Zebra, Tigers, Cows Oh MY!

Lately I have really been obsessing over all animal print. I honestly have to say though, I only like it in home decor when its done right, and lightly. Its so easy to overdo and look childish? But I love them as accents, here are some fun pictures to share.

I really would love a rug like this in our LR

Fun animal print Decor:

I love the look of just a touch of animal print in a room like this,

I would like a bench like this but in brown zebra or cowprint for the end of our bed. Or a chair like this both are just adorable.

Love the candles, they would look just fabulous on a coffee table centerpiece.

The pendants, hmm not sure where I would put them if I would put them anywhere.

Just love the look!

My best inspiration yet, or where my obsession began all starts with the Pink and Polka Dot blog. Check out her animal print stuff! Love it all. For the life of me I can't get any of her pictures to post here so check out the links if your interested. I swear she had more but I can't find those either.

http://pinkandpolkadot.blogspot.com/2009/01/zebra-chair.html

Love these lamps in on her buffet.

http://pinkandpolkadot.blogspot.com/2009/01/zebra-chair.html

Weekly Goals

I need to get in gear and get stuff done. I am going to start making weekly goals and updating along the way where I can anyway, without embarassing myself :D

This week:

Monday: Laundry, Laundry, Laundry!!!

Tuesday: Find and pick paint color for basement bathroom! Possibly start priming bathroom.

Wednesday: Clean Living room, Kitchen and Bathroom!

Thursday: Start organizing office, honestly my office is almost this bad, its started pooling up on our kitchen table now too!

Friday: Christmas

Saturday: Paint Bathroom

Sunday: Clean up bedrooms and stay caught up on laundry!

Rice Heat Therapy Bag

I received one of these last year as a gift and use mine all the time, so I thought I would make some this year as gifts.

From my experience I learned that its best not to use essential oils because over time and after many used it actually starts to stink.

So I just got some fabric, cut them in rectangles and sewed them leaving the either short end open, filling about half full with long grain rice (not instant!) the sewed the top shut.



Then using my cricut I made cute little tags for each one.
Reading:
Heat Therapy Bag
Microwave flat 2-3 minutes
Apply to Aches and Pains
To avoid drying place a small bowl of water in microwave during heating every other use
Store in a dry place.





Original inspiration from:
http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=280

Window Treatments I can't wait to try out!

From my one of my favorite blogs, Frugal Home Ideas :For the instructions and tutorials see the blog @ http://frugalhomeideas.blogspot.com/

Spray Painting Blinds, who woulda thunk!

No Sew Roman Shades, easy as pie!

No Sew Curtains! Don't they look lovely! I love the look of designer curtains just not the pricetag.

Three great ideas at amazing pricetags, just a little bit of labor love and whalah! I can't wait to make my kitchen blinds into roman shades and then add some designer curtains to dress them up. Not sure where or if I will spraypaint any of my blinds but love the idea.

*Disclaimer, these are not my ideas nor do I take credit for them, just had to share Frugal Home Ideas great projects! Check out the blog you'll love it as much as I do!

Next Up on my wishlist-In home studio

To expand my photography I am in the mist of putting in a home studio. We are converting our family room in our basement into a full studio. I am very very excited to get this process going. We just purchased new carpet and working on everything else. Just for fun I thought I would show some of my inspirational pictures.

I hope to have different areas staged for different ideas, I love having the shabby chic, modern, vintage and then the backdrop area. Our family room is fairly large and I have free rein of the whole room! I will update along the way throughout the process.

Tinkerbell Cricut Fun!

Another freezer paper stencil job with the cricut. My neice loves Tinkerbell so I snatched up the cartridge on black friday to make some fun stuff for her as Christmas gifts. Here is the shirt I made. I love how it turned out.

Here is after I painted, I blended the "Tinkerbell" to look just like the logo. With the stars, just a touch of glitter or as I'll tell her some pixy dust :D

With the freezer paper off, the finished look.

I then put a silohette of Tinkerbell on the side with gold glitter. Here is a close up and then the finished product.


Well what do you think? Not bad eh? My only regret is putting tinkerbell right on the seam but I think when its on it will look great.

Freezer Paper Stencils with Cricut

The first one I tried is just an initial for a personalized tote which I previously dyed brown and sewed on the beaded trim.

Supplies you'll need:

Reynold's Freezer Paper (or any other brand you can find)

Cricut machine with Cartridge of your choice for stencil

Acrylic Paint-color of your choice

Iron

Maybe Patience :D

1st I cut out an initial with the Cricut with Medium Speed, depth, and pressure. Cut with the waxy side up and also use the flip feature.

Iron on the freezer paper in place. Be sure to get the edges really secure.

Then I painted the K bright pink with acrilic paint.

Wait to remove freezer paper until the paint is fully dry, approx. 1 hr. You could use a blow dryer to speed up the process. Allow 20-30 minutes in between coats if you need multiple coats.

Finally run iron over entire painted surface on High for about 20-30 seconds to seal.

Next I made a shirt for my neice who is a dancer.

I used the same settings Medium for speed, depth and pressure. With 3'' letters Plantain schoolbook. With this one I had to save the inside of the letters to make sure they looked right. Follow all the same steps as above.

Here is a close up of the letters, as my second coat I used some glitter.

Here they are both together! I am pretty impressed with how they turned out for being my first try!

Check back later for more freezer paper crafts! They make great personalized gifts, or if you want to just spruce up your clothes.