Make Your Own Pillow Forms

Ever since I made my Spray Painted Pillows for the bench on my front porch--I have been wanting to make some more for my living room.  But I REALLY needed new pillow forms.  But I REALLY didn't want to spend the big bucks that everyone seems to want to charge for those darn things!  A small square 12" pillow is around $7 at Walmart!  I didn't even check to see how much the bigger ones that I wanted were.  And I need 4 of them!!  Not gonna happen!

But Walmart was selling these babies for $2.50 each:

I was SUPER excited to save myself about $5 per pillow--with just a little sewers elbow greese!

So this is what I did.

The package says these pillows are 20" x 26".  But in actuality they were actually more like 18 1/2" wide.  So I measured down the length of the pillow 19" (I left around a 1/2" serging allowance).

I marked it with a pen and then I cut all the way through the pillow casing and the filling. 

Next I pushed the filling down a little bit and pulled the sides of the case together and pinned them closed.

Then I made a small tuck in the ends of the pillows (these pillows didn't have pointy ends and I prefer a tucked end). 

Then I serged the whole thing closed--sewing both tucked ends closed as well. (You could use a sewing machine as well and then just zig zag finish the edge.)

The only tricky part of this project is that you MUST make sure to push the stuffing far enough so that there is enough seam allowance to fit thru the serger to make a nice clean finish.  If you do--you won't have any problems.  If you don't your pillow form will pull out of the line of serging and you will have holes.

And that is it! 

EASY SCHMEASY--And CHEAPY THRIFTY!!

And I have a whole bag of stuffing left over for another project!

Now I can get to making some fun Slip Covers!!!

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Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

The other day I came across a super fun blog called Crazy Domestic.  Can't you just tell by the name that the blog is going to be AWESOME?!  Well it is. 

And on this awesome blog I found a super fun recipe that I have been DIEING to try.  Its called HOMEMADE HOSTESS CUPCAKES.

And they look like this:

And Here is the Recipe:

Cupcakes:
• 1 box cake chocolate cake mix (or your favorite cake recipe)
• water, eggs and oil called for on the cake mix box

Filling:
• 1 cup whipped vanilla frosting
• 1/2 cup marshmallow creme

Frosting:
• 1 cup whipped chocolate frosting
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tsp. corn syrup
• 3 Tblsp. whipped vanilla frosting (for the loops)

Directions:
1. Bake cupcakes according to directions on package. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, continue to cool on cooling rack for another 30 minutes or until cooled completely.

2. With end of round handle of wooden spoon, make deep, 1/2-inch-wide indentation in center of each cupcake, not quite to the bottom (wiggle end of spoon in cupcake to make opening large enough). You could also use a melon baller to scoop out the middle of the cupcakes, instead of the spoon method. In small bowl, mix 1 cup vanilla frosting and the marshmallow creme. Spoon into small resealable food-storage plastic bag. Cut 3/8-inch tip off 1 bottom corner of bag (I used decorating bag and Wilton tip #12). Insert tip of bag into each cupcake and squeeze bag to fill.

3. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate frosting, chocolate chips and corn syrup uncovered on High 30 seconds; stir. Microwave 15 to 30 seconds longer; stir until smooth. Dip top of each cupcake in frosting. Let stand until frosting is set.

4. Spoon 3 tablespoons vanilla frosting into decorating bag or small resealable food-storage plastic bag. Cut tiny tip off 1 bottom corner of bag (I used Wilton tip #5). Pipe loops on each cupcake.

And so yesterday for Monday Family Night we made this as our treat.

First we donned our cute aprons:

Then we prepped our cupcake trays:

Then we got mixing the cake mix.  We used this boxed kind:

 

And filled our cupcake liners:

And while they were baking we got working on the filling using these:

Once the filling was all mixed--we turned a ziploc bag inside out and filled the inside of the bag with the filling--then pulled it back right side out.  (It makes a lot less mess doing it that way).

After the cupcakes were baked and cooled we poked holes in them--we happened to use a fondue fork.  (I would recommend using something wider--but I couldn't find anything at the time).

Next I snipped off the edge of the ziploc bag with the filling and stuck it as far down the hole as I could and started squeezing out the filling gently.

