safety pinning the thing together, trying to avoid any wrinkles or bumps in the fabric. Next time, I would use spray adhesive, as in the kind for basting quilts...but I was tired so we just pinned it.   I then made some binding and quickly machine stitched it on--so it is far from perfect. When you are up on Christmas Eve sewing in the middle of the night, you just want to finish!

Since my boys spend a large amount of time on the floor pretending with their cars, I knew they would love it. And I think I was right. I love seeing my children so happy about something I created for them. I love seeing them happy, period.

Here are some fun links to some super cute car mats out in blog land. Some of these ladies used glue guns to make theirs. Since I am the queen of glue gun burns, I opted to sew mine. But these are all super cute-so take a peek at some amazing cute car  play mats.

Girl and a Glue Gun
Homemade by Jill
Living the Sweet Life
Just Sew Sassy
Oopsey Daisy

Happy Holidays everyone! I'm spending mine taking car of sick children....but at least they can play with their cars inside while they recover! Thanks for reading.

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

 Happy 4th of July Weekend! I didn't entirely forget about the 4th- even if my husband only gets today off and has to work the entire weekend. :( I did whip of a festive wreath- with fabric scraps, hot glue, and Scrabble tiles. I picked up the felted stars at JoAnn's (6 for $1).
{Blogger was giving me a problem this week- so I lost some of the things I planned to post and have to start over...sorry. darn blogger.}

Most of today will be spent doing this:

I have a really incredible husband! We are painting today....and having a family BBQ!

Hope you all have a great 4th of July Celebration!

I'll be back next week with lots of fun stuff....just in time for baby to arrive!

Thanks for reading! oxoxo

Family Gallery Wall + Loft re-do

Before I write this post, I wish this fire would end! My heart goes out to the people who have lost their homes. There are so many fires in AZ right now and we really need some rain! Praying for rain. {please keep AZ in your prayers- we need rain.}


Now something HAPPY  and  FUN.

The loft is still in the works, but here is the "Family Gallery Wall". Mostly, this wall is framed art done by my children.

I used a variety of frames- mostly ones I already had that I spray painted white. I want to add something above the framed art- still working on that.

The pillows, were old pillows I made covers for with fabric from Fabric.com. {I'm sort of obsessed with Chevron Fabric right now...} The white end tables are ones I have had forever- rejects from Pottery Barn sold by Downeast Home about 15 years ago- that we painted white. They double as storage.

The lamps are from my fave- Home Goods.

Paint Color: Nomadic Desert by Sherwin Williams

Couch-Costco on clearance

To hang the frames, we followed the advice from all those fabulous bloggers out there- and cut paper the same size as the frames, arranged them on the wall, and THEN banged in the nails. - This saves so much time and heartache of making nail holes in the wrong places!

This is the wall opposite from the couch. This is a loft where you only have 2 walls, then the window wall- and the rest is the hallway area. The hutch redo is here. The frames are here.  Just missing my flatscreen wall mounted HDTV...I wonder where it is...

 So there you have it- the much improved loft space! I'd like to add a rug and a few things- but we are enjoying spending a lot more time in this area!

Happy Summer!

DIY Decorating: Adding Fabric to Bookshelves

If you read this blog regularly, you know I am obsessed with fabric. It is not a good thing to be obsessed with, because it cost a lot of money. SO... I am asking for your thoughts and ideas on this one! 

I am a do-it-yourself- person- most of the time and I don't like to spend a lot of money- O.K.- with the exception of fabric. ☺☺☺

So here are my bookshelves before- as seen above. I think it has too much stuff on it, and I don't like the plain walls in the back. . We had very limited space for shelving in this room- due to the fact that my big-fat-treadmill has to sit in the corner where you would usually put the shelving/TV unit. These were found at IKEA for a very affordable price. {Love that darn IKEA!} Sorry for the bad photo- it was taken months ago.

HERE is the bookshelves with some chevron fabric behind them. It wasn't the plan to use this fabric for this, but when I put it up, I kind of liked it. And as I left it there, I started to really like it. 

My husband suggested maybe it should have a larger print or something- he was fine with it-but just not on board 100% with it- but then again- I just have to tell him to trust me and I'll make it all work. ☺

SO after I got my cream couch covers, this fabric -being white and black was really bugging me-white,cream,white, cream.... So I found some similar stuff but with cream instead of white-as seen below: 

It is a slightly larger chevron print, with cream instead of white. I like it lots better. 

So what do you think? I am pretty indecisive at this time in my pregnancy- and it is probably not the best time to redecorate everything- but that is what I am doing anyway- darn nesting hormones. I'll show you the whole room later- it looks better w/ everything else- I think.

I'm also changing up the throw pillows- another thing I love - throw pillows. The husband doesn't like them at all- but I love them- so I win. {ha ha}

Here is the before: (minus the Valentine's Day decoration)

AND here is the what I'm thinking of doing or something like this- but obviously I might spread those out over 2 sofas....so you can sit on the sofa! (Those are not finished- just fabric wrapped around pillows- as I am deciding which fabrics to use....)

I know the white and light and bright colors are really in...but I love a little red, and color-at least in some areas of the house. {The white/bright/light thing is going is some other rooms...}

Send me your thoughts, please pretty please. I will still love you even if you hate everything I have done here and think a circus exploded in my house. With brown walls and brown carpet, I really did not want brown everything else....boring brown. ☺☺

Thanks for being a nice reader and reading this lengthy post!

More decorating posts to come...love it, even if it never ends and I'm always changing it up. ☺

Linking up to Get your Craft On - at Today's Creative Blog

Another Room Make-over: Craft Room/Multi-Purpose Room {part 3}

 I finished up this room. yay! The craft room/office/multipurpose room!

