tutorial – Page 11

How To: Pinecone Wreath

Published on November 22, 2010October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

By now, I bet you’ve learned two things about me. Number 1: I like to make a lot of things myself. Number 2: I’m cheap. I like to make things because I’m cheap. One item I’ve been working on is a pine cone wreath.

What I love about this wreath is that it can easily transition from autumn, to Thanksgiving, to Christmas, to winter, just by adding a few accessories. That means, one wreath to store, but two seasons and two holidays of decoration. Sweet, huh? Yeah, I think so. What’s even better? It’s practically free!

To make a pine cone wreath, start with a wire wreath form, available at craft stores, pinecones, wire, and wire cutters or scissors if your wire is thin enough.

Cut a length of wire between 9 and 12 inches long. Wrap the wire around the base of the pine cone, tucking under the petals.

After wiring a few to the form, I learned that the cones flop around less if you keep part of the wire on each side, rather than twisting like the picture above.

Once your cone is wired, wrap around the wreath form, pulling tightly to keep it firmly in place. Wrap the wires of the next cone to the previous wiring. Again, this will keep the pinecones in a tight formation and prevent flopping.

Group the pinecones as closely together as possible. The back will look something like this.

Twist the wires together and cut the ends off. Continue this process until you re covered the entire wreath form.

If you used large pinecones like I did, you’ll have to find smaller ones to fill in the gaps where the wreath form is visible.

I bought some golden pine cone picks from Hobby Lobby for $.50 each, after a 50% discount.

I cut the pinecones off the pick and followed the same wiring process to fill in the gaps. Add the small filler pinecones and the wreath is finished.

The way you choose to hang the wreath will depend on your situation. You can add a few lengths of fishing line or hang from a hook. You might be wondering why my wreath is on m dining room window. Well, friends, that’s because it’s friggin’ freezing in Montana. I literally have not left our house in days due to the cold. Cold like a high of 5°. Which means, the suction cup hook I bought won’t work on the outside of our front door. It requires a minimum of 40° to stick. So, it’s hanging in our dining room.

I will share details on how to add decorative items to add some seasonal pizzaz. What are you doing to spruce up your home for Thanksgiving?

A Flock of Cranes

Published on November 18, 2010October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

You all know I’m crazy, right? Well, I am. I spend a lot of time on little projects because I’m too detail oriented. I see the trees and Ben sees the forest, so we’re a great team. Sometimes, I care way too much about the trees, though. So, I take on little, time-consuming projects like this origami crane shadow box that is currently on the recently refinished bookshelf.

A side note: If you like the alphabet painting, you can buy print versions for $15.00 in my Etsy shop.

Back to the topic. To create a flock of ~~seagulls~~ paper cranes, first cut thin paper into 1 inch squares. I used light weight scrapbook paper, but you can use anything that will fold well. Use an origami crane tutorial like this one, to learn how to fold the cranes. If you don’t know how to make an origami crane, you may want to practice by making several larger cranes before you go onto small cranes.

Create 25 small paper cranes in the colors of your choice.

Cut a piece of cardstock to fit in your shadow box. My frame is from IKEA, but I can’t find it on their website. It measures about 6 inches square. Using another sheet of paper, draw the spacing of your grid. Then, use a thumb tack to poke small holes at the intersection of your lines. Place this template on top of your cardstock and draw a dot inside each poked hole.

To keep the cranes flat against the paper, I cut off the back wing. Use small pieces of foam adhesive to attach each crane to the cardstock, centering over the dot. I think it would look really cool to create a grouping of cranes as if they were flying, too. Attach all cranes and place in your frame.

See what I mean about being crazy? To add to the crazy, I even made a 1/2 inch paper crane. Notice the little blue one? Yep, I might be committed soon.

If you like the look, but don’t want to make the cranes, you can buy some from this lovely Etsy seller. Speaking of Etsy sellers, Thrifty Little Blog is hosting a handmade gift giveaway, including one of my prints, so check it out.

What is the craziest, most time-consuming project you’ve tackled? Am I alone in this? I can’t be. Please make me feel a little normal.

Trim Tutorial: Board and Batten

Published on November 15, 2010March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

We’ve had a few requests to give a tutorial on how we created the trim in our boys’ room. This is actually one of the most simple trim designs we have in our house. To start, determine the height of the trim you want. Our trim is 66 inches from the floor to the top if the shelf.

Start with your baseboards. If you plan to keep your current baseboard, you may have to cut notches out, depending on the profile of the trim. We had to cut out the designed area of the baseboard to meet the square stock pieces together.

Once you’ve determined your baseboard situation, install the top horizontal piece, keeping it level. Our trim is 4 inches tall, but you can choose any size you want. I think the verticals look better if they are slightly smaller than the horizontal. To determine the spacing of the verticals, find the center of each wall and install a vertical, keeping the trim piece centered on the center line. Here’s where you have a decision to make. You can choose any width of spacing for your verticals. We preferred the wider spacing. We placed our remaining verticals half way between the centered vertical and the corners. Then, we added verticals on each side of the corner.

We started with a traditional board and batten style trim. A year later, we added a picture shelf, but of course, you don’t have to do this.

