Wall of Shame No More

You probably know that you can upload an image and have it printed on canvas. Did you know that you can choose to print on canvas that isn't then stretched on a frame and it's considerably less expensive? I'll show you how I used rolled Uprinting canvas prints to put an end to my wall of shame.

What's a wall of shame? Well, there are a number of neglected corners in our home. We moved over the summer of 2010 and in addition to sorting and unpacking, we replaced 75% of the flooring, the entire kitchen, the bulk of two bathrooms and created a backyard where there wasn't one. A combination of contractor cooperation and DIY all while my husband was away for a year knocked me out. Know what's sadder than a neglected corner? A neglected MIDDLE. In the middle of my kitchen these two Ikea frames have been hanging for over a year. I knew I wanted this size and this style... and could not make up my mind about what to put in them. So there they've sat. That's my version of a wall of shame. Or was. (First-world drama here, obviously.)

My Dad came for a visit and actually laughed out loud. "Nice art, BZ." Employing my childhood nickname did not soften the blow. Hmph. He who no longer has small Curious Georges running around has forgotten that these frames are far safer on the wall than sitting somewhere waiting to be hung.

Before Christmas I decided to tape K's holiday artwork to the front. 'Cause I could. So much fancier, right?

And now that it's summer... maybe it's time for the holiday art to be put away? You think?

Just as I had decided I really needed to deal with this problem, I got an e-mail asking whether I'd like to try UPrinting. The timing could not have been better. I had decided that I'd need to do some sort of large-format print myself, since I needed horizontal art and nearly everything I'd found online that I liked was vertical.

I got to work creating my 16 x 20 files. I used Illustrator, but you could create images a million different ways. I made simple overlapping silhouettes of flatware, and a sentiment I loved. "If we feed you - we do love you." It applies to our children, our dogs, and our visitors. I chose Blackout for the font and did my arranging, saved the files as PDFs and hopped over to UPrinting to upload my files and create my rolled canvases. You'll find them under "Canvas Prints" in the left-hand menu.

UPrinting provided one for me to review and I bought the second (and paid for the shipping) with my fingers crossed that I'd be happy with the results. So glad I did.

Here's what I uploaded.

Because I knew I'd be wrapping these around a board to drop into my frames, I chose to add a 2" border all the way around the print. There's no extra charge to add it. If you wanted to take advantage of the fact that the rolled canvas is less than half the cost of a wrapped canvas and DIY the wrap yourself on a craft store canvas using a staple gun, you'd also need this 2" of room to do that.

After I uploaded my PDFs, the colors that appeared on screen changed a bit, and I was a little nervous that the print colors might be way different. Turned out my worrying was for nothing, because the colors in the finished product were perfect. Here're my canvases fresh out of the mailing tube.

I was/am really impressed with the quality of the canvas and the print. The colors are bright, clear and smooth. Nothing about them, even with close inspection, says "a digital printer printed me".

So to put my canvases to use, I took my frames apart. I put the original mat and glass aside and used the sturdy backing board from the frame to wrap my canvas around.

If you're using an open-back frame that doesn't come with a backing board you can use, I'd suggest these canvas boards. You can get them at most craft/art supply stores for a few dollars a piece.

I laid my canvas print down on my cleaned-just-for-this-special-occasion kitchen countertop and lined my backing board up on the center. To get your canvas nice and smooth on the front, start by carefully but firmly pulling it taut in the center in one direction and taping it with a sturdy tape like duck tape. Then do the center in the other direction. You've got to use strong tape. Masking or gift wrap tape will give up faster than a four year old trying to tie shoelaces. Start in the center and work out to the corners. Starting with the corners will lead to wrinkles.

Trim the bulky corners a bit.

And that's all there is to it. Slide them into the frames and hang them on the wall.

I'm sooooo happy that this wall is finally bright and happy. And now you know that if I feed you... I love you!

Questions? Shoot. Thoughts? Share 'em.

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Uprinting and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

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Another Trip to NYC

So Skirt Week wrapped up... and then we had a week of radio silence. When the blog gets quiet, it's generally because we're both too busy living to blog. And this was that sort of week. Adrianna is an hour-ish away! She'll be here this week to visit, and we have BIG plans. Like-- have a conversation AND keep the kids alive at the same time, and maybe feed them. With 5 girls between us, that's all it takes to make a big plan.

This past week I wasn't blogging because my husband and I ran away to New York to celebrate our 13th anniversary. We made the trip last year, too, but this time we left the kids at home. We took the train again. And this time there was no one climbing on me or demanding anything. Ahhhh.

