Projectors and World Maps

This Projector project has been a super long process for me.
The actual wall art only took about an hour with the help of my boys.
But then I needed to decide what quote I wanted on the wall with it.
That took a while searching online to find the perfect one.
This quote comes from Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

Then I needed my sweet Sister-in-Law to cut the vinyl out for me.
We played around with different fonts and sizes until I finally designed it myself in photoshop.
I have included the design with the font types in this post.
Really that part didn't take very long.
But getting my boys to clean and organize their room and getting around to making curtains for their window took the absolute very longest.
I can't blame it all on the boys though.
I just got the curtains done yesterday.
So finally I can share this very cool piece of wall art.
We may add color or something to the places we have been, but I'm still undecided about that.
So until then, here's the finished project.

I hope you like it!

First I found a world map in Google Images I liked.  The hard part was that I wanted the United States to have each individual state.  I couldn't find a World map that had them, but just the countries for the rest of the world.

So I merged the two maps in Photoshop.  If you look too close, the Baja of the coast of California doesn't quite match up, but you probably wouldn't have noticed had I not told you about it. Then I took it to Staples for a transparency.  $1 well spent.

Then we set up the projector in their room and got to tracing.  We used paint pens from Michael's.

It was fun working on it with my boys.  We said things like, "I got Africa." 

"What are all these islands off Australia?"

"I call the United States!"

"South America is Done!"

"Sheesh, Greenland is HUGE!"

A few times we pulled out our real world map to figure out what exactly we were tracing.  

It was a great geography lesson for all of us.

Next I got the vinyl cut.  Here's the design with the font names at the bottom.

And finally Done!

The vintage school desk I inherited a super long time ago and we have had it in the kids room ever since.  My older boys can't fit in it any more but it still looks cool!

I hope you enjoyed your short trip around the world today!

Come back soon.  

I have lots more projector projects coming up and will be opening an Etsy store shortly.

So excited!

Chandeliers and Projectors

 I was wandering through The Graphics Fairy's blog and came across this gorgeous chandelier.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it as soon as I saw it.

It's so pretty.
So for my girl's birthday this year I made this piece of wall art for her room.  It was really simple to make and took minimal supplies.
I'm so excited to share it with you today.
She loves it and so do I.
I hope you do too.

Let me share how I made it.

First I printed out a copy of the chandelier from The Graphics Fairy and took it to Staples.

They made a transparency for me for $1.  Love that place!

I had a piece of foam core left over from this project.

I dug through my fabric stash and found a perfect piece of white broadcloth.  

After ironing it, I layed it out on the floor and measured to fit the piece of foam core.

I wrapped the foam core with the fabric and used my stapler to attach the fabric. 

Easy Peasy.

After the fabric was attached, I got out the projector and set it up.

I'm doing this on the floor, but on the table would work too.

I just turned on my favorite show and worked while I watched/listened to it.

I'm using a pink paint pen from Michael's, but I think a pink sharpie would do just the same and probably last a little longer.  There was just enough paint in the pen do make the Chandelier.

Now to hang it up in her room.

I just attached some heavy string to the back of the foam core with a couple of staples.

It doesn't need much because the foam is so light.

Remember the upcycled #10's I made a while ago?  She's still using them for her girly treasures.

I'm almost done with the curtains and bedding for her room.

I will share the full room reveal soon.

Happy Friday!

My Top 4 Pi Day Faves

Happy Pi Day!

I wanted to share some of my favorite 'Pi'-es today with you.

I am definitely making at least 2 of them. Probably more.

I hope you enjoy your Pi day today and any excuse to make Pie is a good one in my book!

Here they are in no particular order.

1. Whole Wheat Artisan Pizza

2. Sneaky Pizza

3. Apple Pie with Full Crust Tutorial

4. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Have a super fun Pi Day today!

