Tutorial ~ Indoor Frisbee ~

Usually, I share lots of ruffly, romantic and girly items on my blog, but get this...

I had two boys first (and boy they have been active and busy ever since they were toddlers!!) so I know what it's like to raise and entertain busy, energetic boys (oh, did I say that again?). So, I decided to share something geared towards them today. :)

When my boys were a lot younger, it was a bit tricky to entertain them on rainy, snowy or cold days. You can't go to the park, but they had tons of energy to burn off. (How come we mommies can’t take some of that for ourselves?) One of the things we did was to play Frisbee. At first we used a regular Frisbee, but in small spaces, it doesn't work very well. You have to be super careful not to throw it too hard or too far, otherwise you could hurt someone, or knock over one of us mommies’ precious decorations! One day I found a fabric Frisbee at the dollar store, and it was awesome! We used it all the time and we didn't have to worry about anything. You can pick your favorite fabrics and make a few to have a Frisbee tag war! Here is what I did;

{You will need}

9" X 9" two different fabrics for front and back
Batting (I used thin cotton batting that I had, but I made it two layers thick and was perfect)
Matching thread

{How to}

1. Lay front and back fabrics together with right sides. Trace the circle, and cut. Do the same with the batting. I used 8"diameter mouse pad, but you can use anything around the house.


2. Pin the batting with fabrics (still right sides together).


3. Leaving a 3"opening, sew all around the circle with 1/4" seam. Turn, whip stitch closed.


4. After pressing the edge with iron, trace the inner circle(5"diameter) and sew to stabilize the batting.



This will make a perfect stocking stuffer and party favors for birthday parties.


My kids love to play with this Frisbee! It is so easy, inexpensive to make and provides hours of fun play time.

Note: I am taking a break from the link party for this week too. If you haven't entered for a chance to win something from the Thanksgiving Giveaway. Please do so!

The laaaasstttt table (this year!)

Just about the time I was trying to clear out my garage, THE table came along. I thought it was the perfect table. It was big, it was solid wood, it was in terrible shape (meaning it was pretty cheap)!

Look at those loverly legs!



The table included two leaves, and it extended to something over 8 feet long. I love that! With a family of eight, we have to have a BIG table in order to put any company at the table with us!

The table was solid pine, which wasn't ideal...but not horrible. You can see from the pictures that the finish was shot, and it looked as if it had been used as a craft table for a year or two.


I managed to sand down to bare wood without killing another sander.


I have a little Dremel tool that is great for getting in the edges. When the sandpaper breaks and spins off the rotating head, though, it always makes my heart stop!

I was so pleased with how Minwax English Chestnut stain looked on the hand-me-down table that I decided to try it on this one.


I used Zinsser 1-2-3 primer on the apron and the legs. Another interesting feature of this table is that the table top is not actually attached to the base...it just sits on it. It weighs a ton, so it wasn't in danger of moving anywhere! The fact that it is a separate piece should have clued me in to a potential problem...but it didn't. (Are you noticing the foreshadowing??)




My electric heater was drafted into service for this project. The temperature in October rarely got up to 65 for more than an hour or two, and the garage stayed much cooler than that! Although my heater couldn't really warm the garage up too much, it did keep the chill off enough to speed drying time a little. Not by much!

I love you, little heater!

The legs and apron got painted with Sherwin Williams Creamy, and then distressed and glazed with Burnt Umber craft paint. It's a combination that has worked well for me in the past!

Once again, though, a table top came near to driving me insane. Once it was all stained, I gave it a couple of coats of Minwax Polycrylic for protection. It was all going well, until I stood back and realized...it was too perfect! The color was glorious; the finish was shiny...and it wasn't at all what I wanted. I was going for a little more time-worn and well-loved...and it wasn't. It almost looked new again!

So...the next step:

CitriStrip!

Yes, it's true. I stripped the finish off my barely-completed table top! It was a mad, mad day. And I mean that in both the "angry" sense and the "crazy" sense!

Naturally in some areas I ended up back at bare wood again, but that was OK. I painted on stain instead of wiping with a cloth, and that gave me more of a streaky finish (that I mean in a good way) rather than an even color. I distressed the table top more, and then I painted MinWax Polyshades in Antique Walnut over top to give it a richer depth of color.

After two coats of Polyshades, I used two coats of Minwax Wipe-On Polyurethane.

The result??

Well...it was better. More to come!

The Nursery

The nursery is finally complete and ready for the arrival of our sweet babies. 

At first we thought we'd wallpaper the nursery but we never did find a pattern we absolutely loved, nor a pattern that was in our price range. We also considered stenciling the walls but couldn't find a pattern worth the effort or cost.

I have been wanting to do panel wainscoting ever since I tore out a 'how to' article on it from This Old House magazine years ago. It turned out that the nursery was the perfect room to do this. It added a wonderful detail and even better, was very affordable ($200 for materials). The walls are painted with Benjamin Moore's Simply White in flat. The trim, doors, windows and wainscot are painted with semi-gloss Simply White.

You can go here to see what we started with when planning the nursery.

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted the nursery to have a natural earthy warmth. I find rich wood hues provide that warmth, especially with abundant natural light. I used white and gold colors to provide additional lightness to the room. I also thought that this color scheme would offer a nice neutrality for our baby boy and girl.

From the opposite end of the room, you can see the paneling detail and the antique French armoire.
Draped over the chair is my old baby blanket.

Update: we added a changing table a few weeks after I took these photos. The talented Patricia Banner from Cottage by Design made this for me! 

I wanted an armoire for easy access to baby clothes and linens. I also liked the idea of having a beautiful antique in the room and the rich warmth of the wood. 

Baby girl clothes are on the left and baby boy clothes are on the right. 

I chose a Da Vinci Jenny Lind crib in cherry to match the armoire and brightened it with white bedding.

I went with basic cotton bumpers to save on cost, but did dress them up by sewing white satin ribbons to secure them to the spindle railings. The second crib is upstairs in our bedroom where the babies will sleep at night.

I love the ornate detail of this antique frame and its beautiful gold glow. To go in it, I ordered a print of The Screech Owl by Albrecht Durer. In addition to the picture rail, we secured it to the wall as an extra precaution.

The art next to the nursing chair is a beautiful watercolor landscape my Grandmother used to have in her bedroom. I've always loved it and knew that one day it would go in our nursery. To freshen it up, I added a new mat.

The armoire mirror reflects the natural light from the windows.

After a considerable search, we finally settled on a 100% jute braided oval rug, which offers a nice softness to the room. We also like that the oval shape leaves more of the original wood floors exposed.

I bought this beautiful antique crocheted baby blanket years ago.

I absolutely love these curtains! They're a very lovely brown and white old-fashioned rose floral pattern.

Putting together the nursery was a unique experience for me. Besides finding the armoire, (which I purchased early on in my pregnancy when I was much more mobile), I wasn't really able to get into Portland to shop for things. All of the items in the room are ones we already had on hand, or were able to purchase online.

I hope that you enjoyed visiting our nursery. We know it will evolve over time and we'll be adding things and making adjustments as the babies grow. We're looking forward to welcoming our babies home very soon. xo

Here is a resource list of some of the items we used:

DaVinci Jenny Lind crib $199. (from Target)

Oval 5 x 8 jute rug $130. (from here)

Jenny Lund slipcover chair $199. (from IKEA)

Floral curtains $24.99 per panel (from here)

Antique brass curtain rod and drapery rings $110. (Home Depot)

Owl print $40. (from here)

Go here to read posts on the green nursery.