It's a {Sock} made into a {Monkey}

I'll tell you right now, this isn't a tutorial, its just me bragging about something cute i made. Sorry if you're disappointed :)

So, I love sock monkeys. I think they're adorable. I never had one growing up, but i always wanted one. The other week *ahem*, ok it was a few months ago and i'm just now getting to posting about it...my friend Ashley had a beautiful baby girl in April. BEAUTIFUL. While she was pregnant, back in December or so while i was spending a lot of time making aprons for all my sisters-in-law and spending a lot of time looking at all the stuff i had in my craft room, i made the decision that i was going to make her, my friend Ashley, a sock monkey as a shower gift. And i'll tell you something, sock monkeys are one of those things i had been planning to make for a long time. I knew i was going to make one one day, and this was the time to do it. I got all the supplies for it a long time ago too, when i picked up this book.

I know there are tutorials all over the place on how to make these, but every now and then i like to pick up a fun craft book when it's inexpensive. I got this book Sock and Glove a while back and i was so excited that right away i went out searching for cute socks to start making some cute sock animals. And then i never did anything. Everything sat in a big bag in my craft room closet for over a year. I'm sure it had something to do with not having anyone to make one for, so there was no real motivation for me, but still. I should have made at least one since i was so excited about it in the first place.
And it was my loss too because this sock monkey was fun to make. I found some cute gray and pink socks at Target, turned a movie on, started cutting out all the parts, did the stuffing, and hand sewing, and that was it. I was done, just that fast. I forget which movie i picked for this particular evening of crafting, but i finished the monkey before it was over so it took less then 2 hours to make. And it turned out adorable!

He's pretty friendly

And there're are more then just monkey instructions in the book too. I found some zebra print socks and there are instructions on how to make a horse in the book. I'm looking forward to putting that one together next!

My Padded Headboard!!

What??!? Is this a new blog post from me you're reading?

Why Yes! It is.

Amazing right?? I know. And i'm sure, all 3 of you readers have been glued to your seats waiting on me to get to it.

I'm so proud of him every time i look at this picture.

Husband is gone on his 2nd Deployment of the month. He got home earlier this last week from the first one, was home for 2 days and took me to the midnight showing of Harry Potter, and then was off again for this next deployment at 5 the next morning. He's working like crazy this summer and yet he still manages to take me out and help fulfill my dreams. Yes, seeing the last Harry Potter movie was one of my dreams (: He'll be gone at least a week again, and my house is clean for the most part, so it was a choice between either laying on the couch watching a movie i've seen at least 80 times -- Pride and Prejudice, the Keira Knightley version. I admit it -- or make that post i've been promising to make for months and listen to the movie in the background. I figured since I know all the words to the movie... the choice was pretty obvious.

So here we go.

I've been coveting a new headboard for my bed for years. My whole life growing up i never had a headboard, just my mattress set on the metal bed frame. Depriving right? Ok, not really depriving, but at the time i felt like that was the case. There's nothing wrong with not having a headboard on your bed. But i'll be honest, i was jealous of my friends that had nice pretty ones. It wasn't until college when i got a queen size bed that i went to Kmart and found one for $7 (i couldn't believe i hadn't done it sooner when i payed that at the checkout).

So i've had this metal headboard that looked perfectly acceptable, but.....i hated it. Looks wise, its fine, and any bedding i put on my bed worked great with it. But trying to sit up in bed was a pain. Literally. I would pile up all my pillows against it, but that would only work for a short time. I had to position my spine exactly between the bars and i would be all slumped over and i would only be able to last about 10 minutes before either laying down or leaving the room all together. So, my answer was a padded headboard.

If you've ever looked, to buy one is expensive for those of us with a budget. But i'm crafty, i'm not afraid to try making things, so i made the decision to make it myself. I've been wanting to do it for years now, especially since we got married. And i'm so honest when i say this; it is soo comfortable. Compared to what i had before, its like night and day. I shouldn't have put it off for so long.
I had planned to make this post into a tutorial on how to make you're very own, but silly me, i didn't take pictures throughout the process so that's not really going to work too well for a step-by-step thing. But I drew you some pictures in paint and I'll do my best to break it down for you.

