DIY Stenciled Silhouette T-shirts

Posted on February 1, 2013 by jewelsathome

Honestly, I don’t get tired of planning the boys’ birthday parties. This is different than saying I don’t get tired executing my own plans, which I do, but the ideas are so endless and inspiring, so I hang in there, and their happy faces are always the best reward!

This year, L wants a Ninjago birthday. I have to say that Lego’s marketing strategy is truly brilliant – combine Lego, a fantastic toy, with every possible boyish fad – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates, Lord of the Rings, and Ninjas! It’s irresistible, as the clutter in the boys’ room will attest.

I’ve mentioned that I try to do a larger and reusable treat in place of a goody bag of small items. This time, I wanted to make the boys Ninjago T-shirts.

You can actually find T-shirts for sale for a reasonable price, if you keep your party small, but 1) I wanted long-sleeved shirts, since our weather is temperate year-round and 2) I think everything is more fun when you make it yourself!

I got the shirts at BlankShirts.com. I’m not affiliated with them or anything – I just figured I’d share my research in looking for inexpensive blank shirts. You can get short-sleeved shirts for as little as $2. I got these long-sleeved ones for about $8. I’ve also found some on clearance at Lands End for as little as $5, but you won’t get the same range of colors there.

I’m trying two different ideas for the shirts:

stenciled ninja silhouettes for the older boys
ironed-on and painted Ninjago eyes for the younger ones

Here are the instructions for the stenciled T-shirts. I’m really thrilled with how well they turned out, and it was quite easy! I’ll post the Ninjago eyes when they’re done.

Choose a ninja silhouette from the Internet and enlarge it.
Tape the printed silhouette over some contact paper and cut it out with a craft knife. I was able to do two layers at once, to make two stencils. (top row of pictures below)
Stick the contact paper stencil in place on the shirt, with a piece of cardboard inside the shirt. (bottom left picture below)
Use a stencil brush or sponge to apply black fabric paint. Remember to use small amounts of paint at a time and “pounce” up and down, so paint doesn’t bleed under your stencil.
Remove the stencil. I was able to reuse it a few times.

Once the paint is dry, heat set the stencil with a hot iron. I used a thin press cloth on the front and then also ironed it from the inside. (pictured below)
Your pattern will last longer if you wash it inside out.

Yay! The pattern on these came out very crisp and looks great. I’m already thinking of other patterns to try!

More ninja-themed T-shirts coming up soon!

“Jewels”

Gifts in a Jar – Put a Lid on it!

Posted on January 16, 2013 by jewelsathome

Steve likes to say that everything sounds better when spoken in a British accent… My version is that everything tastes better when it came in a pretty package. I love a project that can reuse an old item in a beautiful way – upcycling at its best! For the holidays this year, I decided to make a variety of gifts in a jar to give to our neighbors and the kids’ teachers. I saved glass jars of various shapes and sizes, and I’ll show how to clean and prep them below.

Here are a few ideas for how to make your own gifts in a jar:

Large jars, like pasta sauce jars, are great for pancake mixes.
The smallest ones, like jam and salsa jars, can be made into apothecary jars and filled with bath salts.
Medium-sized jars, like almond butter jars, are perfect for hot chocolate mixes!
Homemade granola is another delicious idea for a gift.

How to clean jars for reuse:

start by peeling off as much of the label as possible
soak the jar in some water and peel off more of the label
if there’s sticky residue left, spray the jar with Goo Gone or vegetable oil and let it sit before a rubbing off the rest of the label
run the jars and lids through the dishwasher, using a mesh laundry bag to keep the lids from flying around
I finished off by spray painting any lids that had printing on them, for a clean look

Great ideas for gifts in a jar. Step one: clean and prep your jars. {Jewels at Home}

There are so many ideas for gifts in a jar. Step one: clean and prep your jars.

Tips and recipes for gifts in a jar. {Jewels at Home}

Another tip: make a funnel from clean card stock to help layer ingredients more neatly.

Some more pictures of our dressed up holiday gifts:

Ideas, tips, and recipes for DIY gifts in a jar. {Jewels at Home}

Homemade apothecary jars filled with bath salts make a wonderful gift for a shower, hostess, or any occasion.

I really love having something handmade for the holidays, and making several of the same gifts made the project more doable. The only real-world caveat I have is that these were very heavy to carry into school. Add our toddler in the baby carrier on my back, and I definitely broke a sweat. It was all worth it, though I might recommend a wagon if you are trying this…

“Jewels”

Mercury Glass Look-alike Ornaments

Posted on December 5, 2012 by jewelsathome

This post should be subtitled “The Accidental Artist.” When I set out on this project, I just meant to repaint some old ornaments I had. Along the way, some of them turned out with a lovely mercury glass look that was an unexpected and pleasant surprise, since I have been coveting those baubles but holding off on buying them, since glass and toddlers do not mix. I wouldn’t normally have bothered painting these inexpensive plastic ornaments at all, but since I had the supplies already, I thought I might as well, and it turned out to be a good thing!

