homemaking

DIY Pom-Pom Wreath

December 7, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 44 Comments

If you’re new around here? Thank you for visiting my blog! I’m honored you’re here and I hope you’ll find some encouragement (and some laughter!) for your days. Join this community of grace lovers and get fun, free stuff every month delivered to your inbox, along with access to free printables, meal plans, and my 31 Days to A Heart of Hospitality ebook!

For a tour of our house this Christmas season, click here!

And now, for the wreath……..

My jaw dropped the first time I saw the snowball wreath from Anthropologie. It’s beautiful——of the drop dead gorgeous variety. And it’s $298.

Then my friend Nester posted about her snowball wreath. Which is all kinds of awesome. Just like she is. I knew I had to find a cheap, easy way to do it.

Side note: She’s the cornerstone of my internet world. Hers was the first blog I stayed up until 3am to read ALL the archives from. I love everything she does. I love seeing the world through her eyes. I love that she works hard but also guards her margin. After our house fire in 2010, she made a video for us that I’ve watched over and over again and has been such a source of healing for me.. And then I couldn’t believe it when she did this for our rebuild. I adore her and feel privileged to call her friend. I hope she knows how much we all appreciate her generosity and her willingness to use and share her gifts. She’s one of a kind. And she’s hosting this Christmas crafting shindig, which will inspire to make something beautiful this weekend. And while you’re at it, visit Cate’s crafty party too. Let’s just party in glue sticks and yarn and pretty fabric all weekend, whadaya say?

(I recently hosted a 12 Days of Christmas crafting and you’re looking for great tutorials for gift making!)

Now, back to the wreath. First, you’ve got to make 10 or 12 pom poms.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 skeins of chunky yarn

1 10 inch string of yarn

10 inch wreath form (or whatever size you wanna make!)

scissors

a piece of cardboard ( I used a 2×4 inch piece but the bigger you make it, the larger the pom-pom.

Place the ten inch string through the slits so that there are equal tails on each side. (When you make the pom pom, you will use the tails of this string and tie them into a tight knot around the wound string.)

From the full ball of yarn, start wrapping around the cardboard. The more you wrap, the puffier your pom pom will be. I wrapped my chunky yarn about 100 times for my snow ball pom poms. If your yarn is normal weight (thinnish) you may need to wrap 150 times to make full pom poms.

Once you’ve wrapped it as many times as you like, take the two tails from the string that is in the slits of the cardboard and pull them up around the ball of yarn.

Gently slide the yarn off the cardboard, holding the tails up and being careful not to let them slip out from in between the newly formed ball of yarn.

At this step, you now have a ball of yarn with a string in the middle. Most tutorials will tell you at this step spread the yarn out towards the ends of the string. I didn’t do that. I just tied a tight knot in the string and double knotted it for extra security.

Then insert your scissors through the middle of all those loops you wound and cut right through them.

And tada! You have a snowball pom pom!

You can give him a trim if he’s got some straggly uneven spots. We also pulled the ends of the yarn apart a little to make it look a more frayed and cozy.

Now all you need to do is make a dozen of those and attach them to the wreath. I used a 10 inch straw wreath form and it took exactly 2 skeins of yarn to fill it up. You could hot glue them or just wrap string around them and tie them on. I chose the latter because I’m a little lazy with my crafts and didn’t feel like firing up the glue gun.

This project took about an hour an a half , cost about $14, and was definitely worth the explosion of yarn and fuzz in my schoolroom. Actually, the girls did 90% of the work, while I flitted around with a host of other (very ordinary) things, including my collaborative mantel project. The girls did a great job!

And for all you friends who gave it your all trying to help me with my Christmas mantel, I want you to know that I had paint on my grannie pj’s by 5:30 this morning.

I was mixing paint like nobody’s business.

Check out the coral-ish/pinkified/sal-mon colored mirror here!

diypompomwreath

Christmas Mantel 2012, (i think?)

December 5, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 101 Comments

And the winner is——coral-ish!!!! (If you’re confused, read start reading the post after the 2nd photo first and then come back up here!)

Do you hate me? If so, blame it on Ruth. She took us down the dark and twisty alley of ‘black is dead to me.’

