Create Your Own Pillow Form

I love that there are pillow forms to purchase so all those fun pillow covers can be removed and washed, or changed, when needed. Every once in awhile I need or want a pillow of a not so standard shape or size. Now I'm going to share my tutorial for creating my own pillow forms.

Items needed:

Muslin (any color, I usually go with white. If your cover is going to be darker, I suggest getting a darker cotton fabric)

Fiberfill

Sewing machine

Thread

Ruler

Cutting mat

Rotary cutter

Pre-wash material.

Decide what size you want {for this particular project my cover will be 15" x 10"} then add 1/4" all the way around {my final measurement is 15.5" x 10.5"} and cut two. 

Line up the two pieces. In the middle of one side place marks for a width that will allow for your hand to fit in {mine is a 4" opening}.

Because this pillow will go inside of the pillow cover it needs to be just a bit smaller. This will allow for the cover to be placed on and taken off easier. Starting at the bottom 'opening' mark sew around the pillow form using a 3/8" seam allowance until you reach the top 'opening' mark.

*If you want you can also back stitch once or twice on either side of your 'opening' to help keep the seem tight.

*Tip: When getting to a corner sew up until you think you will need to change directions. I even measure to make sure the last stitch is where it needs to be. Leave the needle down, lift the foot and rotate your material. This will help so that the corners of the pillow form will be nice and sharp.

*If you also choose too, you can serge around where the straight stitch is. For a simple pillow form I will just use my zig-zag stitch.

Now turn the pillow form right-side out. Just reach in the opening and pull the right-side out. Then reach back in and use your finger, pencil with eraser or round tip scissors to push out the corners to make them nice and crisp.

Fill the form with Fiberfill to make your pillow form as full as you want.

*I reach in and make sure that some of the fill gets into the corners to help shape the pillow form.

Once you have enough fill in your pillow form push it down a bit to give yourself working room to sew the 'opening' closed. Pull the two sides on either side of the 'opening' and line up the sides of the opening, finger press and even place pins if you would like. Sew right at the edge of the opening from the top to bottom to sew the pillow form closed. On this one I missed a little section, if you do too, simple take it back to your machine and sew it closed.

With this stitch on the outside {even though it will go inside a pillow cover} I still want it to look nice so I simply tie the thread ends into a square knot and cut off the extra.

Voila ~ Pillow form!!

Creating A New Me ~ Working It Out

Ok. I'm feeling good so far. I might be going a little slower at this than others but the point is...that I'm still going.

Last month our goal was to pick out what supplements we were going to take. These can help fill in what we are missing from our meals and to cover certain areas we feel we need help in. Everyone will be different so be sure to figure out what works for you, talking with your Dr. is a great place to start if you need help. For me I have gone with a multi-vitamin, iron and fish oil. Again this needs to be doable for me, if I have 6-7 pills that I need to take 2-3 times a day .... that won't last.

I also added water. Yes: WATER. As I was looking through exercise routines the number one thing mentioned, EVERYWHERE, was to drink water .... lots of water. As I was taking stock of how much I drink, well, it was shameful. So this past month I also added water and am excited to let you know I already lost 6 lbs in two weeks. Wahoo!!

Now for the exercise. This gets me every time. I can start out with the best of intentions but will always fizzle out. All these exercise plans want you to spend 1-2 hours at the gym. If I had an extra 1-2 hours in my day ... I would sleep, this momma is tired!! Well I am excited to say I found a plan for me. It can be done at home, during nap time, before she gets up in the morning or in the evening as a detox and me time. Sigh! Here is the BikiniBodyMommy on FB. I will be doing her 90 day challenge. If you go to her photo albums you will see all her workout days. The best part, bikini season is just 90 days away!! I didn't plan this but the timing does work out great.

Hello!! Inspiration. Alright, it's time to get my workout on. Here it goes. From comments by others I hear the first week or two are the hardest but this time I am determined to stick with it! I'll take my measurements and all that not so fun stuff and check in next week. I don't think I am brave enough to put up pictures of me in a bikini but you never know, maybe if I hit my goal I will show do a series of transition pictures.

Weathering the Storm ~ Checklist

Since living in Connecticut we have gone without power more here, in 1 ½ years, than we have living anywhere else. I’m not sure I could call myself an expert just yet but we are getting pretty good at weathering the storm.

When we first moved to CT, before we even had a place to live, we were crashing in a friends basement and lost power that weekend. When Abigail was two weeks old we lost power for nine days from Hurricane Irene. Last fall we went without power again and this time, I would say, was the hardest. We were on well water so when the power went out the water stopped as well, the stove was electric as well and Abigail was a rambunctious one {1} year old.