I had a lot of simple red and gold ornaments left over from the Chinese “Red Egg and Ginger” party I organized for J a couple of years ago. I’ll have to blog about that later! This year, I’m trying for a red, turquoise, silver, and white -themed Christmas, so I decided to repaint some of the gold and red balls to turquoise and silver. I had plenty of other red ones.

I taped the balls upside down on some scrap cardboard with painter’s tape, sprayed a coat of primer and then a few coats of paint. The turquoise paint was initially intended for an old wooden chest. This color was actually too bright for the chest, but it came in useful here. The silver (soon to be “mercury glass”) ornaments were painted with Rustoleum metallic paint in “chrome.” I’ve been in the lookout for Krylon’s “Looking Glass” paint, and I have yet to find it in a local store, but the Rustoleum metallic chrome seems similar and has a very reflective silver finish. I would have been happy to leave the ornaments silver, but I thought I would do a clear topcoat to help protect them from chipping. The clear spray I happened to have in the garage is a lacquer, which might have more solvent in it than a regular spray paint. In any case, it left tiny dull spots on the chrome, and for a split second, I was disappointed, but I’m now as pleased as (Christmas) punch, because they have a great faux mercury glass look!

Here’s how I painted the ornaments:

An easy combination of these two spray paints will give you a beautiful faux mercury glass look for your Christmas ornaments or other projects!

Here are some more pictures of the “mercury glass” ornaments. They are not perfect, and I’m eager to try more of the faux mercury glass techniques out there, but as accidents go, this one was very happy (much happier than some of the mishaps that have not ended up on the blog!).

I’m definitely getting that festive holiday feeling! How about you?

“Jewels”

Clothespin Wreath Advent Calendar

Posted on November 28, 2012 by jewelsathome

My brain has been whirling with all the creative advent calendar ideas out there. I grew up with a beautiful felt advent calendar my mom made, and I want to recreate something like that for our boys. While I’m still mulling over all the options for the long term, it is the end of November, so for this year, I’ve decided to make a clothespin wreath using Christmas wrapping paper and scrapbook papers to hold 24 cards with activities we can do together through the month.

Clothespin wreath advent calendar with an activity for each day.

The instructions for the wreath are detailed in the previous post. The only changes were that I made this wreath a bit bigger (13″ diameter) to accomodate 24 pins, and I added numbers to the pins for each day. The numbers are stickers on punched out circles, and I used removable tape to stick them on the clothespins, in case we use this wreath for pictures or cards in the future.

Clothespin wreath for Christmas makes a lovely advent calendar or card display.

Numbers for a clothespin advent calendar

For the activity cards, I printed 2″x4″ shipping labels with 24 different activities, one for each day. There are lots of options – here are some I thought would be fun to do with the kids this year. I’d love to hear what you are planning, too!

Get a Christmas tree
Decorate the Christmas tree
Write Christmas wish list
Make ornaments
Holiday Faire at school
Make a gift for a friend or family member
Give a homemade gift
Drink hot chocolate
Go see Christmas lights
Wrap presents
Make snowflakes
Read How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Read The Polar Express
Prepare Christmas “thank you” cards
Donate food
Donate toys
Decorate a gingerbread house
Visit reindeer at the zoo
Watch “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer”
Watch “Frosty the Snowman”
Make a snowman pizza
Bake Christmas cookies
Write cards for teachers
Deliver gifts to teachers
Family game night
Snowman pancakes for breakfast
Mail Christmas cards
Brunch with Santa (like family photos, this is a strange torture I cannot resist!)
Call relatives and sing carols to them
Movie night (this is a Christmas Eve tradition for us)

I stuck the labels on cardstock in Christmas colors and patterns and then clipped them to the wreath, with the labels facing the back. We can turn over one each day!

Clothespin wreath advent calendar with a special activity for each day.

Maybe I’ll come up with a new advent calendar next year, or maybe this wreath will become our tradition. I think I’m at least as excited as the boys for the countdown to Christmas!

“Jewels”

I shared this project at:

Elegant Painted Pumpkins for Fall Decorating

Posted on October 16, 2012 by jewelsathome

Well, I mentioned that I’m not particularly into Halloween per se, though I have had fun creating costumes like these Pokemon outfits, over the years. Rather, I like to embrace a fall theme that can last the whole season and feels appropriately festive for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and beyond.

