Bow Board- Completed!

On Friday, I posted about my next "crafty" project- a bow board for Kate's room!  I shared these inspiration boards that I found on Pinterest:

So I decided to try to make one myself. Here is a list of everything I used, and the total I spent on this project:

1. Frame- FREE (we had it leftover from our yardsale)
2. Piece of MDF board- $6 (bought a whole sheet but used about 1/3 of it)
**Note: this should be cut to fit in the back of your frame. I cut mine 1/4" shorter on all sides to account for the batting/fabric that would be wrapped around the MDF.
3. Quilt batting- $7
4. Ribbons- $3 for 3 rolls
5. Fabric for background- $8 for a yard but again I used about 1/3 of it
6. Paint- Blue was free, pink was $1
7. Wooden letter (optional)- $1
8. Stapler & staples- FREE (already had these)
9. Small nails for attaching back- FREE (already had these)

Total Spent = $26

Here is the frame that I used, with my little helper in the background.  She was outside with me while I gathered all of my supplies.  Once I started the painting, she went inside with her Daddy to avoid any fumes.

And here is another view of the frame I used, and the wooden letter that I picked up from Hobby Lobby.

I painted my frame using the leftover paint from Kate's dresser and I picked up a small bottle of paint from Hobby Lobby for the wooden letter.

Since I had everything together so I was ready to get started.  The first step was to paint the frame and letter.  It took 2 coats of blue on the frame because I didn't want anything to get gloppy (is that a word?). And, I ended up putting two coats on the letter too just because. 

Once everything was dry, it was time to put it all together.  The actual assembly was pretty easy.  I didn't take any pictures during this process, but basically I just wrapped about 3 pieces of quilt batting around my MDF and secured it with a few staples.  I used a regular stapler/staples and occasionally the staples would just crimp up and not go through the MDF but I really didn't end up having too much trouble.

Then I wrapped my fabric around the board and secured it using staples again.  I chose to use a white minky fabric because I love how soft and plush it is. Plus, I picked some pretty bright ribbons to use on the board and there are a LOT of colors going on in Kate's room.  White kept it pretty simple.

Then, I measured the width of the board and determined how many rows of ribbons I wanted.  I chose to do 5 rows of ribbon so I just cut/measured/stapled those on there.

Next I secured the back onto the frame using a couple of small nails, which I nailed in at an angle.

Last, you can attach your letter to the corner of the frame for a more personalized bow board.  I actually ended up deciding NOT to attach it to my board because I thought that it looked a lot cleaner once all of the bows were hanging.  Just personal preference.  Anyway, here is how it turned out!

  

And here is a close-up of the board and ribbons....

And here are a couple of pictures with the board holding all of the BOWS Kate has so far.

 

I love how it turned out! Not bad for $26.  These are selling on Etsy for well over $50 so I didn't spend even close to that and got EXACTLY what I wanted.  Now, I still need to get Kevin to hang it up for me. :) 

Has anybody else out there done anything crafty lately?  Have you found any good ideas from Pinterest? If so, feel free to share them with me!

Next Crafty Project

So I'm still addicted to Pinterest and thought it was about time I do another one of those projects that I just keep pinning about.  (You can see my last project here).

So my next project was a bow board for Kate's room.  I had plenty of "inspiration" to make one of these with the massive amounts of hair on Kate's head and her overflowing basket of bows.  So, I got to searching on Pinterest to see what others have done.  There were a couple of different styles of bow boards:

 

Decisions, decisions.  Frame or no frame? Place ribbon vertically, horizontally, both, or diagonally?  Right away, I decided I wanted mine to have a frame for a more finished look.  Beyond that, I thought I'd just play it by ear.  So I refined my search again to bow boards with frames and then started pinning.  Here are a few of my "inspiration" pins.  

And since I'd figured out what direction I was going to go in, I was off to gather my supplies and get to work!  I finished Kate's bow board a few days ago and I just LOVE how it turned out.  Now I just have to get Kevin to hang it up so I can take a few pictures and post an update!

