Category: Decerative Design

Do you have a pillow obsession?  Maybe you have a storage closet just for your decorative pillows? Or maybe you used to have a couch or chair but there are too many pillows and blankets on top of it to even tell at this point??  Does this sound familiar?

Now, with so many more options and sales available daily it’s quite possible to find a great deal on pretty much anything.  With the end of the season/holiday sales to any federal holiday sales, stores and online retailers have a deal waiting for you.  Which I might add can be very tempting because sometimes the deals are too good to pass up.  Right???

I wrote a blog on organizing, de-cluttering , and just figuring out what needs to stay (and more importantly what needs to go).   It always AMAZES me how much “of the stuff” can accumulate in the blink of an eye.  I get it, truly I do.  I am very mindful of clutter and always have the urge to purge things that are no longer useful, functional, or things I’m just done with in my house.  So not to re-write a de-cluttering blog, I will just direct you if you would like to read my blog post Spring has Sprung: It’s time to organize, de-clutter and purge your home

Back on track, many of you probably have several pillows of all shapes, sizes, and textures.  You may like the shape and sizes, but as seasons come and go the pillow colors or themes generally do not transition very well for the look you maybe generally going for.  Again, sounds about right?

Since I did not want to add more bulky pillows to an already overstuffed pillow closet, even though I just saw some super cute pillows, I realized that I can have the same look from the pillows I saw but without the burden of adding more things to my household if I just swap out the pillow cover…genius!!!

The material I am using happened to be one of my favorite, Buffalo Plaid, which I bought from the local craft store as a fleece blanket.  I actually bought two of these fleece blankets because they were half off so two for the price of one in case I messed up I had a backup.  I know this negates trying to use things up and get rid of clutter, but you’re using an existing pillow and swapping out covers which in my mind is a fair trade off!

So now I have a reason, a purpose, to start using my sewing machine my in-laws bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago.  This project turned out to be a great motivator because I have always wanted to use my sewing machine but was actually quite intimidated by it, that was up until a few weeks ago.

Now, word of caution this project will not work on every pillow material or texture, and you may need to have a trial and error period before it looks right; but I promise in the end it actually was worth the time and a little bit of effort I put into to this project.

For this project, I used fleece material because I wanted the fabric to fit nicely around the already existing pillow.  Plus, fleece is great material to work with because not only can it stretch out over the pillow you are using but, this material doesn’t have those funky, bumpy corners on the pillows.  Again, great for any beginners using a sewing machine who are attempting a sewing project.

Step one: Choose your pillow(s).

Step two: Measure your pillow so you can cut your fabric accordingly or buy fabric for this project.  Keep in mind while measuring you should measure a little more than the actual size of the pillow because you have to account for the material outside of the seam.

Step three. Cut your fabric from the appropriate dimensions and pin.  Pinning along the edge allows for you to sew a little bit easier knowing that the fabric won’t suddenly shift out from under the foot of the sewing machine.

Step four. Sew…Slowly

Step five: place your new cover over an existing pillow and YOU DID IT!!!

And that is it.  This project cost me about $10.00 to make and now I have covers to add a cozy log cabin feel WITHOUT cluttering up my house!

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Who doesn’t love a unique, one-of-a-kind, homemade craft? Don’t get me wrong I also love buying decorations already done too. But, this easy and super cute craft can be fun to add a little bit of whimsy in your home. Plus, it’s something that your little ones can also help out and participate with you as well!

Like so many of you who doesn’t love Pinterest? Well, not being a super crafty person myself, I always love finding the crafts that are easy, simple, and aren’t messy! I love glitter but, glitter is the gift that keeps on giving year round and I don’t always like having it everywhere! When I found a version of this craft I knew I could make it literally in one day and be done. Again, thiswas another bonus for me especially when I begin any crafting project.

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Naturally, I always deviate from any and all directions because:
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1. I either don’t have the material listed and I just want to start the project.
2. I like to change it up and make it even more unique.

I first decided on the pattern I wanted and I knew my current decorations for Fall are Pumpkins, Pumpkins and more Pumpkins, I opted for more of a Halloween design and decided on using the candy cane pattern because I wanted to add an additional pop of brightness to my room and it just looked too darn cute not to incorporate.

I found a pattern I wanted, printed it out and finally cut the pattern out leaving more of a bubble look. What made me decide on this particular craft was the extra picture frames I had with no pictures in them and so the craft began.

I then very lightly traced the pattern on the hard backing from the picture frame to allow me to see if the pattern actually looked right and to see if I evenly placed the pattern on the backing. The original design was to use burlap and then trace the pattern on the burlap…that would have also looked really cute, but would have taken too long to do.

