giveaway: thomas paul pillow

Yay! It's giveaway day! And here's what you can win:

It's the Chrysanthemum pillow from the Thomas Paul collection. This puppy is large too, 18x18, and would be a lovely addition to any bedroom, living room or office decor.

And here's all the important stuff ya gotta know to win:

1. You must be a follower of my blog to enter.

2. Limit one entry per person

3. You must live in the continential US

4. And lastly, you must leave a comment by Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009 (the winner will be announced Nov. 25, 2009)

Ok, my lovelies...this is it for now! Happy Friday!

Breanna

working on things...

Hello all.

I have been MIA for quite a bit now and as you can see alot has changed...how do you like the new look? The old look (which wasn't even that old) was a little too girly for me and I wanted something that reflected my two favorite colors right now...grey and green.

And, I did it myself! Working with the html code was a pain, but there are so many good, easy tutorials out there that even the most technology challenged person could do it.

So, what do you guys think?

I wanted to change my direction a little bit and focus more on crafts than just painting canvas' for children's rooms. Yes, I still do that, but it's not the only thing I do now :) I've been sewing, and baking, and decorating so much lately that I want to encompass all those things in my blog now.

I have so much to update you guys on...room make-overs (yes, I finally finished the home office!), new holiday crafts, and a giveaway!

So, stay tuned tomorrow! I'm gonna be giving away free stuff!

Home Office Remodel

Office Remodel by Adore Design Studio on Polyvore.com

We're getting ready to sell our house and we know that its not the best time, given the current market but we're hopeful anyways.

I have to get the house in tip-top shape within the next few weeks and I have one room left to complete: the spare/third bedroom. It's my currently my craft room where I paint/sew/scheme up things to make and it's a disaster. I have my old bedroom furniture in there from when I was little and it's just ugly.

So, the mood board above is the feel that I'm going for. I love, love, love that green chair from Target. It will be the only thing I splurge on (it's about $300) and the rest of the furniture will be scrounged from places like Goodwill or Craigslist! And of course, I'm making the silhouette portraits of me and hubs :)

Here's the layout of my teeny-tiny room I want to turn into my office:

I got out my trusty tape measure and drew (to-scale) what my room would look like with all the furniture in it.

Is that too much furniture for my small room? Or is there another way to rearrange it? What do you guys think?

um, wow

Imagine seeing that on your way home from work...

When I saw it, I almost peed my pants from laughing! My cousin and I seriously had to pull the car over or we would have caused an accident. That's my mom, in case some of you didn't catch that. She's still trying to find out who did that...no one is claiming responsibility.

falling for scarves

Scarves are something you normally bust out in the fall when the leaves turn colors and the air gets a little crispy, but it seems the trend bucked that tradition.... I saw girls all over sporting 'em in like July & August. And I can't say that I'm displeased about that, because I absolutely love scarves. But patience, girls, good things come to those who wait. Am I right?

It takes an udderly crappy day [weatherwise] to truly appreciate the fashion savvy-ness of a good scarf. At least thats my philosophy.

Now me? I wait till about mid-September before I haul out my box of scarves. Yes, I am like an old grandma who hoards scarves in a box under her bed....I was born middle-aged ok? And then I'm like a giddy-school girl deciding what I'm going to wear based on what scarf I'm wearing.

Sigh. If only I all these lovely ladies scarves [and money] for my collection, but here they are anyways for a little fall inspiration:

Lauren Conrad gets two photos credits because she's fabulous. Look at how she uses a scarf for some fierce classiness and then in the next uses a different scarf to play-up her tomboy cuteness. Love that girl.

Hillary Duff...now if you can get past staring at her huge forehead then you'll notice the massive scarf she's sporting. I like it, balances the all black outfit she's wearing.

Oh Jessica, I can't help but feel badly for you. It seems you've been down on your luck lately, but that gorgeous scarf will make it all better. I promise.

Not sure what to make of this one. Normally, I like Jessica Alba's style of very understated and pissed off. But this one? I can't decide if it's the patter of the scarf or the way she's wearing it that I don't like.

Oh, and in some more awesome news: Lauren Conrad's collection just hit Kohl's stores this month. You know where I'm going today...

i'm in love....

(images ganked from Miniature Rhino)

I saw these on Etsy today and just absolutely fell in love. Fell. In. Love.



Hand stitched, embroidered goodness! [Insert enthusiastic squeal here!].



This girl, Jessica, lives in Brooklyn, NY and just stitches all day. Sigh. It sounds fabulous, but I know her hands must hurt. I just love the creations that she comes up with and I don't know who photographs her work [I suspect it is her as well] but it is just as fabulous!



I must have one. No..., I need one. I can imagine the wall space where it will hang above my bedside table, the same wall space that has been lacking a special something.



Ms. Jessica of Miniature Rhino is currently out 7 weeks in production time on her etsy store and it's got me thinking...maybe I should try to make my own? If I fail miserably, well then, there's always Jessica :)

felt pillow tutorial

This past weekend I was crafty (actually I was putting off doing my homework...it seemed like a good idea at the time).

Felt pillows are all the rage right now. And whats not to love? Cheap and easy!

As I was browsing through my favorite online marketplace (i ♥ etsy) I decided that I was going to make my own (not because I don't want to support handmade goods, I just figured it looked so easy I could do it myself).

So here is how to make one:

After I gathered all of my materials (I used leftover fabric from a previous project, cut them into two equal pieces so they were the same size as my felt and a 9x12" sheet of felt from Wal-mart that you can buy for $0.32) I went down to my computer to create my stencil for the pillow.

Step 1

Go to your computer and create the stencil (I used Microsoft Publisher) for the letter on your pillow. Since my pillow is approximately an 8x10" (same size as a letter-sized paper), it was easy to do. Print it off.

Step 2

Cut out your letter or stencil and position it on your felt. Once you are satisfied with the placement, pin it in place and begin cutting out the letter. Be very careful making your cuts. I tried to use an xacto knife, but scissors just worked better for me.

Step 3

After you finish cutting out the letter from your felt, place the felt on the right side (the pattern side) of your fabric so that the pattern from the fabric shows through your cut-out. Pin the felt and the fabric together (you could also use some kind of fabric adhesive instead of pins). Sew all around the outside of the letter A and get as close to the edge as you can. This part can be tricky for beginner sewers because you really have to manipulate your sewing machine to make all the angles. Don't stress. Just go slow and steady because you don't want to have to rip it out and start over.

Step 4

Now that you've sewed the felt to one piece of fabric we need to attach the other piece of fabric and here's the trick: make sure that the pattern sides of the fabric are facing eachother so when you pull it inside-out the patterns are on the outside. Completely sew all three sides of the pillow (it doesn't matter which three, just pick any). On the 4th side, only sew 3/4 of the way (enough of a slit that you can stick your hand in to turn it inside-out). Once your done sewing, do just that...turn it inside out and poke out the edges. Stuff your pillow with foam or pillow fill and handstitch the opening or you can use fabric glue for a more polished look.

Voila!

Phew! How was that? Pretty easy, huh? I made mine on my 45-minute lunch break! So it shouldn't take you too long!

If you have any questions or I left out an important step, please feel free to email me and I'll try to help!