So, I took a trip to Hobby Lobby for plaster of Paris, but didn’t find any. I did find something that sounded like it would work, PermaStone.
On my way home from HL, I stopped by the park by our house to steal borrow a bucket of sand. Then, I took out three shallow baking dishes. One for Vincent, another for Everett and one more for my cousin’s 18 month old son. With the wet sand firmly packed, Vincent stepped on his tray. Nothing happened; it was too tightly packed. So, I dug up the sand and had him step again, gently pulling his foot out. The impression was okay, but not great. So, we tried again. This time, I pushed his foot down and pressed sand against the sides of his feet and toes. Finally, a great mold.
Then, we tried this with the smaller kids. This proved to be much more difficult. They squirmed more and didn’t really like having their feet pressed in the sand. We originally planned to cast both feet of each boy, but it just didn’t seem worth the effort. After getting a clean impression of each foot, I mixed up the plaster. This plaster calls for three parts plaster mix and one part cold water. I mixed three-quarter cups of plaster and one-third cup water because one-quarter cup of water was really thick.
I carefully poured the mixture into the sand mold, filling to the top, but not overflowing.
Luckily, the plaster sets up quickly, but we left to dry for a few hours. When I took the feet out, they were covered in sand.
I gently brushed the sand off, then washed the rest off with water. A few larger rocks stuck in, like the one at the top of this picture, so I pulled those out, too.
Vincent’s foot is gigantic, but it looks so cute.
Surprisingly, a lot of detail remained.
I over poured Everett’s box foot a little, but it’s close to the real thing.
His pinky toe smooshed slightly when I pulled his foot out of the sand mold, so I pressed the sand down with my finger, hence the slightly outset toe. I showed Everett, and he thought the little foot was fun. He wanted me to press the mold against his foot repeatedly. I have big plans for these little feet, so check back soon to see what happens.
Meanwhile, I would like to know if you make baby keepsakes. If so, what? Paintings? Inked foot or hand prints? Framed a small outfit? Lock of hair?
Helllooo and happy Friday, friends! Last week, we asked what you do to soak up summer. Many answered outdoor barbeques, trips to the beach and playing with the kids while they’re home from school. Our kids aren’t in school yet, and we don’t have many beaches close by, but we do enjoy lounging on a blanket in the back yard, Ben enjoys golfing and we take family trips on the boat. In fact, Ben’s brother is visiting from Alaska, so we may take a day trip next week, for one last unofficial summer’s end hoorah.
Enough about us, let’s announce the winner. Random.org chose number 11, Nicole. Nicole loves the Summer Meadow print and staying out late with the neighbors while the kids play together. That does sound nice, huh.
Have a fantastic weekend and do something fun. See you back here on Monday.
I’ve considered paint colors for the laundry room and just can’t decide what I want. Can you all lend a helping hand, well, voice? Initially, I thought we’d paint the laundry room walls the same pale green color we have in the basement bathroom, with blue accents.
The rooms are on opposite sides of the stairwell, but if we use the same color, I don’t want matching rooms. Kinda shot myself in the foot on that one. So, now I’m wondering, do I paint the laundry the same color as the bathroom? If so, what accent color should I use? Yellow and lime green, like this?
I don’t want to use pink or purple. After all, this is Ben’s office, so nothing too girly. The cabinets will remain white, so brown with lime green might be an option. The tan floors and canvas curtain have similar tones.
Or, I could nix the green paint entirely and go with grey paint and any accent color I want. I just know we need to lighten and brighten up our windowless laundry space. I keep going back to two of my favorite recently revamped laundry spaces. Jen at IHeart Organizing’s laundry room is fresh and fun. No, I’m not saying this because she’s my friend. I’d like it even I never met her.
What are your thoughts? Any votes for green walls with yellow and lime green accents? Green walls with brown and white accents? Grey walls with any color accent? What are your favorite laundry rooms?
Evidently, home-made light fixtures are my thing. I don’t know how that happened, but so far I’ve made a cloud like coffee filter pendant for our guest bedroom.
Just a warning. I say embroidery hoop about 10,000 times in this post. Enjoy.
We still have more than half a roll of the veneer strips, so I brainstormed ways to use it. One of my ideas was another light fixture. I know, how many wooden light fixtures does one house need? This one isn’t for our home, actually. When I was in Minnesota visiting my blog BFF Jen, she mentioned she wanted a new light fixture for her son, Preston’s, room. That’s when I shared my diabolical plan for a wood veneer/embroidery hoop/bamboo skewer drum shade. And, she loved it. Now, I had to figure out a way to, as Project Runway’s Tim Gunn would say, “Make it work!”
In the words of my favorite 80’s school skipper, Jen Jones, this one’s for you.
I already had the veneer and skewers, so I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to snag two wooden embroidery hoops.
After gathering a few more supplies, namely a seamstresses tape measure, permanent marker, a hot glue gun and glue sticks, I started my project. I should mention that I should have made a second trip to the craft store to get another itty bitty (like 2 inch diameter) hoop and a length (or two, depending on the diameter of your pendant) of thicker wooden dowel. Something around 1/4 inch should do. Oh, you’ll notice this pendant is tiny. That’s because I didn’t know exactly if my plan would work, so I bought cheaper, smaller hoops. Also, the outer hoop isn’t necessary for this project.
