Cool Tween Boy Room

Posted on March 31, 2014 by jewelsathome

Oh wow! I did not realize that a whole year has gone by since our oldest moved into his own room. This was formerly J’s nursery, so it is a small space. The bed I built out of IKEA Expedit shelves has been one of the most popular projects on the blog. I’m finally getting around to showing you the rest of the room, now that its occupant is away on a school trip. He’s actually pretty neat for a fifth grader, but I still needed a little uninterrupted time to make the room blog-worthy. Of course, this means I will be showing you the younger boys’ room in approximately… never?!

Because I wanted to make the most of this small space, I did buy a lot of the furniture new. But when I look at the room, I realize there are also a lot of personal home-made touches. I’ll list the projects at the end of this post. Meanwhile, go ahead and enjoy looking at K’s room, which will look like this for exactly 13 more days, until he gets home. I did update a few things, and I hope he’ll think they are a good “welcome home” surprise!

Some of the fun projects in K’s room include:

Boy, I miss my boy!

“Jewels”

Christmas Mantel in Wintery White

Posted on December 21, 2013 by jewelsathome

The mantel is a natural focal point for Christmas decorating. After all, that’s where the man in the red suit makes his entrance!

This year’s mantel matches the rest of our house, with white decorations setting a wintery scene.

Stockings

These felt stockings in a lovely natural cream felt on sale at West Elm. I added felt circles with our initials to personalize them.

I set up some of my feather boa Christmas tree and felt Christmas trees I made last year. Winter wonderland. Christmas mantel in white | Jewels at Home

These little wooden houses are actually a work in progress. I’ve always wanted to have a Christmas village display, but I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary. When my manager at work found these little bird houses at our local craft store, I knew they would be the foundation for my village. So far, I’ve painted them white. I want to add some wood embellishments, but we had some company this weekend, so I put up them up as-is. I’ll show you the finished village when I’m done!

By night, the candles light up our little winter village!

Winter wonderland. Christmas mantel in white | Jewels at Home

Wishing you happy holidays!

“Jewels”

Reindeer Antler Silhouette Art

Posted on December 15, 2013 by jewelsathome

This Christmas, I was inspired to create a white and woodsy theme to our decorations. And since I’ve put a lot of time into new projects for the season, I wanted to make some that would work all winter, and not just for the holidays.

I’ve been eyeing the paper mache animal heads at West Elm, Anthropologie, and other favorite stores, and I almost took the leap, but I ended up creating this project on my own, and I am so happy with how it turned out. It feels extra satisfying to know I created this piece of art from things around the house!

The base for this painting is some thin sheets of plywood that were actually leftover packing material from some chairs I bought. The wood seemed too good to just throw out, and I knew I would find a great project for it! I had thought of making some beachy signs for my dad’s place, but that will have to wait.

To draw the antlers, I looked at images for inspiration and then sketched it out. I didn’t want to have it look too neat, and I decided to do just the antlers, though I love a lot of the reindeer head silhouettes, too. I used those to make some reindeer pillow covers for the season. I painted in the gray with a finer brush and filled in the white background. Both colors were leftover house paints. I painted thin enough layers that you can make out some of the wood grain below, and I think the finished art strikes a nice balance of rustic and sleek, whimsical and elegant.

Here’s a close-up of the antler silhouette painting:

And here’s how it looks over the fireplace in our family room. I think it adds a cozy modern lodge feel for the chilly winter nights.

Last night was our annual holiday party, and I had put the finishing touches on this painting just that morning. Seeing our guests sitting around the fire definitely captured the cozy feeling I was hoping for!

I’m looking forward to enjoying this painting through Christmas and into the new year!

“Jewels”

Faux Birch Branches

Posted on December 11, 2013 by jewelsathome

They say, there’s a fine line between genius and insanity… I think I got a deeper understanding of this when I took on this faux birch branch project.

I saw these a year or two ago in a department store, and I’m not sure what possessed me, but I decided to make them for our house. It’s the kind of fantastic paper creation you might see at Anthropologie, which always has the best art in their store displays… It makes me want to buy a cute sweater… Now! But I digress.

I’m working on creating outdoorsy and white-themed Christmas decorations this year, like these felt poinsettia ornaments and homemade clay ornaments. I had several large cardboard tubes left over from buying fabric, and I got inspired to transform them into a little homemade forest. I have to say that I was super-excited when I started, and by the end, I was going blind from visions of decoupaged tissue paper, but I think it was worth it in the end.

Materials:

Cardboard tubes. The “trunks” are made from large tubes for rolling fabric. The “branches” are smaller tubes, including toilet paper and paper towel rolls.
Brown paper
White tissue paper
Mod Podge or glue for decoupage
Embroidery floss in black and gray
Patience

To get started, created the shapes of the trees. I used brown paper and Mod Podge to join some long tubes together, so that the lengths would vary. I also used the same technique to add branches to some of the trunks (pictured below).

