bleu gingham

 As a new year's resolution, I wanted to read at least 25 books this year. I'm a little behind schedule but hopefully I can catch up by the end of the year. Here are some of my recently read books. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell The story is about twin girls (Cath and Wren) who are going off to their freshman year of college.Throughout their childhood, they have been super fans of a popular book series. Their bedroom at home is filled with posters and they've even written some popular fan fiction. As they go off to college, Wren starts to leave the fandom behind, while Cath struggles to finish her popular fan fiction story while going through the stresses of college and a sister she feels is dumping her. I quickly downloaded this the night before we left for Disney as a vacation read. Let me just tell you, the two main characters reminded me so much of me and my own sister. I definitely related to Cath. While I never got too into fan fiction, I feel like I woul...

Usually I try to reserve the weekends for my own projects. My week days are spent working on various  projects and alterations for other people, as well as working to stock my inventory for my (yet-to-be-opened) shop. Weekends are for me though. Here are just a few of my recent weekend projects:                1. That large wooden &: I didn't build this; I just repainted it. I had purchased it from an antique store several months ago and it had just been sitting around since then. It was an ugly brown color and had weird chips of other paint colors on it, so one day I finally set to work. Sanded it down, painted it a nice navy blue, and voila. Now it fits in better with the rest of my decor. 2. Glittery Missouri canvas : This was a Pinterest project. Sometimes I struggle with Pinterest (more on that later), but I wanted a quick and easy project to do one Saturday evening while watching movies and this one cut the musta...

Hello all! I'm really hoping this blog-once-a-month thing doesn't become habit around here. Since the last time I posted, I've been busy with alterations projects, other sewing projects, family campouts and bbqs, and even a little trip down to Disney World. The end of Spring and start of Summer has been good to us. I'm still not entirely sure what direction I want to take this blog, but as of now I would like it to be a little place for me to share some thoughts, life happenings, and some sewing and art projects. I've got some post ideas written down, so be on the lookout for those the end of this week and beginning of next. I promise to try and make a bit of a schedule, and not let a month pass between posts again. Until next time!

This past weekend, I helped throw a baby shower for a cousin that has a baby boy arriving this August. She told us his nursery will be a woodland theme, so after some Pinterest perusing, we set to work. Instead of the typical guest book (which, let's be honest, ends up getting shoved in a closet quickly), we had each guest sign a onesie. I drew up the invitation with watercolor pencils, then scanned and printed them to send as postcards. For the mommy-to-be, I put my original copy into a thrifted and repainted frame as a keepsake.   Each birdhouse was painted based on the colors of the nursery. The bird nests were made of leftover Easter grass and Robin's Egg candy. For the "trees", I searched the yard for sticks, stuck them in pieces of styrofoam, wrapped the bottom in fabric and tied with twine. Welcome Baby Swayne! Enjoy life!

Hello, Hello! Welcome to Bleu Gingham! I don't know how most people start their blogs. We'll just go with an introduction. I'm Whitney. I live in a little town in Missouri with my husband and wild dog. I spend my days unsuccessfully attempting to get the dog to stop barking at squirrels while working to start my own business. In my spare time I enjoy a good book, preferably of the fantasy or teen-lit variety, and dream of trips to Paris. (I feel like that last paragraph read like something from a dating website. Only not, because I'm married. Moving on.) With this blog, I hope to share with everyone my love for sewing and art, as well as a little bit of everyday life. I've been sewing since I was a little middle-schooler in 4H, and while I don't pretend to know all the tricks (I have still yet to perfect the zipper), I do enjoy finding and creating new sewing projects. Don't worry though. I will be sharing plenty more than just sewing ideas. ...