To start, measure the circumference of the hoop, marking on the inside where you started.
Then, fold your tape measure in half to easily (math free) find the half way measurement.
Mark this on the inside of your hoop. Continue folding the tape measure in halves until you’ve made at least 8 marks on the inside of your hoop. Stack the second hoop on top to transfer the marks.
These marks represent the skewer placement.
Helpful hint: I used 8 skewers for a 6 inch diameter pendant. If you’re making a larger pendant, you’ll need more skewers. It depends on the look you’re going for, but I would suggest about 32 skewers for a 24 inch diameter hoop.
Next, use your hot glue gun to place a skewer on each of the marks you just made. Place the flat end down, against your work surface to make sure the skewers are all flush. Don’t cut the skewers to length until you’re completely finished. This eliminates guess-work or more math. Can you tell I loathe math?
Now, cut 6 (or more depending on the look you’re going for) strips of wood veneer the same length as the circumference of your hoop. Start weaving the strip in and out until you’ve reached the opposite end. Hot glue the overlapping ends together and hold until cooled.
Helpful hint: Each embroidery hoop will have a small notch. Try to line your seams up with this notch, just to keep the ugliness all to the back.
Continue placing each row of veneer, alternating the showing skewers.
Gently push each row down for a tight, even weave.
Place the pendant vertically and slip the second hoop over the skewers. Push down until the top of the last veneer piece is flush with the bottom of the embroidery hoop. Glue the skewers to the inside of the hoop along the marks. Now, use a scissors or a wire cutter to cut the tops of the skewers, keeping them even with the top. The beauty of this plan is that every component is a blonde wood, which could be painted, stained or left natural for a different look.
That’s great, but how am I going to hang it, you ask? Here’s how.
What, that didn’t make perfect sense to you? Let me explain. The outer circle is the top embroidery hoop of the shade you just finished. The medium-sized circle is the tiny embroidery hoop which will keep the fixture hanging. The four thick lines are 1/4 inch wooden dowel, epoxied to the pendant shade and the small hoop. Don’t use hot glue for this, you want it to be completely secure. The square is foam core with a small hole cut in the center. Place the foam under the small embroidery hoop with the wiring threaded through the hole.
If you want to make a light diffuser, buy another embroidery hoop that is about four inches smaller than your largest hoop. Stretch a piece of fabric in the hoop, add four more dowels to keep the hoop in place. Make the dowels long enough to rest on the top of the bottom shade hoop. Make sense? If not, just ask and I’ll clarify.
If you don’t want to use embroidery hoops and dowels, track down a wire lamp shade cage and weave veneer around it. You could use something like this for the top and this for the bottom. A heavy gauge wire would work to make the verticals for the weave. I would spray paint these before weaving the design, just to modernize the brass look, for around $10.00, which isn’t bad for a 24 inch diameter pendant.
Think you’re brave enough to give it a try? If you do, we’d love to see what it looks like. Are you a DIY light addict like I am? Running out of places for new lights? Share your home-made lights, please. Have you been lusting after a fancy fixture, but can’t bear to shell out the dough?
I know Friends has been over for years, but I still love it and watch the reruns. When I sat down to write this post, I thought of Phoebe’s shower song and had a good laugh. What do I have to share that would remind me of Friends? A spiffy new set of soap pumps for the shower. Remember Phoebe’s “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” song?
I started with two cheapie, $2.77 each, ceramic soap pumps from Wal Mart, a ceramic paint pen and an idea. To limit guests searching through drawers or keeping ugly bottles out, I decided to make pretty pumps for shampoo and conditioner.
I made a template in Photoshop and printed several onto plain paper. Then, taped over the bottle, placing my template over, to make a stencil. It worked, looking like this:
Using the paint pen left over from these mugs, I filled in the exposed area and removed the tape. Unfortunately, the ink didn’t blend well, so I nixed the filled in look. I had hoped for something similar to Target’s line.
So, I thought of another way to make a pretty design. Dots were the answer. So, I carefully drew an S on one pump and a C on the other.
They letters are far from perfect, but our guests now know what they’re using.
Of course, if you want to do this at home, you could easily print off a letter to use as a template. I used the Engravers MT font. And, the ceramic fared just fine in the oven. Just remove the pump part.
Don’t the new pumps look nice in the shower?
I’m considering making one for my face scrub. But, these could look and work great for lotion in a bathroom, in the kitchen, you know, where ever a pump is necessary. Or, mark salt and pepper shakers. Pretty designs would look excellent and add a custom touch.
Want to make a set of your own? Do you have a favorite bath set? Have you used the porcelain pens? If so, what did you make? Do you use any Friends phrases? My friend and I recently moved a piece of furniture and I yelled, “Pivvvvvvaaaaaat! Pivvvvvaaaaaaat!” We both started cracking up.
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