. daily daydreams . a blog by love ardently design studio

Now that I’m a mom, one of my creative outlets (sometimes THE ONLY creative outlet) is making things for my baby boy. I love how I can create and then personalize it. The first time around, these baby booties took about 2 hours to make since I made a lot of mistake, but the second time I made it, it only took me an hour. The pattern is from Heather Bailey.

Remember this post? I was planning on decorating my baby’s nursery with a nautical theme. My inspiration board on that previous post was way too ambitious though. I tried to get it done during the earlier stage of my pregnancy, but it was still a lot of task. However, I did manage to make this wall fabric decal that I’m pretty proud of. This room ended up being my favorite room in our home :)

So, here goes a little tutorial. Because I live in an apartment, I was very concerned of finding the perfect solution to adhere the fabric decal to the wall without causing any marks. I researched a lot and found a great tutorial that worked for me. I basically use her tutorial with a few little tweaks to make it work for me.

Things you’ll need:

• the design you want on the wall, printed and cut out into shapes
• fabrics in the color of your choice
• Steam-A-Seam2 Double Stick Fusible Web
• Clover mini iron

First, I designed the whole layout on Adobe Illustrator. I measured the wall and then enlarged my design in correspondence to my wall measurement. After that, I printed the enlarged illustration. I only needed to print several shapes, which were the fish (small, medium, and big size),  the ship (3 components), and the cloud (big and small). Then, I cut out all the shapes and I made them as the tracing guide.

Then, I used the Steam-a-Seam Fusible Web as the adhesive agent. I got mine at Joann’s Fabric. So, the fusible web actually has 3 layering: the adhesive in the middle that is sandwiched by wax papers on each sides. At this point, I removed one of the wax paper which then reveals the sticky adhesive in the middle layer. I place that sticky side down onto the wrong side of the fabric. Then, I apply a bit of heat to the fabric with the mini iron, just so the fabric would stick to the fusible web, while I cut the shapes out.

After that, I used those fabric shapes to trace it onto the fusible web, and then I cut the fusible web according to the shapes.

Then, I remove the other wax paper layer of the fusible web, which leaves the one adhesive layer in the middle. I place the fabric (which has adhesive) onto the wall where I wanted. At this point, there’s a little adhesive and it’s still removable, in case you change your mind and want to change up the layout or something. The next step is to apply the heat.

A lot of tutorial uses simply a good old iron. It didn’t work for me because my shapes were too small and the iron was big. Whenever I try to use the big iron to apply the heat, it would leave marks on the wall on the surrounding area of the shapes that doesn’t have fabrics. I hope this makes sense to you. So anyway, I went to Joann’s Fabric and got the Clover mini iron which worked absolutely perfect for my shapes.

After you apply the heat, the fabric shapes are no longer removable. If for some reason you decide to remove it, it’s unusable and you’ll have to make a new one. One thing I really like about this method is that when I try removing one of those fabric decals, it leaves no marks on my wall!

One bonus pic with my little man in the crib :)

{Photo credit: Ivana Brata/Love Ardently}

Ooops… it’s been too long since I last blog. I have to tell you that I haven’t been around blogs lately. I have hundreds of unread post in my Google Reader which explains how long I’ve been away. Sorry! I’ve just been doing a lot of work + school stuffs (read: designing, screen printing, practicing piano, learning chinese, etc…).

So, first of all, happy (belated) Easter to you! Last week, I was in need of an outfit for Easter. I had such a low and tight budget, so it seemed like I couldn’t buy a new outfit. I open up my closet to look for something decent and found this plain, boring, white cardigan from Target. I thought I could pair it with a black and white dress that I have.

Trying to be savvy on a low-budget, I decided to jazz it up just a bit. Not that I have a lot of “fashion” related post on this blog, but I thought I just wanted to share this quickie DIY project :) So, I went to a fabric store and bought some black lace. Also, I always love to browse on the remnant section just because lots of times there’s a lot of great leftover fabrics with marked down prices. I found some black organza and black polyester remnant and which were 50% off (score!). I spent about $5 total in the fabric store, *ka-ching!* Not bad.

Then I got home, spent about an hour to sew using my two bare hands, and voila…

And here it is in action on Easter day. Next to me was the husband, of course.

After the heart button string-tie envelope DIY yesterday, it’s time to reveal the inside of the envelope that I sent to my swap buddies  at Weddingbee and Crow & Canary.

Err… this time I really have to credit the inspiration to Martha. I couldn’t find a wider solid pink grosgrain ribbon on Michaels the other day (can you believe that?!), so I just used a less wide ribbon I had on hand. I hope it resembles a candy enough :)

This year, I’m participating in two Valentine’s card swaps: one held by Crow and Canary, and the other one by Weddingbee. I have to tell you that I’m a huge fan of the snail mail. I think it’s just so fun to receive them and to send them as well. That brings us to a last minute DIY I want to share to you!

