Natalie's play area is under construction...

My summer project is to make Natalie's play area downstairs even cuter.

Before

I have gotten some great ideas from blogs all over the place.  The most inspiring one would be Modern Parents Messy Kids.  It's SUPER simple and all from IKEA.  I went the other day and got the magnetic board and spice containers but am waiting to put it up.
The reason is we are going to add this piece to the area so we need to wait to see if things shift.  Seems Natalie's toys are oozing everywhere!

I'm not a painter so I need to add stuff to the wall that's easy- insert vinyl wall art!  LOVE THIS STUFF!  I found a super cute vinyl tree at Baby Gift Station.

Reading to her friends

Then we have my PLAY project.  This was actually inspired from the show Cougartown.  Jules has a fun fabric covered EAT in her kitchen.  I bought the letters and fabric from Joann's.

First I painted the letters so the lighter fabrics wouldn't show the cardboard.

The I put the letters face down and traced them on the fabric.  I made sure the leave enough space around  it.

I put some cotton filler...

A little will go a long way

Cut the letters out of the fabric and wrapped them around the cardboard letters with a staple gun.  There was a lot of cutting and stapling.

I then covered the sides with folded material.

Just so Natalie remembers what to do in this area!

:)

 So those are the updates so far.  Hopefully by the end of the month we'll be done!

Krazy for Korkers!

We went to The Florida State Fair in February and I picked up some really cute curly bows- which I found out later are called KORKERS.  So the WEEK of The Orange and Blue game I decided Natalie needed a new bow for her first game and after looking everywhere on the web for a local place I found NOTHING.  So I started looking for korker bow tutorials and they are SUPER EASY and fun to make!  

This is what you will need:

3/8" Ribbon (I used grosgrain ribbon)

3/8" dowels (You can find them at any craft store- you just will need to cut them to size- mine were 18 in.)

Binder clips (Medium or small- large are too big)

Alligator clips (I found mine at Sally's)

Hot glue gun

And not pictured- a solder gun (to prevent fraying- fray glue can be used as well but can be messy)

Needle and thread  

Drawer liner

Start by pre-heating your oven to 250 degrees.  Wrap your dowels with your ribbon until covered and attach the binder clips (one on each side).  Bake for 20 minutes.  Take them out and let them FULLY cool.

Gently unwrap the dowels.  Lay your ribbon out on a flat surface.  

NOTE-The first bow I did I made a 5 curl cut (cut after each 5th curl) but it was a little too long so the second one I made a 4 cut curl and it looked much better.

NOTE- This would be the step where you would solder the edges.

                                   

The tutorial I watched said to use a large needle- all I had was an embroidery needle and that worked fine.

Thread your needle and start layering your bow.  The spot where your start sewing the ribbon together will end up being the bottom on your bow.  Rotate the ribbon as you add them and once you have all the ribbon on your needle go ahead and do a couple rounds to make sure the ribbon is secure.  Go up and down NOT around the ribbon.

Wrap your alligator clip with flat ribbon and glue down.  Make sure to go completely inside the mouth of the clip and loosely around the edge so it can open and close without restrictions.  Apply some hot glue to the top of the clip and then attach korker ribbon.  Apply a thin strip of the drawer liner on the inside of the slip- it helps prevent slipping.  AMAZING TIP!