I stumbled across some custom birth prints on Etsy and Pinterest and fell in love! This is exactly the type of thing that I’d love to have in Carter’s room, especially considering my love for print and typography. LOVE it! Will be easy easy easy to create and print… just have the find the right frame. :) Happy Saturday!
RikkiRogersBlog
My personal blog featuring photography, food, fitness, and do-it-yourself projects
Filed under Crafts …
Paper mobile project
On a whim, I purchased a paper punch after seeing all of the beautiful mobiles that my sister was making and selling online at her Etsy shop.
What a relaxing project this turned out to be! My mini mobile has about 30 raindrop-shaped pieces of paper strung from some of Brad’s unused lightweight fishing line and suspended from a wooden ring. It’s so delicate and light that the slightest breeze seems to make it spin just a little. I’m VERY proud to have just listed it in my own Etsy shop and cannot wait for someone to give it a new home! My sister is currently making an orange and white one for baby Carter that will fit my orange and white teddy themed baby room a lot better.
All in all, I really can’t complain. Business is nice and steady and it’s warm enough that all the windows are open (in the 70′s all day today!) and the mobile is spinning just a bit where I hung it in the corner – it’s so nice to let some fresh air in while I work at my computer.
In other news, I discovered a baby tomato growing on my biggest tomato plant (an Early Girl tomato plant) and my herbs are thriving in this nice weather! It must be time to lay that pallet out flat, fill it with potting soil, and get my carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce started!
PS! I’ve chosen a photographer for Carter’s first photo shoot. Imagine Photography out of Murphysboro had these shots in their portfolio that were TOO CUTE and exactly what I was envisioning for Carter’s newborn photos:
Easy Pallet Garden and (Difficult) Pallet Garden Bench!
Well, it’s officially spring!
Right in the middle of an unseasonably warm mid-March, the temperature here in sunny Southern Illinois is a comfortable 81 degrees. The birds are busy painting my black car white, the bugs are collecting on my windshield, and the red wasps are busy making nests around our back door. But honestly, even with those unpleasantries, I can’t wipe the smile off of my face. This is, without a doubt, my favorite season in this part of the country for a few reasons.
The humidity is still low! I can go outside and enjoy the sun without instantly being covered in sweat. I can enjoy the wind in my hair without crazy 80′s frizz. And without humidity, 80 degrees feels a lot more like 80 degrees and not 100. ;) I can throw the windows and sliding door open and let all that musty winter air out of the house and hear the birds singing while I graphic design at my desk. Which, while not as good as working outside, is about as close as you can get.
For those of you who have been keeping up on the blog or following me on facebook, you may already know that our little Christmas surprise has been keeping me from blogging regularly! But now that I am well into the second trimester and feeling much better, I plan to jump back into writing regularly, so check back or friend me on facebook for updates on new posts!
First an update on the last blog post: Baby Rogers is a boy! He is tentatively named (oh, who am I kidding? We’ve loved this name from the very beginning…) Carter Bradley. And while I may have grown up blissfully oblivious to what a “pallet” is and its many folksy and useful upcycling uses, Carter is probably going to be painfully aware. That’s right, I’ve stumbled upon a couple of new pallet projects and I couldn’t help but share. ;)
I can already see it… Our little family is cruising down the freeway in Daddy’s truck. From the shade of a quiet group of storage units, right next to a large dumpster, a stack of handsome pallets catches our eye. *Screeeech!* We’ll whip around and pull in the lot to inspect them. If Carter is, by this time, old enough to be embarrassed by us, this is the part where he’ll be rolling his eyes or hoping against hope that no one from his school recognizes his parent’s truck. ;) Yep, we’re already refining our “weird parents” quirks well before Carter makes his grand debut. But thankfully for all of you, I’m perfectly comfortable with embarrassing my child with my love for ”upcycling” so he’d better just learn to love it. ;)
On to the project!
How easy and adorable is this planter? I’ve been eyeing the standing planters at Rural King for a year now, unable to pull the trigger and drop $80+ on a tall, wooden box for my plants. I’d never even considered that my beloved pallets could do the same job!
The supplies for this project are all things that we have here, thanks in part to Brad’s extensive garage tool arsenal.
- 1 pallet
- 2 large bags of potting soil
- 16 six packs of flowers (one six pack per opening on the face of the pallet, and two six packs per opening on the top of the completed pallet garden)
- landscape fabric
- a staple gun w/ staples
- sand paper
I fully plan on asking Brad to help me construct this environmentally-friendly-and-folksy project which I heard about from a friend and found instructions for online at Life on the Balcony. I imagine this project taking off in the next month or so, so stay tuned as I will most certainly be posting photos!
Now what pallet garden would be complete without an upcycled pallet bench upon which to sit and admire my plants?
