Envelope Back Pillow Covers

Helloo!

Recently i have been trying to understand and grasp the concept of sewing and working on, you know straight lines. There is a cute little fabric shop downtown called Needlework and they do a whole assortment of classes for different things every month, it is super awesome and super informative. I decided to hit up the pillow making sesh with my mom and thought i would share what i learned!

The Pillows i made for this tutorial were for my best friends birthday and i ended up giving them to her before i took a picture of the final product so, the picture of them completed is from the class (not the best quality photos i had to use my phone because my camera died mid process, ill get the hang of it soon, promise.)

-One Pillow 16"-
Supplies:
Fabric: 1 fat quarter for the front and one for the back, i chose two different fabrics for all of mine but if you want to make it all the same that works too. (fat quarter = 18x22)
Spool of thread: Coordinating with your fabric choices
Empty Bobbin
Sewing Machine
Fabric Scissors
Pins
Chalk/Pencil/Pen/Whatever

Pattern: I used the pattern that we got at the class, but they are super easy to make, if you're following these instructions and making 16" pillow you will want a pattern for the front of 17" square, for the back you will want two pieces that are 11x17 (super easy i promise, just grab a ruler and some scrap paper)

Step 1:

take the two back pieces that will create the envelope opening (in this case it was the white fabric for me) Fold the fabric over 1/4 inch along the 17" side (wrong side of the fabric) and then press, fold another 1/4" and press again. then pin and stitch in place (do the same for the other piece)

Step 2: 

Lay the front piece (purple) right side up, place the two back pieces you just finished on top of the front piece so that the right sides of those are face down. Position them so the two hemmed lines (17") are in the centre and the unfinished edges of the two pieces and the front piece are matching, this will give you an overlap of the two hemmed edges ( since i still havent mastered the straight line i positioned them so the "nicer" hem was the one exposed, position them however you want" Pin in place and sew leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Step 3:

Flip your pillow inside out and push out the corners (recommend chopsticks to get a nice point)

[these are the covers i made in class, thought it might be a good idea to include a finished product in here, arent they lovely!]

Let me know if you attempt making some or if you have any other recommendations for a first time sewer like myself that i could try out!

p.s standard helper picture, super useful to have around:

Birds Nest Necklace

Hello :)

i know i am pretty late on those tutorials for some easy / cheap christmas gifts, things got a little hectic and i was a little (lot) lazy about posting, but this one isnt really winter specific (at all) so it is still pretty relevant! It is super fun and easy to make and you'll get some compliments on them, promise.

Birds Nest Necklace (source)

Supplies:
beads / pearls
24 gauge wire (you can use 20g if you like, but i want with all 24)
Chain
Lobster Clasps
Jump Rings
Pliers
Scissors / Something to cut the wire (i bought an all in one plier at Michaels, super helpful and cheap)

Step 1:
Select the beads you want, i used three pearls, thought it most resembled a birds nest feel, but i've seen a lot of different tutorials out there mixing it up! so try any combination you like. Then arrange them any way you think looks best

Step 2: just wrap the wire around the beads until you get a nice solid "nest" look, just fin-angle the wire until you get what you like.

 Step 3:
Before you cut off the excess wire, take the end and wrap it around in the space between each bead (i only did this at the top where i was going to hang the clasp, however if you want a nice secure nest you can do it in between each bead for three loops, also looks really good. After you have done this either a) leave a little circle in the loop so you can put the chair through, or b) attach a jump ring to the wrapped wire (this is what i did)

1-loop

3-loops

Step 4:

Cut the necklace chain to the length you want and attach a jump ring and clasp to one end and a jump ring on the other side for the clasp to attach to (for some chain length i decided it was too short, so i just added 5-7 jump rings on the opposite side of the clasp, the people could make them longer if desired) 

Step 5:

wear / wrap that shiz

your cat will really love the project.

Christmas Cookies #2

My bad, little delayed on the next batch of cookies! i have been making all my gifts this year so that has taken up most of my time, unfortuately ive only documented a couple of them in the process but ill be taking pictures of all the completed gifts and then posting a link to them all (just a quick last minute diy list) now, onto the cookies!

Cookie Number 2 - Magic Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup butter / marg (melted)
1 1/2 Cups Graham Crackers
1 (14 Ounce) can condensed milk
2 Cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cup coconut (can use pretty much any amount)
1 Cup Nuts (optional, i didn't use them in this recipe)

Step 1:
Preheat oven to 350F coat a 13x9 (or whatever you have you can split up the recipe into two pans) with non-stick cooking spray (or butter)

Step 2:
Combine the melted butter and graham crackers then press mixture into bottom of your pan(s) Pour the condensed milk evenly over the mixture. Then layer the chocolate chips and coconut (and nuts and whatever else you decide)

Step 3:
Bake for 25 Minutes and let cool, i noticed it took quite some time for the condensed milk and everything to cool, so have some patience, then cut into bars or whatever shapes you want and enjoy, they are super rich and amazing and were the first ones to go at the house, nomnom

Christmas Cookies #1

The other day i went to my aunt's house and we had a little bit of a pre-christmas christmas cookie bake off. My intention was to freeze them all and keep them for our upcoming christmas party, but that didn't happen, they are all gone... there are three recipes, i have broken them down individually, it turns out i didnt take an abundance of photos, but i can promise you they are all super delicious and ill be making more for their intended purpose in the coming weeks!

