When we desired a new light to go over the dining table, I wasn’t thinking about making one. Then I remembered designer Jean Pelle’s instructions to make a chandelier at ReadyMade.

A chandelier would be much nicer than our old light fixture.

The original design for the chandelier used porcelain sockets and coiled string. We used galvanized pipe and IKEA.

Materials

• 18 4-inch glass bubble balls from CB2 ($2 each)
• 4 cord sets from IKEA ($4 each)
• 20 gauge floral wire ($1)
• fishing line ($1)
• galvanized electrical conduit and fittings ($12)
• 4 25-watt clear bulbs ($1 each)

Total cost: $70

Method

1. Use scissors to cut the floral wire into 1.5″ lengths, and then bend a small loop.

2. Tie fishing line through the wire loop, and push it into the hole in the glass ball. Now you can hang it.

3. The cords run through the pipe and join at the top.

Is the light off-center over your table? No problem, you can extend it as far as you need. You can also paint it. We like the industrial look.

(Don’t be confused by the change in wall color. Our lease says we can only paint one accent wall per room, so the ceiling and other walls are apartment-beige.)

4. You can see how the lamp cords come out the bottom. Start tying the glass balls to the end of the pipe.

5. Keep adding more until you think you have enough.

And that’s it! We like it, so we made a smaller, easier version for the nursery too.

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DIY Glass Bubble Chandelier

When we last saw the stacked wood mantel, it was covered in Christmas garlands. Here is how it looks on a regular day (with a little bit of messy pushed to the side of the camera’s view).

Different from how the room looked before, right?

The Christmas garlands have been packed away, along with the Christmas tree, but the string of buttons stayed. I miss the tree, but a clean look is nice.

It wouldn’t be so great to still have my tree up in February, now would it. Maybe.

To see more about how we made it, and by we, I mean Doug, keep on reading:  Building a Stacked Wood Fireplace Mantel.

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The Stacked Wood Mantel (Before & After)

Sometimes when you live in a plain beige apartment, you have to add your own architectural interest. We didn’t a have fireplace, and we thought a mantel would make our apartment more cozy.

What we had before was an entertainment center, but we were ready to move on.

We saw a similar mantel in an Anthropologie store display, and I suggested we try to make one. I had no idea what kind of construction would come next.

The stacked boards are nailed together. The wood is heavy, but it comes apart in five sections so that we will be able to take it with us when we move.

To avoid putting several holes in the wall, the mantel is built on two long boards that are mounted to the studs. The sections are assembled with brackets along the two supporting boards.

The center of the fireplace is chocolate brown linen.

We’ll keep it even after the holidays. The tree will come down and the blue chair will return. The garland will be stored away and we’ll add decorations for Spring. And the next time I make a suggestion about building something, I’ll remember that he might just take me seriously and do it.

(Update: Here is how it looks on a regular day, after the Christmas decorations have been put away.)

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Building a Stacked Wood Fireplace Mantel

The plans for Tom’s baby quilt had been forming in my mind for a long time. Even though it was a baby quilt, I didn’t want it to be babyish. I didn’t want it to be outgrown, I wanted it to be… manly. And so I looked to the three older generations of men in our family, and I made it with menswear fabric from clothes that they wore.

His Great-Grandpa’s Sunday ties.

His Papaw’s plaid shirts.

His Daddy’s khaki pants.

And his own newborn onesies, just now barely outgrown.

Trying to sew it during the day was ridiculous at times. It was lovely to sew the last stitches while holding a sleeping baby in my lap. I love you little guy.

The front and back. (Click to view larger.)

Details

The size is 48″ x 64″, so it’s bigger than a crib but smaller than a twin, and just right for a throw. The batting is organic cotton, and the back is light blue linen. I love the rumply look of linen. The shirts and pants for the quilt blocks have been washed a hundred times, so they’re nice and soft. I tried to include details like pockets and buttons on the shirts. I sewed it on my Grandma’s 40-year-old Nelco sewing machine, and hand-stitched the binding.

I hope it will be well-loved and well-used. I already spilled bacon on it.

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Tom’s Four Generations Baby Quilt

I do know how I’ll be wrapping those gifts once I bring them home. Last year I made a little video tutorial about how to tie a gift ribbon into a pretty bow without any knots so that it’s easy to take it off. It’s a simple way to dress up your present.

In case you missed it the first time around, I’m sharing it again. It’s less than two minutes.  Stay for the outtake at the end — I had completely forgotten about it!

(Click through to watch it at Small Notebook if you don’t see it in your email or RSS reader.)

