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Merriment :: Gathered Dust Ruffle for Cribs and Toddler Beds by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

We’re in the middle of converting our den into a baby’s room. We’re keeping it simple — borrowed our niece Madison’s crib, kept the room painted light gray — and have begun accenting with oodles of girly fabric.

This project focuses on how to make a dust ruffle bed skirt for a crib or toddler bed. Below is what the crib looked like before…

Merriment :: Gathered Dust Ruffle for Cribs and Toddler Beds by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Voila! All the extra diapers, humidifier and accessories are now hidden under a wall of pink below…

Merriment :: Gathered Dust Ruffle for Cribs and Toddler Beds by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

The biggest challenge making this dust ruffle project is dealing with the volumes of fabric. But overall, it’s basically easy straight stitching to get a custom bedskirt in your fabric of choice at the right crib height.

Supplies:

Cut your base piece
Merriment :: Gathered Dust Ruffle for Cribs and Toddler Beds by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Your base piece is the fabric that will go under your mattress; eventually you’ll be attaching your ruffles to all four sides of this piece. Usually store-bought brands use a thin white material for the base piece but I used pink to avoid instances where the white creeps out on the edges …I think that’s sloppy-looking and it bugs me so I say make a colored base piece.

For size, measure the metal crib base underneath the mattress and add 2” to each. For instance, our crib base was 50.5” x 26.5”, so I cut a base piece that was 52.5” x 28.5”.

Cut your ruffle pieces
Merriment :: Gathered Dust Ruffle for Cribs and Toddler Beds by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Cut two side ruffle pieces and two front/back pieces. Again, you’ll be dealing with a lot of fabric here so I recommend measuring twice and cutting once.

For the two left/right side pieces: Measure the width of the metal crib base underneath the mattress, multiply by 2x and add 2 inches. Measure the height of the metal crib base to the floor and add 4”. For instance, our crib width was 26.5” and 18” to the floor, so I cut two 55” x 22” pieces.

Merriment :: Gathered Dust Ruffle for Cribs and Toddler Beds by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

For the two front/back pieces: Measure the length of the metal crib base underneath the mattress multiply by 2x and add 2 inches. Measure the height of the metal crib base to the floor and add 4”. For instance, our crib length was 50.5” and 18” to the floor, so I cut two 103” x 22” pieces.

Because I bought 44″ wide fabric and was making an 18″ high bed skirt, I was able to just slice the fabric down the middle to make the two ruffles (they are both 22″ high).

Continue reading “Gathered Dust Ruffle Bed Skirt for Cribs and Toddler Beds” »

 

 

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Happy Fall! I love this time of year …changing leaves, football, pumpkins, cider, late-afternoon sunshine, scarves. And fun fall crafting, of course.

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

This paper wreath took me all of about 15 minutes to make because I started with the fabric wreath base I made last year for the Polaroid urban photo wreath. Below I’ve included full instructions but it’s worth bearing in mind that once you make the fabric base you can just switch out elements year after year to make a totally new wreath.

Alternatively, you can buy a kit that contains leaves and a wire wreath, but I like the look of torn fabric and paper together.

Supplies:

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Measure 3 inches from the edge of the orange denim fabric and cut a small slit. Holding on each side of the slit, rip the fabric into a strip …just like they do at the fabric store. Repeat until you have three strips. The raw edges are intentional.

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Take one strip and pin it to the styrofoam. Wrap the strips around, overlapping as you go around. Secure the ends of the strips with straight pins. Tie your twine to the top as a hanger.

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Spread out your leaves on a flat surface.

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Arrange your leaves in layers on the wreath front, alternating colors and shapes.

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Secure leaves with straight pins. You actually need to use very few …one pin can secure several leaves at one time.

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Hang your wreath on your door hook. Happy Fall, everyone!

Merriment :: Paper and Fabric Leaf Fall Wreath by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

 
 

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Here’s an easy, fun and practical gift for new arrivals: Planes, Trains and Automobiles burp cloths. Friends Tamara and Jon recently welcomed Lucas, little brother to adorable Sienna, and I made these especially for him.

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Now while this craft has little to do with the classic movie, the idea of using it as a theme made me smile anyway. I reused my airplane shape for this project and drew two new shapes for the car and train. One sewn, I rolled each burp cloth and wrapped with an orange satin ribbon.

Del Griffith would be proud.

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Supplies:

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

First print and cut out my free planes, trains and automobiles template.

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Cut a piece of fusible interfacing slightly larger than the cut shape and iron to the wrong side of your blue fabric.

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Put the shape face down on top of the interfacing and trace with a pen.

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Cut out your shape using good fabric scissors.

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Fold the diaper in half. Center your shape about 2-3 inches from the cloth bottom.

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Using a tight zigzag stitch, sew around your shape. Remember to backstitch. Repeat for the all three shapes.

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

Officer: “Do you feel this vehicle is safe for the highways?”
Del: “Yes. Yes sir I do.”

Merriment :: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Burp Cloths by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

 

 

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

It’s been 10 years now since I lived in Sydney, Australia. Recently we received a gift box (yay!) filled with heaps of Australian beer and food – including my favorite biscuits, Arnott’s shortbreads – as well as a box of Weet-Bix, self-proclaimed “Australia’s favourite cereal.”