Cookie Number 1 - Crack Bars (call em whatever you like)
These are super sweet so brace yourselves.

Ingredients:
Brown Sugar - 1 Cup
Butter - 1 Cup
Chocolate Chips - 2 Cups
Soda Crackers (salted tops) - for one tray its about 2 sleeves, depending

(you just need equal parts of butter and sugar you can essentially use as much as you want)

Step 1: put the butter in a sauce pan and let it melt, then add in equal parts brown sugar

Step 2: Lay out the crackers on a baking sheet with wax/parchment paper (believe me, if you dont use something it is NOT going to be a fun time also don't use tin foil that will be stuck to the bottom of these forever. Once the brown sugar and butter have melted pour over crackers. Be careful here, the crackers will want to float and move all over the place, try and keep them down

Step 3: Place in the over on high broil for about 10 minutes, keep your eyes on them, once the sugar starts to bubble, it is time to bring them out. Immediately after you take them out, pour the chocolate chips over them, spread them out as evenly as possible. Return to oven for 3 minutes or until chocolate is melted.

Step 4: Remove from oven and spread out chocolate chips with a spactula, then place in the freezer until solid (2-4 hours) but keep them in there as long as possible. Once they are frozen take them out and cut them up easypeasy!

i will be posting the other two recipes tomorrow :)

thanksgiving centrepieces!

Hi Everyone

Tonight i went to a craft night hosted by the local church and i thought i would share it with you, i dont have a lot of pictures mid process because i didnt think of it until it was too late (</3) however it is super simple and you should be able to recreate it without too much difficulty!

Supplies
3 Pumpkins (various sizes)
1 Piece of Flower foam (roughly half a brick, depending on the size of your pumpkin)
Flowers
Stick pins
Ribbon
Water
Butter / Sour Cream / Round container (washed please)
---> anything you want to decorate your pumpkins with let your imagination go wild!

* There is an alternative method of doing this which i will explain at the end*

Large Pumpkin Centrepiece
Step 1:
Take the largest pumpkin you are using and cut a wide circle around the top, big enough for the container you are using to sit comfortably in the pumpkin. Take out all the seeds and inside goodness and toss it along with the top.

Step 2:
Put the container into the pumpkin and push it down about halfway, depending on the size, if you are using a deeper container push it too the bottom, then take your flower foam (soaked with water) and put it in the container in the pumpkin (should be about flush with the top of the pumpkin, if you have small stemmed flowers then have it sticking out about 1 - 1.5 Inches.

Step 3:
Remove leaves from the flowers and start cutting them to fit, ideally cut small ones for around the edges and gradually get longer as you get to the centre, you want to have some volume up there to make it stand out,

Step 4:
Once you have filled in the flower foam and it is nice and full you can add your own design to it, i just made a simple bow out of ribbon and used a zip tie to keep in in place, if you dont cut the tail of the zip tie you can easily stick it in the pumpkin (cut a little slit to make it easier on yourself) and then you dont have to mess around with glue :)

Other Pumpkins
--> for the smaller / medium size pumpkin the flowers (red and white) were not stuck into foam, i used stick pins and took the flower off its stem and put the pin through it and stuck them inside, if you want your flowers to last longer and have some foam left over you can definitely use the same method as the larger one
--> for the baby pumpkin i just put ribbon around it and secured it again with stick pins and then place two flowers at the top
--> Alternative method: buy a large pumpkin, cut it and take everything out like you are going to carve it into a jack-o-lantern, buy a large pot of flowers, and pop it inside, no muss no fuss! (super ultra duper simple)

Present them any way you want! if you have tiered candle holders they are really nice and gives the pumpkins some height at your table 

or set them out on a charger or like i did in the top picture just arrange them on your table! 

they should last you almost a week (the large pumpkin) and you can keep putting a little water in them to soak in that foam!

Good Luck, let me know if you try it out yourselves!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hi All

It was super late the other night and i really wanted something sweet...but didnt want to leave my house so BOOM peanut butter cookies to the rescue, i had enough ingredients to make the more "complex" cookies however there is a super easy recipe you can find here

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. Magic Baking Powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup Peanut Butter

1 cup each: packed brown sugar and granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Step 1:

Pre-heat Oven to 350F

Step 2:

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. beat together the butter, peanut butter and sugars in a larger bowl then the dry ingredients. 

Step 3: 

Once that is mixed together add the eggs and vanilla, gradually add the flour mixture in about 2-3 additions, beating well between each one. (at this step i added about 1/2 cup more flour because they were really greasy and tasted too peanut buttery, once they were done i regretted adding so much because they were a little too bland, but it's completely up to you.

Step 4:

Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart on a greased or non stick baking sheet. then flatten each with a fork in a criss cross pattern (preference)

Step 5:

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown, i made 12 cookies and ended up saving the other half for a later date (i rolled it out on parchment paper and then i rolled in aluminium foil and tied up the ends)