Bloom Baby

I love my new burlap wreath but it lacks a little pzazz. So I was scrolling through my lists of "Gonna do it myself" pins on Pinterest when I came to this great wreath... from this site called Yellow Mums.

I really like the fabric flowers and decided to make some of my own. Wouldn't you know she got the idea from her sis. Aren't Sissys the best! You can find her fabulous tutorial here at

Krafty Millie. After studying her tutorial I set out for my very organized bag of leftover fabric and after digging through it I decided on a pale yellow.

 I just love this fabric. I wish I was a crafty sewy person and I would make wonderful things out of it but I really am not a sew pro. Today I am sticking to my glue gun...

 I took another fabric and I drew very technical circles to act as the backing.

 Then I grabbed my tried and true kitchen scissors which are duller than you know what. (My birthday is May 4th .... if anyone wants to send me some kick ass scissors that aren't dull I will love you forever.)

 I cut my fabric down into a long strip like three feet long. I also grabbed a pretty yellow ribbon and knotted them both at one end.

Then you glue the knot onto a dot of hot glue and twist and glue the twist to another dot and so on and so on until you cover the whole piece of fabric.

 Then you get this lovely, beautiful flower to adorn anything you want...

I went crazy and did three for my wreath...

Except I didn't like the way the dark yellow one looked so I made a third light yellow one... (I also tried to reshape my foam... Looks kinda droopy or more like and oval than a circle.

Much better.... I love the three yellow ones... They are very bright though, not to mention it's another sunny day in Astoria. (I need to paint my front door too.... this summer..)

Now you are wondering to yourself.... hmmm what did she do with the other yellow flower. Well... I could put it on a headband, new pillow, but instead I decided to pin it to my new curtains as an accent piece....

This project was super easy, not to mention I could find 100 things to do with these little babies. Granted Cole probably doesn't want flowers all over our house. OK lets have one last look at my wreath adorned with my fabric flowers. Pretty much a success for a Friday.

Take a load off...

The other day I came across this build your own ottoman on Shanty to Chic's site here. The ottomans are so flippin cute that I knew I had to make them. So I pinned it to my "gonna make it myself" page on Pinterest, and set out to the good old Home Depot. OK I am getting ahead of myself here. First I have to tell you that the plans for these ottomans actually come from this site here by Ana White. The lady is a freak of nature. (That is why I am in no way shape or form going to give you the Angie J tutorial. Instead I will refrence you to her link here.)She shows you how to make anything your heart desires with step by step instructions. She even gives you a cut list for your lumber. Like this...

Neat huh? So then I took my little cut list into the HD and found the first guy who looked like he knew what he was talking about and I showed him my cut list and told him I wanted to make them cheap. Of course you know whats coming next, I told him we can use wood from the cull bin of course, if they had my dimensions. Guess what they did!... All of it. So I got my wood for around four bucks and he cut it ALL for me. I know this might be cheating but who cares. Here is my guy cutting my wood for me... Thanks nameless HD worker... And for those of you who have never witnessed the cull bin, that's it right there.

I was so excited to start this project that I jumped right into it. OK this is where things went wrong and I needed to humble myself. You see I never took woodworking and I don't know the first thing about power tools. My learning curve is super high and I am learning. This one project has taught me patience and how to work a drill like a bad ass. Below is a picture of my hand after I punctured it with a drill bit. I have more respect for power tools and for wood. You cannot just drill into it. The wood cracks without a pre drilled hole and you need to use wood glue. Oh yeah, take it from me and follow each direction and square up constantly or else you will pay and have to redo it over and over again. So needless to say I waited until Cole got off work and we had a little drilling 101 session.

So here is my drilling lesson from Cole on pre drilling and working the drill.

 Here I am working it. Notice all my pre cut lumber. Did I mention they didn't charge me extra to cut it. What!?

 My wood all pre drilled...

 My finished first cube... I am not attempting to tell you how to make this. Ana White as referred above does a much better job so please again follow her directions here.

 Next I cut my foam down for the cushion on top of the ottoman. I used a 3" thick piece instead of 2" thick like they call for. I just measured an extra inch for my fabric. Then I used spray adhesive to glue them to the top of the ottoman. (note: you should spray directly onto the foam then glue it to the wood.)