So, what I did was—-I spray painted the black mirror gold first and then mixed up the craziest concoction of paint you ever did see, using every tube of acrylic paint in this house until it was just perfectly coral-ish. I painted over the gold with a brush and then when that was almost dry, I rubbed the edges so some of the gold would show through. All this I did at 5:30 this morning in my peejammers, fully prepared to paint over it if need be.

Because why? Because this is all perfectly normal in my world. It ain’t easy living in this brain of mine.

Do you like the mirror painted a coral-y color?

Or do you like it black? You can pick your favorite and imagine that I kept it that way. We all win!

That was the question I posed to my very insightful readers.

Do y’all have any idea the haphazard throwing around of things that goes into making my Christmas mantel? I wish I was one of those people who packed things in a box labeled ‘Christmas mantel’, to reuse year after blessed year. If you do have a box so labeled, I want to be you. I covet your organization and discipline.

But I don’t have a box labeled Christmas mantel.

We all knew that, right?

And every year, I cipher and clip greens and move mirrors and spray paint stuff. All in an effort to make beautiful Christmas mantel music.

This year, let’s make this a joint effort, whatdaya say? Here’s what I need to know from you.

I’ve been hemming and hawing all day about whether or not I should spray paint that mirror. Well, maybe not ALL day, but in between laundry folding and dinner making and Latin chanting, it’s taunting my weary mind. So here’s the deal. Leave a comment and tell me whether or not I should spray paint the black mirror gold (or maybe you have another color suggestion?) and I’ll count the votes and follow the moral majority. Give me all your sophisticated reasons cause y’all are smart and will school me on why I should leave it/paint it.

And to be totally fair, here’s what the gold mirror looked like before I moved it to the newly painted bathroom. Just looking at this picture makes me wanna paint it gold. But DON’T let me sway you.

I know you want that antique federal mirror back on the mantel and I do too. But he’s in the bathroom, loving on the striped walls.

While we’re at it, here’s a sneak peek of the newly striped bathroom. It’s all kinds of cozy up in there. And David wasn’t missing out on all the fun. He may be there to stay. There’s a whole post coming soon on that little project.

But you can’t have the mirror for the mantel. Okay, one more viewing.

Please take note of my Meyer’s lemon tree, WHICH IS FINALLY BLOOMING!!!!!!!!!!!)

And never mind the wad of lights that I didn’t bother to spread neatly under the greens. If I had done that then we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all because I’d have a box labeled ‘Christmas mantel,’ remember?

Now, give it to me straight. Black or gold? Which shall it be, my dear internets?

And I’m linking this crazy mantel post with Layla’s mantel party! Thank you hosting, sweet dear!

Holiday Tablescapes 2012

November 29, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 48 Comments

I wasn’t even gonna post about my Thanksgiving tables because let’s be honest, y’all have moved on and are knee deep in Christmas decor. But then I remembered that the beauty of using non-traditional colors is that you can use them for any occasion. I think I may just use the same ideas for Christmas. And dinner next week. So, here goes a bunch of holiday tablescape ideas!

We had a sit-down dinner for 34 people on Thanksgiving night. Mercy. It was wonderful and chaotic and beautiful. I do believe that every dish and cup and piece of silver ware I own was used that day.

1. Use non-traditional colors

I was determined to have deep pink napkins and couldn’t find any that color—-so I bought some wonderful fuchsia cotton fabric at Joann’s and made my own.

This was the only table I had envisioned before the big day. I love the nontraditional colors and the pink napkins just make me happy.

2. Use natural items

Not only did the artichokes make for beautiful table decor but they also made for hilarious table conversation.

I’m not gonna mention any names but a few people wondered if they were pomegranates—-which we thoroughly ‘discussed’ and kept bringing up at random times.

3. Everything is more fun with help.

I totally winged the other three tablescapes. But setting tables is fun so don’t be afraid to let your guests help!

With a lotta help from my eager staff, (the poor girls stuck with helping me) they turned out cute too!

I bought this chevron fabric back in the summer from Hobby Lobby. It was used the Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot when the darling stylist, Elizabeth, duct taped it together. (The January issue should be out in a couple weeks!)