Decorating with natural elements fits well with the spirit of the season, though I don’t always get out to pick up gourds, and I do worry about them rotting over a period of a couple of months. So, I ended up with a lot of “faux” (yes, fake, artificial, plastic) pumpkins. Rather than trying to pretend these are real, why not dress them up with paint, stencils, or decoupage?

It has been a busy season for us, so I did this project with things I hard around the house. I started with some plain orange pumpkins I bought a few years ago for less than a dollar each. To be sure, they are not perfectly convincing when inspected up close, but they look great on the mantel or table. By adding paint, these took on a much more elegant and inspired look!

DIY painted pumpkins in metallic hues.

How to:

Start by spraying your pumpkins with a coat of primer, followed by a few coats of your base color. I used olive green, silver, and gold.

As you can see below, the solid color lacks dimension, so the next step is to brush on some thinned paint to bring out the details and tone down the color. On the gold pumpkin, I brushed diluted silver craft paint. On the green and silver pumpkins, I brushed diluted gold craft paint. The stems on all the pumpkins are a mix of green and black. Brush along the lines of the pumpkin, starting at the base of the stem, for the best effect.

Tutorial for DIY painted pumpkins in metallic hues. Jewels at Home.

Brush on paint to soften the look and add detail to your pumpkins.

Here’s how the finished pumpkins look arranged in our living room.

Fall mantel with DIY painted metallic pumpkins.

Once the season winds down, I’d love to buy some more pumpkins on sale and try new ideas for next fall. What’s on my wish list for next year? “Looking Glass” silver spray paint from Krylon to mimic mercury glass pumpkins seen at Pottery Barn and copper paint, which would have the perfect orange metallic glow for a stylish fall display.

Hope you are enjoying the brisk and beautiful fall days!

“Jewels”

Fire Station Play House

Posted on October 15, 2012 by jewelsathome

We are having a firefighter birthday for our youngest, and as part of the surprises and decorations for that day, I wanted to make him a fire station play house. I started by making a cardboard house that can be folded flat for storage and transportation. Then came the fun part of adding the fire station details – actually, making the house was pretty cool, too!

First, I painted the sides of the house grey, to match the duct tape. I had grey paint left over from painting the mid-century nightstand for our boys, and it matched well. For the roof, I picked up a deep red on sale at our local hardware store.

The details on the house were simple:

a few painted bricks to give the impression of a brick building
a fire hydrant painted on the side
a sign printed using Microsoft Word. The font is Castellan.

DIY fire station playhouse – it’s foldable for storage!

For the opening, I sewed two simple white cotton panels with velcro along the top and painted a fire engine. To draw the engine, I sketched half the truck on one panel and then used Sharpie marker to outline the drawing, and the marker went through to the second panel, so I got a symmetrical picture. I painted the design with acrylic craft paint and heat set it with an iron. The velcro is glued to the inside of the house with tacky glue. When the curtains are closed, it looks like the engine is inside, waiting for action!

DIY cardboard fire station play house. Jewels at Home.

Curtains for DIY cardboard fire station play house. Draw your design on one panel using Sharpie marker, and the picture will transfer to the other panel in reverse.

As a finishing touch inside the fire house, I “hung” these charming firefighter scenes that J’s brother drew for him.

I meant to keep the house as a surprise for J’s actual birthday, but it isn’t that easy to hide a giant play house, so the boys are already having fun with it!

Many happy returns, baby J!

“Jewels”

Fireplace Makeover: With a Little Help from my Friends…

Posted on October 10, 2012 by jewelsathome

This is one of those projects that I meant to do myself, but I’m glad that I didn’t. It had all the makings of dragging on for a ridiculously long time like our powder room, and I didn’t want dust, plaster, and paint to be lying about the living room and accessible by the kids for several weeks.

Many thanks to Joe and Jose, a painting team that do a great job and are enjoyable to have around the house, this job was done more quickly and better than I could have achieved myself. They worked on this at the same time they helped paint our stair risers.

The fireplace has been my bane since we moved in – with its cheesy faux finish and disturbing disembodied heads, it was impossible to ignore and clashed with everything I wanted to do with our living-dining room. On the other hand, we didn’t have the budget to completely redo it, and I felt it was a part of our 85 year-old house’s history and personality that I wanted to respect.

Updating an ornate fireplace. Before and after.

Enter Joe and Jose with some saws and chisels, a bit of plaster, and a lot of paint, and this old eyesore became a unique focal point that doesn’t frighten young children (and their parents).

Updating an ornate fireplace. In progress… excuse the severed head!

