Indoor/Outdoor Pillows

Well, happy to say boating season in upon us! We are settling into our new digs and learning what does what and what goes where. In the few weekends we have spent at the dock, one thing I have been wanting is a few indoor/outdoor fabric pillows for the flybridge area. As soon as we saw this boat, before the sale was even complete, I called "shotgun" on this pretty sweet little lounge chair.

Since comfort is my goal, I planned to just pick up a few pillows at Target or Lowes, etc., with outdoor material to make the space more functional. However, I was disappointed with the fabric options out there and even more disappointed with the price. I took a little trip to my local Joann Fabric store and, lo and behold, not only was the indoor/outdoor fabric 50% off, so were the pillow inserts! Score. I was able to pick up all that I needed, including zippers and cord for the piping for around $35 for one 20"x20" pillow and one 18"x18" pillow. Target was selling ONE large outdoor pillow for $39.99. 

I started by measuring my pillow to make sure of the dimensions. For the 20" pillow, I cut two squares of my fabric at 21"x21" to allow for a 1/2" seam. 

I measured out slightly more cord than I needed for the piping (4 sides x 20" for a total of 80" plus about 4-6" to spare.) I then used my piping foot on my sewing machine to make navy blue covered piping to go with the fabric I chose.

I followed the directions on this YouTube video to apply the welting/piping to the pillow front. 

I wanted to add a hidden zipper so the covers could be taken off and washed or changed at any time in the future. I won't go into detail about how to sew in the zipper, the woman in this YouTube video does a great job of walking you through how to do it. She also shows you how to finish off the pillow once the zipper is in. 

I found her video to be incredibly helpful and detailed. 

Here are the finished products:

 I loved the bright floral print with the blue zig-zag. Since the two fabric didn't necessarily "go together," I added the same navy piping to the floral pillow to pull it all together. 

I'm very happy with the outcome. Hopefully you can be inspired too, and save a few bucks in the process!

Marquee Sign Winter Windowscape

Two blog posts in one week?!?! I've had the week off and have seen very little of most of my house...because I've been holed up in my craft studio most days. It' bee  good week of getting projects finished. Today's post is a fun marquee-style sign, a trend that is oh-so-hot right now.  I have this display window that I change out several times a year for the various seasons. I din't get around to doing anything special for Christmas, so with the start of a new year, I cooked up a little something fun that's sure to last me through the next couple er, few ahem, SEVERAL months since I kept it a generic winter theme. Sad but true! First I'm going to show step-by-step how I made the marquee-inspired "Winter" sign, then I'll show you the whole windowscape. 

I got the idea for a cheap, lightweight and inexpensive marquee letter from this blog post. I started with a paper maché "W". 

I used an X-acto knife to carefully cut of the top layer of cardboard and removed the filler inside (which is just a strip of cardboard that gives the shape some structure.)

I then painted the letter with white chalk paint. Once the white was dry, I added an oxidizing iron paint to the inside and outside seams where I wanted the letter to look rusted and give the impression that the cardboard was actually a rusted metal sign letter. This is the product I used to get the rust finish.

Once the oxidizing paint dried, I brushed on the rusting solution. I also brushed on some of my own rusting brew. I use this on wood, paint, paper. It's cool stuff if you want to make things looked aged. Here's what the letter looked like after those steps. I have a feeling the rust will continue to develop even weeks from now. I've used this product before and that is exactly what happened.

I decided where to punch the holes for the lights by drawing a grid on the back like this:

Now, I'm making this lighted letter into a sign that says "winter:" I had prepared a small wooden plaque by gluing three unmatched strips of wood together and giving them an aging treatment using a combination of steps including my rusting brew, beeswax and brown shoe polish and sanding. That's how we roll! Once I had the placement for my lights figured out on the W, I laid it over the plaque where I wanted it to go and transferred the holes with a drill. I drilled all the way through to the other side so I could feed one LED light through each hole.

I had purchased this cool little light set at Hobby Lobby specifically designed to make mini marquee lighted signs. Perfect! Who knew they made such things? It looks way more authentic than just having exposed LED bulbs. I tried to find the product on Hobby Lobby's website so I could give you a link directly to the item I purchased, but I couldn't find it. I did switch out the string of lights that came with the kit for one that was on a timer. I got these on deep discount at Joann Fabric around Christmas time. They're perfect for the location of my window, since it's way up on the wall in our split entry level and I would not be dragging out my 7' ladder every time I wanted to turn the lights on! This way, they come on at 4 o'clock every afternoon and turn off automatically at 10. I love these little lights!

I inserted one light into each clear bulb and on the back side of the plaque I arranged the remaining bulbs. I CAREFULLY stapled the extra cording down so it would stay tucked away out of sight.

