Beauty Swap

I had fun participating in an ag-gal beauty swap through my friend Crystal, over on Crystal Cattle’s blog. Crystal paired me with Jamie (@jamielmay on Instagram and Twitter). Jamie is going to be a new mommy soon, so we had fun swapping pregnancy stories and talking about beauty items that are good for a quick fix. We also decided we are soul sisters when it comes to sewing, quilting and crafting!

And she sent me a rockin’ beauty box.

She totally encapsulated my fast-paced, working-mom lifestyle with these products. In it was: Oscar Blandi hair texture spray (love. – great for 2nd day hair), YES cucumber wipes (again, great for tired nights to wash my face fast – and very refreshing), Insta-Dri (dry painted nails in 30-seconds!), E.L.F. Brush, L’Bri products and Fake-Up (perfect for my tired eyes).

Last night I braved painting my nails (with the polish I got myself when I was shopping for Jamie’s beauty box :) ) after putting Chisum to bed, hoping that he wouldn’t wakeup mid-paint. I heard him stirring some while I was finishing up, and I used the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. I check my phone for a text message and by the time I got to my text, my nails were dry. Ah-mazing. No more smudges or worrying about getting my nails dry before I have to pick up the baby.

It was so much fun to get to know Jamie through this exchange and I’m glad I have a new friend. So excited to celebrate with her when Baby P arrives soon!

DIY Pillow Shams

To match the quilt I made for my sister (almost finished!), I made matching pillow shams that I gave to her this weekend.

DIY Pillow Sham Tutorial

I put together my own pattern, but you could make these with any pattern or solid piece of fabric. It’s important to measure the pillow you’re going to use for the sham. I used a standard pillow and cut the following pieces of fabric (times two for two shams):

• Front – 31 1/4 in. length x 23 in. height
• Back – 35 in. length x 23 in. height
• Interfacing – same size as front

I wanted to use a heavy interfacing to hold up the sham nicely. The type I found was 20 inch - too short height-wise, so I added 3 1/4 extra inches to the bottom and sewed it on with a zig-zag stitch and a 1/4 inch overlay.

Once the interfacing is the correct size, lay the top of the sham right-side up on top of the interfacing.

To create the back piece with an opening to easily insert your pillow, you’ll need to cut the back piece. It really doesn’t matter the exact area of where to cut, but I measured over 16 inches and cut through the middle, top to bottom. Label your left and right sides and keep right sides up. I did this with the blue and yellow pins.
 

You’ll be hemming the left side of one rectangle and the right side of the other.  Fold over 1/2 inch and press. Hem each one.

Lay the left side of your backing right-side down (back of hem facing out). Pin in place.

Then position the right side of the backing right-side down. Pin in place. The two small rectangles will overlap, which is how you’ll insert the pillow when you’re done.

Sew all the way around with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Trim corners and fold inside out. That’s the beauty of these shams! Poke the corners out with the tips of scissors or a pencil. Iron the seam all the way around.

Measure your pillow to double check the size for the border. I created mine with a little more than a 2 inch border. You want the pillow to be snug, but fit correctly, so I made my border 2 1/4 inch in from the edge.  

Now you’ll sew it again, while it’s right side out, to create the border. I measured in 2 1/4 inch at each corner and made a mark.

Some machines have measurements on them, but I just made a small black mark on my machine at the 2 1/4 inch mark (so I didn’t have to mark my fabric all the way around) and followed around the entire pillow sham.

Insert your pillow through the opening in the back, and you’re done!

Crafting time

I received a great birthday present. Yes, back in October. And I’ve been using it since then! Using it enough that I haven’t taken any pictures.

So here it is, my awesome crafting table that I received from my parents.

It is TrueCut Crafting Table from The Grace Company and is a multi-level, multi-sized table that can change heights, and both sides fold down. Most importantly, it is on wheels, so I can move it around my craft room, yet fold it down to conserve space in our small basement room.

