Summer 2012 Pinterest Challenge

A few weeks ago, around the July 4th holiday, a few bloggers hosted a Pinterest challenge to get folks to actually make some of the things they’d pinned to their Pinterest boards. (You can check out mine here.)

Of course, I planned to participate in the challenge. It sounded like a great idea at the time. It really did. But the holiday weekend came and went, and before I knew it, it was already time to show off our completed projects. Well, it’s three weeks later, but I’m finally showing off mine. On the positive side, both of the projects I attempted will be used in baby girl’s room, so at least I’m making progress on decorating her room.

Rolled Ribbon Flowers

First off, I tackled the rolled ribbon flowers. I’m about as enamored with them as I am with pennants and tissue paper pom poms. They’re just scream girly-girly to me. I’ve probably pinned about five different tutorials. In the end, I watched this video tutorial from Tatertots and Jello.  Once I figured out the instructions, the process was super easy. Here’s me getting my roll on…

And the end result…

The best part is that this project didn’t cost me a  thing. I already had the glue sticks and glue gun (as every home should); and the ribbon was upcycled from various birthday present wrappings. I haven’t figured out exactly how I’ll use them, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be cute.

Ruffle lamp shade

One thing this Pinterest challenge taught me is that you can do wonders with a few yards of ribbon and a glue gun. If you don’t believe me, check out the before and after of our floor lamp.

The dual-tone was completely unintentional. I ran out of ribbon half-way through; and the store didn’t have any more light pink in stock. (It’d be way too much like right for me to actually calculate how much material I need ahead of time.)  It ended up being all good because now the lamp now reminds me of Christiana’s first swimsuit.

Source: E. Robinson

Total cost for the 12 yards of ribbon was about $24 (thanks to Joann’s 50% off coupons). The other supplies–lamp, glue gun and glue sticks–I already had on hand. If I had to do it over again, I’d line the lamp shade first with a pink fabric, then glue on the ribbon. Also, at this point, I’m undecided about spray painting the base. I’d like to lighten it up but can’t settle on a paint color. Any suggestions?

In Other Decorating News…

News flash–I have yet to finish painting baby girl’s room. I think I’ve figured out why though. The ceilings are high, very high. Even if I stand on the top of our 10-foot ladder, I can’t touch the top. All I keep imagining is me laying on my back with paint splattered everywhere, talking about, “My neck, my back. My neck and my back.” I still, for the life of me, can’t figure out why I didn’t think to have the professional painters finish up baby girl’s room when we had the whole house repainted last summer.

Nevertheless, I’m determined to get over it, so I can finish up. I already have my next decorating project lined up and can’t wait to get started.