For Thanksgiving, I cut (or rather tore) the fabric into 3 equal pieces (the girls looked at me like I was performing sacrilegious acts on the fabric) and then draped them across a huge white king duvet cover (which I pretended was a table cloth) and voila!

It nearly looks legit. And now, the girls will never wonder where to find a huge white tablecloth. They’ll immediately think king duvet.

4. Make it personal

Name cards make so much sense. Noone has to wonder where to sit. And let’s face it, everyone loves their name, whether it’s in print or out loud. Names are important. Use ’em!

I subscribe to Emily Jones’ monthly printables and I think these bird cards were in one of the past month’s subscription. Then, I printed the names in the Albemarle swash font and taped it the bird cards. Easy as pie but packs a punch!

Then I sweet talked these two little ladies into printing and cutting and hole punching and assembling all the menus and name cards.

I used this tutorial to make the menus.

They were happy to oblige, for the most part. I kept adding people and running out of paper so they became a little flustered with me.

I’ve always liked having little individual menus and that-away, if someone doesn’t recognize one of my concoctions, they can consult the menu in the privacy of their own place setting.

This year’s mystery item? Mashed potatoes. They looked like hominy or grits or something. But not mashed potatoes. I can’t even explain to you what happened but they looked funny.

So, to accommodate a sit down dinner for 34 people, we moved some of the furniture out of the living room and set up two tables. I pulled chairs from everywhere. And then told my trusty helpers, Jordan and Ali, to find something to add to the plates. The oranges were perfect and it ended up looking like I planned the whole thing out.

Edie is my name; Helter Skelter is my game.

from the front door and featuring my cute little momma:

We even pillaged around and found enough stuff to set the young adult table. The weather was beautiful (if not a little chilly) for outdoor dining. And noone was impaled by the driftwood.

And see JamieKnoxville over there by the fire? That was her happy place. We spent as much time as we could squeeze in huddled by the fire. I think I’ve built one nearly every day since Thanksgiving and the girls and I sit out there to read our Greek mythology.

The kids table was cute too, in its own little way.

Nothing like dinner in the laundry room. I can tell you that the only thing these wee ones were concerned about is whether Aunt Gina was making mac and cheese.

There was a big sigh of relief when she walked in with the Velveeta. They were saved from brussel sprouts and broccoli casserole.

(Polka dot napkins from Hobby Lobby.)

And the labor of love to set all this up and take it all down was provided by my two lovely helpers, Jordie and Ali.

I just had to snap their picture when I saw them take a much needed break on the screened porch.

Thank you, girls!!!! You were awesome and so much fun!

12 Days of {handmade} Christmas::Day 12 Hello Darlin’ stenciled pillow and making an envelope pillow

November 13, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 14 Comments

This is the LAST DAY of a 12 days series of {handmade} Christmas tutorials. Can I get a woot-woot? Make sure to check out the all the projects for 2012, 2010, and 2009!

And I’m hosting myself. Which is why I’m late. Fancy that.

********************

You know those greeting cards that play music when you open them? Well, I want to expand on that theme except that I want music to start playing when you open my front door.

What music, you ask?

“Hello, Darlin’ ” by Conway Twitty, of course.

How awesome would that be? You walk into my front door and all sounds stop except for Conway Twitty blasting out,

“Hello darlin’, nice to see you, it’s been a loooooong tiiiiiime. You’re just as lovely as you used to be.”

Can anybody come wire my house to do that? Pretty please?

Until then, I’ll just have to make do with my Hello Darlin’ pillow.

So, next time you come to visit, I hope you feel the warm welcome that only ‘Hello, darlin’ can bring.
This tutorial is an attempt at combining this tutorial for stenciling pillows and this very easy tutorial for making an envelope pillow!
Here’s what you’ll need:

stencil of your choice—mine are 1 1/2 inch stencils by Martha Stewart’s from Micheal’s (buy your favorite font, size)

fabric markers—i bought Sharpie’s brand from Amazon.

a pillow cover (blank linen) or just a piece of linen or canvas or cotton fabric cut to the size you want (directions for mine to follow)

a self-healing mat

a rotary cutter

a pencil

a ruler ( I have a lip-edged ruler which has transformed my sewing projects. I LOVE IT!)

