DIY Ship steering wheel

Here it is! another nautical room decor for Eli. I found a similar steering wheel from Hobby Lobby for $44. I had most of the stuff to make the wheel so, I only ended up paying $12:) I could have saved some money at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon but I was anxious to see if I could pull this project off, and I did, awesome!

My inspiration photo

Here are the items you will need:
Round pine table top
Sisal rope
A bag of birch shaker pegs
2 Hardwood dowels
Classic grey wood finish

This table top is 1"x 17" big

I used my punch ball to make a round outline in the middle of the table top. Then I made another smaller circle in the middle.

Then I used my spade drill bit to drill 1/2" holes. In total I had 16 holes on the larger piece. The 8 holes on the outer side were about 1/2" deep, just enough for the shaker pegs to go in. The other 8 inner holes were also about 1/2 deep also.

I used my variable speed jigsaw to cut out this, like here. The smaller piece is about 6.5" big and the larger piece is 3" wide. The space between is about 3.5".

The distance between the 2 pieces is about 3.5".

I also drilled 1/2" holes into the round middle piece. I cut out 8 dowels, about 4.5 inches long. With the round piece in the middle, I put some glue on my dowels and stuck them into the pre drilled holes. I wish I took more pictures. Then I put some more wood glue on the peg shakers and stuck them on the outer wheel.

I used a grey wood finish and after it was dry, I tied the rope around the wheel

Pillow tutorial - grommet & rope

This pillow is one of my favorite Pinterest finds. Immediately I saw it, I knew it would look good in my son's room.

Here is a tutorial on how to insert grommets:

Cut a hole into your fabric

Insert the grommet into the hole (the piece that pokes out should be on the wrong side of the fabric)

Place the grommet on top the the round hardware you see in the picture

Place the washer (the flat piece) on top of the grommet.

Place the puncher on top of the washer and hit it with a hammer a few times.

Voila!

 And here is the tutorial on how to make the pillow



Linking up to:
The 36th Avenue

Whale wall decor

Remember the  nautical nursery storyboard for Eli's room? Well, this is the one piece I was not so sure I could pull off. I must say it was very thrilling to make, it looks awesome and its quite big. The whale measures 34" x 20" long

This is what you will need:
2 red cedar fence board
Newspaper (or any large piece of paper)
9 mending plates
Minwax wood finish
Picture hangers
A rug or paint brush
A pen or pencil

Here is my inspiration picture from PBK. I have no idea how much it costs. I even wonder if they ever sold it, it was just part of the room and I loved it. I found these kind of whales for $100 on Etsy and it only cost me about $12 to make my very own..hurray!

Cut boards in half and arrange them like above. Draw a picture of a whale on the newspaper (if you look closely, you will see I had to adjust and redraw mine several times). Cut out the drawing from your paper and using a pencil draw alone the edges of the cutout onto the boards.

Here is how it looked like after

Then I whipped out my favorite tool of all times. My saw, this is one item I would take with me to my grave yes our relationship is that deep. I have used it on all my wood cutting projects, love it love it love it!!

source

Cut up all my pieces, one board at a time

Is that cool or what? The jig saw cut through this board like it was butter. It's the first time I have used it for something this precise and it delivered:)

I turned it around and screwed in the mending plates where the boards came together. Then I nailed in the picture hangers, one on the tail and the other on the head (not shown in picture).

I used this stain, love this stuff

Love it!

DIY Sailboat T-shirt

Here is a cute project I have been working on. It only took a few minutes. I got the tee for $3 and the fabric paint was a dollar; another affordable project. You may have noticed by now that I love anything nautical. My son's nursery is nautical and I got some fabric to make me a shirt and a maxi skirt (navy, white and red) hurray!

I have always wanted to print on my own clothes but just didn't take the time to learn how. Last week I stumbled upon this cute blog. I loved her tutorial and decided to try it out and I am excited with how it turned out. Its not that scary after all.
I would like to make a skirt/shorts whichever one will be easier to make to go with this tee. It's going to be a fun spring/summer outfit for my little daughter..