This project looks a bit trickier. But thanks to Brad’s affinity for woodworking and our love of pallet makeovers, I think we’ve got what it takes to figure this one out. There are no directions at the Garden Daddy website, but with the photos he posted, I’m betting Brad can figure the design out.
That’s all I’ve got for now as we haven’t started these projects yet. Be ready for a new cork mat, a paper mobile, and (probably) more pallet creations in the coming weeks!
Happy spring, everyone. And here’s hoping that my Idaho friends get to enjoy this weather nice and early this year, too!
1.26.12 – Pinterest, it was only a matter of time…
Who hasn’t found themselves getting a tad bored with the internet from time to time? It happens all the time – your Facebook feed has just run out of new stories for you, you’ve checked, deleted, and replied to all your e-mails, snooped on your ex’s Facebook page… what’s there left to do? Your logical brain will tell you that with as vast as the internet is, there is a world of funny, interesting things you could be checking out now that your essentials are out of the way. But who wants to do all that searching!? If only all the interesting stuff was collected in one place…
Well, it is!
Well, maybe not all of it, but I guarantee there’s a place so chock full of internet gems that you’ll have to pry yourself away due to lack of time before you run out of great stuff to find. Those who are already happily addicted like myself already know what I’m talking about.
Pinterest, you’re a cruel mistress, but you sure have a whole heckuva lot of interesting things to check out…
To everyone who checked out the clothing-finding/outfit-building website featured in my last post, be warned, Pinterest is an even larger time suck. But admittedly, the things that you will take away from your Pinterest ‘pinning’ may actually save you money and really shake up your day to day. (Which is more than I can say about Polyvore since it had me seriously considering expanding my clothing budget!)
In the thumbnail here, you can see my current front page at Pinterest. At any given time, it is populated by an endless supply of cool internet finds that your friends have “pinned” to their own Pinterest profiles – ideas, recipes, photos and such that they would like to save.
In short, Pinterest is a super easy way to save and share the interesting things that you find online with your friends.
In the image here, you can see that my friends have found an awesome chocolate chip cookie recipe, an upcycling idea for turning an old wine rack into an awesome bathroom towel rack, a romantic bedroom decorating idea, and even an idea for newborn baby photos. There are music suggestions, travel ideas, unique articles… the categories are endless! There’s even a nice search feature. If you’re wanting something new to do with the avocados you just bought, you simply type “avocado” into the search and prepare to be bombarded by avocado recipes, art, and craft projects involving yours truly’s favorite fruit.
Men, don’t feel left out! The reason my board looks so feminine is because my Pinterest friends are nearly all female and that just happens to be what we’re into. The entire web is open to pinning so with the right search options, you can fill your board with sports cars, motorcycles, video game reviews, bikini babes, or whatever it is that men find more interesting than recipes and home decor. ;)
If Pinterest is new to you, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that MANY of your Facebook friends are probably already there, pinning away. Even if you’re alone at Pinterest, the board can be easily populated by things you’ll love simply by entering a word of interest into the search bar in the upper left hand corner.
So what are you waiting for?
Head on over and check it out. When you figure out how to follow friends, you can add me while you’re at it! Over at Pinterest, I go by rikkirogersblog and I would love to see what kind of interesting things you’ve found there. Just make sure you have a big ‘ol block of time put aside – it’s easy to lose track of the clock while you’re busily pinning your life away!
Visit Pinterest!
WOW! Mini Animals on Etsy
WOW! Stumbled on these on Etsy the other day and I just HAD to share. These little guys are 1 INCH tall or less. Can you even imagine all the time, concentration, and fine motor skills that would go into each one? For that reason, the high price tag seems justified to me. I wanted to share these with you. Head over to their home on Etsy to see more of these guys… my mind is just blown by all the fantastic detail crammed into a single inch! WOW!!!
11.14.11 – Cork Craft Ball Centerpiece / Ornament / Kissing Ball
Have you ever heard of a kissing ball?
Neither had I!
Apparently, it involves the origin of kissing-under-the-mistletoe tradition. In the eighteenth-century, the English credited the mistletoe with a certain magical appeal. They would create a ball out of a tree branch, put a sprig of mistletoe at the bottom, hang it up and call it a “kissing ball.” At Christmas time a young lady standing under the ball, brightly trimmed with evergreens, ribbons, and ornaments, cannot refuse to be kissed. Such a kiss could mean deep romance or lasting friendship and goodwill. If the girl remained unkissed, she cannot expect not to marry the following year.
In modern times, kissing balls can be made out of almost anything! I’ve seen some beautiful kissing balls made out of flowers at weddings, and was recently inspired by one that I saw that was made out of – you guessed it – cork!
I used a reflective Christmas ornament ball and glued my halved corks all around the surface. I left the wire hoop on the ornament exposed so that these may double for tree ornaments come December. But as for now, they are simply funky centerpieces keeping my hedge apples company.
They are also the latest addition to my Etsy store!
I’m so excited to share this creation with Etsy and my readers here!
