home decor

Paper Mobile

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

Whew…do you have that one month where it seems like every other day is someone’s birthday? And not just anyones birthdays, but our twins, both of my sisters, my mom, my husband, mine, a handful of close friends and family… June is our month and it even trickles a little into May and July.  I was crafting crazy! One of the last of these is my little sister, Emily.

I wanted to make her something for her adorable post college, #bosslady apartment. I took the opportunity to finally use my sewing machine for the first time since I got it at Christmas. But I wasn’t sewing fabric, I used paper for this super easy mobile!

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the links below.

You will need:

  • Printed cardstock paper
  • Sewing machine
  • White thread
  • Embroidery hoop
  • String for hanging

Emily recently traveled to Morocco and I felt a lot of these prints were very appropriate. I cut out triangles with my handy Cricut machine because I wanted them to be the same size.

My mom set up my machine and gave me a quick refresher course as I have not sewn for at least 20 years! Putting two pieces together, back-to-back as they were not printed on one side, I ran them through the machine with a straight stitch. Make sure to have extra thread out when you begin so that you can tie the row onto your hoop.For an unplanned, organic feel, don’t worry too much about spacing them equally apart.
After completing each row, I tied them onto the inside portion of an embroidery hoop. Tie string to four equally spaced sides of the hoop and bring them together in the center for hanging.

That’s it! A super modern yet delicate mobile for your home.




Yarn & Gold Hoops

| A Peace of Creativity

I am always looking for things to hang on the walls but sometimes a room already has too many frames or mirrors.  The spot I was looking for needed something more organic with texture.  When I saw the DIY Yarn Wall Art by Harlow & Thistle, I knew I had to give it a try.  You can find the full tutorial here.

You will need:

  • Metal hoops
  • Yarn (in coordinating colors and textures)
  • Butcher’s twine
  • A good pair of fabric scissors to trim the bottoms
  • THAT’S IT!

I actually found these gold hoops from the craft store first, but picking out yarn textures and colors took me forever!  There are so many shades of grey, khaki and white, finding the three that go together was challenging. The khaki and cream are pretty standard but I love love love the silvery grey bulky yarn I found.  I love the texture and that it has a slight sheen to it.

Cut the pieces of yarn in 4 foot strips, and two at a time, looped them over the ring with the knot portion facing forward.

After deciding how far you want to go along the bottom of the ring, start on the second loop with the next color. I did the same with the khaki: 4 foot strips, bunched in twos and then looped over the ring, knot facing forward.

For the smallest ring, I wanted to try macrame. I used a tutorial by Parlor. Her illustrations made the process way easier than I expected. Next time, I would like to try it with string meant for macrame as the yarn was quite stretchy and the fibers did not give the knots the definition it needed.

I used cotton butcher’s twine to wrap all of the rings together and create a hanging loop as the yarn would not hold up all of that weight. To finish, trim the ends into whatever shape you choose! I also knotted the bottoms of the grey yarn as they were starting to unravel.

I love this because it was really easy and something different to add to your wall space! Every part can be customized to fit the look and feel of your home.

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Guest Peace: A Creative Space

| A Peace of Creativity
scarethread Rowley familyI share my home with my awesome husband, Ben, two gorgeous children, Jenson and Johanna, and my two hairy feline friends, Fluffy and Shiny. I was born and raised in Vienna, Austria, and moved to England to go to University, where I lived for 10 happy years and met Ben. We decided to move back to Vienna 7 years ago for various reasons, and we are so happy we made that decision! We both love living in this wonderful city so much.
I work for a non-governmental organization, and spend most of my weekends with my children hanging out in a park or lake somewhere. After hours, I am usually eating great food that Ben has prepared for me (he’s amazing in the kitchen!), drinking a cheeky glass of wine and watching Netflix with some embroidery on my lap. I try to make time to sew and draw as often as is humanly possible. If I could have one wish, other than the usual (end poverty, peace on Earth, etc..) it would be to have more time in any given day, or to not have the need to sleep (hmmm…., I love sleep, so scrap that idea). So if it could be arranged that a single day could be extended to 30 hours, and then the extra 6 hours could be used exclusively for creative and leisurely pursuits, that would be wonderful.
Photo: Sarah and her family

The goal: to have a space that was exclusively mine. As a full time working mum, I really felt the need for a space where I could sit and relax and be creative once the kiddies were asleep. It had to be functional, yet Pinterest-worthy. And in this space I would be creative, I would have all the time in the world to create masterpieces, enjoy the quiet alone time I sometimes so desperately craved, all the while sipping blissfully on a glass or two of wine. Happy! scarethread_01.JPGI decided that the bedroom would be the perfect spot. We drove to IKEA and found some amazing grey geometric wallpaper, and this happy looking yellow chair, and table. It was lovely. And I enjoyed sipping my coffee in the lounge chair during the occasional quiet moment.

