Pillow Party!

Here are some cool throw pillows I made for my sister's new apartment.  Her old pillows needed some pizzaz/camoflauge with two kids running around so I whipped these us from this awesome and simple tutorial from Sparkle Power, one of my favorite craft blogs. 

I used some zebra inspired fabric I'd gotten on sale at Hobby Lobby and finished them in under an hour.  Next step, recovering her papasan chair using this tutorial...we'll see how it goes! 

Woah Baby

Another little treat I made for the baby shower I'm going to this weekend - I saw this tutorial at

The Creative Place and thought it was a perfect little simple gift!  Mom or Dad can keep this on the door handle to let everyone know baby is snoozing.

I used wonder under and fabric for the letters, instead of embroidery, but its the same idea.  Very easy and cute!  Next time I might cut the two front squares with pinking shears to prevent fraying/add some zig zag but I'm happy with how it turned out. 

Thanks Ashley, for the great idea!

Yippie Kay Yay!

This boot kicked my butt!

My cousin (whom I'm guessing won't be checking this blog over the next two days so it will still be a surprise. If not, hi Liam!) just bought a house in Texas so I thought he could definitely use a Cowboy boot shaped throw pillow. The final product came out OK but all those little corners were such hassle!

If you want to give it a shot, I found a free pattern here, on tipnut.com. Tipnut is a great resource for craft ideas and patterns, ways to save money and be green, and all sorts of fun stuff.

The vintage boot pattern is sourced from Women's' Household Handicraft from 1962 - I'm guessing ladies then had a little more patience than I do. I still have a giant bag of polyfill left some I have a few more pillows/stuffed animals in my future - hope I can find some nice simple patterns!

For the record...

In an effort to share my crafty development, here are some early projects I made:

These are my care bear ears! Oh, the memories of Halloween's past...

If you're ever in need of nontraditional animal ears, making them yourself is the way to go. All I did for these was buy a puffy headband, sew a tube of pink fleece slightly larger than it, and slip the headband in, sewing up the ends when all was in place.

To make the ears stick up, I cut up a plastic coffee can lid into two circles and sewed little pockets for them. I sewed them onto the fleece headband and glued a lighter colored fleece for the inside of the ears. I had plenty left over to make a pom pom tail (also useful to make for a nice soft baby toy), AND I even made three long unicorn tales the next year! Yes, I'm a hoarder. I don't like to throw stuff out if I can think of a potential use for it in the future. I REALLY like to recycle!

This actually used a similar sewing method! I bought one of those little airplane neck pillows without a cover, because all the covers at the store were yucky. I measured the total length and width of the pillow and made a tube to fit. I stuffed the pillow in and sewed up the ends. Done! Not as neat as those pre-made pillow covers, but way cooler.

Incidentally, I didn't like using it on the airplane - it made my neck stick forward too much, when combined with the headrest that was already there! It is delightful for car rides, though, if you have someone kind enough to drive you places and let you rest.

I hope to be able to track my improving skills by posting my creations - let me know what you think!

Lavender Loveliness

(before de-twigging)

I'm in a bit of a dither. I want to make a bunch of things to stock my Etsy Shop, but I also want to make things for people I love, especially for birthdays and the holidays. Christmas is still a few months away, but I like to be prepared, and give myself enough time to get everything done so I don't end up giving out paperclip necklaces.

My goal for now is to add at least one new thing to my Etsy per week, and alternate between personal projects and ones for sale. I'm on track so far...

Here is an item I am intending to give to someone in particular, but it came out well so maybe I can make some more for my shop! I used all ingredients I had on hand (bonus!) and it was quite simple - try it out! I found it via Sparkle Power, another hip blog I love!

(after detwigging)

I made a few adjustments. I didn't have a lot of rice, so I mixed half rice and half lentils. I did have a lot of lavender that was past its prime for display purposes, but still smelled delicious so I added that, after pulling the little pods off of the stems so the user wouldn't get poked in the eye. An important step, even if it did take some time, and some dust busting.

You could just buy lavender ready to go, but by buying a bouquet at Brooklyn Flea, I supported a local grower, and was able to enjoy the scent filling my apartment by putting it in a vase for a few weeks. You don't have to water it even!

(the final product)

I mixed it all together and pretty much followed the directions from there - it comes out quite large so I took off a couple of inches by folding over the ends of the interior piece before sewing it up, which I hope will also help keep the magic mixture inside more secure.

This is bigger than a standard eye pillow, but you could use it for that. If you want an actual eye pillow with its own slipcover and carrying case, Amy Butler has a free template. Or you can just use the pattern I did and cut it down to the size you prefer.

(in action)

I think this thing will be handy for winter - you can microwave it and it will heat you up, or relax a sore muscle. You can stick it in the freezer too. And it smells SO GOOD. I wish I could blog a smell. Oh well, I'll have to wait for technology to catch up. In the meantime, you can enjoy this picture of me and it.

I realize that if I post things here that I will be giving to loved ones in the near future, they may get a glimpse ahead of time and it won't be a surprise. But, I do want to share my work and get input, and maybe this way my friends and family will see stuff they like and tell me, so I'll know what to give each person, or swap one intended recipient for another. Or hopefully they will just forget.