potatoe stamp throw pillow

Are you wanting to add a little refresh to your room? I have a little project for you that only takes a couple hours.

 You only need a few supplies

• fabric
• pillow stuffing
• potates
• acrylic paint & textile medium

 Measure and cut your fabric to be 1.5 inches longer & wider than your pillow (allowing for 3/4' seam allowance)

 Mix two parts paint with one part textile medium (this makes the paint soft and flexible)

Lay your fabric out on a flat surface with paper shopping bags underneath.  Dip potatoes into paint and stamp away. I used three different sizes of potato.

 You can even section off the area you want to stamp with masking tape.

 Dry the paint with a blow dryer until it is completely dry.

 For a quick and easy solution use an overlapping flap on the back (overlap the fabric about 4"). You can even use glue-tape for the flap seams instead of sewing them (it has a more minimal look)

 sew your edges and.....

you're finished! Wasn't that so easy. 

Now you'll be wandering around your house to see what rooms could use a refresh with some fun throw pillows.

camera strap

I have always wanted to make my own camera strap and today it finally happened!

I decided to use leather since it's durable and non-slip.

First I cut out the new strap. Notice I used the natural edge of the leather on one side.

I also cut out 4 small half circles to attach the webbing to the strap.

Then I cut off the black webbing from the old camera strap and attached it to the leather.

(be sure to use a LONG stitch when using leather. It looks better and is more secure)

And to secure it all together I did a fun zig-zag stitch.

Try it! It only took about 30 minutes and now I am not advertising for Canon everywhere I go (don't worry Canon, we're still friends).

alt summit

This week I will be going to SLC for the Altitude Design Summit!

I can't wait to meet so many of these women face to face.

PLUS, a big bonus is that I get to stay with family. Hooray for business trips that are fun!

Will you be there? We'll have to meet-up, drop me a line!

FUMI

This is our family theme. FUMI : Family Unit Most Important.

It was started by my husbands Grandmother some 35+ years ago. There is even a family constitution (she's an inspired woman)

So I offered to help with the t-shirts for the reunion this year since my Brother and Sister in Law ,who are in charge, just had a baby last week (congrats Julie!!!) I was inspired by Lotta Janstotter's many wonderful potatoe prints.

I found the T-Shirts on sale @ Michaels for 5 for $10. They even have a fitted female T...yeah! I just bought regular acrylic paint and added some Textile Medium which makes it just right for fabric. Dip your potatoe stamp in the paint and presto!

Now we can look like a team while we play bocce ball and roast marshmellos.

I love summer!

Do you do t-shirts at your reunion?

broken clock

potato stamps

The boys have been loving potato stamps.

I do the carving with a knife or any other sharp objects I can find.

Then the boys just dip and stamp away!

And this is what happens when you leave the room (NOTE: I would not recommend the leaving the room part). 2 boys mixing ALL the paint and one big bowl of gray. Oh well... at least they had fun! And with a little encouragement from me they cleaned it all up themselves. 

Holy Jeans

It doesn't matter what brand of jeans I get my boys, without fail they will have put a hole in the knees within weeks of wearing them. Okay maybe not WEEKS, but pretty close. And if you're saying outloud right now, "My kids do the same thing!" then you're going to love this post.

 So what do we do with a perfectly good pair of jeans that are holy?

Patch them up of course!

This is the way I have found to be the fastest, easiest, cutest way to patch jeans and you don't even have to use a straight pin....yeah!

1. Cut a patch out of some old jeans that are in your Goodwill pile. (I use an old pair of my husbands) Make sure the patch is wider and taller than the hole by about 2.5" - 3" on the top and bottom

 

2. Turn the holy jeans inside-out. We will be patching the underside of the jeans, not on the outside where it's visible. Line the outside of the patch with iron-on tape. (You can get this at most craft stores.) Put the tape in between the patch and the jeans and then using a very hot iron, "glue" the patch to the jeans.

 

3. Now slide the pant leg onto your sewing machine and get it oriented any way you can. Just make sure you are only sewing through one side of the jeans and not two. Then begin sewing down the patch in a zig zag pattern. Make sure you sew past the hole so it's nice and secure.

 

4. There...you're done! Wasn't that easy. Now stand back and admire your work because you just saved yourself $20+ and a trip to the store. Plus the end result is kind of cute don't you think?

 What items need repairing around your house?