January 2022

I’m so excited to be guest posting  at Lolly Jane Boutique!  They have such a sweet blog with great ideas!  Head on over to make one of these:

I’m so excited to be guest posting  at Lolly Jane Boutique!  They have such a sweet blog with great ideas!  Head on over to make one of these:

Update***  Thanks to Taryn from Design, Dining, and Diapers for making this project a Top 10 project at The CSI Project!  I’m honored!

Happy Monday, everyone!  First, I want to tell you a funny (maybe sad) story.  I had these wooden curtain knob things that I decided to use to hold back my bedroom curtains.  My walls are creamy white, and my curtains are blue, so I decided to paint them the color of the walls, but distress them so they would stand out from the wall.  So, I painted two coats of black paint, let it dry, then painted several coats of the creamy white on top.  I then sanded it strategically to let the black show through, to look distressed.  I was pretty happy with the look.
Well, a few days later, I came home from an afternoon out with my daughter, and my husband had been touching up the paint on the wall.  He said- “I painted your knobs too- you got black stuff all over them!”

Either my husband doesn’t get the whole distressed thing (“nothing else in this room looks old!”), or I just did a really bad job making them look distressed.  So now I have pristine creamy white knobs again.  Sigh….

Anyway, today, I have something I think (hope) you’re going to love!  This was originally posted at Keeping It Simple, but I thought I’d repost it here in case you missed it.

I love to decorate for different holidays and seasons.  I used to just do Christmas, but with all the inspiration in blog-land, I decided I HAD to get some decorations for all the other fun times of the year!  I’ve been doing it for the past year and a half now.  I especially love Pillows.  There are so many cute pillows out there, and I want to make all of them!  The only problem is, all those decorations take up a lot of space- right?  So I got to thinking- what if you could just use ONE pillow to decorate for all the holidays and seasons?  My mind got spinning, and I got creating.  Here is what I came up with:  A Pillow for All Seasons.

That’s right- these are all pictures of the same pillow.  You make (or reuse) one pillow, and only have to store the decorations!  Want one of your own?  Here’s how to make one:

Supplies needed:

1 pillow form, batting, or old pillow Neutral fabric to fit your pillow form (if sewing your own cover)- amount will vary 2 rectangles of light colored fabric for background- amount will vary but a fat quarter should be plenty 1 rectangle batting (Warm n Natural, etc) Basic sewing supplies Sewing Machine Patterns, fabric/felt, embellishments for seasonal accents, as desired Velcro Optional:  Paint/Freezer Paper/Xacto knife or craft cutter Okay, let’s get going: 1.  To make this work, you need a neutral pillow, or one with fabric that will go with all the seasons/holidays you want to decorate for.  I sewed a burlap pillow cover for an old pillow I had in my closet, but this would be a great way to use a pillow with a small stain or unsightly design.  If you need help sewing your own pillow cover, here are a few tutorials that will walk you through it:

        Envelope style- http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-quick-envelope-pillow-case.html

        Zippered- http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2011/02/zippered-pillow-cover-tutorial.html     2.  Next we will sew the background for our seasonal accents.  Cut two squares or rectangles to fit in the center of your pillowcase front, adding a half inch all around for a seam allowance.  Mine were 8 in x 7 in.  Also, cut one rectangle with the same dimensions from your batting. 3.  Line up your fabric rectangles right sides together, then place the batting at the bottom.  Sew around all four edges, leaving a few inches open to turn right side out.  Before turning, clip corners. Turn right side out.  Your batting should now be in the middle.  Poke out corners with a crochet hook or something similar, then press.  Topstitch around your square, making sure to close the opening you left.
4.  Attach your completed background to your pillow.  Since we’re “keeping it simple” here, fabric glue or hot glue will work just fine.  Make sure you use plenty and give it time to dry.  I chose to attach mine using a blanket stitch (shown here) just to give it a little extra decoration, but it’s totally up to you! 5.  Now you’re ready to make and attach embellishments.  I am giving directions to make one large embellishment and a word strip.  Adjust for your own personal style.       – Decide where your embellishments will go.  Attach velcro to your background square.  I put one piece, rough side up, on each side of the top for wordstrips, then one large one in the lower center of my square for an embellishment.  Unless your pillow is going to be thrown around your house, this should suffice to keep any embellishments in place.  The soft side will go on your embellishments. 6.  Now, let your imagination run wild!  You can make birds or flowers for spring, stars for patriotic days, pumpkins, Christmas trees, hearts for Valentine’s day, a shamrock for St. Patty’s- you get the picture!  You can use felt or fabric, ribbon or found materials- whatever you can imagine, you can create.   To get you started, I’m including a pattern for a pumpkin and a Christmas tree.  I used craft felt and embroidery thread for my pumpkin, and I used scrap fabric (with a little fray-check on the edges) for the Christmas trees.  They’re held together with good old fabric glue.  To use, click on the image below to get to the full-size image.  Then right click and save to your computer.
7.   Finish up by creating seasonal word strips, if you so desire.  I cut one inch wide strips to fit my square (mine were about 6 1/2 inches) out of some scrap fabric, then used freezer paper stenciling to create my words.  If you need a little help with that, there’s a tutorial here that will guide you along. Now, all you have to store is your decorations.  My clutter-prone self is happy. I’ve got this set ready for my fall decorating.  I can’t wait! Well, there you have it.  I hope my directions were clear enough- please feel free to shoot off an email to me or leave a comment. if you have any questions  Thanks for reading- now go get creating!

