DIY Camera Bag

It has been too long since I have posted!! Life got busy & even though I have tons of great ideas, I have had no time to get any done. Finally, last night I got to work on a project I have been so excited for. If you remember from one of my last posts, I had gotten a new camera for Christmas & needed a bag for it. It took a couple of hours & a tiny bit of stress, but, I think it turned out adorbale!! What do you think??

{yellow & gray}

{frills}

This cover is actually just pinned to the bag for now. I was unsure what I wanted to do about attaching it. It was really too thick to machine sew it to the bag, hand sewing wouldn't hold well enough. I am thinking about using velcro, so I can pull it off and wash it if needed....Any ideas would be greatly appreciated ;) I found the messenger style camera bag at a thrift store for $1.49 and the fabric I used was left over from my DIY camera strap cover, so this project was super, dooper cheap!!!! Here is a look at the camera bag BEFORE I got my hands on it :)

Plain & Boring for Sure!!

Much better!! Wouldn't ya say!!??

Oh, and if you want a bag like this and are not crazy brave enough to make your own. Here is one similar. I just couldn't part with $85 :)

Linking Up:

Mommy by Day Crafter by Night
Ginger Snap Crafts
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Not Just a Housewife
The Shabby Nest

My Top 10 Posts of 2011

I can not believe I have been blogging for almost 6 months now. I am so excited to have 29 followers & so many sweet ladies that leave me comments & make it totally worth my time to continue!!

Here are my top 10 posts of 2011:

10. Before & After Chandelier
9. Chicken Wire Memo Board
8. DIY Rosette Necklace
7. My Christmas Decor
6. Painted Mason Jars
5. Crazy Cute Fashon-Take 1
4. Paint Chip Art
3. My New Canisters
2. Headboard Garden Bench

AND MY #1 POST OF 2011 WAS:

Reindeer Names

I love looking back through my projects!! It gives me the inspiration I need to get busy on my next one :)

Linking Up:
Lolly Jane Boutique
Ladybird Ln
Serenity Now
Here Comes the Sun
Tatertots and Jello

DIY Camera Strap Cover

Okay, so when I saw the adorable strap covers girls are putting on their cameras I had to have one. I got a pretty awesome Christmas gift, therefore, NEED a cute strap :)

Awesome Christmas Present

Adorable Camera Strap Cover

source

Unfortunately, this one is $29.95 + shipping. So I set out to make my own!! I used this tutorial.

I found my fabric in a package at walmart for around $10.

This package had 8 different matching fabric pieces in it. I couldn't find any regular fabric in yellow/gray colors so I got this. It wasn't ideal though because the fabric wasn't long enough. I had to sew pieces of fabric together in order for it to be long enough. It took longer than expected due to this, but it did end up working.

The supplies. The package of fusible stuff there in the photo was not the right thing. The tutorial instructs you to use fusible fleece & I had no idea what that was, so anyway, my strap is not as padded as it should be ;) You live and you learn right!!

Here it is. I think it turned out pretty great for my 1st attempt. I am a VERY amateur seamstress also :)

I know my husband is excited to carry this pretty baby as well ;)

Check back soon. I have another great project in store!!!! It involves the left over fabric from this project :)

Linking Up:
Mommy by Day Crafter by Night
Ginger Snap Crafts
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
You Are Talking Too Much
The Gunny Sack
Here Comes the Sun

Passing on the Liebster Award

I was so honored when Donna from Loopy Loop Creations gave me the Liebster Award. At the time I didn't even know what it meant, but any award is exciting to me :) So, it is my turn to pass this super award to 5 bloggers. I have been looking at blogs for 2 days & have carefully made my decision. I hope you all are as excited as I was to receive the Liebster Award!!!!



1. Adventures of our Fami-ly  Sarah has some beautiful projects posted. On her blog you will find sewing, painting, decorating & more!!

2. Life with Lulu & Junebug...and Carter Too!!  Heather is a stay at home mom with a sweet little family. She shares my love for vintage things & creates on a budget. My kinda girl :)

3. Alayna's Creations  This girl is a great blogger. She has tons of stuff to keep your interest. Kid's parties, upcycled clothing, card making, organizing and much MORE.

