Unique toy storage

I wanted toy storage in the nursery, because I knew toys can easily get out of control if you don't contain them.  But I also wanted something a little unusual and unique.  I found this great post on babble which shows some unusual ideas.
 
As I was looking for teddy bear items on Etsy, I ran across the cutest vintage macramé plant hanger.  It had these porcelain bears and wooden blocks woven into the hanger.  The bells in my head started ringing, DING . . . DING . . . DING . . .  And I knew I could use the plant hanger as hanging toy storage.  But one wasn't enough so I looked around on Etsy and found lots of other macramé plant hangers in many different colors and bead combinations.

So, after I had received the plant hangers I ordered for the nursery, I went to the dollar store and looked for some plastic bowls to put in the bottom of the hangers to actually hold the toys.  I found two there but also found a $2 bowl at Target.

This is by far my favorite hanger because of the bears and blocks.  It really is unique and perfect for the nursery theme.

And I love all the primary colors which are perfect for the nursery.

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Using vintage linens in the nursery

 I love vintage linens but don't like to stick them away in the drawer.  So, I love to repurpose them when and where I can.  The nursery for my great-nephew will include some repurposed vintage linens.

I was looking for a bear lampshade for the nursery, because I had bought a baseball lamp from an Etsy seller.  So, I was delighted to find another Etsy seller who specializes in making lampshades and even more delighted to see that she had a bear lampshade made from a vintage linen.  The shade was the perfect size and color for the lamp and for the nursery.  Some things are just meant to be.

My niece has a vintage wicker rocking chair that her grandmother gave her.  While it is perfect for the nursery, the cushions needed to be recovered or replaced.  So, I recovered the bottom cushion and made a new cushion for the chair back out of a vintage linen which was actually a dresser scarf.  I cut the scarf in half.  This side will be the front of the cushion - and notice the teddy bear.

And this side will be the back of the cushion.

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DIY Growth Chart

Every nursery needs a growth chart to record the height of the child as he grows.  So, I knew I wanted to buy one or make my own in a teddy bear theme.  I looked around and didn't see one that really took my fancy, but I did find a DIY growth chart here that I knew I could adapt.  I liked the jute webbing she used, because it's very suited to the colors I'm using as well as looking masculine.  I couldn't find any locally though, so I had to order it from an Etsy seller.

My first step was to measure and cut it to the length I wanted.  Since 6 feet seems to be the standard, that's what I went with, but I left 6" off the bottom for clearance of a baseboard, etc.  Then I turned the top and bottom under and glued them, again using my favorite Aleene's Fabric Fusion.  I bought a curtain grommet and added it to the top for hanging the growth chart.  Once I had that done, I started marking feet and inches on the jute with a blue sharpie.

Instead of using stencils for the numbers as was done in the tutorial, I found some red felt numbers with adhesive backs.  These were so easy to attach.

Since I wanted to have a teddy bear chart, I was fortunate to find a roller at Hobby Lobby that has paw prints on it.  I knew I could use paint on the roller to add some bear tracks to the growth chart in between the numbers.

Adding the bear tracks was a little tricky.  I tried not to make more than four tracks each time, since that was how many paws were on the roller, but I did go over a little several times.  And sometimes I had to go over the paint again with my sponge brush to fill in gaps where the paint was thin.  Actually, it struck me while I was doing this that I could have used two different size of the round sponge brushes to make the paws instead of buying the roller, one for the foot and a smaller one for the toes.

When I finished the paws, I added some appliques.  There's a bear in a baseball cap at the top and a baseball at the bottom.  And although the baby can't be measured yet, I have some bear safety pins and key tags on which his height can be recorded whenever he gets to that point.

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DIY Embroidery Hoop Wall Art for Nursery

I love the embroidery hoop wall art that I see on Pinterest and everywhere else these days and fortunately, my niece does too.  So, I decided to make some for the baby's nursery.  I wanted to use different fabrics so I found someone on Etsy who was destashing some fabric remnants in exactly the colors I needed, primarily red and blue.

I also found someone on Etsy selling a lot of embroidery hoops in different sizes and shapes.  Purchasing these was more economical than buying the hoops separately.
I placed a piece of fabric in the hoop and pulled it as tight as possible before turning the screw at the top to close it even tighter.  The outside piece of the hoop would rise a little as I was tightening the screw but I would just push it down and that helped the fabric go even more taut.

Then, I trimmed the fabric around the edge of the hoop, leaving about three quarters of an inch of the fabric all the way around.

The fabric would be glued to the inside back of the hoop.  But to give the embroidery hoops a finished and professional look, I needed to buy some felt and insert that into the back also.  My first step in that process was to draw an outline of the embroidery hoop on the felt and cut it out.


I then glued the fabric hanging over the side onto the inner rim of the embroidery hoop on the back.  You could use a glue gun to do this, but I don't like glue guns so I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion.

Using my fingers, I pushed the fabric down in place on the glue.  This got a little messy because I ended up with glue on my hands.

Then I put the piece of felt into the back of the hoop and pushed the edges over the top of the fabric that I had just glued into place.  If the fabric was thin, the glue I had used for the fabric was usually enough to hold the felt in place.  But if the fabric was thicker, I had to add some additional glue to hold the felt in place.  Just be careful not to overuse the glue.  It will bleed through to the fabric on the front of the piece.

I used different fabrics on each piece and loved how they looked together.

But I wanted to personalize them even more.  If you remember from my previous post, I am using a teddy bear theme in the nursery and am also throwing some baseball into the mix for the father.  I know you probably can't tell, but the light blue fabric in one of the hoops has teddy bears.  So, I bought some teddy bear and baseball appliques and added them to the hoops.  Even though the appliques were iron-on, I glued them on.  I also added an applique for the letter of the baby's first name.

These will go above the crib and can be left close together or spread out more on the wall.

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Soda crate table

I know it's been awhile since I last posted but it seems I never have enough time for everything I need and want to do.  Now, I'm occupied with decorating a nursery.  Before my niece was even engaged to be married, I had started collecting items for both a girl's and a boy's nursery, because she told me that I could decorate her baby's nursery.  So, I was really excited to hear that she and her husband were expecting their first baby in November.  Once they knew the baby would be a boy, I started all my nursery projects.
When I first began collecting items for a boy, I decided to go with a teddy bear theme.  The main reason for that was because I found the cutest baby quilt by an Etsy seller and knew I had to have it.  I have also added other bear items from Etsy sellers including a bear rug and a chenille bear.  These will be perfect in the nursery.

Because my niece loves vintage, I am able to add some vintage to the nursery.  One of my projects is a table made with a soda crate.  I also plan to hang an old crate on the wall as a shelf.
For this project, I needed a crate - which I already had - and a table with a top which was roughly the same size as the crate.  I found a cheap one at a flea market.


As I'm using a lot of primary colors in the nursery - red, blue, yellow - I wanted to paint the table base in blue.  I decided not to paint the top of the table since it would be attached to the crate, so I taped off the top.

I bought a blue spray paint and painted the table in my garage, which turned out to be a bit of a mess.  My garage was covered in blue dust when I finished.


After I had let the paint dry, it was time to attach the crate to the tabletop.  I decided to glue it on, because I didn't want to bother with a drill and screws.  I used Liquid Nails and put some on the bottom of the crate.

Then I turned the table upside down and centered it on the crate.  It was much easier to do it this way than to try to center the crate on the table when it was right side up.

I put some weights on it to hold it in place while the glue dried.  Once the glue was finished drying, I turned the table right side up.  Because the bottom of the crate on the inside was in rough shape, I bought a cheap plastic place mat and trimmed it down to fit the inside.

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