Moore Minutes: March 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Egg-dye Paper Doily Garland

My biggest tip I have
is to wear gloves or else you'll have fingers like mine

The other night I couldn't fall asleep so I started thinking (the way little housewives do) about the super important stuff in life like decorating. Recently I've been trying to dream up ways to use Easter egg dye for uses other than coloring eggs. It hit me about 3am in the morning...paper white doilies! I was so pumped over this idea that sleep was lost for another hour as I mentally planned my next home sweet home project. Ummm, yes. This is how a housewife rolls. I was already in {double} love with the popular trend of using doilies as garland. But dying the doilies for spring was my PERFECT answer to my question on how to use egg dye.

Soon after my sleepless night, I saw that others have already dyed paper doilies. Are you kidding me?! So, I'm not really a super star starter of this cool idea?

Crushed.

"There is nothing new under the sun..." I got over it and got to work anyways! {wink} The other way of dying doilies is with regular RIT dye. I used egg dye and it worked really well too.

A lot of you know that I have this issue with the word craft or even crafty or crafting. It's always bothered me, who knows why. My awesome husband knows to ask me what "projects" I'm working on, not "crafts". It's serious stuff. But anyways...I confess, this particular project is a true craft.

Here's the down low on creating your own springtime doily garland
for under $2.00.

Use a 40% off Michael's coupon to buy your pack of doilies in the baking isle.

Prepare the Easter egg dye tablets with vinegar as stated on the box directions.

When you mix the dye, use large mixing bowls for an easier experience. Gently immerse the paper into the dye and let sit for a few minutes.

If you want a more distressed, worn look, ball up your doily a lot before soaking into the dye.

Carefully dry on a wire rack. Ideally you can hang them to dry on a clothes line. When removing from the dye, "unstick" the balled up doily while it's still immersed under the liquid so it won't rip.

Patiently wait FOREVER for them all to dry...then...ta da!! So so super pretty! This girl's in love.

You can create your garland by stringing thread through the gaps and leaving them in circle shapes or you can do it by folding them in half as I did.

I used a glue stick to attach them to a thin ribbon. I left the bottoms open, without glue, to make them more flirty. :)

Ask a little guy to help you hang it anywhere in your home sweet home.

My husband found the perfect spot for our spring garland, right near our entryway. I wanted the sunlight to shine through all the tiny doily windows so this spot was ideal!

I couldn't capture the TRUE beauty of this garland with my camera. It is MUCH more beautiful in real life. I have backlight from every angle. :( Any real photographers out there please help!

What most intrigues me with these beautiful new ways to use paper doilies is the fresh creations that are made from the outdated and tacky paper doily. BUT they are absolutely gorgeous when used in the new ways I've seen lately: wedding invitations, signs, banners, garland, and even dainty envelopes! {swoon}

Taking old styles
and transforming them into modern beauty
is creative innovation at it's best!
And that is one of my favorite things about blogging mamas.

This post is linked to: Under the Table & Dreamin, Flamingo Toes, It's a Blog Party, Think Pink Sundays LambAround, DIY Showoff, DIY Living, Seasonal Sundays, It's so Very Cheri, Strut Your Stuff at Saturday Mornings, Met Monday, Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Mondays, Market Yourself Mondays, A2Z Tips & Tutorials, Lettered Cottage How To, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy, Tuesdays at the Table, Topsy Turvy Tuesday, Tip Junkie, Get Your Craft On, We're Organized Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Swing into Spring, Works for Me Wednesday, Show and Tell, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Blog Hop Thursday, Transformation Thursday, Tablescape Thursday, Show off Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff, Friday Favorites, VIP Party Show and Share Day, Foodie Friday, Frugal Friday, I'm Lovin It, Tickled Pink, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Weekend Wrap Up

Monday, March 28, 2011

Natural, Eco-friendly BOY'S ROOM (part 3)

This is part 3 of a 3 part blog series.
Please view part 1 and part 2 for details on the other rooms.

I'm not too "theme-y" with bedrooms because walking into a room with a million supermen staring at me or feeling engulfed in Disney characters doesn't feel too peaceful. However, I do like to follow a style or idea theme to pull everything together and to prevent getting lost in a mismatched mess.

Instead of finding a favorite themed thing of the moment I decided to style each of their rooms according to their personalities.

Titus, our youngest, is very chill, happy, and artsy. I wanted to make his room feel fresh and hip, like our little guy! I used a lot of natural decor, mixed with some modern to create his eco-friendly space. Titus' room needed to be a tranquil place of inspiration for his care free spirit to thrive. When Titus grows up, I'm sure he will be a surf bum on a sandy beach...that's just the way he rolls.

We collected a basket of rocks as decor to pull the outdoor elements inside. These rocks also double as "toys".

His reading corner has a surprise pop of blue for that extra mellow relaxation time. Each boy actually has a special reading area in their rooms. I feel it's important to have a designated spot for quiet, a place they can each call their own.

We also keep books next to his pillow, up in his bed. Displaying books everywhere in our home is very important to us. Chris and I hope it helps the boys adopt a love for reading.

I framed Titus' own art for part of the decor.
He colored the turtle page in kindergarten.

I bended my no theme bedroom policy just a bit in this room. When Titus was barely 2 years old, I spoiled him with a tiny stuffed animal turtle named Patience. It was one of those moments where "he had to have it", and his 2 year old face was far too cute to resist. Ever since, Titus has had a love affair with turtles.

This art canvas of turtles on a skateboard reminds me of Titus more than anything else in the entire world! It just fits his personality...so of course it makes me smile whenever I see it hanging in his room...

As I've mentioned in the previous posts for this series, I store different toys in each boys' room. We keep games and instruments in Cameron's room, vintage old toys and trucks in Kotah's room, and in Titus' room, we keep the handmade, natural toys to blend with his bedroom style.

