Embroidery Hoop Wall Art

OK, a few of you have asked how I made these, and I feel kind of silly making a whole tutorial out of this project because it was soooo easy. But I guess this is a good one to start with. Let me know if anything is unclear or if you have ideas to make the project better. You won't hurt my feelings. :)



You'll need:
Wooden embroidery hoops. Like these
Various complimentary fabric remnants
Scissors
Fabric marker or a regular ink pen will do
Sewing machine or needle and thread if you want to add a little oomph to your hoops

Choose your fabric and hoops. I upcycled a couple of old bedsheets I thrifted a couple of weeks ago and happened to have some complimentary remnants in my stash. I purchased hoops from Joann's, but I think I paid too much. The hoops I got are the 18"x 28" oval (paid 5.99) and 2 14" circles (paid 3.99). Still pretty cheap for their purpose. But I'm sure you can find some cheaper if you search around online or hit up some yard sales or your granny's stash.

Spread your first piece on a flat surface, wrong side up, and place your embroidery hoop over it.

Use your fabric marker or ink pen to trace around the outside of your hoop. Give yourself about a 2-3" allowance. This will come in handy later when you are pulling your fabric tight. Then go ahead and cut out your circle (or oval).

I'm sure you've noticed the little contraption on the top of your hoop. This tightens and loosens the outer hoop to hold your fabric in place. Loosen your outer hoop and take them apart. 

Lay your inner hoop on your flat surface and then lay your fabric, right side up, over the hoop. 

Next you'll place the outer hoop down, sandwiching your fabric between the 2 hoops. Tighten your contraption just enough to hold your fabric in place. From the back side you'll want to start pulling your extra allowance out to pull the fabric tight. Alternate between tightening the hoop and fabric or you'll end up with your fabric bunched up and bubbling out in places. 

After you've tightened it all the way you'll need to flip your hoop to the back and trim off the excess fabric. Be sure that your hoop is tightened enough to hold your fabric, because after you trim off the excess you won't have anything to grab ahold of to pull it tight. 

And that's IT!

I made these as accents.

And hung all three over our bed! Excuse the ugly white walls...

Again, I feel like this was an awful lot of instruction for a pretty easy project, but now it's super clear for you and I got a little practice playing with all of those buttons up there. If you are feeling crazy and want to add a little something, get creative. 

I used this bird template for the birds and free handed the tree. I wish I had made a template for the tree because I'm pretty stoked on how it turned out. You can add ric-rac, ribbon, felt. You will want to sew your pieces on before you put your fabric on the hoop. You can't tell, but I used a super bright yellow thread and sewed about a 1/4" in on all of the pieces. Then I went back and pulled at the edges to fray them out a little. The good thing about this is it's super cheap and easy. If you hate it, take it apart and start fresh. If you change your decor, take it apart and start fresh. No biggie. Be sure to let me know if you try it and post pics!!

Now a photo of my sweet Magnolia actually enjoying tummy time for once today!

I'm Doing This!

See...I'm doing it! If you have found yourself here, then you may know me and you may know that I get all gung ho about something and then forget about it a few weeks later. Blogging may be one of those things. I hope not. I need a "creative outlet". I get all of these ideas for things I want to make, places I want to go, things I want to accomplish but I've never had a place to keep all of these thoughts in a pretty little package. Enter blogging. I tried a tumblr account and that ended up being a bunch of reposts of pretty pictures and other peoples ideas and dreams. I never did the LiveJournal thing, and I feel like FB will fade away eventually and all of my ideas will be lost into the interweb abyss. I'm hoping this blog will encourage me to express my own ideas...and maybe share a few ideas that I LOVE from some other folks.

What to expect: I'm kind of all over the place with my thought processes. I have a dozen projects I want to complete, but I get sidetracked with my next BIG idea. So you can probably expect me to be all over the place. Try to keep up, please. I'm a doting mother and I'm obsessed with my kids, 8 year old Hayden, a.k.a. The Dude and 3 month old, Magnolia Grace, this blog's namesake. I'm also pretty over the moon for my super hot hunsband, Brian. He will most likely be referred to as The Hun, Hun, my hunny, the hunsband or just plain B. I never call him Brian. It just seems weird. But he's my soulmate and best friend. As cliche as that sounds, I really mean it. I think we are the only 2 people in this world that could "get" each other. We have a chihuahua named Porkchop. The only way I know how to spell that is because B taught me to remember it as Chi-hoo-uh-hoo-uh. Totally works. Try it.

I was a "hippie" in high school and wore the ridiculous patchwork dresses that went along with it. I taught myself to sew because my mother certainly wasn't going to make those ugly dresses for me. So there's that. My mom did teach me how to knit and crochet. I took photography courses in high school and college. I pretend I know what I'm doing with my Nikon D40. I think I just get lucky and accidentally end up with awesome shots. I also like to collect old cameras.

I've recently picked up couponing. I'm kind of obsessed. There were no coupons in our newspaper this week and I felt cold and empty inside. I'll try to share some of the super sweet deals I come across. I live in NC, so they may only be southern deals. My absolute fav couponing website is www.southernsavers.com. She's amazing! She matches up weekly grocery and drugstore circulars to current coupons and even links you to printable coupons if they can be found on the web. LOVE! I've been doing this just a few weeks and have already stocked B up on about a years worth of body wash. Totally Free!! Ooooo, and free toothpaste, and toothbrushes and mustard. Who doesn't love mustard?

So that's as far as my mind seems to be wandering tonight. Welcome and enjoy. The blog design is still under construction so I apologize if it's not up to bloggy par.  :) Tomorrow I'll show you how I made these: