DIY Heart Pillow Cover

I am not one to go overboard for Valentine's Day. It's a fun day and the kids love it but I don't think I've ever decorated my home in hearts or anything like that. Until now. I'm a minimalist by nature but who can resist a little (or big) hot pink heart here and there? Not me.

This tutorial is SUPER easy and is a quick way to add some pop by dressing up a plain pillow cover.

What you'll need:

• A plain pillow cover (I prewashed mine). If you don't have one on hand and don't want to buy one, there are a ton of great tutorials online for sewing pillow covers (I'm not that ambitious).
• Pillow insert (both my pillow cover and insert came from IKEA but you can find them all over)
• Felt - I used Rainbow Classic eco fi felt on this one because I'll probably need to wash it
• Sewing machine (you could always hand sew it if you don't have a machine)
• Scissors, pins, and paper

Getting started:

My pillow cover measured 20 x 20 so I taped four sheets of paper together to measure the same. I hand drew a heart on the paper. You can  get a heart template online but I like the wonky style of a hand drawn heart.

Use your template and cut out the heart from your felt.

Place your heart on your pillow cover and pin it into place (be sure to pin it to just the top of layer of the cover).

Slide the opening of the cover onto your sewing machine arm and sew into place. This part was a little tricky because my pillow cover is really thick so I really had to maneuver it around the arm of my machine. Be extra careful to only sew it to the top layer of the cover.

Stuff your pillow inside and you're finished.

Super easy and fun. Quick enough and inexpensive enough that I'm happy to have it out for just a few short weeks.

Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers!

DIY Superhero Costume

Finley wants to be a superhero this year and I know I could buy a superhero costume for him at the store (complete with built in muscles), but I knew this one would be fun to make and I couldn't pass up the chance to use the tackiest, shiniest fabric I could get my hands on. 

This costume was pretty easy to make and took me about 3ish hours total. You'll notice above that he is wearing a headband rather than the mask I made. He hated wearing the mask. He hated wearing his mask last year so I should have had a clue. Anyhow, I made him a headband instead. I'm including templates for both so you can choose which one floats your kid's boat. 

I broke this tutorial down into three different segments: the t-shirt, the cape, and the headband/mask. You can make just one part or all three. 

What you'll need for the superhero t-shirt:

• T-shirt in color of your choice
• Two sheets of felt in contrasting colors - for washability and durability, I recommend eco-fi felt by Kunin
• Fusible webbing - for this project, I used Heat n Bond lite
• Lighting bolt template (or you can draw your own) - download here
• Child's initial template. There are a lot of free comic fonts available online. I used comica bd. You can download the font of your choice and create your own template for the initial. (The initial template will need to be backwards because the image will be reversed once you've put your applique together).
• Sewing machine/thread

1. Take your lighting bolt and initial templates and place them under your fusible webbing. Trace them.
2. Iron them onto your sheets of felt following the instructions for your fusible webbing. If you're using Heat n Bond, iron them for a few seconds on the wool setting (NO steam).
3. Carefully cut them out.
4. Iron the lighting bolt onto the t-shirt following the instructions for your fusible webbing. Again, if you're using Heat n Bond, you'll iron on the wool setting (NO steam). I like to place a scrap piece of fabric over the appliques on this step just to be safe. Make sure the applique is firmly adhered. Machine stitch the lighting bolt to the t-shirt (I used a running stitch). 
5. Iron the initial on top of the lighting bolt applique. Machine stitch.

