Painted Sunflower Pillow

I love most of the pillows in Pottery Barn, but the painted sunflower pillow really caught my eye. I came very close to making the purchase, but then I decided it would be pretty easy to make myself. Although it doesn't look identical, I was pretty happy with my copy-cat version. I just love sunflowers in the fall.

Pottery Barn

Ready for Football Season...

I have used natural colored burlap for tons and tons of projects. I have a thing for burlap. But I had never used colored burlap until I made these pillows. I made the Auburn pillow for a bride-to-be who is also an Auburn grad. She is getting married in September and is having a football area for the wedding party to watch the games before the ceremony. Her future husband is an LSU fan so she decided to decorate using a "house divided" theme. She contacted me to make 2 pillows for each team. So, this is just one of the four that I will be making.

When I bought the orange burlap material, I realized that there was a red color that could easily pass for crimson. Being an Alabama fan and alumni, I knew there was no way that I could make an Auburn pillow with out making an Alabama one too. 

For both pillows, I hand painted the team logos and then sewed the burlap to make a cover for the pillow form. Of course, I like one a bit more than the other, but I think they both turned out great. Now, I am just ready for football season!

Monogram burlap pillow

If you haven't picked up on it yet from my other posts, I am pretty much obsessed with monograms. I feel that a set of monogrammed initials portrays a sense of neat, preppy style. It can add an interest to the simplest of things. And, of course, it lets others know that your stuff belongs to you. 

The summer weather has motivated us to begin decorating our back deck and pergola, in hopes of some late afternoon al fresco dining. We haven't officially decided on a color scheme for throw pillows, rugs, etc, but I had an idea for a pillow that I wanted to make. I decided since I was making it out of burlap, it would go with anything. I started with a 14x20 outdoor pillow form, cut 2 pieces of burlap to fit accordingly, and sewed it together. Next, I created a circular monogram of my initials using Adobe Illustrator, printed it to make a stencil, and cut the letters out with an xacto knife. I placed the stencil in the middle of the pillow cover, and painted it with "antique white" acrylic paint. I sealed the painted monogram with a sprayed coat of polyurethane to protect it from moisture. Finally, I sewed the bottom side of the pillow cover closed and took the pillow outside to see it in its new surroundings. I am thinking we will end up with a few more like this in with our backyard decor.

Personalized Subway Art

I really like the look of the popular subway art signs, but they are not exactly my style when it comes to decorating my house. Since I really wanted to make one but didn't have a particular use for it, I decided to make one as a gift. Quite a few of my projects that I have posted about have been for my friend Jennifer, who got married the beginning of March. This project fell into that category as well. I decided to personalize the canvas, focusing on numbers and words that related to her wedding. I created the letters using stencils that I had on hand, as well as making some by printing the words and cutting them out with an exacto knife. I painted their names, "Jenn" and "Brad", the largest. Then I filled in with smaller words including "beach" and "Destin", because that was their wedding location. I used a large "3" and "5" to symbolize their wedding date, March 5th. I also added a set of small vertical numbers "8", "9", and "10" because they got engaged on August 9th, 2010. We used it to decorate at Jennifer's shower and she also chose to use it on the table with the groom's cake at her reception. 

After making the first subway art sign, I decided that the boyfriend needed one as well. Since Auburn won the national championship this year and he goes to school there, I sucked it up and got out the orange and blue paint. I have to say it would have looked even better in crimson and white with a "Roll Tide" and maybe a "Rammer Jammer" (University of Alabama lingo). Anyways, I painted words associated with Auburn football including the name of their stadium, their mascot, colors, and saying, and last year's star quarterback. I have painted several other Auburn themed paintings for his apartment so this one fit right in and helped to brighten his living room a bit. 

"Eye of the Tiger" painting for Josh 

"Aubie" painting for Josh