Next, I started creating the look of birch bark, inspired by instructions on making fake birch bark over at Kitsch Designs. The first step is to cut the tissue paper into strips – I made a variety ranging from about two to four inches wide. Then, paint some Mod Podge on the cardboard and wrap strips of tissue paper around the tube (pictured below). I overlapped the paper in places and left gaps in other places, to give a textured look to the branches.

It looks cool when you tear the wet paper and get a rough edge like this!

Keep adding layers of paper, overlapping them, so the “bark” is textured and natural-looking (right two pictures below). I estimate I used a total of about 4 layers. On the top one or two layers, add some short strips of embroidery floss (left picture below). I cut this into different lengths and also separated some into strands, so there was a lot of variety. The floss stuck well to the paper using the Mod Podge.

I “planted” the finished birch branches in a pot wrapped in fabric in our font hall. I think it would look great with the addition of some greenery and/or ornaments, so I’ll fiddle with that a bit more, but so far, I’m excited with these wintery additions to our foyer.

After the hours that went into this project, I’ll be keeping these faux birch branches around. I haven’t decided if I’ll keep them long for next Christmas or maybe cut them short to display in the fireplace. Let me know what you think!

“Jewels”

Felt Poinsettia Ornaments

Posted on December 10, 2013 by jewelsathome

I grew up in Canada, so Christmas was associated with cool temperatures, bare branches, and as often as not, snow on the ground. Even my kids, who grew up in California, ask for snow at Christmas. So, I decided to create a snowy Christmas for us at home.

I pared down my decorations to focus on the white and silver. I also made several new projects in a white and woodsy theme. So far, I’ve finished a sleek new gray and white Christmas tree skirt, and I also made some new pillow covers in white and gray with outdoorsy appliques of reindeer, polar bears, and trees.

Since I kept our colorful ornaments packed up for this year, I needed to add some more decorations to our tree. The kids helped me make these sweet clay ornaments, and I am adding these white felt poinsettia ornaments to fill in the branches.

I looked at lots of pictures of real and felt flowers, and I read a lot of tutorials, trying to find felt poinsettias that would have a natural look. My final project was a combination of the felt poinsettia pin by Cheryl at her Tidy Mom blog, Kate’s felt poinsettia’s at her Centsational Girl blog, and my own innovation, as I wanted to make the flowers a bit more natural-looking and just right for my tree!

The thing I liked best about Cheryl’s flowers was how she cut the petals. It’s much faster and easier than using a template, and it allows you to make each petal a little bit unique. I used different dimensions, which I’ll list below, and I also cut my petals with a bit of a wave on the edge, to give them more dimension.

I washed and dried my felt before using it, to make it a bit thicker. To cut the petals, first cut rectangles of felt in the specified dimensions, and then trim them to look like petals. It’s very quick to cut the rectangles, if you cut the felt into strips first (left side of the picture below) and then cut the strips into rectangles (middle of the picture below). I was also able to trim the petals three at a time, so it was all much easier than I expected!

Each flower is constructed the same way, and I’ll give the exact measurements for my two sizes below.

The basic parts of the felt poinsettia are

a round circle base (top left picture below)
a layer of large petals (top right and bottom left pictures below)
a layer of small petals (bottom right picture below)

DIY felt poinsettia Christmas decorations to use as ornaments, gift toppers, or around the house | Jewels at Home

Start with a round base, add a layer of large petals, and top with a layer of smaller petals.

To finish the flower, I sewed all the layers together while sewing on some pearl beads to decorate the center of the poinsettia. I then used hot glue to attache the flower to a metal alligator clip.

Finish the flower by sewing the layers together while sewing on some beads for the center.

The pictures above are of the larger poinsettias. The finished size is approximately 6.5″ in diameter. The large flower uses:

2″ diameter base circle
8 large petals of 3.5″ x 2″
5 small petals of 2.5″ x 1.5″
7 beads
metal alligator clip

I also made smaller poinsettias, with a finished size of approximately 4.75″. The small flower uses:

1.5″ diameter base circle
6 large petals of 2.5″x1.5″
5 small petals of 1.75″ x 1″
5 beads
metal alligator clip

Here are the large and small flowers side by side.

And here are the new poinsettias on our tree!

Hooray for a project that was even more easy and fun than I had expected! If I get enough of these for the tree, they may start showing up elsewhere in our house! Or that may be crazy-talk!

“Jewels”

Christmas Pillows in Simple White and Gray

Posted on December 9, 2013 by jewelsathome

I’m not even going to try to hide that I’m crazy about Christmas. I love the warm festive atmosphere, the carols, the time with family.