Well it is not completely finished, it still needs some paint on the walls, etc. BUT it is a lot closer!

Here are some of the many BEFORE looks:

{This one is the most recent}

And before this mess, was this:

This was a lot better than what you will see next, but there just wasn't enough storage for all the crap/craft stuff.

I was using this yellow dresser {which I love} and it just wasn't making the cut. The dresser is now my new changing table and  it is working really well. I actually sold the other changing table-which was your standard changer, with drawers and shelves. This one is cuter. :)

And because the yellow dresser wasn't making the cut... I was dealing with this- which made it hard to do anything:

So obviously, I needed some order and organization if I was going to ever sew anything again!

And would you believe I have at least a bin of fabric and a bin of paper crafting/scrapbook stuff....for a yard sale we are planning soon. Can we say -  too much craft crap  stuff! Seriously...too much!

As part of revamping this room into something usable, here are a few little things:

IKEA cork boards covered in fabric:

                                                  My first attempt at recovering a lamp shade:

The wall you see when you enter- fabric covered canvas squares, Target dollar section bins to hold some junk, and other stuff I can't part with yet...

And finally the big AFTER:

Of course, it will look a lot better, with some paint on the walls. I'm sure it will never be done, as I can think of a ton of things I would do to improve the space, but it is so much better! Let's hope we can keep it semi-clean....

Thanks for reading! oxoxo

Changing My Sofas With Slipcovers

Despite all that has been going on in my real life....it is time to post some stuff. ☻

After reading about making your own sofa slipcovers, I decided I was going to take that route.

Dear Genevieve actually convinced me that sofa slipcovers were the way to go. With all we want to do to our house, buying new sofas is not an option. :)

Plus you can wash the slipcovers if they get dirty- bonus! Perfect- when you have kids who think they have to touch everything with their sticky fingers.

WELL...leave it to TARGET for finding another amazing bargin!! I can't even begin to list the Target clearance bargins I find!

 I saw these slipcovers several times, while they were being marked down from $60something, to $40 something. I wasn't sure if they would fit our sofas. Plus, I really wanted white, not cream. But for $22.48- are you kidding? It is totally worth a try- especially after calculating that the fabric would cost me about $100, not to mention the time it would take to make them. I had to go to 2 Targets to get 2 of these- but again- worth it!

And here is how they look now:

It is a work in progress. One is ironed, and one isn't. They look 100% better ironed!

This room was just a boring box....and I am slowly working on making it look a little more custom-on a tight budget of course! So many things in here I want to tweak, replace, and change.Genevieve might not like my furniture arrangement...but still working with that.  It also holds a keyboard/piano, and a treadmill- one big multipurpose room.

What do think? Should I stick with the cream? I think it really brightens the room. It was seeming a bit heavy and dark. More changes to come. I must be in "nesting" mode, because I am re-doing everything in the house...little by little. A fun crazy process- that I love!

Thanks for reading.

1/2 Bath Powder Room Make-over

We finally got around to finishing {almost} our 1/2 bath/powder room.  This was the standard builder's bathroom- nothing fancy, white walls. Basically functional, but very boring.

We bought the paint over 6 months ago and finally got it up on the walls in January.  The paint color is called Ocean Breeze from Sherwin Williams. (I'll have to find the paint can and double check but I think that was the name of it.)

Using things I already had, I did a little "beach" themed decorating. Since it is a really small bathroom, I'll show you wall by wall what I added. 

Wall 1: This is my favorite. I put photos on canvas from our recent a (and first) trip to the beach this past fall. I made these 11 by 14. I have ordered photos on canvas from about 4 different companies. So far, I am the most pleased with Costco. The wrap the photos using thick edges- probably 1 1/2 to 2 inches, and do not charge extra for it. You can also add effects to your photo at no extra cost. Right now they have a coupon for $10 off each canvas (limit 2) that you order. You can do the entire thing online, and pick it up at the store- so no shipping charges. They have pretty good prices too.

 Wall 2: This is one of those things I already had. I just changed the photos to my favorite family beach photos. I used scrapbook paper for the other frames.  This wall could probably use something else, but it is behind the door, so you don't see it much. I do plan to add a small hand towel rack to the wall by the counter.

 Wall 3: The curtain was made from fabric in my stash.  The little thing below the window is old- from forever ago Target find- it was black and we spray painted it white.

And the last wall...White Ruffle Towels are from Target- on clearance. My husband hates them. He thinks they are too "girly". So I told him, I'm adding ruffles to every towel in our house. ha ha ha....hey- I am the only female in this house. :)

The frame above- had forever- just added a coat of white spray paint to make it look fresher. The BEACH sign is from forever ago too- a Home Goods find.

STILL TO DO: Frame the mirror, and add hardware to the cabinets, new light fixture, and crown molding. I don't think I'll be doing any of that fancy ceiling stenciling you are seeing everywhere. Love it, but can't do a stencil...reminds me of when I stenciled my room in 9th grade. :)

So now, I have a little reminder of the beach in my house. :) OK so it is a beach bathroom. I still can't feel that ocean breeze, and sometimes it stinks and is covered in sticky kid fingerprints.

 At least, it is a more pleasant experience to clean this bathroom. :)

Hope you had a fun Valentine's Day! Thanks for reading! oxoxoxo

Finishing the Backyard

We have been working on plans for our backyard for a while. We finally found a great swing set. And because CSN stores are so great, and offer free shipping on almost everything, I think we might just have to add a trampoline. We'll see- I grew up with one, and would love to have one again. :)

Stay tuned....we are working on getting a patio in, and grass!! {can I just tell you that I am absolutely dying to have grass!- Living in the desert, grass has become a total luxury! Can't wait for the day I have grass in my yard!}