Tag Archives: etsy

Remembering Special Days with a Handmade Perpetual Calendar

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Leslie | Leave a comment

I’m sure there are apps galore for tracking birthdays, anniversaries, and other special days. But, I have found that the only tried and true way for me to remember them, especially the birthdays of my many nieces and nephews, is to use a perpetual calendar.

A perpetual calendar lists the days of each month in a vertical list, so it doesn’t matter what day the special day falls on or what year you’re in, you just know the month and date year after year. When I saw a pattern on Etsy by Patricia Zapata, a graphic designer, for making one that’s both practical and attractive, I had to make a new calendar.

I bought an assortment of cardstock in neutral colors and then printed out the template for all of the months — 2 months per 8 x 10 page. You can see the dotted outline for the first letter of each month and then the row of dates underneath.

Then, I cut out all of the letters with an x-acto knife.

I found a stack of origami paper to glue behind the letters so a colorful pattern peeks through.

I used a small hole punch to create two holes at the top so I could add a hanger.

I wrote in a few birthdays. Here’s August:

The designer Patricia gave a good tip, which is to mark the months that start with the same letter but have a different number of days on the back. So, for example, January has 31 days but June has 30. I made sure to have the months in the correct order on my calendar.

And finally cut a bit of wire (you can use a wire hanger too) to use as a hanger. You can use something besides a hanger or even, as Katie suggested, mount them to display as art. The idea is to be able to pull the months off and on the hanger easily when you want to write in a date, or change to a new month. Here’s how it looks on the wall of my home office for the current month.

At a quick glance, I see what’s coming up: my 12-year wedding anniversary and my nephew Ryan’s birthday. This year, Ryan will get more than a quick mention on his Facebook wall. Thanks to the perpetual calendar, he’ll get an actual card in the mail from his Aunt Leslie.

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Posted in Arts & Crafts

Tagged anniversaries, birthdays, craft, etsy, origami paper, paper, perpetual calendar, x-acto knife

DIY Dollhouse Miniatures: Macrame Plant Hanger

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Leslie | 1 Comment

Katie and I were joking about renovating my daughter’s Ana’s dollhouse. It all started when I discovered the amazing world of DIY dollhouse miniatures. I first read a how-to blog post on Etsy for making “micro planters” and a tiny macrame plant hanger. Then, a search on Flickr and Pinterest revealed an entire subculture of people who make remarkably lifelike miniature food the size of match heads out of Fimo modeling clay and furnishings and decor for entire rooms, like my current favorite, this midcentury modern room.

Although Katie and I in our consultation with my 8-year-old daughter, Ana, have big future plans for her dollhouse renovation, over the weekend I made a few accessories to add some warmth and personality to the space. Our plans include some projects that Ana will help with, including making a cool backsplash, improving the rug under her dining room table, making refrigerator magnets, and wallpapering an accent wall.

Ana’s dollhouse is modern in style and she mostly has Plan dolls and furnishings, but has recently added in quite a lot of Playmobil furnishings and accessories as well.

Here is the before shot of the second floor bedroom and bathroom/laundry room.

So far, I’ve made three DIY dollhouse projects for the bedroom. In this post, I’ll describe the macrame plant hanger. I followed the how-to steps in the Etsy post I mentioned earlier, except that I used a water bottle top I found in our kitchen cabinet for the planter. I have never made a macrame plant hanger before, but as far as I can tell, the technique is about the same except that some steps are eliminated to account for the smaller total length (no crown knots) and the mini hanger doesn’t have beads.

Here you can see the half hitch knots that surround the jump ring at the top, and underneath the wrap knot.

Here I’m making the half-knot twist that forms the twisted hangers above the pot.

Finally, I tied alternating square knots to go around the pot and another wrap knot under the pot, with frayed ends hanging down.

And here’s the little pot with soil and plant cuttings from my patio. Ana will need to water it with a tiny eye-dropper. I think I’ll find someone to give me a spider plant cutting for this or another hanging micro planter.

I hung the macrame plant hanger from the dollhouse roof and I think it adds some nice live greenery in this upstairs bedroom.

In future posts, I’ll show how I made a mini rag rag and the handknit patchwork blanket, and some of the other ongoing renovations. If you have ideas for fun ways to improve a dollhouse DIY-style, let us know!

