ChalkCloth Christmas Ornaments

Hi there,

I write from the land of the sick and the brave.

We've conquered, we've battled, but we will not be defeated.

Well, at least the kids won't be defeated.

Me?  The Mom?  Well that's a whole nother story.

I'm close to being defeated.  I mean seriously, legally aren't I entitled to a break every four hours?  Or, like, aren't I eligible at this point to collect overtime pay?

Well, I did manage to eek out these c u-u-u-u te teacher gifts this week.  

However, and don't kill me, I did not produce the tutorial.

Tell Court and Molly not to fire me from blogging.

So this Chalk Cloth business is fun! 

My supply came from our amazing, wonderful sponsor the Online Fabric Store.  

I sewed the patch of chalk cloth onto some leftover drop cloth I had (member my pillows?).  

Then I essentially made a little pillow with sweet Christmas fabric on the other side and attached a loop of dark red grosgrain ribbon for hanging.

Do you recognize the handsome man in the photo?

I thought they turned out really cute.  Put together with one of those cool chalk pens and wrap in a cellophane bag and its a sweet Christmas gift.   I like the idea of the kiddos writing the message, too. Could be the year (2011), could be the name, or perhaps a special thank you message.

Happy Holidays everyone.  I won't be with my sisters and nieces and nephew this year (tear) but I will be where it is warm with the in-laws. 

Black & White Pillow with Fabric & Ric Rac Rosettes

Tuesday after the long weekend is tough, yes?  We had such an amazing weekend with friends.  It was the kind of three day weekend that seemed to crawl but not in the when-will-this-ever-end crawl way; more like the packed-full-of-fun way. Make sense?  

And speaking of friends..........I have to post this little project I did because it's a bit timely (as in, ahem, late).  A few weeks back I signed up for Craftaholics Handmade Exchange. You get another blogging friend and exchange handmade gifts.

I was so excited to make a new friend AND give them something pretty.

I made my handmade gift.......and.......

I.LOVED.IT. as in don't-make-me-do-this-and-give-it-away LOVED.IT.

Putting it in the shipping envelope to my gift-y partner/exchanger person was pure torture. I sealed the envelope with eyes closed.  

I really, really wanted to keep it.

The sweet fabric rosettes with the modern geometric background.

And the pink ric rac rosette.  Tear.

(I used this tutorial for that. Will definitely be making more of these.)

Go ahead.  Sit. I dare ya to relax your back on that lil cushion of pretty.

So, my new bloggy friend, Kim, I hope you enjoy! I had a blast making an old fave  {PILLOWS} but added a new twist with the ric rac rosette.

Craft Challenge: Watermelon-themed Pillow

So we've made bloggity-blog-blog-blog friends with another set of sisters! The Wayward Girls! The thing I love about blogland, and you'll read other blogger's comments on this, is that you make penpals, almost. You connect with other bloggers, talk about blogging, crafting, sewing, whatever. I personally don't have a lot of friends who craft, sew or blog. Luckily I have my sisters to enjoy that with, but it's also nice to make friends who do it, too. (Come on, everybody's doin' it....)

Anyhoo, our new friends the Wayward Girls decided to give us a creative CHALLENGE. They gave us a theme and all three of us had to come up with a project reflective of that theme and then blog it.

Our theme?! WATERMELON. Perfect for summer!

My project came to me almost immediately.

Uh, obviously I'd do a pillow! My obsession with pillows runs far and wide.

Except for this pillow, I did red and white stripes with a black button.

No green, I know, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't shake the idea.

The problem I had with this mission was finding the exact fabric I wanted. See, I knew I wanted pretty wide stripes--3 inches or more. But I couldn't find the fabric at my usual haunts. Enter: Online Fabric Store. I knew I could count on them to have the right stuff.

This fabric is screen printed, not the sailcloth-type that I originally wanted. So it was pretty hard to get ironed flat. I'm still workin' on it.
I did a pretty good job lining up the stripes, though, non?

Okay, so that's my WATERMELON project, Wayward Girls. What do you think? Does it remind you of a watermelon?!


Next up........Mols! Look for her fabulous project tomorrow!

Yet ANOTHER Bedroom Update

Remember my bedroom update?

(How could you not, right? It's not like I keep bringing it up.)

Well, it's summer and I decided to try for a little update (AGAIN?!), you know, to lighten it up.

I switched out the heavy red comforter for my grandmother's quilt and took out some of the drop cloth pillows.

I also added two yellow chevron pillows from FestiveHomeDecor on Etsy.

I received the quilt as a wedding gift from my grandmother.

It is made of all Lily Pulitzer fabrics. Jealous much?

Here's my dilemma, though. It just doesn't go with the heavy colors and textures in my bedroom. Or does it?

