Back to painting....

Painting is such a zen, relaxing process for me.  I literally crave it.  My hubby is recovering from his surgery, and I am back in the groove.  It is like a sigh of relief picking up a brush again.

I picked up this original painting in it's outdated frame.  I am thinking it's final color will be CeCe Caldwell's Cinco Bayou Moss, but we'll see.  I did the first coat in Vermont Slate and it just freshened the painting up so much that I may stick with that...

I had to take a picture half way through the first coat because it was transforming the look so much.  I feel like old pieces also breath a sigh of relief when they get a makeover and a new purpose in life:)

 

Look at the difference already!

 

 

 

So what do you think?  Cinco Bayou Moss to bring out those greens, or stick with Vermont Slate?

Taking the Week Off

Just a heads up that I am taking the week off as my hubby is going to have surgery.  I hope everybody has a fun and creative week.... there is so much inspiration in the Fall!

Fall just makes me want to nest!

I am in a bit of a burlap pillow frenzy..... having fun with different colors of burlap and different designs.  I get a serious nesting urge when Fall comes!  These pillow will be available at Sweet William Market next Saturday... come get a jump start on your Fall nesting!

 

 

Texas Prairie Finch

Silver Sage Burlap pillow with sweet CeCe Caldwell's Texas Prairie bird.

What Do You Do with an Uncooperative Bat?

Tape him to the window! 

I was unsuccessful in using graphite paper to trace this guy onto my burlap, and I don't trust myself to do it free-hand, so I taped the image and the burlap to the window so that the light would help me out and traced him:)

 

Then I painted it with CeCe Caldwell's Vermont Slate... the reclaimed frame too...
Now the cute little guy is just hanging around waiting for Halloween!

 

 

Boo... are you scared now?

Don't be!  These cute burlap pillows are easy to make, and will add some Halloween fun to your decor without to much of a walk on the dark side!  Who says Halloween decor can't be sweet?

 

 

Supplies needed for this project:

Burlap
Lining Fabric (Optional)
Polyfill stuffing
CeCe Caldwell's Kissimmee Orange paint
Letter Stencils
Stencil Brush
Sewing Machine
Pins
Tan Thread
Needle

 

To get started, decide what size you want your pillow to be and cut your fabric accordingly
(and lining fabric if you use it... I did, but I'm picky:)  .  Leave yourself a decent seam allowance since burlap frays easily.  I cut my pillow front and back at 10" x 14".   

 

Next cut some strips for the ruffle if you want to use it.  I cut 3 strips that were 2.25" x 30" each. I overlapped the ends by about .25" and zigzagged them together to form one long strip.  I wanted to gather the burlap, but I used a fairly heavy weight burlap, it just would not gather... so I changed game plan to loose 'pleats' for ruffling.  You can either pin these and then sew them down, or just sew as you go.  I didn't want them too even as I wanted more of a ruffled, rather than a pleated, look.

 

 

 

Ok, on to painting!  Place something paint impervious and flat under the front side of your pillow face.Lay your stencils out, grab the stencil brush and 'blot' your paint on with straight up and down motions.  In order to prevent the paint from seeping under the edges of the stencil, make sure you hold your stencil firmly in place, and use a somewhat 'dry' brush. I just used one good coat. When it is dry, you can begin to assemble your pillow

 

 

.  The insides should face each other, with the ruffle in between, facing down, so that all of the edges line up.  If you are trying this project, you probably know how to sew a least a bit.  And, so you probably know that not getting the ruffles caught in the corner is really the only challenging bit of the sewing part of this project.  Make sure you fold the part of the ruffle that is facing down into your pillow in towards each other.  Pin your pillow together, overlapping the ruffle where it meets (just overlap it a few inches and cut it off straight across on the end.).  Make sure to leave a pretty good unstitched length on the end or bottom when you sew it.  Burlap is not super easy to turn and you don't want to fray the fabric by tugging on it too much when you do turn it.

 

 

Alright.... it's coming together!

 

 

 

Not to stitch it up and turn it.  Remember that seam allowance!  After sewing it, gently turn it right side out, working with the corners until they take shape.

 

Now it is ready to stuff.  Just grab some handfuls of the poly-fill and go to to town!

 

To finish it up, pin your open edged together and hand stitch them shut.  Tidy the pillow up by trimming off stray fibers... and voila... you are done.  Bring on the trick or treaters!

 

 

 

It's This!

This is the two tiered table that I was fixing the stem on in my last post.  I had been wanting to introduce CeCe Caldwell's Destin Gulf Green and Cinco Bayou Moss to each other... and they hit it off right away!  I expect to see them together many times in the future:)  When it's right, it's right!

This table was asking for a bit of a rustic, weathered finish, and that is what it got with bits of Cinco Bayou Moss peeking out from all that lovely Destin Gulf Green. I love happy furniture:)