Fun, Easy, 20 Minute Pillow Tutorial!

I have come into a large stash of 27" squares of upholstery samples. This is a pretty decent size piece of fabric, but not really enough for one pillow and if you use two pieces, one for each side of the pillow, it leaves a lot of waste. So I figured out this super simple method to make one piece of 27" square fabric into a 15" pillow.

My fabric samples are discontinued upholstery samples, but you can use just about any fabric that you want, in varying sizes as well. This tutorial is meant to show you how to turn a large square of fabric into a pillow, with very minimal waste.

Start with your fabric, right side up. My fabric is 27" by 27" 

Fold all of the corners into the center, to meet at the center. 

Sew along each of the 4 sides, leaving half of the last seam open for stuffing. 

You could potentially stop here, turn it right side out, stuff it and close it. But I wanted mine to have more dimension, so I took it a step further. 

Fold each corner flat (think the opposite of how it will be when the pillow is finished). Mark a triangle that is 2" high and 4" wide on the corner with a fabric marker/pencil/chalk. 

Sew along that line and clip the corner off.

It should look like this. 

Turn it right side out..

And stuff it!

*This is where I took a break and waited patiently for Amazon to deliver my stuffing and forgot to take a picture when I finished up the other pillow.*

Once you have the pillow stuffed, close the seams with pins and close up the seam with the blind stitch (or whatever you choose to call it). 

These pillows look great with the seams up front, 

Or in the back! 

I love this pillow design! With all of the funky, trendy fabric samples, I've been making pillows for all my friends and family. It's a simple, easy and clean looking design. 

Simple and Easy DIY Jewelry Hanger

As my jewelry obsession grows, my storage needs grow as well. I was putting hooks directly in the wall, but everytime I put another hook in the wall, I felt a little more guilty for putting another hole in the wall. So I came up with this project in my never ending attempt to re-purpose all our fence panels. 

I started with a piece of old fence paneling. I sanded it, painted it and then sanding off a little of the paint to make it look "rustic". 

I marked 2 rows for hooks, spaced every 2 inches, and staggered from one row to the next. I drilled pilot holes with a 1/16" drill bit to make it easier to get the hooks in. 

Then screw in all the hooks! I used vice grips to save my fingers from the screws. I added eye hooks on the top for hanging (not pictured).

After haning all my jewelry I realized that I should have made it bigger because I am out of hooks. 

How to transfer designs onto any canvas, with no artistic talent.

I am have creative talent to spare, but artistic ability... not so much. I get so frustrated sometimes when I'm working on a project and it doesn't come out perfect because my artistic ability is lacking. So I stumbled on this technique a while ago and felt like the internet needs to know about it!

First, find the design that you want to put on your piece. Re-size it on the computer and print it out. I do most of my re-sizing in Paint, it will even print big images onto several pages so you aren't limited to an 8.5"x11" design.

I didn't get a picture of the tracing paper, but you can purchase tracing paper in most craft stores. This is typically used for copying patterns onto fabric (at least that's what I remember using it for in 7th grade Home Ec. class). Place the tracing paper, color side down, on the wood, and place the design, right side up on top of that. Tape it down so it doesn't shift while you trace.

Trace the outline of the design.

After tracing is done, go over the design with your medium of choice. I generally use Sharpie, paint pen, or a fine paint brush. 

It's as easy as that, if you can trace, you can create!

Now go create: 

Wood Art Ideas here

How to make a wood Canvas

Pallet Wood Canvas

Here is the tutorial for making a wood canvas for whatever wood art you want. I use fence panels that have been "weathered" in my back yard for years. But you could easily use pallets for this as well. 

Decide on your dimensions and cut your pieces accordingly. I always cut two supports just and little bit narrower than the width of the canvas.

Wood Glue doesn't offer much support when it's wet, but I felt it would help keep it together once it dried. 

  

I measured depth of the board and doubled it and found nails that were just a hair shorter in length.  When hammered through the back it won't come through the front. No visible hardware. 

 I hammer in 4 nails for each board, and each overlap. That is a lot of nails, but it holds!

That's it! Sand it until the texture is to your liking, then be creative! 

Use eye hooks or drill holes and use twine to hang. Beautiful!

Wood Art Ideas Tutorial

Design Transfer Techniques

Wood Art

DIY Wood Art

With all of the Pallet projects floating around the internet I got inspired to do my own pallet art. We recently cut our 6ft privacy fence down to a 3ft fence along the back of our property line, because the corn field behind us isn't very nosey. I started crafting with the boards. Armed with a miter saw and a sander, I have been keeping very busy. I've made so much rustic wood art that I don't know what to do with it. Here are some of my creations.

This is our night time saying. I saw this once at a craft fair for $40, I loved it, but I was too cheap to buy it, but I did start saying it to the kids at bed time. 8 years later, I made my own sign $0, bam!

  

Teachers name plats - 2 easy 45 degree cuts and some paint

Smitten with the Mitten! Here are super easy tutorials on how to make the pallet "canvas" and transfer designs onto wood.

Rustic Americana Hanging

The letters didn't come out right, but I love the tree!

Love Birds 

Dandelion, it needs a whimsical saying in the empty spot, suggestions?

Welcome Sign, I need to hang this one!

I was practicing on this piece but I ended up loving the ragged wood

 Everyone loves this saying, I've made several.

I saw this in a shop, ran home and made it myself!

There you have it. I hope this offered some ideas and inspiration. Be sure to check out my post on wood art tutorials here and here.