Never a huge milk and Weet-Bix breakfast fan, I thought I’d try to make a recipe using Weet-Bix as a primary ingredient instead. This muffin recipe adaptation is based on an Artarmon Public School original and subsequent comments at Taste.com.au.

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

It’s a rainy day in Chicago, the perfect type to spend inside messing around with recipes. One thing I liked about living in Sydney was that its climate was so nice most of the time that forecasters would simply say the weather was going to be ‘fine.’ Not ‘sunny’ but ‘fine’ …not ‘partly cloudy’ but ‘mostly fine.’ Always got a kick out of that.

So here’s an other-side-of-the-globe toast to ‘mostly fine.’ Now if I can just figure out what to do with our unopened jar of Vegemite?

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 3 ripe medium-sized bananas, smashed
  • 4 Weet-Bix (aka Weetabix when sold outside Australia)
  • 1 cup almond milk (I used soy milk because I was out of almond milk; you can also use regular milk)
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons flax seeds (optional)
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chocolate pieces (I broke up dark chocolate espresso Ghirardelli individually-wrapped chocolate that I had in the cupboard)

Other Supplies:

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash bananas in a bowl and crumble in Weet-Bix. No need for an electric or stand mixer …I used a potato masher the whole time.

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Stir in the soy milk. Set aside for 10 minutes so it soaks up the milk.

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Meanwhile, break up your chocolate bar into chunks and set aside.

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Beat together the eggs and oil in a small bowl, then pour into the Weet-Bix banana combination and stir. Sprinkle baking soda, brown sugar and salt and gently mix in. Add flax seeds and flour and stir until just combined.

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

If your batter seems too thick, you can add a bit more milk; mine was OK but it could fluctuate based on the banana sizes. Gently fold in chocolate pieces.

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Spoon into nut cups or a lightly greased muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I prefer nut cups to muffin tins but only had a few left. When using muffin tins, be sure to take cooked muffins out of the pan as soon as you can to cool on a rack or dishtowel avoiding overbaking. Good on ya!

Merriment :: Australian Weet-Bix Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

 
 

Merriment :: Retro Paris Photo Notecards and A2 Size Envelope Template

Recently I took part in the first inaugural Chicago Craft Social hosted by Amanda Edwards, Megan Hall, Megan Heep, and Jessica Jones.

In addition to meeting tons of super cool crafty Chicago ladies, I made these fun retro Paris notecards out of old time-y black-and-white France vacation photos. Table leader Lisa Haskin of Faux Transformations said that her sister-in-law had inherited stacks of old photo albums stashed in a neglected corner of her new home’s attic.

Merriment :: Retro Paris Photo Notecards and A2 Size Envelope Template

My guess is that the photos are probably from the 1950s. Check out Notre Dame on the left. When I visited Paris, the front area was a landscaped pedestrian walkway but here it looks like people used to be able to drive right up to it.

Lisa also was generous enough to provide her envelope template to create matching A2 size envelopes from lime green pieces of paper. Not only nifty and economical but also nicely coordinated!

Merriment :: Retro Paris Photo Notecards and A2 Size Envelope Template

I like these photo notecards so much that I scanned in all the original Paris vacation photographs so you can make your own retro Paris notecards.

Merriment :: Retro Paris Photo Notecards and A2 Size Envelope Template

Supplies:

Make your cards
Merriment :: Retro Paris Photo Notecards and A2 Size Envelope Template

Print my free 1950s-ish Paris vacation photos template ideally on glossy photo paper to mimic the “photo” look, or on heavy white paper. I included two photos per template of Notre Dame because it’s just such a great shot. Cut them out using your Xacto knife, metal ruler and self-healing mat.

Merriment :: Retro Paris Photo Notecards and A2 Size Envelope Template

Next, cut squares of colored paper about 1/8″ larger than each photo. Please note that I kept the photos the same sizes as the originals, so the close-up Eiffel Tower photos are slightly larger than the other two.

Merriment :: Retro Paris Photo Notecards and A2 Size Envelope Template

Affix one photo onto one colored square using rubber cement or a glue stick; then glue in the center of your light gray folded notecard.

Make your envelopes

Print out Lisa’s free A2 size envelope template and cut out (note: if you’d like, you can trace it onto cardboard or posterboard for a more sturdy template). Place your cut-out template onto a piece of 8 1/2″ x 11″ colored paper. Lightly trace around the template and put it to the side.

Cut out just inside your pencil markings using either an Xacto knife, ruler and self-healing mat or scissors.

(Tip: If you’re pretty good with an Xacto knife, you can cut out a stack of envelopes at one time. Simply stack 5 sheets of paper, use your knife/ruler/mat and to slice through all five layers).

Fold the two sides in. Fold the bottom up. Use rubber cement or glue stick to affix the bottom to the sides.

Merriment :: Retro Paris Photo Notecards and A2 Size Envelope Template

Fold the top flap down. Here’s a cool trick from Lisa: Spread a line of remoistenable envelope glue on the bottom edge of the top flap. Once it dries, you can lick it to close. Très cool, no?