Making it Lovely

Category: Projects

  • DIY Chalkboard Holiday Favors

    DIY Chalkboard Holiday Favors

    I was asked to contribute to her Holiday Guide by Emily Henderson, so I came up with this DIY chalkboard holiday favor. They look cute at each place setting, and you could use them as place cards too.

    After dinner, your guests could write their New Year’s Resolutions on them. Then you, as party host, can impose your iron will upon everyone to make them pose with their chalkboards as photo props. Pose, unsuspecting party guests, POSE!

    I think party favors can be a little silly sometimes. What do you do with them after the party? That’s why the holiday doodad is removable — so the favor can be hung as a simple chalkboard the rest of the year.

    It’s a simple craft that doesn’t cost much, and doesn’t take much time (other than waiting for paint to dry). Want to give it a try? See page 228 in The Holiday Guide by Emily Henderson for a list of materials needed and the full instructions.

  • The Dollhouse Wallpapers

    The Dollhouse Wallpapers

    My dollhouse has seven rooms. Eleanor and I went to Paper Source to pick out some wallpaper for it, and we came home with three pretty papers to go along with the one I had already picked for the bathroom. I think wallpapering four rooms in the dollhouse is probably the maximum allowed to avoid pattern overdose, so I’ll paint the rest.

    The stairs are getting a striped ribbon runner, but I’m still not sure what to do with the stairs themselves. Paint them a fun color? Or shiny gold? Or go more classic with wooden treads and white risers?

    I love planning these little details.


    Walton dollhouse from Melissa and Doug — They’re offering my readers 15% off wooden dollhouses with the code “DH15”

  • How to Find a Wall Stud (Video)

    How to Find a Wall Stud (Video)

    I put up my almost Hang-it-All in the basement stairwell yesterday. To make sure it would stay put, I needed to be sure I hit the studs in the wall.

    If you ever want to hang something heavy in your home, you’ll want to know how to find the studs too. I thought it might be helpful to show you a few methods for finding them: using an electronic stud finder*, knocking and listening, or swiss cheesing your walls. Can you guess which method you probably want to avoid?

    * This is the stud sensor I use. We bought it years ago. It’s more expensive than most, but I’ve used cheaper models and have found that this one is worth the price.

  • Self-Induced Crafty Mama Pressure

    Self-Induced Crafty Mama Pressure

    Is it hard to sew fake fur? Because Eleanor is really excited about being The Gruffalo’s Child for Halloween. Which is, you know, less than two weeks away. With no Gruffalo costume available for purchase, of course.

    August will be the mouse, and I think I can make that out of fleece. Two weeks to sew two costumes… and I’m not very good at sewing. It can be done though (I keep telling myself)! After all, I did a good job on E’s Katamari costume before, and that was all from scratch. I should have suggested something easier, like last year’s Olivia costume (minimal sewing involved), but no.

    Do you put self-induced pressure on yourself to make costumes? These furry monsters would have been a perfectly cute option, with no need to enter crazy-crafty-mama-Halloween-town. But I’m not the only one that does this, right?

    The kids will be so cute. Assuming I can pull this off.

  • The (Mini) Bathroom Fixtures are Here

    The (Mini) Bathroom Fixtures are Here

    Hmmm. I wanted them to look like candy, but um, they don’t. They look like badly glazed dollhouse furniture.

    Do you think I should try to repaint the fixtures, or leave them as-is? I do like how luminous the glaze is, even if it is terribly uneven. The bathroom will be the small room on the second floor of my dollhouse. I think I’m going to use that gold patterned paper as wallpaper, and I’ll probably make a different mirror to go above the sink. The ceiling will either be wallpapered along with the walls, or it will go shiny gold.

    I’ve been thinking about this whole dollhouse challenge. I think there are two ways for me to go about decorating mine…

    • Tastefully decorate the house so that the only way you could tell it’s a miniature is with a coin in there for scale. Design each room like I’d design a real room, just scaled down.
    • Go crazy and kooky. This is not a real house, dang it! Why not have gold ceilings and pink fixtures and hot pink stairs with striped runners (not that I’ve decided yet)?

    I’ll tell you, I think the second option sounds like a lot more fun. It’s a fantasy! Why not fully embrace that?

    How many of you are working on dollhouses along with us? How are you approaching yours?

  • Teeny Tiny Staircase Inspiration

    Teeny Tiny Staircase Inspiration

    I have two new flights of stairs to decorate. Yes, they’re for the dollhouse. And yes, I may be obsessing over getting them just right.

    I’ve saved a ton of inspiration photos to my Pinterest board. I won’t post images to my blog that I can’t source (even though I really love some of those images), so go check them all out on my Stairways to Heaven board if you’d like to see. Below are just a few (the ones that I could trace back to their sources).

    Jonathan Adler Beach House Stairs

    Black and White Stairs

    Numbered Stairs

    Stenciled Stairs

    I painted the stairs to our basement green, and now I’m thinking I should add a little something to them. For now though, I’ll stick to the miniature stairs. But what to choose? Pattern, a faux-runner, numbered stairs, quotes, stripes, fun colors…

    Although it should be noted that our resident luchadores don’t mind the stairs being plain.