Scrap Fabric and Mixed Media Valentine Book

Good Saturday morning to you. Today I wanted  to share my first "book" that I've made. I'm excited about it and I hope you like it. The desire to use up some of my scraps brought about the

thought of putting this little book together.

With Valentine's Day coming, this theme seemed the natural choice.

I just love the contrast of the warm, rich red and the purity of white together.

Mixing textures is one of my favorite ways to create.

 

And LOVE is:

 

the thread that binds all people together.

No matter the place or circumstance.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, there it is from the front to back cover. 

Do you have a favorite page or something that you would add

or do differently?

 I'd love to hear your suggestions!

 

There is such GORGEOUS work out there and

I know I have A LOT to learn yet and techniques I want to try

and experiment with.

 But at least, this a bit of a start.

 

 

I have to set a limit on embellishments because my mind goes

on and on with what I could do. But I wanted to get it posted a

while before Valentine's Day.

 

Thank you for stopping by. 

A blessed Saturday to you,

Tamara

 

 

Ruffled, Shabby, Burlap Pillow for Fall~

I can hardly believe it's been a month or more since I posted. My days are so full of family and living this blessed life.

But I have been making time to work on a few fall items as time allows and this little hand-made pillow came to be.

 

It's very simple to make. I like to make my own pillow forms. I find very clean

used pillows at thrift stores. I always make sure they don't smell stuffy or odd.

I have a place where I can buy them for a dollar a piece. I tear them open and use the stuffing.

I also buy clean, white sheets at thrift stores. After washing them, I measure and cut

my pieces for the pillow form. 

 

I learned a new little secret about making the form fit nice and snug inside the

cover. Make it about an inch larger than the outside. I had

my doubts and thought that it might be too small but not so. It worked very

well.

 

All my fabric is thrifted. The ruffles are made from a white sheet torn into strips.

I cut them twice as long as the area to be ruffled. You can triple your length if you

want very full ruffles. And if you're edging the entire pillow with ruffles, tripling

is better.

 

The little flower is made from a thrifted, sheer curtain. There are many tutorials on You-Tube

about making the shabby, burned edged flowers. They are very pretty!

The little burlap flower was also found in a tutorial. I need to write down my source next time so I can give them proper credit. Just know that the though the pillow design is my own, I do not take credit for the flower designs.

Do be careful if you want to make a pillow from burlap. You need a little extra measured into

your size to allow for fraying. I wondered how it would hold together when hand-sewing the

closing. It held up surprisingly well. But the little extra gave me more room to fold in my edges

when closing the opening.

 

The pillow is about 10 inches square.

Burlap is a lot of fun to work with. There are so many uses.  In my next craft post,

 I'll share the little bucket/planter that I decorated with burlap ruffles.. It turned out very well

and I was able to  retail it to an Antique/ Shabby Chic Shop nearby.

That was exciting.

 

Bless you and I hope you're enjoying the last few weeks of summer. 

Soon the cool, fall breezes will be rustling the leaves around our doors and reminding us

to wrap our scarves about our necks!

 

 

 

 

The Red Sweater Project... A Make-over

Here are some photos of the new project I started today. So far it's been fun but a learning experience as most projects are. Quite a while ago I found this pretty red sweater at a thrift store. I decided I wanted to try and make something from it. I actually have quite a few things stashed in my closet and a few other places. Isn't it fun and interesting? In my opinion it is one of the most satisfying ways to create. Re-making something and giving it new life. I also feel it's somewhat of a responsibility. I suppose that part may have something to do with the frugal ways of my dad.

My Heavely Father is also very frugal. He doesn't waste anything or any opportunity to teach us if our hearts are open. This morning while hand-sewing these sweet little felt flowers, which were inspired by this Tea Rose Home tutorial, it occured to me how patiently He works on me. And how long that takes. It can sometimes be quite a process and take a very long time for me to come to His truth.

Hand-sewing can be a very tedious process as well as time-consuming. But is usually well worth the effort once you see the end result.

As soon as I finish this little project, I will share it with you!

DIY Stool Covering

Some time ago, while shopping at a thrift store, I found a large, sturdy, looking stool.
I wanted to take it home. (I like stools; They remind me of times past.)
I will say it was well-loved. The cover was a grungy gold, velvety fabric.

It cost me three dollars. What a deal! Don't you think good finds are fun? I washed
the cover and it felt clean but still looked grungy. I didn't know exactly what I wanted
to cover it with and so it sat in our living room in it's place by the woodstove. It was
enjoyed by the family and even the cats found it to be pleasant spot to sit.

I am also VERY prone to procrastinating when I feel intimidated by a project. And as
I had never done anything like that before, it sat for a long time. It was enjoyed by the
family and even the cats found it to be a pleasant place to rest.

***********************************************************
A couple of years ago, I had been wanting a large piece of upholstery fabric to make
a curtain.I found a nice piece for 4 dollars. I decided not to use it for the intended project
but I held onto it because it was a very pretty and of a good quality.

The fabric matched our furniture and so I decided to tackle the project this last winter.
Below are a few pictures of the finished cover. I'm sorry the photo quality isn't very good
but you'll get the idea.

The first thing I had to do was take the old cover apart. Carefully cutting

the seams with the seam ripper, the old cover was taken apart and layed out on the

piece of fabric and used as the pattern for the new one.

The old pattern was very rough and obviously a fellow

DIYourselfer had sewn the first cover. The pieces were cut very crookedly

and sewn together without a straight or consistent seam allowance.

But I say GOOD FOR THEM and give the

 person credit for just jumping in and doing it without

a care of it being perfect!  Something which I am learning to do.

I am sometimes so intimidated by a possible flaw, that I fail to try at all!

 This is such an unhealthy philosophy.

In this picture, you can see how the tucks were taken in to match up with

the pattern. I had initially measured the distance between the tucks, but that didn't work

out because of the fabric's pattern. It was very easy to make

the adjustment.

When cutting the piece for the top, I realized at the last moment that I

needed to center the pattern so as to have a nice symmetrical finish. The

pattern on the piece made it very easy to lay it all out and cut.

I was very pleased with the completed project. I enjoyed the entire process

and was surprised at how easy it was. I don't consider myself a seamstress but just used

 common sense to figure it out.

If I can do something like this, so can you!