After I traced the pattern, which looked fairly even and symmetrical, I located my craft paint and started painting the white, yellow and orange on the hard backing of the original picture frame. Why would I paint the background color of the candy cane pattern? I did this because I wanted the background color to match the button color with no brown showing once the project was done.

After, the paint dried it was time to add the buttons with Mod-Podge. Can I just say how much I really love Mod-Podge…I mean this stuff is amazing not only does it dry clear but it literally is a necessity for all craft projects!!!

I arranged my buttons and coated the bottom of each button with mod-Podge and then placed the buttons on the painted color it paired with. Once the base or bottom layer was complete I then started layering each section of the candy cane with additional bottoms to give the craft more volume and depth.

I allowed a few hours for it to dry and that was it!
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I hope you all have fun making this project and I would love to see pictures!!!

Materials:
1 Picture frame
Mod-Podge
Craft Paint; white, yellow, orange
Buttons; Various sized; white, yellow, orange

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Hi, friends!! I hope everyone is enjoying these last few weeks of summer vacation and enjoying the warmth of the sun and the beauty of each day.  Before long these warm summer nights will be fading ever so quickly into the familiar cool fall days and frosty mornings.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE living in a geographical region that has 4 seasons and I truly love each season…and yes, especially winter!  I love snow (and CHRISTMAS)!

 I have to first apologize for not being as active in my blogging posts these last few weeks.  At the end of July, my beloved grandfather who has been one of my guiding lights in life passed away 4 days after turning 95.  His unexpected passing, left me to reflect on his life and how fortunate I was to have had him this long, but more importantly how lucky I was to call him Pop Pop.  Those reflections shook me to my core and I miss him so much.  But I also, want to take his legacy of hard work, his zeal to live each day to the absolute fullest, his knowledge of never ever taking your health for granted, and his optimism for looking to the future with me.  He was the only person that could talk to me about biochemical pathways and reactions and how proper nutrition can impact those pathways. 

Now, the reason, I mention this is because most people have no knowledge on chemical or biochemical interactions with foods, supplements etc., but my Pop Pop loved every bit of it and equally loved that my background was in Nutritional Sciences so that we could talk about Nutrition forever.

My Pop Pop was an AMAZING man who was so UNBELIEVABLY smart, that many people probably never knew how smart he was because he always remained humble and never wanted that kind of attention on himself. I know of so many people who met him were always left beyond impressed with his wit, his humor, his intelligence, but yet he remained humble.   He would rather down play his intelligence than have the attention on him. He loved good clean jokes and always, always remembered the punch line leaving everyone hanging on the last word until all in unison burst out loud laughing at his jokes.   He was a brilliant businessman; he knew the value of hard work; you have to work hard in order to be successful and passed those skills and work ethic to his children and grandchildren.

This generation is known as ‘the Greatest Generation’ is all gone in my family.  Just like that…it’s gone.  Everything that I have always known is now gone.  My Pop Pop broke the mold when God made him he was a unique and incredible light in this world.  Even though he is gone he will never EVER be forgotten.  His blood runs through my veins and hopefully, someday when my husband and I have children, that same blood will course through their veins. 

I found a note of his dated a few months ago asking “DID I GIVE ALL I COULD GIVE, ALL I COULD GIVE, IN THE TIME THAT YOU GAVE ME?

Yes, Pop Pop if you only knew the kind of impact you had on your family and everyone around you and the kind of impact you had on me.  You made this world a better place and you gave it your all.  You may not have known that when you were here on this earth, but I can only hope and I am pretty sure that now you know what kind of gift and honor it was just to know you and love you.  You were definitely a light in this world.

After a lot of reflecting, tears, and looking at old pictures and recent pictures of him, I can’t help but feel that this blog of simplicity with lighted glass lanterns and utilizing what you already have, somehow seemed fitting.

When I see any kind of Lantern, I can’t help but think of long ago… a different life time, a different functionality of its purpose.  Now, in homes, we use lanterns as a decorating piece or a display of some sort instead a means to guide one safely home.  So, I wanted to utilize items I already had in my home to simplify and use some things up and make use of items that would otherwise be sitting on a shelf in my storage room getting no doubt dusty. 

So how did I get this design look?  I bought this glass lantern at Kirkland’s and I knew that I had the perfect place for it on my kitchen table top.  I also had extra green decorative moss from a previous project left over.  I simply placed some of the moss inside the lantern and tried to make it evenly dispersed on the bottom so my candle wasn’t lopsided. I placed my leaves candle from Bath and Body Works (one of the absolute favorites).  I also had a round wooden plate that I only use for decorative purposes and placed it under the lantern so the glass bottom wasn’t sitting on the wooden top of my brand new kitchen table!

Seriously, that’s it!  I was able to use up leftover project material and I now have a beautiful yet simple centerpiece that will carry me right into fall!

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