Basically, i found my instructions to make this headboard here on Beck's Chic Life while looking for different ways other people have made their own. I read through it and i got to work. Once I knew the technique it was simple.

What I used:

Particle Board (i had it cut to size for me at Home Depot)
Carpet Padding (or Foam if you would like)
Box Cutter
Quilt Batting
Upholstery Fabric
Staple Gun w/ Staples
Husband (this is optional - to help hold things while using the Staple Gun)

Beck said that while purchasing and getting the particle board cut at Home Depot, she was recommended to use Carpet Padding in replacement of the Foam most of the other sites recommend. I did my price checking, and it ended up being about the same price, and since i had gift cards for both Home Depot and Jo-Ann's (thanks Mom!), and i knew i would want more things later from Jo-Ann's, i went with the carpet padding and used up the HD card. I'm pretty sure using foam padding would have been just as comfortable, it was just a decision of what i could do with what i had at the time. If you don't know what carpet padding looks like, this is what you're looking for:

They have pre-cut selections all rolled up for you, or you can have them cut it for you to the size you want. I decided to go with 2 layers of carpet pad for my headboard like Beck did in her instructions, so i went ahead and purchased the pre-cut. It worked out great and i didn't have very much left over as scraps i wouldn't know what to do with later.

The first thing you need to do when making your own headboard is to figure out the shape and measurements of how large you want it to be. I went with the basic rectangle, and since i liked how tall my original metal headboard was, i just measured it and went with those numbers. I thought about splitting it up into 3 tall sections, covering them individually and then bracing them together across the back, but i wasn't sure if i trusted my skills at something like that yet so i kept it simple.

It was an adventure buying all my supplies because Husband came along for the shopping -- men usually agree to go to Home Depot without too much complaint when you say you need help (: But be prepared, if you are taking a man along, they have opinions about what works best and that's not always going to coincide with what you want or need. Sometimes they're right, and sometimes you're going to have to argue your point. I didn't want a super heavy headboard, but Husband wanted me to get the thicker, heavier, particle board because he didn't think thinner would last as long. I think he said something about "warping" and "chipping" and stuff along that line. Honestly i don't remember, i just went with it because he was so adamant about it, and he worked for a cabinet builder in college so i figured he knew a little bit more about wood then i do. But when i said i wanted to get brace plates to make it taller, he fought me on it for 30 minutes until i could demonstrated what i was talking about and show him i was right. Taking him along really wasn't bad though. He was more help then hindrance for sure. I was even able to get him into Jo-Ann's to get the fabric in the same trip. But i had already picked out what material i was going to get ahead of time so we were only in the store long enough to get it cut. If it had been for more then that he probably would have gone home and made me come back on my own.

Anyway, particle board is in sheets of 46" x 96", and then has different thicknesses. The height of the particle board on its side is a convenient size (46"), so you may only need to make one cut off the length. Because I was using the measurements of my original headboard, i wanted it taller then that convenient size by about 6 inches i think, so i used what was cut off -- i had to cut it down to 6" -- and used brace plates to attach it to the bottom to make it higher.

You'll need a drill if you want to go taller like i did. I used 4 brace plates, 2 on the front, 2 on the back. The brace plates are staggered on either side to keep it from getting bent. I centered the extension board along the bottom and butted it up flush with the main board, then i got Husband and we drilled the screws in to hold the boards together. They're extremely secure and i'm happy i won the argument to use them (: Husband even admits that i was right to use them.

