Lab Silhouette Pillow

This is my first post in a while that has absolutely nothing to do with weddings. I finally bought a silhouette machine a couple months ago and I absolutely love it. I bought the black lab download to create this pillow for a gift. I placed the outline on the material, and filled it in with black acrylic paint. I chose a linen colored, thick fabric for a simple, clean design. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a yorkie silhouette but I loved the look the finished lab.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Jennifer Oetting Photography

Although the majority of my posts have been wedding related recently, and this one is no exception, I promise this is not turning into a wedding blog. With all the wedding projects I have been in the middle of, there hasn't been much time for anything else. 

Jennifer Oetting Photography

My friend's sister got married last weekend and she wanted to give her something special. She had written her note but wanted a creative way to give it to her. We decided to make a handkerchief by printing the message on fabric. I had a large collection of vintage handkerchiefs from my grandmother that I used, giving her the "something old". Then I took a strip from my friend's wedding dress, along with a button, to create a flower and the "something new". Next, we tied her high school promise ring from her husband onto the flower with a piece of blue ribbon. That took care of "something borrowed" and "something blue". Around the printed message, I added a pink stitch and a green stitch to include the bride's wedding colors. Apparently, she absolutely loved it and adored the sentimental value. 

Monogrammed Tote

This past week has been crazy busy. I have barely had time to read any blog posts, much less write one. We are on a countdown of 32 days until my best friend's wedding and most of my days have been devoted to making sure all of the details are falling into place. Although the thought of having just a month left to everything is somewhat stressful, I absolutely love it. I love spending time with her and being part of such an exciting time in her life. I also love the wedding planning and design part in general, which seems to be leading somewhere in itself. More on that later. 

One of the projects that I just finished is part of the bride's gifts to her bridesmaids. We found these roomy burlap totes at Hobby Lobby for only $9.99 each (You could use a 40% coupon and get one for $5.99). Since she is filling them with all kinds of goodies, she didn't want to spend the money to get the bags embroidered with each girl's initials. Instead, I stenciled the monograms on each bag with fuschia (her wedding color) acrylic paint. As maid of honor, I got to make one for myself as well, and I'm so glad because I love the result! Of course, you can never go wrong with monograms and burlap.

Mossy Monograms...again

A while back I posted a tutorial on my moss monogram letter. I loved how it turned out and it was a great detail for my friend's wedding. The only thing I didn't like about the project was the pictures. They were blurry and the lighting was completely wrong. Lately, I have sold quite a few sets of these letters on Etsy so I decided to use my latest order to try to get some better shots. 

Click here to see the tutorial!

Monogram Tray

Lately I have been seeing trays with all sorts of modern designs and funky, bright colors. I especially love the addition of large monogram in the center. I happened to have an unpainted wooden tray so I decided to give it a try. I decided to paint the tray gold to dress it up a bit. I measured the inside of the tray and cut a piece of fabric to the same dimensions. Then, I applied a layer of mod podge to the bottom of the tray, placed the fabric inside, and applied a top coat of mod podge. I created a stencil of my initials using Microsoft Word, traced the letters onto felt, and cut them out. That part was the most time consuming step. I smeared another thin layer of mod podge in the middle to hold the letters in place and then another over coat of mod podge. I think I still need to apply a glaze to seal everything but I'm still researching what I should use. I chose a black and white print fabric and used a coral color felt for the monogram to create a fun color scheme with the fancy gold edges. I think these would make super cute gifts and could be used in a variety of ways. I can't wait to put together other color and fabric combinations.

Linking to the DIY Project Parade at The DIY Show Off

Blocks and Burp Cloths

In my last post, I wrote about organizing tons and tons of fabric. In the process, I found some very cute prints that I thought would be perfect for making a baby gift. It just so happens that one of my college roommates is pregnant and having a baby girl. I decided to use a variety of material to make soft fabric blocks and matching burp cloths. 

I started off by choosing a variety of fabric to create 5 blocks. I made a 5.5" square in Microsoft Word, printed it for my pattern. Next I cut 6 squares of fabric for each block, for a total of 30. Then I sewed (yes, I actually sewed these) all of the squares together, right sides facing, and stuffed them with Polyfil. 

For the burp cloths, I started with two plain white cloth diapers. Then I chose a few of the fabric patterns that coordinate with the blocks to create a layout for the front side of the cloth. I added a button and a little loop of ribbon so that they could be hung in the nursery or attached to a car seat or diaper bag. 

This is probably one of my favorite projects that I have made lately. I was also quite proud that I sewed almost everything by myself. I did scream at the sewing machine a few times before I remembered all the tricks of the trade. I really liked the burp cloths because the ones sold in stores, although just as useful, all look alike and are all boring. But, the blocks are what really excite me. They are so soft and fuzzy and perfect for a girly nursery. Plus, the are much safer for a baby than the original wooden variety. Maybe I will try a set of baby boy blocks next.

New tags

This past Christmas, I received a personalized self-inking stamp made by Three Designing Women. My very crafty cousin knew that I would absolutely love this. She also gave me a gift card to order a custom made stamp of my choice. I decided to get a design that I could use to create tags for my handmade creations. I bought some tags at Hobby Lobby and added a thin piece of jute string. I think it adds such a personal touch to handmade gifts and also to items that I am selling on Etsy. I can't wait to order more of these awesome stamps. You can find local and online retailers on the website for Three Designing Women to get your own.

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

Kitchen dish towel

Lately I have been making sets of wedding dish towels that you can see HERE and HERE. I enjoy making them and coming up with different color and trim combinations, but I was looking to do something a little different. It was my boyfriend's mom's birthday a couple of weeks ago (by the way, she is AMAZING), so I decided that it was the perfect occasion to try my hand at a new kitchen dish towel. I found the silverware image at The Graphics Fairy and printed it on to a section of a flour sac dish towel. Next I sewed (ok, my mom sewed) that piece to a full flour sack dish towel. I finished it off with a strip of burlap topped with a burlap bow. I really liked how it turned out. It was clean and simple with a country vintage appeal.