Iron Violet Designs: April 2011

Friday, April 29, 2011

Fantastic Friday #17

Can you believe that it is Friday all ready?! I hope that you have all had a great week, and that it has been productive. I have a quilt up on my frame that I am super close to finishing quilting, and when I get close to the end I just get a little bit antsy and just want it done! At this rate, I should have it done to show you next week!

Last weeks party was huge! It was so much fun to browse through all the links and look at all the inspiration and craftiness of all you guys! I just loved it - and I probably spent way too much time looking through all of your blogs! But boy I had a good time doing it!

This week I chose to feature these awesome bathroom signs from Turbo Bubble Gum. I have a really hard time decorating the bathroom. It is so hard for me that I just don't do it. I basically just hang the same pressed flower pictures in the guest bathroom and call it good! But anyway, she made these signs as a knock-off from Land of Nod, and I have to say that I like her version a lot better! These signs are great - I happen to have a couple of boys that could use this reminder - just about everyday!

Grab a button to let everyone know that you were featured!

Now for the real reason you are all here - to share everything Fantastic that you have been working on this week! Share with us your latest and greatest stuff and start linking your FANTASTIC creations up!

Rules:
*become a follower of Iron Violet Designs, I like followers - it makes me feel good. But I won't delete your link if you don't.
*link up anything that you have made - sewn, cooked, crafted, etc. family friendly of course.
*must link to a blog post, not your home page, another linky party, etsy shop or giveaway.
*link back to this post so that others can join in on the fun. Grab a button or do a text link either one is fine with me.
*visit a few of the links and leave comments! Everyone needs a little comment love!

Let's get started:

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Mother's Day Idea

Okay, I have been known to copy a thing or two . . .okay pretty much everything. Let's just face it, I am not that original. And surprise: today's craft is nothing different!

I really love the crafts from Makia Creations. But I am cheap, and I know that I could make this for less then they sell it. I made their A few of my favorite things board. I did change the wording because I liked My greatest blessing better for this particular project

My cost breakdown:
Frames $1 apiece - on sale of course - $3
Wood - left over from another project
Ribbon- had one hand
Paint and stain -again left over from another project
Vinyl - had on hand.

So this project cost me $3! Not too shabby right?

And it was super easy to make, paint wood and frames. Sand and add stain to distress it. Cut vinyl. Apply vinyl. Drill holes and add ribbon.

Okay, so the hardest part was getting the ribbon through the holes. But I made it work. I used pink ribbon because I am thinking about giving this to my Mother-in-law for mother's day and she loves pink. And I thought that it needed some color.

I really liked how they had the pictures hanging at different lengths from the board, so I tried to do that with mine. Probably why I liked it because then I did not have to be so precise about my frames lining up! I could just go with the flow.

Now I just have to add my kids pictures to the frames. Well actually I probably should take some pictures so that they are recent. Let's see if I can get that done before Mother's day!

Oh, and if any of you have tips on how to tie good ribbon bows, PLEASE let me know. As you can see I am not that good at it!

Linking to the parties in my page at the top.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Baby Squares

I just love to make quilts! I love sewing them together, even though I do get a little bit frustrated when I have to unpick or my seams do not match up very well. But I love seeing the finished product, and the way it feels when you are all snuggled up under it! Here is my latest project.

I just finished quilting this baby quilt for my sister to give away to a friend. I quilted another one just like this a month or so ago for her, but in different colors. This one is my favorite though. Here it is on my machine - tell me those colors are not the best combo together?! I did a simple all over pattern when I quilted this.

I loved quilting it, and I have said before baby quilts are so easy to quilt! And it is just because they are so small. It is a good break from the twin size and king sized quilts that I normally make.

And then when I started the lay this out to take a picture, Thing #5 got this big grin on his face and came running over to stand right in the middle. So here are his feet and the quilt.

