Super Easy Dog Bed

I have been wanting to sew a dog bed for awhile now. I ran across some adorable dog fabric at Joann's the other day and decided it was time. 

I knew I wanted a pillow that I could wash, because let's face it, dogs can be dirty. :-) The kind of dog beds they sell in stores are bulky and hard to wash, so I went with a different approach.

It is just a $3 bed pillow from Walmart, plus a homemade pillowcase! And it took me all of 5 minutes to complete. I just took my 1 yard of fabric, folded it hamburger style, sewed up 2 of the sides (right side of the fabric facing in), turned it inside out, folded down the remaining opening, and sewed around that like a hem. 

I can easily remove the pillow case, wash it, and put it back on - or change it to something different! I know the white background is a risk, so it will most likely be retired someday, but for now it is super cute and Lexi seems to like it. :-)

 

Merry Christmas Lexi!

Woodland Creature Christmas

This Christmas I let Martha and Target inspire me. 

First, I I found these adorable reindeer ornaments at Target and decided I would do a gray and red Christmas this year. (Silhouette pillow tutorial here)

Then I saw Martha's spread on her Woodland Christmas. 

...and it all came together.

I made these felt animal cutouts using the templates on Martha's website. I added a few of my own too, including the fox and the moose by simply searching "fox silhouette" on google and scaling it to size in Word. 

I had to give the below ornaments a shout out too, since my dogs are my real-life Christmas creatures.  My sister and family made these of each of our dogs after we ate Thanksgiving dinner. Eclectic, yes, adorable, yes!

Here's the rest of the deco... can you spot the creatures hiding throughout?

 

Applique Moose Pillow

 Top shelf: Woodland creature ornament from Michaels. Middle shelf: Reindeer jar (tutorial here).

Reindeer Silhouette Pillow

I made this reindeer silhouette pillow for my sister this year for her birthday. I think it turned out pretty cute. :-) She does not follow any rules when it comes to Christmas colors - so this grey and blue reindeer pillow will fit right in with her holiday decor.

To start - I found a silhouette I  liked by searching Google Images, copied and pasted it into Word, blew it up, and printed it out. Then I cut around it, pinned it to some felt (30 cents a sheet at Joann's), and cut around it again. Cutting the antlers out of the felt was a bit of a challenge, but not too bad.

Then I cut out my chevron fabric (Hobby Lobby) for the pillow and before sewing the two pieces together I sewed on the reindeer silhouette. This was a bit tricky as well, but with lots of pins it isn't too bad. I just used a simple hand stitch to attach the felt to the fabric - you can see my stitches clearer 2 pictures below.

 

My own Holiday decor is a little more traditional - the silhouette isn't sewn onto this pillow yet, but soon!

And because it is December 1st - I thought I'd share our Christmas lights this year. I put them up all by myself! It was a harrowing experience, but I survived.