I decided i wasn't going to pad and cover the entire board, just the part you'll see. The rest of it is below and behind the mattress line so there wasn't really much point in padding the whole thing. So, you're going to need to know those measurements as well if you decided to do the same thing.
Now, when picking out your fabric, make sure to pick out an upholstery weight fabric. Thinner fabrics can rip easily when trying to get it pulled tight across the board. Beck also recommends that if you use a light colored fabric that you may want something like quilt batting or a white piece of fabric between the upholstery fabric and carpet pad because otherwise it will show through. I chose a dark fabric, but i decided to go ahead and use the quilt batting in between because i could feel the texture of the carpet pad under the fabric. I know when i was little i was the type of kid to ruin my parents things. If i had felt the texture of the carpet pad underneath that fabric when i was little, i would have dug my fingers into it and tried to pull it apart through the material. I know i will have kids exactly like i was one day as punishment for what i did to my parents, so i decided to head that off and try to avoid it. The quilt batting softens it up even more so i think it was a good call no matter which color fabric i had used.

Now, on to the assembly. If making all the decisions on what materials to use, figuring out all the measurements and actually getting all of it weren't hard enough, now you have to put it together.

Make sure you have a large area to do all your work. Mark the board with a line across the front of the wood of where you want to start/stop covering with the materials. After that you will line up the padding with that line. You will want to have AT LEAST 3 inches of overhang, if not more, around the board on the sides and top so you have enough to pull around and staple down. You can start by laying the pad flat on the ground and laying the board on top of it. And then it's time to staple!! Staple to your hearts content. The first layer of padding doesn't really require talent....except when it comes to the corners. What I did was cut the corners off like you would if you were sewing a corner on a sewing machine to make it look sharp when you turn it inside out. And that makes absolutely no sense at all when i try to explain.... So i drew you another picture which is probably even more confusing (:

It all makes sense in my head, but I can only imagine how confusing i'm making this. Beck had a different method of doing the corners you may be more comfortable with, but this was my method and it seemed to work for me. To do it you cut off the corner (like the arrow says to do in the picture) and then fold the top of the padding over the top of the board (like the next 2 arrows show to do) and then staple it down across the back. This is where it's handy to have a Husband or friend around, especially when you get to the second layer. One of you can hold it down in place while the other of you can staple with all your weight behind the stapler. Make sure it is smooth -- if its laying flat on the floor you shouldn't have a problem -- and start stapling at the top in the middle and work your way out to the sides. Once the top is done, you'll do the same thing to the sides.

Then, you're going to repeat the whole process over again for the second layer of carpet padding.
And after that, again for the quilt batting. Line it up, fold and staple.
And then the upholstery fabric.


The upholstery fabric step is the one you need to make sure you pay attention to while you're doing it. Make sure it's SMOOTH and tight. You can lay it all flat and do this on the floor. I turned the board over and laid it on its back for this step first. This was the only time i used the staple gun on the front of the board. I lined the fabric up along the bottom, pulled it down below the line a couple inches and then stapled it. Make sure the staples go all the way into the board, even if you have to go over them with a hammer. You don't want your mattress or anything getting snagged on the staples later. After that I flipped the board over again onto its front (making sure it was smooth) and stapled along the top starting from the center and working my way out. I didn't do any cutting of the fabric when i got to the corners though. I folded the corners and used the fabric to cover the padding to keep it all tucked in and hide the messiness of it all.

AND THEN I WAS DONE!

I took a few pictures and then I got Husband to help me get it upstairs to take some more pictures of it all finished.

I even made my bed.
This headboard doesn't need mounting at all since i measured from the floor, it just leans against the wall. Because it's padded around the top and edges, there's no scratching on the wall. You could screw the bed frame onto the headboard if you would like, but i didn't feel the need because it was sturdy against the wall with the bed holding it up. It doesn't feel like it's going to fall over onto the bed at all.

I had a great debate with myself to decide which color upholstery fabric to use, and if i should use a patterned one or not. When it came down to it I ended up using a solid chocolate brown fabric. I had planned to use Taupe, which is a grayish tan/brown color, so it would go with more colors if i changed my bedding, but the samples looked different in the store light compared to when i brought them home to see which i liked best. They had a green tint in my room that i didn't like. I was against Chocolate Brown because i wasn't sure it would go with all my future linen choices, and also because i had the fear that i wouldn't notice if there was a spider on it. But, thankfully i haven't had the spider problem (yet). And when i changed my bedding from my winter bedding -- which is a blueish gray duvet and solid gray/blue sheets -- to my light summer bedding that's yellow and gray with matching solid colored sheets, it still looks good with the brown (:

Some time this summer -- probably while Husband is on deployment and i have free time -- i'll be making some big ruffled throw pillow to go with my pretty bedding.

