Thompson Family-Life

Mid-Century Inspired Vertical Record Storage DIY

I'm a huge fan of those tension pole lamps from the 50s and 60s. You know the ones! The designs of some are simply incredible. I can admit that I search the words "tension pole lamp" quite regularly on Craigslist, but I'm never lucky in finding anything. And the ones you find online or in vintage shops are pricey. As they probably should be - they are so unique! They make me so nostalgic, too. I'm not sure if I remember seeing one in a family member's home when I was little, or elsewhere, but they make me feel nostalgic for some reason. 

I think what I love about them is that they add this dimensional and almost architectural element to a room, instead of it just being a table or floor lamp. 

Several months ago I was searching all over for vintage record storage. There are lots of cool floor racks you can find, but I really wanted something off the floor. Since our rooms are small, we don't have a lot of floor space. I've seen many vintage commercial record storage racks at antique malls, you know the ones they use to store the records they're selling, and they usually have a big fat "NOT FOR SALE" sign on those. And even though they're really cool looking, they are still on the floor taking up a lot of space.

Supply list: wall-mount magazine rack (mine is from Container Store), tension pole shower caddy (mine is from Bed Bath & Beyond), wire cutters, thin craft wire, thick craft wire or twine, and your records!

SO, when I stumbled onto this vintage record tension pole rack, I thought, "that's it!" So, I came up with my own solution. As much as I'd love to have a vintage one, they're hard to find. I started googling tension rods and I soon found out that they don't make them for 8' and up ceilings, as tension rods are of course usually used for bathroom shower curtains or windows. I was bummed! But on a visit to Bed Bath and Beyond, I came upon the bath section and saw a tension pole shower caddy! Knowing that it's used from floor to ceiling, I thought I might could "hack" it into something I could use. And it was white, which was the color I was looking for. At $20, I bought it and it sat in my studio for a couple months (ha).

When it came to the actual "shelf" that the records would sit on, I thought a magazine holder of some sort would work. After scouring the nets for wall mount magazine files, I found this at the Container Store (I can't tell you how many times that store has come to my rescue!). It was open ended on both ends which was important because most magazine racks are only wide enough to hold a magazine, which is a smaller width than a record (12"). They were white and I loved the design, and at $9.99 each for two, I bought them. So the entire set up cost me $40 which I think isn't bad at all for a unique storage solution as this. If you are smart (unlike me) you could use one of those Bed Bath & Beyond coupons you probably get in the mail.

The great thing about the shower caddy, is they already come with these little "stoppers" where the bath shelving would be attached, so I had a place to jerry-rig my magazine files to. So nothing would be sliding down vertically. Here is how I crudely attached my magazine file to the pole. Hey, it doesn't look pretty, but it worked! I first wrapped thin craft wire (which I already had on hand) around the oval part of the clasp that clamps around the pole. (see #1 below). The wire pulls it tight (it would've been pulled tight by attaching the bath baskets, but since I wasn't using those, I needed to pull it tight some other way). 

Then the magazine file just sits in the top groove of that oval and then I used thicker wire to wrap around the magazine file, the pole, and the oval clamp (#2 above). This helps the magazine file to stay put and not teeter-totter to the left and right. You could also use twine for this step, which might be a better idea because I did stab myself a few times with that thick wire! (i have the cuts to prove it.) Wear gloves for sure. I would stick with the thinner craft wire for wrapping around the oval part though, because the wire keeps it nice and tight.

Each rack holds a handful of records. It definitely holds the weight! And if you're aesthetically anal retentive like me, you can choose album covers that have a similar color palette as your room. I also use it to hold the current record I'm listening to. It's a great way to use your albums as art as well. Right now our's is holding lots of holiday records, so it serves as holiday decor, too!

And it looks pretty bathed in pink-christmas-tree-light at night. : )

DIYs, Crafts, Printables & Gift Wrap Ideas of Christmas Past

Velvet Holiday Wreath Tutorial

I thought I'd share my "catalog" of DIYs, Crafts, Free Printables & Gift Wrap Ideas of Christmas Past (I've created these over the past 4 or 5 years) with you in case you were needing some ideas! It's not like your Pinterest isn't already full, right?! ; ) I hear you. Mine is, too. Holiday crafting is the. best. 

