White Tulip Designs » Inspiration, Design, and DIY for all of life's events.

Favorite Things - Amazon Handmade

October 14, 2015

Have you heard? Amazon has stepped into the world of “Handmade” by creating a department, within their vast group of sellers, for artisans selling handmade goods. Yippee! If you are a Prime member you can now this little nugget to the insanely long list of perks! Some of the Handmade items also qualify for free shipping. You know me, I’m all about handmade anything! Keep in mind, Amazon’s rules to qualify as handmade are much more ridged that the current guidelines to sell within the Etsy platform.

On October 8, when they went live, I spent way more time than I should have perusing the different shops and items and I’ve created a collection of shops and favorite items here:

Bead for Life features handmade jewelry made from Uganda. The story of how this company began is truly inspiring!

Pamposh is a needle artist who produces amazing embroidered creations. The designs are absolutely gorgeous!

Liz Taylor Designs makes incredible, delicate origami mobiles. She offers options to customize your own mobile as well!

Leah Duncan is a designer and illustrator based in Austin, Texas. Her work includes a wide variety of hand drawn artwork used to create a variety of items from prints and pillows to tea towels and calendars.

Brown Dog Forge & Co. creates hand-forged home items out of steel, based in Kansas.

This group of artisans only scratches the surface of what the new Amazon group has to offer, from all over the world. And, Amazon is accepting applications to add new artisans and seems to be adding new sellers every day. They are also offering printable items as well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

*This post contains affiliate links but all views regarding product recommendations are my own! For more info refer to my policies page, thank you for stopping by!

Jennifer (White Tulip Designs)

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Free Pumpkins!

October 7, 2015

Well, darn it!! Talk about late to the party. If you’ve been anywhere near Pinterest in the last few days, then you are well aware that the blogosphere is going crazy for fabric pumpkins. Inspired by some adorable, sweater pumpkins from StoneGable blog , I spent last weekend working on making my own fabric pumpkins. So, as you may have guessed, apparently, so did everybody else. I mulled over the idea of whether or not to share my little pumpkin “growing” experience with y’all or just enjoy them all to myself. I really think you might enjoy my version, hopefully pick up a few things you haven’t seen before, and they’re basically FREE! Who doesn’t love free?

I’ve been amassing a collection of Halloween decorations for a really long time. However, the pumpkin portion of this collection has been quite lacking. G has never really been in to pumpkin carving and reacts as if he’s witnessing a massacre whenever we’ve attempted it. To avoid nightmares, I tend to lean more toward the fakes ones. Unfortunately, as you know, they can be somewhat cost prohibitive when it comes right down to it. This was going to be the year I went all out and created as many handmade pumpkins as possible. Hopefully, you’ll want to add to your collection too!

For these fabric cuties, I started with a stack of men’s dress shirts (and a few t-shirts!) that my hubby had decided to donate. Men’s shirts work best to get larger and smaller sizes. *FYI - The large, flat, solid orange pumpkin was made from the body portion of a t-shirt using the same basic steps as shown below.

Supplies:

Men’s Dress shirt
Cotton or Fiberfill for stuffing (I used an old pillow for free but you can purchase it here!)
Dried beans (you need a small amount to give your pumpkin some weight)
Jute/Natural Twine
Sticks (cut them to 3-5 inches; wipe them off and let them dry over-night)
Needle & Thread (quilting thread works best)

Click small arrow at the lower right side (under the thumbnail strip) to start slideshow!

Free Pumpkins!

Start by removing the shirtsleeve just below the shoulder seam. Then remove cuff portion, leaving a “tube”.
Gather the fabric together at the narrowest end, using a rubber band. (About 2 inches from the bottom.)
Invert the gathered end inside the tube to form a “bag”. Fill bottom of bag with 1/4 - 1/2 cup of dried beans.
Fill “bag” with stuffing evenly spacing each handful as you go and leaving a small hole in the center.
Leave the top 2 inches of bag un-stuffed. Place the “stem” inside of the hole and gather loose fabric around it.
Secure and cover fabric with length of twine (3-4 feet).
Using coordinating thread, sew the vertical ridges to give your pumpkin shape. (Catch at the bottom and top only.)
I added felt “leaves” to the tops of some of my pumpkins using tacky glue (my go-to for everything!)

