Denver Bronco Baby Onesies

A few years ago I opened a shop on Etsy called Star Creek Creations.  I have made and sold 100's of appliqued onesies, as well as T-shirts for kids and adults.  I've been too busy this year to do many custom orders, but have had some instock items available in the shop.  One of my best sellers has always been my Denver Bronco onesie, so I opened up customs for those again recently.  Today I made 10 of them (size Newborn, 0-3 months, and 3-6 months) to keep my Bronco loving customers happy.  My favorite part of making this style is that I typically sell them to people who don't live in Colorado.  

High fives all around for Bronco love all over the United States!  

Here is a little information on how I make my onesies..

-Bronco fabric (or other fabric depending on the design I'm making)

-Lite Double stick fusible web (Lite is the key word...the regular makes the design feel too stiff on a shirt)

-Draw whatever design you are going to be making on the paper side of the web that has the product on it

-Place on reverse side of fabric and cut slightly bigger than the lines of the design

-Iron web onto fabric

-Cut the design out exactly to the lines you drew

-Place on shirt/onesie and iron on

-Sew the edges of your fabric

My morning's work (added to Star Creek Creations today)...GO BRONCOS!!

Crib to Bench Project

When Pinterest first came out, I happened upon a picture of a crib turned into a bench.  I thought it was a great idea, but the link that it went to was just a picture, no tutorial or anything.  My son's crib had been taking up space in our basement for six years or so and for whatever reason, I had never gotten rid of it.  We didn't use it for our daughter when she was born, and it had since been added to the list of drop side cribs that were recalled a few years ago.  I have no idea why it was still around, and I decided to do something with it.

In looking at the picture I found on Pinterest, I realized that the crib we had wasn't going to work the way they had transformed theirs.  The headboard and footboard on our crib were different (one had rails and one was a flat panel), and the side rails were thin and lightweight.  With the crib in the picture, they had been able to just cut one side in half and attach it to the back, and that wasn't an option with our crib.  I've learned that with most things I plan, they are never as easy as I think they'll be, and this was not an exception to that rule.

I needed a back for the bench, and the only thing I could come up with, was to flip the two side rails on their sides and attach them together.  We (by we, I mean my husband operated the saw while I watched) then cut the head board in half to create the arm rests and attached them to the back piece we had made.  Then we cut the footboard in half, removed the flat panel, and the decorative top piece was turned upside down and made into what would hold the boards for the seat of the bench.  I used two 8" wide boards and a 4" wide board to make the seat.  Here is what I had at that point...

I filled the screw holes with wood putty and sanded the whole bench before using a spray primer and then spray painting the bench.  This summer I power washed and repainted it (using chalk paint... see Sierra's tutorial here Sew Much More Than Rubies) because the paint hadn't held up the way I wanted it to.  I wish I had known about chalk paint when I made the bench, because I like it so much more.  The paint color I chose was Valspar "Aqua Ocean".

Outdoor fabric isn't cheap, so I waited till it was half off at JoAnn's and used a 20% off coupon on top of that.  I had a piece of 2" high density foam cut for the cushion, as well as a piece of clear vinyl cut in the same size as the fabric.  I made my bench seat using this tutorial from Honey We're Home, but added the layer of vinyl before the fabric since I am using the bench on my front porch.

I sewed some quick matching pillow covers and that was that.  I love this bench so much and had so much fun making it!  The crib originally belonged to my sister in law, who told me she didn't need it back and that I could do whatever I wanted with it.  After my project was done she said she'd like the crib back because she likes it a lot more now.  I think I'll go ahead and keep it.

Church Pew Refinishing Project

Valentine's Day is a holiday where the average husband gets his wife gifts like flowers, chocolate, and cheesy stuffed animals right?  I love that we are anything but average, and that last Valentine's Day my husband gave me an old, dusty, ugly, in not so super shape, church pew for my gift.  We love to stop in Re-Store, or other thrift shops from time to time to see if there are any treasures waiting there for us.  We had happened upon this pew and I stopped to look at it a few times while we were there.  My husband took note, and went back to get it after work the next day.   Best.Gift.Ever.  Isn't it lovely? 

I had plans for a bedroom remodel and eventually wanted to put the refinished pew under the window in my room.  The pew lived in our garage for six months until we finally started working on our room.  Fast forward six months, a new bed and bedding, trim painted, and I was finally ready to get to work on the pew. It was quite possibly, my least favorite project I've ever done, and I considered setting it on fire no fewer than three times during the project.  

I started by taking everything apart.  There was a lot of damage to the wood that needed to be repaired, so I fixed all of the spots using wood putty and then sanded them smooth.  I had to pry the fabric off and remove the overabundance of staples (and by I, I mean my fabulous husband painstakingly pulled staples out of the wood for hours) off of each piece.  Here is what I was working with at that point...

After everything was repaired, I was ready to paint.  I fell in love with Chalk Paint after my friend Sierra posted a tutorial on her blog Sew Much More Than Rubies.  I follow her same steps, but for me it works easier to dissolve the grout in a tablespoon or two of water and then stir it into the paint.  The one thing I don't recommend is using the paint that has the primer already in it.  I forgot to tell the guy at Lowe's not to use that kind recently, and the paint gets really, really thick when you mix the grout in.  It still worked, it just wasn't as easy to work with.  I forgot to take any pictures during the painting process, but it wasn't very exciting.

The part that I didn't enjoy was putting my new fabric on.  The fabric I bought wasn't as heavy duty as the previous fabric, and because of the pattern, it was really tricky to get on straight.  The pew cushion is older and not shaped perfectly, which sent my obsessive compulsive personality into near melt down mode several times.  We ended up putting the pew back together, taking it apart, flipping the cushion another way, and then putting it back together at least another time or two.  By the time we had gotten that done, the top piece of wood split while it was being nailed back on, so I had to repair that, and then touch up all the paint we had messed up throughout the process. (Did you notice the switch from "I" to "We" on the parts that didn't go as planned?  My husband says I never admit to being wrong, so I don't want to start now by saying I had any part in the areas that went poorly. Haha!)  

It isn't as perfect as my OCD would like it to be, but I am coming to grips with the imperfections.  I made a few pillow covers for some old square pillows, and I'm calling it done.  

Here are the before/after pictures...

Hello!

For years I've been sewing, crafting, and refinishing things, and have been asked many times to explain how I've made things or if I have a blog.  I have been doing lots of projects lately, so I decided I'd go ahead and start blogging some pictures and tutorials of the things I make.  

I love making things myself.  I love envisioning something, planning it out, and making it come to life.  I also don't like to spend money on things that I know I could do myself, so a lot of the time that is where my inspiration comes from.  To me it is far more rewarding to work hard on something to display in my house than to go buy something at the store.  

Welcome to "Not Your Average Neighbor"!