Vintage Bulb Wreath - for this I just used a flat MDF wreath form from the craft store and hot glued vintage bulbs to it.

Vintage Style Angel - I made her last year, inspired by all those cute handmade angels I see in vintage holiday craft books. You can find vintage cloth doll heads here and here, cardboard cone for your base and decorate with various trims and accents. I used all vintage trims and pompoms cut from vintage trim. I also purchased burlap fabric in various colors to create her dress. I cut the wings from cardboard and covered them with burlap and trim as well.

(free!) Mid-Century Modern Holiday Homes Ornament Printable - The colored versions are ready to go, or print the line art versions for you or your kiddos to color in. Print and decorate and hang as ornaments, or make into your own little paper village.

Vintage Craft Inspired Angel Wall Hanging 

Holiday Place Setting Inspiration 

Gift Wrap made from school bulletin board supplies, vintage playing cards used for tags, vintage holiday tags and vintage ribbon.

Felt Holiday Tree Tutorial

Yarn Pom-Pom & Vintage Light Reflector Wreath 

Wrap gifts with vintage sewing patterns or vintage ties, ascots or scarves (these are all very easy to find at thrift stores!) Download the free printable tags here.

Thread ribbon through a crocheted granny square (your giftee can keep the square and use as a kitchen hot pad!) or braid yarn and cut feathers from felt and use as a pretty accent.

Gift Accents - Handloom flowers with yarn or vintage raffia using vintage flower looms. You can find those on Etsy or Ebay.

Embellish your gifts with vintage or new paper doilies. I used adhesive spray to adhere.

Do you have any fun holiday crafts or gift wrap ideas that you plan on doing this year? Please share some links in the comments! I'm always looking for new ideas!

Butterfly Cross-Stitch Pattern Freebie

Remember this pendant I stitched? I used some super cool wooden cross-stitch blanks that I bought here, but it looks like they're sold out. (boo!) The same size but with a scalloped border is available here. I can't seem to find them sold anywhere else.

Anyhoo... I have a free pattern for you in the same motif that I came up with for the pendant above! You can download it here. (for Personal Use Only, no Commercial Use. Thank-you!)

Unfortunately I don't know what DMC colors of floss I used (I'm not very organized with my floss), but you could of course use any palette you prefer.

You could also use the design for any number of items. I think I'm going to stitch it up on a thrifted throw pillow I found, large scale, maybe with yarn.

Hope you enjoy it!

P.S. Thank-you so much for your words of encouragement on my last post. Means a lot to me! I love hearing your experiences with a similar situation. Thank-you so much for sharing.

reuse those leftover plastic Easter eggs & an update

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Ok, so you might not have large "L'eggs" eggs, but you definitely have small plastic Easter eggs hanging around the house, right? I know we do. Our boys are still working their way through their candy. I came up with this tutorial last year and thought I'd share it with you again in case you were looking for a creative way to reuse those eggs instead of tossing them (it's a shame that most of these eggs can't be recycled! I always look for that little triangle with a number inside).

These vintage-style Bullet Planters are perfect for your child's dollhouse (or YOUR dollhouse, ahem. That is how I've used mine!) They are easy to make and just super fun.

So, wow! I'm sorry I've been MIA this week. I'd like to just write this week off and start new on Monday, 'kay? It has been one of those weeks. All of us have been sick (minus Campbell, knock on wood) with horrible sinus problems and I think a virus because Ethan and I were having the same non-allergy symptoms like cold-sweats, etc. (fun, I know). Luckily Ethan is between jobs (he starts his new one April 30th) so we could take turns being utterly pathetic and taking naps while the other could watch the boys. This week has been a sinus-induced-foggy-blur.

We've also been deep in the house-hunt. We looked at 6 houses yesterday and will be looking at more on Monday. Again, it's great that Ethan has this time off so we can look together. The fact that he got this other job is a big reason we're moving (we want to be closer to his new job) and we just need more space desperately. 

