Painting an upholstered chair

I've been on the hunt for a wingback armchair for years now. One with perfect bones, a light grey color. I decided to give this tan wingback armchair (gifted by a neighbor cleaning out their shed) a makeover. Although I've sewn a new cover for a square-shaped ottoman before, I decided that sewing a cover for this wingback chair was one DIY project that I did not feel up to, despite watching countless tutorial videos.

Instead, I decided to paint the chair instead to give it a new look. First, I cleaned the chair thoroughly with a spray bottle filled with water, dishwashing soap, and vinegar, scrubbing carefully with a brush, and then I cleaned it with vodka, which removes odors and is a trick that many professional upholstery stores use. I let it air dry in the 98 degree Durham heat and then set to work painting!

Before and after applying chalky paint!

Read on for the tutorial.

Banners galore

I've been making more banners than I expected this year! Basically banners make ANY party instantly more festive! 

For Luke's 1st birthday party banner, my friend Brittany went with a nautical/ocean theme. She found some awesome nautical rope from Joann's to go with the burlap banner. I cut 6-inch diameter scalloped circles using my Cricut machine. The font is from the "Don Juan" cartridge, and the whale and the anchor are both from the "Wild Card 2" cartridge. We used gluesticks to attach the letters (cut from scrapbook paper) onto the heavier cardstock backing. I love the color scheme Brittany ended up choosing! If you look closely you can see that some of the letters were cut out with scrapbook paper with an adorable anchor pattern.

Next, the "ONE" banner on burlap. I cut cardstock letters with my Cricut machine and we used Elmer's glue to attach it to the burlap, which we cut out in bunting shapes.

We then used a hot glue gun to fold the top edge of the burlap down onto the rope and secure the banner in place. 

Love the finished look of this burlap banner! 

Last week I made this banner for my friend, who was organizing a bridal shower for her best friend. Her wedding colors are coral, gold, and yellow. 

Reminds me of pink lemonade! My favorite part was the shimmery gold cardstock I found at Michaels. 

Jayhawks baby card

I had to google what "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!" means this week because I notice it on a lot of Kansas University gear. Apparently Kansas has lots of chalk rock limestone and KU fans chant "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk" during sports games.

My friend requested a baby card for two of her close KU Jayhawks parents. She showed me around KU's campus a few years ago when I was doing a clinical rotation in Topeka and for her wedding ceremony a year later. It's a beautiful (and big!) campus with lots of greenery.

Despite my sadly minimal knowledge of college sports, I DO know that KU's basketball team is pretty amazing! I included hints of yellow/crimson/navy to match KU's colors and to welcome a new baby Jayhawk into the world!

First wedding anniversary --paper gift

A few months ago my friend asked me to make a quilled Golden Gate bridge for her first wedding anniversary. They had their honeymoon in SF last year and they loved it so much that they are going back to California again this summer! Since it was their first wedding anniversary, they decided to follow the wedding anniversary tradition of gifting something made of paper. I made a similar quilled project last year for my sister and decided to make one for them too.

Read on for more details! 

April blooms and birthdays

Last year I planted iris bulbs from my coworker's yard, and after 14 months of waiting....they bloomed this month! It's so lovely to come back home to these colorful flowers. The colorful petals seem to open and close more depending on the time of the day, and the earliest bloomers have shriveled up and new ones are catching up and blooming now.

I also made a few April birthday cards this month:

 This card was for our secretary--a nod to her black cat!

And this sunflower card (letters cut out with Cricut) was for my mother-in-law!

Under the Sea baby shower banner

About 5 years ago, I met the Macaron Whisperer, also known as Amrita, after eagerly perusing all of her wonderful dessert and food recipes at her blog, The Sweet Art and generally being a fangirl. I loved being her neighbor and how it meant long walks at Forest Park with her dog Mila, eating the leftover macarons from her dessert business, taste-testing desserts like Shrikhand, Oreo ice cream (I love ALL her ice creams), Earl Grey Cardamom Pound Cake, and Clementine Cake with Chocolate Ganache, and doing Wii Just Dance in her apartment (to work off calories from eating all her desserts). 

Fast-forward to the present: we sadly no longer live across the street from Amrita & Joe, but they happen to be visiting NC this weekend to throw a baby shower for a friend! She needed a banner to fit her Under the Sea theme so I put my new Cricut machine to use. 

Amrita purchased the sea creature graphics from Etsy, and I bought the Kraft paper and cardstock at Michaels. I used my Cricut machine to cut scalloped 6-inch circles and 5-inch patterned/color cardstock, which has little fishies in the background. I then cut letters out of navy cardstock and adhered everything together with double-sided tape. To hang the banner up, I strung twine through the holepunched circles and taped it all into place in the back of each circle, so that the space between each circle is uniform.

Farewell music-themed card

Tomorrow our church is having a farewell party for our worship pastor and his family, who is transitioning to a new position and moving away from NC. I used my Cricut machine to cut out the music note for this farewell card. His family and worship ministry will be greatly missed! 

Materials used: Kraft cardstock, scrapbook paper, Daiso brush pen, and Tombow dual brush pen

Next up on the blog will be the 2 orders that I'm currently working on--a baby shower banner, and a quilled Golden Gate bridge!