Last Five Things I Pinned

Got a little crafter’s block, not for lack of ideas, but due to a really messy craft area and a more hectic than I realized summer. Let’s hope for a new project next week. In the meantime, here are the last five things I pinned on my Pinterest boards:

The only thing I love more than this kid’s room is the whole house (My pin, via ohdeedoh, via Interior Photos.

A lucite side table is a surprising choice in this room (My pin, via Desire to Inspire).

This color is amazing (My pin, via Desire to Inspire (same post as above)).

Sorry to my pal YY whose girls gets my girls’ hand-me-downs. I might not be giving you their jeans anymore, because I’m going to cut off the bottom area, add a waistband and make shorts out of them (My pin, via the geniuses at Shwin and Shwin).

 

I made a top like this in the 80s. I was 12 and I had braces. While I am no longer 12, nor do I have braces, I want to make a top like this again (My pin, via Forever21).

Check out what else I’ve recently pinned @steph2pigs

And if you’d like a Pinterest invite without being on the waiting list, try this link.

Giveaway Coming Soon!

If you keep up with The Silly Pearl Facebook Page, you may have seen I announced an upcoming giveaway to celebrate reaching 200 Facebook Fans (which has been reached!) and reaching 300 Google Friend Connect Followers (not quite there yet!). Let’s hope we won’t have to wait too long for the giveaway, so help us get there if you’re not a follower yet by becoming one, if you like!

As for the giveaway item(s), I have something(s) in mind that I hope will be useful this summer and beyond. No I haven’t made them yet! So while I hope we get to 300 followers soon, I hope it’s not, like, tomorrow. So take your time. But don’t. You know what I mean.

This week I’ll be spending some time with my girls, enjoying the great weather. That means being outdoors and that means no crafts for me. My fabrics for my giveaway items as well as my usual list of craft ideas will be waiting for me next week! I will be back then.

Have a great week, and weekend! Thank you so much for reading!

PS Just wanted to add: While you will get an extra entry into the giveaway for being a follower, you don’t have to be one to enter. And yes, the giveaway will be open worldwide…will try to keep my giveaways that way for as long as I can afford it!

UnMomming of the Jeans

About a year ago, all the jeans I owned except for one pair morphed all of a sudden into mom jeans. I’ve been wearing that one pair (and reluctantly another) pair – so two pairs – of jeans all year.

Today for some reason I was in the mood to alter some of my jeans. One I cut into bermuda shorts, and the other is the subject of this post…a really baggy pair of black jeans. I laid my beloved one pair of jeans on top of them and using a white colored pencil I traced the silhouette onto the black jeans.

First I sewed with my regular machine and tried them on a few times before finally finishing it off with a serger. Don’t tell anyone I used the pink thread that was already in my serger to sew my black jeans. Shhh.

Less frumpy now. Will probably wear this to date night this weekend (my birthday!). I *might* run out tomorrow while the girls are at school and buy some summer heels.

Top: Something from Nordstrom Rack

Jeans: Old Navy

Flats: Banana Republic

Necklace: Me

 

Glasses: Hidden behind me so I’m taking these pictures blind.

I’ll probably carry my grandmother’s clutch.

I’m not really sure about the hem of my jeans though. I love the classic ankle-skimming look, while above the ankle is more fresh and warm-weathery. I will probably hem them up. How do you usually wear yours?

A late-in-the-day, didn’t-know-I-was-gonna-participate, first-time link-up to WIWW…Welcome to my blog!

Little Fruit Skewers on Multiples in the Kitchen

 

The girls and I made these Little Fruit Skewers for their last day of school party.

Check out my Multiples in the Kitchen post on the Multiples and More Blog Network for more pics and details on how to make this easy, fun and yummy summer snack.

Thanks to Little Nummies for the idea!

Thank You

Steph @ A Pocket Full of Buttons won my Clock Pillow giveaway a few weeks ago, and truly went above and beyond and wrote such a lovely blog post about it!

 

Steph is a talented military mama of two gorgeous little girls, and I admit that I was nervous when I realized it was she who won because I’ve been a fan of her blog for a long time. You might already know her for her amazing bento boxes as well as her beautiful Etsy shop, Sew Fierce. Please pay her blog and shop a visit!

 

Thank you Steph for the great post today!

