Adorable DIY Totes!

So, I just recently discovered that I heart fabric paint...well, not in general I guess, but in this situation, I do. I happen to use tote bags - a lot! Especially with the baby and all the gear that you have to take around with you , it's a nice quick way to grab things and go. Plus, you don't have to match your outfit or anything..anyway, I wanted to make some gifts and what a perfect thing to try from my list of projects- DIY totes! I went to Michael's hoping to find some really cool stencils, and guess what??! Michael's does not have cool stencils - but the do have blank ones. I knew I wanted a lotus flower and a bike, so I googled images of both and picked my favorites. Then I just traced them, cut with my craft knife and voila! a cool stencil! I'm sure you know how to use a stencil, so the rest is history. I also found some letters at the store and monogramed each one with a first initial. Easy peasy totes!

click to enlarge

Fabric Art

So, we have this empty wall in our house above a new Ikea shelf we got to help store Olive's toys.  It needed something big and colorful.  I love Amy Butler Fabric, and thought it would be a great way to display it by using it as the color in the room!

Here is the empty wall before...

I got a piece of wood at Home Depot the size I was looking for. (I don't know how big it is, I just eyeballed it:)

To keep the pattern going upright, I had to cut the fabric in half and sew two pieces together.

Then just an easy attachment with the, oh so useful, staple gun....

And here it is! I love it! It totally works for the space and was pretty thrifty.   $10 for the wood and $16 for the fabric.

I liked it so much that I used leftover fabric and an OLD BOX! to make a smaller one for the basement stairway in the sunroom.

Here's the box/fabric picture.  I think I will do another one below it in a different Amy Butler fabric that I ordered...