I just sent it to her last week so that she could get it in time to bind it and give to the mom by Sunday. Now this quilt has a little baby to love it maybe as much as I love this quilt. Seriously, I am trying to think if I can make anything from this fabric line! What would you make with this fabric line?! A certain kind of quilt, clothes, a bag, give me some ideas!

Monday, April 25, 2011

We have a winner!

I want to thank all of you who entered into my giveaway for reaching 200 followers.

I used Random.org to get our number and came up with #20! Who is none other than:

Amanda @ Ninth Street Notions said...: I follow you!

Email your info to me within 72 hours and I will get this beautiful ring out in the mail to you! Thanks!

My bella

Usually on Mondays I will put up a recipe, but I have not really made anything out of the ordinary this week and so I do not have anything to share. But I will share what I have been making . . . cards!

This month seems to be the month for birthdays. I have made 4 different cards and had 2 birthday's within my own house. Needless to say I am glad that this month is almost over!

Thing #3 had a party last weekend, and these are the invites that I made for it. I got this new stamp set, Party this way, from Stampin' Up, and I love it. It has been perfect for all these birthdays.

For all of my friends I made these bella cards. I just love these bellas! Stampin Bella has some great images. They are super cute and they have some that are funny or serious. And really I just wish that I looked as good as these bellas do!

I colored them using my watercolor pencils - that way you get a smooth look and no pencil lines.
I had already depleted my stash of birthday cards, so I made a few extra so that I am ready for the next couple of birthdays.

I have got a thousand things to do today, so I hope that you all have a great Monday!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Inspirational Eye Candy

I was thinking that it would be fun on Saturday's to give you a few link to few of my favorite things that I have found over the week while blog surfing. I am not saying that this will be an every week occurrence, because well the weekends at our house can get a little bit hectic. I know that this happens at your places too!

But anyway, this week I found some great stuff. Check this out:

Mini Bookshelves at the Sweet Survival. Isn't that the coolest shelf for a kids room? I am so going to do this is my boys room - maybe then they will keep all their books in one place.

Pretty-fied sheet set from Moda Bake Shop. I love how a little bit of fabric really dresses up this sheet set. I want to do this to all my guest sheet sets - even too a couple of mine!

Spring Garden Markers by a Bird and a Bean. Simple and easy - I think that this would make a great gift for a few of my gardening friends.

Pedestal bowls from a Diamond in the stuff. I need one of these for by my kitchen sink. When I take off my jewelry to do dishes and clean I just set it there, and I am always afraid that I will lose them. This would be perfect!

and lastly I have some Paper Punched Easter Eggs from Nikki in stitches. How classy and fun are these eggs?! I am thinking that I might have to try this next year!

I hope that you all have a great Easter, and check back Monday and I will post the winner of our fabulous ring!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Fantastic Friday #16

Our party has reached it's Sweet 16 . . . wow, can I just say that time has flown by! And in my house it seems to be going faster, now slowing down! Last week's party was great, there were so many fun projects, it was hard to choose one to feature.

I did choose to feature this awesome Easter Egg Bouquet by Ms Not so Perfect. This is so perfect for Easter, and she had everything right at home. And it is super cute and easy. I just loved it. I might have to make this up this weekend with my girl.

Grab a button to let everyone know that you were featured!

Rules:
*become a follower of Iron Violet Designs, I like followers - it makes me feel good.
*link up anything that you have made - sewn, cooked, crafted, etc. family friendly of course.
*must link to a blog post, not your home page, another linky party, etsy shop or giveaway.
*link back to this post so that others can join in on the fun. Grab a button or do a text link either one is fine with me.
*visit a few of the links and leave comments! I enjoy comments because it makes me feel like someone is actually reading what I write! ;)

And don't forget to enter my ring giveaway here that closes this evening!

Let's get started:

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Easter Candy Jars

Can I just tell you all how much I love these jars? Well I L.O.V.E. them! They are so pretty and so easily changed for the seasons! I have seen them all over blogland and it was high time that I had my own set. It was super easy to make. For each one I used:
*an old jam jar-free
*a wooden final - $1.50 for 3
*a candle stick - $2.99
*a round wooden base- $.50
*Glue - already had
*spray paint - leftover from another project

Total $5 for 2 jars, not to bad in my book!

