Tag
I’m having so much fun decorating our new house for Christmas! This is the first time I’ve ever had a mantel to decorate, and my girls and I had a blast getting it all “Christmasy”:Continue reading
When we lived in our Garage House, my “craft room” was our tiny kitchen table and my “office” was a little 5 foot wide nook by the kids’ bedroom. They were not ideal spaces, but I managed to create a lot of fun things in those teeny tiny spots.
When we were designing our new house, I knew that having an office/craft room on the main floor was really important to me so we designed it into our house plan. This new office is perfect – it’s in a corner between the kitchen and living room and I can open the french doors to it if I want or close them for a completely private space. It’s truly a dream come true to finally have my very own space to create, dream, and even do boring (but necessary) things like paper work in a more organized environment.
Currently, my “craft room” is my kitchen table (shared with our microwave and Hubby’s stash of paperwork) and my office is a 5 foot wide nook right next to Little C’s room (shhhhhhh… don’t type too loud)!
Needless to say, I’m ecstatic about having an office/craft room on the main floor of Our DIY House that has doors that can open to the kitchen and living room or close for privacy.
The look I want for this room is colourful and fun with a bohemian vibe. I want to include colours from the living room and kitchen for flow (yellow, red & turquoise) and it will have a desk and oodles of storage for paperwork, fabric and crafty supplies.Continue reading
Within the next couple of weeks, I’d like to share with you my decor ideas for all of the rooms in Our DIY House. With our drywall scheduled to be finished this week, we’ll soon be on to painting and finishing (hooray)!
My dear hubby chuckles at me as I put together the decor ideas for our home. I mean, I started dreaming of how the finished product would look as soon as he dug the first chunk of dirt up for our basement with his bobcat! You know what, though? I think it’s incredibly important to have a clear vision of a room’s finished look in order to choose all of the things that need choosing as you go along on a house build. If I have a vision of a completed room in mind, it’s easier for me to pick finishes that match – from the flooring to the paint colour to the door knobs.
Plus, it’ll be fun to see how close (or how far from?) the completed rooms in Our DIY House are to these mood boards.Continue reading
Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and my girls (and hubby!) and I are really excited to celebrate it this year. I love my little family, and any chance I can get to show them how much I love them is worth spending some time on!
I recently ordered another big pile of fabric from my favourite online place to get it from (fabric.com), and when it arrived via the UPS man (or the “GPS man”, as Little C calls him) I instantly ripped it open and ogled over all of the lovely textiles. This pre-ruffled red fabric was among my treasure. I asked Little C which fabric she wanted a Valentine’s Day dress made out of, and without hesitation she pointed to the red ruffly one. Success!
I made this DIY dress in under a couple of hours. The pre-ruffled fabric made it really easy to get a boutique look with little time involved! The heart applique is optional, so you could save even more time there. The stretchy, ruffly fabric is comfy for a baby or young child to wear (it’s so soft!) and it looks so adorable!
Materials:
)Directions:
Find a pattern for a slim-fitted peasant dress that is your child’s size (I drafted my own, but you could use this free one) and cut out two main dress pieces and two sleeves. Try to arrange the pattern on your ruffle fabric so that there is a full ruffle on the bottom of each piece (the hem of the dress and the bottom of the sleeve) – be careful not to cut that ruffle off!
Sew down the side seams of the dress, and the underarm seam of the sleeves (I used a serger, but you could also use a regular machine – this fabric doesn’t fray). Sew the sleeves to the dress.
Serge the raw edges of the neckline and sleeves (optional), and then turn each under about 1/2″ and sew to leave a 1/4″ casing. Leave an opening. Thread elastic through the casing (measure your child’s upper arm and where you want the neckline to fall to get the size of elastic you need) and then sew the holes shut.
If you want, you can add a heart applique to the chest of the dress by cutting out a heart shape from a contrasting fabric, pinning it like crazy to the dress, and zig-zagging it in place.
And, there you are! A simple little Valentine’s Day dress that looks much more complicated than it actually is to make. My little ruffle-lover has worn hers for two days straight.
Have you ever sewn with ruffle fabric? What are your tips?
(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you decide to purchase products via these links, a small percentage of the sale will be given to me at no extra cost to you. It’s a win-win – thanks for helping support thediymommy.com!)
It’s been a cold winter up here in Alberta, Canada… and a busy one for us too!
We’re building a house on our acreage, and life with two kiddos is busy as it it is.
If you really want to know, my uniform of choice these days is a big sweater or cardigan, a stretchy tank and leggings (or super-stretchy skinny jeans). When I’m busy (and cold), I tend to go for “easy” and “comfy” with my outfits.
I haven’t had a chance to take any decent photos of my style choices this winter, but here are some of my favourite “selfies” I’ve posted on Instagram when I have managed to put together a look that I’ve been proud of.
As you can see, I still love to wear either a belt or an empire-waisted dress to highlight one of my smaller parts (a great trick if you’re wide in the hips) except for on comfy home or casual playdate days (when the big cape sweater comes into play like the lower left picture).
Scarves are an essential in the winter for practical reasons, and they’re a fun way to make an outfit special. I’ve been wearing them a lot lately!
My favourite colours this chilly winter season? They’re red, grey, emerald, coral and mint. Yes, I believe you can wear pastels in the winter!
Favourite pieces:
What’s been your go-to outfit this winter?
We had the most fun Strawberry Shortcake birthday party a little over a week ago that I made a simple scrap fabric banner for. It was so very easy to make, and I constructed it with an idea in mind. I wanted to re-use it as a fun dress-up tutu for my daughter!
This is a really simple, quick DIY project that requires no sewing and little material. You could use the banner as party decor, and then upcycle it into a scrappy fabric tutu when the party’s over. It will be Little C’s Valentine’s tutu!
Materials:
Directions:
Cut about 30 strips of fabric that measure 15″ – 30″ long. I liked the look of different lengths of strips, but you could also make them all the same length. You can also cut some lengths of ribbon or lace to add some texture to the banner / tutu. Cut a piece of 1/4″ elastic that’s about 60″ long.
Starting about 2″ from one end, tie the strips to the elastic piece as shown above. Fold them in half with wrong sides together, and then turn the folded end over the elastic. Pull the other end through the loop created.
Continue tying strips onto the elastic in this manner, leaving about 2″ between each strip as shown. Tie bits of lace or ribbon between the fabric strips if desired.
Your scrap fabric party banner is done and ready to hang! This would also make a fun decorative banner for a baby or child’s room.
To “upcycle” the banner into a tutu, push all of the strips together as much as needed to match the circumference of your child’s waist (my daughter’s measurement was 20″).
Cut the elastic to size. If you have a sewing machine, you can sew the ends together. If not, tie the elastic tightly together.
Now you have an adorable scrap fabric tutu that’s perfect to twirl in!
I'm Christina - a DIYer and decorator living on the Alberta prairies in a home we built ourselves. My goal is to inspire you to create a cozy home and life you love!
Learn More
Subscribe to our email list to get your free hygge inspired art, free e-book and weekly DIY inspiration!