Free Printable {Baby Shower Gift}

What a unique way to share a special arrival with a close friend while adding a special touch to a gift. Here at Peppermint Plum, they offer the cutest {free} printable.


To use there quote with little variation, I downloaded the copy and transformed the font in Photoshop, then proceed to add the cutesie grasses and rosettes just as they suggested. I changed the colors as well.

I adore the saying and it was "goo goo-ed and aww-ed" overed at the shower.


Don't you just love {free} printables?

Just had to share this with you! Thanks for stopping by! Happy Friday, LTC Readers!

Jessica

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Cupcake Toppers

As a last minute {scramble} for a friends birthday I invited a few people over for some yummy Caramanda's Cupcakes and some much needed girl time. What I didn't expect was to want to add more to the cupcakes?

So I rushed to the craft closet which you may remember from long ago and grabbed a few simple supplies that most everyone has on hand!

{Things You Need}
Ribbon Scraps
Double Sided Tape
Scissors
Wooden Skewers/Toothpicks

I used the tape to secure my ribbon around the skewer once I cut in to the desired height. Then trimmed the edges and ta-da! A simple way to add decoration to cupcakes, small appetizers {sandwiches, sausage balls, or even a new style of a drink umbrella}.


It was fast and literally took 5 min.

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to see what great ideas you have been getting from LTC. Stop by our FLICKR page or drop us a line on FB!

Jessica

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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!

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T-Shirt Pom Poms

I've been wanting to make these super cute t-shirt pom poms for quite some time now. Unfortunately, I haven't really had a chance to make them and I haven't had much luck finding good tutorials to follow...until now.

As I was searching through some of my favorite blogs as I often do, I found this oh so simple tutorial here.


After following the steps I created this Easter wreath for my front door!




I really thought this was a great way to celebrate Easter as well as Earth Day!

I used a couple of my old shirts for the project, some scrapbook paper for the bunny silhouette and I covered the wreath with awesome printed packaging tape that you can purchase now in various prints!

This was by far one of the easiest projects yet!




Don't you just love the vibrant colors! It makes me feel so springy inside!


I also created extra pom poms for other parts of the house.





This would also be great for pom pom garland, place settings or topiary trees (which I attempted, but I need a new strategy..they were really heavy and kept falling over...boo..).

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be partying at these great linky sites!
Happy Friday, Happy Earth Day and Happy Easter Weekend!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow!
Enter to win a giveaway from Freschetta Pizza!
You won't want to miss it!

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White Thrifted Shelf

Thanks for all of your great comments on my Thrifty Re-Do Roundup a few weeks ago! (If you missed it, you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.) I enjoyed looking back through the old projects so much that I jumped onto another.

I saw this shelf at the thrift store and thought it was pretty great alone, but with a little love it could be perfect.

I debated keeping the yellow color and just aging it with a little stain, but at the last minute I decided to go white instead, and I'm so glad that I did.

A whitewash, to be more specific. I got a small bit of white paint, added some water, and dry brushed it onto the shelf allowing some of the yellow and brown to peek through.

I then dry brushed some plain white paint on top so that there were some bright white streaks in the paint. I wanted it to look only slightly aged, so I very lightly ran a lightweight sandpaper along the edges.

One of my favorite parts of the shelf was this fun, knotty, bead board that was nailed to the back of the shelf. I layered on my white paint here as well, being sure to let some of it settle into the cracks, and brush some of it out to help the lines pop a bit more.

It was really pretty and clean looking, but it needed something else. (And you know where I'm going with this.) So I pulled out my trusty Silhouette, found a good font and made up a little number stencil.

I taped my stencil in place and used a dark black coat of acrylic to paint on "No. 4." Why 4? No good reason, other than I thought the 4 was the coolest looking number, so I went with it. If the shelf lands in the baby's room I'll say it's because she's the 4th member of our family, but if it lands somewhere else who knows?

It's pretty though, right?

I typically go for a much more aged look with lots of sanding and aging with a glaze, etc., but I'm loving this clean look for now. And my weary 3rd trimester body appreciates a few less steps as well.

What do you prefer in terms of aging your paint jobs, more or less? I'd love to see any new re-dos so feel free to link them up in the comments section!

In other fun news for this week, I'm so excited to be participating in a new series of Knock Offs this week over at KoJo Designs called The Sincerest Form of Flattery.

Everyone loves a great knock off, right?! I'm excited to see a few weeks worth of projects in this category and am so flattered to be guest posting alongside a list of incredible bloggers (check out the all-star line up here)!! Really, I'm dying to see just what everyone has come up with!! Also, Jess at Craftiness is Not Optional is co-hosting and will has a slew of guest bloggers contributing projects on her site as well, so there will be lots of great knock offs to choose from. Check out KoJo Designs on Thursday to see my project. (I actually like it even better than the original and it was way cheaper, how lucky is that?!)

As always, I'll be sharing my project this week with some great hosts, to please stop by these parties to see what everyone has been working on!

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Easter Countdown

What a simple way to remind us of a fabulous holiday that is just around the corner.

Simple I say...and cheap!

Supplies:
1. Plastic Eggs
2. Stickers
3. Ribbon
4. Exact-o knife

Start by cutting a hole in the tops and bottoms of your eggs.

Run your ribbon through both holes creating a loop at the top for a hanger.

Add numbers or any other message to your eggs!

I love the way it turned out! You can fill the eggs with a small treat, or on each day decide to do a fun Easter activity!

Thanks for stopping by!

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