P.S.- I am linking up to my favorite parties this week- go check out all the crafty goodness!

Update***  Thanks to Taryn from Design, Dining, and Diapers for making this project a Top 10 project at The CSI Project!  I’m honored!

Happy Monday, everyone!  First, I want to tell you a funny (maybe sad) story.  I had these wooden curtain knob things that I decided to use to hold back my bedroom curtains.  My walls are creamy white, and my curtains are blue, so I decided to paint them the color of the walls, but distress them so they would stand out from the wall.  So, I painted two coats of black paint, let it dry, then painted several coats of the creamy white on top.  I then sanded it strategically to let the black show through, to look distressed.  I was pretty happy with the look.
Well, a few days later, I came home from an afternoon out with my daughter, and my husband had been touching up the paint on the wall.  He said- “I painted your knobs too- you got black stuff all over them!”

Either my husband doesn’t get the whole distressed thing (“nothing else in this room looks old!”), or I just did a really bad job making them look distressed.  So now I have pristine creamy white knobs again.  Sigh….

Anyway, today, I have something I think (hope) you’re going to love!  This was originally posted at Keeping It Simple, but I thought I’d repost it here in case you missed it.

I love to decorate for different holidays and seasons.  I used to just do Christmas, but with all the inspiration in blog-land, I decided I HAD to get some decorations for all the other fun times of the year!  I’ve been doing it for the past year and a half now.  I especially love Pillows.  There are so many cute pillows out there, and I want to make all of them!  The only problem is, all those decorations take up a lot of space- right?  So I got to thinking- what if you could just use ONE pillow to decorate for all the holidays and seasons?  My mind got spinning, and I got creating.  Here is what I came up with:  A Pillow for All Seasons.

That’s right- these are all pictures of the same pillow.  You make (or reuse) one pillow, and only have to store the decorations!  Want one of your own?  Here’s how to make one:

Supplies needed:

1 pillow form, batting, or old pillow Neutral fabric to fit your pillow form (if sewing your own cover)- amount will vary 2 rectangles of light colored fabric for background- amount will vary but a fat quarter should be plenty 1 rectangle batting (Warm n Natural, etc) Basic sewing supplies Sewing Machine Patterns, fabric/felt, embellishments for seasonal accents, as desired Velcro Optional:  Paint/Freezer Paper/Xacto knife or craft cutter Okay, let’s get going: 1.  To make this work, you need a neutral pillow, or one with fabric that will go with all the seasons/holidays you want to decorate for.  I sewed a burlap pillow cover for an old pillow I had in my closet, but this would be a great way to use a pillow with a small stain or unsightly design.  If you need help sewing your own pillow cover, here are a few tutorials that will walk you through it:

        Envelope style- http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-quick-envelope-pillow-case.html

