DIY Canopy Doll Bed - It's Done!

 Aloha!

Those of you who follow me on Facebook already know that I've been working on a doll canopy bed for my oldest daughter. I'm making each of them a doll bed and intended to use the plans for Ana White's farmhouse doll bed like this:

At first, I was just going to do three of the exact same bed (I have three girls), but my 2-year-old caught me looking at plans and saw this bed as well as Ana's doll crib, and she BEGGED for the crib. So then I was committed to doing a crib for her. THEN I fell in love with Ana's bunk bed plans and wanted to try that for the "middle child". But I knew if I did the bunk and the crib, then my oldest would feel like her bed was kinda plain. Don't get me wrong, the farmhouse bed is fab! But my girls are a little glam. They like frills and ruffles. 

So I scoured the online pages of PB Kids, and I found this:

Perfect! I used Ana's farmhouse plans as kind of a guideline.

Here's my lumber all ready to go (that pile also included lumber for the bunk bed and the crib).

Ana's plans are for American Girl dolls, but my kids really love stuffed animals. My daughter got this Hello Kitty from Build-a-Bear for her birthday, so she was my model here. Turns out she's about the same size as the American Dolls (18").

If you remember, we left our circular saw in Hawaii (and I have yet to fork out the cash for a miter saw), so I was left using the stupid jigsaw we got at the pawn shop when we arrived here. It works fine, but a jigsaw is NOT the tool you want to be using for straight, nice cuts. Blah. It was perfect for the headboard and footboard, though! Lucky for you, you can just have the Lowe's guy cut it all for you there at the store...I still wasn't sure of the sizes, so I left mine long and had to cut them myself.

Purchase list:
1x6 (1 at 8' long) - $5.50
2x2 furring strip (1 at 8' long) - $1.38
1x2 furring strip (1 at 8' long) - $.98
1x3 furring strip (1 at 8' long) - $1.58
Finials (optional) - $2.00 for 4 at Hobby Lobby
Decorative piece on headboard - $2.00 for 2 at Hobby Lobby
Screws, brad nails, Gorilla Glue

Total - about $13.50

That's to do one. You will have lots of left-over lumber, so you could easily do 2 with this amount of wood. You'd just need to purchase another $.98 1x2 and more finials.

Cut list:

2x2 - cut 4 pieces @ 18" each
1x6 - cut 2 pieces @ 9.5" each
1x3 - cut 2 pieces @ 18" each
1x2 - cut 2 pieces @ 9.5" each, 2 pieces at 18" each, and 2 or 3 (depending on how many slats you want on the bottom of the bed--I recommend 3) at 10" each

For the headboard and footboard, I just penciled in on the 1x6 (that you should have had cut to 9.5" each) how I wanted the design to look. You can change it up, of course, but this is a classic look. And this is where the jigsaw actually proved useful!

To make the headboard appear bigger than the footboard (without purchasing a 1x8 or 1x10), I simply placed it higher up on the legs than the footboard. The headboard should be up 5" from the bottom, and the footboard is up 3" from bottom. So this piece shown is the headboard. I should have taken a side-by-side comparison of the two, but oh well. You get it, right?

This was done at about 1:00 in the morning, so pics were the last thing on my mind. I wish I had taken one of the base (center that you attach the headboard and footboard to), but Ana's plans are excellent. Look at step 10 for reference. The sides on this one are the 1x3's cut at 18", and the head and foot (and center) are the 1x2's cut at 10".

Once the headboard, footboard, and base are all finished, put them together. I placed mine up 3" from bottom of the legs, so it's flush with the bottom of the footboard. You now have a four-poster bed!

To get the canopy look, take your last four 1x2's and put them across the front, back, and sides right at the top (flush with the top of the legs).  My furring strips split, so I ended up using Gorilla Glue to try to patch it back together. What a mess. Blah!

Every time I go to Lowes or HD, I always check the Oops! paint section to see if there's anything I like. I got lucky and found this awesome gray quart that was marked to $2.50! I wanted all white bedding and knew a gray bed would be the perfect match.

I'll share tutorials for the mattress and bedding later, but I had SO much fun making them. Anyone who's just starting to sew should really consider making doll bedding or doll clothes. They don't use much material (and you can use cheap stuff), and it gives you great practice!

Here's the headboard detail I Gorilla Glued on.

Here's a view of the headboard and footboard cut-outs. Can you tell the headboard is raised higher than the footboard?  That's the kids' Christmas tree in the background. They get their own tree in their room. We're that nuts.

You might also notice the round finials aren't in this pic. I'm still not 100% sold on them. I'm trying to find the perfect crystal doorknobs at the perfect price. I'd like to try those before settling on anything. So the finials have been painted but not attached.

Here's a pic with my 2-year-old, so you can see the size of it:

She's an independent two, people. She dresses herself.

Doesn't the little jelly roll pillow just melt you?

I had way too much fun making the bedding. The shams on the pillows are removable, as is the tulle on the jelly roll pillow.

