daltin designs

in april we had the pleasure of making these 'mr & mrs' rope words for our good friend chelsey's wedding! inspired by this post from green wedding shoes, we thought it would be the perfect fit for the wedding's nautical theme. 

this project turned out to be pretty easy and looked really cute! all you need is jute/rope, white glue, corn starch, water, wax paper and a couple pins! (see tutorial for details)

we did a practice letter first (L for leah!) and it turned out great, so we were confident our 'mr & mrs' would look nice! 

we found it helpful to write your word on the wax paper first to allow for proper spacing, and pinning sections of overlap really keeps your word in place. 

we also found that as the glue mixture dried the words curled up, so we put another piece of wax paper over the word and stacked a couple of books on top of it to keep it flat while drying! and they looked so cute at the most gorgeous wedding! 

congrats to chels & jon, your wedding was out of this world fun and beautiful! 

{leah and kelly}

 

ps- i (kelly) shot the video for their wedding, enjoy this quick highlight video :) 

alright, i just have to share more of the goodies we have been finding lately! 

i found this gigantic frame and painting in my grandmothers basement and she said i could have it! don't quite know what ill do with it, but like that ever matters :) 

another favorite time of year for us is obviously all the garage sales around town. especially the bloomington city wide sales that last year provided us with an unreal amount of antique goods. this year was no different- a plethora of amazing things for dirt cheap! 

a trunk, a ladder, and a counting machine! 

and this "lotto" game, apparently from 1895?! sold for $1.00

leah got some great items as seen in the picture above and also scored a vintage louis vuitton purse! bloomington garage sales never fail! 

can't wait to see what the rest of the summer will bring! 

{kelly}

just a quick peak at some of the colorful goodies we picked up at our favorite antique store in stillwater :) 

printed hankies galore! 

americana spools to the max! 

{leah & kelly}

the other day i accquired something so coveted in my mind that i still cannot believe it is in my possession. i am always drawn to furniture and other large, unique pieces and this headboard is simply top notch. it belonged to my friend kristin in high school and she has since gotten married and moved to idaho so this gigantic headboard was left sitting in her parents house. she informed me that her parents were looking to get rid of it and she knew i loved it so much, so she said i could have it! i drove to get it the next day. 

so now this wonderful piece lives in my bedroom. thank you kristin! 

{kelly}

hey, its kelly & its my birthday today! this morning leah came over and brought me the greatest little gifts! a copy of flea market style magazine, a floral contact case & a quaint little sign! handpainted and all :) 

I LOVE IT! and to celebrate we got shellac manicures, which we are obssessed with. :) 

also, big news: daltin designs now has a twitter account! leah is a master with tweetin' so follow us!

@DaltinDesigns

happy day!

{kelly}

with an upholstery class under my belt, i have decided to tackle my first project on my own! i have had this chair for about four years now and its time for a makeover. purchased at a thrift store in college, this chair was used in my dorm room and has since been stored in my basement closet. i see so much potential in this chair and wanted to share with you the update so far! 

the chair itself is in decent condition, but the upholstery is dated and very worn in some places. 

i began the process of removing the fabric and and discovered a great zig zag spring system that doesn't need to be replaced (hallelujah! spring systems are the most frustrating part of re-upholstery for me), cotton and foam that is still usable, but burlap that needed to be tossed and replaced (easy fix!) 

the chair with everything removed, including hundreds of staples! 

the finish of this chair was also a bit dated and i had always invisioned white, so i took advantage of the warm weather and removed the stain outdoors. i used a 'safe' remover, and surprisingly it had no smell, which was great. however, i was still quite careful with this stuff because it is just so corrosive and nasty!

once all the old stain was removed, i went to town with spray paint! it took four cans of 'Ivory Satin' to make it look just how i wanted it to. 

after the paint was dry, i attached the new burlap to protect the springs. but now the easy part is over. hopefully i can figure out how to sew the top pillow and upholster the base and the arms!! i've got good notes and it doesn't seem that hard, but we will see. i also haven't chosen a new fabric yet! i am at a creative loss for color! i thought i wanted to do another mustard color, but now i'm not so sure. i would gladly take suggestions! 

