More Nautical Nursery Decor

After I wrote about the nautical flags I made for Zachary's room, I thought I would do a quick little blip about the other nautical crafts I made for my sweet sailor's nursery. Unfortunately, I don't have step by step pictures, but the crafts really weren't that challenging, and you would be able to easily make them yourself.

When we first moved to our new house, Zachary's room already had window valences that were navy blue which was perfect! I wanted to spice them up a little bit and make them look more nautical. Since I didn't buy the curtains, I figured I could mess around with them without feeling bad if they turned out to be heinous. As I mentioned before, my mom and sisters threw me a baby shower which was also nautical themed, so I had a lot of rope and ribbon that they used as decoration. I decided to use a thick piece of cord rope and cut it in two equal pieces - one for each curtain. Then I knotted and unraveled the ends. My sister made two cute clusters of ribbon that I put in the middle of the rope and then I pinned the rope to curtain. I sewed across the rope and the curtain and TA-DA! I was done.

Alright, here is where I am going to be brutally honest. I actually broke my sewing machine needle while sewing the first curtain. I guess the rope was too much for the old girl to handle, so for the second curtain, I hand stitched the rope to the curtain and honestly, you can't tell the different and it really didn't take that long.

The curtain rods had dump trucks on the end which I took off. Then I knotted more cord and tied it around the ends of the curtain rods and let the rope hang down. I stepped back to look at my work and was really pleased! I thought the curtains looked great and was a nice way to give the room a nautical feel without having to slap a sailboat in your face.

The finished curtain.

After I hung the curtains, the wall opposite to Z's crib looked bare and needed something. I was looking on Etsy for nautical prints that I could frame. Once again, the cost inhibited me from pulling the trigger. I could find prints that were reasonable but then they didn't come with a frame so that would end up being more than I wanted to spend. I decided to make my own art. I went to Michaels and bought two canvas prints (on sale!) and some acrylic paint. I measured my canvas and then divided the area by how many stripes I wanted. Using my trusty painter's tape, I taped off my canvas and then painted the open space blue. I used a paint brush because I wanted to be able to see the brush strokes, but if you don't like that, then you could probably use a sponge and paint a few coats to ensure full coverage. When the paint was dry, I pulled off the tape and then used a clear sealant on the whole canvas. I found a wooden 'Z' and a wooden anchor that I decided to put in the middle of each canvas. I painted them both with red acrylic paint and then after they dried, I sanded them to distress them a little. Then I also sealed them. To finish up the project, I hot glued the 'Z' and the anchor to each canvas and voilá! I was done. I hung them up and they look quite spiffy.

Take that, expensive Etsy sales lady!

I know that I made these before the Fabric Lady challenged me to a craft off, but since these projects were inspired and executed, I am going to look at this as a win for me. As a favor to her, I will only count both of these projects as one. Let's take a look at the score thus far:

Pam 3, Fabric Lady 0 . . . . . Sha-zam!

In Your Face Fabric Lady! (Part II - Nautical Flags)

Well, if that Fabric Lady isn't scared after my last post about the cute Pennant Bunting, she will be after this one. (If you are confused as to why I seem to have a personal vendetta against a woman I am calling "Fabric Lady," read my post Fabric, Glue and Macaroni and it will all become clear.) I guess I am on a little big of a flag kick as my next project was the real reason why I wanted to go to Jo-Ann Fabrics in the first place.

As I have mentioned before, Zachary's room has a nautical theme. I really wanted some kind of decoration to hang above his crib. I thought about putting a couple of wooden oars on the wall, but I couldn't really find any that I liked which were also in my price range, which was cheap. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a room that would likely be covered in band/car posters and pop stains in ten years. (Let's be honest, my sweet little boy is going to turn into something gross, as all boys do, and there is nothing I can do to stop it.) Then I found a woman on Etsy who would make a flag using martime signal flags to spell out anything you would like. I thought it was such a cute idea! I messaged her and since Zachary's name is a little on the long side, and she was located in the United Kingdom, this project was going to cost me over $100. Ummm......thanks but no thanks.

I knew I couldn't spend that much on decor, but I couldn't get those gosh darn signal flags out of my mind! I loved how each pattern represented a letter or number. I decided I would try to make one myself. I Googled the maritime signal flags and they seemed easy enough; they were mostly stripes and straight lines. So, I bought some white canvas (which the Fabric Lady cut for me while she openly challenged me to a craft-off, though I can't be certain that was her true intention) and made another template out of a cereal box to the size I wanted my flags to be. Then I cut out the flags using my fabulous rotary cutter. I used a thick piece of blue painter's tape at the top of the flag because I was going to fold that part over and sew down when I finished with the painting so that I could string all the flags through rope.

Oh, how I love that rotary cutter.

Next I sewed all around the edges using a straight stitch to keep the canvas from unraveling. I put the presser foot at the edge of the fabric and sewed around the whole flag. I decided not to fold the fabric under and then sew because I thought it would look cool to have some of the canvas fray. Now, I was ready to paint! Oh, how I love to paint. I am not very good at it thought so straight lines were right up my alley! I used my painter's tape so my stripes would be straight. After all, these flags are used in the Navy and they needed to be ship-shape!! Aye-aye, Captain! (Side Note: we have a painting of a sea captain that Troy acquired from an old roommate. He has become part of the family despite the fact that no one in their right mind would willingly use him as a serious piece of decor - except us. I even put a Santa hat on him at Christmastime. Zachary LOVES him. We walk by him multiple times a day and I say "Aye-aye, Captian!" and Z smiles super big. It's awesome.) Anyway, back to the project at hand....

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the letter 'C.'

After I finished all the painting, I held my breath and pulled the tape off. To my surprise, the flags looked great!! There were a few spots where the paint had bled through a loose part of the tape, but I just took a very small paintbrush and fixed it with whatever color it should have been. My last step was to fold the top part over and then sew it down. I realized that I didn't want to sew across the flag because I didn't want to be able to see the stitch line across the top of the flag, so instead I sewed down vertically a few stitches on each side of the flag. Then using cable cord, I strung the flags and tied a knot between each flag. Then I stepped back and admired my work. I thought it looked great! Even better than the one I would have bought for over $100. The hubs helped me hang it in Zachary's room and it looks great!

It was the perfect final touch to our little man's room.

Z-A-C-H-A-R-Y

Umm, this still spells Z-A-C-H-A-R-Y, just a more artsy-fartsy view.

Z loves the flags too! Oh, that face. I just love it.

This was one of my favorite projects. I loved working on each step. Dare I say, I enjoyed it even more than the gold painted macaroni ornament circa 1989. I have already been commissioned to make a nautical banner, which I am excited about! If you are interested in having me make you one, let me know. I realize this seems a little shady, pimping my crafting out, but hey, a girl's gotta eat. 

Pam 2, Fabric Lady 0 . . . . . . . . Bam!