Placemat Throw Pillows

I adore the look of cute throw pillows - but quite honestly can't stomach paying $20-100 for the throw pillows I fall in love with. So I've started finding cute placemats that I can turn in to throw pillows. I purchased a couple placemats on sale at Target a few weeks ago. They're blue and white to go on my entry way bench. I haven't done much to them yet...

Only $1.18 each!

I plan to make these in to pillows once I get more stuffing. In the meantime, I made one with the one bag of poly-fill that I did have. I love how easy it is...and how they turn out :)

Take a seam ripper, and cut out enough for you to stick your fist in to the placemat.

Take your bag of poly-fill stuffing and start filling the inside of the placemat, one fist full at a time. Be sure to get the corners.
Once you're done stuffing, hand sew the opening back up with matching thread.

You end up with a cute throw pillow! This cute embroidered bird pillow is for our guest bedroom we're trying to fix up. Love how it turned out! The cost is very inexpensive. I paid $2.99 for the bag of Poly-Fill and $3.99 for the above bird placemat. Total = Approx $7.00 (+tax) for the pillow.

Simple Silhouettes

I've always had a love for the simplicity and beauty of a silhouette. My granny has several of her children when they were younger. My mom has a few of my brother and I from when we were younger and one of B when he was 2-ish. They're timeless.

While in Carlsbad this last February my mom & I hit this fabulous paper store and they had this great book about silhouettes...

photo credit: http://lepapierstudio.com

The book is so much fun for you do-it-yourself kinda people. It contains a small booklet with instructions, photos and project ideas...some very pretty patterned paper and black paper to make your own silhouette...several templates...and a card stock frame/mat.

I've been wanting to try it out for weeks...and finally did this weekend. Here's how it turned out:

I started off by taking a side photo of Brad (bad photo taken w/ my phone).

Next I took a fine tip sharpie and outlined his photo.

I cut out the outline using sharp scissors made for intricate cutting. Then traced the cut out, using pencil, on black archive quality cardstock. After the outline was traced I cut it out and erased any left over pencil marks.

I'm pretty darn happy with my first attempt! It actually looks like Brad. YAY ME!

It's a great project book...you can purchase from many places (Amazon, book stores, etc). However, I encourage you to check out the author's site. You can purchase it there as well. Her site is: http://lepapierstudio.com.

Mix and Match - Anthropology Style

I absolutely adore Anthropology (the store). A few days ago I saw a new feature on their website called For the Decorator. SO. CUTE. I love their style for their home shop. I feel like I'm advertising for them (to the 3 whole people that read this :) ) - but I can't help but share.

It features Tips, Tools and a Glossary of terms. 

 You can mix and match their bedding to a style you love...or see Anthropology's pre-paired selections. Even if you don't want to spend $218 (OUCH) for some of their sheets it gives you some good ideas for finding similar ways to decorate without spending so much.

They also give you tips on how to decorate with rugs, curtains, hardware and wallpaper. Another tool...

...their DIY Hardware tool allows you to pick a furniture style, color and mix and match knobs and handles to see what combo fits your style needs. SO CUTE!

OK - done with my Anthropology commercial. Check it out HERE if you're interested!

Operation: Office Reorganization

Lately my office has been driving me up the wall...my work stuff, crafty crap, finished projects, unfinished projects are all over the place and not organized at all. It's so overwhelming I've been putting it off for a while.
So now...I'm taking it one section at a time. First...the wall of shelves...

Here are the before shots of the hot mess:

My etsy items are all disorganized...so are my supplies, tools, fabric, work stuff...etc!!



My messy etsy items...


After months of procrastination I figured out what I wanted to end up using those shelves for. I took a trip to Ikea - to their home organization department and found some boxes that fit the shelves and work great!

Here are my after shots...full wall

Brown boxes are for my etsy items and supplies...

Cream boxes are for fabric and twine...

My next is the closet...THAT is an overwhelming job.

Feed Your Soul: The Free Art Project

Recently I found this fabulous site with some adorable free art. Yes - free! The site is called Feed your Soul: The Free Art Project. There are some really cute peices that I love...Some of the peices would look adorable in a kids room too!

The site was created by a blogger by the name of Jen Wallace (author of Indie Fixx).

Some of my favs...

(All Photo credits courtesy of Feed Your Soul: The Free Art project & named artist)

Here' the site again: Feed Your Soul: The Free Art Project