It's been 14 years since we bought this house (our first and only!) so things have changed quite a lot. I have to admit it's super-exciting, the idea of having a new space. Now we just need to survive this whole house-looking-buying process. It can be grueling and hopefully there won't be any heartsickness if we lose out on something we love (you home-owners know what I mean.)

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Ethan's new job is really exciting and could open up some other opportunities for us in the future, in the next few years. There's a lot of overseas work to be done, and it's always been on our wish list to live in Europe one day (for a few years at least) and this job could open some doors. Needless to say, we're focused on the here and now, but the idea that this opportunity could possibly be made a reality one day is an incredibly exciting one.

The group that Ethan is working with is based out of Vancouver so he will be traveling there a lot. Our hope is to possibly spend 4-6 consecutive weeks up there (all 4 of us) during the Summers, so that is super exciting as well! I've heard nothing but amazing things about Vancouver so I'm beyond thrilled to get to spend some time up there. (we won't make it up there this Summer since we're planning on moving!)

I'm also working very hard on a big project behind the scenes that I hope will go live, end of May sometime. It's a lot of work but very exciting as well. I hope to give you guys some sneak peeks in May sometime and get the buzz going. ; )

This year is already proving to be a year full of changes. Good changes. We're following through with a lot of things that have sat on the "to-do shelf" for a long time. 2011 was a year of - not much in regards to accomplishing goals. It was kind of a dissapointing year, honestly, so it's nice to feel like we're making a lot of really good, healthy changes for our family. When you've been in the same space for 14 years (that is a long time!), it's just time for a change of scenery, physically and emotionally.

So that's an update on the homefront. If you read through it, I appreciate it and you are to be commended. ; )

Are you doing any house-hunting of your own?

Have a lovely weekend!

Vintage-Style Needlepoint Purse Pattern & How-to on CRAFT

That needlepoint project I was telling you about is up on CRAFT today! There's a free needlepoint pattern and also a how-to for constructing the bag!

They asked me to contribute an idea that uses yarn and I narrowed it down to needlepoint (because, really, yarn is such a fun material to work with, there are so many ideas!). The plan is that I'll be contributing more original how-to's on CRAFT in the future and I'm really excited about that. They have been fabulous to work with so far.

If you haven't tried needlepoint, this is a great get-your-feet-wet project. In fact the needlepoint was the easiest part. I finished this purse from start to finish in about a week or so. The two stitches I used in the design are very easy for beginners.

The color palette I used for this bag is very springy, but you could choose a palette that's appropriate for all the seasons. The sky's the limit on color. This project is also a great yarn stash buster.

This purse turned into quite the complex project! But no fear, I put together a very thorough step-by-step on how to construct the bag from beginning to end. This was one of the most fun projects I've worked on in a while. I can't wait to come up with some more ways to use needlepoint.

I put together some tips on starting and ending your yarn when you're stitching your needlepoint panel. (these are not included in the CRAFT post) 

Here's an example of what to do when you need to start a new color in the middle of your design:

I'm pretty wary of carelessly starting or ending threads. I'm so paranoid that threads are going to come loose, so that is why I make sure to pull the thread through those previous stitches 3 or 4 times before I start stitching. This will ensure that your project will last many, many years (decades!) without having stitches come loose.

Here's an example of ending a length of yarn. When you're doing those large "Crossed Corners Cushion Stitches" it can be tricky when you have to end a thread with no previously created stitches nearby. The long diagonal stitches of these Cushion Stitches are a bit loose since they're traveling over many "threads" of your plastic canvas. Here's what I do when I only have those diagonal stitches to anchor my yarn (and this will happen often, because these Cushion Stitches use LOTS of yarn... your length of yarn will end in the middle of this motif often, no matter how long it is):

Again, I would go back through 3 or 4 times to make sure it's secure.

A book I used as a resource (no I was not paid to say this!) is Stitch Step by Step. I highly recommend this book if you'd like to try needlepoint. Half the book is also about surface embroidery, so if you've been wanting to try that, too, this is a double whammy. ; )

Remember, you can find the free needlepoint pattern and purse construction how-to here on CRAFT!