Chalkboard Pillow

Phew! What a weekend. December seriously flies by with all of the Holiday parties and things to do. We had a really fun weekend though. We had two Christmas parties and we still managed to get a lot of our Christmas preparations done, which makes me happy! We got the girls their Christmas dresses and ordered Christmas cards and started (yep....only starting now) Christmas shopping. It was great. And now I feel like I only have a week left to get everything else done! Here I go! But first, I promised last week I would have another fun holiday pillow how to. So here it is. Faux Chalkboard Pillows.

You will need:
1 yard of black linen fabric (per pillow)
A black 18 inch zipper
Sewing materials
A white paint pen (with an angled tip)
A steady hand

1. For a 26X26 pillow insert, cut a 26X26 inch square of the black linen (folded).

2. Iron the fold so that it lays straight and flat.

3. Start writing your chalkboard design on the square. I just googled "Chalkboard writing Christmas" to find ideas. (Although the original inspiration was from a Pottery Barn pillow) This takes time, patience and a little humility, because you will make mistakes and once the paint is on the linen, it doesn't come off. Mine didn't turn out quite as perfect as I wanted, but its cute nonetheless.

4. Sew down the two sides inside out, then add your zipper. 

Done!

Pretty cute right! My "C" kinda looks like a "G", but oh well. At least its legible! There you go. Good luck! I'm off to work on Christmas presents!

Peace Pillow

Happy Friday the 13th! I'm not superstitious. Its just like any other day, except that I have a million things to do instead of a thousand things to do. And this weekend will be even busier! We have two Christmas parties and we are going to hunt for the girl's Christmas dresses and we will maybe see Santa if we find the dresses and we are going to start Christmas shopping.....and I'm still trying to decorate the house! Seriously. Chicken with its head cut off. Anyway, yesterday I made this adorable Pottery Barn knock off pillow and it turned out gorgeous. It was a fun project. It would make a great Christmas gift for a friend if any of you are looking for original Christmas gift ideas. I have always liked Peace signs. I think I was born part hippie. No really. I once owned a tie die skirt. Except I really like showers and I'm not really into weed. Like I said, "Part hippie." This takes the hippie up a notch though and makes the peace sign a little more traditional and elegant. Here is the how to.

You will need:
1 Yard of cream/khaki colored linen
Gold metallic craft paint
Gold metallic glitter craft paint
Silver sequins
Fabric glue
Sewing materials
Khaki colored 18 inch zipper
This is for a 26X26 Pillow insert. Although mine have shrunk down to a 23X20....

1. Fold your fabric in half. Then cut a 26X26 square, keeping the fold. If your pillows are a little bit smaller like mine, you can just take in the seams later.

2. Putting the folded side at the top, pin down the two sides of your square and sew. Leave the bottom open. Then flip right side out. At this point, you can try it on your pillow to make sure it fits. If it is too big, just take in the sides a little bit more.  

 3. Using the gold metallic paint, paint a circle on your square, being careful to keep it centered.

 4. Now paint one straight line down the center.

5. Then paint the two diagonal lines on either side of your straight line. Remember that the paint is supposed to look rustic, so no need for the peace sign to look perfect.

 6. Using the gold metallic glitter paint add some swipes of it sporadically around the peace sign.

 7. Now write "Peace" beneath with the gold metallic paint.

8. Add the sequins using the fabric glue, placing them randomly around the peace sign. I found the easiest way was to lay the glue on the peace sign, then place the sequins on. This part does take some time. So be aware.

9. Now add a zipper to the bottom of the pillow.

 Done!

 Its such a fun piece to add a little sparkle to your holiday decor collection.

 I'm loving it.

Peace my friends!
Come back Monday to see another PB inspired pillow!

Tree Trimming

We finally got around to trimming our tree the other day. It was so much fun. Its great because Princess is at the perfect age for it. I still held my breath as she hung some of the more fragile ornaments, but she actually did a pretty good job. It was funny, she would only decorate in one area in the tree, so we would have to reposition her from time to time so that all the ornaments wouldn't be in one spot! We started a tradition a few years ago (I think maybe we have done it since we were married) of eating doughnuts and drinking champagne while we decorate the tree. I think I read about it in a magazine somewhere and I really liked the idea, so it stuck. My husband doesn't even like doughnuts, but he pretends to like them for this tradition every year. We collect the wire part from each champagne bottle and write the year in the center of it. Then we tie it on with a ribbon to the rest of the previous year's champagne wires. Eventually it will be a garland going all the way around the tree! It was a special night. We even got to see a couple snow flurries!

