Seriously Easy Pillow Covers

Okay, so let's play a game of what's wrong with the following picture...

If you guessed the green pillow with the red/khaki color scheme - You Guessed It!  Hooray!

(Okay, who am I kidding.  The green pillows has been around for almost 2 years.  I have really wanted to change them many times... but just now did it.  Oops)

So, I used fabric I had left over from our kitchen table makeover...which will likely make its way to a post soon.  And, I used this awesome tutorial.  The nice part is that the pillow cover has a zipper, so it is easy to wash.  The tutorial is really easy, and the part that took me the longest was cutting out the fabric.  For some reason, I am way too slow at cutting my peices.  But, then again, sewing is all in the prepartion and details.  I just don't know if the cutting preparation should take quite that long.  :)

And, after a little while of sewing goodness.... here is the final product!

LOVE it!

A close up of the zipper on the back:

And, when the flap is closed, you can barely tell there is a zipper!

I have gotten lucky a couple of times now where the pattern lines up quite nicely... it helps to hide the zipper even better.  Not really sure how I do that...

And a few other things... the tutorial calls for the zipper to be at the top of the pillow.  Oops.  The way I cut my fabric, the zipper ended up being on the side.  I like to call that a nice assymetrical look.

And, I accidentally bought a zipper too long.  So, you can easily fix that by using a wider zig-zag stitch and just stitch back and forth in one spot... it will end up looking like this:

You'll want to cut the zipper about an inch after your newly made stopper.

And, you remember in my last post when I talk about my crafting adventure exploding all over the kitchen? .... well....

Yep, there we have it.  It's a good thing that my sweet husband is out of town... and not here to be bothered by the sewing explosion.

Hope you have a happy day...

Simple Scrappy Birthday Card

So, I just stumbled upon a collection of pictures from my scrapbooking phase. 

I tend to craft in phases - depending on what stuff I decide to let explode all over the kitchen table.  I have always had dreams of a crafting room... where I can have my projects out and can close the door when the crafting chaos isn't a welcomed sight.  (...gasp!  I know - how could it ever not be welcome?!)

So, here is more scrapbooking goodness.  I love the idea of cards that are personalized just for the person to recieve them.  This one was made for my now brother-in-law's birthday a few years ago.

I guess the B could stand for Birthday - but in this case it was for his first name....

And, when you open the little tie, you get to see the birthday wishes....

And, then you can flip up the card and write your own message inside.

I love the tie, destressed edges, and the bronze staples.  A few guy-friendly details.  I like to think that scrapbooking goes to the next level when you pay attention to the details.  This card could really be personalized for any event... not just birthday wishes.

It's funny because this is about as masculine as I can get in my scrapbooking.  It's just so hard to try to persuade myself that ribbons, and grommets, and chalking and inking screams 'MAN!'.  It usually just is more female-friendly... although I think it's just good taste and cute, right?!

I'm hoping to get back to current-day crafting adventures... but work demands are making me look back at my past adventures... which isn't all bad, either! 

Paper Bag Books

Okay - so I love these.  They kind of combine all the goodness of scrapbooking, sewing (just barely), actual physical cards (which I think are all too rare anymore) and a whole bunch of thoughtfulness.

I have made a few, and I really don't know why I haven't made more.  Well... maybe I do.  I sometimes take hours doing a page in a scrapbook... so I would have to say it's safe to say that these would take me a long time.  And, I love doing them - so I'm not complaining one bit.  It's just that whole thing of there not being enough crafting hours in a day.  Bummer.

I made this one for my dad after he traveled to good 'ole Chi-town to support me in my 4th Breast Cancer 3-Day walk.  (Which, is all together a whole different series of posts because it is such an amazing and life changing event).  For those of you not familiar - the 3-Day is a walk that spans, you guessed it, 3 days.  We walk 20 miles per day - a total of 60 miles.  For these three days it is totally socially acceptable, and quite encouraged, to wear bras overtop tank-tops, on your hat, swirling around in the air, etc.  It's not everyday that I walk around in the wide-open public wearing a feather bra, a flowered coconut bra, or glittery seashell bra.  And, yes, I did make all three!  Hooray!  The crafting spans into 3-day accessories!

So, onto the paper bag book.  It is a cute way to make a card/book/scrapbooking momento/etc. 

All you do is take paper lunch bags.  I actually stumbled upon extra large bags - which was more fun because you can fit more onto a page. Stack the bags on top of one another.  I alternate the bags, so that the closed end of one is on top of the open end of another.  Stack as many as you want, and stitch down the center.  And - there you have it - a paperbag book!

Now, it is up to you just how you decorate it.  The open ends of the bags become little pockets to slip in extra little surprises.

They are so easy. So cute.  And such a fun surprise when someone is expecting a card to accompany a gift... or when they're expecting nothing at all.

Happy Crafting!