DIY U.S. Map Pillow

I saw this U.S. Map Pillow tutorial a looong time ago and recently decided I needed some more pillows! So I whipped one up the other day and it turned out super cute! Here's what I did:

First, gathered my materials. You will need:

Fabric for the pillow, I chose a vintage floral fabric

2 colors of felt, one for the U.S. and one for the heart.

Thread

A sewing machine

A needle

Scissors

Paper

Printer

 Print out this U.S. diagram, provided for us by the lovely KikiCreates. I actually saved it and then put it into a Word document to get a size that would fit the felt that I had. Cut out the diagram, pin to felt and cut out your felt U.S. Then cut 2 rectangles of fabric for the pillow and a heart with your second felt.

Pin your felt U.S. to one of the pillow fabrics and hand stitch.

Next, grab your heart and hand stitch to U.S. in your place of residence (mine was Houston).

 Then place your second pillow fabric right side down on top of the one with the U.S.. Pin edges together.

Sew all edges leaving a 3"-4" gap somewhere for turning out.

 Clip the corners.

 Turn the pillow right side out through the gap.

Stuff it and pin together the gap.

Stitch up the gap.

And you have an adorable U.S. pillow!

It's nice to have a DIY come out better than expected. I really love it! I have some other pillow ideas up my sleeve, we'll see how those turn out! I feel so overwhelmed with work/homework/life today but don't feel like doing any of it! On top of that, Brandon got a flat tire today and is running around town trying to get a knew one. Hopefully the rest of my week goes well.... oi vey. Wish me luck.

Thrifty Finds

Ok, I know this isn't a DIY but I found some awesome stuff about a week ago and just had to share!


 I decided to make another quilt so I went out and gathered a bunch of vintage sheets. And I have to say, I hit the jackpot! And I found this hook thing (name?) to replace one that Eliza ripped down. Let's see how long this one'll last

 I've also found a new purse! I love how it looks but the snap is a little annoying. There's another one under the big one and it's just a hassle to do both.

 I found this... thing. I had intended to use it as a rug but apparently it's a table cloth! So I'm fixing it up a bit (a future DIY?) to be a rug.

 And the steal of the day has to be this little baby! I don't know if you can see the little keychain but it's a Michael Kors bag...


I'm not one for brand names and designer labels but at a thrift store, yes please! I got this baby for $10 and guess what?! My laptop fits inside, score! So I've got myself a new purse and a new laptop bag.




Of course, there was a downside to this purchase. The handle was broke. But luckily I found an easy fix which I'll share with my tablecloth/rug makeover. Well here's to Monday guys! Hope everyone has a magnificent week!

And the winner is....

Lisa!

Woohoo! Thanks soo much to the few people that participated, I really enjoyed hearing your answers! Oh, and I apologize about being so late. I've got some fun DIY's coming up, and can't wait to share. Maybe I'll even post one today!

**Lisa- Congratulations! Leave me a comment with your email so we can discuss the details! Thanks (:

Joy Time!

Today was a long day, it just seemed like it lasted forever! I had my first test of the semester and was rushingly doing homework all day to catch up (and didn't even get to finish!). After, I came home and kind of went on a cleaning craze! Does that happen to you? Eliza is getting into her terrible two's and learning how to throw tantrums! Yayyyy! And I got a note about her being put in time out at mother's  day out. Oh, joy! Oh, and speaking of joy! Today I'm going to do a little joy post, here goes.

• The test I took was wayy easier than I expected! Shew, what a relief!
• Got red hair dye, going back to red. I'll have to share later.
• I made up my first cold brew coffee! Now all I have to do is wait 12 hours to enjoy it, I'll have to share that too.
• I cleaned a lot... and organized. I did laundry, I cleaned my whole house!
• I'm finally getting better! A little background: We got sick at the beginning of last week and then were starting to get better last weekend but then by monday we were sick all over again! It was horrible!
• In the last two days, all of our bedding and most of the couch stuff has been washed and I went around with antibacterial wipes cleaning everything from door handles to keyboards and all of our remotes! Anything we touch a lot, no more mister nice guy! I'm over this sick thing.
• I got inspired to decorate my apartment more/for fall. I have been on the internet and have a whole list of to-do's!
• I've got something exciting happening tomorrow (:
• And the last joy of my day was getting a little creative time in by bath time! Or during bath time? I found this cutting board in the laundry room (how'd it get there?!) and since it doesn't work, I had to find another use for it

Before (booo):

And after:

I decided to make it into a place mat for Eliza in an attempt to contain her messes! Not sure if it's going to work yet but isn't it cute? It's educational as well as functional, I'm pretty proud of myself. I just realized the lady bug's head is kind of cut off.. sorry, it's there! Tomorrow's Friday, woopee.

My Favorite Blogs

I don't know about you guys but I freakin' LOVE blogs! And I follow a lot of different blogs. Anything from fashion blogs to crafty-diy blogs, design blogs, and lifestyle blogs. I follow blogs that inspire me or just have awesome, creative owners! They give me an outlet to connect with people that have the same interests as me! And most importantly gives me a source of daily inspiration. Blogs keep me creative and motivated which goes hand-in-hand with the kind of business I'm trying to run! So I wanted to do a post on my top favorite blogs. Here is my inspiration and the awesome people behind it!

