Hello, friends!

Whew! It has been a crazy month so far.

I'm presently recovering from surgery, while trying to balance my family, work, and grad school demands.

And grad school... yeah... who ever thought it was a good idea to tackle three courses at one time?

Photo found here.

Trust me. It wasn't my idea.

So, I wanted to pop by to let you know I'm taking a break from blogging. It's the only distraction that I can justify eliminating.

It's just for a little while. I'll be back soon.

Thank you for your support and I hope you'll return when I'm back online!

Miss Dixie of DixieDIY.com contacted me a few weeks ago to ask me to write a guest post for her blog while she takes a much deserved vacation. I was thrilled and so honored that she asked me!

Unfortunately, I had to have a bit of unexpected surgery and missed the deadline to get everything to her. And I feel terrible about that, Dixie! I am sorry to have let you down.

So... I'm posting this little project here today, but would love it if you took a few minutes to visit Dixie's awesome blog for a little fashion DIY inspiration. She's a truly amazing seamstress.

I get so excited when I “shop” my fabric and supply stash and discover new ideas for things I already own. Isn’t that the best feeling?! And that's where I began with this fun chair re-do.

Allow me a moment for backstory…

{Cue music…}

There was a time that I aspired to be a nursery designer. I had the good fortune to work with friends and friends-of-friends to create special spaces for their little ones and it brought me such joy! Thinking it would be a great source of "play money," I jumped in and invested in a lot of really great materials.

After a couple of years, my enthusiasm waned and I began declining custom jobs. It proved to be a burden of stress lifted from my shoulders, but to this day, I still have tons of supplies cluttering my storage spaces. Take a look at this roll of bumper batting…

{Wait. I’ll say it for you… Holy cow! That’s a lot of batting!}

I’ve sold some and given some away, but there is still so... much... left. I have 5 rolls of this in storage. I’ve come up with some fairly creative uses for it. Such as…

This massive bulletin board:

And… these pot holders:

And… the chair makeover that I’m sharing with you today – redone entirely with materials that I already own.

I salvaged the chair from a university that was replacing old classroom furniture. What a find! Here’s the before:

Materials and tools used for this makeover:

• Scrap fabric 
• Bumper batting 
• Hot glue gun/glue 
• Staple gun/staples 
• 1 ½ inch cover button 
• Leftover nail head trim 
• Sewing machine/Thread 

I cut the batting to fit the back of the chair and adhered in place with hot glue.

I cut a piece of fabric large enough to “upholster” the padded chair back. I tucked the edges in ½ inch all the way around (to hide the raw edge) and stapled into place.

I determined the dimensions for my skirt by measuring the sides and front of the chair and the length from the seat to the floor. I added extra width to accommodate side hems (1/2” each) and corner pleats (2” for each corner) and extra length to accommodate a top and bottom hem (1/2” each).

I sewed my side and bottom hems and pressed the top down by ½”. I then stapled the fabric to the chair by securing the top hem, forming my pleats as I worked my way around with the staples.

I then finished off the chair back and skirt with nail head trim.

And… here’s the after!

Isn’t it precious? I love the use of ticking because this chair can be used in feminine or masculine settings. I can use it in my boys’ rooms or in my guest room or in my studio. Gotta love multi-purpose furniture!!

Any ideas for more fun projects to use up my endless supply of bumper batting?

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been collecting your ideas for dressing up my garden entrance and you've shared some really amazing ideas!!

Rain bells, wind chimes, paint, climbing vines... I can picture it all in my mind's eye!

I was perusing my Pinterest boards and was reminded of this lovely garden gate wreath that I found, courtesy of Funky Junk Interiors.

I love everything about this wreath - the use of mason jar rings, the weathering, the naturally created color scheme. It's just perfect.

So, I set off last week to find old mason jar lids. Personal contacts, Craigslist, local thrift shoppes.

No luck.

So, I searched the internet for places to order them.

Whoa! Too expensive.

Finally, Kimberly suggested the discount store, Big Lots, and that's where I found these!

Not only were they inexpensive ($2.50 for 12), they are also a lovely bronze color - rather than the bright silver that you typically see.

I set to work forming my wreath.

With baling twine.

Fail.

With coat hanger wire.

Fail.

With a wire wreath form.

Perfect!

I looped a length of baling twine around the 2 supports on either side of my cuts to close the form so the rings will not slide off. It also serves as a great way to hang the wreath.

It's actually a little too small for the scale of the gate. But... all-in-all a simple, sweet way to dress up my garden gate and it will weather beautifully!

"Are you wearing something DIY-able today?"

I'm not sure that's even an appropriate question, but Kaitlin always humors me! Her Anthropologie wardrobe is just so inspirational!!!!!

Today was no exception.

I'm really loving this top. Constructed out of a beautiful silk, the shape is so striking! Definitely something I want to look into DIY-ing... Do you know of a similar pattern?

While I'm doing that, enjoy another episode in Kaitlin's search for Mr. Wonderful!

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As we continue on my dating journey, it is important for me to introduce you to Man of My Dreams (No. 2). This was a particularly sticky situation. 


Have you ever found yourself in the friend zone? It is an uncomfortable area to be in when you have strong feelings for a person, especially when everyone else thinks you’re a couple. 

Man of My Dreams (No. 2) came in to my life during my junior year of college. I studied abroad, thinking I would meet a dreamy Welsh man, but ended up finding an American in Wales. It was the perfect scenario. We flew in to the same airport, got on to the same bus, and discovered we were in the same program. It was truly serendipitous. Shortly after arrival, we became the best of friends. There was just enough for me to think that it was going to go in the direction of a relationship... while he was thinking there was just enough for us to stay the best of friends. 


Ladies, communication is the key to any successful relationship. This relationship absolutely showed me that. With too much of a gray area (for example, I don’t think that "friends" kiss), we had a falling out. 


Looks like we were on the search for MOMD (No. 3).

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Ahhhh... the life of a single girl. I love hearing about her e-Harmony experiences. She'll be sharing those with you, too!

One more point of DIY inspiration in closing... this awesome necklace!

{And, yes, I did misspell "asymmetrical." My apologies!}