Two and a half uninterrupted episodes of Downton Abbey later we were in the city. (I'd never have guessed *I'd* like Downton Abbey-- and was even more surprised that it was something we'd both be able to watch!)


Each trip had its high points, and I'd do either trip again. We stayed at Hotel New Yorker again, in the middle of the fashion district. I made a little time for fabric shopping, which'll be its own post eventually. But the bulk of the trip was spent doing the wandering around sorts of things we like to do together, like:

Eating breakfast in relative calm at a diner. Okay, the same diner twice. But that was most excellent because...

...the diner had lemon ricotta pancakes that were worth eating twice in two days. 

We spent hours wandering around MoMA and I loved all of it, even the rainbow of museum guides

Plenty of art that I immediately appreciated like this Masson

And then plenty of other pieces, like this one, that were just fascinating. Yes, really, this IS the art. It's not just where a piece used to be. Made me wonder whether maintenance workers have ever gotten into trouble for "fixing" something that wasn't actually supposed to be fixed?

The MoMA shops are almost as fun as the museum.

My husband was particularly entertained by this mug.

Dinner at Del Frisco's. The dinner was already fantastic when our sweet waitress asked us whether we were celebrating something. She brought us dessert and two glasses of prosecco, on the house. It's a wonder I could still walk back to our hotel by the time we were done. I was already overstuffed before that.

Not my "style", but this street vendor's sign might show up around my house in another format someday.

I've made a number of trips to Times Square, and I don't think I'll ever get over how massive and bright it is.

From the R Lounge you can escape a bit of the street-level chaos and just sit back and watch the light show.

We saw a taping of The Daily Show-- an episode with Dennis Leary. And now I know that all of that crazy cheering from the audience is enthusiasm that's partly about the show itself and partly about the painfully long wait to see the show being over.

As we were walking to The Daily Show, we passed Kidville, a place that I'd not heard of until they asked to include the drawer stickers on their deals site, and now I happened to walk by the building on the same day that the deal went live. Weird coincidence, no?

Silly photos like this to be found on Instagram - @crafterhours

And now we're back to reality. Reality's not bad, it's pretty good, actually-- but it's so nice to take a break from it now and then. Did I mention this was the first time we've gone anywhere alone for our anniversary since before kids? Some years work travel means we're not in the same place. Nice to take a break from that, too.

Since having kids, every time I leave the house overnight it takes about as many nights to get back into the routine as the number of nights I spent away. Will it always be that way?

Skirt Week: That's a Wrap!

This year's skirtpalooza was fun, no? We like to summarize all of the fun in one post... just for fun. A skirtpalooza linkpalooza. For anyone wandering in who's not heard of skirt week, it's alllll here. Or here for 2011.

We started out with this announcement and invitation to join us. We then set up the four pools for skirts:   a-line, full, straight and children's and shared the lineup of guest posts, including skirts from:

Sabra from Sew a Straight Line

Janica from JaniJo (our readers' choice full skirt winner 2011!) 

Michael Ann from Michael Ann Made (our readers' choice straight skirt winner 2011!)

Stacey from Boy oh Boy oh Boy!

Kim and the talented team at Spoonflower

Disney from Ruffles and Stuff

Jessica from Happy Together

Meg from Elsie Marley

Jess from Craftiness is not Optional

Jessica from Running with Scissors

Elisabeth from My Growing Home

Corinnea & Jessica from Created Blissfully

Natasha from Little Pink Monster

oh, and us too. Twice.

We spent a week parading our awesome Skirt Week sponsors through your living room (or bedroom or office or poolside, wherever it is you read our blog). They included:

Lilac Lane

Birdsongs and Bows

Fabricworm

Whimsy Couture

Jamie Christina

Made by Rae

Little Lizard King

The Fabric Fairy

Ribbon Retreat

Sew Liberated

Fishsticks Designs

Twill Tape Guy

After the sponsor parade we identified and thanked our fabulous panel of judges who dug through *365* skirt entries to choose their favorites. Our judges included:

1: Ashley of Lil Blue Boo  2: Meg of Elsie Marley  3: Amy of Mod Podge Rocks and 12 other sites  4: Rae of Made by Rae  5: Michael Ann of Michael Ann Made  6: Sabra of Sew A Straight Line  7: Natasha of Little Pink Monster  8: Jen of Upcycled Education  9: Kim of Crafty NH Mom  10:  Disney of Ruffles and Stuff  11: Florence of Flossie Teacakes  12: Jessica of Happy Together  13: Mandy of Sugar Bee Crafts  14: Jess of Craftiness Is Not Optional  15: Stacey of Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy  16: Susan of Living With Punks  17: Janica of JaniJo  18: Anna of Noodlehead  19: Jessica of Running With Scissors

And during the week of Skirt Week competition, 40 finalists competed for the four reader's choice and four judge's choice awards. The winners for A-Line, Full, Straight and Children's categories were all finalized.

