Bleach Pen Stenciling

Just stumbled upon this while in blog world.  What a cool idea. I am thinking this technique can totally be done on t-shirts for a fun summer/beachy look.  Head on over to Crafts & Sutch for a tutorial on this "no sew bleached sand dollar pillow"

Placemat Pillow

Ok...  this is genius!  I just saw this tutorial on how to make a pillow using a fabric placemat.  WHAT???  I just can't get over how easy this looks.  I will definitely be buying a nice placemat at Target today.  They have so many cute ones and they are always seasonal and trendy.  I am SOOOO excited!

Cozy Flower Pillows

Flowers are such a huge trend right now.  Seems that lately I have been seeing flower pillows on all the awesome blogs I follow.  Here are some of my favorites.  Most of these are quick and easy tutorials to make your own. 

These flower petal pillows  just use scraps of fleece...  Fleece is so inexpensive and cozy and doesn't fray, so you don't have to worry about the edges unreveling.

This Ruffled Rosette Pillow might require some sewing... but I bet I could glue it together.  The end result is great and vibrant.

This shaggy ruffled pillow also uses up a lot of fabric scraps and has more of an earthy feel to it.  I like projects like these, where you don't have to be perfect because its imperfection also happens to be its beauty.

These pillows are made with the Oh So Yummy Amy Butler fabric.  I just love Amy Butler's style and vibrant colors.  Always a great pick-me-up for me.

And last but not least, here is a video, where Kim and Kris of the "DIY Dish" share how to create fabric Yo-Yos.  Those are very popular these days as well.  Click here to view more items they have made with these fabulous flowers.

House Number Sign

We've been living in our house for over a year now... but until today haven't had our house number displayed anywhere.  Cricut to the rescue, once again.  I absolutely love the way this turned out.

I noticed that burlap is so popular these days.  You can see it in all the upscale stores.  It's so inexpensive but has great texture and is very easy to work with.

For this project, I started with a square of burlap and frayed the edges.  Then I cut out numbers 2 and 6 using my friend the Cricut out of fabric.  I used iron on thing-a-majigy (what is the name for it???) to attach the numbers to burlap.  I also cut out "Creme" on the Cricut, out of freezer paper this time.  Ironed that on the burlap and used it as a stencil.  Then I used some heavy duty glue to attach the whole thing to the wood plaque, which I painted using acrylic paints and a layer of mod podge (mainly for texture).  For the finishing touch I added some upholstery tacks to each corner of the burlap.

I frayed the edges of the fabric numbers a little to give it a more shabby look.



I just love all the textures on this sign.  Here is a closer look at the burlap and painted background... along with that really cool tack.



The Walrus aka Chloe's new toy

I have made these toys for Chloe several times, and she absolutely loves them.  They are quick and easy to make and are pretty much free.  First, let me explain why we call it "the walrus".  Well, I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

And as I was looking for a picture of a walrus on the Internet, I also came across this one:

Pretty disturbing, huh?  Someone took the time to Photoshop this poor puppy's face on the walrus' body.  Reminds me of a certain dog that lives in my house.  Anyway... back to the toy.

I got this really cool stash of shirts from my niece today.  I have been looking for some pink, since it's Chloe's favorite color (at least I think so)... so thank you Grace for your donation.

Here is how you can make your own "Walrus" toy:

Supplies you will need - t-shirt and scissors.  Yup, simple as that.

First disassemble your shirt.  Because mine was a smaller size I needed to find the biggest piece I could work with.  You want a nice solid piece with no seams.

Lay your fabric piece flat and cut it into as many wide strips as you can.  I made mine about 2.5" - 3" wide and ended up with 8 strips that were about 15" long.  You can use more strips, it will make your toy fuller.  Less strips will make it kind of flimsy. 

Then stack your strips and tie a knot in the middle.

Now take each strip and cut it into thinner stips toward the knot.  I made mine about 1" wide.

Once all your strips are cut, take each one and stretch it out.  They will form these cool tubes.

And once that's done...  you have yourself your very own Walrus Toy. 
Tah - Dah!!!

I also used some of the same fabric to make this really cute headband for my niece as a Thank You for parting with her old clothing items... and allowing me to cut them up. 

Flower Headbands

Some of the flowers I created the other day have made their way on some stretchy headbands.

Most of the flowers were made from "upcycled" items.  I am all about being thrifty and have gotten donations from friends, who have daughters and actually own PINK things. 

Top left is made from a dress.  Top right is just satin fabric I had.
Bottom - these three flowers were made out of a man's button up shirt.

Top two were made from fabric scraps I had around and the bottom flower

is made out of cashmere sweaters.  It is SUPER soft!

Left flower is made from a dress.

Right flower is made from flower petals found in the clearence

section of the wedding isle at Michaels.  I LOVE beautiful bargains.

Flower Fun

Here are some "springy" flowers I created on this dreary and wet morning.  I had so much fun playing with them.  Now to decide where their home will be.

Freezer Paper Stenciling

These twin sisters are funny. I love their ideas and many of the projects they do. Hmmm... I am getting all kinds of ideas using freezer paper for stenciling. Can't wait to try it. Will have to let you know how it works.

By the way, when they mention that you need to use fabric paint for stenciling on T-Shirts or items you plan to wash... You CAN use acrylic paint, just make sure to set it with a hot iron, through a cloth, and it should be all set.

Amy Butler Rocks!

I love Amy Butler.  Her patterns, colors and designs inspire me.  Now I just need to get brave enough to sew something with her beautiful fabric.