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Tie a Pretty Gift Ribbon

Last year as I looked forward to Christmas but not so much of the preparations, I decided: “I’m not getting organized for Christmas this year.  I think I’m just going to show up for it.” (from Come As You Are: Christmas Without the Frenzy)

Christmas became something I could look forward to with anticipation, without feeling like I was putting on a one-woman show. I paid close attention to our favorite simple holiday traditions, choosing to only do those instead of what might be on someone else’s “must have” list. And I realized that when someone asks if I’m ready for Christmas, it doesn’t have to mean, “Did I finish my shopping yet?”

This year I have the same feeling of anticipation, but I realize that with a new baby, everything takes a little more planning. We’re more home-centered than ever, so we want to do a few more decorations. I decided that I would enjoy making some things, but I want to use materials I can find outdoors and around the house to make our home cheery.

When we were growing up my family had an Advent wreath made from a ring of florist foam with sprigs of ivy attached to it. Florist foam isn’t something I normally keep, so I looked around the house for something I could use instead. I found my granny’s old Bundt cake pan in the kitchen.

Four votive candles are placed in the cake pan, one for each of the four Sundays before Christmas. We’ll light the candles at dinner time each night, starting this Sunday. Cranberries between the candles hold them in place. A center candle (secured with a little hot glue) will be lit on Christmas Eve night.

There’s nothing much simpler and more beautiful than candlelight at Christmas time.

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Advent Wreath from the Kitchen

This puppy used to be a pair of gloves. I sewed him up with some brown thread, added a button, and stuffed him with cotton balls.

The instructions are in a book called Sock and Glove, by Miyako Kanamon. It has photos and instructions to make all kinds of small soft animals from old gloves and socks.

Guess what! Two of the projects from the book are available online from Martha:

• this dog
• the rabbit

If you want a handmade knit gift, without the knitting, then this one is for you. I learned how to knit a few weeks ago, and I can see why people like it. It’s definitely a soothing process. But knitters are very patient people, and this little guy was quicker.

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Made With Love from Gloves

Isn’t it hard to start writing in a brand new notebook? Best to write or draw something on the first page right away, so you don’t have to be intimidated by the blank pages anymore.

This is my newest one and I already love it. It’s a collection of chocolate bar wrappers and what I was doing when I ate them.

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The Chocolate Notebook

I love decorations made with natural materials. Although I wait until after Thanksgiving before bringing out the Christmas decorations, it’s not too soon for a few walnut ornaments.

Sometimes making things is more fun if you have help. If I asked Doug, “Can we craft Christmas ornaments together?” he’d probably go along with it eventually. But instead I said, “I need you to help me make something. Can you get your wire cutters and needle-nose pliers?” Y’all, I’m not kidding, he was back in five seconds carrying his tool bag.

And now I have cute ornaments.

Click here for instructions at Design*Sponge.

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Walnut Ornaments

It was girls’ weekend while Doug was out of town, so we spent it watching movies, eating ice cream, and sewing. My three-year-old has been very into sewing.

Lane comes running whenever she hears the sewing machine, and she wants to help with every “making something.” It’s nice when she sits on my lap to watch the machine whirring, and scary when she wields the fabric scissors. Her job is to cut the threads.

We started her off with some rainbow yarn, blunt needles, and plastic canvas (like what my granny’s tissue box covers are made from). Burlap or wide-weave linen in a hoop work well too.

They are quick little activities that are easy to take with us, and later I just pull out the yarn for next time.

She practices with the sharp needles by stringing the buttons into necklaces.

What’s more fun than the sewing is hearing her talk about it. Needles are called noodles, buttons are bun-duns, and every button necklace is going to be for the pirate party she’s planning.

She’s caught on to the idea that she can make the things that she sees at the store. Every finished thing makes her smile with pride so big that I think my heart is going to burst.

Most importantly, we don’t take it too seriously. So when she wakes up at 6:30 in the morning wanting to sew a pink party hat like the one she saw the night before, I pull out the stapler and glue gun, and we call that sewing too. I don’t want her to be so concerned about doing something the right way that she hesitates to start. So far, she’s been ready to jump right in.

A few kid-friendly sewing project ideas:

Handmade Felt Food group on Flickr

Coloring Pasta and Making Necklaces from Make and Takes

Butterfly Mobile from the Long Thread

Festive Bunting and Many More Ideas from Sew, Mama, Sew

Wild West Gear and Fake Mustaches from Little Birdie Secrets

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Teaching Sewing