Pillow Talk

Let it be known that I love toss pillows.  

I'll save you all the lengthy dissertation on how obsessive personalities run in my family and how I tend to get fixated on certain things...uh hum, David Beckham anyone?

Anyway, I just love accent pillows.  I especially love having extras on hand that I can pull from when I am feeling the need to switch things up.

That all said, I thought I would share one of my favorite tips for making pillows...cloth napkins {and kitchen towels}.

Not only are napkins {and towels} the perfect, pre-formed size for accent pillows, they also tend to offer a wide variety of interesting patterns and colors.  Oh!  And they are also really cheap.  Cha-ching.

I recently came across this brightly colored dish towel.  Only I didn't see a dish towel, I saw the perfect accent pillow for my bed.

There was no cutting and no hemming involved...just sewing four straight lines {and if you don't sew, there are all sorts of liquid stitch and heat activated options you could try}.  What could be easier than that?

Voila!  A beautiful, bright and one of a kind pillow that took all of fifteen minutes to make {probably less if I wasn't using the world's crappiest sewing maching}.

And for your inspiration...

I saw these napkins at West Elm, a set of four for $20.  That works out to be $10 per pillow, or you could always add a contrasting color to the back of each and make four pillows for a little over $5 a piece.  Ba-Bam!

 I think I love the dark pink best.

And who doesn't love a playful polka dot...especially those of the "ikat-y" variety?

These napkins, also from West Elm retail at between $16-20 for a set of four.

I'll take a set in blue, thank you!

I love this geometric pattern...especially the green...and the black...and the tan.

$16 for a set of four at West Elm.

Can you tell I love West Elm...remember the little "fixation" bit I talked about at the beginning of the post?

Anyway, next time you find yourself in the market for some new throw pillows, maybe you will consider passing up the premade ones and will consider making some of your own.  I promise you will be the envy of the PTA.  In fact, your popularity might propel right into the president's seat.  Is that a good thing?  I don't know.  But at least you'll have some totally rad pillows to admire {and rest/bang your head on} while you plan out a year's worth of activities.

You're welcome!

And...more gold, but with polka dots this time.

I stumbled upon this uber cute, gold, polka dot dress and was smitten.  

There's just something about the playfulness of the polka dots and the sophistication of the gold on white that I love.

I decided that I needed some gold polka dots in my house...and what better {and easier} way to add color and pattern than with accent pillows.  So, I took a cue from myself and picked up some $3 pillow covers from Ikea.

I love these pillow covers.  First, they are premade, so no sewing.  Second, they have zipper closures making it easy to change them out.  Third, they are really cheap so you are barely out anything...except for a few minutes of your time.

I used DecoArt brand, metallic craft paint and a paint brush...

which I applied to an apple juice lid, cause that's how we roll in these parts.  Just grab whatever crap is lying around and make it work for you.

I used the lid to stamp gold dots all over one side of the pillow cover.

Don't worry if the circles don't come out perfect.  It will look great once you're totally done.

But, before you start stamping dots, make sure you line the inside of the pillow cover with paper towels or napkins to prevent bleeding onto the other side.

Here's the completed pillow. 

 The rule of thumb when stamping is to stamp in a triangle...so, if you were to isolate any three dots that are next to each other, they would form a triangle.   Try to keep them spaced evenly.

What do you think?  Worth the $3 price tag.

{and I just realized I never took the wrapping off of Stud's lamp shade...Threshold by Target in case you can't see the label :)}

I think so!

The Prodigal Daughter Returns

Ahh, my peepsies. I'm back...returning to the blogging fold as it were.

The summer off was wonderful. Surprisingly, I was a little saddened to send my kiddos off to the babysitters, err, I mean school. I became quite accustomed to yelling at them daily and watching them destroy my once tidy house. No really, I kid...kinda. But I will miss late nights watching movies and going out for sno cones and sleeping in until ten.

I didn't get nearly as much done on the house as I would have liked, but that's okay. I return to you a new woman, with renewed vigour. I am excited to get going on some awesome projects.

Here's a little sneak peak at a few things I'm working on right now:

The nursery:

You may recall that I just redid the nursery not too long ago. And at the time, anything would have been improvement from this {cue clown music now}


Seriously, what was I thinking...I blame it on pregnancy brain.

So, I transformed it into this.

Then suddenly, for whatever reason the room just stopped working for me. Methinks it may have had something to do with fact that there was a lot going on, without a really defined theme or idea to back it up.

Third times a charm, right? Here's where we are at today?

Okay, now this works for me. The kiddos' Very Hungry Caterpillar book inspired the color palette and theme for the room and also served as artwork. I think the room has just the right amount of whimsy and youthfulness, while still maintaining an element of sophistication.