There's the little Princess with her "Baby Champagne", aka Sparkling Cider. She never gets juice, so that was a very special treat.

The hubby, hanging the lights.

I'm not sure what happened with this photo. It looks like I'm putting on the lights, but the lights were already up. Its Christmas magic I guess.

Gotta get a boost to hang those ornaments up high!

No mistletoe? A red ornament will do.



Here is our champagne wire garland so far.

Our pretty tree. We really lucked out this year and got a good one. It was perfect for hanging ornaments. Its branches were perfectly spaced and it is really healthy.

Our sweet little deer. Lets see how long they survive with the kids trying to ride them!  

Plushy Yarn Wreath

Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. If you didn't already notice. I love everything about it. I love the lights on the houses, the decorations, baking tons of different kinds of cookies, the Santa photos, the holiday cards, shopping for and making presents, seeing the church packed to the brim on Christmas Eve, the Christmas movies, the Christmas music. Seriously. I have had "Home for the Holidays" stuck in my head all day and I am loving every minute of it. And yes, I am one of those people that turns on the Christmas music as soon as Thanksgiving ends and continues to listen to it the entire month of December, with no qualms whatsoever. I am still finishing up my decorating little by little. I have a few more projects that I want to do before it is really finished and then I will give you all a Christmas Home Tour! I am in LOVE with today's project. I keep looking over to admire it. Its so cute! I wasn't exactly sure what to call this wreath. It is rustic, farmhouse-y, winter-y and it screams cozy. So I decided to call it the Plushy Yarn Wreath. Because as you will see it is both plushy and fluffy. I am super excited with how it turned out and I know I am going to be keeping it around for years to come. The picture that I found as inspiration is actually a knock-off Anthropologie wreath. What do you know? I can spot that stuff anywhere.

Here is the inspiration from Dreamy Whites French Farmhouse Inspired Living. So gorgeous!


And here is how mine turned out.

I love it! Its so fluffy, I just wanna pet it! Looks just like a little lamb!

Here is the how to.

You will need:

A wreath form (or use my trick from the Ruffle Trees post to make a wreath form with foil)

Hot Glue

Lots of fluffy yarn ( I bought 2, 160 yard bundles of yarn and went through one and a half)

Vintage red and white fabric for the bow

Plain white fabric to cover the wreath form

1. First you gotta make the yarn pom poms. Lots of them. I think I maybe made 50 or 60 of them to cover my wreath. You can spread them out a little bit more also if you want to use less. First start wrapping the yarn around 3 of your fingers. Wrap around about 25 times. Not too tight, not too loose.

2. Carefully slide off your fingers and tie a small piece of yarn around the middle of your bundle. Tie it as tight as you can. It should look sort of like a bow tie.  

3. Now cut all of the little loops you just created. All of them. But don't worry if you miss one or two. It will now look like a pom pom.

4. Give your pom a little hair cut. Turning it around, trim off any pieces that are longer than the rest to make the pom spherical. And no need to be a perfectionist here. The imperfection of these little things is part of their charm! You might want to save some of the clippings for your decorating, as it looks just like snow!

See! It totally looks like snow. Now that you know how to make the pom poms. Keep going. I maybe used between 50 and 60 of them. I know. Its a lot. But its so worth it!

5. Heat up the hot glue gun and cover the wreath form with a long strip of white fabric.

6. Now start gluing on your poms poms. Lay the wreath flat on the counter as you do it so that it will lay flush against the wall when you hang it. You don't need to cover the back because 1. You're not going to see it and 2. Its white from the fabric. Keep going until the wreath is completely covered and fluffy. 

7. Now cut a long strip of the red and white fabric and tie into a bow. Glue onto the wreath.

Now your wreath is ready to hang! I just used a piece of the white yarn. But you can use a wreath hanger, twine, ribbon, whatever. 

How gorgeous is this!?

Ugh! I can't get over it. Its too cute! Hope everyone is having just as much fun decorating their homes for the holidays! Happy decorating!