Pottery Barn Stocking Pillow Knock-Off

I'm chipping away at my Christmas Craft To-Do List, but I couldn't wait to show you this completed project. 

It almost took me longer to stuff the insert in than it did to make the pillow.    I considered using socks for the stocking or cutting them out of felt, but then I saw these on sale at Target this week.  They are cable knit just like I pictured in my mind, my favorite color green, mini-sized...perfect!  

Look at those pom-poms.  How cute are they?  My son was excited to discover that they were real stockings, and is looking forward to the possibility of finding some candy in his!

I hand-stitched on the stockings and made a quick pillow cover with an envelope back, and then added the bows and initial tags after it was stuffed.  By the way, do you know the ribbon trick so cut edges won't fray?  I sure didn't until I started reading blogs!  With most cut ribbon, you can hold the edge very close to a flame from a candle or lighter to seal the edge.  Don't get too close or it WILL catch on fire, just close enough until you see the edge start to melt a bit.  I usually always do this over the kitchen sink just in case.  This little tip has saved me so much grief in ribbon crafting since I started using it!


I had everything except the stockings, so $16 wasn't too bad for this little project.  Even my insert was free...my sister gave me some down pillows that they couldn't use because of allergies.  I took them apart and stuffed the feathers into a custom sized sleeve that I made from extra black-out drapery lining.  I learned the hard way to use something like that-it's thick enough that the feathers don't poke through the fabric.   

My inspiration pic definitely has it's own look, but I enjoyed adding my own preferences to my version.

$49 Pottey Barn (cover only)

My version $16

I'm linking up with Hi Sugarplum! and Debbie Doo's Holiday Copycat Challenge. Come see some other great Christmas crafts. Pin It

Thanksgiving 2011 Wrap-Up

Hi Everybody!  I hope you had a fabulous holiday weekend with your family.  We definitely have much to be thankful for.

I was a bad blogger and didn't take any photos of our delicious food but snapped a few fun family pics.  Here are my parents with all of the grandkids:

There was a little bit of this:

And a whole lot of this:

And we had a birthday boy over the weekend!

Current status around here:

And so it begins.  

They did get their job finished.  I need to complete my outdoor decorations and I can't wait to show you!

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Sunday Morning Scripture

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Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. 

Serve the LORD with gladness; 

Come before Him with joyful singing. 

Know that the LORD Himself is God; 

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; 

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

 Enter His gates with thanksgiving 

And His courts with praise. 

Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 

For the LORD is good; 

His lovingkindness is everlasting 

And His faithfulness to all generations.

-Psalm 100

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Happy Birthday Ray!

Happy Birthday to the best husband and father around!  Someone who will spend his special day (and day off) visiting people in the hospital, rearranging the furniture and putting up Christmas lights for his wife, and choosing to spend spare moments investing in his children rather than his own interests.

Ray, you are so kind and thoughtful and live a life of setting an example of what it is like to strive to be like Christ.  I am still constantly amazed that you picked me.  I love you and hope the coming year is your best yet!

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Our Thanksgiving Table

This year we will celebrate Thanksgiving at my parents' house.  I went over yesterday to help mom wrap up a few things and get the table prepared. 

We pooled our accessory resources and the only thing we purchased was a new round of candles.  The green Bordallo chargers, napkin rings and bunches of wheat are mine, and everything else came from shopping Mom's house.  

The centerpiece is an old silver tray filled with moss, pine cones, and a mixture of gold and silver candlesticks.  We gathered the moss while in the mountains for Fall Break.  

Mom and Dad picked up a set of antlers on that trip to New Mexico.  I worked them into the table setting.  If you read this post you know I want more of my own!

I love to use Mom's classic "Friendly Village" pattern for Thanksgiving.  I think it mixes so well with the green chargers which add some color to the neutral-ish Fall palette.

The Kids' Table:

I went super simple here, knowing that any decoration would only get in their way!  The table is covered with butcher paper, place mats are drawn on with marker, and cups of crayons are waiting in the center.  They can create a masterpiece while they dine!

Well, at least one thing is ready for Thursday!  Now I just need to make a pecan and chocolate pie, cut out, bake, and frost sugar cookies, and make homemade rolls in the next 24 hours.  Oh, and take care of 2 children and do laundry and finish up some last minute grocery shopping.  

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Linking up with: Top This Top That

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Gum Drop Trees and Wreaths

Happy Monday Everyone!  I CANNOT believe that this week officially kicks off the holidays.  Today I have another idea for you if you want to get a little jump on a few Christmas crafts.  