And here is the newly painted fireplace in Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray (HC-168). The solid color really tones down this massive piece and allows us to appreciate the design, and I don’t miss those little heads at all!

And since the seasons are changing, I also took some pictures of the mantel decorated for fall. I’d like to add some branches as well, but this is a good start.

Warm fall mantel with metallic pumpkin!

Fall mantel arrangement.

Doubtless, this new fireplace is a hundred times better than the way it was, but I am actually thinking of repainting it an even lighter shade of grey. I was inspired by this picture from House and Home magazine in January 2012. WIth such a large and ornate fireplace, I think the color can be very subtle and still stand out. What do you think?

Light grey mantel makes a subtle statement. House and Home magazine January 2012.

I’m glad we didn’t spend a ton of money nor throw out this historical piece… I’m also glad my hubby didn’t go along with Joe’s suggestion of putting one of the severed heads in our bed as a surprise! Eeeek!

“Jewels”

Stairway Makeover – Step by Step

Posted on September 13, 2012 by jewelsathome

I give my hubby a lot of credit for seeing the potential in our current house. While I’m incredibly grateful to have a comfortable home to live in, it has been a long process for me to actually come to love the look of the place. There was a lot of pink, red, gold, and heavy ornate-ness that we’ve been slowly replacing. I think the recent work by our painters was the tipping point for me. I can now truly say that it is a pleasure to walk in the house and see these stairs.

As you can see, a lot has changed since the (blurry – sorry, I had to enlarge it to focus on the stairs) real estate picture was taken. We started by changing the light fixtures from crystal chandeliers and sconces to more architectural fixtures, and we replaced the red and grungy carpet with a brown textured wool with a sage green twill binding.

This fall, our painters Joe and Jose (yes, they know they have the same name), helped with a new wall color – Manchester Tan from Benjamin Moore – and painting the stair risers white to match the trim. After they were done, I also spray-painted the metal carpet rods, covering up the tarnished brass with satin black.

The easier thing would definitely have been to paint the risers before the carpet runner was installed, but sometimes inspiration does not come in an orderly way.. So Joe and Jose patiently taped off all the carpet, sanded the risers, primed and painted them.

20120823-213845.jpgTo paint stair risers after a runner is installed, you'll have to tape off the runner thoroughly.

To paint stair risers after a runner is installed, you’ll have to tape off the runner thoroughly, before sanding, priming, and painting the wood.

As for the carpet rods, I considered replacing them, but these innocent-looking pieces of metal are actually very expensive, at $40 plus a set, so a little but of work went a long way. I sanded, primed, and spray painted them a satin black finish to match the wrought iron balusters. I decided to leave the brackets on while painting, which held the rods off the cardboard surface. However, this did mean that I had to shift the brackets between coats, so no areas were missed, and it took a lot of coats. I would recommend lining the rods up very close to each other when painting, so each pass with the spray paint will cover multiple rods.

After I re-installed the carpet rods, the screws were still brass. Luckily, I had watched a wrought iron handrail get installed in our old house, and I saw that the installer painted the screws by spraying matching paint into a cup and then painting it on the screws. I used a cotton swab for this.

I did have a debate about whether to put the carpet rods back on at all. They’re decorative, not functional. I think they make the stairs look more formal and traditional, while they look a bit more contemporary without the rods. I put them back, at least for now, because they do a hide some staples and raw edges on the carpet. What do you think?

A bare runner looks more contemporary, while carpet rods give a more formal look. Which do you prefer?

Finally, we’re not really statue people, so I decided to fill the spaces on and around the stairs with orchids and houseplants instead. Here’s how our finished space looks. Ahhhh….

And one last before-and-after look, so we can put the memories of the old stairway behind us!

“Jewels”

Mid-Century Nightstand/ Dresser with Dipped Legs

Posted on September 3, 2012 by jewelsathome

To our delight, both our older boys love reading, and they recently requested a little nightstand to put their books on, so I poked around on Craigslist and found this cool-looking Mid-Century low dresser that was cosmetically-challenged but I thought would look great painted in grey.

Well, you know how Craigslist is – some people are completely friendly and professional and others can be a bit quirky or flaky. The guy selling this dresser was definitely friendly, but he did push back the time of our meeting several times, including once when we were already on the road, and he seemed to be struggling a bit to adjust to his move and letting go of some of his furniture. Anyway, we finally brought the dresser home.