But it wasn’t quite the creative space I desired. So, for my birthday in April, I asked Ben for my very own desk. Off we drove to IKEA again, I love IKEA!

I decided I wanted a bamboo top rather than the standard white top. In our excitement, we bought it without measuring (helpful tip: always measure before you buy!). The bamboo top wasn’t wide enough!! But that’s okay because the bamboo looked way better than the white, so I just got Ben to “fix” it by sawing the trestle legs a bit. Photo Aug 28, 8 51 59 PM.jpg
This is the table all ready to go, I just needed to add some finishing touches (notice how we tackled this project with a glass of rosé on the go. classy! And there’s Jenson, making himself at home). While we were at IKEA we bought that plant (now called Agatha, she has since been relocated to the living room, where the cats take a nibble out of her once in a while… sad times), and we also bought that chair, but I think I would like to replace it with something else in the future. I’m not sure what I’m looking for yet but I’ll know it when I see it!

My brother recently bought a gorgeous house just outside of Vienna, and he found a bunch of old window frames in the basement that were used in the house originally. He was going to throw them out anyway, so I think I was doing him a favour taking them off his hands. Best find ever!
Photo Aug 28, 8 59 23 PM.jpgI was tempted to sand them down and paint them an awesome colour, but when I put them against the wallpaper I thought they looked awesome just as they were. They had a rustic charm to them. That decision saved me a lot of work, which meant more time for crafting and wine. Hurray! (There’s Ben again, doing all the manual labour.)

I slowly started to add more personal items to the area to make it a place that I would feel inspired and happy. There are two photos taken by Ben when we first moved to Vienna: he took the same photo over the Danube river for about a year and some of the results we just stunning; an old photo illustration that I had custom made for me back in my early twenties and a number of little cacti plants and other bits and bobs.

scarethread_08.JPGThis space continues to be a work in progress. Eventually I want to add some shelving so that I can put the cacti and other more useful items on it, which will allow the desk to be a bit more spacious. I also want to add some extra storage to house my small fabric stash that I am desperate to transform into a LARGE fabric stash.

scarethread_11I would also like to get a record player in the room somewhere. I’m in the habit of automatically turning the telly on in the evening, and then I inevitably find myself distracted by zombies or Tom Hardy, depending on what I’m watching. I think it would be lovely to listen to some records and fully immerse myself in my creative little space. I have my heart set on a Crosley X UO Sterling Vinyl Record Player in turquoise from Urban Outfitters. I think this would make the perfect Christmas present (she says with her fingers and toes crossed, hoping a certain husband will get the hint).

Thank you so much for listening! Sarah xxx

For more of Sarah’s creative adventures, make sure to follow her on Instagram! @scarethread

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Guest Peace: Geometric Cork

| A Peace of Creativity

When I moved into my new office a year ago, I wanted to make it mine in a way I hadn’t done in my last office, but as often happens, I was overwhelmed with such a blank slate. I wanted a way to incorporate photos of family and friends in a way that was suitable for a professional office, that didn’t include a lot of picture frames (talk about too many choices…), and that kept the photos in a place that I could enjoy them. So many of my colleagues have photos in their offices that are only visible to their visitors. I wanted these to be for me when I need a little pick-me-up or to help me escape to some of my favorite places and past vacations.
My plans often came to back to corkboard, but it didn’t seem polished enough or appropriate for the office…a little too college dorm room. Roaming the aisles of Target one night, I was struck with the inspiration to add some geometric designs, fancy push pins, and GOLD paint. All of my supplies were purchased at Target and the whole project easily came in under $20 and took me just one evening to complete. The corkboard even came with adhesive to easily hang them on the wall.  I used painters tape to mark off random designs on each piece of corkboard, playing around with different angles and amounts of space.

 I painted with the eggshell paint first, allowing about 15 minutes to dry in between coats. Since the cork soaks up paint, it took about three or four coats to get the coverage I wanted.

 After the eggshell portions were dry, I removed the tape and applied new tape in different directions to mark off where I wanted the gold portions to be. Again, three or four coats of paint were needed.

  
I almost didn’t want to cover them with pictures once I hung them, but I love that I can see all my photos when I look up from my computer screen.

