Star Wars Room

Well, I got Kayla's Star Wars room finished finally! I haven't been able to get her to completely clean it yet but that's coming soon (with some loving help from mom). If you're like I was, you're searching for the perfect ideas for your child's room and how to create the different things yourself. I'll do my best to help make it easy for you. If you have any questions, please ask!

She didn't want all of her walls to be blue so we left this one alone and pulled the blue color in by stapling fabric over a cork board. I used the one sold at JoAnn's and Michaels that doesn't have any sides. Super easy to make! Cut fabric big enough to wrap around to the back (make sure it's in the right direction so that it doesn't end up upside down when you hang it on the wall). Then all you have to do is staple it and hang it! You can add ribbons and buttons but she didn't want them.

 The shelves are just the ones from ikea. She's been collecting the comics and needed somewhere to put them.

The canvases were made using this tutorial. I did the stars differently than she did. We put glow in the dark paint on the canvas first, then we temporarily glued stars on the canvas, spray painted it black, took the stars off. I didn't take pictures because I didn't think it would work but it was super easy and worked great! I suppose you could always just finish up with glow in the dark paint splatters for the same effect. (I used Elmer's spray glue that will do a temporary or permanent bond. The stars were the multi-colored foil type ones you can buy anywhere.)

We made the cornices using this tutorial. I'm planning on putting fabric on the middle of these using starch unless she changes her mind. (I doubt it. sigh.) If you're like us and have never cut crown molding, you may find this video helpful. We nailed the cornice but glued the molding to the board. Nailing was a pain and caused a lot of problems. The glue holds just as well. You'll just have to do things in steps so the glue has time to dry. We just used wood glue but there may be something out there that will work better.

We used the cheap Walmart frames for the poster. We had an old one that was scratched up so we took the clear plasic from that one and sandwiched the poster in between the two pieces of plastic (it's been straightened out since these were taken). I just glued hangers to the back (wood glue works here, too).
For the scarf (had to girly it up some) I just used some wooden tiebacks from the curtain section. You can use pretty much anything that can screw into the wall and stick out enough to drape something over it.

I know it's a crappy picture but the light switch is just mod podged fabric over the plate. You can just glue it. You can use paper or fabric to cover the light switch cover. It's super easy to do! After you cut your fabric (big enough to go around to the back), glue it, then just cut a small hole in the middle where the switch goes and tuck the edges under.

Here are the other two cornices along with the Star Wars cookie jars Walmart had at Christmas. The paint is just blue paint that matches the blue fabric. I just brushed a coat on in straight lines. It sure beat doing three coats of paint and it looks really cool!

And, of course, no Star Wars room is complete without the Wampa rug! If you cringe when you see how much these suckers are, you can make it yourself using my tutorial.

I have a few more ideas that I might add later (after she gets that room cleaned!). I'm thinking about shelves to hold some of the Star Wars Lego creations as well as something involving an air plant thingy. Be sure to return for the update! If you need more ideas, I've pinned a bunch of stuff to my "Kids Decor Ideas" board.

Trashbag for car

I didn't care for the denim trash bag I made so when I came across a pin for another bag I decided to give it a try. The denim one was too big and I didn't like the way it looked. I'll try another one eventually.

I think this bag turned out really well; imagine what it would look like if I could sew a straight line! Here's the link for the tutorial I based mine on (she takes better pictures :-)). I didn't have the cloth stuff she had so I made do with the cheap stuff. I also didn't want to spend more money for fabric when I wasn't sure if it would turn out. So, here are the things I did different:
1. Since I used cheaper fabric, I put batting in between the fabrics.
2. I have DVD players on the headrests so I didn't want the added bulkiness of tying so the strap is just one long piece.
3. I wanted both colors on the strap so I just sewed an extra strip in it. (I should have sewn the straps on with the other side showing, oops.)
4. I cheated and used one piece of fabric for each color instead of two. Worked fine and one less seam to mess up.

I'm not going to repeat everything since she did such a great job on her tutorial. I'm just showing the modifications that I made.

Here is the batting stuff I used. 11X22 worked well if you use the same sizes as the tutorial.

That gusset thing she did worked out great! If you're wondering why there's no bottom seam it's because I used one piece of fabric instead of sewing two together. I was able to use fat quarters for the blue and green. Luckily, they were both cut bigger than the measurements on the package said.

This is what the strap looks like before you baste it (sew it). Make sure it's straight when you sew it, use the sewing machine as a guide. I had a lot of excess length so that's why there's so much hanging off the top. It doesn't show when the bag is sewn so I just left it. I figured out the length I wanted and just drew a chalk line on the fabric.

This is what the bag looked like before sewing the right sides together. When the outside bag is inside out inside of the inside bag which is right side out (right sides facing each other), just pin the batting to the two seams so it can get sewn on as well.(Did you get all of that? :-))

ANOTHER PICTURE SHOWING THE STRAP IN BETWEEN THE FABRICS

To make the extra strip on the strap, just cut a piece of the fabric the same length as your strap, adding at least 1/2 inch to the width for sewing room. Just sew the edges together with right sides facing (both sides) then turn the tube right side out. I use a chopstick to help.

I know I'm going to have to wash these (which is why she used the other fabric) but I can always put a plastic bag inside for those times when the kids are going to have yucky stuff to throw away. These were pretty easy to make but I had already done most of my mistakes on the denim bag (see blog post). I hope this helps you make your own! FYI-if you don't want your kids to chose the fabric, better not let them know what you're doing. That's how I ended up with the space theme for the back of my car. :-)

Cinnamon Rolls

I know, totally not healthy. I decided to be a good wifey and send some treats in to hubby's work since they were working long hours on projects.

These were the first batch I made. They didn't rise at all. The kids tried to make some rolls with the dough. Bricks. I used "Clone of a Cinnabon" on allrecipes.com for these. Many people have made those successfully but it didn't work for me. Maybe because I wasn't using a bread machine. IDK.

I moved on to "Cinnamon Rolls II" and loved the dough! I didn't change a thing! Since the directions were for bread machines on this one as well, I had to use guesswork in the assembly process. Super easy!

I'm giving directions here to make life easy on you but the ingredients came from allrecipes.com. I used the dough from one recipe, caramel from another, and frosting from a third. :-)

These are the rolls with the caramel and the frosting. I flipped the rolls upside down after they were baked and spread the frosting on them.

This recipe fit in my KitchenAid mixer when doubled. FYI

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg

Cream Cheese Topping:
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Caramel:
1/2 C Vanilla Ice Cream (or heavy whipping cream)
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/3 C Butter

Preparation

Dough:
In 2 cup measuring cup, heat milk. Add water, butter, sugar, and yeast. Let sit for a few minutes. It should foam.

Put mixture in mixing bowl. Add salt and eggs, mix. Add flour, mix for a while. This will let the mixer do the kneading for you.

When finished mixing, put a little bit of flour on the counter and knead for a minute. It should be slightly sticky. Put a few drops of oil in a bowl, put dough in bowl then turn the dough over. This gets the oil on top so the dough doesn't form a hard crust. Cover bowl and let dough rise.

Punch down dough then spread softened butter, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar (I use brown and white). Roll dough so it looks like a long log. Cut slices. Put in lightly buttered pan to rise unless using caramel. Add caramel to the pan before you put the rolls in if using caramel. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes (190 degrees in center roll).

Add topping while warm.

Cream Cheese Topping:
Whip it all together, easy!

Caramel:
Dump ingredients in a saucepan and bring to boil for a minute, too long and the caramel will get too hard after it bakes.

*You can flip the rolls upside down after baking to keep the filling from coming out. I didn't have any problems but apparently others have.