I do not really decorate for the Easter holiday, but I thought that filling these up with candy was a simple and easy way to decorate. And surprisingly they have been sitting on the piano for 2 days and the kids have not asked to eat the candy! And I haven't eaten it either - that might be a different story if it was filled with those Cadbury chocolate mini eggs! My favorite candy from Easter!

I did get a little bit over excited about finishing these. I set one up on the shelf and took some pictures and then I looked at it and something was wrong. It looked just too plain. Then I realized that I forget to antique them with some stain. Now all the crevices and seams stand out a little bit more and I like it a whole lot more!

I am thinking that if I place them here on my piano by these candlesticks that I might need to paint them a different color. Or I could just make a new set in the darker color!

I just love them! And I love how simple it was to make them. Just paint and then glue everything together! Distress and then fill with goodies or something else! Easy-peasy!

It is pouring rain here, and so I think I am going to try and get some sewing done today! I hope that you all have a productive day and I cannot wait to what you will link up to our party tomorrow!

Linking to the parties in my tab at the top.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Guest Blogging

Good morning friends! Today I am over at My World Made By Hand, sharing a step, by step tutorial of my wonderful flower pillow! It is like my pink one here. Head on over there and check it out! Jessica is just awesome and I am super excited to be hanging with her today! And you have to check our the new design of her site! I am just loving it!!

Have a great day! And don't forget to enter my beautiful ring giveaway here!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

200 Follower Giveaway!!

We did it, we reached 200 followers! In celebration of this I have a treat for you . . .

You can win this beautiful flower ring. Won't this look great with your spring wardrobe?!

Details: leave a comment for each entry

*Be a follower of Iron Violet Designs

*Refer a new friend to Iron Violet Designs - let me know who the new follower is.

*Blog, tweet or mention this on facebook. (we are not on facebook yet, but I am working on it.)

*Tell me what you favorite accessory to wear is!

This giveaway will close Friday night April 22nd at 5 pm. mountain time

Monday, April 18, 2011

Kids Can Cook

I hope that you all had a great weekend. Ours was busy, but enjoyable. Today I am sharing something with you that you have probably already seen around blog land, but they are super cute and my kids had a ball making them.

Thing #2 loves to cook, and no bake cookies are one of the easiest things to make. So yesterday when the kids were wanting a treat we made these cookies.

I love these little nests, and so did my kids. Apparently they never thought that they could shape no bake cookies. They were so careful making sure that they made them look just so. I was great! We had some jellybeans and so we put them in our little cookies nests.

They seriously thought that this was the best treat ever. It was super easy and the kids enjoyed it. And that my friends is what this is all about.

And sorry for the blurry pictures, my kids are really wanting to learn how to take pictures and what better way to let them practice then on something they made!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fantastic Friday #15

It's that time again . . . time for you all to show me what it is all about! This week has flown by, but then again when do they not!? I have gotten a few things done and so that is nice. But I am really just excited to see what inspiration you all have for me! And can you believe that we have been at this for 15 weeks?! Crazy huh.

Last week was a great party - there were so many fun projects shared! I wasn't able to comment on all of them, but I did visit them and was wowed by everything that you all have made! This week I chose to feature a DIY rug from the Rhinestone Beagle. Anita gave us wonderful instructions on how to make a runner from carpet tiles and some duct tape - ingenious! It is so easy, I am already thinking of where this would be perfect in my home! Go and check out her tutorial and everything else that she has made! (My boys loved that I was putting a picture of a dog on my blog.)

Grab a button to let everyone know that you have been featured here!