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Posted in Arts & Crafts, Living with Kids

Tagged dollhouse, etsy, macrame plant hanger, miniatures, playmobil, yarn

Before & After: Alley Cast-Off Becomes Functional Kitchen Island

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Katie | 1 Comment

For the past seven years I’ve been living with two feet of counter space in my kitchen. I have only myself to blame for this. We renovated the 1950s galley kitchen after we moved in in 2004 but we made some poor decisions. I won’t bore you with the details but it’s the result of new homeowner ignorance + lack of HGTV inspiration + financial limitations.

I recently decided it was time to make a change and get a real kitchen workspace. If we ever decided to sell, our “kitchenette” would surely scare off buyers. The plan was to add a built-in peninsula using the same cabinets and countertop in the existing kitchen.

I went to Home Depot and drew up plans with a super-friendly kitchen designer (really, she was super nice!). But to my utter horror, my master plan was going to cost nearly $2000. Not in the cards.

Days later while taking the trash out to the alley something piqued my attention — a wood desk and cart the people behind me were casting off. As I walked back inside I thought: I need that, that has the looks of a kitchen cart. After all my frustration, here was the perfect piece of furniture just waiting to hop over the fence and into my home. I can’t say no to free stuff.

So here’s the cart (found right on the other side of that fence). Needs some work, eh?

I added some primer and a coat of semi-gloss paint leftover from other projects. Even Jack volunteered to paint a little. Nope, not breaking any child DIY labor laws here.

It was looking better, but the top was not too kitcheny. My next thought was to cover with a piece of butcher block or a cutting board. After coming up empty on the Internet, I remembered the folks from Etsy who made my kitchen table. If they can build a table, surely they can build a cutting board.

And sure enough, after a couple convos back and forth with Blue Ridge Woodworking, my $45 custom made cutting board was on its way to my house. Painless. I love the cutting board not only because it’s hand-made and gorgeous, but because it’s 1.5 inches thick and weighs about 20 pounds. I was worried how it would attach to the cart, but because it’s so heavy it stays in place very well.

Here’s the finished product. The extra counter space and two deep drawers make a huge difference.

There’s even a shelf underneath for cookbooks.

So for $45 plus $15 shipping, I got the extra storage space I needed. Yes, a built-in peninsula with cabinets and counters to match my existing kitchen would have been amazing and would do wonders for resale, but financially it wasn’t going to happen. I think this one will work just fine for now.

Posted by Katie

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Posted in Build It, Small-Space Solutions

Tagged butcher block, cart, dumpster dive, etsy, island, kitchen, repurpose

Easy DIY Halloween Costumes for Kids

Posted on October 25, 2011 by DIY Del Ray | 1 Comment

Halloween is a DIYer’s holiday, a time to get creative and tackle projects you might otherwise avoid. Here are two simple costumes (for boys or girls) that anyone could complete. Are you working on a homemade costume or do you have a great source for DIY costume ideas? Tell us in the comment section.

Skeleton Costume

About a week ago, I was getting nervous because my 5-year-old couldn’t decide what he wanted to be for Halloween. Finally, after looking at this t-shirt, he decided to be a skeleton.

That sounded easy enough. I searched for “DIY skeleton” on Google and found a really simple template from Family Fun that you can trace onto contact paper and stick on black clothing.

We purchased a t-shirt and pants at Target and then attached the bones. And as an added bonus, we found skeleton gloves at Target for only $1. A quick and easy costume and Jack can wear the clothes even after Halloween.

Shared by Katie

Baby Fox Costume

My three-year-old announced that she wanted to be a “fox. A baby fox.” My first instinct was to look on Etsy for fox costumes. I found some adorable woodland animal masks from the seller Mahalo and thought about making one, but I decided to purchase this part and to tackle a handmade bushy tail and the white belly instead.

I bought a yard of brown fur fabric. I drew the tail on paper, let my older daughter trace it on the backside of the fabric, and then cut out the two halves. I sewed together the sides with the strongest thread I could find, turned it right side out, and stuffed it with some yarn scraps and batting. Last, I sewed a big piece of elastic along the end and stuck velcro on the ends so Nadja could wrap it around her belly.

For the belly, I cut out an oval from a big piece of off-white flannel and ironed a 1/4 inch hem around the side, and then hand sewed it to the front of a brown turtleneck I found at Marshall’s. I’m very proud of the way the tail sticks out. You can’t see, but we also painted the point white with acrylic paint.

Here’s the fierce baby fox practicing for Halloween night. We’ll also figure out some way to make black paws. She’ll complete the look with a brown skort and brown tights.