Vacation Week: Fat Quarter Pillow Covers

We FINALLY got ourselves a love seat. Can you believe it?

I can't.

We have been living in such simplicity with just a lonely old couch for so long.

It was about time we found something else to for people to sit on!

Both our couch and our new love seat were purchased via Craigslist.

I know some people are skeptical, but I honestly don't know what I'd do without that little website.

Actually, I do know. We'd be sitting on the floor in our living room, instead of on couches!

Our old couch is this strange eggplant-y color. 

When we bought it, we (at least I) thought it was going to be brown.

We got it home and realized it was purple. Interestingly enough, we kinda liked it.

The only thing we don't like is that it is so dang hard to match!

Luckily, I found this great light blue, almost sea foam green, love seat and it matches the eggplant couch perfectly! It is in practically new condition and is oh-so-cushy.

All that was left to do was make some fun, colorful pillows to adorn our new living room set.

I am ALWAYS looking for the cheapest way to do things, especially when it comes to crafting, so I simply used fat quarters to make some pillow cases. 

No designer fabrics for me (although I often dream about them)!

I picked out some bright, summery colors to liven up the room.

Each cover is removable/re-usable and they each have a different color/design on front and back.

I love the strange-ness of the color and pattern combinations that I chose!

Here is how I made them:

1. Fold the corner of one fat quarter up to match the side, making a triangle. Cut off the excess fabric. Now, you have a square piece of fabric. This will be the front of your pillow case.

 2. Take another fat quarter and cut it in half. This will be the back of your pillow case.

 3. Take the back 2 pieces of fabric that you just cut and hem one edge on each of them. I serged, ironed over once, and then top stitched to create my hem. Easy peasy.

 4. Lay your front piece of fabric out, right side facing up. Lay one back fabric piece on top, right side facing down. Make sure your hemmed edge is in the middle. Take your second back fabric piece and lay in on the other side, right side facing down. The middle, hemmed edges of the back fabric pieces should over lap. Pin all 4 edges and sew all the way around.

 5. Flip your pillow case right side out and iron.

  

Here is what the back side should look like.

  Slip your pillow forms inside the case, and you are finished! Such a quick, and cheap little way to spruce up your living room!

Vacation Week: Dollar Store Wreath

Wreaths are always a great, easy way to decorate for any occasion or holiday.

You don't really have to be great at decorating to be able to pull off a good wreath, and that is why I like them.

The wreath that I made around Christmas was still up on the door until very recently, so I thought it was about time I put something summery up there.

Most of my materials for this wreath were from the dollar store. The rest were things that I already had lying around the house. It's always pretty satisfying when I make something that is almost completely free. It probably makes Curtis a lot happier too! 

So here is the low down on my summer wreath:

Materials: $1 frame, $1 flowers, 4 strips of scrap fabric, mod podge

  I have definitely blogged about my love for fabric and mod podge before when I made a fabric frame for our bedroom. I didn't have any extra wreaths to use, so I went with the fabric mod podge idea for this project.

All you have to do is paint mod podge onto the frame,

and then cover it with your fabric strips. I made sure to fold down each corner on an angle to make it look nice. I wrapped the fabric around the back of the frame and just slathered on the mod podge to hold it in place. Once it's there, that fabric isn't going anywhere!

Repeat this for all sides of the frame.

Then, I just hot glued (another crafty thing I love) the flowers to the back of the frame.

I added some scrap ric rac and a little "Summer" cut out and, voila!
So easy, a 2 year old could do it!
(Ande actually did help me a lot with this wreath, he helped paint on the mod podge. He felt so special!)

I don't consider anything I make to be amazingly crafty or unique by any means, so I thought I'd share with you some other summery wreath ideas that I found. These wreaths actually are pretty amazing and unique! I didn't write out each blog because of time, but there is a link to their site under each photo. Make sure you click over and check them out!

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I hope these give you a little inspiration for making your own front door beautiful and patriotic this year!

Vacation Week: Guest Post: Chef in Training

I am so excited to introduce you to Nikki from Chef in Training today.

She has an amazing blog with post after post of mouth watering recipes.

Not being so great in the kitchen myself, I have never really shared any recipes on this blog.

That is why I had to ask Nikki, the food extraordinaire, to help me out!

I hope you enjoy her tasty recipe, and make sure you stop by her blog to leave some love and thanks!

I was so excited when Lindsay asked me to guest post on her blog!  I love doing guest posts and sharing some of my favorite recipes with new readers!

My name is Nikki and I am an aspiring chef/baker/cook!  I am the cook behind Chef In Training.  My blog is centered around recipes that I LOVE!  I got my passion for cooking from my mother.  My mom is one of the best cooks I have ever met.  Growing up and eating her wonderful food, I would often think to myself, “That is exactly what I want to do!”  My major in college is to be a dietitian.  I took some time off when I had my daughter.  She is now almost 2 and my best bud!  To add to the excitement, in a one short week, we will be adding a baby boy to our home!  I love being a stay at home mom, but sometimes it can make for some pretty long days.  I began filling my extra time with cooking and experimenting in the kitchen and soon discovered I truly love being there!  I love to cook for people!  It has become a passion of mine and one of my hubby's favorite things about me haha!

Lindsay wanted me to share one of my favorite summer recipes with you.  One of my favorite things about summer is the wonderful fruit that comes in season. I LOVE fruit, it adds such a beautiful presentation with all its color and variety.

Today, I am going to share my recipe for Fruit Pizza!