More Ruffles and Maxies

Today I'm sharing one more Maxi skirt.
I also thought I'd play around with iPhoto and change things up a bit with my first pic.  I usually enhance the colors a bit, but thought I'd try Black and White this time.  Let me know what you think.  Maybe I'll try some different effects on future posts.

Anywho.  Back to my Maxi.

This beautiful textured fabric came from none other than my hands down favorite fabric store SAS.  They have 2 huge isles of knits and I always, always find some fabulous piece to play with.  I love the texture and it has the nice stretch that normal knit does so it is super comfortable.  When I wore it to church recently, a friend asked if I bought enough extra so she could make one too.  Sorry no. But I'm always up for another road trip to SAS.

Always.

This time I'm cutting more of an A line skirt, rather than the straight rectangle I shared before.

The bottom ruffle is about 6 inches thick.

Sew up the side seams and add the elastic waistband.

Gather up the bottom ruffle and pin in place.

Sew ruffle to skirt and you're done.

I didn't serge the edges, just left them raw.

I'm lazy like that sometimes.

But it's knit so I don't have to worry about raveling.

And done.

This skirt is super comfortable.  I just love it!

Plus it's black so it will go with anything.

This time I jst added a wide black belt and ribbon necklace.

Simple.  Classic.

Of course I'm freezing again for the pictures.

Can't you tell by my clenched fists.

One day I'll thaw out again.

My little black maxi.

Gotta love it!

Ruffles, Ruffles, Ruffles!

This week has been a crazy Ruffle-y week.

I guess you could say I'm kind of a ruffle addict.

For example this one.

And this one.

And this one.

Well this week I made no less than 13 ruffle skirts.

Yep. 13!

I know. I'm crazy.

That was a given a long time ago.

8 of them were for a friend who wanted some for her little girls.

We actually started a year ago and I was going to teach her how to do it herself.

Well we never got around to coordinating schedules so she just asked if I could make

them for her and she'd pay me.

No problem.

The sad part was the skirts we originally cut out 1 year ago don't fit her girls anymore.

So I finished the 4 small skirts to be used as gifts,

then made 4 larger ones that will fit her girls now.

I used 2 different styles.

One with the ruffles going in layers up the backside, and

the other with a circle flower in the front.

She also asked me to make some silky comfort blankies.

I ended up with 4 20x30 inch blankies.

They turned out so cute, it almost made me want another baby.

Amost!

And since I couldn't get enough of ruffley skirts,

I made 3 more for my girl.

They are all the same style, just different fabrics.

She was all to happy to pose for me.

Any reason to climb a tree is a good one.

Thanks baby girl!

Thanks for visiting today.

I got lots of inspiration wandering around Hobby Lobby today.

Be sure to come back and see what I've created.

Pinewood Derby - Pit Passes

I am now a Cub Scout Den Leader and as soon as I was put in, they had Pinewood Derby.  

I've done Cubs for most of my married life so I have done lots of Pinewood Derbys. 

I always do Pit Passes for the boys each time.  

Originally it was to keep parents, aka. DAD's away from the cars.  In our area it got pretty bad for a while where the boys never even touched their cars.  The dad's had them specially made by engineers and only the dad's could handle them.  I thought Cub Scouts was for the boy, not the Dad right?  

Anyway, I made the Pit Passes so that only the boy wearing the pass could enter the Staging area where the cars were kept, and be the only one to put their car on the track.  

It's become sort of a tradition for me.  And this year was no exception. 

Except for this was the first year I didn't have my own boy in Cubs for a long long time. 

It was weird not having to make a car this year.  But I thought I'd share some of the passes I made.  

Normally we weigh in the cars 2 days before the race and I keep the cars until race day.  This allows me to take pictures of each car so I can design and print the passes.  A couple of the boys didn't make it to weigh in so I had to improvise on their pass.  That's why there's a pic of the Annoying Orange.

Another boy who didn't make it to weigh in.

I'm giving you to blank generic passes for you to use if you wish.

There are two font choices too.

Feel free to use them, just don't sell them.  That's not cool!

Gentlemen, start your engines!