Here are a few basic instructions:

Decide on your quote. Which is easy. Hello darlin’ cannot be improved upon, can it? We also made one (or at least Elea did) that says, “You are my sunshine.”

Decide on your spacing. I made a 20×20 pillow cover for this one and once we cut our material, we just laid out the letters and decided how we wanted the spacing. We used a ruler to generally keep the letters straight but I’m not a perfectionist so I don’t waste too much precious time ciphering about it.

As a matter of fact, my 10 and 12 year old did all the work—–the tracing with pencil………

and filling in with the fabric markers.

Then you’re ready to make the pillow cover. This is the easiest pillow cover in all of creation. I’ve been making these for years but I found Jenny’s tutorial so easy to understand so I’ll adopt her method of doing it from now on.

You’re basically going to cut a long strip of fabric which you fold over the pillow like an envelope and then sew on the top and bottom.

For a 18 inch square pillow (which I used to demonstrate the technique), I like to make my pillow cover a inch or so smaller so it will fit tight. This works especially well with down inserts, which are much more smush-able when you’re squeezing them into tight spots.

So, for this pillow I cut a piece of fabric 18×42 piece of fabric.

Lay the fabric out so that the longest part is horizontal. Fold over both ends about a half inch (on the 20 inch ends) , iron them and then sew the edges down. This makes the ends look more finished. I don’t know why I did a zig zag stitch here. I usually don’t. Just do a straight stitch.

After doing that to both ends, fold the ends in with your fabric right side in, like an envelope.

Once you fold both ends over onto each other, use your ruler to decide how wide you want the pillow to be. I want mine to be 17 inches wide because my pillow insert is an 18 inch square and I want to have to squeeze the pillow in and then fluff it around, giving it a taut appearance. If your insert is 20 inches and you want it to fit not-so-taut, then make it 20 inches at this step. So my ends are folded over, overlapping a few inches with my total width being 17 inches. Now, all I have to do is sew up the top and bottom of the fabric and we’re done. You can turn the pillow cover to the right side through the opening where the fabrics overlap.

When you sew up the ends, using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, and then turn it to the right side, it looks like this.

Once you get the hang of these, you can make them in less than 15 minutes.

Here’s how it looks by the Hello Darlin’ pillow.

See how the sides of the pillow aren’t sewn? That’s where you folded the fabric over. The top and bottom are sewn, which makes it the simplest pillow cover to make the entire world!

And in case you need a Conway Twitty tutorial……..

12 Days of {handmade} Christmas Tutorials::Day 11 Casserole Carrier

November 12, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 6 Comments

This is day 11 of the 12 days of {handmade} Christmas! Hope you’ve enjoyed all the projects so far! We’re almost done! Which means I’ve blogged 43 days in a row. I think I need some kind of prize? Well, you can ponder what to get me while we carry on with day 11!
We welcome Christina , from 2 Little Hooligans, today! She’s a stay-at-home mommy to three littles and stay up til the wee hours of the night crafting. And we’re so lucky that she was willing to share her casserole carrier with us. You’re gonna want to make one!

I am really excited to share this with all of you. This is unlike any other casserole carrier you have ever seen. I love that the handles are made of fabric and are not wooden dowels. I think it gives the carrier more stability. I also like that it is lined with Insul-Bright to keep your casserole dishes warm or cold while transporting. With that said, I do not recommend taking dishes directly from the oven and placing into carrier. It may work, but I’m not going to try that one. Just let the dish cool a bit first. The carrier is made of all machine washable fabrics, so wash away. I suggest line drying instead of placing into the dryer. Casserole carrier will hold a 8×12 or 9×13 rectangular pan. (Please forgive me on the pictures. I hope you are all able to see my stitches. I used the darkest fabric I had and used white thread. But I was taking these pictures in the middle of the night and the lighting was not so good.)

Don’t let all the steps scare you. I tried to make this tutorial as easy as possible for everyone to follow along. It really is easy. Your just taking two pieces of fabric and making a cross with them and attaching some handles. I hate to think that my ideas are basic, but they are!Materials Needed:*Insul-Bright (1 yard)

*medium or light weight cotton fabric (2 yards of fabric)

*2″ wide Velcro ( 24″ of 2″ wide Velcro)

Let’s get started!

