pillows for klarisa

I have a friend who is my pinterest soul-mate. That sounds pretty intense, but basically, everything Klarisa pins I want to pin... and do and make. That is not meant to be creepy and I could have just said "Klarisa has good taste", but I hardly feel like that covers the depth of my appreciation for her hunting out the good stuff or the speed with which I click repin. Haha!

To show my appreciation, I made 3 pillows for Klarisa that we had both pinned close to the beginning of our pinning days. 

The first (and my favorite) is this cute little bird pillow found via pinterest, but origionally from this cool etsy shop. This is my version:

Next is this pretty ruffle flower pillow.

(I do not have a direct link for this pillow. I read & combined several tuturials found via pinterest - my DIY instructions are below)

Finally, I made a kite pillow in the same style as the bird pillow and inspired from the same etsy shop

I love how cute they all are!

Here's my steps for making the purple flower pillow - it's so easy and fun I feel guilty for not making letting Klarisa do it herself!

I cut several 2" strips of stretchy soft fabric (like jersey material, but I used the less expensive version)

I believe I ended us using 5 strips, but how much you need/use depends on the size of your pillow.

Then I sewed down the middle of the strips of fabric on my largest stitch setting to create a "ruffled" strip.

At frist I sewed my strips together, but then I found it was easier to work with them if I had somewhat shorter pieces and it did not change the end results/look - so I would skip that step next time.

Next I used a large kitchen bowl as a circle pattern.

And cut a circle out of felt for my flower base.

It's time for flower asembly!

Fold the ruffled strips in half, so that the stitching is at the base.

and start hot gluing. Apply the glue to the felt circle and then press the strips of folded fabric (at the base where the stitching is) to the felt.

I started at the center of my circle, but saw tutorials that started from the outside instead.

I'll have to try that next, and give an update if I find one way is easier than the other.

Sorry I didn't take good pictures during the glue stage, but I had to keep moving!

Here I am holding back the previous layer of ruffles so I can glue the next layer a little closer for a fuller look.

To finish the pillow, I just trimmed the felt as close as possible and glued it to a pillow front. I used hot glue for this step and immediately put a heavy book on the glued flower to help is set flat.

Isn't is just so pretty and ruffly?!?!

And here is another bird pillow shot just b/d it's still my favorite!

shared at whipperberry.com

you are my sunshine, my lovely sunshine

You are my sunshine, my lovely sunshine...

I instantly fell in love with this pillow I found via pinterest

it's origionally from here, but it was a wee bit of a luxery item at $159!

Then I saw this great tutorial, also via pinterest, for the same style pillow.

I've never loved using stencils because I have a hard time getting everything lined up and looking as neat and straight as I want it to, but I kept thinking about this pillow and then a lightbulb went off!!! I used scrapbooking letter stickers instead of a stencil, it was easy and I love how it turned out!

Here's the breakdown of how I did it:

I cut an 18" square of fabric (for a 18" pillow form) and taped it to a 17" square piece of cardboard.

Here's the front

and here's what the back looked like at that point.

Next, I marked off even sections with a water soluble pencil (so I'd be sure to have straight lines across the pillow). I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, but I don't think this step was necessary and would skip it next time because of how well the ruler worked in the next step.

I used a ruler and placed my letter stickers how I wanted them to look (there are lots of different styles of letter stickers in the scrapbooking isle and they are only about $1.50 a package when Hobby Lobby does their half price sale).

The stickers provided a great visual and I was able to move them around a little until I had everything to my liking before I made any permanent marks on my fabric.

I then used a fine point fabric marker to outline the letters,

once all the outlining was done I removed the stickers,

and filled in the letters with a larger tip fabric marker

I heat set the pillow front by ironing it, attached a pillow back with a zipper enclosure and washed out the water soluble pencil lines.

Now I have a great pillow to prettify my deck!!!

You are my sunshine

my lovely sunshine

you make me happy

when skys are grey

you will know dear

how much I love you

Just another installment in my pinterest

project resolution challenge!

(see here)

shared at http://www.younghouselove.com/

and at http://www.whipperberry.com/

fun pillow randoms

A week or two ago I shared about this pom pillow I made. I said that I loved it and I still do... it turns out Callie really loves it too!!! She never used to sleep in the chair this pillow now calls home, but you can find her there all the time now! It's sooo cute!!!

I also shared last week about the pillows I made for my rocking chair redo (see here) and then I found a pillow on onekingslane made of the same material for $79!!! My pillow cost a total of $16 - $10 for the material and $6 for the foam insert (which I used a super clearanced Pier1 cusshion for). Go me!

update: I just found this chair redo with the same fabric!

pom pillow project

I've recently decided to try making some throw pillows. I don't have that many throw pillows because they can be expensive and I am still mulling over my colors for certain rooms in the house.

But then, I came across this Pom Pillow tutorial, origionally found here, and I fell in love and needed wanted to have one.

It was very fun and easy to make and I love how it turned out!!!

I didn't take too many pictues because the origional tutorial has great instructions and awesome pictures - check it out!

My two clariflying tips for the origional tutorial are...

I was pretty worried when my first pom pom turned out like the one below on the right, but that's ok b/c once you trim it, it will look like the one on the left - like it's supposed to!

Secondly, it took a little to figure out the best way to hold the pom pom for trimming. As you see me holding it below worked best for me. Once it's pretty evenly trimmed across the top I let it hang free and then trimmed the edges a little extra (the yarn closest to were my hand is in the pic).

I think this pillow could look good with some other colors or maybe a yarn that has multiple colors in it, but I loved the "natural" look and wanted to recreate the same feel for my pillow! Again, I love it and I love that I made it! It's the little touches like this that make this house we live in our home!

Kevin is gone all weekend and I've got a list of projects I'd like to try/do that's about 2 miles long, so wish me luck and hopefully you'll see good results blogged about soon!!!