This year's winners by category were:

A-line Reader's Choice: Skirt With Peepholes by MissPatee!

A-line Judge's Choice: Skirt With Pockets And Snaps by Mie!

Straight Reader's Choice:  MissPatee with the Trees in the Forest Skirt!

Straight Judge's Choice: Layers of Petals Skirt by Mama Says Sew!

Full Reader's Choice:  Coral Maxiskirt from Tes Pes al Miayo!

Full Judge's Choice: The Crescent Skirt by Looking At Stars!

Children's Reader's Choice: Double Layer Circle Skirt from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.

Children's Judge's Choice:  Vintagely Modern Skirt by Simple Simon & Co!

WHEW! Can't skirt it any longer. Time for a nap. Thanks, everyone, for playing along!

Styled by Tori - Easy DIY Jewelry

Did you know that Tori Spelling and I are BFF's? Well, practically. Her dressmaker/celebrity tailor is a long-time friend of my BFF. So we're practically sisters. And now that Skirt Week has wrapped up it's finally time to share an instant gratification project I've been working on. Waaay faster than sewing prize-winning skirts. Or in my case, coordinating their competition.

So, my almost-a-sister friend Tori has a lot going on. Three kids, one in the works, a new book, a reality show, a new crafty TV show, and-- a line of jewelry, "Styled". I was able to dig through a whole pile of her new line of jewelry components to make some myself and show you how simple it is. 

JoAnn and Michael's both carry it, I'm told, though it varies by location. You can also buy it through JoAnn online if there's not one of those stores near you. At the store near me there are two endcaps that display the four styles-- one end for "Glam" and "Boho"--

And another for "Glitz" and "Noir". What's cool about these is that there are friendly connector pieces for everything. You don't have to have pliers or snips to attach any pieces together. Just clip them. And then when you change your mind, unclip them and mix them a different way. For the people who read our blog that are more sew-y than crafty, here's your chance to get your crafty feet wet without stress. And price-wise, they're reasonable, as you'd expect from these two craft stores. (If you look closely you can see a few prices in these photos.)

Before we look at a project that uses the connectors, let's look at one that's just as easy and adds fun to a purse.

Out of all of the pieces, and there are a LOT to choose from, this one is my favorite for two reasons. First, it reminds me of my super-stylish grandmother, Grammy. She used to let me play with her fancy handbags and they had glitzy pieces like this attached. (I haven't asked recently, but I bet she'd still let me.) Second, I love digging through other bloggers' posts with vintage jewelry they've found and repurposed, but *I* don't seem to ever find any worth using. Maybe it's the people that get there way earlier in the morning than I do? I don't know, but I know I love this piece and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

My thrift adventures turned this up. A sweet, simple little silver satin bag. These are a lot easier to find than vintage baubles. It might've even been half-price day for the purple tags, I can't remember. I love the clean lines of this. (Not so much the strap, we're just gonna tuck that inside and pretend it's not there.)

All this requires is the bag, the pendant from the Noir line and a needle and thread.

These clutch bags usually have a fairly thin cardboard inside that shape the flap. Easy peasy to stitch right through.

A few stitches to tack the pendant down on either side and some sturdy knots and it's ready to go.

Ta da! Ready for date night. A really fancy one. Which should really happen more often than it does. Making a note to work on that.

Now, for a coordinating accessory. This coral ribbon is slightly neon in real life, and this is about the extent of my commitment to the current neon trend. These connectors make it so easy to pair, unpair, re-pair, that I can see this necklace bottom paired with a jewel-toned ribbon for the holidays or another springy color next year when the new age of neon has passed.

To use a wide satin ribbon, just pinch a pleat together and stitch through.

Tuck the tail around and tack it...

Hiding your start and finish threads in the middle.

So easy it should be considered cheating, right?

These connectors are generously sized so that you could use necklace tops or bracelets from the Styled collection, all sorts of ribbon and fabric straps, necklaces or bracelets you already have, embroidery floss, twine, the telephone cables nobody uses anymore... you get the idea.

Because it's Tori and we're so close and all, I set aside my aversion to self-portraits for blogging and will share this.

So there you have it. Just two of so many ways to pick what you like best and quickly mix and match. I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Darice and Blueprint Social, but as usual the opinions in this post are alllll mine.

And another thing: There are a whole lot of other bloggers who are also part of this campaign, and collectively there are about 47,231 other ideas of what to do with this huge, flexible collection. Check 'em out, it's fun to hop around: