Pottery Barn Poinsetta Pillow

You can count on me every year to be complaining about the Christmas decorations at the mall being up before Halloween. I think it's absolutely ridiculous. I don't start listening to Christmas music or putting out decorations until the day after Thanksgiving. Sure, I wish the Christmas season could last a little longer, but I refuse to skip over Thanksgiving!! :) So I had mixed feelings about posting anything about Christmas this early. But I decided that if you're going to do some DIY projects for Christmas you need a little extra time for planning and doing. So I'm giving in and will probably be posting some Christmas inspiration all month, but it won't be sitting out in my house until AFTER Thanksgiving! :)

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I saw this pillow in the Pottery Barn catalog the other day and thought, "Hey! I could make that!" I had linen, felt, and stuffing on hand so I only had to buy bells, embroidery floss, and a needle. With my coupon to Joann's I only spent $2.32!!

I started by measuring 2 pieces of linen to 13 1/4 by 13 1/4. This allowed me to sew around the whole pillow with a 5/8th seam and be left with a pillow that was 12 by 12.

I should have waited until I was completely done attaching my poinsetta before sewing the pillow together, but I wasn't thinking ahead :) So I sewed three of the sides together. I also should have waited to start until after I picked up my daughter from preschool, but instead I tried to rush through it and get it sewed together before leaving. 

After pulling that all out and rethreading the machine I was ready to start again :) I started cutting out pieces of paper and trying them out on the pillow until I liked the size. 

I cut 5 big pieces, 5 medium, and 5 small.

Then I attached the pieces to some cream felt and cut them out.

After attaching them with pins to the pillow I was getting a big stack of felt in the middle that I didn't like.

So I started cutting off pieces that were hidden underneath the top petals.

Then I attached each petal to the linen by sewing across the bottom and then up the middle and back down the middle going in reverse. I was hoping that double stitching down the middle would help the petal pucker a little and give it some dimension. I think it worked well.

I then hand stitched to the left of my sewing machine stitch on every petal with cream embroidery floss.

I bought some gold bells for the middle of the poinsetta but they were a little too shiny. So I took them outside and lightly spray painted them with some antique bronze. Here they are shiny...

And here they are looking old and antique attached to the pillow.

Then I finished sewing the bottom of the pillow but left an opening big enough to turn it right side out and stuff it. I then hand stitched that opening closed and was done!

Here it is!

I'm in the middle of making another one that coordinates with it and I'll hopefully be finishing it up today and posting tomorrow! 

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Tea Party Table

  I came down with strep throat the other day. Not fun. Getting a shot of penicillin to my nether region was even less fun! But on the bright side it gave me the excuse to lay on the couch and work at making a custom header for the blog. It's not everything I've ever dreamed of, but it will do for now :) I ended up using Picasa and if you follow me on Pinterest you can see the tutorial I used on my "Blogging Tips" board.

So now that I'm feeling better I finally got around to taking pictures of the table and chair I painted over the weekend. 

Of course the last two days were super sunny and great for taking pictures, but today when I'm healthy it's cloudy. I ended up taking the furniture outside for their after shots. Other than the bad lighting I just can't find a good spot for staging pics. It's driving me nuts!

I've been keeping my eye open for a little table for Lainey Bug's room ever since I picked up this adorable chair at a garage sale in Holland MI while visiting my little sis. I got it for only $6 :)

So after only about 2 months I found this cutie at my Saver's store for only $7. I couldn't believe my luck! 

The legs and apron were wood but the top was laminate. I thought about pulling it off and doing some kind of a planked top, but this table is meant to be a place for tea parties and doll houses so I thought a smooth top would be better. I wasn't worried though, because I knew some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint would cover it easily. Turns out the laminate was the easiest part to cover, but some marker and those painted on hearts kept bleeding through! I ended up painting the apron twice, then giving in and priming it twice, then painting one more time. Finally it covered. 

I knew I couldn't really distress the laminate so I kept the top perfectly white and gave the legs and apron a heavy distressing. I finished it off with clear wax, one coat to the legs and apron and three to the top. Polly Pocket's pink convertible will be no match for this baby ;)

I then painted the chair in two light coats of Provence. As I started distressing it I shrieked with excitement. It distressed beautifully without any effort on my part. I love this chair.

I found both these footstools in the same week as the table! They were about $3 each at Saver's again. They'll both get painted and recovered. I think the round one will get a ruffly treatment.

Once they're finished I'll give you a look at everything together in Lainey's room. Now if I could just find the perfect fabric!

                            

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Happy Halloween!

Okay, so writing with frosting is not one of my strong suits....well, writing in GENERAL is not one of my strong suits. But we just wanted to say 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Twirly Skirt and Pleated Headband

So here's the thing. I want my blog to be mainly about furniture and decorating. But I named it "AllThatBringsJoy" because I want to share ALL the things that bring joy to my life. And that includes some cooking and sewing. But even though I don't claim to be any kind of expert in the whole furniture painting/decorating field, I'm ESPECIALLY novice when it comes to cooking and sewing!!

