The One With the Timeline Cover Photos

As you probably know, Facebook made it's official, non-negotiable switch to Timeline recently. This snazzy new get-up includes a cover photo in addition to a profile picture. Well, I may have gotten a bit carried away the other day when I figured out how to make cool cover photos using a Photoshop template...

It all started with the page for my father-in-law, who is running for Commissioner in Skamania County, Washington. I've done the rest of his ads for him (yard signs mostly). But when he added a Facebook page I just couldn't bear for it to look too boring. So I requested admin privileges (got 'em!) and then did a little research to find out the easiest way to create an awesome cover photo. And voila!

Is it the coolest thing ever to be created? Certainly not. But it's an election campaign. We're going for basic and bold here, people. But I do think it turned out well.

A few years ago I also designed the logo for Carson General Store (another enterprise in the Waters' family businesses). I thought it was about time to update their sad-looking little Facebook page. (The sad-looking part is entirely mea culpa.)

I might want to improve this one in the future, but for now, I think it nicely incorporates the logo that I designed way back when.

And so then I couldn't stop there and decided to make my own timeline cover a little extra special. And combine my affinity for instagram. Did you know I only ever use the same filter? You can go ahead and assume I have OCD. I very well might. But! I do think it made the timeline look pretty cool... if I do say so myself:

I definitely like that it allows me to showcase more of my favorite instagrams.

And since I still had the cover photo bug (what the heck is wrong with me?), I decided not only to create a cover photo for this blog, but a whole Facebook page as well! (And just my luck, Facebook is going to nix the timeline in about 3.5 hours...)

So, now you can like The One With the Cupcakes on Facebook to get updates about posts and such on your news feed. Just think of all the time you'll save coming straight to the blog! It will be so much easier for you to show posts to your friends! And to think that if I hadn't discovered timeline covers you might have to do that anyway.

And if you're interested in creating your own unique timeline cover photo, here's how:

• Cover photos are 851 x 315 pixels, so open up a file that size in Photoshop and be on your way
• Check out these AWESOME cover photos people have made. Talk about cool...
• At the bottom of the article linked above you can find a template for Photoshop that shows you exactly how the cover photo and profile picture interact so you can download it to make sure your picture and cover are aligned correctly if you plan on incorporating the two. Saves a lot of time instead of you having to upload a bunch of trials and errors. 

If you use this info to make your own awesome Facebook timeline, I'd love for you to show me a link. As you can see, I'm mildly obssesed with these today.

The One With the Baby Birthday Hat

Even though I know Olivia hates hats, I really wanted to make her a birthday hat to wear for her party, just in case she decided she would like it. She didn't. But it was really cute anyway, so I had to share.

Supplies:

• An old headband you don't want anymore
• Hot glue
• Scissors
• Ribbon to wrap headband
• Tulle, cut into 5 in-wide strips
• Thick paper to make the cone, or a cone either wrapped in paper or glittered or whatever

Steps:
Secure the ribbon to one end of the headband with hot glue. Wrap the ribbon all the way around to the other end, securing with glue every couple of inches. Set aside to let the glue solidify.
Roll the paper of your choice (the thicker the better) into a cone and hot glue to secure the ends. Cut off the excess paper so you're left with just a cone. Of course you could use a pre-made cone from either cardboard or Styrofoam that is decorated however you like.
Gather a 5 x 6 inch rectangle of tulle and pinch it together in the middle. Add a bit of hot glue to the fold and stick it inside the top of the cone.
Working in 6-7 inch pieces of tulle, bunch it together to create a fluffy look and glue in the center of the tulle and press onto the bottom rim of the cone, so that half sticks out and half is inside the cone.
Once you're happy with the tulle around the base of the cone, secure the cone to the headband with glue. Let stand to solidify.

And here you can see my creation in action for about 5 seconds before she hated it and took it off. O well. I still like it.

 

I shared this on Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday on Crayon Freckles. 

The One With the Glittery Christmas Village

What is Christmas time without a little glitter? Or a whole glittery village for the mantel?

