Monday, August 22, 2011

stickin' it to pinterest - vol. 1

so if you follow me on facebook, you may have caught my little bout of pinterest anxiety the other night.  i can waste time on that site with the best of them & after a while it makes me anxious.  why?  so so many projects/recipes/outfits/diy crafts/home decor ideas/kids games/blah blah blahs that i LOVE, but i may or may not ever look to pinterest again when it comes time to use them in the future.  ya know?

in short, it fills me up with inspiration & then i hear this little voice saying, "hey, you just spent all kinds of time looking at random things on my site.  are you ever gonna do anything with all of this?"

actually yes i am, stupid belittling pinterest-voice.  i am.

so here's how this is gonna go down.  every now & then i'm gonna do a pinterest-inspired post.  it may be a recipe, a craft, or my interpretation of an outfit i pinned.

this is me stickin' it to pinterest.


i picked this project because i really just wanted to improve my sewing skills.  sewing triangles to a ribbon seemed easy enough & the reading nook in p-rays room needed a little somethin-somethin.  win win.

here are sites i had pinned for inspiration:  this.  this.
and here's the tutorial i {semi} followed:  tutorial here.

but honestly?  i pretty much made it up as i went along.  here's what i did & how you can do it too.


parker was such a trooper in the fabric store.  it is SO hard for me to decide on fabrics... there are just so many!  i'm like a kid in a candy store.

i bought half a yard of each color, which was way more than i needed.  if i was to do it over, i'd just use the little scraps for a buck or so each & do way more colors.  like, a couple different orange patterns, a couple different blues, etc.


i experimented with different pattern sizes until i liked the way the triangles looked.  i think my final ones ended up being 5.5" across the top & 6" down the sides.  like the tutorial, i chose to have a raw edge on my flags rather than finished.  i like the look of it, & it's way easier.

so you cut out all your triangles, stick them back to back {"wrong" sides together} and sew down the sides.  i left the tops open since they'd get shut when sewing the ribbon on top.


i measured out my ribbon to the length i wanted & then started laying out my flags.  you can experiment with spacing & color patterns.  you're the boss of you.

then i folded my ribbon down the horizontal line & ironed it so it'd stay folded over nicely for pinning & sewing.  wanna know a secret?  sam helped me hold down the ribbon so i could iron it, but he probably wouldn't want you to know he helped.  so don't tell anyone.

i only pinned about four or five flags on at a time & then went & sewed them on just so it didn't get too crazy keeping it all together.  again, personal choice.


after you've sewn all the flags on you can sew up your ribbon ends & celebrate!  because you're done.  easy peasy.

ok, actually this wasn't suuuuuper easy for me since it was my first time sewing all on my own.  but it was a huge learning experience.  i got way better by the end & i even had to do all kinds of crazy things like re-thread my machine on the top & the bottom.  AND, i even had to wind up my bobbin!  i used youtube tutorials for help with that.

i feel like an old pro.

so here it is in p-ray's room.  it was really hard to get a good picture of it so you could catch the "essence" of what it looks like.  if you want to see more of his room, check out his nursery tour here.

{bookshelves stolen from here}

and yeah, those bookshelves are totally photo-shopped in.  they'll be added soon & it will complete his little reading nook!  this is where he gets stories read to him in his great-grandma opal's rocker before naps & bedtime.

so yeah.  i think my first pinterest-ing project was a success!  take that, pinterest.

wanna feel successful?  just click twice to vote.  you'll succeed every time.
Vote For Us @ topbabyblogs.com!

35 comments:

  1. Hi Amy!!

    I've been a avid reader since your pregnant days with Parker!!

    I have a favor to ask and if you aren't okay with doing it I totally understand!

    My fiance and I are currently in a facebook contest for a free engagement session! We are getting married next March and money is tight so this would be fantastic!! I was wondering if you could post a link on facebook or your blog asking people to just go "like" our picture on his site.

    All you have to do is go to this link....

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Daniel-Kim-Photography/208964892470945

    and "like" it

    and then go to this picture....

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=247538678613566&set=pu.208964892470945&type=1&theater

    and "like" it!!

    I know this is totally random but I ALSO know A LOT of people follow your blog and thought of asking right after we signed up!!

    Thanks! :)

    Melissa, Jake and Aiden :) :)

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  2. great post!!!!
    love your style honey!=P
    xxx

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  3. I'm with you, so many fun things on pinterest but I feel like I don't do them! When Ryann starts MDO I plan on trying to craft/bake/etc. once a week.

    Unfortunately I keep pinning recipes for sweets... oops :o) Your bunting looks great!

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  4. This is awesome, I love the idea of Pinterest inspired post and you did an awesome job with this project! Love your shopping buddy, so sweet!

