One Craft-3 Ways: Decorative Pillows

Our topic for 1 craft-3 ways this month was... decorative pillow. I copied these little guys from Pottery Barn Kids and made a little owl to match my pillow from our applique last month.

To make it, I hand drew a pattern on paper. I used my light yellow as my main fabric. Then I ironed on the other fabric pieces and did some machine applique around the pieces. It was a lot of fun and it turned out really cute!!!

-Anisa

I've been reading about print-making and thought it would be fun to incorporate a print of my favorite poet onto a pillow for the couch where I often do my reading.

This pillow was the first 'quilting' I've ever done and was probably waaaay over my skill level, but in the end I learned a lot and I'm quite pleased with the result. It measures around 18" x 18".

The print is actually an iron-on created by me using a photo of the poet which I manipulated/enhanced in Adobe Photoshop Elements and printed on ink-jet iron on transfer paper.

-C

About a month ago I found a pillow pattern by Amy Butler that I just had to make. Needless to say, I was excited our "one craft, three ways" post was pillows. When I found this basketball fabric, I knew I definitely had to make one and it had to be for my basketball-obsessed little guy. Using this pattern:

I secretly made this pillow:

I left it in his room after he had gone to bed. The next morning I woke up to, "Mommy! Thanks so much for my new beanbag!!" (Which it's not-totally a pillow, but why argue?) I will definitely be making more of these.

-Ang

P.S. Finished size is about 18 inches across and 9 inches high.

Spring Photos

Crafting or decorating with spring photos should not go unmentioned. It's a great way to lift your spirits, especially if it's snowing outside (like it is here). Make a photo collage: Print them small and use on a scrapbook page as embellishments: May be you could print out a huge window cling at a copy center and plaster it to your windows so that it looks like spring outside... :)

Wood Craft Classes

I'm really sorry that I dropped the ball on the wood craft classes.  On Tuesday night when I was coming home from my class, I remembered that I hadn't posted.  There is still time, if you want to do the classes this month.  She still has one class on Tuesday the 31st. Contact Shannon at jsnmea.lewis@gmail.com  if you are interested.

Easter Sign $15 Bunny $18 Wreath $20

Peachy Cheap

Everyone likes a good deal, right?  I think for me, it's more the temptation.  I like to be tempted just to see how strong I am.  (By the way, I'm not that strong.  I am often on the phone with Cami...."tell my why I shouldn't buy this.")

Anyway, I love the website peachycheap.com  Every day they have a different scrapbooking deal.  A couple of weeks ago, I bought both of these garlands.

On Tinkering Ink's site, they are each $8.  I bought both of them for $8.98 including shipping.  It's so hard not to buy their product every day.... today's is especially tempting for me.  Go check it out!!!

By the way, go to Little Nanny Goat and you will find a tutorial for a banner.  That is what I plan on doing with my garland.... they are so cute!!!

-Anisa

Felting and Fingerless Mittens

In her book Felt It! Stitch It! Fabulous, Katheryn Tidwell Bieber teaches her readers how to take old sweaters made of wool, angora, etc., felt them and make them into something entirely different. Felting, by simple definition, is agitating a woven animal fiber item in hot water and dish soap in a washing machine which allows the fibers to tighten and interweave further, so much so that the item can be cut without unravelling.

The projects in this book are great. There are cute items for kids and totally wearable designs for adults. There are instructions for wearable flowers and there are a few holiday decor projects such as Easter bunnies and Christmas stockings.

I went to the local thrift store to see if I could find some wool sweaters for my first felting experience. The book says that items that are 85-100% wool or other animal fiber are best for optimal shrinkage and felting. Acrylic sweaters do not shrink.

I bought two sweaters for $11, which is still more than I wanted to pay, so if you have a wool sweater you're going to get rid of, send it my way!

To the right you see the purple sweater in it's original state. The bottom of the sweater is hanging over the edge of the counter.

Here it is, post-felting, I put it on my cutting grid so you could see the difference. Although it seem slight, I love the increased softness and thickness of the item.

For my project, Finglerless Hand-and-Wrist Warmers, I used this sweater (shown here in it's original state). It was a man's XXL 100% wool sweater. and it shrunk down to about a woman's medium.

After felting and drying, this simple project took just 20 minutes from cutting to finished stitching.

As per the instructions, I cut the sleeves 9" from the wrist. I hemmed the cut edge 1/2" with hand stitching. Then I put on the sleeves and pinched the portion of felt between my thumb and forefinger. I removed the sleeve and stitched in that pinched area and I was done!

They are very cosy and I think I'll be using them while I work on the computer as well as during crocheting and embroidering.

Speaking of embroidery, I think these would be even more awesome with some embroidery on the back of them. Put it on my to-craft list! Oh, and you'll have to stay tuned to see what I do with the purple sweater and what else I do with the cream/brown one.

Button Bouquet

Ahhhhh, spring is in the air!  I have been wanting to just be outside working in the yard. I can see the tippy tops of my tulips poking through the ground.

But, since it's a little too early to get started planting flowers, I thought I'd make a cute button bouquet for my craft room.

Here is a tutorial and another one here.  Both are a little different from mine.

Deals and Steals

There is this great online fabric store, http://www.fabric.com/. They carry all kinds of great fabric, patterns, etc. that are hard to find locally sometimes. Some of my favorites: In the Kitchen

(City Bloom: Kitty Yoshida)

Chocolate Lollipop: Anna Maria Horner

When I grow up: Debbie Taylor-Kerman

You can search by category or designer (such as Amy Butler). They have already great prices and bonus-visit Homemade by Jill's site and you can get a coupon code for $5 of your order. The best part? No minimum order. I just scored this Amy Butler pattern for $8. With shipping. Oh yeah.

Decorating is for the birds!

I found out I was having my 3rd boy right before I moved into my new house.  I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to decorate a girl's room, so I decorated my guest room very girly.  My most recent One Craft 3 Ways was an appliqued pillow for the bed. 

I have also loved making paper pieced wall hangings.  And right now I really love birds.  So, here are some super cute Bird wall hangings that I made for my guest bedroom.

Don't worry, I have many more girly projects for this room that I will post in the future!!!