A couple of days later, the seller of the dresser texted me to ask if he could buy the dresser back. That’s a first! But knowing that he was very attached to it, I didn’t want to be mean, so I agreed to sell it back to him. I was disappointed, but by that point, I was committed to the look, so I found the Sveio dresser at Ikea that has almost the same shape. I’m not crazy about the look in white, but since I was planning on painting ours anyway, I figured it would work out. Fast forward a few more hours, and the dresser’s former owner had changed his mind again and said he was not coming to pick it up.

Okay?! Whatever?! I got to work transforming this great vintage find into something cool and functional for the boys.

BEFORE: Mid-Century dresser found on Craigslist ready for a makeover! I forgot to take a picture before I started patching the damaged parts of the wood.

Sveio chest with drawers from Ikea has Mid-Century lines.

While part of me hated to paint over this classic piece of furniture, it really had seen better days. There were a lot of chips in the veneer and a dark stain on the top – so I felt I was better off painting it than trying to restore the wood finish.

I started with wiping it down and using some wood filler to patch up the most damaged parts of the veneer. When the wood filler was dry, I sanded the whole piece and wiped it down again.

I was inspired by this piece I saw at The Wits Blog, with the brass leg caps, so I taped off the bottom of the legs to leave the original wood.

Grey dresser makeover by The Wits.

Go to The Wits blog

For the rest of the dresser, I used a coat of primer followed by a couple of coats of Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray (HC-167).

I finished by rubbing the dresser with some furniture polish to give it a smooth protective finish.

Mid-Century dresser painted in Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray with reverse “dipped” legs.

Mid-Century nightstand painted with "dipped" legs. Get the same look with a Ikea Sveio hack. From Jewels at Home.

Close-up view of the legs of the painted Mid-Century nightstand, with a reverse “dipped” finish.

I’m happy with how the nightstand turned out, and it looks great in the boys’ room. They love it and have already filled the drawers with their books and treasures. Here’s how it looks in place. Their room still needs a lot more decorating, but this is a good start!

Mid-Century nightstand makeover. Get the same look with a Sveio Ikea hack. From Jewels at Home.

Mid-Century nightstand with a new painted look.

Boys' room with a painted Mid-Century nightstand. From Jewels at Home.

Boys’ room with a painted Mid-Century dresser.

Mid-Century nightstand painted in Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray with reverse "dipped" legs. From Jewels at Home.

Mid-Century nightstand painted in Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray with reverse “dipped” legs. The cool baseball player lamp is a gift from the boys’ uncle. He brought it home from Korea.

And here’s the final before-and-after picture!

So, this post turned out to be about making over a battered vintage dresser, but it almost became an Ikea Sveio hack, and that would have been okay, too. If you try this with Sveio, you could leave the legs white or paint them another color first, before taping them off. I hope this dresser’s former owner finds happiness, because our boys are very happy with their slick new nightstand.

Are you looking for your own diamond in the rough to transform? I’m excited to share that my friend Ari launched a slick new furniture re-sale site over at www.revolvingdecor.com. Check it out to participate in a curated online marketplace for great furniture finds!

“Jewels”

New Entry – First Impressions Count!

Posted on August 5, 2012 by jewelsathome

When we bought our house last summer, the style did not suit us at all. I give a lot of credit to hubby for seeing past the pink and frills to appreciate that this could be our home. Now we’re updating this place bit by bit, and I’m happy to say that it feels like home! We started inside with a renovation upstairs that gave us our new master bath, laundry area, and nursery. More about the upstairs, when I finally get the rest of it cleaned up. We decided to put off a downstairs renovation, due to cost and convenience, but I did spruce up our powder room with some wallpaper and a new chair rail and vanity.

Once our upstairs bedrooms were comfortable, the next priority was painting the exterior, where the paint on the trim was peeling, and equally importantly, the house was pink!

BEFORE:

BEFORE: Pink and stuffy entry did not reflect our personality. The house number sign was white plastic!

Hooray for

new paint
a new house number sign (the old one was white plastic)
our whimsical doggy statue
and some old pots and flowers

Now, our entry is casual and pretty, which is much more our style. The dog our light-hearted take on more serious front door statuary. I found him in a flower shop in Toronto more than a decade ago, and he reminded me of our dog, Cooper, so I gave him to Steve for his birthday one year. Now that Cooper is no longer with us, it’s sweet to have him as our guardian angel.

I tried to hang up the house number sign, but the stucco was defeating my masonry bit and my adhesive, so I just propped it up, and I actually like it there! There’s lots more gardening that could be done to improve our curb appeal and functionality, but for now these little touches make it feel like home when you walk up to the door.

A new house color and some flowers at the front door make this place feel like home.

I usually putter around inside the house, so I can thank this little helper for bringing me outside. He had a lot of fun digging, and I had to work hard to channel his energies into the right areas!

Welcome Home!

“Jewels”