Without the Lily P. quilt, the pillows go with the bird prints and the rest of the room.

What do you think? What would help the Lily P. quilt go?!

::TUTORIAL:: Drop Cloth Pillow with Grosgrain Ribbon Ties

We are so excited to be guest posting for Tracie over @ Cleverly Inspired today! We love Tracie's work and are honored to be filling in while she is on spring break. Today we're going to show you how we made this super easy, super cute drop cloth pillow.

This pillow was originally part of my bedroom re-do that we did a few weeks back. Court loved them so much that we decided to recreate one for her family room.

Supplies:

--painter's drop cloth (Home Depot--6x9 was about $10)

--painter's tape

--fabric paint (we got ours @ Michael's)

--paint brush

--12" x 16" pillow insert (we got ours @ Jo-Ann's)

--4 pieces of grosgrain ribbon, cut to 13" long

This project involves three steps: Prep Work, Painting & Sewing.

::PREP WORK::

1. Wash and dry drop cloth to soften it. Iron.

2. Cut a piece that measures approximately 13" x 34".

3. Lay it on a flat surface that is protected since you will be painting.

::PAINTING::

1. Cut three pieces of painter's tape that are all roughly 16 inches long.

2. On one side, measure in four inches. Lay one piece of tape from top to bottom and press to secure it to flat surface. The paint does tend to bleed a little bit, but we liked that that gave it an imperfect, vintage feel.

3. Measure in one inch and lay second piece of tape. Press to secure.

4. Measure in another one inch and lay third piece of tape. Press to secure.

**We added two more pieces of tape, but you can stop at 3.**

5. Paint between pieces of tape. Remove tape immediately.

6. Allow four hours to dry before sewing. Allow another 72 hours before washing.

::SEWING::

The sewing of this project involves hemming the edges, attaching four ribbon ties and sewing pillow sides together.

1. Start on the end of the cloth that is closest to the paint stripes. Fold in 1/2" and iron.

2. Fold in another 1/2" and iron.

3. Place one grosgrain ribbon strip three inches from the edge of cloth along the ironed hem and pin place.

Repeat on the other edge.

4. Sew the hem closed using 1/4" seam making sure to include ribbon ties.

Feel free to sew a second stitch across ribbons to secure even more.

5. Repeat steps 1-5 on the other short end so that both short ends now have a finished hem with ribbons/ties attached.

6. Fold cloth right sides together lining up short ends and ribbons.

7. Pin the long sides together and sew a 1/4" seam taking care to backstitch at start and end.

8. Do a zig zag stitch to avoid fraying.

9. Turn pillow case right side out. Insert pillow form and tie ribbons closed.

*Use fray check to ends of ribbon to avoid fraying.*

Ba...da....BING!

Super cute, right? It is cute on its own or paired with other pillows!

Here is the little red striped one Molly & I made for the bedroom re-do.

It is such an easy, simple pillow to make and so versatile. You could make different sizes, applique it, make with fabric, etc. The options are endless!

Bedroom Makeover with Drop Cloth Pillows

What do you get when you mix two sisters, four kids, a bottle of wine and a bag of Starburst jelly beans?

You get the most amazing bedroom makeover ever.

Remember my bedroom inspiration post a few weeks ago?

I really wanted my room to look something like Miss Mustard Seed's guest room: 

Molly came to visit and we set to work making drop cloth pillows that were inspired by all of the feedsack style pillows that you see in blogland and, of course, Pottery Barn:

I'm pretty sure I like ours better.  As in, can I hang in my room all day?  

Take a look.

We made two Euro size pillows with stripes.

Then we added a smaller pillow with my last name initial "B".

Seriously, admit it.  They really are pretty cute.  The little red pillow is tied with creamy grosgrain ribbon.  We sewed that one a little bit differently than the others.  That tutorial will come shortly.  It's shockingly easy.

We initially set out to really, truly mimic the feedsack and have faded stripes but as we got to painting, we decided we wanted a stronger statement so we painted the stripes on pretty heavily.

We used a super easy pillow tutorial from Lemon Tree Creations.  Takes all of 10 minutes.  It would be a great beginner sewer project.

Here is the bed layered up.  There's a creamy white Pottery Barn duvet under there.  The red quilt is Pottery Barn outlet from a few years back.

The bird prints were handed down from the Buchanan's.  The mirror was picked off the trash here in Longmeadow (rather shamelessly by my mother).

This is my side of the bed.  NOT.

So sweet on my grandmothers red chair.  Have I mentioned yet that red is my favorite color?

Tutorials for the pillows to follow soon.  

In the meantime, tell me, what would make your bedroom more inviting to you?