Chris makes wooden swords all the time for the boys.
He does such amazing work on them!

This set of handmade 3 Bears and Goldilocks puppets are very dear to me. My mom made them for me when I was a girl. Soon, they'll be packed away once again, ready for another generation. But for now, I keep them out...just a little bit longer...

I've also mentioned in the other posts that a large part of the boys' bedrooms are used for their school and study space because we home school. Titus has his desk area under his bed.

I think he spends a lot of time daydreaming in here (legs swinging) instead of working on school work, but eventually it all gets done. {wink}

He has a lot of handmade and eco-friendly school supplies. This is a handmade folder from TinkQuilts on etsy used to hold his pencils and papers. It is adorable and so well made!

These paperclips are made from recycled STUFF.

Orange is his favorite color so I threaded the color
throughout his room in the details.

And these super cool wood pencils have my heart!

It's important for kids to have their own place of full control where they can display their art, to-do lists, and inspirations. Instead of a bulletin board, Titus has both a magnetic board and the wiring of his bunk bed.

His magnetic board has adorable turtle magnets.

He is also able to use the wiring of his bunk bed for art display. I gave him a handful of mini clothespins to attach his treasures to the wiring.

He has a wire bookshelf to hold his school supplies. It was fun to mix modern and functional metals with earthy, warm, natural elements.

Baskets are amazing.
AMAZING.

Titus gets a big toy bin organizer against his wall because he desperately needs it. He quickly creates a mess. He is our messy little boy, who loves life too much to worry about keeping his room clean.

This room is a perfect fit for our ~~baby~~ youngest son!

It's all peace
and all fresh
and that's all so Titus.

Okay! That's a wrap on the 3 part boy bedroom series.
Which room is your favorite?

Book, Game, and Music Mix

Vintage Urban

Natural Eco-friendly

This post is linked to:Design Dazzle, Flamingo Toes, Under the Table and Dreamin It's a Blog Party, Think Pink Sundays LambAround, DIY Showoff, DIY Living, Seasonal Sundays, It's so Very Cheri, Strut Your Stuff at Saturday Mornings, Met Monday, Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Mondays, Market Yourself Mondays, Lettered Cottage How To, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy, Tuesdays at the Table, A2Z Tips Tuesday, Tip Junkie, Get Your Craft On, We're Organized Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Show and Tell, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Blog Hop Thursday, Transformation Thursday, Tablescape Thursday, Show off Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff, Friday Favorites, VIP Party Show and Share Day, Foodie Friday, Frugal Friday, I'm Lovin It, Tickled Pink, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Weekend Wrap Up

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Vintage Urban BOY'S ROOM (part 2)

This is part 2 of a 3 part blog series. Please view part 1 and part 3 for details on the other rooms.

I'm not too "theme-y" with bedrooms because walking into a room with a million supermen staring at me or feeling engulfed in Disney characters doesn't feel too peaceful. However, I do like to follow a style or idea theme to pull everything together and to prevent getting lost in a mismatched mess.

We have a little bit of vinyl wall art in each boy's room from etsy!

(must follow some popular trends!) ;)

His bed looks this nice {maybe} 10 percent of the time...

Instead of finding a favorite themed thing of the moment I decided to style each of their rooms according to their personalities.

Dakotah's room is very boyish with some vintage charm and some cool urban accents. He leaves "graffiti" on every piece of paper his crayons come into contact with and he has a love for skateboards. Urban just worked.

Old city metal
playful building bricks
skateboards and bike wheels
trucks and rusty license plates
cinder blocks
vintage toys

Kotah is my fun-loving, always busy, very boyish, big-hearted, overly creative, cool kid, middle boy. Kotah confidently wants to take charge, so I needed to leave spaces in his room for him to have the freedom to express his own style. This is important to him.

Hiding behind a closet door are baskets just for him to personally organize all "his stuff".

Filling an entire wall with corrugated metal gives him a huge magnetic space to FREELY display his artwork and creative projects. Using this type of metal also set the urban tone for the room.

I found adorable little magnets on by Katie Leroy on etsy for him to use when hanging his art and school work. We home school, so his bedroom also serves as his school time study area.

The old license plate gives a sentimental tribute to our home state and the state Dakotah was born in.

A large part of each boy's room is dedicated to their school work areas.

Kotah loves having a desk/activity table. This table is usually FULL of scraps of paper on and under it with scissors lying open over his creations. His busy hands never stop...

This is where Dakotah spends most of his school days...

School supplies available at every spin with this Pottery Barn Kids art caddy.

His nightstand is entirely unique and also entirely HIM. We stacked cinder blocks to follow the vintage urban style. No worries about this active BOY denting or scratching his furniture {wink}.

The cinder blocks give instant cubby hole spaces for storage and are super fun for little boys!

The cubby hole within reach of his bed is used for all of his "adult" accessories. Dakotah is constantly mimicking adult behaviors so he has his own set of keys, an old cell phone, and change in his pockets. Every night he empties his pockets into his cinder block cubby hole.

The artwork for his room was also found on etsy, my favorite little spot.

I filled a gumball machine with some of his most loved and most used hotwheels.

Books are used as decor all throughout our home sweet home. They add SO much charm and are available for curious little boys to easily pick up and flip through the pages. We hope to encourage a love for reading by leaving books easily accessible.

Classic vintage toys and books...you can't beat that!

This Fisher Price car garage was my brothers when we were kids. Growing up, the two of us always played with it. It's awesome to watch a new generation enjoy it as well.

Dakotah's room is full of color and personality, a perfect mirror of our boy in the middle! He makes our family shine! My hope as his mama is that his room will provide him with inspiration to continue his growth in individuality and also allow him the space to JUST BE.