Good luck in all your adventures making your own headboards. If you do make one, i would LOVE to see some pictures please!

A Little Late Is Better Then Nothing At All

Happy New Year! ....ten days after the fact. Sorry.
I'm hanging my head in shame right now. I know it's been a while since i've really done a whole update (over a month), and since Husband and i are a bad married couple and didn't send out a cute Christmas card of us to all of our family and friends -- even though i wanted to but Husband shoot down that idea cuz he thought it was silly until we got a bunch from all his siblings proving my point -- i get to fill you in here. But i wanted to give an update on how life is going.
....It's going :) Nothing too great, and nothing terrible.
This past year included a bit of traveling, cooking, lots of cleaning, crafts, and lots of happy days together and with our friends and family. Husband got certified in September so he's flying with the crews on the C1-30's now. He keeps the planes running right, does safety checks, and currently he's working on getting qualified to work on the radio in flight. He'll say things like "Niner" and "Charlie" and radio talk stuff like that :) This is just in time for him to attend C school this coming February in sunny Florida for the month. He also started going back to college this fall semester. It was only 3 credits in English, but he's gearing up to get ready to go back to college full time when his time is up with the Coast Guard so we're getting ready for that when the time comes. He's still working with the 11 year old scouts at church. There aren't many of them in his group, but he's still having fun with it every week.
And me? Well, you've been reading about my life on here for the most part. i don't think i've left a lot out. I'm still working in Nursery at church, which really is a highlight of my week, and things are going good. I tell Husband every week how i wish i could kidnap some of my little nursery kids and take them home with me, but he says that i'm not allowed to and he's pretty firm on that. I've decided i may be going back to school myself this spring. I've talked with a counselor, and if i can get the schedule worked out, then i think i'm going to do it. I'm having a little trouble with the idea of having to get up before 7 a.m. -- yes, i've been spoiled as a house wife by sleeping in till 8:30 at least, and i admit it -- but as much as i hate to give that up, school isn't for forever. If i get into the program, 18 months will fly by. I could take evening classes, but then i would never see Husband. He's working nights now, so he's sleeping when he gets home in the mornings and i won't be missing much by being at school during that time.
So to fill you in on the last few months since i haven't been blogging.... for Thanksgiving we did not have a big thing at our house again. Last year we had a party less then a week after moving into our house with a bunch of new friends from church, but we didn't want to go to all that hassle again this year. Maybe next year though ;) We were debating weather to make a small version at home for just the two of us or to go out to dinner, but then we got a call from our friends from Utah, the Vallens, that were coming to see their Grandma in Napa Valley for Thanksgiving and they invited us to join them. Since the Vallens are like Husband's extra family, if we had had plans before, we would have had to cancel cuz there's no way we could have missed it. Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, Sister Vallen is a fantastic cook and i especially loved it because they wouldn't let me bring anything. I don't remember the last time i was fed that well with such delicious food. The day after Thanksgiving we didn't get up at any crazy hour for Black Friday shopping, not that i ever have. Instead we went with the Vallen's to San Francisco. We took the ferry and spent the day walking around Pier 41 and Ghirardelli Square being tourists. It was great, especially since that was one of the things on my list to do in SF that we didn't do for my birthday.



