crafts Archives - Page 4 of 16 - Feathers in Our Nest

Creating a Pillow from a Placemat {the Easy Way!}

October 28, 2013 by Aliesha

I’m all about SIMPLE crafts/DIY projects these days, mainly because I’m too busy for anything crafty that takes longer than 10 minutes!

I whipped up this pillow in less than 10 minutes, and my sweet mother-in-law insisted I blog about it. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but I always enjoy reading about frugal, easy home decor projects, so I’m sharing it!

I found a placemat on clearance at Target (Threshold brand) for $1.18, and I was immediately drawn to it. The fabric is printed, but the texture makes it look embroidered.

I checked the back, and I realized that because of the layers (the back was a light-weight fabric), I could easily turn it into a pillow just by cutting open part of a seam and stuffing it.

If you want to make a pillow like this, you’ll need to find a placemat with a fabric back that is not fused to the front of the placemat. You’ll also need some stuffing! (I actually unstuffed a cheap IKEA pillow and used that for filler.)

Note: A slightly more difficult way of converting a placemat into a pillow is adding a piece of fabric as the backing, sewing it right sides together leaving an opening, turning it right side out, and stuffing.

Using a needle and scissors (or a seam ripper), carefully remove the threads on one seam to create an opening wide enough to allow you to stuff the pillow.

Fill the pillow with stuffing, then hand-stitch the seam closed. Fluff the pillow, and you’re done!

This project cost me $3.18 total, but your cost may vary.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, feel free to pin it!

New Wall Decor

May 13, 2013 by Aliesha

I’ve finally added some decorations to our bedroom walls! We inherited this floral wallpaper with the house, so I’m trying to work with it instead of fight against it.

I finally framed this beautiful print I bought back in college. I couldn’t find a frame large enough in my price range, so I made this one using molding corner brackets! (Tad helped.) I painted it as well.

I’ve been dying to make a jewelry holder forever, so I finally bought some gorgeous knobs at Hobby Lobby and used leftover molding from the frame project to put this together! I love how it turned out.

I am planning on framing another new print and hanging it above the jewelry holder. Our room is starting to feel more personalized!

More Non-candy Valentines for Kids!

January 16, 2013 by Aliesha

Last year I shared six ideas for non-candy valentines for kids, and since I keep finding new ideas (thanks, Pinterest!), I wanted to share some new kids valentine ideas with you this year!

First of all, here is what Vera is giving her friends at church this year. I found these crayon rings 6/$1 in the Target dollar section. I made these little cards and attached the crayon rings using white & gold bakers twine (also from the dollar section).