Oh, yes. I love it. It's pretty and glittery and Christmas-y and fun. And you could make one yourself, if you like. All you need is:

• Cardboard cones in at least two different sizes (available at craft stores like Craft Warehouse, or you could make them yourself)
• Wooden bird feeders that look like houses, with the peg for the bird to perch on removed
• Sponge brushes
• Elmer's glue
• Loose glitter - I used eight colors for my village: silver, pink and green for the trees, with another random multi-colored glitter I had lying around; and sandstone, white, brown and gold for the houses
• Tiny silver plastic ornaments to top the trees with the part that hangs them cut off to leave a whole so you can place them on top of the trees  (I used the dollar packs from Target)
• A cardboard box like your cereal comes in for the doors and windows
• A hot glue gun and glue, obviously
• Newspaper or an old magazine to cover your workspace and make returning glitter to its original container easier
• Friends DVDs or Christmas movies to watch while you're working

Making the village is rather simple. Maybe a little time consuming,  but I did all of this over two days in about 5 hours total. It's a great project to do with friends or while babies sleep. Here's how to:

For the trees:

1. Fold a piece of scrap paper in half, then open it up and place it under a cone. 
2. Use a sponge brush to paint an entire cone in Elmer's glue. 
3. Shake the glitter all over the cone until it is covered. Tap to remove excess glitter, check for bald spots and then place on some newspaper to dry. 
4. The excess glitter should have collected on your scrap paper. Pick it up and dump it back into your glitter container so you can use it for the next tree. 
5. Repeat for as many trees as you want to make. Make sure to get several of each color in varying sizes.
6. Once each tree has dried, top it with a glitter ball. 

For the houses:

1. Remove all the little perch pegs from your houses. They are likely just glued into a small hole, so some good wiggling should do the trick.
2. Using your sponge brush, paint the rooftop with glue and then sprinkle with white glitter. For me, I had to do two coats of glitter because the white was too translucent. Two coats should make your rooftop look snow-topped. Just be sure the first coat has completely dried before moving on to the second. 
3. After your rooftops are dry, shake off any excess glitter and paint the front, sides and back of the houses with glue. It may be helpful to cut your sponge brush down to get in the little nooks and crannies. Sprinkle the sandstone glitter all over. Let dry.
4. While your houses are drying, make the door and windows: Cut whatever shape doors and windows you want out of the cardboard box. Coat with glue and glitter - the brown for the doors and the gold for the windows to be like a light inside the house. Make sure these doors and windows are big enough to cover the holes that the bird seed would go into. Once the gold on your windows has dried, dip the edges in a very shallow puddle of glue and then into the brown glitter to make the window edges. Once everything is completely dry, use a hot glue gun to adhere the doors and windows to the houses.

Voila! There you have a perfect little Christmas village. You can place it on loose glitter snow or swirl a white garland through the village to make it seem snowy.

The One With the Crib Skirt (+ Tutorial)

A while back I showed you Olivia's Woodland Party Nursery. While I was putting her nursery together, I couldn't find a bedding set that I liked so I ended up piecing one together myself. I got her pink sheets from Ikea and decided to make the crib skirt out of some fabric I found that coordinated with some other things I had already picked out.

It turned out so well and is more perfect than any crib skirt I've come across before or since - which is the beauty of DIYing. Back when I made this I couldn't find any good tutorials on how-to, so I decided I'd wing it and then create one myself and then fill you in!

Click "Read more" to view the tutorial:

The One With the Crazy Quilt (+ Tutorial)

Ok, so this quilt isn't that crazy, but I couldn't think of a different name.

I made this quilt using fabrics from a Blake Riley collection and I love it. I think it will make the perfect gift for my niece whose birthday was (gasp!) a few months ago. I know, I really should be more on top of things. But anyway, I thought I'd fill you in on the how to for this kind of quilt.

I'm not claiming to have thought up this idea myself, but I can break it down for you. Ready? To view the tutorial, click "Read more."