        Zippered- http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2011/02/zippered-pillow-cover-tutorial.html     2.  Next we will sew the background for our seasonal accents.  Cut two squares or rectangles to fit in the center of your pillowcase front, adding a half inch all around for a seam allowance.  Mine were 8 in x 7 in.  Also, cut one rectangle with the same dimensions from your batting. 3.  Line up your fabric rectangles right sides together, then place the batting at the bottom.  Sew around all four edges, leaving a few inches open to turn right side out.  Before turning, clip corners. Turn right side out.  Your batting should now be in the middle.  Poke out corners with a crochet hook or something similar, then press.  Topstitch around your square, making sure to close the opening you left.
4.  Attach your completed background to your pillow.  Since we’re “keeping it simple” here, fabric glue or hot glue will work just fine.  Make sure you use plenty and give it time to dry.  I chose to attach mine using a blanket stitch (shown here) just to give it a little extra decoration, but it’s totally up to you! 5.  Now you’re ready to make and attach embellishments.  I am giving directions to make one large embellishment and a word strip.  Adjust for your own personal style.       – Decide where your embellishments will go.  Attach velcro to your background square.  I put one piece, rough side up, on each side of the top for wordstrips, then one large one in the lower center of my square for an embellishment.  Unless your pillow is going to be thrown around your house, this should suffice to keep any embellishments in place.  The soft side will go on your embellishments. 6.  Now, let your imagination run wild!  You can make birds or flowers for spring, stars for patriotic days, pumpkins, Christmas trees, hearts for Valentine’s day, a shamrock for St. Patty’s- you get the picture!  You can use felt or fabric, ribbon or found materials- whatever you can imagine, you can create.   To get you started, I’m including a pattern for a pumpkin and a Christmas tree.  I used craft felt and embroidery thread for my pumpkin, and I used scrap fabric (with a little fray-check on the edges) for the Christmas trees.  They’re held together with good old fabric glue.  To use, click on the image below to get to the full-size image.  Then right click and save to your computer.
7.   Finish up by creating seasonal word strips, if you so desire.  I cut one inch wide strips to fit my square (mine were about 6 1/2 inches) out of some scrap fabric, then used freezer paper stenciling to create my words.  If you need a little help with that, there’s a tutorial here that will guide you along. Now, all you have to store is your decorations.  My clutter-prone self is happy. I’ve got this set ready for my fall decorating.  I can’t wait! Well, there you have it.  I hope my directions were clear enough- please feel free to shoot off an email to me or leave a comment. if you have any questions  Thanks for reading- now go get creating!

P.S.- I am linking up to my favorite parties this week- go check out all the crafty goodness!

Update***  Thanks to Taryn from Design, Dining, and Diapers for making this project a Top 10 project at The CSI Project!  I’m honored!

Happy Monday, everyone!  First, I want to tell you a funny (maybe sad) story.  I had these wooden curtain knob things that I decided to use to hold back my bedroom curtains.  My walls are creamy white, and my curtains are blue, so I decided to paint them the color of the walls, but distress them so they would stand out from the wall.  So, I painted two coats of black paint, let it dry, then painted several coats of the creamy white on top.  I then sanded it strategically to let the black show through, to look distressed.  I was pretty happy with the look.
Well, a few days later, I came home from an afternoon out with my daughter, and my husband had been touching up the paint on the wall.  He said- “I painted your knobs too- you got black stuff all over them!”

Either my husband doesn’t get the whole distressed thing (“nothing else in this room looks old!”), or I just did a really bad job making them look distressed.  So now I have pristine creamy white knobs again.  Sigh….

Anyway, today, I have something I think (hope) you’re going to love!  This was originally posted at Keeping It Simple, but I thought I’d repost it here in case you missed it.

I love to decorate for different holidays and seasons.  I used to just do Christmas, but with all the inspiration in blog-land, I decided I HAD to get some decorations for all the other fun times of the year!  I’ve been doing it for the past year and a half now.  I especially love Pillows.  There are so many cute pillows out there, and I want to make all of them!  The only problem is, all those decorations take up a lot of space- right?  So I got to thinking- what if you could just use ONE pillow to decorate for all the holidays and seasons?  My mind got spinning, and I got creating.  Here is what I came up with:  A Pillow for All Seasons.

