Making Shelves Out of Recycled Materials :)

Do It Yourself Recycled Shelves :D

DIY shelves :)

Corner

Side view

I finally finished my DIY shelves :)


Here's how you can make your own:


1) Spray paint some old book shelves.
I actually used the side of an old bookcase to get a longer shelf, which meant that the board had holes in it from where the bookshelves could adjust in height.  I "fixed" these holes by hot gluing different color buttons on them.  It made the shelves a bit more fun for my daughter's room :).


2) Buy some ribbon OR use some old material you have lying around the house to make the supporters.
 I measured and cut out 8 stripes of material, 2" x 28".  I then paired the material up with the right sides facing inward (pretty material facing each other) and sewed down the length and ONLY the length, because you need to flip the material afterwards (like you would if you were making a pillow). 
After flipping the material right-side-out, I sewed the two ends together, making a continuous piece of material (like a circle :).  I will say that it's easier to buy ribbon, double it (makes the shelves stronger), and sew the ends together.


3) Now it's time to put your shelves up :).  You will need 8 nails (two for each piece of material)
Measure 9" above where you want your shelve to be placed, for this is where your supporters will be fixed to the wall.
 Take your material OR ribbon and place a nail right below your sewed seam and 1/4 in from the outside (you will do his to the other side too, so you will have TWO nails on each side of the material, 1/4 inch from the sides of the material.)  Hopefully the photo above will help a little bit.
Do this to all of your material.


4) After you have fixed your material to the wall, simply slip your boards through the material and straighten it so it makes a 90 degree angle to the wall. 


I LOVE THESE DIY SHELVES, AND I HOPE YOU DO TOO!!!

Pin Cushion Braclet

Today I started to make a few more cloth diaper covers, so I decided that I needed a pin cushion!  In the past I had seen a really neat YouTube video by "crafty gemini" on how to make a pincushion braclet. I made mine a bit different, but used the same general idea.


I used a milk cap as my base instead of a soda cap, used hemp as my pin cushion "guts" instead of batting, and used hemp for the outside instead of felt.  I used hot glue to adhear the cushion to the bottle cap and the bottle cap to the wrist band.  Then, for the final touch I used a diaper snap to get the braclet on and off. 

We will see how I like it, but I figure it's safer for me to drop this on the floor to pick up really fast than to drop my whole plastic container of pins on the floor with Luciana crawling around!!!!  :)

Wow, it had been too long since I posted in this... Yea, I am not the best blogger, but I do have a couple new ideas!


I recently started drawing again and am falling in love with it :).  I just finished a commissioned portrait of a couple who lost their wedding photos to a fire after 6 months of marriage. I was able to create a 16" x 20" drawing of them from some wedding photos that someone else had taken and given to them after the fire.  I drew their first wedding portrait after over 40 YEARS of marriage. 

The 3" x 3" photograph I had to work with (Permission to use photo granted)

The finished artwork, framed and in their hands. (Permission to use photo granted)

Doing this artwork gave me another idea.  I enjoyed working on the lace wedding dress and thought that I could benefit from a little more of a lace study.  The lace looked pretty good, but not realistic enough for my taste.  So, my next artwork is going to consist of either a solid background color with acrylic or more of a translucent feel with water color and an overlay of black lace.  I want this piece to have three separate panels and two different colors.  Here is a rough sketch that I put together (I am not going to use these colors, and the lace will be more detailed):

Lace panels:

(At the same time I am going to be working on a Mother-Baby Nursing series that I hope to show in one of our town's First Friday artwalks in months to come. I want to bring an awarness to the benefits of nursing and also to display the mother-to-child bond, as well as show that it should be culturally okay to nurse and in public.)