Atelier Sign

Thanks to a sign that Ana at A Petite Cottage created for her craft/sewing room, I was inspired to make a sign I’d been wanting for myself.  One that said “Atelier”. After seeing Ana’s sign, I thought I might be able to come up with something myself.

Source: A Petite Cottage

The letters that Ana used were what drove my inspiration.  I had used the same letters when I did my entry/foyer gallery wall but Ana’s letters were magnetic. They didn’t have magnetic letters when I was at Hobby Lobby, so mine will have to be glued onto my sign.  I got the letters {and a fleur de lis piece} on sale{50% off}.

Now I just needed a base for the sign itself.  I laid the letters out in the way I would want them on the sign and measured.  I also measured over the door to my craft room because that’s where I want to hang it.  With those measurements in hand, I headed to Lowe’s because they have what they call “craft” wood, which is great for signs.  That’s where I got the wood for my Hotel de Paris sign in our master bedroom.

I got this piece for $5.01{with tax} and it measures 36 x 6 inches. 

I painted it black with acrylic home décor paint {from Hobby Lobby} and distressed it a little by sanding it.  Once it dried, I added my letters.

I wound up using Elmer’s Wood Glue as an adhesive.  I added two sawtooth hangers to the back for hanging.

It turned out just as I had hoped!

Just in case you are wondering, “atelier” is French for workshop.

I think “workshop” is a fitting description of my craft sewing room since this little room works so hard at containing all my supplies, inspiration and me! 

 

How Does My Garden Grow?

While I was waiting to flip the burgers on the BBQ on Sunday, I was looking around at some of my plants.  Since it was such a nice evening I ran in and got my camera to document this year’s garden.  I went with a purple theme this year since I think it compliments the color of the stonework and the grey on the exterior of our condo.

This year’s garage door urn features some purple and chartreuse coleus, purple geraniums, and licorice plants.  I know this will fill in pretty quickly and I have to remember to capture how it looks again a month or two from now. 

My hanging basket of purple petunias, which I just bought so I can’t take credit for how healthy they look right now.  I just have to remember to pinch the spent blooms.

I noticed that my roses are in beautiful bud right now.  I have a miniature and a regular size, both pink, that I planted a couple of years ago.  It looks like something has been eating the leaves and maybe our resident blogging Master Gardener, Cathy from My 1929 Charmer, will comment with some advice on that!

Around the front, my urn by the front door with the Martha Washington geraniums I planted back in the beginning of May have really filled in.  I think they like it here because they are out of direct, intense sunlight, although they do get some in the morning.  I just have to remember to water them every couple of days because they are under an overhang so don’t get the rain.

My Japanese Maple that I put in about a year and a half ago is doing very well, as are the coral bells I planted underneath it.  I love the purply color of the leaves which ties in with some of the other bushes that were already here when we moved in.  I think those pansies have just about had it though.

Still waiting for the daisies to actually have more than just the greenery. 

The salvia from two years ago is also doing very well and new this year are the Bachelors Buttons and Tickweed.  

Just around the corner are my pink hydrangeas and a couple of hostas planted in between, but they are all just leaves now so I didn’t take a picture of them yet.  I’m hoping for some nice blooms to be able to cut and bring in the house again this year. 

I also planted a lilac bush this year in front of our home office window.  I don’t think I’ll get any blooms this year, but next year I can’t wait to open those windows and have that heavenly scent come right into the house.

That’s what I’ve got growing this year.  What are you growing?  Anything new?

New Bunnies In The House

I saw these bunnies on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago from Antique Farmhouse. 

Loved them and I clicked over to check out how much they were.  I was pleased to see there were a set of two AND you could choose the same color or one of each color.  Which is just what I did!

They are meant to be used as hooks, but I’m not using them that way.  I’m using mine more as you would decorative antlers or those cow/sheep heads seen in some blogger’s kitchens.  You never see a bunny.

I got the darker one thinking it would be perfect over the mirror in the dining area {since I have more brown going on in this area} and it will probably now be the last thing I add to this wall. 

I’m still debating where I want to use the white one.  I’ve got a few places I could put it and, before I make holes in the wall, I want to make sure I’m sure!

Love my new bunnies!