The beginning of Dec was Husbands work Christmas party. I've been asked to post a picture of how my dress turned out for that, but silly me, i didn't take any. Lame right? When the thought struck me that i should take one it was the end of the night when we got home, and since it had been raining my hair had lost all its curl/body and looked terrible so i decided it wasn't a great idea. Sorry girls :( But at least i have a cute dress and hot husband left over from the night, right? I'll admit it right now though, if he wants to go again next year i'm re-wearing the dress cuz shopping for that was not fun.
We had to do it a day early because of Husband's work schedule, but we had our first Christmas at home together without going to see either of our families. Our first year being married we went to see my family, and last year was with Husband's family. But this season I got to decorate my house and get a tree and everything. I got all the Christmas present shopping done 2 weeks before the big day even :) I'm a terrible wife though. Over a month before Christmas Husband's xbox had the dreaded Red Ring of Death. There are some guys out there that know how to fix that, but Husband isn't one of those. As soon as it appeared Husband declared it dead and asked if he could go buy a new one as he was disconnecting his old one and putting on his shoes to go out. Seriously. That red light started flashing and it went from zero to $300 in under 10 seconds. We had just taken the first trip to SF for my birthday, and Christmas was only a month away, so i was surprised that he was so willing to spend that kind of money. It made me feel like i was kicking a puppy when i first told him no, that he had to wait. But i gave in the next day.... I just couldn't tell him no. The new xbox came with the Kinect though, so it has given us some fun evenings playing together...except for the night Husband slapped my arm so hard while we were playing Ping Pong and i balled like a baby. I had a bruise for a few days from that one and now he's afraid to play with me. He'll be standing on the wall side of the room when we play for now though. But after that, he was impossible to shop for for gifts since i let him get it. He says he's a simple guy and he just doesn't want anything, so it makes me feel selfish that i do want things...until i remember that we spent $300 on the new xbox for him. I'm sorry for being a girl, but i want chair covers and curtains. I've done the pricing for both of them, and they didn't add up to $300. And a KitchenAid! I've been dreaming about getting one for years. But who's the one that has to wait for what they want? I'm ok with this though, only because i would have had to be the one to entertain him all the time if he didn't have it.
For my gift giving i decided to make gifts for all of my sisters-in-law. I'm in love with all the cute aprons you can find online, and i found so many on Etsy it was impossible to pick one for myself, but if i wanted to give them as gifts, at about $30 an apron, i wouldn't even get one for myself. But then i found a pattern on Etsy to make my own and decided to take on the project :) I went to JoAnn's Fabric and picked out enough cute fabric for all 5 of my sisters-in-law and hunkered down in my craft room with the sewing machine and ironing board, and the laptop with Netflix so i would have something to listen to/watch while i was in there. Four days later, and just in time to get them all in the mail, i was done.
Husband didn't want me to post these pictures, but after days of just showering but not doing my hair or putting on makeup or even getting dressed in more then pj's because i was holed up in the craft room, I wasn't going to be the one to pose for the pictures. Of course he doesn't fill out the aprons like a girl so they don't look as cute as they would if i had sucked it up and did it myself, but you get the idea.

For Coty

Sarah

Natalie

Hanna

Leah

He didn't want to smile for the camera even though i told him that the only people that actually read our blog are family or close friends, but i think he has some left over traumatic memories of some certain pictures that were taken when we were younger. One where he's dressed up in a dress.....

He's such a good sport for me :]

The aprons all turned out great though. I slowly got better and better with my sewing skills on each one and i'm happy with what i accomplished. From what i heard from everyone, they loved them :] I originally purchased the pattern to make one for me, but it quickly morphed into a much bigger project once i got the idea into my head and i still haven't made one for myself. I haven't decided which colors i want to use for mine and i'm not looking forward to standing in JoAnn's for hours on end again to decide what i like the most for me.

Since Christmas, i've been spending my time reading. A lot. Husband got me a Kindle for Christmas and i can't seem to put it down. It's so easy to just press a button and have a new book to read. It can only lead to trouble... I've read about 15 books already, and there are about that many more that i've wanting to read. But i've put myself on a budget and right now i'm reading on the free books that i can find that seem interesting.

I've taken breaks from reading to do a little crafting though. I've drawn up my plans and dimensions for the padded headboard i'm going to make for our bed, and this week is going to be the week i start making it. I have the money for the materials, i've borrowed a drill from a friend, and i'm ready to get it done. I'm excited to be getting this done finally cuz i've been talking about doing it for forever.