That’s right- these are all pictures of the same pillow.  You make (or reuse) one pillow, and only have to store the decorations!  Want one of your own?  Here’s how to make one:

Supplies needed:

1 pillow form, batting, or old pillow Neutral fabric to fit your pillow form (if sewing your own cover)- amount will vary 2 rectangles of light colored fabric for background- amount will vary but a fat quarter should be plenty 1 rectangle batting (Warm n Natural, etc) Basic sewing supplies Sewing Machine Patterns, fabric/felt, embellishments for seasonal accents, as desired Velcro Optional:  Paint/Freezer Paper/Xacto knife or craft cutter Okay, let’s get going: 1.  To make this work, you need a neutral pillow, or one with fabric that will go with all the seasons/holidays you want to decorate for.  I sewed a burlap pillow cover for an old pillow I had in my closet, but this would be a great way to use a pillow with a small stain or unsightly design.  If you need help sewing your own pillow cover, here are a few tutorials that will walk you through it:

        Envelope style- http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-quick-envelope-pillow-case.html

        Zippered- http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2011/02/zippered-pillow-cover-tutorial.html     2.  Next we will sew the background for our seasonal accents.  Cut two squares or rectangles to fit in the center of your pillowcase front, adding a half inch all around for a seam allowance.  Mine were 8 in x 7 in.  Also, cut one rectangle with the same dimensions from your batting. 3.  Line up your fabric rectangles right sides together, then place the batting at the bottom.  Sew around all four edges, leaving a few inches open to turn right side out.  Before turning, clip corners. Turn right side out.  Your batting should now be in the middle.  Poke out corners with a crochet hook or something similar, then press.  Topstitch around your square, making sure to close the opening you left.
4.  Attach your completed background to your pillow.  Since we’re “keeping it simple” here, fabric glue or hot glue will work just fine.  Make sure you use plenty and give it time to dry.  I chose to attach mine using a blanket stitch (shown here) just to give it a little extra decoration, but it’s totally up to you! 5.  Now you’re ready to make and attach embellishments.  I am giving directions to make one large embellishment and a word strip.  Adjust for your own personal style.       – Decide where your embellishments will go.  Attach velcro to your background square.  I put one piece, rough side up, on each side of the top for wordstrips, then one large one in the lower center of my square for an embellishment.  Unless your pillow is going to be thrown around your house, this should suffice to keep any embellishments in place.  The soft side will go on your embellishments. 6.  Now, let your imagination run wild!  You can make birds or flowers for spring, stars for patriotic days, pumpkins, Christmas trees, hearts for Valentine’s day, a shamrock for St. Patty’s- you get the picture!  You can use felt or fabric, ribbon or found materials- whatever you can imagine, you can create.   To get you started, I’m including a pattern for a pumpkin and a Christmas tree.  I used craft felt and embroidery thread for my pumpkin, and I used scrap fabric (with a little fray-check on the edges) for the Christmas trees.  They’re held together with good old fabric glue.  To use, click on the image below to get to the full-size image.  Then right click and save to your computer.
7.   Finish up by creating seasonal word strips, if you so desire.  I cut one inch wide strips to fit my square (mine were about 6 1/2 inches) out of some scrap fabric, then used freezer paper stenciling to create my words.  If you need a little help with that, there’s a tutorial here that will guide you along. Now, all you have to store is your decorations.  My clutter-prone self is happy. I’ve got this set ready for my fall decorating.  I can’t wait! Well, there you have it.  I hope my directions were clear enough- please feel free to shoot off an email to me or leave a comment. if you have any questions  Thanks for reading- now go get creating!

P.S.- I am linking up to my favorite parties this week- go check out all the crafty goodness!

Update***  Thanks to Taryn from Design, Dining, and Diapers for making this project a Top 10 project at The CSI Project!  I’m honored!

Happy Monday, everyone!  First, I want to tell you a funny (maybe sad) story.  I had these wooden curtain knob things that I decided to use to hold back my bedroom curtains.  My walls are creamy white, and my curtains are blue, so I decided to paint them the color of the walls, but distress them so they would stand out from the wall.  So, I painted two coats of black paint, let it dry, then painted several coats of the creamy white on top.  I then sanded it strategically to let the black show through, to look distressed.  I was pretty happy with the look.
Well, a few days later, I came home from an afternoon out with my daughter, and my husband had been touching up the paint on the wall.  He said- “I painted your knobs too- you got black stuff all over them!”

Either my husband doesn’t get the whole distressed thing (“nothing else in this room looks old!”), or I just did a really bad job making them look distressed.  So now I have pristine creamy white knobs again.  Sigh….