And the best part? The jelly roll pillow and curtains are made from my wedding dress. Awwww. Remember when I ripped it up for pillows?  Yeah...tons left over still.

Ok, so I wasn't sure if people would actually be ready to build a bed like this, so I didn't bother making a PDF of the headboard and footboard. But let me know if you're interested! If enough people want it, I'll put it up. :)

UPDATE:  The PDF is up! HERE is a link for the headboard/footboard printable!

What do you think?

Aloha,
Charlie

Playroom Reading Nook

 Aloha!

I finished the kids' playroom reading nook. It was fun for me to put it together, and it ended up using all different kinds of crafts in the process. :)

The READ sign is a play off of Robert Indiana's famous LOVE sign. Also famously replicated in Pottery Barn's Christmas NOEL sign (that retails for $150!!). I'll give more details on that, the curtain, and the beanbags in upcoming posts.

You might recognize my DIY Wire Basket as well as the Pleated Basket Liner and the Pottery Barn Kids Lamp Knock-off. :)

What do you think?! I'll be thrilled even if I come in third. It was a great competition, and my girls just LOVE their new playroom. We've still got a few more things to finish up on it, but it's such a great space now!

Aloha,

Charlie

Glamorous Flamingo Halloween Costume - Free Printable

I checked out an old Martha Stewart Halloween DVD from the library a couple weeks ago, and my 2-year-old fell in love with a chicken costume. But (of course), she wanted to be pink! The original costume had a shirt sewn to a onesie and then stuffed with cotton to make it extra fluffy. The poor girl looked a little uncomfortable, and I thought it would probably suffice to just do feathers and skip the stuffing part (and would also allow my child to breathe better)! I'm also extra cheap and didn't want to ruin a shirt. :)  I simplified it by just safety pinning on 2 feather boas to a shirt we had on-hand.

Martha Stewart

The hat was cute, but not really appropriate for our flamingo, and I was worried my kids would get too hot, and masks aren't allowed at their school. So, it took some serious brain-storming as to how I was going to make a face. After browsing around Dollar Tree, I found an ugly parrot visor head thingie (technical term I'm sure), and knew I could make a cute flamingo (aka "pink chicken") using the same concept.  We also skipped the somewhat cheesy feet for practical purposes. While they look cute for a photo shoot, I'm not sure my 2-year-old is agile enough to walk around with rubber gloves on her feet for hours...

Here are my supplies:

I found everything that I needed at the Dollar Tree. I already had hot glue, scissors, safety pins, and a long-sleeved shirt on hand.

Shirt
Safety pins
2-3 feather boas (depends on how fluffy you want it and how big your child is)
Googley eyes (I got a variety pack with extra large ones)
Glitter foam paper (they have non-glitter as well, and that would save $$ if you have more than one child since there are more than one sheet per color...but mine wanted glitter and pink, so I forked out the big $$ and bought a pack for each child)
Foam visor (these come in a 3-pack)
Template

Optional:
Fake eyelashes (found in the make-up section...obviously optional but definitely makes her "Glamingo")
Tights (They didn't have pink in the little one's size, so we went ahead with black. My older two girls have pink.)
Skirt (our shirt was extra long for my 2-year-old, so the tights were enough to do the job, but my older girls will be wearing tulle skirts with theirs)


Total cost for Glamingo the Flamingo is about $5-8 for one and less (per costume) for more since you'll only need one pack of googley eyes, glitter foam paper, etc.

STEP 1:  Print your templates and cut them out

STEP 2: Cut out your glitter foam shapes and trim the visor down. The lines in the "face" piece need to be slit to allow the beak to be attached.

STEP 3: Fold the black tip of the beak in half and glue the front edge together. Be sure not to glue all the way around. Leave the back part open like so:

STEP 4: Fold the pink part of the beak in half just to get a crease, and then glue across the straight edge and attach to the black beak tip.

STEP 5: Line up the visor and the face so the centers are aligned. Then glue each of the tabs to the bottom of the visor (I found it easier to do the center two first and then the outter two after those were set).

STEP 6: Stick the three beak tabs into the three slots on the face, put glue on the tabs, and glue them up (you can see the underside of my beak is purple in the second pic).

STEP 7:  Secure the beak to the visor, so it's not flopping around. I just added a drop of glue to the end and then another one on each of the two sides of the beak.

STEP 8: Glamorize! I found it easiest to add the eyelashes to the eyes before putting the eyes on. That way you can control which way your eyelashes go. It's harder to get the two sides (eyelashes) even when they're already on the face.

I didn't snap any pics of pinning the feather boas on. It was pretty much just trial and error. I wrapped it around like a regular boa and went from there. Be sure to keep it loose and drapey, so your little one can pull it on and off their head.

Definitely the cutest, cheapest, easiest costume I've ever made!

As always, I just ask that you share the aloha by becoming a follower if you use one of my PDF's. Mahalo!


