Happy 4th of July!

Photos from happy4thofjuly-2015.com, scrapsoftime.typepad.com,  
happydayquote.com, wellmindedpets.com, pdx.daddyforever.com, 
chiff.com, clipartpanda.com, and 4thofjulyquotes2015.com

Low/No Sew Reindeer Pillow {DIY Project}

Pinterest is, as you all know, an amazing amazing place filled with cool stuff.  It is also a great place to get inspired.  I love looking for possible things I can recreate in an easier way or with my own twist.

This beautiful pillow from Dear Lillie is exactly the type of thing I am looking for.

You see, I love the pillow but don't have a screen printer, or know anyone with a screen printer and I am in no way talented enough to paint it on a piece of fabric.  So what is a girl to do?

I have three words for you! Felt and Drop Cloth! 

With those 2 things and a reindeer silhouette, like this one it is easy to make a pillow.

Here is the result.  I made two so they could jump toward each other.

I think they look great, don't you?

Want to make one or two or three for yourself? Here's how.

Materials

• Reindeer silhouette printed on a sheet of 11x14 paper (I used Google images to find one that looked good to me)
• Scissors
• Fabric glue
• Laundered drop cloth
• Felt (I used red)
• Straight pins
• Pillow Insert (mine was 18x18)
• If you want to sew, a sewing machine (If you don't, heat-n-bond)

Directions

• Cut out your paper silhouette
• Pin silhouette to your felt (you can also use double stick tape)
• Cut out your reindeer
• Make yourself an envelope pillow (I used this tutorial from Teal and Lime, though I cut my fabric 17.5x42) using  the drop cloth as your fabric
• Insert your pillow into into the cover
• Lay your reindeer on pillow positioning it exactly as you you wish
• Pin felt reindeer to pillow by inserting the pin trough the felt into the pillow
• Using the fabric glue, glue the reindeer to the pillow
• Done!!

Yes, it is that easy!  I am pretty sure that cutting out the reindeer was the lengthiest part.

I think it is a great addition to our holiday decorations.

One quick note, if you live near an IKEA, you can skip the whole make a pillow cover part and pick one up for cheap there, like this one.
  

Sock Snowmen

In keeping with the snowman theme of Christmas 2012 (see Liddy the Snowman here), I was inspired by Then She Madehttp://www.thenshemade.com/ and created some sock snowmen of my own.

I call them Huey, Dewey and Louie - after the ducks from the Disney cartoons.

I followed the directions from Then She Made but did make one minor change. I used felt for the eyes and nose since I didn't want anything hard or sharp in case Willow grabbed one off the table.

A few things to note.

• I used up almost a 5 lb bag of rice making 3 snowmen.  I don't know if D's socks are gargantuan or what.  So if you are planning on making a lot of these, make sure to get a BIG bag of rice.
• Your rubber bands should not be the super thin ones. Those will break.  Get ones that are medium weight. 
• I didn't wash the striped socks that I used for my sweaters and caps (I got a pack of 10 at Costco for $8.00) and I am thinking that is why they are curling where they got cut.  So I would suggest washing the socks first. 
• I needed to use a bit of fabric glue to hold the hats on their little heads.

These are a quick and easy way to add some snowman fun to your house.  Once I gathered all my materials, I made Huey, Dewey and Louie in a little less than an hour.  I think the filling of the sock was the hardest part of the whole process since I could only use a 1/4 c scoop to fit in the opening since the rice kept getting stuck in my funnel.

Here's hoping you have a snowman filled holiday season!

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Don't forget to link up to the Winter Wonders & Holiday Happenings linky party hosted by Claiming Our Space, Black Fox Homestead, Life with the Hawleys, Lilacs and Longhorns, Practically Functional, The Thrifty Rebel and Yellow Spool. Each of us have our own project or recipe to share so make sure to stop by to check out what we have each created as well as to link up your own winter or holiday inspired posts.

Poinsettia Pillow

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite projects from last Christmas - the Poinsettia Pillow.

Now, I can't take credit for this since it is a fabulous project Centsational Girl did back in 2009 but at that time, I didn't have a sewing machine so I bookmarked it as a future project (oh, the dark ages before Pinterest when you had to bookmark things and remember to put them in the correct favorites folder).

I used a drop cloth for my pillow cover fabric since it was a nice and neutral, bonus that I could use the finished edge to save some sewing, and I needed to make four pillows since I was giving these as gifts so it was very cost effective.

These pillows are a bit time consuming since you have to cut out all the leaves, especially if you are making more than one. I did it while watching television in the evening.  However, the final product is worth it I promise. Another tip, make sure you totally load your bobbin since there is quite a bit of sewing. It is no fun when you are in the groove of sewing and it runs out. Ask me how I know.

Now I did make a couple of changes from Kate's version.  I made a envelope back pillow (here is a good tutorial from Teal and Lime) since I haven't tackled a zippered anything yet. I also skipped the covered button and opted to just glued some small yellow buttons for the center. I like that they look like the yellow stamens of an actual poinsettia.

For the full tutorial with great photos, visit Centsational Girl's post.

Let me know if you make a poinsettia pillow of your own, I would love to see it!

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Don't forget, tomorrow is the Winter Wonders & Holiday Happenings linky party hosted by Claiming Our Space, Black Fox Homestead, Life with the Hawleys, Lilacs and Longhorns, Practically Functional, The Thrifty Rebel and Yellow Spool. Each of us will have our own project or recipe to share so make sure to stop by to check out what we have each created as well as to link up your own winter or holiday inspired posts.