We're looking forward to this next year and seeing how it unfolds. This last year was great, but I'm thinking this year is going to be even better for us.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Frame Jewelry Display

I am not the type of girl to wear a lot of jewelry or accessories. I'm sure that makes me weird for a girl but oh well. You'll usually find me in just my wedding ring and a simple necklace when it comes to accessories. Nothing frilly or chunky or large for me. But don't get me wrong, i love the frilly/chunky/large stuff that everyone is wearing. I just don't know how to wear it myself. I'm terrible with accessories. Trust me, i wish i could be good at it because i really do love it. And oh how i wish i could wear headbands, but i'm pretty sure i have the biggest sized head you can get for a girl and the headband just digs in behind my ears causing major headache...but headbands aren't jewelry, which is what we're talking about today. So anyway, as far as earrings go....i almost never wear them. I have a bunch, but my ears are just too sensitive to metals most of the time that i hardly ever try to wear them. But when i stumbled onto this Earring Display over at Kevinandamanda.com, i fell in love.

That's adorable right? I couldn't pass up this idea, so i went and made it myself :]

It was SO easy to make too. PLUS i already had everything i needed, i didn't spend a single dollar. But even then, if you don't have some of the supplies, it's still a very inexpensive project. I had a bunch of frames i didn't know what to do with from decorations for our wedding, but i got all of the frames in the first place from DI and Goodwill for a $1 each, some of them for less. So like i said, very cheap.

What you'll need:

Picture Frames

Picture Hanging Wire

Craft Paint

(i used Vintage White & Calypso Sky, but your colors are up to you)

Paint Brushes

(the foam ones worked great to give the paint the streaks so it wasn't so polished with the white)

Thumb Tacks

Ribbon

Staple Gun & Staples

I started out, for this frame, painting it first entirely with the Calypso Sky and letting it dry. It doesn't take more then a few minutes. I wanted this to be the color to show through when i painted the white over it with the 2nd coat.

When i painted the white over the 1st color, i just brushed it over, i didn't try to get the white into the detail and corners. That's the look i was going for, the shabby chic look, and i got what i wanted :]

Next was the hanging wire. I used 2 pieces of hanging wire and twisted them together so post earrings can be hung from the display as well.

So, you can slide the post earrings in between the wires and put the backs on, or hang the hooks over the double wires.

When stapling the wires to the back of the frame, you have a choice. You can staple the wire directly to the back of the frame. But if you do this, i realized after the fact, the wire will be directly against the wall if you decide to hang the display.

So the other option is to staple the wires to the side of the inside of the frame where the glass and backing slides into.

I spaced the hanging wire about 3/4 of an inch from the top of the inside of the frame, and 3 inches apart for each additional wire below that. It depends on the size of the frame you use for how you space it though.

This is what the ribbon and thumb tacks were used for. Because the backs are taken out of the frames, there is nothing to use if it's going to be hung up on the wall. So this is what i came up with.

Amanda, the one to inspire this whole project, was inspired in the first place by Ruffles And Stuff with this:

She had used an old frame with the original hanging wire to string up her necklaces.
I didn't want to have to unclasp my necklaces to get it off the wire, so i decided the hooks were the way to go. I realize a necklace has to be unclasped to put it on your neck....but i just thought it was easier to slip a necklace over the hook when it comes to taking it on and off the frame.

The only thing you need extra for this is the Hooks instead of the hanging wire. You can find them in the hardware aisle. I used 7, and equally spaced them across the top on the inside of the frame.
If that isn't enough hooks for you though, you can use 2 hooks on either end of the frame and slip a dowel inside the hooks to hang the necklaces from and -- i would think -- that would be easily removed to take a necklace off the dowel. Or you can just use the picture hanging wire if you like that idea :]

So there you go. A simple, inexpensive DIY project you can do to display your jewelry.
I actually didn't keep this project for myself.... Husband thought i was silly to spend so much time for something that wasn't for me, but when i told him i was sending it to his sister, he said i was really sweet :]

My sister-in-law Leah makes earrings, which she has given me several pairs of, and has lots of pretty jewelry, so i figured she would put these to better use then i would.
So Leah, these Frame Jewelry Displays are all for you.

I hope you like them!