We will be cutting materials along the way instead of cutting all of the materials ahead of time.

Cut two pieces of Insul-Bright to the following sizes: 30″ X 15″ and 37″ X 12″
Cut two pieces of fabric slightly larger then the 30″ X 15″ and 37″ X 12″ pieces of Insul-Bright.
You don’t have to be too picky on cutting out the fabric pieces because you will be trimming them later. I just find it quicker to sew the pieces together this way and trim the fabric off later. Plus it saves you time from having to cut out the pieces of fabric to the correct size.
Gather the 30″ X 15″ piece of insul-bright and the two pieces of fabric that you cut out to go along with it. Take the two pieces of fabric and lay flat with right sides facing and now place the Insul-Bright on top of the fabric like shown.
Sew all around pinned pieces using the edge of insul-bright as your guide. Leave a 3″ opening for turning right side out.
**note: I changed the foot on my machine to H at this point. It is a plastic foot that glides over the Insul-Bright instead of getting caught up on the material. I didn’t do this on my first casserole carrier but did it on this one and it made a huge difference. Change foot back once finished sewing directly on the Insul-Bright.**

Trim excess fabric except where the opening is, you want to leave that section a little longer so that when you turn right sides out it will tuck and sew shut nicely. Don’t forget to square off corners. Now pull fabric out through opening.

Iron and push out corners so that they are nicely pointed. Now top stitch around the entire piece of fabric.

Repeat with the 37″ x 12″ of Insul-Bright and fabric pieces.
Pieces should look like this now.

Lay the pieces out on top of each other making a cross like pictured below.

Make sure the 37″ X 12″ piece is on top.
Line them up straight. The right side of the 37″ x 12″ piece sticks out about 10″.
And measures 9″ up from the bottom.

Mark on the bottom piece of fabric where the top piece of fabric is positioned on it. Make sure you make marks onto the top piece of fabric where the bottom piece is positioned underneath it as well. This doesn’t mean anything now, but it will help in later steps.
Now place a casserole dish in the center of the two pieces and fold closed. Fold the 37″ x 12″ piece close first then fold the 30″ x 15″ piece closed next.

Now you are going to feel for the top of the casserole dish and make a mark on the fabric where the top of the dish is. This mark will tell you where to stop sewing when attaching the handles.
See my little mark? Now take a ruler and extend that mark the entire length of the fabric to show where the top of the casserole dish is. Repeat on the opposite side.
Set aside for now.

Now it is time to make the handles.
Cut four pieces of fabric 40″ X 2 1/2″. Cut two pieces of flannel or batting the same size. Layer with the flannel on the bottom and the two pieces of fabric right sides facing on top of the flannel.
Sew together on both sides, the entire length of the pieces. Flip right side out, iron and top stitch.
Handles should look like this.

Time to attach the handles you just made. Gather the 30″ x 15″ piece, this is the piece you will be attaching the handles to.
Remember the marks you made earlier when you used the casserole dish as a guide? well, this is where those marks you made from the top of the casserole dish come in handy. See them on the picture above?
You will want to line up the handles as pictured above. Make sure they are evenly spaced and about 3″ in from the edge. Make sure the middle of the handles are in the middle of the piece of fabric. You don’t want lop sided handles.

Sew the handles on. Use the top stitch that you did on the handles as a guide, and stitch right on top of those stitches again. Do not sew past the marks on the fabric showing you where the top of your casserole dish will be. You want to make sure you sew straight lines. These will be seen on the bottom of the carrier.

Pieces should look like this now.

Now it is time to attach the two pieces together.Line the pieces up again like you did when you first made the cross. Remember the 37″ X 12″ fabric is on top and the fabric with the handles is on the bottom. Pin in place.

Do not sew directly on the marked lines. Sew in a little about. See where I made my stitches? Again, I wanted to make sure my stitches lined up with the stitches on the bottom piece. These stitches will be seen from the bottom. It will just make it look neater on the bottom of the carrier.

This is what the bottom of the carrier looks like now.

See how nicely the stitches line up on the bottom?