I use these heart button string-tie envelopes to send my Valentine’s cards for the swap. Although, errr… you might have seen something similar on Martha. Seriously, I found out AFTER I planned doing this DIY. Oh well, that’s okay. Mine is using a slightly different method and this tutorial doesn’t include sewing.

MATERIAL

. envelope (anything you wish to use. i got mine at envelopemall.com)

. foam mounting tabs (i got mine at office max)

. heart cut-outs (approximately 3/4″ in width, or you can use a craft punch)

. 12″ – 15″ of string or twine (i got my baker’s twine on etsy)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the mounting tab into a square, to fit the size of your heart cutouts.

2. Attach one side of the mounting tab to one of the heart cut-out, and the other side to the envelope, upside down below the enclosure.

3. Cut another mounting tab into a square and stick it to another heart. This time, attach one end of the string onto the mounting tab before adhering it to the envelope.

4. Now, stick it above the enclosure and press down a little bit to make sure it’s fully adhered.

5. You’re now ready to string-tie your envelope and send someone a love note!

This envelope would works best if it’s hand-delivered. I honestly don’t recommend using it for mailing stuffs, but if you’re a daredevil like me, you’d probably try it out just to see if it would reach your recipient as neat as when you sent them. Hopefully it wouldn’t be screwed during the mailing *fingers crossed*. We shall hear from my card swap buddies, then! :)

The first day of February! Valentine’s day is just around the corner, and today I had the honor of guest-blogging a Valentine themed DIY project over at Mint. I’m so excited to share it with you!

Thank you SO MUCH Ellie and Mint readers for having me!

Last weekend, the husband and I went to Oklahoma for our niece’s birthday. We have two nieces and we have bought a present for the birthday girl but we wanted to also give a little something for the other sister so she doesn’t get jealous of all her sister’s birthday attentions :) So… I made a little something for her.

I have the plastic headband in stock and I picked the ribbon color to wrap it out of my wedding ribbon leftovers. The green tulle was also a wedding leftover and I bought the pearl on eBay and had them for a while. So last week, I just had to purchase the matching fabric for the flower petals.

We went to Philbrook Museum for the MyMuseum Family Day where kids will receive art activity cards, an art supply, and an art kit toolbox to put everything in. My sister put on my cutie niece a pretty blue dress that match perfectly to the headband. I love it on her!

DIY Letterpress? What, what? Is it possible at all? Yes, yes!

I have been DYING to learn how to letterpress. I’ve been trying to find a local class here in Dallas but have not been successful. While I am still so interested in learning about the real deal, I was *so* excited to read this post at the DIY Bride blog about this new baby!!! This DIY Letterpress machine is soon to be released this coming Fall by Lifestyle Craft. The whole kit looks among the same group like Yudu and all those Cricut machines.

{Source}

This is one of the premade printing plate.

{Source}

So, at $149.99 retail, the whole kit comes with everything you need to start letterpress printing right away:

• Epic Six Letterpress and Die-cutting Tool
• Letterpress
• Clear Packing Mat with Grid
• Paper Placement Guides
• Ink Base
• Brayer
• Ten A2 flat cards
• Nine Printing Plates
• Tube of Black Ink
• Circle Cutting Dies

Of course as graphic designer, my first and foremost question would be, “Can we make anything we want with it? Can we make our own “pre-made templates”?” See, I bought a Cuttlebug machine back then and it was just left alone under my living room sofa unopened. I thought I was going to use it for several projects but everytime, I always need something custom, not just taking whatever they have on the premade templates.

To answer my first question, it was said that they are going to have some kind of “custom program”. Now, I AM BEYOND EXCITED. Not sure how customized would this be, but Michelle from Lifestyle Crafts actually mentioned that we can create our own words, phrases, and designs. I’m sure there will be limitation, like the ink colors that we can use, booo… :(. All in all, though, this would still be one cool machine to own. I’ll be looking out for that “custom program” announcement.

Let see… Now, I’m considering to get either this or a new Wacom Tablet. Maybe Wacom for Christmas and this for my birthday, haha *winks at the husband* :)

It seems like fabric flowers are everywhere. I was smitten by fabric flowers from J Crew earlier this year. Now, you can pretty much see them everywhere, including your neighborhood’s Target, the stores at Etsy, and even MarthaStewart.com. This trend almost bored me actually, just because it’s everywhere. I don’t usually like things that has been done and used over and over again, but I just can’t help to love this one. It’s irresistable!

This is a fabric flower hair pin that I made about 3 months ago to match my dress at a friend’s wedding.