4. So Much to Say  Colleen is a career woman balancing family, work and her love of decorating, crafting, organizing and tons of other great stuff!!

5.A Mile in Mom's Manilos  Andy is living in New England in her charming cottage home with her husband & two little girls. She has a love for SHOES, among many other things. I adore the way she dresses her little cuties :)

Everyone should go check out these great bloggers & share the love!! You will definitely want to become a follower :)

Here are the rules for handing out the Liebster Awards:

Choose 5 up and coming blogs of fewer than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.

Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

Post the award on your blog.  Link back to the blogs you have given the Liebster to so everyone else can pay them a visit.

Music is an Outburst of the Soul...

I have been going absolutely crazy for the last 2 days!! Our internet quit working & the phone company could not get anyone out here to look at it until today. We ended up needing a new modem & we are up and running again!! woohoo :) I have had this project done since Wednesday with no way to get it onto my blog. So, I am super excited to finally get to share this with you today!!!!

We bought our daughter an old Werner Chicago upright piano for Christmas & the sellers threw in this bench. It didn't match the piano, but I knew it had potential!!

It was pretty rough looking.

I was thinking I had some yellow paint somewhere that I would paint it with, but couldn't find it. So, since I was able to mix my own turquoise paint last time, I thought I would try my luck with that again :)

I did not do any sanding, just a good coat of primer to start with. In my living room, where I like to do my projects in the winter ;) You can see by all the different paint colors on this lovely tablecloth that I have done this before.

Here it is. I love the color ♥♥

{distressed}

I used my cricut to make a stencil for the quote my daughter chose. "music is an outburst of the soul."

I think it adds a nice pop of color to the dark wood of the piano.

I am definitely ready to get back into the swing of things now that Christmas is over :)

Linking Up:

Crafty Scrappy Happy
Domestically Speaking
Sweet Peas and Bumblebees
Sweet Little Gals
Here Comes the Sun

What to do with 1600 LEGOS

My little boy loves LEGOS. For Christmas he got a huge box of them. 1600 of them to be exact.

 I wish I would have gotten a picture of his bedroom after he was left alone with them......I knew something had to be done!! We went to walmart & picked up some small sterilite containers for 96 cents a piece. They are usually just clear, but they had some in blue so we got those. When we got home little man set to work sorting & organizing :)

{love it}

We forgot to count how many we would need. So, 3 more of these are on the list for the next walmart trip.

Who knows how long they will stay this way, but for right now, it's PERFECT!!  :)

I am looking forward to a day at home today cleaning and organizing.

Linking Up:

Vintage Wanna Bee
Not Just a Housewife
Mommy by Day Crafter by Night
Here Comes the Sun

Another Christmas gone by...

I have to say Christmas was very good for us this year. For some reason I didn't get super stressed, I didn't feel rushed & everything just seemed to fall into place.

Christmas Eve we spent the day at home with our family of 4.



We had a bunch of snacky foods. Cheese dip, bbq meatballs, shrimp and hot wings. The kids and I also made sugar cookies with powdered sugar frosting in Christmas colors.

We let the kids open their gifts in the early afternoon & spent the rest of the day just lounging. {PERFECT} Christmas day we went to my older brother's house for lunch. We had a non traditional meal of Mexican food. My favorite :) We spent some time there & opened gifts & we were off.

To the movies we go. Shaun (hubby) and I decided we would surprise the kids & take them to see "For Christmas-We Bought a Zoo ". It was such a good movie. I laughed & cried....definitely recommend it!!

Today hubby had to go back to work :(  so the kids & I went to see my Grandma. We spent most of the afternoon there catching up. We don't get over there nearly enough!!

Now we are home, all cozied up watching "Water for Elephants".

My daughter & I saw this in the theater, but we loved it so she bought it with Christmas $$ and we are watching it again :)  We loooovvveee watching movies whether it be in the theater or at home.

I hope that you all had a great Christmas & are recovering from the holiday madness....

Let's get started on Valentine's Day decor ♥♥