A House Tour

I have a treat for you today, my friends.  This is not my home, but a favorite friend's gorgeous home.  It belongs on the pages of Country Living magazine seriously.  My awesomely talented friend has a serious knack for decorating and it shows in every square inch of their beautiful home.  I have a crazy love of everything old and so her house is a bit of heaven for me.

I wish I had more pictures to show you.  These don't even scratch the surface or do it justice.  Her kid's rooms are amazing too.  Wish you could all see it in person.  But this eye candy will have to do for now.

One of my favorite photos of my daughter ever was taken on their front porch...  

 Her dishes are beautiful and displayed on this large and amazing shelf in the dining room...

There are several fireplaces (or wanna-be fireplaces) in the home that she makes beautiful...

They had this adorable old typewriter out by the front door at her 30th birthday party so we could write messages to her.  So perfect.

They recently made over their kitchen.  The floors are show stopping.  Her husband does all the work.  Gorgeous.

Seriously gorgeous.

The beadboard ceiling adds so much to the kitchen.

She has a cute little apron hanging as a curtain on the door to the backyard.  How adorable is that?

She has an eye for detail and everywhere you look, there are super cute things that you will want to take home with you.

She has a screen door on a pantry in her kitchen.  Everything inside the door is perfectly placed and oh so cute.

I love the container for her utensils.  

It is kind of hard for me to focus when I am visiting because I want to capture every little detail with my eyes and have a hard time looking away.  

 The play area for the kids is so fun.  She arranges these sweet little vignettes on shelves, frames, cabinets, etc. all throughout the house.

There are even old toys for my kids to ride on when we come visit.

Thanks to my sweet friend for sharing her home with all of us.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Happy weekend!

Fun Little Yarn Wreath

While visiting my sister in Charlotte NC I found this awesome old door at an antique store. I couldn't wait to get it home and put it somewhere in the house! I wanted to add something springy to it, though it needed nothing really, and made this fun little yarn wreath.

I know, I know, there are MANY gorgeous versions of yarn wreaths out there and mine pales in comparison just a little. But, I love the thin look and it was so simple to make!

All I did was wrap some coral yarn around a flat wreath form, dabbing hot glue here and there.

Then I wound some yarn rosettes and glued them on top. Some of the yarn I braided before winding it up.

I wrapped a springy ribbon around the top and secured it to the door, and I was done! Not much to this project at all!

The wrapping of the wreath takes awhile, but no more than an hour while watching your favorite show!

I'll be linking to these parties this week. Hope you will stop by and join me!

Happy Thursday,

Free 8 X 10 Photo and Touch Up for Mom!

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These canvases would make a GREAT Mother's Day present for the Mom who has it all, or a brand new Mom.

Lately, I've been invited to a ton of household showers and baby showers. What a great keepsake for a new couple or someone expecting! I can think of a million people who would adore these and they are FREE (just pay s&h)!

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Fun Girly Pillows

I had too much fun last week making my graphic dishtowels by printing directly onto fabric.  So I went ahead and printed two of my other favorite images and then decided to make them into pillows for my sewing area at home.

I added a disclaimer to last weeks post and should remind you again that printing on fabric is for decorative purposes only.  You cannot wash the fabric or the ink will wash away.  These projects are not  super durable but it works for me since I like to change things up quite often.

I used images from the Silhouette Studio again.  Please remember that you DO NOT have to own a Silhouette machine to make the graphic dishtowels from last week or to make the pillows from this post.  Anyone can subscribe to the Silhouette Studio and download images of their choice.  Of course, there are a million + advantages to having the actual machine, but you can still partake in the fabulous images available at the Studio.

I pinned my printed fabric images to a piece of muslin and hand stitched them on.

I used a fun fabric leftover from my daughter's room to make the back of the dress form pillow.  I love it.

I then sewed my pillows together using the method you can find in this stuffed pillow tutorial.

I got a little sloppy with the finishing work because I was excited to get them done!

Seriously though, how cute is that dress form image?

