I Made That! Thursday Link Party #4

I apologize for being really late posting this!! Somehow I thought it was still Wednesday. Thanks so much for bearing with me!! Check out my latest posts, Sewing Room Reveal and DIY Ribbon Board. Thanks for stopping by!!

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Blog Planner II by Pursuit of Functional Home

This is a really great blog planner! I am definitely going to use this. Thanks so much for linking up, Judy!

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DIY Ribbon Board

I finally got to the tutorial!! Here she goes...

You will need:
a bulletin board
a yard of batting (plus or minus according to the size of your bulletin board - doesn't hurt to get extra and it's really cheap at Joann by the yard) - I don't know what thickness mine is - just kinda go by the feel

a yard of fabric (Joann for mine....HAD to have chevron)
upholstery tacks - I only ended up using 13 of them - so one of the 24-packs is definitely enough. (also from Joann)
two spools of ribbon (I used Offray - I believe they are about 9 yards each - I didn't use all of it but you will definitely need two spools)
stapler and LOTS of staples
pins
four hands ;)
That last one isn't mandatory, but it certainly helps.

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Step 1:
Lay your batting down and cut it approximately 5 inches bigger on all sides than the bulletin board. Next lay your fabric out and cut it the same way. Make sure you do this really careful (especially if you have chevron or stripes like mine) or you will have some crooked bulletin board going on.

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Step 2:

Lay your fabric wrong side up on a large surface, followed by the batting and the bulletin board.

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Step 3:
Make sure everything's nice and straight. Now you want to start stapling the edges down - not too close to the corners. Once you have them somewhat secure, cut a triangle out of the corners (or just fold them if you're not picky). Repeat on each corner. If you have hangers like the ones on my board, snip little holes in the top edge of the fabric and batting and stretch them over the hangers. Now finish pulling everything good and tight, and staple it all down.

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Step 4:
Here's the hard part: the placement of the ribbons. I give all the credit for this step to my mom. I'm more of a just-get-it-done-even-if-it-doesn't-look-perfect type of a person, whereas she is most definitely a perfectionist. Thanks, Mom!!
 Start out with the corners, and get those staples down. You want to pull them pretty tight, but not too tight. After you get those done, measure the distance from the ribbons to the edge of the board, and figure out how many and where you want the rest of the ribbons, and pin them in place. Or just ask your mom. :) Once you have them all pinned on, staple them on the back of the board.

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Step 5:

Now the fun part!! Put in the tacks. Not terribly hard to figure out - just put them in wherever the ribbons cross. You're done!!! I am so happy with how ours came out - it's SO much nicer than a plain, ugly bulletin board. Hope you liked the tutorial! Let me know how yours turns out.

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Thanks for visiting!! Please follow my blog and leave a comment!

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Sewing Room Reveal!!

Here it is!!! Finally!! The big reveal!! I realize this is not exactly a magazine-style looking sewing room, however, the total cost was something like $30. So with that in mind, it's not bad at all! 

Here's some very sorry-looking pictures of 

Before:

Everything was very cramped, the big table was in a different room, and it was just very blah. Not conducive to working at all. Now we have the knitting machines moved into another room (which we're also re-doing, so those pictures will be up in a little while also), and made this just our sewing area. 

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Here's the after:

 I re-did the bulletin board that you saw in the before picture and made it into a cute ribbon board! Click HERE for tutorial!

The jars of scraps and buttons are useful, while also giving you a little bit of decor.

Fabric stash! Can't wait to make stuff!

 I originally wanted to buy wooden letters and paint them in a chevron pattern, but absolutely no one had the right kind of letters, so I settled for scrapbook paper. Freehand cutting, as you can most likely tell. ;)

 Embroidery hoop art. Very simple to do, and it looks pretty cute. These things are so awesome - you can take the tiniest scraps and make them into this. The two small hoops are fabric samples from a curtain company. The others are from JoAnn. It ends up being a really cheap way to decorate, because even if you have to buy fabric, you only need 1/4 of a yard or so. The hoops run about $1.50.

Couldn't help myself. Who doesn't want to see pink highlighted fabric?!! Courtesy of my lovely Nikon Coolpix. 

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So what do you think? It's very simple, and not necessarily Pinterest-worthy, but it's a nice, decent space to create in, and very budget-friendly.

I'll be posting the tutorial for the ribbon board in a little while. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I'd love to have you follow my blog, and leave me a comment about what you think of the new sewing room!

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I Made That! Thursday Link Party #3

Welcome back to I Made That! Thursday! Sorry I've been MIA for a little while.
Consolation prize, however, is the sewing room reveal which I will be posting tomorrow! And a tutorial for a ribbon board to follow...so hopefully that will make amends. Thanks for your patience!!
Here's a small explanation for why there's been no new tutorials:

First time ever canning with a pressure cooker. Very interesting to say the least. Learned a few things, like how hot pepper feels under the fingernails. Amazing....definitely amazing. 

My own concocted refrigerator pickle recipe. They are also...eh...interesting. We're still deciding if they're really, really good or REALLY awful. I have a feeling they're going to be in the fridge for a VERY long time.

(great photography by the way....award winning in fact) Ha!

Produce from the garden. The potatoes are SO good! 

Beautiful roses from our garden - the scent of them fills the whole room.

Best. Deal. Ever. Scarves on clearance from Kohl's - a whopping $5.60 each. That is a pretttyyy good price for a nice scarf, and they're the perfect weight for summer, fall or winter (or spring). You can pretty much wear them any way you want, including as a shawl. Pretty awesome deal!

Now for the featured craft:

Color Wheel Dress by Nest Full of Eggs

This is such a cute dress that I am sure a girl would love. Thanks so much Rachel!

Now to the link party!! Thank you all so much for your participation! I really appreciate it.