What you'll need for the cape:

• You'll need a cape. There are so many great tutorials on the web (like this one and this one) for making capes and I didn't feel the need to reinvent the wheel. Laziness on my part? Perhaps. Both of the tutorials I linked also include instructions for the applique on the back so you can go with theirs or you can follow below to make one that matches the tee.
• Three sheets of felt. One to match the color of your t-shirt and the other two to match the applique that you made for the the tee. Again, I recommend eco-fi felt by Kunin.
• Lighting bolt template - download here
• Child's initial template (use the same one you used for the t-shirt).
• Fusible webbing
• Sewing machine/thread

1. Just as you did for the t-shirt, trace your lighting bolt and initial templates onto fusible webbing. Iron them onto the felt and cut them out. You'll also want to cut out a circle large enough to fit your lightning bolt and initial inside. I did NOT use fusible webbing on my red circle since the shiny cape fabric I used cannot be ironed.
2. Iron the lightning bolt onto the red circle.
3. Machine stitch the bolt onto the circle
4. Place your initial onto the lightning bolt and iron. Machine stitch on.
5. Since I did not use fusible webbing on my red circle, I pinned it onto the cape and machine stitched it on.

 What you'll need for the mask or headband:

• Two sheets of felt. I used contrasting colors to match the applique on the cape and tee but they could be the same color if you choose.
• Fusible webbing
• Elastic
• Sewing machine/thread
• Template - download the headband here or the mask here. These templates are sized to fit my 5 year old's head - you may have to adjust accordingly. The instructions are the same for the mask and headband.

1. Place your mask or headband template under the fusible webbing and trace.
2. Iron it onto the felt.
3. Carefully cut it out. Iron it onto the second sheet of felt.
4. Carefully cut it out.
5. Machine stitch together.
6. Not pictured. Stitch on some elastic for the band (measure your child's head for best fit).

In case you were wondering, Oliver is going to be a bat. I made him some killer ears and a mask to match his wings but he won't wear them either (these kids!).

If you get hung up on any of the steps or have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know. Good luck!

DIY Skeleton Costume

I love making the boys Halloween costumes each year and I'm busy prepping for this years costumes. Finley wants be a super hero (Super Fin) and Oliver wants to be a bat. I'm glad that they both chose things that are still kind of classic and will be fun for me to make. I hope to get them made soon so I can document the process in case any of you would like to see.

 Some of you might remember that I made skeleton costumes for the boys last year. I've had a bunch of questions about the construction of their costumes so I thought I'd share how I put them together. These were a bit more labor intensive (time wise) than other DIYs I've posted but they were not hard to make and they turned out RAD! Totally worth the effort.

What you'll need:

• Long sleeved t-shirt 
• Matching leggings 
• White felt (Eco-fi felt by Kunin is the best for holding up in the wash)
• *Fusible webbing (I used Heat n Bond Ultrahold for this project)
• Scissors (small scissors with a pointy tip work best)
• **Skeleton Template - download here. The mask is not included in the template.
• Embroidery floss in color of your choice (I used black on Oliver's and red on Finley's)
• If you make the mask, you'll need elastic for the band and a piece of black felt and white felt

*Since I use Heat n Bond, my instructions will follow Heat n Bond's instructions. If you are using a different fusible web, simply change out my instructions with the instructions on the package.

**I scoured the web last year for a template I could use for the boys' costumes. I wasn't able to find one so I came up with my own by taking measurements of the kids. I'm warning you that my template is pretty rudimentary but I like it that way. It would most likely fit costumes in the 3T/4T size range. If you want to make the costume bigger or smaller, just adjust the size of the template.

I did not take photos when I made these costumes but I know you guys are smart and I will answer any questions you may have. If you want to see photos of my applique process, check out any of my applique tutorials and you'll get a good idea of what's in store for you.

Directions:

