Pinspiration-DIY

I love Pinterest.  So many good ideas, recipes and things I wish I thought of!  This is going to be the first of a series of blogs about my obsession love for this site.  I've become inspired or shall we say pinspired (har har) to create, make, and do! The pin boards have inspired me to get obnoxiously organized, cook meals with 4 ingredients or less and to start some DIY projects.  Many of the items I pin just hang there looking pretty but I've been busy lately.  This DIY project I pinned some time ago and have finally got around to completing it.  I am super proud of it and it was super easy despite the fact that no craft store seemed to have all the materials I needed.  When I found what I needed it took me about 5 (well maybe 10) whole minutes to do the entire project.  Here is the original pin.  And here is my finished project:

I have been wanting to do something special with the hat Lilly got in the hospital.  At GBMC (and most hospitals) these hats are made for the babies by women (and men maybe?) in local nursing homes.  Each hat is unique and picked special for each baby by the nurses in the nursery.  I was excited that Lilly's was pink and green.  I knew I wanted to save it forever.  When I saw this pin I knew THIS is how I wanted to preserve it-rather than just tossing it in a shoebox. 

The pin didn't have much in the way of directions and really there is no need, although I will provide some more detail and things I found helpful.

First the materials:

• Shadowbox (I got an 8X10 size but they do come bigger-I wouldn't recommend any smaller unless you just wanted to do the hat)
• 1-2 pieces of scrapbook paper in the colors of your choice-I chose a light tan to match the color of Lilly's walls for the background and hot pink to use as a border for her hospital card.  I think I may actually pick up another patterned piece (I saw a lovely paisley one I wanted but wasn't sure about) and try that as the background to see if I like that better.    
• Pins and fancy shadowbox pins (I found them right next to the Shadowboxes)

• newborn hat and baby info card from the hospital (you can also make your own card with the babies name and other stats but I used the card that was in her crib at the hospital)  

• Scissors/glue stick

The project is relatively inexpensive.  Michaels was having a sale and I had a 50% off one item coupon so the shadowbox was $8.00 and each pack of pins were $2.  Scrapbook paper is about 50 cents so the entire project was about $14-15.  There are a lot of pins left over too so really it was cheaper!
To assemble:

• Take out the back of the shadowbox (like you would a picture frame).  I used that as a guide to trim off a bit of the excess paper (since it was 81/2 X 11).  I then pinned the paper to the backing at each corner using the small pearl pins (which you cannot even see once in the shadowbox).  I fastened the hat top center with the small pearl pins as well.  One at the top under the little pouf and two on each corner of the hat to secure it.

• I then cut out free hand a piece of scrapbook paper slightly larger than the hospital card and glued the card down to it.  You could use a paper cutter if you aren't steady with the scissors.  Mine isn't perfect but I thought it looked good.  I still have some of the pink paper left so I may take it to work to use the paper cutter we have there.  I then used the larger fancy pins to pin it down at each corner.  Viola!  Besides maybe changing the background paper-I think it's absolutely perfect!  Beats an old  keepsake shoebox any day. 

I LOVE love love it.  What do you think?? I haven't found a hanging spot yet but it also has a table stand so it's currently on Lilly's dresser.  She points to it and says: "Hat".  I love that even more!