I set it at mid-waist height so I would not have to bend over to do all of my cutting. And it has been a back saver! And the shelves are perfect to keep my fabric scrap baskets and spools of thread.

I also like where I have it positioned next to my sewing machine. I’m working on a large quilt right now, so I can easily lay the extra fabric on the table or the first shelf and it doesn’t drag down to the floor.

My sewing area isn’t glamorous, but it works great for me and I’m so grateful for this extra piece that adds so much to one of my favorite hobbies. Thanks again, Mom and Dad!!

DIY doll blanket and pillow

For my cousin, Katie’s Christmas present, I made her a dolly blanket and pillow. She is really into dolls right now, and according to her dad, is always wanting to put them to sleep. Perfect gift idea!

I didn’t use any particular pattern, although I got the idea for the doll quilt from my friend, Shelley’s Garden Bricks Quilt.

I simply used 4 inch strips and tried to alternate the lengths in each row. The finished quilt size was approximately 24”x18”. I used some pink embroidery floss to tie the quilt top to the solid pink backing.

To make the pillow, I used two pieces of fabric that were 6”x9”, sewed the right sides together and flipped inside out, then filled with stuffing.

I’m pretty sure she liked it! :)

Christmas decor

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed the day in Kansas with Ronny’s family and on Friday, my nephews and I helped Grandma put up her tree. They were big help.

We came back to Nebraska on Friday night. This gave us time to decorate for Christmas!

As I was pulling out my Christmas decorations, I realized I really skimped on the fall decorations this year and didn’t get out a majority of them. So we put up a few more indoor and outdoor decorations to make up for it. (These are all phone pictures – sorry for the fuzziness.)

My favorite part of my decorations is my kitchen chandelier. I draped snowy, pine garland across the top and hung icicle ornaments throughout. This picture doesn’t do it justice.

I didn’t put our tree up this year, but I have two smaller trees up instead.

I also love my nativity scene that Grandpa and Grandma Cinnamon made for us. The perfect reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

We don’t have an elf on a shelf, but we do have a Santa on a shelf! He seems to be happy up there – maybe he just likes sitting by the wine? :-)

And remember this – my Christmas in July project? It found a new spot in our living room as well. How could anyone give Baby Jesus a white ribbon? Makes me laugh every time I look at it, thank you hubby.

Lastly, we surely aren’t the Griswold’s, but we do have some lights up this year – which is more than what we could say last year. Thanks to Ronny and our friend, Josh, for putting these up!

And while we’re talking decorating, my chair finally came in for my new office/reading room. Here is sneak peak, but I want to share with you the whole room transformation…stay tuned!

Fall gourd decor

I shared last week that I did a DIY craft project with my gourds from my 2011 garden harvest. They have been drying and curing for over a year and I’ve made a few projects with them including these DIY birdhouses.

I started with this lineup in my backyard shed: gourds, cardboard & spray paint.

The Rust-oleum paint I used  (gold, bronze and slate) left a hammered finish which I love.

While I took a break to let the gourds dry, Ronny managed to steal the camera and snuck up on me as I finished up the last coat. Creeper! What is really funny is that I didn’t know about this picture until I was taking these photos off of my camera. :)

When they were all dry, I incorporated them in my china hutch and centerpiece.

I got the plate from a HomeGoods store when I was visiting my sister in Olathe.

What do you think about my placemats? They were our 3rd – leather – wedding anniversary gift from my parents. Love ‘em, thanks Mom & Dad!

The extra gourds that I spray painted may have shown up in other areas around the house. I decorated right before leaving for a work trip and Ronny called to tell me that gourds were poppin’ up everywhere!

I love fall decorations.

An October afternoon

This morning was pretty chilly, so I left Hank inside to stay warm. But boy, was he ready to play this afternoon when I got home! So we went for a walk in the field.

And we explored. We found a golf ball and lots of curly-q corn leaves.

And Hank sniffed just about everything.

Then when we got home we did a craft project. More on that later!