Headband Tutorial

Make this cutie pie headband using paper flowers!

What you'll need:

Start by layering two (or more) flowers on top of each other. Then take your needle and thread it through both flowers to ensure they are sewn together.

Then thread a small glass bead through the top of the flower. The beads will automatically turn to the side once you pull the thread all the way through.

Continue threading the beads until you have three. Once you have all three beads in place, cut the thread and tie a knot, or two, or three until it's secure enough to your liking. If you have a Houdini baby with Wonder Woman skills, then you'll want to do as many as possible.

Now you want to take your elastic and measure approximately 16 inches. The 16 inches seems to work well for both young babies and older children. I made this size for both my seven month old and her six year old cousin. As far as the elastic, I bought a very thin kind from the craft store because the baby doesn't have a lot of hair and it doesn't hide well with little to no hair. Just my preference though.

Once you have the elastic measured and cut, you take the flower and sew the elastic to the back of the flower.

Now you have cutie pie headband!

Linked to A Bowl Full of Lemons

Spring Rosette Shirt

Everyone is jumping on the flower bandwagon and I'm not going to be left behind! So today I created a cute, little shirt for my daughter using leftover fabric scraps and a printed grosgrain ribbon. To make the shirt, I cut the fabric scraps into 1" strips measuring about 15" long.

Take one end of the fabric strip and tie it into a knot. Glue down the little piece at the top of the knot using Fabri-Tac.

Now start to wrap the strip of fabric around the the knot and twist the fabric as you go.

Once you have finished the little rosette, glue the end with more Fabri-Tac. I created three rosettes and made one flower out of them.

Once you have the number of flowers you desire, take your ribbon and burn the edges of it to prevent fraying.

Now get your glue on!!! Start glueing the stem into place using your ribbon. I had the stem go all the way to the bottom of the shirt and around to the inside to create a more seamless look.

Cut two short pieces of ribbon on an angle and glue them to the stem (remember to burn the tips of these too). These will be your leaves.

Once everything is glued into place, it's ready to wear!

P.S. I'm not sure how this will hold up in the washer, so you may want to hand wash. Ugh, I know, so 1800's.

DIY project

Welcome to my very first tutorial!!!

For my first DIY project, I repurposed a tired, old, and let's face it, ugly-looking piece of artwork and frame. I found it rummaging through a local consignment shop that's located just up the street from me. My brain was all over the place with ideas for this frame and I tried a few of them before settling on one. And I love it!!! So here we go...

Here is the original frame in all of her ugliness glory.

One idea I had was this...

I thought it would have looked great if I created a collage of framed sheet music and hung them over a collection of guitars or maybe even a baby grand piano. But since I have neither of these things, I decided against it. For the record though, I still think it's a good idea and will probably whip it out again sometime in the future.

So then I decided to paint the frame using a can of white paint that we had leftover from painting the book shelf and chair railing in the baby's room and an old paint brush I dug up in the laundry room.

I touched up some of the spots that I had missed using a very inexpensive sponge brush. You of course can keep the "missed spots" if you like the look...slightly more shabby chic. Doesn't the fabric look good inside the frame too?!!!

From there I tore off the terrible lovely print and sheet music. I knew I wanted to use a fabric for the inside of the frame and I wanted something earthy with texture. I bought 3/8 in. of burlap and hated it. So I went back to the fabric store and purchased another 3/8 in.of an oatmeal colored cotton fabric. Linen would have worked nicely too.

I started arranging sea shells that were either collected from past vacations or given to me as a gift...I can't remember which are which though.

I glued them all into place and quickly decided I needed other shells that were varying in size, shape, and color. Don't fret if you've glued them down. I used Fabri-Tac and was easily able to remove the ones I didn't like.

See...no mess

Once I had a good mixture of shells, a piece of coral, and a mini-sand dollar, I glued them all into place. And Voila!

I used something inexpensive and easily accessible because of where I live. You, however, can use whatever it is that floats your boat. Maybe it's something you collect like door knobs, old hotel keys, or pressed flowers. You can use so many things to achieve the same look. Good luck and happy hanging!

Total Cost: $15.91

What's in a name?

Welcome to my blog launching party! Number of people in attendance...one (plus our furry family pup). Here I am at the computer with a full dishwasher ready for unloading and piles of laundry big enough they warrant a zip code of their own and I'm sitting down to start a blog. Crazy, I know.

Anyhoo, I'm always wondering where people get the names for their blogs, stores, businesses, etc., so I figured I'd share the reasoning behind mine. Well, I am Sunny Vanilla. The name just describes me. The sunny side of me is lighthearted, blithe, and happy mixed in with a little goofy, a good dose of funny, and a smidge irreverent (enter fart jokes here). My other side is more vanilla. I'm pretty introverted, laid back, calm, and unpretentious. I'm in my element when the atmosphere is relaxed and things are simple. I also love bookstores and libraries. That actually might make me more nerdy than vanilla. Ha! But, if you happen to be family or some of my closest friends, you're more prone to see the goofy side...lucky you!

Grab yourself a coke from the fridge and let me tell you a little story. A long, long time ago I was proofing ads with my branch manager for an ad agency. I was dressed very vanilla-y: oatmeal colored sleeveless shirt, light brown pants, brown shoes, and no accessories. So we sat there reading ads out loud until I went to cross my legs. In mid-sentence, I heard her belt out a really hardy chuckle. Apparently, my socks had caught her attention. That morning I had chosen a pair of very loud, very colorful, and very hidious socks to wear with my very ho-hum outfit (try conjuring up pictures of Pippy Long Stocking). So I told her that my outfit kind of represented me - a little sunny, a little vanilla. She liked the analogy and agreed with me 100%.

So there you have it. I hope you take this journey with me. I hope it inspires you, encourages you, and makes you giggle like a school girl.