Now I have a nice, new collection of 12 pumpkins!

If you make your own shirt-pumpkins, I’d love to see your collection! Please feel free to share on my Facebook page!

For more autumn inspiration check out my Fall Home Tour!

Have a lovely day! See you soon!

Linking up at Met Monday,

*This post contains affiliate links but all views regarding product recommendations are my own! For more info refer to my policies page, thank you for stopping by!

Jennifer (White Tulip Designs)

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Jennifer (White Tulip Designs) - 10/14/2015 - 8:01 am

Thank you Olivia! I’m so glad you like them!

Oliva Ohlson - 10/14/2015 - 4:29 am

These pumpkins are too cute! Thank you for sharing your instructions! I love to upcycle and these pumpkins are just too cute, and you make it look so easy to make!!!

Fall Favorites: 20 Pumpkin Crafts - the johnsons plus dog - 10/13/2015 - 2:32 pm

[…] Tulip Designs got creative with the items she had around the house and made these Free Pumpkins from […]

Passion for Pattern - 10 Great Wallpaper Designs

October 3, 2015

Do you live somewhere that you’re spending the weekend listening to wind and rain and know that any thought of weekend plans is basically out of the question? Please, be safe, stay dry, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing each somewhere on Social Media! I’m planning to spend the day catching up on some artwork ending in an Instagram/Pinterest marathon. If you’re not on the east coast, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

For today, grab a cup of coffee, get cozy, and enjoy some wallpaper inspiration! This collection of designs includes both budget and high-end offerings appropriate for every room. Enjoy!

Today’s wallpapers are not nearly what they were 20 years ago, or worse, 50 years ago. If you’ve seen that gold and avocado kitchen wallpaper, you know what I mean - bleck! These days there are an amazing array of choices for patterns and colors from designers all over the globe.

1. Chasing Paper {Little Leaf } I love the whimsy of this tight, monochromatic pattern. Chasing Paper produces reasonably priced, removable wallpapers in contemporary patterns and colors!

2. Ikea {Slatthult} Everyone know that, if you’re trying to solve a design problem on a budget this is the first place you should check. For a more budget friendly option you can create your own patterns with their decorative stickers.

3. Kate Zaremba Company {Gem Belushi Print} Kate’s designs are all hand-illustrated by her, and they are also removable! She has a unique collection of designs that are quite budget friendly.

4. Walls Need Love {Vintage Fabric Wall Mural} You might consider a wall mural instead of standard wallpaper. It’s a much more costly option, but the impact is huge! You can choose a vintage fabric look (shown), a textured look (like a brick or wood plank pattern) , an over sized map

5. Gail Wright at Home {Watercolor Bouquet Summer} Gail Wright is a residential designer currently offering a beautiful collection of wallpapers and other items for the home. Her color combinations are perfect to add a punch to any room!

6. iinky {Happy Kitty Wall Decals} Karen Simpson features an unusual collection of designs for walls, cars, and just about anything you can stick her designs on! Her nursery decals are absolutely precious!!

7. Thibaut {Spring Lake-Margot} Thibaut has such a large collection of wallpapers (and fabrics!) that I really had a tough time choosing just one to feature. They offer different varieties of vintage and contemporary patterns in a gorgeous array of colors. (Thibaut can be purchased through designers.)

8. Farrow & Ball {Silvergate} Farrow and Ball is a high-end wallpaper company based in the UK. Their designs are absolutely luxurious, think, William Morris patterns, with a contemporary feel.

