Piped Pillow Cover

Piping can be evil. I tried making my own and that did not go well. So glad I can pay to have someone make it for me :)

Anyway, I made these pillows to go on our new bedspread that I made (pics of that coming soon).  I saw a tip on Pinterest to cut a king-sized pillow in half to make two throw pillows. Pillow inserts can be so expensive! This cost me less than $10 to make two. So cool.

My pillows measured 17x17 inches. So I cut my fabric 18x18. I also used interfacing for the first time. Awesome!! I followed this tutorial from Make It and Love It. I LOVE how they turned out!

Stencil Art

These stencil projects are so much fun. And they turn out awesome! I'm considering selling them on Etsy. I followed the same process as the bird art I did a little while back. I bought the burlap canvas at Walmart for I think $5. I also bought a staple gun to attach the ribbon. Hot glue just doesn't cut it. Having a staple gun opens up a lot more possibilities for me now! Plus I feel pretty awesome using a staple gun.

Padded Placemats

We bought a new kitchen table a few months ago. It's so beautiful and counter-height, which I love so much. However, kids are kids and they have managed to scratch it up. And Sean and I have, too. Oops. We have been searching and searching for cute protective placemats to keep on the table at all times. Nothing is out there. So I made some. This was a great project because I learned more about sewing products I have never used before: interfacing.

For more information on interfacing, please go here. I love her blog so much.

So, I started out making these placemats using quilt batting hoping it would provide some stabilization to the placemats. It ended up making them pillowy. So I read up on interfacing. I was at Joann's looking at all the different options for interfacing and found a foam stabilizer. Eureka! Washable, protective padding. (The link is for a whole bolt of foam but I was able to find it in store by the yard.)

I bought 2 1/2 yards of home decor fabric. (I've heard outdoor fabric is a good option, too, because its thick and spill-proof.) I also bought 2 1/2 yards of foam. (I really only needed 1 1/4 yards).

I cut two pieces of my fabric 19x13 inches and one piece of foam the same size. Sew the foam to the wrong side of one piece of fabric. Sew right sides together and then turn right-side out. Iron and top-stitch. I got 6 placemats from this fabric. Oh, and I just had a thought that you could use the foam to make your own mouse pad...

Doll Stroller Makeover

Not very long ago I bought one of those doll strollers for Katy. It lasted about a week before it got rips and tears in it. The fabric they used on it was so flimsy! I know I've seen people make over a little stroller like this one so I thought I'd give it a try. It's so so so important to take pictures of the old stuff so that you know how to put it all back together. I should have taken way more. But it turned out so cute! Brandon and Katy helped pick out the fabric and I used all the original binding and other pieces from the stroller. I've seen people spray paint the rods and handles a new color but I didn't have the patience for that :)

Before

Took everything apart

Traced the old pieces onto the new fabric

Started piecing everything back together.

Sewing the trim back on (the middle buckle piece shouldn't go there. It goes on the purple piece)

Iron hem 1/4 inch and 2 3/4 inch

Sew pockets for stroller rods to fit on. 2 1/2 inches on each side.

Attach bottom piece to top piece

Sew trim around bottom piece

Tada!

Tie-Up Valance (again)

I have loved the valance I made for the kitchen window. But that gray color was starting to wear on me. I wanted something bright and colorful. I bought some home decor fabric at Joann's, ya know, the kind that comes on that big 'ol roll. I've never bought that kind of fabric before. It's so intimidating. And a little pricey. But it was 40% off. Uh, check! I bought 1 1/2 yards and put these together in a few hours and I kept the same ribbon. I love how bright and cheery they are!!

Entryway shelf Decor

Not exactly sure if this belongs here but I just love how this turned out and I gotta share. I have been searching and searching for the pierfect shelf/coat rack for our entry way. I needed something functional and pretty. I FINALLY found a great one at Joann's for half off. I made the doily jar (I used 4" doilies) and framed quote to go on top. I just love to look at it.

Burlap Canvas

This is a super simple and quick project. I used my silhouette to cut out a stencil of the bird and branch. Then I just used a little spouncer tool and painted it on the pre-made burlap canvas that I found at walmart. There are so many possibilities with this project. Tutorial found here.

Framed Monogram Letter

I think monogram is the correct name for this project. This was so much fun to put together. I found the cool shadow box and wodden letter at walmart. The burlap-type background "came with the frame." I painted the letter white and then mod podged scrapbook paper to the front. I added an adorable fabric flower (tutorial found here) and hot glued the whole thing to the frame. It's so happy!

Split panel Bird Wall Art

This was such a fun project. I love creating things that people love. Katy needed some kind of art on the bare walls of her room. It's pretty self-explanatory, I think. Katy got to help me glue on all the leaves and chose where the sun would go. She loves the pink kissing birds and all those sparkles!

Simple Tie-up Valance

I've been trying to figure out a way to dress up our kitchen bay window. We get such good light from this window that I didn't want to block out but it needed a little something on there. I found this adorable looking kitchen valance online ($40 for one panel! Yikes!) and thought I could duplicate it pretty well.

I bought a simple room-darkening curtain panel at Walmart for $7 and a couple of spools of ribbon for $4. I wanted the length of my curtains to be 18". The middle curtain is 54"x 18" and the smaller curtains are 23"x 18". I added 2" to the length so I could fold over the hem.

I read on a valance tutorial for this type of curtain to make the ribbon 2/3 the length of the curtain. I hot-glued the ribbon into a loop and attached a bow to the seam. Loop the ribbon onto the curtain and hang it up.

My middle window is pretty wide so I put three ribbons on it.

And here's a picture of the one from the store. Not  bad right???