While I personally prefer working with a "theme" or "idea" in a room, the key is not to go overboard. So, these fun, felt pillows

will be the only "themey" element in the room. I made these babies for about fifty cents a piece. I already had the black and white striped pillows. My only expense was the dollar I spent in supplies {4-5 pieces of felt} and an hour of my time. I think they turned out pretty, darn cute and the kiddos think they are pretty cool too.

I wanted to personalize each space further, so I made some fun, button monogram artwork.

They are not overtly themey, but still work in the room, one because they follow the color scheme, and two because they are letters and the theme is based around a book and reading...or at least that's how I justify it. These precious' ran me just under three dollars a piece. I purchased an assortment of buttons for six bucks at Wally's {Walmart} and repurposed some old picture frames I already had on hand. They are simple and sophisticated and add a nice pop of color to the wall.


There are still some obvious loose ends that need tying. I need to paint.




...and perhaps add some b&b {board and batten}, and frame out the window {a little skill I picked up this summer...more on that to come}.

And I would like to change out the light fixture to something like this.

Pretty soon my nursery will be complete...then what will I do? Ah well, there are plenty of other projects on the list. Besides, this room has been in the "metamorphing" stage long enough. It's time for it to fly on it's own.



Linking to:

bluecricketdesign.net

More Feed Bag Knock-offs

Went to Ikea. Found these little gems.

What do they remind you off? No, not dish towels.

These.

Remember how much these puppies cost. $89-$99.

And guess how much these cost? $0.97. Holla!

Halloween Inspired Pillows

Okay, I promise I will stop posting about pillows. I just love them soooo much...and they are so cheap and easy to make. But I promise, I'll give it a break.
But first...

Awesome, right?

I used painters canvas again. The stuff is super cheap and the paint really clings to the rough texture.

I made my own stencils from images I found on the "net" and a font off the computer that I enlarged.

Then all you need is black paint and a stipple brush.

Stipple the paint on carefully...remember, up, down, up, down (channeling Mr. Miyagi).


Remove the stensil and let the paint dry.

That's it.

Did I mention that these gems cost me $1 a piece to make? I think I might make some extras to give out to friends.

I may have to put this fella on my bed all year round.

and possibly this guy too.


I love Halloween because it's the only time of year that "over the top" is acceptable. But I have to say, that I am really loving the simplicity of these Halloween pillows. They aren't in your face, but rather chic and elegant.
Give 'em a try. I think you'll like it.
(Wanna know a little secret. Instead of sewing up all four sides, I like to leave one unstitched. Then I use adhesive velcro on it so that I can make the case removeable. Just an idea. I like being able to reuse the inserts if I need them.)

Linking to:

More Pottery Barn Knock Offs

Alicia...this one's for you.
See these guys?

They are from the Pottery Barn. Simple, elegant, chic...if you don't mind me sayin' so. I love them. I want them. But, frankly, I am too big a cheapskate to buy them.
And anyway, they're sold out, so I couldn't buy them even if I wanted to.
I can't say for certain how much they were originally, but I dare say they weren't less than $30 a piece.
Always willing and ready for a decorating challenge, I decided to see if it was possible to replicate the beauties. I'll let you be the judge of whether it was a success or not.
The first thing I did was run to IKEA. I had seen online that they carried white, linen pillow covers. (The pillows from PB are a cotton/linen blend and I wanted to stay as true to them as I could). They were $6 and I bought four, for a grand total of $24. (Still less than what you would have spent on one from PB).

Everything else I needed for the project I had at home. (black paint, stippling brush and garbage bag).
I made my own stensil using a font on the computer that I enlarged. I tried to choose a font that was similar to the one used on the PB sample. I traced the image onto heavy duty cardstock then cut the numbers out.

Before you start stenciling on your numbers it is a good idea to put a piece of plastic in between the two layers of your case (I used a garbage bag). You don't want the color bleeding through.

Next, center the number onto the pillow cover...

then using a stippling brush apply black paint all over inside of the stensil. (You can go here to learn how to stipple).


As you stipple the paint on, be sure to keep your hands clean and free of any awol paint splatter or accidental paint transfers. This might require you to constantly wipe your hands on a wet rag (like I had to). There's nothing worse than getting an unsightly and permanent paint smudge on your project.
Once you have entirely filled in your stensil, peel it back quickly and carefully.
Then let you pillow cover sit until the paint has had ample time to dry.

Once the paint is no longer wet, you can remove the plastic and insert your pillow form.

Then place them somewhere you can admire them often.

These pillows were super easy to make and super cheap to boot. In total I spent $24 and it only took about an hour to make all four. I love them and hope you do too.