Several years ago at our church we had a Christmas-themed Girl's Night Out.  Different ladies shared ideas for beautiful gift-wrapping, traditions to start with your family, baking, and decorating.  One sweet friend who is a decorating guru shared these gum drop projects that she had created, and I had to rush right home and make some!   

I purchased some styrofoam cones and gum drops (they usually have buckets with red and green only) from Hobby Lobby and started hot gluing.  This is a super simple project, it just takes a little bit of patience to glue each piece on.  

I display these in my children's bathroom along with a sled full of plush Boyd's Bears that I used to collect.  They're just too cute in their little knitted sweaters and hats!

I also bit off a bigger project that year, I made a gum drop wreath for each child's door.  I used an 18" styrofoam wreath form and covered the front and sides.  This actually took quite a while but I worked on it a little at a time while watching tv in the evenings.  Beware...this size is HEAVY once you get it  completely covered.  

You will see a lot of this by the time you are finished!  I bought bags of multi-colored gum drops at Wal-Mart for $1 each.  I believe I used 6-7 bags per wreath.

This is probably my fourth year to use these.  I bought a few XL ziploc storage bags that I seal them in and just store them in the attic.  No bugs have bothered them and they've really stayed in pretty good shape.  I usually just have to reattach a few pieces that may have fallen off each year when I get them out.  

Give this project a try!  The kids really enjoy having a special wreath on their door.  They could even make some with you, you just may want to attach the gum drops with toothpicks broken in half rather than using the hot glue around little fingers.

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Sunday Morning Scripture

This is completely worth your 3 1/2 minutes to watch...

(Go to the 2nd screen, sorry, I can't figure out why it's on there twice.)

Who will you influence today?  Who will THEY influence that you may not ever know?  Who's life will forever be changed because of the words you may speak today?

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?  How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”

Romans 10:14-15 (NASB)

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Party Hostess Tip

Fairly often we entertain groups of people in our home.  This past weekend we hosted a lovely Sunday School class fellowship, a group of young married couples.  They obviously have a good time together and it was a privilege to spend an evening with them in our home.  

I always provide drinks for the party along with a few other food items to combine with whatever the others are bringing.  Usually I make sweet and unsweet tea so everyone will have a choice.  I know in many parts of the country the only kind of iced tea IS sweet tea, but in these parts we like options.  In the past I have made little tent cards to set on the counter or I have affixed a label to the pitcher identifying which was which.  

This time while preparing the drinks the idea of writing straight on the pitcher popped into my head.  I grabbed a dry-erase marker and labeled each one.  Worked like a charm!  At the end of the evening I just gave it a wipe and the glass was clean.

With many occasions to entertain right around the corner, I thought this might be a helpful tip for you.  Do you have any quick, helpful party hostessing tips?  I'd love to read them in the comments!  

  

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Christmas Craft To-Do List

I know it's still early November, and I'm not rushing through the Thanksgiving season, but I am trying to think ahead just a little bit to a few projects I want to have ready when it's time to decorate for Christmas.  This year I'd like to add a few new things into my Christmas decor, and have found about a jillion inspiring ideas online-either through blogs or Pinterest.  Here are a few that I'm hoping to get accomplished this year.

Hope Studios

I bookmarked (yes, it was before Pinterest!) this wreath 2 or 3 years ago and still love it.  I plan to have something similar hanging on my back door this year.  

Days of Chalk and Chocolate

Aren't these adorable?  I've already purchased the ornaments and need to start stripping the scales off of some pine cones.  Anticipating major glue gun burns on this one, but won't they be worth it?

Crafty Texas Girls

I have a few pillow ideas.  I've pinned this one...seems like it would be so easy to make and CUTE!  I also have an old sweater that was headed to the garage sale pile, but at the last minute, I thought "That would make a great Christmas pillow!"  We'll see how it turns out.

Under the Table and Dreaming

LOVE this advent wall hanging with a different ornament to hang on the tree each day.  My kids enjoy marking the days on a simple little snowman calendar, so I know they would love something like this.  And, it's so PRETTY!

Martha Stewart

Reindeer are one of my favorite things to get out at Christmas.  Aren't these glittered ones charming?  They would be so cute scattered around in vignettes or on a table scape.

Craptastic

Fur letters.  Oh. my.

The Shabby Creek Cottage

How cute are these Scrabble tile ornaments?  Scrabble is one thing that I never see at garage sales or thrift stores...those little letters are a hot commodity!  If I can find some letters these would be a snap to make and add so much personality to the tree.

The REAL Housewives of Bucks County

Lastly, who doesn't have an extra frame, ornaments, and ribbon laying around?  Dig them out and make something cute!  This would be a super-quick project with a big impact!