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  5. Couldn't agree with you more. Pinterest is such a wonderful site for inspiration! I think I'd like to do the same, pin something and actually do it;) Love this post.
    BTW: your project came out fantastic!

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  6. I love it!! you are so crafty! I am so addicted to Pinterest and feel like there are so many things i would love to do! Your banner turned out so cute and I love it in Parker's room!! :)

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  7. oh my goodness... i love it! i need to be more crafty. i always wander to the craft section and dream lol.

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  8. lol I was feeling that way once to, so I made a HUGE list of pintrest DIY supplies and made so many projects in a weekend. It was fun though seeing my little ones faces as I came home with giant canvases and all other kinds of craftying goodies. I follow you on pintrest and love what you named your boards!

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  9. I've never used pinterest but I feel the same way about my endless bookmarks of "good ideas" I have for crafts and recipes. I need to go through and delete the ones I probably will never use and actually try and do something with the ones I like. Here's one project I really want to do: http://www.livealittlewilder.com/2010/11/handmade-jewelry-organizer-tutorial.html

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  10. Oh you're so crafty with that sewing machine!!! I want one of those!! So adorable!

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  11. Oh I love that!! I need to start actually getting crafty and doing some of my pinterest pins lol.

    Oh Jazmyn

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  12. awesome!! i need to get busy on all my pins on pintrest too!! :)

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  13. Im new to the pinterest world! But Im excited to get in there and get some new ideas! Love your first project and can't wait to see what else you create! :)

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  14. Go Amy! That's awesome! If there's anything I cannot do, it's sewing :) But I wish I could, just for fun projects like this! And, I love those spice racks for book shelves! Adding it to my Ikea shopping list ;)

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  15. Awesome job getting crafty! :)

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  16. Way to put us all the shame! I need some of your motivation. Keep up the good work. ;)

    http://hisbabybluesandmine.blogspot.com/

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  17. I am dying right now after reading the bookshelves were photoshopped in. You are so funny...and talented!

    I love this Pinterest post idea. Think it'll be a link-up thing in the future? =)

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  18. Ikea spice rack bookshelves = Brilliant! I have been racking my brain for a shelving solution for Noah's books in his room that doesn't cost a ridiculous amount of money. Right now his books are in a rubbermaid container on the floor and it's seriously ridiculous.

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  19. congrats! I love it! And I have been trying to do those ikea spice rack shelves FOREVER. Every time I go to Ikea, they are sold out. I guess everybody else is trying to make them too :)

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  20. oh thank goodness im not the only one who gets anxiety from all the pinning. you should make this a link up.

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  21. Love that bunting! I really want to make one of my own for K's room but learned the other day that I totally suck at sewing (yeah, busted out the machine for the first time and failed miserably at everything.) This doesn't look too hard, though, so maybe I'll give it a try. ;)
    Also, totally dig on those bookshelves (even if they don't exist quite yet). What a great, cheap idea! Stealing that too.

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  22. such a fun idea! And I totally get the what you mean with the sewing thing.. I have only done it a couple times, but I think you are already better than me! :)

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  23. Great job Amy! It looks adorable. Love that you photoshopped the books in to the room. :) They will be so cute!

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  24. So cute!! That's so funny about the spice rack bookshelves because those were the first pinterest pin that I tackled, just the other day! I did three just like that and I love how it looks. Now I think I need to add a bunting now too though... hmmm...

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  25. That's such a cute idea. I've been trying to learn how to sew recently and I think this would be such a fun project. Thanks for the idea. :)

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  26. Awesome! It look greats, super cute!

    You should totally make this a link-up for actually doing something off of our pinterest accounts ... mine is full of "ooooh, someday!" But a linky might make it more of an "okay, today I conquer!"

    But give like a 1 week notice, m'kay? ;)

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  27. So cute, I love that! I might need to invest in a sewing machine... and then figure out how to use it ;)

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  28. Wow. Pinterest is crazy! I can totally see how you can quickly become overwhelmed. Great job on the pendants. They look great! (That's me being *super* impressed.)

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  29. Super cute! I'm a total pinterest addict...it's sad really. But I've done one project so far and I'm really hoping I can try more soon...especially those cool nail polish tricks.

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  30. Great timing! I was able to show your project pics to Nana & she was most pleased! Way to go! ;)

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  31. I love it. Awesome job!

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  32. Saw this post in the reader & was immediately drawn to read it! I have to self allot Pinterest time too, cause I know I'll be spending the next several hours sucked in to the beauty & benevolence of it all ;D

    Love your project, but loved the photoshop trick even more {seriously, made me chuckle out lout!}

    Hope things have been fantastic since BBCSEA ~ xoxo

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