9. Spoonflower {Confetti Mermaid Seafoam - by ThistleandFox} Of course! Spoonflower is a great outlet for designers and artists all over the world! If you have your heart set on a very specific look and feel for your wallpaper and haven’t had any luck finding it, you probably haven’t tried Spoonflower yet. Their catalog of offerings is huge and growing bigger everyday!

10. Anthropologie {C’est Magnifique Wallpaper} Don’t you just adore this dreamy Paris scene? This would a gorgeous statement wall in a home office or craft room!! The subtle hints of red, pink, and yellow can fit into so many different color schemes.

Want more design inspiration? Check out my favorite paint color palette HERE!

See you next week!

Linking up at: Met Monday ,

Jennifer (White Tulip Designs)

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You scored an old ladder, now what do you do?

September 29, 2015

Early this summer, while out hunting and gathering (thrift store style!) I got lucky enough to find and old painter’s ladder. It has beautiful, aged, gray wood covered in paint specks that give it such wonderful character. It was terribly unstable, so I managed to get it for $10! Woo-Hoo! The gentleman who rang me up kept shaking his head like I’d lost my mind. Clearly, he was new to the DIY-decor crowd in search of all things rustic, right?

When I got my treasure home, I didn’t know right away how I wanted to incorporate her into my decor. However I put her to use, I knew I would have to tackle the stability issue first. A blanket ladder or shallow shelves? Why not both?! I started by cutting the front “stairs” away from the back “ladder” piece using my hand-dandy jigsaw (here’s the one I use!) It’s so easy a teenage boy can use it!

Once I had the “ladder” cut away, I let me handsome assistant remove the folding shelf. We cut it away so that it was still attached to the ladder. Since it’s only attached in one spot I knew I’d need to add support before I put her to use.

Now that the pieces are separated, we wiped them down with warm, soapy water to clean them off a bit. Once that dried, we went back over them with Murphy’s Oil Soap. I wanted to keep the rough gray wood (even with the paint drips) so I didn’t paint or stain it.

To stabilize the “shelf” at the top of my ladder, I used drywall screws to anchor the moving pieces to the sides of the ladder. Two screws on each side did the trick. Tip: Pre-lean your ladder and mark where you want the shelf will be level before pre-drilling your holes. Take your time so you get the screws exactly where you want them.

Here’s a quick pic of the leaning ladder while I was working on styling the corner of the living room. Someone’s not as impressed as I am with my cute new blanket ladder!

She’s perfectly at home here in the corner with my sweet little plaid chair and some fall details! Now, to find a spot for the stair side!! Hmmmm . . .

Have a lovely afternoon! See you soon!

Jennifer (White Tulip Designs)

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Mini-Garland Wall Detail

September 25, 2015

It’s been such a dreary, wet day today. I can’t help but be excited by the prospect of staying in this weekend and getting some Halloween and Holiday projects done! There’s always something to do, isn’t there?

If you’ve looked around my blog, and now that you’ve seen my home tour, you have a pretty good idea of my style. I love adding unexpected touches here and there and love how people have been using garlands and buntings to decorate year round. So, I thought I’d put together a mini-version to add to my wall display. The wall needed something with a more vintage-y, rustic look so solid color papers just wouldn’t do. These book page leaves ad the perfect effect don’t you think?

Wouldn’t you love to create your own? Start by cutting out various sized, simple shape, “leaves” by hand.

Then, sort out the leaves by size and arrange them in line so that they have a random look. You can either line them up straight or in a slight curve, whichever you prefer.

Use a masking tape (mine is narrow artist’s tape but whatever you have on hand is fine) to hold your layout in place.

Start at one end with a neutral thread and sew using a small, running stitch to sew the garland. It’s super simple and comes together quite quickly. (My favorite kind of project!)

Be sure to leave the beginning and ending threads at about 4-5 inches so you’ll have a way to attach your garland.

Mine is tied onto 2 small brad nails. Then I covered each end by tying the brown plaid bows and adding them to each nail as well.

A quick and easy project with very minimal clean-up! If you love projects with book pages, like I do, check out my book page round-up here!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Linking up at Met Monday,