1. Print out skeleton template and adjust size if needed.
2. Place the template under your fusible webbing and trace all of the bones.
3. Iron the webbing/bones that you traced onto your felt. For Heat n Bond, set it on the "wool" setting (NO STEAM). Iron the design onto the felt for about 3 or so seconds
4. Cut out all of the bones. Small, pointy scissors will make it easy to get in between the ribs and cut out some of the small openings.
5. Peel off the wax paper from the back of the bones.
6. Carefully place the bones where you want them on the shirt and leggings and iron them on for about 10 seconds (remember, no steam). For this step, I like to place a scrap piece of fabric between the applique and the iron for extra protection. Check to be sure that all of your bones are firmly adhered.
7. Now that your bones are attached, you're ready to start the applique process. You can do this with a machine or by hand. I'm a hand stitcher and although it took a while with both of these costumes, it was totally worth it - the stitching was the icing on top! To stitch by hand, cut about 3-4 feet of your embroidery thread. Your skein of thread will have six strands. Separate two of the strands from the piece you've cut and thread them through your needle. I used a blanket stitch for these costumes but a straight stitch (running stitch) would look great too. Pop in a movie (or two or three) because this part takes the longest. 
8. I do not have a template for the mask and to be honest, my kids hated wearing them. If you want to make one, it's pretty simple. I took two pieces of different colored felt (I used black and white for one mask and white and grey for the other) and cut out two matching ovals that would cover the top half of their faces.  I guesstimated where the boys' eyes were and cut out circles through both pieces of felt for the eyes. For the nose and teeth, I cut out just the white felt so that the darker, contrasting felt would show through. I then sewed an elastic band in and hand stitched them together using the same blanket stitch that I used on the body of the costume.

Once you're done, sit back and marvel at the handmade awesomeness that you've just created for your kiddos! And remember, it doesn't have to be perfect - that's part of the charm.

ETA: The leggings and tees are from American Apparel.

As always, feel free to comment or message me at finleyandoliver@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

DIY Personalized One Piece

A friend of mine is having a baby girl in the next couple of weeks and I wanted to make her a small gift to celebrate her upcoming arrival. Appliqued one pieces are usually my "go to" gift because they are fun to make and people always appreciate the thought and uniqueness that goes into them. Baby Liv will be adorable in this. How could she not?

Making personalized one pieces and t-shirts is super easy following the exact same steps in my appliqued love tee tutorial. The only difference is that you will create your own template. Simply type up the name or word of your choice in the font of your choice. A larger, chunkier font is always easiest for cutting and stitching. Another thing to keep in mind is that you will need to flip the text so that it is backwards on your template. The image will be reversed once you've put your applique together. (If you have questions about making your own template, feel free to let me know and I'll be happy to help).

These one pieces whip up pretty quick and make an awesome handmade baby gift.

 

Try it! I promise - super easy. Your friends will thank you. And so will their babies.

Follow the instructions in the tutorial here.

DIY {BE...} Appliqued Tees

This is going to be one of the very few tutorials I post over the summer and I'm really excited to share it with you. My good friend Laura of Laura Winslow Photography and I were chatting over dinner a few weeks ago how our little guys (both just 5 years old) are *already* starting to feel pressure from friends and classmates to act a certain way, hang out with certain kids, or do certain things. We both feel strongly (really, I'm sure most parents do) that it's our job to give them the confidence and sense of self worth that they need to be comfortable with who they are. We came up with these designs and this super fun shoot to help our kiddos learn to embrace who they are and let their unique personalities really shine. 

Laura is not only an amazing photographer, but she is the one person who can really get my kids to be themselves in front of the camera.  They had such a blast with this shoot and it was so fun to see Laura in action. I'm pretty sure her mantra is BE AWESOME - because she totally is. To see more photos from our fun day (and to read a far more eloquent reasoning behind this idea), you can visit Laura's blog here. Take your time. It's pretty amazing.

We thought it would be fun to create a tutorial of this and share these three designs with you all. Yay for you! Aside from the designs you see in these photos, you can create so many others...BE UNIQUE, BE YOURSELF, BE HAPPY, etc. I kept these designs short so I didn't have to sew too many letters. 

What You'll Need:

Blank t-shirt, one piece, or tank (pre-washed)

Felt or fabric piece for the applique (I prefer to use eco-fi felt by Kunin - it holds up great in the wash)

  Sewing Machine or embroidery floss and needle

Scissors (small scissors with a pointy tip work best)

Fusible webbing

  Templates for the applique (download here - BE RAD, BE COOL, BE KIND). Adjust the size of your template as needed. 