To create this picture shelf, cut (or buy) a piece of 1 inch thick material into 3 inches wide. This piece will be the actual shelf. We used a large sheet of MDF and cut it ourselves. Cut (or buy) a piece of 3/4 inch material to one inch strips; this will support the shelf. Securely nail the 1 inch by 3/4 inch piece to the horizontal piece, keeping the tops flush. If you pieces are too short to span the entire length of the wall, cut your pieces at a 45 degree angle to keep them tight, rather than two blunt ends butted together. Once you’ve installed the support pieces, you’re ready to add your shelf. Place your shelf against the wall and securely nail the shelf into your trim pieces and the wall.

As I mentioned above, you can vary the width of your verticals to achieve the look you have in mind. Here are a few more great rooms that have been updated with board and batten trim.

Jen at Tatertots and Jello transformed her Tuscan inspired bathroom into a beachy cottage with trim. Karla at It’s the Little Things also has a great tutorial about her board and batten trim.

On a completely unrelated note, I did a little shopping at Pier 1 yesterday (more on that later) and had to share this: Pier 1 will donate $1.00 for each person who likes Pier 1 on Facebook! How cool is that?!

Cloud Light

Published on November 11, 2010March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode29 Comments

By now, I’m sure you’ve realized I love a good DIY project. I don’t get too intimidated by projects so long as it doesn’t include building. That’s Ben’s domain. It’s a definite plus when I get to use a glue gun, too. With that out on the table, I have another confession. I loathe ceiling fans. We have two in our house, well,now we have one. They were in the house when Ben bought it and we kept them because we didn’t have air conditioning before. Now that we have air, (not to mention we’re going into winter) we no longer needed the fans. I saw a DIY lighting idea over at Kara Paslay Designs and I knew I had to make one.

I already had a paper lantern (I think mine is smaller than this one listed at IKEA), so I bought a package of coffee filters and warmed up my glue gun.

First, I crumpled up a batch of filters.

Add a liberal amount of hot glue at the base and press firmly to the lantern. To avoid glue burns, put your fingers inside the filter to press. Yeah, learned that a few times…

Start at the base, working around the center opening.

Work your way down and around, keeping the filters close to one another.

Keep gluing, and gluing, and gluing.

Run out of coffee filters because you only bought 200 thinking that would be plenty for a small light. Unplug glue gun, go to Target and get more. Come back, warm up glue gun and proceed gluing.

Once the shade is finished, I needed to find a cord kit. How hard could that be? Very, without an IKEA nearby. I suggest picking up their cord kit. Because I didn’t have their handy-dandy cord, I bought this assortment.

The lamp kit cost $4.97 and the picture wire was $1.97, both from Wal-Mart. The ceiling canopy was from Lowe’s for $4.98. I needed the canopy because we were hard wiring the light.

To hang, get the help of an electrician or your handy husband. Once handy man is present and accounted for, assemble socket, switch, and cord, securing to the lantern. Throw away remaining bottle lamp kit pieces. Add a length of wire to bear the weight of the shade. Hardwire and affix to canopy. Flip the switch and bask in the beauty that is your new, cheap pendant.

I still have some touch up work to do on the ceiling where the fan covered, but I’m happy to procrastinate on that.

So, now I’m sure you’re wondering what the thing cost.

Paper shade: Already owned

500 coffee filters: $3.98

Glue gun and glue: Already owned

Lamp cord kit: $4.97

Picture wire: $1.97

Ceiling canopy: $4.98

for a grand total of: $15.90.

As if that wasn’t enough inspiration to make your own, here’s another fabulous coffee filter light made by Nichole at Parlour.

Have you attempted a DIY light fixture? Seen any you want to attempt? Maybe you’ve seen a designer light that you would love to recreate? Spill.

Herringbone Pattern Pillow

Published on November 5, 2010October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode43 Comments

While the boys and I were wandering the aisles of Target, I spotted this beautiful Fieldcrest pillow.

The only color Target carries is this grey, and we don’t have much, if any, grey in our house. After inspecting it for a few minutes, I felt confident that I could create something similar. Luckily, Joann Fabric is within walking distance of Target, so that was our next stop. I bought a relatively thick light blue fabric on clearance, then we went home and got to work.

To make a herring bone textured pillow, you’ll need:

Fabric, at least two and a half times as much as the pillow size you want.

Pins

An iron

Pillow stuffing or a pillow form

Optional:

Hem tape

To make the pillow, first, cut strips of fabric into rough 4 inch wide pieces. I made strips that were the entire length of my two yard piece. Cut several strips, then fold in half and iron to create a nice, straight edge. I chose to add hem tape, just to make sure things couldn’t move around when I started sewing.

Once you have your strips pressed, cut a piece of fabric one inch larger than the desired finished pillow size; this is the backing piece you will sew your strips to. Fold in half or measure to find the center of the fabric. Mark with a pen or pencil.

Now you’re ready to start cutting, pinning and sewing. Place the first strip of fabric at a 45 degree angle from your center line. Trim the end to match the edge of the pillow. You don’t have to do this, but it will help keep everything straight. Pin in place. Place another strip over the top of the first piece, but make a 90 degree angle. Cut the bottom piece at the end of the one on top. You will sew over it, but you don’t want the pieces to be short.

Keep overlapping pieces, pinning in place. I would suggest doing a few at a time, then remove and sew into place. Allign the edge of your presser foot with the folded edge of the strip and sew one at a time. Make sure your pattern stays straight and your pieces are overlapping in the same order.