robot love

I've seen some really cute things involving robots lately and it got me motivated to make something robot-themed for myself. 

This card was more of a test than anything. I wanted to see how it looked embroidered onto a notecard before I decided to put it onto something bigger (a pillow perhaps). I think he turned out pretty cute and I'll show you how I made him.

paint & color advice

Picking a color scheme & paint colors can be hard! Here are some tips & tricks that work for me (and a few that I need to remember myself):

personalized dishes

plate, bowl or mug + sharpie + 350 degree oven for 30 mins =

I saw this idea floating around Pinterest, so I thought I'd give it shot. I will admit, it didn't turn out as great as I wished it would have, but it's still a functional serving piece (with a little homemade touch).

stencil crazy

This is by no means an "original" idea - putting your name on your tupperware helps it return home after taking goodies to a party or sending leftovers home with a friend. Labeling your pictures keeps them organized and easy to find. Since making my gift tags (here and here) I was in the mood to "stencil" and my sights landed on an assortment of items.

diaper clutch

So I've had another surge of babies in my life...which tends to equal out to a surge of baby projects and gifts. This one is fun, function and easy to make. I've seen some diaper clutches on Pinterest (as well as some for sale on Etsy) and thought that it was something I wanted to give a try. I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm hoping the recipient of this particular clutch will find it pretty and useful.

"hidden storage" books

We have a lot of books - many of which we haven't read. We collected a lot of pretty hard cover books for the wedding (we used them with our center pieces) and they have been sitting on our open shelving for the past 10 months. I figured it was time to either do something with them...or donate them. I decided I'd make a little hidden storage with a handful of them.

________________________________________________________

Here is what you'll need to make your own:

hardcover books

a small wooden crate//box

hot glue gun

exacto knife

scissors

________________________________________________________

[STEP 1] Using the exacto blade, start by disassembling the books. You'll want to remove all of the pages and just leave the "shell." A lot of times you can get the pages out in tact. If you have a hard time "destroying" books, make a new cover for the pages with fabric or decorated cardboard :)

[STEP 2] Next, you'll assemble your spines. Figure out which books you're putting on either end and set them aside for later. Take your first spine and cut off the front and back cover (leaving a little bit of one cover so it can be folded over and glued together).

 [3] Repeat the above steps with your end books - except leave either the front or back cover to hide the side of your crate.  Fold over and glue together.

[4] Glue your "books" to the crate. I didn't do a very good job of measuring, so I had to add some spacers between my book end and the crate. I used the left over book covers to fill the space and covered it so it wouldn't be seen.

[5] Now you have some "books" to add to your shelf that will serve as hidden storage!

Cute & functional.

[this may be linked up to any number of these blogs]