{Adventures In} DIY Fabric Garland {tutorial}

Otherwise known as, That Shi*t Fray. (See what I did there?)  Anywho, everyone familiar with these gorgeous fabric banners? 

source Ok good. They are super simple to make - it just takes some time. And a whole lot of patience. As you all know, I am planning my best friend's purple ombre' bridal shower (which is in 3 weeks...eeek!). One of the design elements that I desperately wanted was a fabric garland, like the one above. The perfect place for this beauty will be in front of the fireplace. Only problem is, my friend's fireplace is MASSIVE. Like 6 1/2 feet of marble, MASSIVE. So, in order for the garland to not be completely eaten up by this fireplace, it needs to be massive as well.  Items Needed: Fabric. I bought 3 different colors of fabric, 2 yards each. I thought I was over-buying at the time. Ha. Twine. It depends on how you want to display the garland. I chose a thicker twine knowing that my garland would be heavy. You can use a thinner twine or a 1 inch thick piece of left over fabric.  Self-healing mat. Rotary cutter. These are nice to haves. You can certainly just cut 2 inch strips with scissors.  Step 1: Cut strips. The mantel alone is 22 inches tall, so I wanted my strips to be close to that. I cut my strips to be 18 inches long, but remember the fabric comes folded over in half, so your strips will be 36 inches, total. Be prepared for the strips to fray (more on that later).

Step 2: Assemble.  Place strip of fabric behind twine with the folded over part of the fabric at the top.

Take the bottom of the 2 strips and pull them above the twine (this will create a loop), through the top of the strip and back down again. 

Pull tight.

  Voila!! Lather, rinse, repeat. Like a billion times.  So after a couple hours spent, I figured I was done. Or so I thought. Remember how I mentioned that the fabric will fray? (You can actually start to see it fray in the picture above.) Imagine that X's 100. (In hindsight, I should have taken a picture of it, but I was too concerned with getting rid of the fray, I forgot. #blogfail) So I took the scissors and cut each piece of fray. On Every. Single. Piece. Of. Fabric. It took twice as long to cut the fray off as it was to actually make the thing. Had I bought better quality fabric, this may not have happened, I'm not sure. Just be prepared. So, do you want to see the final product? 

and a close up. 

Still some fray, but not NEARLY as bad 

I love how it turned out. Baby K will definitely have one on her 1st birthday, just not 7 feet long. :)

{Adventures In} My Gallery Wall

My husband and I moved into our home mid-June and by early July, our gallery wall was up. When I get a bug up my butt, things happen. And quickly. My initial plan was to pick up random frames and wall decor and create our own wall. I figured that it would be pretty easy considering we used to spend A LOT of time at flea markets and antique stores. After a few trips, I realized that creating your own gallery wall is time consuming and can be expensive. So where do I go when I want to save some time? Etsy. If you search "gallery wall", you will find TONS of vendors with all sorts of color schemes. I went vintage, French. Once we got the frames and wall decor in the mail, my husband was overwhelmed. He's a perfectionist and he thought that putting these frames up would be a nightmare. Don't get me wrong, it's a pain, but it wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. 

Step 1: Figure out what you want the layout to look like on the wall by placing everything out on the floor and arranging. (Jack decided to get right in the middle of things, as he always does.) 

Step 2: Take paper and make custom cut-outs of each piece of wall art. Place on wall. I just taped them, but I've seen on Pinterest where people actually nail into the wall at this point. 

Step 3: Nail into wall and place frames/decor appropriately. Fairly simple. It took just an evening.

THIS is how our gallery wall has looked for 2 1/2 years. No pictures. People thought we were nuts to have a frames without pictures. Obviously they don't read home decor blogs very often. ;)

AND THIS is what it looks like now. Complete with pictures!

Most of the pictures are professional ones from our engagement session or our wedding, but a few are ones that I have taken of Baby K over the past 9 months. I actually did the chalkboard art and am surprised at how it doesn't look like a total shit-show good it looks! I really love how it turned out and best part is that we can change out the pictures as our family memories grow. It's ever evolving!

{Adventures In} Gallery Wall Lovin'

top left - top right - bottom left - bottom right

Wall

This is, quite possibly, my biggest gallery wall crush of all time. 
It's no secret that I love me a gallery wall. With the advent of Pinterest, everyone can now show off their gorgeous creations and inspire millions. The first project my husband and I did after purchasing our house was put together a gallery at the top of our staircase. After almost 3 years, it's finally complete. (The great thing about a gallery wall is that it's ever changing and is never really done.) But mine is done...for now.