(click the button to see the whole series!)

So we made it to the last day!  I just wanted to share a couple more things and a super easy and cheap home decor idea.

First is this quilt.  My first real hand-quilted quilt ever.  Probably the last

Don’t you love how the 2010 creeps upwards?  Hah!

It was a fun project and I’m pretty proud of it, but I really don’t know if hand quilting is for me.  I love quilts though!  I think, from now on, it’s either machine quilted or knots.

This next project was a mobile I made after Yuki was born.  I realized that it would be handy to have one hanging right above her changing table to keep her distracted during diaper and clothing changes.  We had a hand-me-down mobile but it wasn’t right for our room.  So I decided to make some black and white cards and attach them to the mobile frame with fishing wire.

It was great because it still had the music and rotating mechanism, but she LOVED the black and white designs.  This was, by far, the most practical and well used item that I made.  And it was so cheap and dinky!  It was literally white pieces of cardstock that I drew on with a black marker.

She loved it for a loooong time, but eventually was able to sit up and then grab them and since they were just paper, they didn’t last long after that.  I plan on making them again when we have another baby, but I’ll probably make them with felt (or at least laminate the cards) so they are more sturdy.

This next piece is a combo of a fun find and a DIY project.  While in Portland we found this awesome gift shop and I picked up these super cute postcards.  I can’t remember how much they were, but I’m assuming pretty cheap.  They fit perfectly with the feel and theme of the room.  It’s hard to see, but they are copies of oldish dictionary pages with hand drawn and colored ADORABLE illustrations.  Birds, rabbits, a dear, a bear and a squirrel?  Yes please!

So here’s where the sorta tutorial comes in.  I wanted to show you how I painted these cheap-o frames to look vintage-y and distressed, but I didn’t have the time or any extra frames to demonstrate.  So I thought I’d just describe it, since it’s pretty simple.

Just go and pick up a 3-pack of these RAM frames from Ikea for $1.99.  They are unfinished pine and have a plastic sheet instead of glass making it totally safe for a kid’s room.

All you need is acrylic paint in the color you want the frame, and white.  Paint a few coats of your main color to make sure it’s nice and well coated.  In my case, I did about 2-3 coats of brown paint.

Once the frame is completely dry, take a dry brush and dip it very lightly in the white paint.  You can brush some of the excess paint off if you need to, because you really only need a tiny bit.  You want to lightly brush the white paint along the edges of the frame a few times all the way around.  Do it on both the outside edge and inside edge of the frame.  You can very lightly run it over the rest of the frame too.

The nice thing about this, is if you accidentally get too much white on the frame, you can always take another dry brush with a tiny bit of your base color and brush it over.  Keep going until it’s got the amount of distressing you like.

And that’s it!

Thanks so much for coming on this little tour of Yuki’s room.  For me, it was a trip down memory lane!  Though some of this stuff is still up in the room, a lot has changed, and most of it has just become part of the mess.  I don’t really appreciate it anymore.  But looking back, I remember all the love and thought that went into it AND it makes me a little excited to plan another nursery!!  Not that we’re ready for that yet . . .

And in case you want to go back and see the other days, here are the links:
Day 1: Fabric Wall Decals
Day 2: Bird Mobiles
Day 3: Punched Fabric Flowers
Day 4: Fun Finds

Anyways, have yourself a great weekend!!  I’ll see you next week for some fun green activities in honor of St. Patty’s Day