And here it is!

Lighted too. 

At this point I still had to had to add the i-n-t-e-r part of "winter". I did this with vinyl cut on my Cricut. Here is the whole window put together.

I also cut out the word "wonderland" because, well, we live in Minnesota, we might as well embrace winter!

My tongue-in-cheek take on the "wonderland" part of "winter wonderland"!

Another string of "uber" mini LED lights on a wire, found at Bachman's. These are also on a timer, so, perfect! It adds such a nice warm glow at night.

There you have it. I should be good until at least April!

'Atta Boy Ottoman

It's hard to believe it's been a year since I finished my craft room reno. What a realxing, inspiring and comforting place it has been. I get exhausted just thinking about how much work it was to do that project! Today's post I am showing you a little ottoman build I did using up leftover supplies from the craft room makeover.  First, there's the chair that narrowly escaped being fuel in our fire pit :

(This is after I made new cushions.)

Then there are the legs on my craft table that I made from balusters that I cut one end off of:

The leftovers from the table legs made perfect little chunky legs for a footstool and I had leftover fabric from the chair cushions, So here's what I did.

I cut down the legs a little more to make them the right height. I then applied an aging solution over the green treated wood. Once that dried and darkened to a nice medium rust color, I applied a coat of Country Living brand chipping creme and let that dry. 

Lastly, I applied a coat of homemade chalk paint (just flat creamy white paint that I poured some baking soda into). As soon as that was dry, I lightly sanded the spindles to give it an aged/distressed look to match the chair that spent a winter out by our fire pit! The chipping cream allows the top layer of paint to come off very nicely to reveal the underneath color.

I then used this hardware

to make the legs able to be attached to the ottoman base. 

I built a VERY rudimentary base for the ottoman. Again, I was able to use old plywood and pine we had laying around. Yay for left overs! Double yay for using up leftovers!!

(Top side.)

(Bottom side.)

I then set the 4" foam pad on top and took measurements of height, length and width to figure out how big I needed my cover. I added 1/2" on width and length and 2" on height, plus seam allowances. 

I attached the legs,

and put the foam pad on top, I also wrapped a light layer of batting around the sides and lightly whip-stitched it in place so it wouldn't shift when I put the fabric cover on.

If you want to learn how to sew an ottoman cover, the best place I can direct you is to this YouTube channel. This gal Kim has TONS of great upholstery step-by-step videos. I didn't photograph all the steps of sewing my cover, but I made it to mimic the cushions on the aforementioned chair. I used (leftover) grey piping and my grey and cream chevron fabric. I followed the example on Kim's YouTube video on how to finish off the bottom edge.

I added a dust cover of left over drop cloth fabric. 

And here it is at home in its new spot! I love it. 

It's small and chunky and really comfy. It's really sturdy so it even could function as another seat if I take to entertaining large groups of people in my craft room! For now, it's a party of one. 

Coffee Bean Sack Napkin Holder

Anyone who knows my family, knows that my creativity comes from my parents. My mom and dad are the epitome of "necessity is the mother of invention." Years ago for Christmas, my parents came up with this pattern for napkin holders to give as Christmas gifts. At the ripe old age of 3?, I finally got one of my own! My dad gave me a "napkin holder kit" this summer. He called it a kit because he brought me the parts in raw wood and I got to decide how to stain and clothe it. Here it is after I gave it a nice layer of dark Espresso stain by General Finishes, one of my favorites, and five coats of poly.

The sides of the napkin holder are fabric that attach on the dowels like a curtain rod top and bottom. I decided to go with a coffee bean sack logo to keep with the vintage feel I like decorating with and also to play on the espresso brown stain! I did a little looking online and found a logo I liked the looks of to replicate. 

I like text in decorating, especially when there's a mix of fonts. Here's my version designed in Photo Shop Pro.

I started with a piece of drop cloth fabric cut a bit larger than the finished product would be. Drop cloth fabric is nicer to work with than actual burlap, cuts and sews nicer and frays less. It still has that "old" look of burlap.

Next, I printed my logo on Avery brand "stretchable" T-shirt transfer paper. Notice that the print is mirrored. My printer does this automatically when I select T-shirt transfer as the paper type. Some printers you need to mirror your image first. 

Lay the logo face down on your drop cloth fabric. I used my clear ruler to center the image.

After the image was transferred, I used the center of the logo to determine where the right, left, top and bottom hems needed to be. the top and bottom hems are sewn as a pocket like you would in a curtain.

And here it is!

I love it. I got to thinking, a larger one would make an adorable magazine holder too. Dad???