Showing posts with label Garland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garland. Show all posts

Monday, July 11, 2011

{Laundry} Upgrade

A week ago today, my washer died!  Well, not a complete death, but it stopped spinning which means soppy wet clothes that do not get clean.  It was an early model front loading machine that we purchased when we moved in to our last house about 8 or 9 years ago.  It was a great little washer - "little" being the operative word!  Capacity was not something that DINKs (double income, no kids) gave much thought too.  Especially since most of our professional wardrobe went to the dry cleaners anyways!


So, instead of fixing this small and aging machine, we decided to UPGRADE.  And I could not be happier!  Loving the energy and water saving qualities of the front loading machine that was our first thought.  Although, when i went to Facebook to ask my friends what kind of machine they have and what they love and hate about them, there was a resounding "dislike" for front loaders.  Mostly had to do with the smell if you don't care for them and the length of the wash cycle. 

Having similar thoughts, I began to do a little research and came across the high efficiency top loaders.  These machines do not have a center agitator which makes their capacity AMAZING - I can fit my king size comforter in which is great!  They also use less energy and water which was another important factor for me.  So far, we love it.

{Whirlpool Cabrio HE Top Loader}

We didn't upgrade the dryer at this time as it is working fine and we really didn't need the expense.  Both machines are white so you it really isn't obvious that they do not match - besides, who sees my laundry room beside me.  That being said, I still wanted to add a little creative and decorator flair.


I pulled out my scrapbook paper and found a few sheets of tone-on-tone green paper (I believe they were part of a couple different scrapbook paper packs from the Target Dollar Spot).  I made a few pennants, punched a couple of holes on the tops and strung them up on some fun green and white plastic clothesline that I had picked up at the Dollar Tree.  I then draped it across the back wall and over onto the wall opposite the washer and dryer.


Needing a little something to ground it, I pulled out a couple of picture framers that I wasn't using and printed the words WASH and DRY in a medium gray on some vellum I had picked up years ago.  I placed the velum words over the top of some light blue print scrapbook paper and placed them in the frame.


To bring the fun green over to the washer area, I wrapped the clothesline around a large old pickle jar (Costco size) and hot glued it down in the back.  This jar is filled with my Oxy Clean - every Mommy's best friend.  I keep my laundry detergent in a bright blue bucket I picked up at the dollar store.  I wrapped some of the clothesline around it too!  Finally, I had picked up a fun green basket at the dollar store at Easter that is perfect to hold my other stain removers and fabric softener.


After not being able to do laundry for almost a week, I actually looked forward to spending some time in there.  I love the quick and fresh touch I was able to add to this otherwise work-horse of a room!



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at 3:46 PM 6 comments
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Monday, June 20, 2011

Star Spangled Wreath!

With the 4th of July just around the corner, I wanted to try my hand at a wreath.  I have been loving the square and rectangular wreaths that so many have shown on their blogs. 


And well, since I didn't have a round wreath form, a simple plastic certificate frame was the perfect base.

Step One: 
Gather a thin frame and 3 or 4 fat quarters in a variety of colors and patterns.  Since I was going patriotic, I found a red, white and blue fabric that followed the theme perfectly.



Step 2:
Snip your fabric about every inch and tear your strips. I then cut my strips into 7" pieces which allowed me to get 3 pieces out of each long strip I tore.



Step 3:
Tie the strips onto the frame using a pattern to make sure you have even distribution of your colors around the frame.  The number of strips needed will depend on the size of your frame and the density you desire.  I used just over half of my 3 fat quarters which made approximately 36 strips of each color.  I like how it turned out.


Step 4:
Embellish!  I am on a "sewed paper garland" kick right now so of course that became the perfect embellishment!  Using a small star shape maker, I punched out a bunch of red and blue stars, sewed them together using white thread and tied them to the frame! 

 
I decided to give this one to my mother-in-law to brighten up their door!

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Friday, June 10, 2011

Rainbow Birthday Party Sneak Peek


Preparations are under way for the girly's big 6th birthday party tomorrow.  The rainbow is slowly starting to explode all over my house and I just had to share a couple of sneak peaks at the decor as I am having so much fun putting this all together.

Since our forever house has an awesome swimming pool and her birthday party is during the hot, hot, hot days of summer in Arizona, it was a natural to do a pool party.  The secondary theme for the party is rainbows! The decorations are colorful and fun. Using a couple of packages of scrapbook paper, some crepe paper, ribbon and balloons, I made a variety of fun summer, birthday and rainbow inspired decorations.

BIRTHDAY WREATH
After seeing the fun balloon wreaths and curly ribbon wreaths HERE, HERE, and HERE, I knew this would be a fun addition. So off to the Dollar Tree to pick up the supplies. They no longer had the styrofoam wreaths so I used a vine wreath and simply pulled one of the ribbons to tie around the wreath and then I tacked each set of ribbons with a dot of hot glue to hold them in place. I added a pennent banner to carry out the summer rainbow theme of the party. I love this wreath as it is so festive and fun. It can be used over and over for any party by simply changing out the banner and pinwheel to fit the party theme.

GARLAND
The garland was made by using a package of colorful die-cuts that were arranged in a rainbow pattern and sewed together again with the sewing machine. (I may not be able to sew clothes that well, but I can sew a mean piece of paper.) I have had these laying around for nearly 5 years so at this point, I consider this garland FREE! Yay! You could use a circle punch and make them out of any scrapbook paper. Very fun and oh so easy!

BIRTHDAY BANNER
What is a party without a birthday banner. Using the same idea as the garland, I cut out some multi-colored triangles and sewed them together using my sewing machine in a rainbow pattern. Since I don't have a fancy die-cutting machine I simply used some scrapbook stickers for the letters. Again, using things I already had on hand, this project was virtually free! I also made a few pinwheels (such a fun summer icon) to hid the tack points for the banner and add a fun festive design.

RUFFLED CREPE PAPER GARLAND
Adding some color to the bannister, I decided to try sewing some fun ruffled garland using crepe paper.  Dana-Made-It (aka MADE) shared an awesome tutorial on how to do this.  Even for this very novice sewer, this was a really easy project (once I figured out which buttons on my machine adjusted the tension and stitch length.  I made one garland using red, yellow and orange and another with blue, green and purple.  I then layed them together back to back and twisted them so they have a rainbow effect.  To secure them on the ends I made a simple tissue paper poof by accordian folding 8 or so sheets of tissue, rounded the ends, secured in the middle with some wire and then separated the layers.  (I remember making versions of these with my mom as a kid.)

There is SOOOOOOOO much more to do so I better get to work.  The laundry is all over the living room, bathrooms need to be cleaned, I need to run to the store for some last minute supplies and, and, and.  The list is a mile long but I just couldn't wait to share the rainbow!!! See you after the party!

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