Rules:
*become a follower of Iron Violet Designs, I am super duper close to 200 followers, and I am going to do a giveaway when I reach that number - spread the word!! please ;)

*link up anything that you have made - sewn, cooked, crafted, etc. family friendly of course.
*must link to a blog post, not your home page, another linky party, etsy shop or giveaway.
*link back to this post so that others can join in on the fun. Grab a button or do a text link either one is fine with me.
*visit a few of the links and leave comments! I enjoy comments because it makes me feel like someone is actually reading what I write! ;)

Let's get started:

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Come on Spring

I don't know about all of you, but where I live spring seems to be taking its sweet time to get here. We will have a couple of nice days and then back to the cold. Take this morning for example. Thing #4 woke me up in a super excited voice telling me that it was snowing. Luckily nothing is sticking. But I am glad that I did not get up to run, because I would have frozen.

Anyway, in an effort to make it feel like spring I made myself a spring branch door thing. Not sure exactly what to call it. It is not a wreath, but similar. Maybe I'll just call it a spring bunch. I have seen similar things around blog land and loved how they looked.

I had the prefect hanging basket that I had picked up a while ago at JoAnn's, so I just had to get some flowers.

I got these flowers, but I ended up only using the flower ones. The white buds just did not fit, maybe for another project.

The one day we had nice weather this past week I decided to make this, so Thing #2 and I did most of it outside. I took some branches from a tree that we had pruned, and stuck them into my container. I did stick some of that floral foam in the bottom to help hold the branches in place.

You get a sneak peak at the bed I am working on, because I also did some more work on it - because it was so nice outside. I then had some more help when Thing #3 realized what we were doing. So Thing #2 and #3 helped me to remove the flowers and some leaves from the fake branches and then we glued them onto the real branches.

Add a simple ribbon bow and it is beautiful! The only downside was that I had to do a little bit of rearranging once I got it on my door because I did not take into account the room between my door and the screen. Also I had some branches that were too tall and got shut in the door.

But now we are good to go! It is so spring like. When I had craft group at my house this last week everyone said that it looked just like spring! Now if we can just get Mother Nature to help us out a little bit more.

I hope that you all have a sunny and warm day, and if you don't, head to the store and get some flowers and make yourself a spring bunch to make it feel like spring at your house!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Custom Coloring

I know that all of us have those projects that sit around for a while because you just cannot find that last perfect finishing touch. I am super excited though because as I was strolling through Hobby Lobby earlier this week I had one of the ah-ha moments.

You all know that I love flowers - and if you didn't let me tell you I L.O.V.E. flowers. But last year when my sister was just stopping through, she showed me this quilt pattern online. It is called LuLu's yoyo's from Pie Plate Patterns. It is free - which is great and you can get it here. But I just loved it and I had never made a yo-yo flower before.

I watched a couple u-tube videos on how to make them, then raided my stash and found I had everything I needed to make this quilt. So I got to work. But then I could never find the right rick-rack for my stems. So I set the quilt aside and almost a year later it hit me.

I could make my own custom coloring for my rick-rack. Rick-rack was on sale 50% off this week so I bought a couple of rolls of white that would be perfect for dying.

I then mixed up a water paint solution to the color I wanted. I should mention that I had not pulled the quilt out and so I was going by memory of what color I wanted. Not the best plan, but now I have to make it work! And yes that is a old toothbrush I am using to mix this all up.

I added my rick-rack to the paint water and mixed it a little.

I then was trying to decide where I could hang this to dry. It was a nice day outside and so I decided that I would hang it outside. Now I do not have a cloths line, so I clipped up to my pine tree. And it worked and dried super fast.

And you get a beautiful sage green colored rick-rack. It did turn out a little bit darker then the paint water, and I wish it had a little more lime green to it, but oh well.

Then I sewed it onto my quilt top, and now I just have to quilt it and place the flowers and I will be done. I am so excited about this being done - maybe more so because I found what I was looking for.

Here is my little one helping me place the yo-yo flowers onto the quilt. He usually likes to walk to the middle and sit down when I lay my quilts out to take a picture, so I was happy that he wanted to help on the side.

Now I have to decide what color I want my borders to be. I am thinking that darker red color for the big outside and maybe a green one for the skinny inside one. Any thoughts?

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