Paul and I love to camp so we had a number of items already that could help in a power outage situation. So, now I am going to share with you my list of things to have ready and other things to prepare right before the storm. I have also included other tips, some that we thought up and acted on before the storm and some that we figured out the hard way. I'm sharing my list but I think I will keep to myself which ones were added after the storm. Wink, Wink!

Click here and download the files for yourself. I will be printing off my list and put it in my Moving Binder, that has now become our home binder since we have moved.

This is her third {3rd} once-in-a-lifetime/record breaking storm. She had no idea what to do with so much snow. The older kids in the neighborhood were in heaven ... once they could go outside and play in.

Here are some of my other binder printables

Our Budget Binder

Start a Yearly Savings Plan with this printable

Check out our Moving Binder

Pipe Cleaner Toy

I love when the stuff that  i am going to buy already comes in containers that I can reuse. When we are done reusing it, into the garbage it goes. This is great because I am one of those that has a hard time paying for containers that don't last or that I know will be destroyed but little hands.

Today's reused packaging comes from ... the fridge! Originally I was going to do this project with a large juice jug and drill some holes in the lid but we finished off the Parmesan cheese first, and the lid works better too.

This little toy will be used to help with fine motor skills by placing the pipe cleaners into the holes of the lid. It can also help with counting and colors once she is old enough and talking!

Items needed:

Cleaned out jar

Pipe cleaners

Hot glue gun/glue sticks

Wire cutters

Place a little bit of glue in the groove and place one end of the pipe cleaner there.

Once that is set, wrap the pipe cleaner around the jar nice and tight. Put a bend in the pipe cleaner where it matches up with the beginning, this will 'mark' where you will cut the pipe cleaner.

Place another drop of glue and fasten the end. Be sure to pull it nice and snug. Repeat, and place pipe cleaners in all the grooves of the jar. Since the pipe cleaners are placed in the grooves you don't need to glue around the whole jar.

Cut a bunch of pipe cleaners in half so they can be placed inside.

Yea!! She likes it.

Valentine Chalkboard Printable

Here is my second attempt at making a chalkboard printable. I downloaded the chalkboard backgrounds from here. I put mine together in Photoshop but you can create it in Picasa just as well.

Simply open the chalkboard background in the color of your choice, then add your text on top. For Christmas I got a Samsung Note and absolutely love it. I wanted to have a bit of a hand drawn element to this one so I used the note to draw the heart. After a little bit of photoshop magic I was able to remove all the background and change the color to pink. If you would rather, you can download mine and print so you can add it to your own Valentine decor.

This is a 8.5"x11" so you can 'shrink to fit' if you are printing it to a smaller size. Enjoy!!

~Mindy

Conversation Heart Cell Phone Cover Tutorial

Aaahhhh!!! I am so excited. I have my first Guest Blogger Tutorial to share with you today.

Adiel from It's Because I think Too Much has done our tutorial for us. Adiel is a twenty-something woman originally from the Salt Lake City area of Utah. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2009 for a job in social shopping--a perfect fit for such a social-media enthusiast and shopaholic!

She likes rings, pleats, polka dots, stripes, lace, mascara, and bright lip colors. She also loves to wear bold jewelry, pretty dresses, and sky-high heels. Quirky and whimsical accessories make her happy.

Materials Needed:

Old phone case

Acrylic paints in dove grey, pastel pink, pastel green, pastel yellow, and pastel purple

One sponge brush

At least two paint brushes in assorted sizes

Red letter stickers

Mod Podge Gloss

Step 1: Use the sponge brush to paint thin coats of dove grey all over the phone case. Let each coat dry before painting the next one. Continue until you reach the desired opacity. 

Step 2: Use the pink paint to paint a large heart in the center of the case. Using all pastel paints, randomly paint hearts all over the case. If you paint incomplete hearts along the edges, the effect will be better. 

Step 3: Use your stickers to apply your desired conversation heart phrase. I chose "Be Mine" but you can do any of the old standbys; "True Love" "Sweet Talk" "I'm Yours" etc...

Step 4: Use a large paint brush to coat the entire case with Mod Podge in two to three layers, letting each dry in between.

Voila! You've just made your own custom conversation heart case!

 

Creating a New Me ~ Supplements

This past month I have been doing better with my portions, it was a challenge to really stick with it..... 

My main problem is that I am busy during the day and don't usually take the time to eat a large breakfast so in the evening I am starving and that is when I usually eat my largest meal {at the end of the day when I am my least active.}

What's the text step? I have been thinking my next step will be finding supplements to help me. About 3 1/2 years ago I had an incident that required me to take iron and other supplements. Lately I have been feeling a bit sluggish, the same as then, so I'll go back on the iron pills. I know that there are other supplements I can be taking that will help me to increase my metabolism and help with my everyday health and wellness. If you have any suggestions on what to take, leave me a note, I would love to look into and see if it is right for me.