 It’s so easy to change them out when I feel like it without worrying about the photos needing to fit in a certain frame or be a certain size, and since all of my photos these days are just inexpensive online prints of iPhone photos, I have a never-ending supply of new material.

393197_10100930939217166_496989639_nLAUREN AND I HAVE BEEN BEST FRIENDS FOR OVER 20 YEARS AND SHE IS MY “GO TO” PERSON FOR ANY AND ALL THINGS CRAFTY. HER TECHNICAL MIND MIXED WITH A LOVE OF DESIGN MAKES FOR A BEAUTIFUL AND EASY EXECUTION OF WHATEVER SHE DECIDES TO CREATE.

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Toddler Table 2

| A Peace of Creativity

Since making the toddler table for my nephew, I figured that I should probably work on the one in my own home!

Using one of my favorite gold acrylic paints, the same one I used to paint the wedding frame, I put about two coats on the bare wood toddler table.  After drying, a quick coat of acrylic gloss really brought out all of the tiny gold sparkles in the paint.

  I love that this table is simple and classy yet perfect for my little one.  It is still a toddler table but fits right in to the decor of our living room!

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Agate Coasters

| A Peace of Creativity

At Christmas I wanted to give my work team something fun and useful with a little dash of glamour.  The school colors where we work are purple and gold and I remembered that awesome little tub of hypnotizing gold paint Desiree from Heirloom Paper introduced me to.  I also remembered the beautiful agate coasters she had at her home during her crafting night and how she painted them with the awesome gold paint.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the links below.

I found these purple agate coasters and they came four to a set which was perfect for our four member team.

Using a thin paintbrush, I painted just the edges of the agate coaster to give them each a little pop.  The best thing about this paint is how much of a shine it gives you and how close to metal it actually looks. To increase the shine factor, you can even add a coat of clear gloss.

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The set came with four little, self adhesive, plastic bumpers to put on each coaster.

Adding the gold paint really upped the “fancy” factor on these.  Thank you Desiree for inspiring this project!






GUEST PEACE: Fabric Leaf Coasters

| A Peace of Creativity

246676_4716433631114_1290277048_nJulie a fifty-something, married, full-time working mom of recent college grad Eric and college junior Ali.  After two years, she is starting to discover some good things about the life of an empty nester:  expanding from focus on the kids and career to her place in a larger world, with time to appreciate both natural and designed beauty.  So she crafts and bakes now whenever the inspiration strikes…. why not?

I needed coasters for our high rise condo and have always liked fabric coasters.  I searched online but couldn’t find fabric coasters that I really liked, so thought I’d try making some myself.  I wanted to add an organic touch to our contemporary decor, so I chose to make coasters that mimic various leaves:  maple, palm, gingko, etc.

1.  Sketched a few different leaf shapes onto felt and cut them out.

2.  Cut out a matching shape in a complementary felt color.
3. Embroidered the “veins” on the outward side of each felt leaf.  I used both metallic and matte embroidery flosses.4. Hand stitched the two sides together (right sides out) and embellished with a crystal droplet bead for a little bling.
I love how they turned out!  You can use different leaves or colors for different seasons.  Or different holiday themes:  Hearts, flowers, snowflakes, etc.  Maybe even initials or words.  They cost pennies to make and they’re both decorative and functional!

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Mammoth Love

| A Peace of Creativity

About a month ago, my awesome family so graciously let us and our good friends use their condo in Mammoth Lakes, California. We wanted to do something to thank them as we had such a wonderful time there. Decorating for your home is a hard enough feat never mind decorating for your vacation home.  As I love the challenge of interior design, I thought that some custom made, Mammoth inspired pieces would be a welcomed addition.

If you are familiar with Mammoth, this symbol should also be familiar to you.

Using the same technique as my personalized pillows, I added on the Mammoth logo and a green heart to a pillow I found that matches their couch.
  

During our time there, my husband and I went on a mini excursion to capture the beauty and nature among the grounds of their condo complex in photos. I picked out these IKEA frames, a personal favorite, in this very rich but modern brown.

We picked out a handful of photos to have printed and put them in the frames. These days, it is so easy to take photos with our phones always handy, but don’t forget to take the time to print some of them.  You really can’t see all of the detail on your devices and I think you will be surprised at how much better they look printed.

While my husband took photos with his DSLR, I took the one of Lake Mary with my iPhone 6 and was amazed at the quality of the 8×10 print. Here are some of our favorite shots.

Mammoth Love

I was so excited to give these to my family because I know how much they absolutely love their home in Mammoth and I hope these gifts represent that love for them!

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