Fabric Alphabet Book

When I made my first batch of needle books, my granddaughter liked them and, when I gave one to my daughter, my granddaughter was a little down because, “Mama won’t share it with me”.  What’s a 4-year-old going to do with a needle book?!?  So, after she had said that, I knew I had to make something for her, and I came up with this fabric alphabet book.  I’m going to try to do a tutorial here, so bear with this long post and let me know if something isn’t clear and I’ll edit.

I found all the images on Pinterest.  I love that the cover I chose pictures two little girls because the second grandchild {due in about 4 1/2 months} is a girl! 

I used muslin for the cover and an alphabet fabric for the back.  A supply list can be found at the end of this post.

I cut the cover fabrics 7 x 9 and cut a binding strip as long and about 2 inches wide.  I used the same fabric as the back and inside covers and it blends really well, although it may be hard for you to see.

At this point, if you want to add a tie or elastic this is when you need to do it.  I ordered a bunch of assorted pink buttons from an Etsy seller and had hair elastics already, so I chose to go this way for my book closure.  You could also use ribbon on both sides to have it be a tie closure, but I thought it would be easier for younger children to just slip the elastic on and off the button. 

I added the button to the front outside cover after the cover was all sewn together.  Once you have the batting and inside cover fabric cut, you will sew the outside cover, the inside cover and the batting together ~ batting on wrong side of cover fabric; the inside cover fabric should be right sides together with front cover {so the batting will be exposed on the one side and the wrong side of the inside cover will be on the other side}. 

Leave a small opening at the bottom for turning.

Now is when I added the button for the closure.   You can see here how that will wind up looking with the elastic and button in place.

The inside pages are made with felt and I did iron-on images of each letter “flash card” onto muslin. 

I did the images in 4 x 6 size and fit two onto a sheet of transfer paper.  One piece of felt will become 4 pages.  The size of the felt dictated the size of the book and the alphabet image. One piece of felt folded in half is about 5 x 7.

 

Very Important: You must remember this is going to be a book with the pages sewn down the middle, so pages 1 and 2 would be A & B and pages 3 and 4 would be Y & Z.  You will need to remember to set the pages up like this {see picture below} and it might be a good idea to pin all the letter fabric to the felt pages, and then sew them once you have made sure all the letters are set up correctly. 

I then sewed the muslin onto the felt.   I’ve included some samples of how the pages look.

The only hiccup was that there would be two letters that only needed one side of felt.  After figuring things out before I sewed, I decided it would be letters K and L.

I pinned the muslin letters onto the felt as I did for the other pages and folded the felt over, allowing just a little bit more for the side where the letters were.  I wanted to allow enough room for me to be able to sew it in.  Then I cut the felt page {as you can see above}.  I actually wound up sewing it to the page with J and Q.

I put the other pages in place and then you want to attach the pages to the book cover.  You will center them, pin, and sew down the center.

Here it is all sewn together and you can’t even see where I had sewn the K and L page in separately.

And here is where it was sewn down the middle attaching all the pages.

In the back I put a pocket for pencils and a pad of paper so she can practice writing her letters.  I also added a little label that says “made with love” that I cut from one of my sewing themed fabrics that had a lot of sewing phrases.

Just to backtrack, if you want to add a pocket, you will want to have that piece of fabric cut and sewn on the inside back cover piece of fabric before you put your outside cover, batting, and inside cover together.  Alternatively, you can put the pocket on the last page of felt.

Since it is just as easy to make two as it is one, I made a second one with a different cover chosen by my friend/co-worker, who will be making a trip to visit her own little granddaughter in Australia soon.   Here’s the cover she picked.

And here is the fabric I found for her book back cover and inside.

I know she will love it and I hope her granddaughter will get a lot of enjoyment out of it!

Now my granddaughter has her own little fabric book and one that will help her with her ABC’s!

Supplies Used:

• Muslin fabric – {I bought a yard}
• Fabric for back and inside covers
• Fabric {scrap} for book “binding”
• Batting
• Felt for pages – 7 pieces {each piece will hold 4 letters}
• Thread
• Buttons – for closure and decoration
• Elastic – for closure

Please feel free to email me with any questions!  In case you were wondering, these will not be making an appearance in my Etsy shop.

While I have a couple of more sewing projects I will be working on {two baby quilts and a couple of “cheater” sundresses}, I also have home décor related projects coming up to share as well ~ three to be exact!