Do you have any cork creation ideas for me? Leave it in the comments below!
11.13.11 – A Cork Trivet, why not?
One of the most popular crafts to make out of used corks are trivets. For weeks now I’ve been resistant as these are already everywhere online. But then I remembered the lonely picture frame sitting in my dresser. One of the cats knocked it over and broke the glass out of it about a year ago. For some reason, I held on to it! I knew that it would be good for something someday and after browsing online for some corkspiration (should I trademark that, or what!? haha) I noticed that many of the trivets use old picture frames as a base.
I thought, why not?
It only took five corks sliced roughly in half and a little hot glue. It was a tad time consuming finding the right sized and marked corks and getting them all to fit perfectly into the small frame.
Here’s the finished product. Not a bad little trivet, if I don’t say so myself. I left the picture frame stand on the back in tact just in case a future buyer would like to use it as a funky little art display instead. ;)
Click the pictures to be directed to my Etsy shop where you can see my little trivet on display!
In other news, I may have found an old window picture frame! Keep your fingers crossed for me readers – that’s one project that I would just love to take on! I know you will anyway – you’ve got to be sick of all the corks and pallets by now! I need some fresh material to play with!
11.12.11 – Cork Magnet Crafts!
One evening a few nights ago, a terrible thing happened to this crafter; I ran out of hot glue.
It happens to the best and most prepared of us. More often to me, as I fall into the “least prepared” category most of the time. But there was no need to fear – a trip to town for more glue sticks was less than 24 hours away.
In the meantime, I still had a box cutter and several boxes of corks at my disposal. Turning one of the corks on its side, I sliced into it and created a few disks from a single cork. Even alone, I thought the cork disks were very cute and had massive potential, so I saved them.
A few Google searches and a failed trivet later, I stumbled upon a group of cork magnets on Etsy. It was a wonderful idea, but poorly applied. The cork magnets already listed were, frankly, a little bit boring.
I knew I could spice the idea up and take some great photos to boot, so I gave it a shot. The collage above, in no particular order, is the result of that effort!
I decided to divide the magnets into sets of four that each had 1 long half cork and 3 disks each.
I then named the sets and listed them for sale at my Etsy shop!
Go check them out if you’d like – as for me, the homemade chicken soup is done and The Big Bang Theory just started so I’m signing off! :)
11.11.11 – More Recycling Art!
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to write a post that I got to title with “11.11.11″!
Happy Veteran’s Day, everyone. While you’re thinking about it, go grab your phone or log on to Facebook and thank a veteran you know for their service.
Now, if one of the veterans in your life delights in saving money, make them smile by decorating your home with one of these charming recycling art pieces. I found these online and while I would love to make them immediately, we are (1) not currently in possession of any rustic old window frames, and (2) out of pallets. ;)
Hopefully, you guys aren’t too sick of my obsession with pallets yet. But c’mon, how cute is this room divider?
The only hesitation I have is wondering how stable something like that really would be since it is surely extremely heavy. But with a crafty husband, I suppose we could find some way to secure it so that it couldn’t fall. The other problem would be finding pallets that had that nice light brown color and were in great shape, too. But once those problems are solved, it doesn’t look difficult to put together. Buy a couple of metal hinges from Home Depot and you’re ready to go! ;)
You can click here for the original link but I couldn’t find any directions there. I’m thinking we’d have to wing it if we wanted to try this one!
The second inspiring piece is a picture frame idea that I stumbled upon yesterday.
How “Etsy” is this, really!? Here’s the original link.
I’ve actually got a whole stack of 4×6 black and white photo prints of close up flower shots that would look fantastic here! I’m thinking that I could scour the net (Craigslist, maybe?) for old french doors.
OR, I could buy a new pane at Home Depot (with or without the glass), stain the wood a dark color, then paint it white. Hubby has a tool in the garage that looks like a cheese-grater for wood that would scrape chunks of the white paint off nicely.
Surely, readers, if this project ever comes to fruition, you will be the first to see how it turned out.
Again, happy Veteran’s Day to all of you and a happy weekend as well!
10.21.11 – Upcycled Wine Cork Bath Mat with Weave Pattern
After stumbling onto a charming little supply shop on Etsy and obtaining another big box-load of corks, I was able to finish my second cork mat project!
On hubby’s suggestion, I tried a weave pattern this time. The results? This mat seems to have a little bit more character than my last one! And I’m happy to report that it feels even better underfoot than my first. It did take a couple more hours to arrange and glue than the first, but I believe the results were well worth it.
Even though we want to keep this mat, my intentions from the beginning were to create this one to sell. It’s now happily nestled into its new (temporary?) home on the front page of my Etsy shop.
Click here to head over to the shop and see how it looks!
I’m going to be sad to see it go when the day comes that it gets purchased, but luckily I’ve got half a box of corks left that are just dying to be made into another upcycling creation! :)