Thrifty Thursday: Embroidery Hoop Art

Last week I was able to get some projects done around the house, and one of those was making some embroidery hoop art for Marley's room. This project was a lot easier than I thought, and cost me next to nothing. 

The only thing I bought for this project was the hoops, and they were really cheap at Michael's. (Plus you can use one of their weekly 40% off coupons to save a little more.) The rest of the materials I rounded up from my stash of craft supplies, fabric, and felt. 

Here's what you need:

-Embroidery hoops in assorted sizes

-Fabric large enough for hoops with about 1/2 inch "seam allowance"

-Hot glue gun

-Felt for appliques (Optional)  

-Fabric glue (if you choose to use the felt.) 

Here's what you do:

 (Sorry for the lack of pictures! I got into a crafting groove and forgot to take them as I worked. Hopefully these directions make sense!)

1. Use the complete circle from your hoop to trace out your fabric. Leave about 1/2 inch additional space for hot gluing.

2. Place the complete circle on top of your fabric and hot glue it a few sections at a time. Pull tight as you go, but not too much or else it might not leave enough fabric on the opposite side. (Guilty!)

3. Trim excess fabric and then attach adjustable portion of hoop. 

4. Now you can have fun decorating! I used felt to make my hearts and letter M. Because some of my fabric had pretty dark patterns I actually had to glue two pieces of felt together before attaching it to my fabric. I used fabric glue for this step because I wasn't sure if hot glue would leave bumps. Also, I used a paperback dictionary to put under the hoop so I had something to push against.

I did the stitching on the letter M after I had already attached it, and I wish I had done it before. I had to be really careful not to stretch the fabric as I went.

I found the heart template Here at this awesome website with free applique patterns. 
They have some really cute stuff! 

For the letter M all I did was go through my fonts and found one I liked (Its called "Lemonade"), blew it up like to size 400, then printed it out and made a stencil. 

(Tip: When you trace it onto the felt, trace it backwards that way you don't have to worry about trimming pen marks!)

There you have it! This thrifty craft cost me about $7 total, and I LOVE the finished product. (I'll probably add more if I can find more hoops.) They really look cute in Marley's room over the changing table, and she loves looking at them. 

This could also be a fun project for all the different holidays. You could pick a spot in your house to hang hoops with cute Valentines Day/Halloween/Christmas fabrics and switch them out! Just a thought.

Happy crafting!

11 Month Update

In exactly one month from today Marlene will be 1! I can't believe how fast time is flying by with this sweet little girl. She is just the best. 

Over the last month Marlene has gotten 4 more teeth, realized she LOVES carbs, taken her first steps, and fallen in love with Mickey Mouse. 

Our daily routine consists of: waking up, eating, watching Mickey, taking a nap, repeat. I don't mind watching so much Mickey Mouse because its actually a pretty cute show. (Except I think Goofy is an idiot, and delete the episodes where he is featured.)

Jason and I decided awhile ago that we aren't going to let Marlene fall in love with shows that are annoying as heck. This way she'll never know what she's missing, 

and we can have our sanity. 

Here's how other things are going:

Marley Likes

French fries, bagels, and eggo waffles

playing with her Christmas gifts

watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the Price is Right, and Doc McStuffins

Mimicking the sounds of others

Any chance to be outside, she doesn't mind the cold!

Entertaining whoever sits behind us at church

Skyping with Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Nathan

When we let her out of baby jail

Marley Doesn't Like

when mommy turns the light on in the morning

holding her own bottle

Any food with a wet or slimy texture

The sun in her face

Its been so much fun to see Marley grow up this past year, and an adventure keeping up with her likes and dislikes. She's made it pretty easy on us for the most part, because she is a VERY happy, easy-going baby. 

Next month we'll celebrate her 1st birthday, get her pictures taken, and just keep having fun!

 

Marley's room Inspiration

This post is mostly a way for me to organize my thoughts and put all the pictures of what I want to do in one place. Here are some of the things I want to try for Marlene's room...

These cute little birdies! The color scheme I want is light pinks, grey, and white.

via

Love this idea for a coat rack, or place to lay out her church clothes the night before. 

via 

Right now I am OBSESSED with embroidery hoop art. I wanted to do this before Marlene was born, but could never find the hoops anywhere. Right now I have 4, but want to get a few more. Excited to try these cute designs in my color scheme:

1.

2.

3.

This bow holder. Marlene's hair is ALMOST long enough for clips! 

I have an "H" left over from an old project that I'll probably use. 

 via

This is everything I've found so far and its going to keep me busy for awhile, which I love! I spend most of my days at home, so I love doing crafts to pass the time. 

Stay tuned for the results...

2014 Projects

I love the start of a new year! It really motivates me to get things done around the house 

and get organized. 

One of the things we have been putting off is baby-proofing the rest of our house. As Marlene has gotten older we adapted what we call "baby jail" "baby land" to fit her curiosity. 

Once she started crawling we had to block off cords and our electronics with these awesome bins from IKEA. After she could stand up we had to weigh down those toy bins and pull them away from the wall, so she couldn't touch outlets or the AC. And of course we still contain her to that area using "the cube." 

(One of those storage cubes that fits nicely between our two loveseats.) 

But we're not idiots and we know all too well that she will eventually escape from "baby jail." (Her cousin Jackson already knows how...) And we have seriously started getting down to business with gates, (even more) outlet covers, and those annoying but necessary drawer and cupboard latches. 

Its still a work in progress for now, some of the latches aren't working right so we are going to buy different ones. But a few days ago we let her loose in the kitchen/dining room, and it was fun to see her explore...

 

We seem to have everything under control for now, but I'm sure we'll be making adjustments here and there on a daily basis as Marlene finds new things to get into. 

Exhibit A:

Next project on the horizon is me finally getting around to decorating Marlene's room.