 OK so Ana White doesn't give you directions on how to make the slip cover. Shanty to Chic does here. Again as I have posted before my learning curve is through the roof with sewing. Lucky for me, Cole's Grandparents are in town from Montana for Spring Break and they were able to assist me and give me guidance over at Cole's Mom's house. Now for you newbies like myself, measuring fabric sucks booty big time, but you have to do it. I wanted two slip covers from two yards. It was like solving a puzzle and I am not good at puzzles. Patience is the name of the game. Which I am also not good at.

 Once the fabric was all cut Lucy Lou admired how nice it would look on her new piece of furniture. Upholstery fabric is spendy! Just save your coupons. I used my 40% off coupon to Joanns. I am pretty sure I purchased an outdoor fabric too. This will help with sticky fingers not to mention I can just throw them in the wash.

 Here I am sewing all the pieces together.

 I was not going to hem the bottom because I hate the pins but Grandma Judy insisted and she's a pro so she very graciously pinned it for me then I sewed the hem line. They look so much better and won't fray out now. Thanks Judy.

And wait for it ...... TaDaaaa.... My finished ottoman. How beautiful...

 Lucy says there is lots of business to be had on this ottoman. Like walking around it and stuff.

 Then I brought them home and look who else loves them. LOLA.... Actually Lola is really vain and probably just wanted her picture taken.

We had some good friends surprise us last night and they were a hit! What is it with my dogs always wanting to be in the picture? Hurley. (Notice we haven't added curtains to the sliding glass doors, which I have plans to make into french doors.) Another post a long time from now.

 They look great in my sitting room/Living room.... Not to mention the 3" of cushion is nice on a tushy...

 Once all is said and done, I would make these again. They were not simple because I did not have the skills to make them right away. Now that I am leaning I could make them again without as much difficulty. One lady said she made them during her kids nap time. Now, unless Lucy takes 8 hour naps I wouldn't agree with this lady. But I am sure I could make them a lot quicker this time. For the price too, you really can't beat it and they are adorable. I want to add some green Pom-poms to the bottom. What do you think?

One last little look...

Dinner Napkin + Old Pillow = Beautiful New Pillow

I am pretty excited to share this post with you today. Last night I decided that I should make some great pillows for my new sitting area. I have been struggling with how to decorate my house. More specifically, what color pallets I want to use in my house. So I think I have decided to build off the colors of my walls and dishes (green & yellow). When we moved in we decided to paint the walls on the main level a muted corn yellow. We discovered that Miller paints makes a recycled brand that was super cheap. We couldn't afford not to go with it since we painted the entire inside of the house including the ceilings. Their recycled paint line is called Metro Paint . After talking with a best friend today, (whose style I love) told me that she's been really into yellow and green and I had to concur, which made me extra confident in my color scheme decision.
 Having my colors in mind I set out to make the cheapest pillows I could. I found two really cute table napkins at Cost Plus World Market over the weekend and paired them with like sized solid yellow ones. Then I rummaged around in the garage for some old pillows. You know the ones with the drool stains that would embarrass the pants off of you if your friends ever saw them.

I thought about whip stitching them together really quick but then I thought again. I want to put quality work out there and I am sure that my stitching abilities would never with stand the abuse my family would give them. So I called up my Mom-in-law who pretty much knows how to do it all especially run a sewing machine. After work we went over to their house and I sat down with the machine. I had to be walked though every step. I have used the machine before but its a steep learning curve. I will call these pillows easy to make even though they took me about an hour.

Step 1: Line up the napkins as best you can, inside out.

 Step 2: Approach the machine with confidence and sew some kick ass straight lines along the seams that already exist.

 Step 3: Leave an opening to stuff the pillow with. It's easier if you leave your hole in the middle of one of the sides. Then you dont have to deal with sewing up any corners. I learned this the hard way but I forgot to take photos of the second pillow. Then turn it inside out.

Step 4: Open your old drooled on pillow and stuff the new beautiful, cheap, non-drooled one.

 Step 5: Fold in the opened seams and close the bad boy up!

Or you can pin it like a pro but I wasn't patient enough so I failed at this part. My pillows have some flaws but thats what makes them mine.

Step 6: ENJOY!!! I love them and they match my walls.

Here's a few more pillow pictures for your viewing pleasure. Ahhh and look how nicely they get along with my new coffee table.