thats all for now- look for another update soon :) 

{kelly}

our good friend chelsey is getting married on april 14th and this past weekend there was a shower held for her & her groom to be! here's a little shower gift i put together, a la pinterest (of course) 

just a little frame with some burlap- to be used as a "white board" of sorts, with dry erase markers! write whatever you please, then wipe it off with ease :) 

simple & cute...and so many ways to make it your own! check out the inspiration here

{kelly}

my second knitting project! oh its so cozy and so warm...just in time for 70 degree Minnesota weather next week :/

this time, I doubled my stiches, casting on 131 & followed a simple pattern of *k1, p1* one row, *p1, k1*, next row repeat. very easy! I found the pattern on ravelry.com and its called the Gap-tastic cowl (after a cowl seen at the Gap!) 

I love that I can double this one up! 

{kelly} 

hi ya'll...so excited to share this project that i have been working on for so long now: my very own stump table! i saw this tutorial (from pinterest) and knew i had to try it out!

on one of my last days of work in december i cut down a large spruce tree and saved a piece for this project. the tree was standing near lake nokomis in minneapolis and now is another great reminder of my time with the conservation corps, and my great chainsaw skills ;) 

the directions said to let the stump dry out for atleast a month, and i was so impatient because i just wanted to start hackin' away. but im glad i waited because little did i know i was in for a lot more work than i thought!

first step was to strip the bark from the stump. easy?

no. harder than cutting down the darn tree. this bark put up a fight- sap and all! it took me days to complete this step and really did a number on my carpal tunnel wrists. some peeled off nicely, but most of it needed to be chisled off tiny piece by tiny piece. i almost gave up once i realized how long it was going to take me. however, as dorky as it might sound, it gave me a new appreication for the purpose & strength of bark! that stuff did not want to come off; it was doing its job to protect the stump from my tools. kinda cool to my inner nature geek.  

my favorite part about this process was the smell! i used a spruce stump, which is different from what the tutorial calls for, but it was so fragrant the entire time and i love the color of the wood! 

once all the bark was off, i sanded the stump down as smooth as i could get it with an electric sander. that was relatively easy compared to the hammering and chiseling from the previous step. after i had sanded it to my liking, i started the coats of varnish. the tutorial called for using a stain first, but i loved the color of the wood so much i wanted to keep it as is. every 24 hrs i put on a new coat of varnish so it would become super shiny! i ended up doing 9 coats. ooffda. 

i purchased the legs from IKEA, and screwed them into the bottom of the stump...which was the last and least complicated step of all! 

i am so happy to be done with this project- and SO happy with the way it turned out. im glad i stuck with it and now have a new appreciation for folks who do wood carving! i actually cant stop staring at it...i think im in love! and my cute new succulents look so great on top my *spruced* up table. 

{kelly}

within the last year, leah and i have frequented our local knitting store, Knits & Pearls- and taken up basic knitting projects like scarves and mittens. this past january, i took the store's beginning knitting class, and was able to learn the tricks of the trade and become very inspired! just a week ago i took their "design your own cowl" class, and whipped up this awesome cowl in only a couple hours. i am actually amazed at how basic/easy this was to make, and how cool it looks & feels :) 

i chose a chunkier green yarn from their store, and used size 13 needles. i think i realize now that i prefer making chunky things with bigger needles becaue you see the results so much faster ;) 

Very basic pattern, only knitting & purling.

Cast on 60 stitches on size 13 circular needles. Knit first row, in the round. 

Continue to follow pattern of: 

*K3, P3* - Repeat for three rows (in the round)

*P3, K3*-  Repeat for three rows (in the round)

That's it! Three rows alternating, and you have a great pattern! 

Now, I am no expert in knitting- in fact, this is my first piece that I would actually wear, so hopefully if you want to make this you can understand my instructions. :) 

Happy Knitting

{kelly}