Over the years, I mostly had the same decorations up each year. Last year, I tried a new color scheme of red, turquoise, and silver. This year, I want to do as much as I can in simple gray and white. I started with our new modern tree skirt, since that is a focal point.

Next, I wanted to make some cute Christmas throw pillows. The idea behind the pillows is simple. It’s all the different designs and fabrics that make them fun! The instructions for the basic pillow cover can be found in the post on our living room pillows. The instructions for making the appliqués can be found in this post from the onesie-decorating baby shower. Since I put some work into all these new pillows, I chose designs that would last beyond Christmas and through the winter.

Here are some of the decorations I put on my new winter pillow covers!

Reindeer pillows:

Polar bear pillows:

A snowy forest of trees on this pillows:

And here is our living room with the new pillows. There’s more I’d love to do, but I like how it’s coming together so far.

I’m also planning to make a throw blanket and some pillows out of a sweater. It could be a fiasco or an amazing project. If it’s the latter, you’ll see it here!

Are you feeling our snowy white Christmas theme?!

“Jewels”

Modern Gray and White Christmas Tree Skirt

Posted on December 2, 2013 by jewelsathome

For many years, I decorated for the holidays with the same traditional red and green Christmas color scheme. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course – traditions become traditions for good reason! But after more than a decade of the same style, I decided it would be fun to change up our Christmas look. Last year, I edited and updated our decorations for a red, turquoise, and silver Christmas. And this year, I’m in love with a simple gray and white Christmas color scheme. It makes me feel like I’m getting back to the tranquil snowy outdoors – even if I am in California!

Like last year, when I reinvented many of our decorations with silver paint and ribbons, I wanted to work with a lot of things I had, while adding a few new items. I’ve also been trying to keep my fabric and craft stash in check, so I pulled out all the gray and white fabrics I could find around the house and started to sew!

First up was a new Christmas tree skirt. I sewed our original tree skirt 18 years ago, when I was more fond of a cute and country look, and I took this year’s skirt in a complete different direction, making something very sleek and calming. I started with a grey faux suede upholstery fabric sitting in a corner. I had bought it to upholster our dining room chairs, and then I decided to make them more whimsical with a printed fabric.

Materials:

Grey faux suede fabric, 60″x60″
White cotton fabric to make a wide bias binding (I forgot to measure, but I estimate I used a little over a yard of 42″ wide cotton)
Narrower white bias binding

Instructions:

Cut a 60″ diameter circle from the main fabric
Cut a 6″ diameter hole from the center
Cut a straight line from the perimeter to the center

Tutorial for a simple gray and white Christmas tree skirt | Jewels at Home

The basic shape for the Christmas tree skirt.

Make 5″ wide bias binding from the trim fabric
Iron the binding in half to a make 2.5″ wide strip

Sew the binding to the two straight edges that makes the opening of the skirt, sewing on the back side of the main fabric with the raw edges lined up
Wrap the binding around to the front. Pin and sew to the front of the skirt
Add the binding to the outer edge of the skirt the same way, stretching the edges of the bias binding as you go.
Use the narrower binding to finish the inside circle

Sew the doubled bias binding to the underside of the skirt. Then, wrap the binding around to the front and sew in place.

That’s all! Here’s our new Christmas skirt!

Modern gray and white Christmas tree skirt.

I’ve got a few more white Christmas ideas coming up, and you can start your holiday shopping over at Zulily:

“Jewels”

Seeing Silver for the Holidays

Posted on November 16, 2013 by jewelsathome

I love decorating for Christmas and the winter holidays. There’s something about all that sparkle and warmth at the darkest time of the year that just lifts my spirits. I have a lot of traditional red and green decorations with a more natural feel, because our last house was an old Craftsman, and that theme fit it well, but in recent years, I decided to shift towards bright and silver! I set out to do this while reusing as much as possible. You can see how it turned out in last year’s 2012 Christmas house tour, and in this post, I’ll give details on how to add silver and shine to your holidays without breaking the bank.

I bought very few new decorations, but I used a few simple elements to transform things we already had:

Silver spray paint. Rustoleum metallic spray paint in “chrome,” and Krylon “bright silver” which I already had.
Silver craft paint. I used this to touch up some decorations and ornaments we had and add some sparkle.
Silver ribbon – Michael’s had an array of ribbons at 60% off when I was there, and I had some in my craft closet as well.
Silver bells – also on sale at Michael’s

Paint it!

I’ve had these “PEACE” and “JOY stocking holders for many years now. They were a lovely antique bronze finish that got refreshed with a spray primer and a few coats of Rustoleum chrome paint. It has a very bright and reflective finish that looks like real metal.

