Flour Sack Pillow

 When I was out in Lucketts, Virginia, I bought this flour sack pillow case.  I think it was a flour sack first, then someone sewed it into a pillow case.  I don't have much of a need for pink and aqua roosters in the bedrooms of my house; I do, however,  NEED a THROW PILLOW adorned with pink & aqua roosters in my house - who doesn't?

I cut the pillow case down, attached some aqua trim, sewed, turned, and stuffed!

Now it is one of my favorite pillows ever!

Gallery Wall Start to Finish

I love putting together gallery walls.  This is the last project I did for my friend's home in Virginia.  Here is a step by step tutorial for creating one from laying out the frames to how to properly hang the frames. (The wall paint is Home Depot's Behr Paint in Dolphin Fin)

Step #1 Gather your frames and play around with the layout on the floor.  

For this gallery wall I wanted different sizes, different shapes and different texture frames.  The trick to getting a good layout is to either have it perfectly symmetrical and all frames matching and squared up, or in this case, having none of the frames align.  I was careful not to have the frames line up ant the top, bottom, or in the center.  This picture is not the final layout!  Once you get your layout how you want it - take a picture of it so you can remember!

Step #2 Create Footprints
Get out your old wrapping paper and trace each frame to make a footprint to be arranged on the wall first.

 

Step #3 Paint
I get all my frames at garage sales and thrift shops.  For this bathroom, I had specific colors in mind to paint the frames: orange, green, navy, and yellow. I always use spray primer first.  It totally helps your paint go farther and cover better!

 

 Step #4 Attach Wire for Hanging
I took a picture framing class 14 years ago from a gal who framed art for the Smithsonian.  I have never forgot what I learned in that class!

It is best not to use this kind of hanger - it is too hard to get the picture to hang level.

 

Instead, measure about 2.5" to 3" down (depending on the size of your frame) on both sides of frame.  Attach eye screws.  If it is hard to get the eye screws started, hammer a little nail hole first.

 

Cut a piece of picture hanging wire and loop it through both the eye screws, winding the excess around itself.

 

It's ready to hang now!  What is nice about using wire is you can make adjustments to the height of your picture if you don't get the nail in the right place and it will always hang level.

TIP
If your frame has a stand on the back, you must remove it or it will also hang funny because of an uneven weight distribution.  Take your pliers and rip the thing off!!

Step #5
Clean the glass of each frame and place your art or photo in the frame.  For this gallery wall we choose some fun, retro bathroom prints.

This one is three Waldorf Toilet Paper Advertisements.

This one is a retro bathroom with a child brushing her teeth.

I found this retro Kleenex advertisement and it was in the colors of the bathroom!

 

Step #6 Tape the footprints to the wall with painters tape

This is important because you get a good feel of how it is going to look.  I actually ended up changing a few frames around from my original design.

 

Step #7 Use picture hanger nails

I hammered my picture hangers into the wall through the paper so I knew it would be perfect.

 

Step #8 - Hang your frames & admire!

You're done!  I love how this one turned out!! 

  

The Cutest Curtains Ever!!! {tutorial}

 I spent a week in Virginia helping my friend decorate her house.  She has this big window in her front room and it needed some curtains.  Here is how you can make them too!

We bought this 2-pack of canvas drop cloths at the Home Depot.  They were $10 for the pair.  We liked these because they were a little more gray than tan.


Some of the other canvas drop cloths were only 1 in a package.  The ones we bought were perfect because we needed 2 curtain panels.

They ended up being the perfect width for our window.  You may need to adjust the measurements to fit your window.  Measure how long you want them and then add 3" for the hem.  Make sure to consider how you want to hang them.  Ours were hung with curtain clips on a rod.  Cut off the extra fabric and hem.  Our hem was rolled once then again about 2 1/2 inches.

We bought a Queen size flat sheet at the thrift shop it was on sale for $3.

Snip the sheet at 4" increments and tear apart.  (Do this the long way so you have enough length to ruffle.)  We used 6 strips per panel.  Adjust depending on the size of your curtains.  The combination of the warn, softness of the sheet and the tearing gave the ruffles a nice vintage edge.

After the strips are torn, cut the hemmed edges off the strips so they are raw on all 4 sides.  Sew a gathering stitch down the center of the 4" strips.  Gather.

Draw a line 1/3 the way up from the bottom of the curtain.  Then draw a line every 6" to the bottom of the curtain.  You should have 6 lines for 6 ruffles.



Adjust the ruffle to fit the width of your panel.  Pin the gathered seam along the pencil line.  Continue pinning all 6 ruffles.  Sew a straight stitch over your gathering stitch.  It's a little awkward because the drop cloth is a little thick. 

 Keep gathering and gathering and pinning and pinning - you can do it!!

 Once you have sewn the ruffles on, they are ready to hang!!  You could easily make a pocket at the top if you don't want to use curtain clips.  We bought our clips and rod at Target.

We finished our project at 1:00 am.  We hung them up and sat on the couch and admired them for quite some time.  They gave the room such a darling, finished look.

 In my house in California, I have shutters on all my windows, so I don't think I will be able to have my own set of these curtains in my house.  That makes me sad.  I took lots of pictures so I could remember how cute they turned out!!

A little Easter

 I have a few little bunnies popping up all over my house!  I love springtime!!

 I never know quite how do decorate "around the TV".  There are not many choices - tall things on the side I guess!!

 

I found these brown bunnies at the thrift shop.  I gave 'um a coat of Heirloom White spray paint.  Did I mention I love bunnies??

 I found this silver tray at the Goodwill.  It was marked $29.99 - YIKES!!  But it was blue sticker half price day and this had a blue sticker!!  So I got it for $15!!  (It still seemed a little pricy for a thrift shop)