Click here for a link to the Google Doc pdf printable. 


Aloha,

Charlie

Halloween BINGO - Free Printable

 Aloha!

Today's post is a simple printable. Perfect for a Halloween party with younger kids who are still working on their numbers!

There are 10 different, unique BINGO cards. You'll need to plan for more than one winner if you need to make duplicates for parties of more than 10. :)

Click here to be taken to the Google Doc pdf printable.

It's not a requirement to download, but it would show true aloha if you followed Attempting Aloha if this printable is helpful to you. :) And I'd love to hear how they work out for you or where you used them!

To give credit where credit is due, I did not create the cliparts used. They are from various sites, including www.halloweenclipart.com. They have some really cute ones that aren't TOO creepy...my girls aren't into spooky and gruesome. We're more into cutesy, fluffy Halloween. Ha!

Aloha,

Charlie

DIY Ruffled Clutch and Printing on Fabric

 Aloha!

Today I'm going to show you a little project I did for my daughter's teacher and teacher's assistant last spring for Teacher Appreciation Day. Yes, I'm a slacker and am just now getting around to it. Cut me some slack...it's been a rough few months.

I wanted to make them some clutches, but I couldn't find any fabric that had to do with teachers but didn't have apples or chalkboards all over it (sorry if that's you're thing...). I'd seen Joy's tutorial at Thrifty Parsonage Living on printing on fabric and thought it might be fun to design my own fabric for their clutches.

This is what I came up with. It's feminine, has a touch of red, and has words pertaining to teachers written all over it (Similar to my Teacher Appreciation Clock). I REALLY wish I could tell you that I'm going to include a printable for you, but, alas, the computer I created that on bit the dust, and the hard drive is completely unrecoverable. It may have contributed largely to my recent case of Blogging Blues (along with the other hundreds of before and after home pics and files for Fancy Nancy Bingo and other fun party favors). :(  Serious sad face.

But printing was simple.

STEP 1:  Cut out a piece of Freezer Paper (found in grocery store by ZipLoc bags and aluminum foil) to 8.5x11 paper dimension.

STEP 2:  Iron the shiny side of the freezer paper to the wrong side of your fabric. I used drop cloth, so there wasn't really a right/wrong side.

STEP 3: Trim your fabric edges, so it is exactly the 8.5"x11" piece of paper dimension.

STEP 4: Place in printer, so it will print on the actual fabric. This is the tricky part. I have a Canon all-in-one printer that has a tray down below, and printing did not work when I tried to use that tray. It kept getting sucked in wrong and writing all crooked or starting half-way down the page. Luckily it also has a top-tray feed for awkward paper like this one, and it worked beautifully.

STEP 5: Remove the freezer paper. It's like a giant sticker that doesn't leave gunk all over your fabric. Sweet.

Now for the ruffled clutch part.

I used tutorial from Skip to My Lou for the pouch part. And I'm embarrassed to tell you I didn't take ONE pic of the lining! I used a fabulous silky red material that had kind of an Asian feel to it. It was the perfect accent.

My only variation on the tutorial was to add the ruffles to the front, so I'll give a little recap of that.

STEP 1: Cut your 8.5" x 11" piece into strips. The width will depend on how many you want and how big you choose to make your clutch. As you can see in the pic above, I did 5 even strips that were 1.5" wide and the full 11" long.

STEP 2: Since I'm not very good at pinning my sewing projects, I folded the edge over slightly and ironed it to prep for sewing. This is just to keep you from having a raw edge since the drop cloth frays really bad. If you're using a different fabric and like the frayed look, by all means, skip this step. :)

STEP 3: Sew that folded edge in place and do that to all of your "ruffle" strips.

STEP 4: Ruffle each of your strips. You can do this on any old sewing machine with your standard foot. I did a tutorial for you. Instead of doing it up the center, ruffle along the top edge (not the edge  you just sewed over). Then play with the width until it matches the width of the clutch pieces you should have already cut out (again referring to the Skip to My Lou tutorial...I have not included instructions for that here since I'm lazy and see no need to reinvent the wheel. ;) ).

STEP 5: Sew each of your ruffle strips to the front piece of your pouch/clutch. I only did this to one side of mine (refer to last comment about being lazy and all).

As you can see, once I got four strips on and started thinking about seam allowance and having left a gap at top, so it wouldn't interfere with the zipper...I decided to just leave it at four ruffle strips instead of five.

STEP 6: Now follow the Skip to My Lou tutorial to finish off your clutch. You'll need to be extra cautious with your ruffles and make sure they're not getting caught in your seams or sticking out sideways. Make sure they're flat and just how you want them as you're sewing near them (they will be inside out, so it's hard to tell where they are).

STEP 7:  Embellish. Because what would a fancy ruffled clutch be without a little accessories?

Ignore the fact that the zippers don't match. I'm a use-what-you-have kind of gal, remember? ;)

Aloha,

Charlie