I have a few free days this week and hope to get started on a few of these projects before the holidays hit in full force.  As my list grew while compiling this post, I realized most of these are probably just wishful thinking.  But, I'll try to get a few of them done this year and show you what I end up with!

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Sunday Morning Scripture

http://www.layoutsville.com/

"Make a joyful short to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; 

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations."

Psalm 100

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Emily's Room {Girl's Bedroom-The Reveal}

Work on this room began in the spring, and it's finally finished.  This was a really fun project, dictated mainly by Emily's personality and her favorite colors.  She is NOT a "pink" girl.  Her favorite colors are yellow and green, so that's where we started.

Here's the before.  It's pretty much been like this since she was a baby, so it was definitely time for a big girl change.  Sorry for the poor quality of the photos.

And, here we are today!  Welcome to Emily's room!  If you were here, she'd invite you to sit on the rug and play hexbugs, and eat a Blow-pop. 

Let me give you a little tour...here are a few details:

I made some poms to add color and fill the space over the wardrobe.  You can also see a little of her ceiling fan that I blogged about here.

I have a sweet friend with an awesome sewing machine that is always so kind to help me out when I want something monogrammed.  She stitched the name for me and then I whipped out a pillow.  

I sew all of my own everything...so I made the duvet cover, pillows, dust ruffle, and curtains for the room.  I can't get enough pom-pom fringe and used it several places in here.  The red fabric is Richloom "Wizard" that I purchased online from Fabric Guru, although they carry it in stock now at Hobby Lobby.  The trellis fabric is Waverly "Ellis" from fabric.com.  I also used the Premier "Zig Zag" black and white chevron pattern from fabric.com.

The entire room started with this as the curtain fabric.   Julie's curtains inspired me to add the ruffles across the top.  The lamps were a $2.50 thrift store find that I painted and added a new drum shade from Target, with a little ribbon hot glued to the edge.

This was a yard sale find so long ago that I don't even remember what I paid for it...maybe $20?  I had it reupholstered way back then in that little red and white Waverly check that everyone used.  It ended up matching the room perfectly but needed a little more pizazz, so I pieced together swatches from all of the fabrics in the room and did a little cheater upholstery job myself.  Someday I'll show you details on how I did it.

My shadow box that my dad made for me when I was young, painted and now filled with Emily's treasures.

The black and white rug was an afterthought that ended up totally pulling everything together.  It came from Garden Ridge and was available in several different sizes.  The French dresser was a garage sale purchase.  I stripped and re-stained the top, then painted, distressed, and glazed the body.  

She collects banks so I corralled most of her favorites together on a tray.  One is for savings, one is for her tithe, one is for the offering at VBS every year, one is for the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, and the Mickey Mouse was her Dad's when he was a little boy.

My little 3 1/2 year old princess on her first morning ever at the Magic Kingdom.  Doesn't she look thrilled to be at the Happiest Place on Earth?  In her defense, I do seem to remember that she had a dose of cough medicine that morning and was still adjusting to the crazy schedule we were keeping.  Now every time we go back we make her do that same pose in the same spot.  One of my favorite pics.

I updated her old bulletin board by painting the frame, covering the cork with fabric and trimming the edge with ribbon and jewels.

One of my favorite things that has come home from Sunday School.

These frames were very yellowed, very ugly thrift store finds.  I love the trellis pattern though and have found several frames similar to this.  I guess no one else could see the potential in them since they were marked down to $.29 each.  The butterflies were from the Christmas line at Target a few years ago.

Some of Em's artwork displayed at the entrance of her room.  One of my favorites is in the middle...she drew herself as an elf last Christmas, pointy ears and all.

Nightstand with a thrifted lamp that I painted and covered the shade.  I had a Fisher-Price clock like that when I was little, too.  We MUST turn on the music box every night at bedtime.  

Art gallery over her bed-I plan to switch out the side pictures as she creates new ones.  The smaller frames were $5 each at Wal-mart, already black, and I added some white pre-cut mats from Hobby Lobby.  The center picture is one that I took (she's jumping on the trampoline) and had made into a poster size at Sam's.  I cut a small mat to fit and used a frame I already had.  Go here to read about how I painted the striped wall-it was actually really easy!  

Well, that's it!  The only thing I may possibly still do is switch out her bed frame, but only if I find a great replacement someday.  I would like something a little more substantial.  

Hopefully you made it through all of the pictures and snagged a little bit of inspiration from my happy girl's room!

I'll be linking up to these great parties: 

Debbiedoo's...Blogging and Babbling

Home Stories A to Z
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
House of Hepworths
The Shabby Nest
Southern Lovely
Southern Hospitality's Top Projects of 2011
Thrifty Decor Chick
At The Picket Fence 

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