And this sewing machine is even better.  LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

They made a fun and girly addition to my sewing/blogging area.

These images also make super fun cards!  

Now that I think about it...I can imagine these images in a frame on the wall in my sewing area.  Oh, the possibilities.  Love it.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be partying at these fabulous blogs this week!

Happy Tuesday!

Ruffled Golden Pillow: Pier 1 Knock Off

I shared this pillow a few weeks ago as a part of The Sincerest Form of Flattery series over at KoJo Designs. It was a whole series dedicated to knock off projects, and had some amazing stuff in!

I modeled my pillow after this one from Pier 1.

Lovely right?! But at $30 for one, it was pretty well out of the ole' budget, but I was up for the challenge! I actually really enjoy browsing Pier 1 for inspiration, and then heading over to Hobby Lobby or Michaels with my 40% off coupons and seeing how I can pull it off with less cash. This day was no exception. So I made this.

Like it? Read on for the details!!

I found this golden yellow polyester satin material at JoAnn Fabrics, and purchased 2 yards with my 40% off coupon. I got some matching thread and headed home. I already had a pillow that was pretty darn squashed and knew it would be a good candidate for receiving a ruffly makeover.

I folded the fabric lengthwise and then folded it again so that there were 4 strips of fabric on top of one another. I then used my rotary blade to cut long strips that were 2 inches wide until I had a big pile. I also cut out 2 rectangles that were the size of the pillow +1 1/2 inches to make the pillowcase.

I lit a candle and lightly seared the top edge and sides of the long strips of fabric to keep them from fraying and add just a little stiffness to the fabric. I moved the strips along quickly so that there wasn't a thick melted line along the edges and it wouldn't curl up and darken. (This is a great technique for making flowers, but not what I was looking for for my pillow.) I took a long strip of fabric and pinned it just below the corner of the pillowcase, folding the bottom over in a few spots to give it a slightly ruffled look.

I then took it to my sewing machine and sewed a straight stitch across the ruffles, stopping about a half inch away from the edge of the pillow, and backstitching to secure the fabric.

I then folded the fabric back over the first row of ruffles, pulling it down slightly to show off the row above it, and pinned it into place with more pleats along the bottom. I went back to the sewing machine and sewed that row down as well, being sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of the row. I repeated this process over and over until one corner of the pillowcase was covered with ruffles, never cutting the strip of fabric at the end of a row, just continuing to fold it over and start a new row.

I wanted my rows of ruffles to lay flat around the edges of the pillow but pop up more towards the center of the pillow. So as I was sewing the rows that were towards the center of the pillow, I would lightly tug the bottom of the fabric to the right so that the ruffled top popped up a bit more, and would sew it from there. I also made sure that there were just a few pleats in the rows on the edge of the pillow, but lots of pleats in the center rows to give a much more full and ruffled look.

Like this.

I repeated this method on each of the 4 corners of the pillow until the ruffled sides ran into one another.

I then pinned a long strip of fabric all around the center of the pillow to fill in the gaps, and continued to layer the ruffles in a circular pattern until I reached the middle of the pillow.

Eventually there was a small section in the center of the pillow that was too small for me to sew on my sewing machine.

So I grabbed another strip of fabric and started rolling it into a ruffled flower, stopping periodically to secure the ruffles in place with a few stitches.

I kept rolling the flower until it was big enough to fill the center of the pillow and hand stitched it in place.

I then pinned the right side of my 2 pieces of fabric together, being careful to fold down the ruffles that were towards the edges of the pillowcase, and left a half inch seam allowance around the edge. I left an opening large enough to stuff in my pillow insert, and straight stitched around the edges. I flipped the pillowcase right-side out, stuffed in my insert and hand stitched the opening closed.

Now you can just sit back and bask in the ruffly gorgeousness!!

Is it wrong that I like mine better than the original? Thanks for a great idea Pier 1!!

I'll be linking up to these great parties this week, so stop by and say hi!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, and happy Monday!