New Suzani Curtain Panels and Other Stuff

Last week you might have read that I was on the hunt for new curtain panels because my boring beige curtains were just not cutting it anymore. So on this past weekends excursion to St. Louis, it afforded me a trip to World Market (how I wish one was closer to me). Lo and behold, I actually found some affordable panels! Have you been to this store before? It's a cross between Pier 1 and a specialty food store. It's got rugs, pillows, dinnerware....all kinds of stuff and quite affordable.

Before (boring beige curtain panel)

I typically keep things fairly neutral and solid colors, IE boring. I like to play with pattern with throw pillows, and I still do, but this is the first time I've gone bold on the windows. You should have seen me in the store, hem-hawing over the decision. Thank goodness my MIL has a lot of patience. :)

These curtain panels have several things going for them. First, clearly, color. It has my turquoise, my orange, and a nice neutral background. In addition, I also have a yellow and persimmon color to play with too. Then there is the pattern. I have been enamored with Suzani for a while and have shopped for pillows and fabrics, so that was also an easy deciding factor. Also, they are lined and came with a nice tie-back if I ever want to do that, I thought that was a nice bonus. Oh, and they came in 96" which is exactly what I needed, I was so happy, usually that's a 'special order' to get that length.

After (Colorful Suzani curtain panel)

I also found a great wooden lantern at Home Goods. I have been looking at lanterns for some time, and this was a great looking one with a great price. I put three candles and some moss in for now, but I see doing lots of things with this baby!

Here is a quick and easy DIY project that you can do in 15 minutes or less....buy those unfinished wooden letters at the craft store, paint it out whatever color and glue to a salvaged piece of wood. This 'K' (for Keegan) just so happened to fit perfectly on a scrap block I had. Easy peasy, fun gift idea too. I love the super shiny against the old wood.

Here is a close up of the curtain, I haven't ironed them yet. ;) I was so excited I threw them right up on the rods!

I am really happy about how they are looking. Now I think I am going to buy a thicker rod and probably some rings to make them look a little more custom. I am considering a trim too, but I am not really a tassel kind of gal, so we'll see what I can find. Maybe something in jute, that would be nice! New pillow alert, I have a pillow sickness, really I do. This coordinated with the curtains so well that I just couldn't leave it. Beautiful colors in this Ikat-ish design. If you notice some new artwork on my gallery wall, I'll be showing you how I made it on Thursday. It's one of my easiest DIY projects yet!

There's nothing like a couple of shopping trips to change a whole room! Please don't mind the night time pictures, you wouldn't have been able to see the curtains as well otherwise so the pictures are a little more dull than I like.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you are inspired to go bold on your windows!! I was a little all over the board here, I've told you before how squirrely I am! See you tomorrow with a field trip around St. Louis! Joining Kristin

Fun Felt Flowers

I want to share two fantastic tutorials that I recently discovered. I have made felt flowers before, there is something so fun about felt, and I tried these two new tutes out this weekend. The first tute is from Dawn over at Creative Cain Cabin, she shares her tutorial for a Felted Wool Flower Pin. I latched right on to that and was making them left and right.....really simple and easy to follow directions. I made flower pins and pinned them onto dish towels......

I glued magnets on the back for fun to display Logan's artwork...I'm not kidding, I couldn't stop making them! :)

The only thing that I did differently than Dawn, I used plastic beads from a broken bracelet and wooden beads too, I think she used buttons...you could use nearly anything.

This next tutorial is for a Dahlia Flower Brooch from Megan at Not Martha. This turned out so awesome, Megan did it in red and I tried mine in orange, I think a yellow would be pretty too. I will say that this tute was a little more intense, but the end result is really worth it. I love Megan's idea for a Mother's Day gift.

I want to find some other colors of felt than what the local craft stores carry, it's really limited. I made all of these out of craft felt, but would love to move on to wool felt. These are my crash test dummies. Remember that band? Sorry, off track there.

I bought some inexpensive kitchen towels at Big Lots and pinned the flowers right on, cute right? Wouldn't that make a great hostess gift or housewarming gift?

Just unpin to wash!

Just for the record, Justin wanted to know what flower is actually grey, but clearly, he's taking this project too literally! :) Here you can see them on, and they would look cute pinned on a bag or purse.

So are you inspired to try these tutes out? I know I was! Thank you Dawn and Megan for sharing well written and easy to follow tutes!

....And after you get done with all of the flowers, make a sock puppet with all the scraps!!!

The kid has been entertained for hours with his puppet, although I don't know how many more 'puppet shows' I can sit through ! ;) Blue Cricket Design Thanks for stopping by!

DIY Paint Technique

Greetings! Are you ready to learn a little DIY paint technique? I couldn't wait to share this with you, it's the first time I've tried this method (with wax paste), so I hope you have successful results like I did. I won't kid you, this technique has a lot of steps, much like the Ball Finial Technique, but totally worth it in the end. Patience is good to have when starting a project like this, but honestly, I used my craft heat gun to speed up the drying processes. :) As I'm sure you know, the craft and hobby stores are packed full of garden accessories and that's where I found these great pedestals. I have no intention of using them outside and after this technique, it's indoor use anyway. They are made of Terra cotta/clay and have a painted finish already, but it's pretty wimpy and I wanted a more of a distressed finish.

Here is what you are going to need:

Garden pedestal (your choice of size and style, these 2 are from Hobby Lobby, 50% off)

Acrylic paint (Burnt Umber and Sandstone) Wax Paste (for furniture)

Sandpaper, fine grit

Chip Brush

Old Towel Spray Sealer

After you've gathered all you supplies, start by painting out the entire pedestal in Burnt Umber. Depending on how detailed your piece is, two coats may be in order to get all the nooks and crannies.

Let your piece dry completely (or use the heat gun). Next, open your wax paste and use an old towel to rub over the pedestal specifically in areas that would naturally have wear. Let the wax dry completely, about an hour (I really waited an hour on this step). I hope you can see the wax in this picture:

Now you are ready to do the top coat of Sandstone acrylic paint. Keep the brush pretty dry, meaning not too much paint, and just hit the surface, leaving some of the burnt umber exposed. Let the top coat dry completely.

Now, using the sandpaper, gently begin sanding on the edges, concentrating on the areas where wear would naturally occur. Because of the wax paste, the top coat sands off really easy and appears to have "chips" out of the paint instead of a sanding appearance, although some of that is present, but it's not a bad thing.

Finally, a burnt umber wash is next. Dilute some burnt umber in a bowl with water and wash over the piece. Let it sit for a minute or two and use a towel to pounce off quite a bit of it, leaving it in the crevices.

I did one side at a time, you don't want it to dry on, just age out the finish a little more.

After everything is dry, give the entire piece a coat of sealer, I like to use flat vs. gloss.

The finished product!

Pedestals can be used for a lot of different things around the house, like under lamps, or bases for cloches, but I wanted to put a couple of my cylinder vases (that you've seen a kagillion times :) up on them for hurricanes.

I put a little sand (to catch the wax and level out the candle) and a little moss for a little springiness

It makes quite a dramatic statement, I loved it instantly, I hope you can see how big it is (about 20" tall). I think I want to do a smaller one too, I have smaller glass vases that would look great as well, and I'm thinking on the mantle would look great. I hope you give this technique a try, I know you'll love it! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're inspired!