No-sew pillow

Hiya all, been missing this blog so much. My camera went kaput. I managed to salvage a few projects I will share with you. A very nice friend has lent me her camera to try out so I should be able to get back into the swing of things now.

This is a no-sew pillow inspired by the no-sew fleece blanket kits you find at craft stores. My neighbors daughter is so adorable and she loves to make stuff and draw pictures. She sketched out a pillow design one day and I decided to try and turn it into a craft project for her. The no-sew idea came about as a way to make it easier for her to put it together.

I bought:
1 16" pillow square
2 yards of fleece for the pillow
1/2 yards of fleece for the initial

For the initial: I printed out a letter A on copy paper. I Cut it out of the paper and traced it onto the wrong side of the fabric with a sharpie. Be careful to flip the letter the wrong way around when you trace. I then cut out the initial from the fabric and sewed it to the center front face of the pillow.

For the Pillow: Cut the fabric in half and lay both sides together, right sides facing out, measure 17" for the pillow and add 7" around each side for the fringe making the total square to cut 24". Using a fabric pen I traced the center 17" for the pillow and cut fringe around the edges 7" long and 3/4" wide all the way around, cutting through both pieces at once. Separate the pieces and lay the pillow in between. Tie the fringe pieces together in a knot, pulling tight to close any gaps.

Renegade Handmade Chicago

This weekend we went to the Renegade Craft Fair. What a delicious feast of wonderfully handmade objects. I seriously wanted to buy something from every single person there and I can assure you that I had a pretty intense inner dialogue going on between my will power and my spending power.

Luckily a compromise was reached and I picked up a few cards, one from Jill Bliss who was really lovely in person and one from Bubbles Binsburry. Really cute don't you think? Oh, and the stamps are from The Small Object. So fun. The necklace by Sofia Masri and I'm wishing now I'd bought at least one more.

Two prints, Red Bird Print is from Jaime Zollars and the pink biker, sadly, for some weird reason, we have no record of the shop.

There are two more Renegade Craft Fairs scheduled for this year. Holiday sales in Chicago & San Fran. I'll be at Chicago along with will power and a spending power who will no doubt pick up the same argument right where they left off!

Play time

We had a near miss with a broken nose this weekend. Falling flat on ones face on the concrete doesn't do much for little snouts.

For a little treat we made a stop at Paper Source after things were all checked out. I shouldn't be allowed in there, it's pure heaven, I want to move the entire store into my house. I was able to exhibit a tiny bit of self control and left with a few stamps to add to our collection. When I was in the store staring at a wall full of crafts dreaming up stuff g. and I could make together I said to my mom, "I really love playing with g." Then she said, "It's g. that is playing with you." So true. I wonder how old she will be when she finally says to me, "Mom I really prefer scuba diving, or mountain climbing, or playing the drums, or..."

An organized mess

I had a laugh with my neighbor the other day because the ONLY thing in my house that is organized is my craft drawer. I guess that says a lot about me. This craft drawer in my kitchen functions so well. There is an anytime you want policy and an I don't care if it's messy policy (the unorganized side coming through). I got the pencil boxes from Walgreens. c.

It was a mistake

The Crenshaws really wish they had never agreed to let that monkey Charles live with them.

Today we are making family portraits and telling stories about them. c.

Get this look!

Had a wonderful time celebrating over the weekend. I made Lindsay this necklace with interchangeable pendants for her birthday. To get one of your very own you can get all of the supplies at Michael's or pop over to our Etsy shop where there is one for sale. c.

Wit-Craft Wednesday

The following is cross-posted on Wit-Craft, Craft: Happy Shiny Day

Happy Birthday Lindsay!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since your birthday lands on craft day we made you a shiny bouquet of flowers using homemade paint.

To make the paint mix food coloring with sweetened condensed milk. Then draw your flowers on heavy paper using a ball point pet. Paint using a paint brush or Q-tip. When the paint dries it looks really glossy.

Hope you have a super shiny day!

xoxo, c.

Wit-Craft Wednesday

I recently found this really fun and super easy tutorial for making these 3D flower pop-up cards.

All you need is one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper, a pair of scissors and some double-sided sticky tape. Note: I used cardstock. It is harder to work with; but I thought the results were more professional.

If you'd like to make the cards following the same tutorial I used, then go here. c.

Paper lanterns

There's nothing I love more than a nicely lit room, all soft and glowing and flattering to the face. I love the warm glow that tree lights give off. So today we made mini Chinese paper lanterns in shades of pink for Valentine's Day and fixed them on to the tree lights. I used some scrap booking paper I got at JoAnn because the weight of the paper was perfect and the patterns are great.

Supplies:
Text weight paper
Scissors
Glue
Strand of tree lights

1. Cut out strips of paper that are 2 1/2 " x 5 1/2"
2. Fold these paper strips in half
3. Then cut slits in the fold - but do not go all the way to the edge - (see my photo)
4. Next, put glue on one end and wrap the other end around so that each end comes together and sticks, to make the lantern
5. Finally, cut thin strips of paper about 3" long
6. Use these strips to glue the lanterns on to the lights

Wit-Craft Wednesday

The following is my post on Wit-Craft, Craft: For the Birds

Do you hear that? Grumble, grumble, rumble, grumble. It's the sounds of hunger coming from our fine, feathered friends. It's the middle of Winter and it's time to treat your local birds to a tasty snack!

Today g. and I made a bird snack shack. We go through an enormous amount of milk in my house between the lattes, cappuccinos, sippy cups and cereal. Ah ... the cereal, or should I say men and their cereal ... I could and should dedicate a whole post just to that.

Anyway, pull one of your discarded milk cartons from the recycling bin and join us in making this really simple bird feeder. It only takes about 15 minutes and the birds will thank you for it!

What you'll need:
Milk carton
Scissors
Paint
Decorations (optional)
Hole punch
String or wire

Wash and thoroughly rinse the milk carton. Using the scissors, cut an opening in the front of the carton. To make a ledge cut on either side of the bottom opening - about 1/4 inch down - and fold back the flap. Paint the outside of the bird house with latex paint. Decorate with paint, sequins, glitter, stickers, etc. Fill with seed. Using the hole punch, punch a hole in the top center of the carton and use string to secure to a branch. Then let them eat seed! c.