 

And while I’m at it, I just want to say thanks to all my readers and to those of you who have featured my projects on your blog. I don’t know how to adequately show my appreciation to you all. As my blog approaches its 4th month, I am amazed that you are coming back to visit me here and that you like my projects. I am also grateful for the new friends I have made since starting this blog.

 

Many thanks to all of you!

 

 

 

Painted Necklace

These paintings by my girls

Produced some scraps

That I used to make a bead with this fabric decoupage bead tutorial

And paired it with some beads I painted

To make a necklace

A special necklace

My favorite necklace.

 

Linking: Petite Hermine :: Tip Junkie :: Sugar Bee-Crafts :: Rook No. 17 :: Tea Rose Home :: The Trendy Treehouse :: Sew Woodsy :: Somewhat Simple :: Momnivoire's Dilemma :: What Allie’s Making Now :: The Frugal Girls :: Tidy Mom :: WhipperBerry :: Creation Corner :: Craft Envy :: Along for the Ride :: Tatertots and Jello :: Lolly Jane Boutique :: Be Different...Act Normal :: Flamingo Toes :: Hazel and Honeysuckle :: Homemaker on a Dime :: Sassy Sites

 

We Love Dada Week Round Up

I hope you enjoyed We Love Dada Week, a week’s worth of personal, fun, quick and easy Father’s Day gift ideas!

I had a great time creating these little gifts for my girls’ Dada. And I know my guy might not be like your guy, but if you were inspired by any of these tutorials, please let me know and I’ll be sure to feature you!

Here’s a recap of all of the We Love Dada Week projects in one place:

Mini Modern Art

BBQ Hanging Towels

Free Gadget Graphics (TV Tote and “Caress Me” Phone T-Shirt)

Computer Key Interchangeable Frame

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Thanks so much for joining me this week. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads in your life!

Computer Key Interchangeable Frame

My husband is an IT Guy and always has old keyboards laying around that need to go to the e-recycling center. So I thought I’d save a few keys and make this interchangeable picture frame for him to keep in his office. The top strip holds a binder clip for pictures that he can swap out.

I wanted to spell out “We Love Dada”, which has two E’s and two A’s and two D’s. So asked him for two keyboards and he had two laptop ones to spare. I popped out the keys with a screwdriver.

I used an 8x10 frame with the glass removed and trimmed a piece of cardboard to fit the frame.

Then I cut a piece of fabric about 1 inch bigger than the cardboard. He loves brown and grey.

I then cut some strips of fabric the same length as the other fabric, and 2.5 inches in width (so two strips about 13x2.5 inches).

I folded the strips towards the center and pressed them to form a finished edge. One is slightly bigger than the other…use the bigger strip as the bottom one i.e. with the computer keys.

 

Now try out the fabric and the strips in the frame. The bottom strip should sit right at the bottom edge of the frame, and the top strip should sit about 1 inch from the top edge of the frame, to allow room for the binder clip (and your fingers to change out the picture).

 

Insert the fabric and cardboard

 

Do a test run…looks good so far!

Mark where the strips go with a disappearing ink pen.

Top stitch the top strip along the edges.

Sew the bottom strip to the fabric along the edge.

Oops forgot this…insert everything back into the frame and mark 2 inches from the sides of the frame. This is where you’ll sew down the top strip, leaving the middle free to insert the binder clip.

Sew the top strip to the fabric with two vertical lines along your two-inch marks.

Lay out the computer keys so they’re centered on the bottom strip. I marked the center of the fabric with a pin.

Hot glue the keys to the fabric.

And hot glue the fabric to the cardboard on all sides and the corners…doesn’t have to be very neat as the frame backing will cover it.

Insert it all back into the frame plus the frame backing, and you’re done!

Tap tap tap.

I think I am the most excited about this gift of all. I know he has been wondering what I’m going to do with the computer keys, so I hope he is surprised!

And that was our last We Love Dada Week project! A wrap-up post of all my Father’s Day gift ideas from this week is coming up next.

Linking: Petite Hermine :: Tip Junkie :: Sugar Bee-Crafts :: Rook No. 17 :: Tea Rose Home :: The Trendy Treehouse :: Sew Woodsy :: Somewhat Simple :: Momnivoire's Dilemma :: The Frugal Girls :: Tidy Mom :: WhipperBerry :: Creation Corner :: Craft Envy :: Along for the Ride :: Tatertots and Jello :: Lolly Jane Boutique :: Be Different...Act Normal :: Flamingo Toes :: Homemaker on a Dime :: Sassy Sites