Anyway, today, I have something I think (hope) you’re going to love!  This was originally posted at Keeping It Simple, but I thought I’d repost it here in case you missed it.

I love to decorate for different holidays and seasons.  I used to just do Christmas, but with all the inspiration in blog-land, I decided I HAD to get some decorations for all the other fun times of the year!  I’ve been doing it for the past year and a half now.  I especially love Pillows.  There are so many cute pillows out there, and I want to make all of them!  The only problem is, all those decorations take up a lot of space- right?  So I got to thinking- what if you could just use ONE pillow to decorate for all the holidays and seasons?  My mind got spinning, and I got creating.  Here is what I came up with:  A Pillow for All Seasons.

That’s right- these are all pictures of the same pillow.  You make (or reuse) one pillow, and only have to store the decorations!  Want one of your own?  Here’s how to make one:

Supplies needed:

1 pillow form, batting, or old pillow Neutral fabric to fit your pillow form (if sewing your own cover)- amount will vary 2 rectangles of light colored fabric for background- amount will vary but a fat quarter should be plenty 1 rectangle batting (Warm n Natural, etc) Basic sewing supplies Sewing Machine Patterns, fabric/felt, embellishments for seasonal accents, as desired Velcro Optional:  Paint/Freezer Paper/Xacto knife or craft cutter Okay, let’s get going: 1.  To make this work, you need a neutral pillow, or one with fabric that will go with all the seasons/holidays you want to decorate for.  I sewed a burlap pillow cover for an old pillow I had in my closet, but this would be a great way to use a pillow with a small stain or unsightly design.  If you need help sewing your own pillow cover, here are a few tutorials that will walk you through it:

        Envelope style- http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-quick-envelope-pillow-case.html

        Zippered- http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2011/02/zippered-pillow-cover-tutorial.html     2.  Next we will sew the background for our seasonal accents.  Cut two squares or rectangles to fit in the center of your pillowcase front, adding a half inch all around for a seam allowance.  Mine were 8 in x 7 in.  Also, cut one rectangle with the same dimensions from your batting. 3.  Line up your fabric rectangles right sides together, then place the batting at the bottom.  Sew around all four edges, leaving a few inches open to turn right side out.  Before turning, clip corners. Turn right side out.  Your batting should now be in the middle.  Poke out corners with a crochet hook or something similar, then press.  Topstitch around your square, making sure to close the opening you left.
4.  Attach your completed background to your pillow.  Since we’re “keeping it simple” here, fabric glue or hot glue will work just fine.  Make sure you use plenty and give it time to dry.  I chose to attach mine using a blanket stitch (shown here) just to give it a little extra decoration, but it’s totally up to you! 5.  Now you’re ready to make and attach embellishments.  I am giving directions to make one large embellishment and a word strip.  Adjust for your own personal style.       – Decide where your embellishments will go.  Attach velcro to your background square.  I put one piece, rough side up, on each side of the top for wordstrips, then one large one in the lower center of my square for an embellishment.  Unless your pillow is going to be thrown around your house, this should suffice to keep any embellishments in place.  The soft side will go on your embellishments. 6.  Now, let your imagination run wild!  You can make birds or flowers for spring, stars for patriotic days, pumpkins, Christmas trees, hearts for Valentine’s day, a shamrock for St. Patty’s- you get the picture!  You can use felt or fabric, ribbon or found materials- whatever you can imagine, you can create.   To get you started, I’m including a pattern for a pumpkin and a Christmas tree.  I used craft felt and embroidery thread for my pumpkin, and I used scrap fabric (with a little fray-check on the edges) for the Christmas trees.  They’re held together with good old fabric glue.  To use, click on the image below to get to the full-size image.  Then right click and save to your computer.
7.   Finish up by creating seasonal word strips, if you so desire.  I cut one inch wide strips to fit my square (mine were about 6 1/2 inches) out of some scrap fabric, then used freezer paper stenciling to create my words.  If you need a little help with that, there’s a tutorial here that will guide you along. Now, all you have to store is your decorations.  My clutter-prone self is happy. I’ve got this set ready for my fall decorating.  I can’t wait! Well, there you have it.  I hope my directions were clear enough- please feel free to shoot off an email to me or leave a comment. if you have any questions  Thanks for reading- now go get creating!

P.S.- I am linking up to my favorite parties this week- go check out all the crafty goodness!