 First up is A Beautiful Mess-probably my favorite blog right now. It is owned by the beautiful Elsie Larson. She owns Red Velvet and has a vintage brick and mortar shop as well. She is the biggest inspiration to me, I hope I can be as successful as her someday! On her blog you can find a ton of fun DIY's, her outfit posts (she has such great vintage style!), yummy recipes and posts on her daily life as a business owner/awesome creative person! This is definitely a blog I would recommend, you should check it out! Her life is so colorful and I just enjoy seeing all her pretty pictures.
 Next is Delightfully Tacky! This is one of the first blogs I started following and I love it! It's a fashion blog about a gorgeous girl named Elizabeth from Alaska. Her style is "delightfully tacky" and she loves mix-matching prints which is my favorite part! She also just got engaged and I'm so happy for her! And I'm a little bit obsessed with her hair. Isn't it just beautiful?! She's just a really sweet person and I enjoy getting to know her and see her grown through her blog.

  Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno is a blog about two sisters that live in Houston! They are fun, creative people that are really down to earth. They share makeup tips, outfit posts, sneak peaks of their awesome house, and tidbits of their life. They're really sweet and I love their easy-going personalities. Plus they live in Houston which is where I'm from! So it's fun to see things that I recognize!


Lune Vintage is a blog about a beautiful mother that also has a vintage store! Online and a brick & mortar one. She has a darling son and just had a little baby girl! I love her bohemian/free-spirit style. On her blog you can find news about her store, snapshots of her family and some fun & creative DIY's. I've done a few of them on here including the lace jar and the doily dream catcher. They came from her! So check her out, it's definitely worth a browse.


 Keiko Lynn is fashion blog with this gorgeous girl named Keiko. She shares a lot of makeup tutorials (which I love!) and her cute outfits! I love her style, it's vintage, feminine and comfortable but modern at the same time. Her hair is awesome (mine needs to hurry up and grow out already!) and she has the perfect lipstick lips (so jealous!). She always has really fun accessories and is very unpredictable. I am always pleasantly surprised at the outfits she chooses (:


Little Chief Honeybee is a fashion blog by a girl named, Kaelah! Her outfits are very feminine and I love her hair too! She just remodeled this vintage trailer you see above and is turning it into a mobile shop, isn't it just darling?! She has the cutest shoes and cardigans plus those awesome tattoos and cute dimple piercings. She's a spunky, shark lover (!), who's not afraid to speak her mind. I really enjoy reading her blog! She also shares songs every Monday and it's nice to hear some fresh, new tunes.



This little blog is by a girl named, Coury. Fancy Treehouse is a fun fashion blog by a vintage seller who shares her daily outfits! They're always fun and I love how she layers her clothes, very inspiring. She always has the cutest bags and she's so pretty! It's very refreshing the way she styles her clothes, like playing dress-up everyday! Love it! And I can't forget about her cute little dog that you will see all over her blog, check it out!


Cakies is about a beautiful mother with four beautiful kids! I just love hearing about all of their daily adventures, can you imagine 4 girls? They're always dressed up in the most adorable vintage outfits, as if they're cute enough already! I just love seeing all the sisters together, so fun!  You can find their latest sewing projects, yummy food, and pictures of the newest addition to their family (yay babies!). All of her pictures are super colorful and fun! And don't even get me started on how awesome her house & decorations are! This is definitely a blog to check out.

Those are just a few of my favorite blogs! I just started following a bunch more so maybe I'll do another post in a month or two. What are your favorite blogs? Any sites that you recommend? I'm always looking for a good blog to read!

**Thanks to all the awesome blogs I shared today that let me use their pictures. I'm so grateful to have awesome role models to look up to and be inspired by! Oh, the joys of the Internet (: 

Have a great week everyone! It's halfway over!

Fabric Wrapped Bangle Tutorial

I'm sure you have all seen these before but I'm just now hopping on the band wagon! Sometime within the last week, I've fallen in love with jewelry again. So here I go, making my own jewelry. Here's a simple little tutorial to give those bangles a cute, homemade, up-do!

All you need is your bangles, fabric, and a glue gun.

 Cut your fabric into strips about 1-2" wide. Then glue one edge to the inside and start wrapping! After about 2 wraps, I glued it again to keep it all in place (this is optional though). When you reach the beginning, glue your fabric to the inside and cut off the extra.

 This is how they turned out. What do you think?

Brandon got me this peacock one for me a while back but the paint started scratching off so I stopped wearing it! I wrapped in with sheer fabric in hopes that it will protect it and give it some oomph at the same time! I'm not super in love with it but I am head over heels about the black floral one! Now I just have to remember to wear it!


I'm getting sick... again. Woopeee! So it's off to bed for me, hopefully it won't last as long as last time? Ugh, I hate being sick. I wish it was the weekend....

Little Update

I've been doing a lot of updating today! I updated my About Me section of the blog and redesigned my store. You should check them out! What do you think? I'm not completely done with the shop but am pretty satisfied! I've got something special happening this week, but it's going to get pretty hectic so I'm not promising a whole lot of posts. However, I do have a bunch lined up so we'll see. Hope everyone's started off their week on a good foot, here's to Tuesday!