Category Archives: Kids Room Make Overs

Feb4

Valentine Craft – Hanging hearts Wall/door Decoration

Posted on February 4, 2013 by thestick81

I saw something similar to this on Pinterest, thought we would give it a go. I just used some scrap booking paper we had already, picked out 10 different pink patterns. Using the paper cutter, cut strips approximately 1 inch wide. Then folded them in half, ready to be rolled, as demonstrated by Ms 4 below. The kids did them around a round pencil, but you can also curl them with a blade like you do curling/gift ribbon. The blade was much quicker, but I was not letting the kids do that.

Once both sides are curled towards the middle, fix the to sides together in the centre of the heart with a staple. I didn’t worry to much about a uniform size. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

You could use a coat hanger, pice of dowel, or even just a long stick for the hanging frame. We used some mettle light extension rods we had in the shed, kept them thinking they would come in handy some day and looky here, perfect size for a door way! I decided on 5 strings of 10 hearts, because lets be honest, the novelty was already wearing off making them after the first 10.

Then came the tricky part, threading them onto the fishing line. I temporarily hung the rod from a fan so I could manoeuvre around it easier. Then threaded through the centre of the heart and tied a knot around where it is stapled together, so the line was centre. THEN, using a needle, threaded the remaining line through the centre at the bottom of the heart, to keep the heart upright. Thankfully putting fishing line through a needle is very easy! The threading process probably took 10 minutes for each strand. To finish off, I hung some sparkly gift ribbon between each row. And there you have it!

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Stapler, fishing line, paper and paper cutter (or scissors)

Cut strips 1 inch wide.

The cut strips.

Roll the paper strips around a pencil

Finish rolling at the centre then repeat on other side.

Staple the together in the middle.

Threading the hearts onto the fishing line.

Top View

Side View

Bottom View

Purple back drop.

Bed back drop

Against black curtains

Back light

Hearts in the door way.

Purple wall background

Different exposure.

Behind bed, off white wall

Oct28

Snake Softie – a rainy Sunday activity.

Posted on October 28, 2012 by thestick81

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So my scrap material collection is looking quite impressive at the moment, I thought I’d give another softie a whirl. I was ready to make an owl or elephant, but DS talked me into a snake. That sounded easy enough to make with no pattern. We discussed how big he would like it and he picked out the colours (to match the colours in his room).

I free hand drew a template for the top ‘scales’ panel of the snake.

Then, with a bit of fiddling around, joined them together, flat edge to flat edge to make the top part of the snake – less the head;

Sewing along the flat side between each section (I only picked the wrong side once, lol)

Make the last panel only a half panel, so the head will eventually be facing forward. Once sewn, iron flat. Then lay on chosen fabric for underside of snake. Trace around the edge to make it the same size. I drew the underside of the head in at this point too.

For the top part of the head, I cut out and extra diomand shape, cut a slit into the centre of the head, and sewed the diamond in, to create a 3rd dimension. Don’t forget to add the eyes BEFORE you start stuffing. Hand stitch along the back of the neck (you can use this opportunity to tuck in and create a bend in the neck too if you like.

Really need to invest in a fabric pencil, to avoid those black lines! lol.

He’s a bit funny looking, but not too bad for a slap together job. DS thinks he is great, even with his crazy eyes.

Oct2

The New house – part 2.

Posted on October 2, 2012 by thestick81

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The ‘baby’s’ room. Ok ok, he is not a ‘baaaabeeee’ anymore, but he is MY baby, dag nabbit! So he will be a baby for ever more… until there is another baby. I am after all, still ‘the baby’ to my parents, even as I head into my very very late… 20s.

So, along my life journey I met the wonderful Krystal . When I say ‘met’ I mean, well, we became mutual internet stalkers of each other… or something like that. Anyway, that’s not really relevant. What IS important is that she introduced me to green. Not just any green, because lets be honest, everyone loves green. But Kermit, ZOMG, holy shizit that is bright GREEN green. At first I was like ‘whhhhhhaaat you talking bout Willis?’ and then it hit me. For months I dreamed of it, how much I wanted it, how it was totally going to work… I HAD to have it.

So, when we moved into our new house, where every child had their own room, I decided to start my bedroom decorating adventure with the Eli’s room. The only child that could verbalise no preference. *Evil grin*.

Elis room is actually a study, so has no built in cupboards. Thankfully he is impartial to hanging his clothes up, so its not a huge problem. His window is set within an alcove at the entrance, so the room does not receive a lot of natural light, especially in the afternoon when the sun is on the other side of the house. Another reason I think the super bright colour is great.

This is a before photo taken in the morning.

We already had most of the furniture for his room, including a big bed. So part of this project was also to see that he progressed out of the cot by the end.

We had already put the dragon light up – because I am impatient like that.

So, a morning of cleaning walls and with the help of my parents, we had the room painted in a day. By the way, I am THE worst painter in the world according to my father. Am I? Or was that all part of my evil plan to get him to take over? Maybe we will never know, mwahahhahhaa. Unfortunately due to a iPhoto malfunction, I have lost all progression photos. Hopefully I will be able to recover them some day and add. Anyway, the finished product;

Crocodile mirror from Ikea

To complete the room I need to replace the fan with something more modern and sleek. Once all kids rooms are done, we will be replacing all carpet. It really feels ‘unfinished’ without the carpet done, but there is no point doing one room at a time, nor is there any point replacing carpet before we have finished painting. Hopefully it will be done within the next 6 or so months though, then I will update! Oh, and I am still looking for the perfect rug for the floor. I want something that contains the right colours, but apparently it does not exists. So for now, he is just using a red one we already head.

*For where everything was purchased, see individual photos.

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