I spent about 4 hours sewing today and I loved it. I can't wait to buy some more fabric and make something else.....I might only last until tomorrow as a matter of fact :) Today I made my Bug a twirly skirt and a matching pleated headband, both of which I found on none other than Pinterest! 

I'd been to the fabric store too many times to count in the last couple of weeks and I kept seeing this adorable corduroy fabric for 50% off. So after coming across this cute headband on Pinterest the other night I decided to look up ruffle skirt and see if there were any easy skirts I might be able to make. And sure enough there was a tutorial for that too! I LOVE Pinterest.

So here's how it turned out!!

Some twirling action for you......

And some close ups of the headband!!

Now that I've made these once I think it will take half the time next time. And there will definitely be a next time!! Oh, and by the way, the fabric for both came in at under $5! 

Placemat Pillow

I found this pretty placemat at Target a couple weeks ago for $3.99 and remembered that ThriftyDecorChick had once talked about how easy it is to turn placemats into pillows. So into my cart it went! I'm very careful about how much I spend at Target, we all know we'd like to take that whole store home with us!! But $3.99 seemed like a great price for a pillow :) 

I knew I'd need some filler to finish this project and I didn't want to spend much, so at one of my many thrift store stops I picked up a decent looking pillow for $1.25 planning on ripping it open. 

I got out my MIL's seam ripper because I haven't bought myself one yet :) 

And I carefully ripped the seam along the bottom near a corner, but not all the way to the corner. I don't know why, but this just seemed like a good place to open it up.

I opened it up large enough to stick my fist through.

Then I got out my thrift store pillow. It was actually a new pillow from Target (my local Targets give to the local Goodwill stores). It was a nice pillow, but just kind of plain and boring. So I opened it up carefully with the seam ripper hoping that I might put that fabric to work some other time on some other project.

Then I just put the stuffing into my placemat. Unfortunately the stuffing was green, but luckily it didn't show through my light tan placemat fabric!

I ended up using only half of the stuffing from the thrift store pillow, so I have some leftover for the Christmas placemats that I just bought last week.....

I threaded a needle with some light tan thread and I sewed the pillow shut by hand. I was actually able to use the original holes in the fabric from when the placemat was sewn together. It looks great and isn't noticeable at all!! 

Here it is finished sitting on my $7 Saver's chair that I whitewashed over the summer. It sits in the basement and brings a nice new color down there. But the walls are knotty pine that has been primed and patched but never painted! So this was taken in my kitchen :) 

Here it is with my blue pillow. It is just another envelope closure pillow! I got that fabric at fabricguru.com for only $8 a yard. I just LOVE these colors together!

I used to long for the pretty accent pillows I'd see at stores and in catalogs. And now that I've found easy, inexpensive ways to make them for myself I just can't stop!!

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Closet Shoe Rack

I've been in love with those cute benches with baskets underneath for shoe storage that are sold at Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn since I first got married. At our first house there was no place for one, not to mention the PRICE. eek. But when we moved to our current house there was this awkward space by the backdoor, which is also in my kitchen. When you come in the door you are immediately confronted with the side of the refrigerator. Very welcoming.

It's a small space, 12 inches to be exact, and it needs to have some shoe storage plus be welcoming and pretty. I drew up some plans for my husband to build a very shallow bench that I could use baskets with, but baskets this size were not easy to find. Then one day at Target I found this piece of furniture, I swear it was supposed to be used as a wine rack, but now when I look it up online it shows it for shoe storage.  But really, when I did it I was being creative! ;)

It doesn't fit my husband's shoes, but he has a shoe obsession and when we moved in I nicely gave him the built in shoe rack in our closet. Our very small closet. The main thing is that the kids shoes are easily accessible and organized, and this works well for that! Plus my rainbow of flip-flops (well, more of a neutral rainbow!).

I attached some stick on velcro on top.

Than I made a cushion. It's basically an envelope closure pillow with a 2 inch edge added to it. I had no tutorial to follow so I just guessed as I went!! It turned out well, except some sturdier fabric would have been better. I used some 2 inch thick regular-density foam that I cut to the length and width of the unit. Then I added the stick on velcro to the back of the cushion!

This pillow came with my patio set and happened to match and fit so nicely! But now I have this green envelope closure pillow sitting there. 

Looks comfy doesn't it??

Add a homemade memo board and you barely notice that big bad refrigerator! :)

Okay so this one was taken today with bad lighting, different pictures on the memo board, and the new green pillow. But I thought you could use a bigger view :)

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Junk in their Trunk

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The Inspired Room

Thrifty Decor Chick