Time to attach the Velcro. Lay carrier flat, place casserole dish inside and pin Velcro in place where you want it.

Play with the pieces and see where you would like them most. Here is where I placed mine. I placed it in about 2″ from the edge. I used a 2″ wide Velcro so that I can use this carrier for two sized pans.

Time to finish the handles. I prefer to make little padded sections to attach the handles together.

To make the padded handles, cut four pieces of fabric and flannel (or batting) 6 1/2″ X 3″

Layer them like so, with 1 piece of flannel, 2 pieces of fabric right sides facing, and the last piece of flannel on top.

Sew sides together, leaving ends open.

Turn right right side out and iron. Fold ends in about 1/2″ and iron again.

Slide ends of handles into the middle of the padded handle. Make sure the handles are evenly lined up. You don’t want a lop sided carrier!

Pin and sew in place on the ends of padded handle.

The fabrics are pretty thick at this point and I had a hard time sewing through all the layers until I switched needles. I can’t remember the last time I changed my needle, it’s actually kinda embarassing.

Cut two pieces of fabric 5″X 2″

Sew together the two pieces of fabric, right sides facing. Leave a 1 1/2″ opening for turning right side out.
Turn right side out through opening, iron and top stitch.

Sew the Velcro on. Make sure the Velcro is sewn on opposite sides and ends like in the picture above. The hook on the bottom front and the loop on the top back of piece of fabric.

Fold spoon holder in half and mark where the center is. Now measure 1/2″ away from the center on the right and left sides. These marks will be where you want to sew the spoon holder onto the carrier. This way it will keep the spoon from wobbling too much.

You are finished!

**This tutorial is for personal use only! If you are going to link up and use my pictures, please link back to this post and don’t forget to give credit where credit is due! **

I hope you will find some time to sew one up. I would say it takes about 3-4 hours from start to finish to make one of these. You will have a little extra fabric and Insul-Bright left over, so sew up some matching hot pads or oven mitts to go along with the carrier. If you make one using this tutorial, please email me a picture or add it to my flickr group, I would love to see it.

12 Days of {handmade} Christmas Tutorials::Day 9 DIY Felt Scarf

November 10, 2012 by Edie Wadsworth 17 Comments

This is day 9 in a 12 days series of {handmade} Christmas tutorials. You can find all the projects here!

Welcome my friend, Julie, from Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss, today as she shows us how to make a felt scarf! Julie is beautiful, talented, with a wonderful family and especially wonderful parents, that I adore. Her dad is a great preacher and was the first person to ever share the gospel with me and he will always be special to me for that. Her mother, Denise, is precious and blogs at Counsels of the Heart . Julie’s sister, Amy, has a great crafty blog that I’m sure you’d enjoy. Talent seems to run in the family. Thank you, Jules, for sharing with us today!

I’m genuinely honored that Edie has invited me to be a part of this series this year and I can’t wait to show you how to make this felt scarf. It’s a quick and easy project, no matter what level of crafty you are.

DIY Felt Scarf

Start with 1/4 of a yard of 72″ wide felt, and cut approximately 8″ off of one end.

Then, simply sew a couple of buttons onto one end of the “scarf” and carefully cut some button holes into the other end.

At this point, you’ve spent less than 10 minutes on a great little neck warmer. Just wrap it twice around your neck, button it up, and you’re done!

Or, you can choose to wear it another way by creating a matching felt flower pin from the extra 8″ you cut off.

To do this, cut a circle approximately 3 inches in diameter. Then, cut about 30 leaf-shaped petals, approximately 2.5 inches long.

Then, just hot-glue them on in layers, overlapping them as you go, using the same technique as you would for a felt flower pillow.

To make the center, fold 2 of the petals in half, placing a dot of glue in the fold to hold it together, then stand them up and glue them into the center.

Glue a pin mechanism onto the back and you can wear it on your scarf or with what ever you want.

For this look, just button the scarf in the back and pin the flower on the front!

To make a child’s version, just cut the felt to the length needed to best fit them.

I hope you like this as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing! It’s a great little idea for a simple, homemade Christmas gift. And since each of these only cost about $3 to make, it’s great for any budget.