 Since I use Heat n Bond, my instructions will follow Heat n Bond's instructions. If you are using a different fusible web, simply change out my instructions with the instructions on the package. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me and I can help you. 

Getting Started:

The first thing you'll want to do is take the template and place it under a sheet of your fusible webbing. Take your pencil and trace your letters on to the webbing. Any time you applique letters or numbers, you'll want to trace them in the reverse since you will flip them when you adhere them to your garment.

 Next you'll want to iron your webbing onto your felt or fabric. For Heat n Bond, set it on the "wool" setting (NO STEAM). Iron the design onto the felt or fabric for about 3 or so seconds so it looks like this:

Carefully cut out your letters. Peel off the paper backing.

Place the letters exactly where you want them on the t-shirt with the glossy/fusible webbing side face down. Iron the appliques on to the t-shirt pressing for about 10 seconds. I ironed BE first and then KIND second. Again be sure to use the wool setting with no steam. Check to be sure that the appliques are firmly adhered to the shirt.

At this point, you can either hand stitch the letters using a basic straight stitch (great tutorial here) or you can use a sewing machine. I usually prefer to hand stitch but for this project I used my machine. If you use your machine, you'll do a running stitch just inside the border of each letter.

Once the letters are stitched, trim the thread and you are finished.

Easy, fun, cute, encouraging.

 As always, if you get stuck on a step, feel free to let me know so I can help!

A HUGE thank you to Laura Winslow Photography for these amazing photos and designs.

Mini Bedroom Makeover

After my dad passed away unexpectedly a few years ago, Jason and I asked my mom if she'd like to move in with us. About a year later, she decided to take us up on our offer. We thought it would be a good idea to buy a bigger house with a nice sized yard for gardening, chickens, etc. The original plan was to build a guest house in the back for mom. However, we found the perfect home with a split plan. Since I'm a minimalist by nature and don't need or want a lot of living space, Jason and I offered the master suite to mom and we took up residence with the boys in smaller rooms on the other side of the house. The situation has been ideal for all of us.

We've lived in this house for three years now and I have hated our tiny room from day one. It was an ugly beige color, had zero personality, and although I don't mind a small room - it was not functional for us in the least bit. I could never bring myself to take "before" pictures so you'll have to use your imagination. I painted the room a few months ago and had been putting off the rest of the project until recently. With some sweat, labor, and just a few dollars, we managed to transform our little space into my dream room.

The first thing we did was build the pallet headboard. You pinners had me fooled that this would be an easy project. I thought the hardest part would be finding pallets to use but Jason assured me that there wouldn't be a ton of crafty chicks at the local hardware store fighting over them in the wee hours of the morning. Our biggest challenge with the headboard was the construction of it. We get the occasional scorpion here in Arizona and those nasty little things love to hide behind wood. My number ONE requirement was that the headboard not touch the wall. Too many scary thoughts about scorpions crawling into bed with me. And since the headboard isn't entirely secured to the wall, we had to make it super durable - the thing weighs as much as a mini cooper.

The headboard has only three points of contact with the wall and I keep telling myself that scorpions won't crawl across a slippery bolt. ;)

The headboard took the better part of two weekends but was well worth the effort. I love it. I think my favorite part is the gorgeous mirrored bunting I ordered from Flux Glass. So fun.

The other challenge we had to address were the ugly, closet style built in shelves lining the far side of the wall. It's nice to have a ton of shelves but they aren't really finished so they were an eyesore. We got a quote from our carpenter to build doors for the shelves in our room and the boys room but it's just not in the budget so we settled for these great drapes from IKEA to cover them up. Now that they are covered, they are way more functional and we're able to use them more.

We put in some inexpensive LACK shelves from IKEA for nightstands, some reading lights, and we're finished for now. (Please overlook the ugly ceiling fan. In Phoenix, fans are a necessity).

Simple, tiny, perfect for us.