Tips on adding the glow of silver to Christmas decorations you already have. {Jewels at Home}

I painted these stocking hangers with metallic paint for a shiny new look.

I also painted these mercury glass look-alike ornaments in silver.

Two easy steps to get a faux mercury glass look on your old ornaments.

And finally, I painted some pine cones with the Krylon bright silver paint and used the on their own, as vase filler, and on wreaths.

Spray some pinecones in silver paint to brighten up your holiday decor.

Wrap it in ribbon!

I had three wreaths in traditional greens and reds. This pomegranate and magnolia wreath from Restoration Hardware got a new look with some simple silver ribbon wound around it and used for hanging.

For my oversized wreath with pinecones and berries, some silver bells and ribbon gave a whole new look.

My third wreath was this plain wreath that wore a burgundy velvet bow for more than a decade, and now it’s ready for the next decade with new ribbon and pinecones painted in silver.

;

I did splurge (as much as one does at Target) on this silver beauty for our front door. It sets the silvery tone right when you enter our house!

And here’s what some more silver ribbon and bells did for this tabletop tree:

Wishing you a bright and merry holiday season!

“Jewels”

Elegant Ottoman Makeover

Posted on November 9, 2013 by jewelsathome

Okay, so I will admit that I had a very low starting point with these inexpensive storage cubes that I found on sale at Target. In their original colors, they’re so garish that it’s hard to imagine how anyone would have chosen to manufacture and sell them to begin with. I believe they were marketed towards the back-to-college dorm crowd, but I have more faith than that in the youth of today.

Not surprisingly, there were a large number of these fabric ottomans on clearance for $9.99 each at our local store. I had been looking for some storage cubes to serve as toy storage and double as seating in our family room. Even though the fluorescent colors were far from what I wanted, the size and functionality were perfect! Luckily, I had also just purchased a large remnant of beautiful ikat fabric to do projects in that room, and so this project was born!

I measured and cut fabric to cover the bases and lids of the cubes with extra allowance to fold under the edges. Because of the large-scale design, I was careful to match the pattern, so that the two cubes would work well together. Because of the very bright color of the original fabric on the cubes, I also cut out plain white fabric to go behind my print and hide the original color. For the base of the cubes, I sewed a tube that would slip over the cube (pictured below).

I wrapped the top edge of the fabric around the top of the cube, folded under a small hem, and used a staple gun to secure it to the frame on the inside of the cube. I started by placing a staple in the center of each side and then worked towards the corners. I then did the same to secure the bottom edge of the fabric to the bottom of the cube (pictured below) and to the lids of the cubes. It helps to trim fabric from the corners, so it doesn’t get too bulky.

And here they are, full of boys… I mean toys! Our family room seems to be constantly changing as the kids grow, but I’m happy with this bright and comfortable space for now.

“Jewels”

“Thankful Leaves” Fabric Garland for Thanksgiving

Posted on November 8, 2013 by jewelsathome

At Thanksgiving, I love the idea of creating a record of what we are thankful for, to help us reflect and to look back at over the years. I’ve seen this done on tablecloths or paper leaves hung on branches or strung in a garland. To make out garland more durable, I wanted to make it out of fabric.

Materials:

unbleached muslin and canvas
felt and fabric in fall colors
Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold
Sharpies or fabric markers

Instructions:

iron the Heat’n Bond to the felt or fabric and then iron on to the muslin or canvas, according to the instructions on the package. (left picture below)
make paper templates of a variety of leaf shapes. (right picture below)
trace the leaves with pencil onto the muslin and cut out.

Let each family member choose a leaf and write their message with Sharpie or fabric markers on the muslin.

Tutorial for Thanksgiving felt leaf garland with muslin backing to write what we're thankful for. {from Jewels at Home}

The boys writing on their “thankful leaves” to hang on the garland.

To hang the leaves, I used this sweet print that I bought on a birthday shopping spree. I didn’t even know what I would use it for when I bought it (don’t judge!), but it’s perfect for this project, with the orange-y red color and the tree silhouettes.

For each garland, I cut two strips of 4.25″ wide fabric and joined it into a long strip. I folded and ironed it in half length-wise, with the right sides facing. I used pins to mark every five inches where I would leave an opening to insert a leaf, with room for 15 leaves on each garland.

I sewed around the edge of the fabric, leaving a gap at each pin a 10″ opening in the center.

I then turned the hanging strip right side out, and slipped in the leaves. I sewed in the ones we had already written on, and I pinned the rest with safety pins, so we can take them down to write on before sewing into the garland in years to come.

Here are the garlands in our dining room, getting us in the mood for fall ,though the weather is decidedly warm! Together with the metallic painted pumpkins I created last year, the garlands are bringing the colors of the season into our home.