We're out of town tomorrow.  If you care to see how my finished bow board turned out, or if you want to know how to make one for yourself, check back on Sunday.  :)  Happy weekend everyone!

Pinterest Challenge- Nursery

My latest interest is Pinterest.  If you haven't heard what that is, it's the greatest thing EVER!  Okay, maybe not ever, but it is pretty neat.  I'm not an especially crafty person, but occasionally I like to try to be.  That's basically what Pinterest is.  Crafty people linking to stuff that other crafty people have done.  People also "PIN" other things like recipes, clothing, etc.  Basically, you "PIN" anything that you like and want to share with other people.  You have to be invited to join though, so if you've never heard of this and want to join, let me know!  I'll send you an invitation.

Anyway, I saw this on Pinterest and thought "Hey, that's cute.  It looks sort of easy. Maybe I can do that."  So I did.  First, here is the inspiration...

And here is how mine turned out.  I had most of the frames already and picked up a few more at the dollar tree.  The main cost was a can of white spray paint for $4.  My first attempt with an old can of spray paint didn't turn out so great.  Apparently, old spray paint turns a yucky cream color after a while.  SO, I had to buy a new can and start over.  The only other expense was scrapbook paper that I picked up at Hobby Lobby on sale for about 10 cents per paper.  I think it turned out pretty well, and for the whole thing only costing about $8, I'm pretty happy with the results!

There's not much left to do to the room... just a few finishing touches.  Now we're just waiting our little girl to get here. :)

Updates- Nursery & Puzzle

Wow. What a week, and what a weekend.  We have mostly recovered from our lightening strike and have gotten our house pretty much back in order.  Thank goodness!  The past week has been exciting with the news of the adoption and frustrating dealing with the house (insurance adjuster, making millions of phone calls, trying to replace all of the damaged items, etc).  And the most exciting part of this week is realizing that there are just three more weeks til our expectant mom's due date!  Can't believe it.  :) 

I haven't blogged in a while about the nursery or the puzzle and we've got a few updates on that.  On the nursery front, we now have curtains (made by one of my mom's friends), a hamper (liner also made by one of my mom's friends), new lamps, and we have ordered the bedding! YAY!  Here are a few pictures...

Curtains-  I LOVE them!  The fabric on this was picked out before we got matched.  We'll want to put some pink into the room at some point, but still keep it somewhat gender neutral.  

Close up!  The picture doesn't do it justice.  The curtains look blue here, but they're really more teal. 

Hamper

Close up of the fabric.

Before - Lamp bought from Target.  Even the shade came in a box and I had to put it together.  Weird.  It looked a little plain, so here is the after....

Much better.  Still maybe not FINISHED, but better.

This is a very small lamp bought from Target.  We're planning on using it as a nightlight.

If you don't care for decorating stuff, you probably didn't care for any of that.  So, sorry!  I also updated the the Adoption Puzzle page, so if you want to check on the status of that, click HERE .  

Oh and by the way, we think we decided on a name.  I'm sure we'll let you know at some point this week, so stay tuned... :) 

An Attempt at Craftiness & Adoption Puzzle Week 2

Kevin and I have been getting the nursery ready, because we have no idea when we might get "the call".  We might have zero notice, so we (I) at least wanted to have furniture and painting ready.  The rest can come later.  I'll post pictures later this week of what we've done so far.  My mom gave me a small dresser that she thought we could use in the closet for additional storage.  Hanging baby clothes don't really come down very far, so it was a great idea.  Here are the before pictures...

The dresser is the perfect size for the closet, but was definitely the wrong color.  So I went to Lowes, bought a quart of paint and then hit up Hobby Lobby for new drawer pulls (they were 60% off- yay!).  Here are the results...

Here is a close up of the drawer pulls.  They match the room color (which you can see in the background of the above pictures). 

And now a quick adoption puzzle fundraiser update... At this point 30 puzzle pieces have been sponsored, for a total of $150 raised.  Here's a picture of the puzzle in progress.  It's definitely getting bigger!

And last, Happy Father's Day to my Dad, and all of the other father's out there.  I hope you had a special day and that your children are as grateful and thankful for you as I am for my Dad.  I love you!