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.

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

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.

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!!!

Favorite Brands

I must tell a short story 1st. When it comes to crafting, I had no idea that brand names existed. I had my favorite stores, but I bought paper or fabric because I thought it was cute... I had no idea who made it. That is, until I met Cami. The first time I scrapbooked with her, she said, "Oh, I love that paper. It's Scenic Route. I love their stuff." I was baffled. I literally had never really paid any attention to the fact that there were different brands of paper. So Cami took me shopping and enlightened me. And I definitely have my favorite brands of paper including... Scenic Route, American Crafts, Crate Paper, Basic Grey, etc.

And then I went fabric shopping with my sister-in-law Shauna.  She's a quilter and sewer extraordinaire.  I told her about the types of fabric that I like and she said, "Oh you must love Amy Butler."  It turns out I do!!!  Check out her website.  She has some really great fabric and some fun free patterns!

Leave a comment and let me know your favorite brand of paper, fabric, etc.

-Anisa

In like a Lion...

I was contemplating crafts for March and trying to think of some St. Patrick's Day crafts.  Then Cami mentioned that she was sick of clovers... "why can't we do lions and lambs or kites instead."  So, I got thinking about Angie's cute candy hearts and came up with this cute idea for a March craft.  

 

These were super easy to make (I'm not sure if my husband would agree) and they were fairly inexpensive.  We bought some wood at Lowe's and my husband used our jig saw to cut out the kites.  We also cut out the little stands.  Then we drilled holes in the bottom of the kites and in the stands to put the wooden dowel in.  I painted, sanded and stained the kites and then just hot glued the ribbons on the back.

Oh, and don't forget about our GIVE-AWAY!  You have until next Wednesday to leave a comment and be entered in the drawing.

- Anisa

One Craft 3 Ways.... Applique

One of the great things about starting this craft blog is that we have deadlines. I have been wanting to make this applique pillow for almost a year to match my guest bedroom. But it just kept getting put on the back burner. Then when we decided to do applique for our "One Craft 3 Ways" I was excited that I would now have a deadline to get it done.

What I did.... First, I went fabric shopping (my favorite part). Then I cut out the fabric for my throw pillow. If you would like to see a tutorial on how to make a throw pillow similar to this one, go here. Then I traced my designs on paper. Next, I cut out my fabric about the same size that I needed for my shapes, but I did not cut out the shapes. Then, I ironed on the heatNbond to the wrong side of my fabric. Then I cut out the shapes (you see, this way I don't have to cut out the shapes twice.) Then I ironed the shapes onto my white pillow fabric. Then comes the hard part. I set my machine to a tight zigzag. Then I zigzagged around the outside of the shapes. It was somewhat difficult to make good corners and such. If I were to do this again, I would use a different type of stitch. Then I finished up my pillow. During the process, I would probably have said I would never do it again. But it is so cute finished, that I think I will. I will just learn how to do it better!!! -Anisa

Deadlines...yeah, this is our third and final deadline for this post. :) It is nice to get something like this done.This applique wall hanging measures 11" x 13". I'm framing it and hanging it in my little girl's room. It was a lot of fun doing the embroidery by hand and using several different stitches and styles to complete it all. --Cami

I have been wanting to do some applique on T-shirts for my kiddos for sometime now. I found an uber-cute skirt at The Children's Place and decided I could make a cutie-pie shirt to go with it for my littlest princess. Would I do it again? Maybe. I thought the knit fabric of the tee was hard to work with. I'd definitely be willing to try it on something not quite so stretchy, though. I do love the overall look and am contemplating what else I might like to do for some added embellishment. Happy crafting!

-Ang