Next you make up the chocolate frosting and then dip your cupcakes (or if you are an uncoordinated dipper like me--you can just use an icing spatula and ice those puppies--but you notice mine aren't as smooth looking as hers--so I think I need to practice the dipping method). 

Next you add the little squiggle on the top with some vanilla frosting in another ziploc bag--and you are done!

And they REALLY are delicious!

And a little messy.

Thank you Crazy Domestic for a GREAT recipe!!

T-Shirt Hats

A little while ago, I saw THIS post as I was paroozing through blogger-land.  It is a tutorial for making the most adorable hats out of t-shirts!!  That gal AT SECOND STREET is amazing!  After reading this--you need to march yourself right over to her blog and check out her awesomeness!

So because I wanted to try out her tutorial--I went on a hunt to find a t-shirt to use for this project.  I saw this guy hanging in my closet:

I really LOVE stripes--but every time I wore this shirt I felt like I should be appearing on Blue's Clue's!  And notice the grease stain in the middle of the shirt!  So I decided this would be a perfect shirt to turn into this:

(Once again, I apologize for the HORRIBLE pictures!!! I am getting so frustrated with my missing camera and with having to use my camera phone in bad lighting with-out a flash!!  AARRGGG!!!)

ANYWAYS, I loved sewing the first hat up so much that I decided to use some of the left over scraps from this project:

To turn into this for my little gal:

Once I got started making these little babies--I just couldn't stop!

I found this t-shirt in my fabric stash:

And turned it into this little baby (Which is my FAVORITE one):

Did I already mention that I HATE my phone camera?

After doing all these GIRL hats--I used THIS post over at I AM MOMMA HEAR ME ROAR (another of my favorite blogs!) to help me make a brim that was better shaped for a BOYS hat.

Then I started with an orange shirt from the Dollar Store--my son LOVES orange--and when I saw an orange shirt in his size at the dollar store--I snatched it up!  But then when he was loving on all the hats I was making--I decided he needed and orange hat more than an orange shirt.

In the t-shirt tutorial she uses a large men's t-shirt.  I just used whatever I had.  Because the pieces to go around the head need to be as long as the circumference of your head--these t-shirts weren't wide enough.  SO I am going to show you how I pieced the sleeves together to make a long enough piece for the circumference and still have enough fabric for all the hat pieces.

I started by cutting off the finished hem on the bottom of the shirt.

Then I cut 3 1/2 inch strip off the bottom for a children's size hat (4" for an adult).

Next I cut off the sleeves.

This next picture is the sleeve turned sideways and then cut into pieces.  You can see the piece on the right is the long piece that I just cut off the bottom of the shirt and placed there so I can make the sleeve piece the same width--3 1/2

Next I did the same thing with the other sleeve so I now had 2 extra pieces of the same size.

Now I sewed all three pieces together.  Then I pressed each seam with seam allowances apart and then top stitched on each side of each seam. 

Next I measured this new long piece and cut off any extra.  My circumference for my little guy's head was 20" so I added a 1/2" for seam allowance and so I cut this strip down to 20 1/2". 

Then I sewed both ends together so it makes the band into a circle for the hat.

This is what the seams look like from the right side:

Next I used a Tupperware lid (that was the right size for the top of the hat) to trace around and I traced the brim of a hat that already fits the little guy.

Sorry--I actually ended up tracing the hat brim onto paper and then cut it out of the fabric.

Then I cut out a smaller brim out of heavy interfacing and tucked it inside the two layers of the brim fabric.

Then I sewed around the curved part of the brim several times to secure the interfacing and for a decorative look.

Then all that is left is to put all three of these pieces together.

So I sewed them together using the middle seam on my band as the back of the hat.

Once that hat was sewn up--I notched out the seam around the top to make the hat lay nicely when it was turned right side out.

Then all that was left to do was add some fun to the front--and find a cute boy to put it on! 

Which is what I did.

On this next picture you can see one of the 3 seams.  The other is directly at the back of the hat and the 3rd is equal placement on the other side.

And it actually didn't fit as snug as I wanted so I took a tuck out of the back to make it fit better.

Now go search YOUR closets and find yourself a T-shirt to make into a HAT!

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