FRUIT PIZZA

Cookie:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 F

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.  Mix in egg. Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; stir into the combined mixture until just blended. Press dough into an un-greased pizza pan.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned on top.  Let cool.

For Topping:

• 12 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 cup maraschino cherry juice
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup sugar

Blend topping together until smooth.

Spread over cooled cookie and top with your favorite fruits!

Enjoy!

If you want to quicken this recipe up, you can always buy Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough and use that instead!  The taste is great and it saves on clean up time!

Thanks again for letting me be here and be sure and stop by my blog, Chef In Training, and say "hi"!  I love to meet new blogging friends!

Vacation Week: No Cut Towel Wrap

I LOVE this little project!

{No Cutting Required Towel Cover-Up}

If you are like me, then you know that getting from the car to the pool/beach and vice versa is always a juggling act. There are hands to hold, bags over the shoulders, and toys to carry. The last thing you need is the towel that you carefully wrapped around your chest or waist falling off as you walk.

Well, worry no more. All you need is a beach towel, some thread, a sewing machine, elastic, and some velcro and your problem is solved! You don't even need a huge chunk of time to complete this project, just a measly 30 minutes or less. I literally made mine in the 15 minutes that we spent getting bathing suits on and getting ready to leave for the pool. And you know what is the greatest part about this? Well let me tell you: there is NO CUTTING involved! There are no patterns to cut out, and no towel cutting whatsoever. It's that easy and that quick, I promise!

Let's get started!

Gather your materials (beach towel, elastic, thread, velcro, straight pins).

Fold your towel in half with the short edges of the towel matched up together. Place a pin in the center fold.

Measure across your chest from arm pit to arm pit. Then, take that same measurement to your towel. You can unfold your towel now. Measure from the short edge over and place a pin in that spot. Repeat this step for each edge of your towel.

Flip the top, long edge of your towel down. Make sure you flip it down atleast as wide as the width of your elastic. I turned mine down about 1 1/4 inches. Now, with your sewing machine, this turned edge from pin to pin. There should be some length left unsewn on each side, depending on your chest measurement and where you placed your pins.

Measure your back from side to side and cut a piece of elastic that size. Insert your elastic and string through the channel created by the last step.

Sew each edge of the elastic down. I sewed two lines for extra hold. You should be sewing at the point where your pins were placed on each side.

You should now have a gathered section in the middle, top edge of your towel.

Now, you can sew down the leftover edges.

Cut some velcro to your desired length. I only had about 6 inches of velcro available, so that is how much I used. However, you could use velcro along the entire section of non-gathered towel.

Sew one side of velcro to the outside of the towel, next to the gathered section.

Sew the other piece of velcro to the inside of the towel on the edge.

And that is all there is to it, folks!

All of the towel's edges are already finished, so there is no need for any more sewing.

If your towel wrap ends up being a little too loose, all you need to do is shorten your elastic piece so that it gathers more in the back.

My towel wrap is the perfect length for me, hitting me just above the knees. Now I can walk to and from the pool all covered up. No more worries about my towel slipping down as I walk! I love mine, and have worn it almost every day since I made it. I'm actually wearing it right now as I type this.

The thought just occurred to me that this could also be a great bath robe as well! Just throw it on after a shower and wear it while you blow dry your hair, put on make-up, or decide what to wear!

Enjoy!

Sunday Snapshots {13}

Just a little peak into our paddle boating experience this week.

I know he looks a little "weary," but he was just taking it all in.

He was loving every minute of it. He probably would have loved it more if Nana and I could have paddled faster. Our legs were so tired from our 3 mile walk that the boat wasn't really going anywhere.

When we let him take over the steering wheel, you could see pure joy sweep across his little cheeks!

My little man in his little life vest.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I certainly did!

We have family coming in tomorrow evening and thus begins our Family Reunion week!

We are bursting with excitement around here, can't wait to see everyone!

Vacation Week starts tomorrow! Stop by for a No Cutting Required Towel Wrap Tutorial. Whew, what a mouthful!

Friday Finds...Sarah + Abraham

Today, I have a lot of little things to share with you.

First of all, I wanted to show you this amazing website I found a while back.

I pretty much want one of everything they sell for my kids.

Sarah + Abraham

Pretty much everything she makes is personalized, which I love!

She sells everything from stationary, bowls, and placemats, to waterbottles, and pillows!

Here are just a couple of my favorites:

Olliegraphic Pillow

The fact that my baby-to-be's name is on this particular pillow is just a small reason why I love it so much.

I just love the whole idea. I want one for both my boys. The best part is that you can personalize each pillow specifically for your child. She lets you specify fabric color, facial expression, hair style, eye shape, and hair, skin, and eye color. Among others.

Olliegraphic Placemat

Another fabulous, personalized item for purchase.

There are boy and girl options, and you can choose from fun themes like super heroes, chefs, and ballerinas.

Make sure you go over to Sarah + Abraham's website to check out everything they have. There is so much more that I just didn't have time or room to show you! I know you will love it. I probably sound like I've been paid to advertise for them, but I haven't! I promise. I am just in awe at her lovely, creative, handmade business.

Now don't forget to tune in, starting next Monday, for a week of fun summer-time projects/ideas!

I have some great tutorial posts ready to show you and I am so excited to have Nikki from Chef in Training guest posting for me! She knows some amazing recipes and I can't wait for you to see what she has in store for us!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. Get outside and enjoy some time with family.