Sweet Striped Nursery turned Big Girl Room

Two years ago today was my due date, unfortunately

my little miss was extremely fashionably late (10 days).

But regardless, it was time to turn her nursery into

a big girl room.

Here is her sweet swiped nursery before:

and here is the after:

Sorry for the lack of natural light, I actually kind of like it,

I think it makes it look extra cozy and welcoming!

The room was a hodge podge of DIY projects,

that came together quite nicely.

Here is a $10 side table I bought:

And here it is with a fresh coat of paint and some

Anthropologie handles:

The headboard, pillows and bedskirt were made.

The bedding was not.

It's girly, it's cozy, it's calm, and it's sweet!

So my budget for the project was $100 which made for

some creative projects. But luckily I could re-use a few

things from the nursery, and the bed was a hand-me-down.

So here's the breakdown:

DIY Headboard-$8

DIY Bedskirt- $9 (can't beat $3/yd fabric!)

Bedside Table- $10 (had the paint)

Knobs-$16 (splurge!)

Sheets- $12

Comforter and Sham- $42

DIY Lamp- $4 (had the shade)

Wooden Bunny- $5 (West Elm)

DIY White ruffled pillows-FREE (had fabric)

Tan Pillow with Doily- had in nursery

Monogram Sign- had in nursery

Curtains- had in nursery (Pottery Barn Outlet)

Rocking Horse- had in nursery

Rocking Chair- gift from Grandparents

TOTAL COST $109

I know, I went over, but only by 9 dollars,

so I'm ok with that!

Linking up with:

Big Girl Room

I have started to convert the nursery into a big girl room.

Yesterday I made an upholstered headboard

and some ruffled pillow shams.

For inspiration and a tutorial on upholstered

headboards click HERE.

This one took me about 1 hour.

I made a template on cardboard, traced it onto

some plywood, and my hubby cut it out for me.

Stay tuned for the final big girl room reveal next Thursday!

With pictures, tips, and a price breakdown.

Castle Themed Girl's Room For Only $30

When my husband and I found out we were having our little girl (who is now 2), we decided we wanted to do a castle themed bedroom, but we didn't want it to look cheap, and my husband was very clear that he didn't want it to be all pink!

I initially wanted to do a stone wallpaper on the bottom of her walls, but that was going to cost about $200! With a new baby on the way, we didn't have that much to spend on just wallpaper. So I got the idea to paint my own stones on certain parts of her wall.

Here's how it turned out! I absolutely love it! And it's not as hard as it looks!
First, I painted all the cobblestone. I used toll paint. It's super cheap, covers well, and is easy to work with. I sponged the area a neutral grey color. I didn't fully cover.

Then, I drew in the black lines. I should have done them with a pencil first, but I think they turned out great anyway.

Next, I sponged around the outside of each stone with a little darker grey. The effect when you step back is wonderful! The stones were time consuming, but I love it!

I just did around the door and window and other random corners.

We decided to create another window on an empty wall. I just measured the window she had and made it the same size. The picture inside was a little more difficult. I sponged the tree and grassy area by making several different shades of green.

The sky I painted blue and added some clouds. The water was done very similar.

The most difficult part, the castle, my husband actually designed and painted. If you don't have an extremely gifted artist in the house, you could project the image and trace and paint it.

My husband even included several secret pictures for my daughter to find. There is the boat from Princess Bride, The Little Mermaid, chess pieces, a book, and much more. He is so creative!

For her window treatment, I set out to find a branch laying on the ground, and then I nailed it to the wall. This is a super cheap way to get a very unique curtain rod. I draped the purple fabric and hot glued some flowers onto the branches.

I did the same thing with the drape over her bed, but she has since pulled all the flowers off the branch...

She even has an adorable stuffed bear rug she got from Grandma and Grandpa.

I love the way her room turned out, and I love that it can grow with her. The paint and the fabric came to a grand total of less than $30!

What do you think of this castle room?

Interchangeable Hair Flowers Tutorial

I can't take credit for this wonderful genius idea. A friend of mine had one of these for her little girl. We were looking at it and decided that we could totally make our own! What's cool about them, is that they are totally versatile. You can make different pieces that match different outfits and totally mix and match them as you like. They are not that hard to make at all!

Here are the supplies you will need to make your own:

faux flowers or material to make your own flowers

felt

hole punch

hot glue or a strong glue of some type

tulle, faux flower leaves, accents to go with your flowers

buttons or something similar to make up the interchangeable flower centers (I made 3 center pieces, so I used 3 buttons)

plain hair clip

a plain stretchy headband (optional)

hardware

Here is some hardware you should get. I've labeled each piece so that you can see how they go together throughout the tutorial. Make sure that your B piece can fit around the C post. My A piece fit around the D screw. You will only need the A piece if you want a bigger center piece (button) for your flowers. 

Here's a closer look at pieces C and D. The D piece screws into the C piece. I found these pieces at a hardware store. They are super cheap. I think it was like $0.40 for the both of them.

Here are some flowers I used and a button I liked.

1. Putting together the hair-clip piece 

Put piece B over piece C and secure with glue, then glue this to the hair-clip like shown below.

2. Making the center pieces

Get your buttons that you will be using for the center pieces. Cut off the back piece that extends out on each button.

You will then glue piece D to the back of the buttons. If you are using a large button, you can glue piece D to piece A before you glue it onto the button. Each of these pieces will screw into the hair-clip piece. I ended up with a gold one, a pearl one, and a black one.

3. Putting together your flowers

Pull apart some faux flowers. I ended up with separate petals with holes in the center. Make sure that you match up the hole in the middle and just hot glue around the hole and stack up and glue the petals back together one-by-one. Choose as many flowers as you want!

Or you can make your own flower, like I did here. I almost felt like I was sinning as I cut apart an old book to get my petals--but it was totally the look that I was going for. I brushed the edges with some gold paint. I also cut up some tulle to go in between the petals.

I glued them all together one by one and punched a hole in the center.

4. Making the flower accents

Grab your piece of felt. I traced around a spool of thread to make my circles. You will need two circles of felt for each accent.

Punch a hole in the center of each piece of felt.

Put your accent piece, in this case--a feather, in between the pieces of felt and glue them together.

Make as many accent pieces as you want!

Here is the assortment of pieces I put together and ended up with.

Now all you have to do is pick out the pieces that you want on the hair-clip, stack them onto the hair-clip post, and screw on the center piece.

Check out all of the different looks that you can get out of this project! You can even clip them onto headbands for something different. The possibilities are endless :)

Linked up with:

Today's Creative Blog 

DIY Minnie Costume

Here's my version of a DIY Minnie Mouse costume

all you need is:

-1 pair of Minnie ears

-1 yard of Minnie polka dot fabric

-2 yards red tulle

- yellow shoes

I found THIS tutorial for the skirt,

and added a top piece and straps to make it

a dress.

And for the shoes I found these white ones

at The Salvation Army for 50 cents and spray

painted them yellow.

I stuffed them with newspaper to keep from

spraying the inside.

It came out exactly how I hoped

which is always a nice surprise!

Pillowcase Dress

Pillowcase dresses are an easy project for

first time sewers or beginner sewers.

It was the first project I ever did on my own, and

they turned out shockingly well.

Here's my little one at 5 months, modeling

her first pillowcase dress, made out of a

Pottery Barn pillowcase

This one I made for her at Easter,

also a PB Teen sham

And this one is for next summer,

also PBTeen (I get them at the outlets for

a few dollars)

Check out THIS tutorial that I used to make mine!