GUEST POST: Aimee from Fancy Little Things

Hello Friends...Happy Friday! I am finish up some touch ups on the Tutorial for the Marble bags, like one of you asked :) and I hope to have that up tomorrow!

I do, however, have a special treat for you today! A guest post from the ever-so-lovely Aimee! YAY! If you guys don't know Aimee, you really really must! She is simply one of THE most generous and loving persons I have the pleasure of "knowing"! I hope to one day be able to meet her face to face! {and maybe be neighbors and eat brownies for lunch together ;)} Anyway, today she's got the CUTEST tutorial...

The Little Green Bird {sew easy} Garnet Hill Inspired Christmas Decor

Take it away, Aimee!

hi friends! my name is Aimee Steckowski and i add weekly projects over at FancyLittleThings.com every Monday. i absolutely love decorating for Christmas and enjoy the excitement with 2 small children. i am married to a Marine and we are currently stationed on Camp Pendleton, California. i love making fun, useful projects, home decorator ideas & have a major issue with tearing magazine clippings out & adding to one of my several idea binders {yes, i actually use them}. as much as i adore Pinterest - there's nothing better than holding a piece of paper and creating with my hands.

this sweet little bird. i am in love. but did not pay $40 for him like at my FAVORITE store: garnet hill...

{yes, these are from garnethill.com & sell for $40 - good thing I know how to sew & our Christmas decor colors are green & pale yellow}.

what you need:

• 1/2 a piece of felt
• small piece of white & brown felt
• stuffing {take from nearest pillow if necessary}
• bird drawing outline on paper
• 2 sewing pins
• needle & matching thread
• hole punch

fold felt in half, place cutout on top, add some pins & start cutting

using your hole punch make several white holes

{if MINE can cut through felt, yours surely can!!}

just press the circle onto the felt wherever you want it - no pin needed. cut a long piece of string and thread through the needle... i added two stitches to each circle.

place both pieces together using pins to hold in place

use another LONG piece of string that matches the bird to hand-stitch around the outside

! always sew around the smallest part first and add the fiberfill using the eraser part of a pencil to stuff it

don't forget to cut the small beak -- add when sewing around the outside. then when the majority of the bird is stitched, finish stuffing & sew the remainder

sew cute. sew easy.

Isn't that the sweetest? And SUPER easy, right? You could probably even involve a kid or two to paste on the dots...fun! I really wanna make a few for my "hole-y" tree...hahaha!

Thank you again Aimee, for offering up that lovely tutorial! If you guys wanna see more of Aimee beautiful work, go to Fancy Little Things! So much inspiration to be had :)

I hope you have a restful Friday, "see" you tomorrow!

xoxo, Dorian

A Quick and Easy Gift Idea

On Friday, I showed you guys an Easy way to paint like an artist. And today I will continue the painting theme, but move onto stencils. How much easier can it get?! :)

I went to the DS last week, and while there came across some pretty white mugs and dishes. To me they looked like a blank canvas. I have A MILLION and one ideas for these mugs. Most involve some sort of stenciling and painting. 

I had one particular thing in mind. Do you know about mug rugs?

A Sewing Journal 

It's basically these long quilted coasters that you can place your mug on and maybe a couple of cookies.

I LOVE this idea, and I think I'll be making a bunch to give away for Christmas (if you live around me and are reading this: SURPRISE!) however, at the DS I saw a long, thin dish that I'm sure is meant to hold asparagus or something. But when I saw it, I saw a ceramic mug rug, that can be made without any sewing what-so-ever. Wanna see what I mean???

Lookee:

I took some of my Plaid stencils and enamel paint and just went at it. The idea is it holds your mug on one side and your yummy dessert on the other, easy to grab and take over to the living room to relax in front of the  T.V or with a good book.

On the front I stenciled a butterfly and wrote "enjoy" in little dash-y lines so it looks like the butterfly was flying in that pattern. 

On the back it's just another butterfly flying in loops.

I needed the dash-y lines to end, so I wrapped them around the handle and off the mug. I have to tell you, it may be silly, but that little detail makes me smile every time :)

This is the long, thin dish. I followed the butterfly theme, and stencil another fluttering butterfly onto the raised edge. I think this butterfly's a bit drunk, look at all those loop! HA!

I wrote "yum" (not very well) in dash-y lines to go with the "enjoy" on the mug.

Then I added a glass jar that I also got at the DS, added a simple flower and leaf (with a stencil), then stuffed it full of mini biscotti, and WA-LAA! It's done. 

It took me all of, 30 minutes (those dash-y things take most of the time) cost me $6 (with taxes) and now I've got a cute little gift that can be personalize to a persons favourite colours and taste. And if you add the person's favourite book...how cute would that be??

And really, who doesn't need an excuse to curl up with a yummy mug of coffee, some cookies and a good book?

Easy to do, and fast? Can we say "hostess gift" anyone???

Hope you "enjoyed" this post!

Thank you so much for stopping by :)

xoxo, Dorian

*NOTE*

I had someone ask about the durability of the paint and if it needs a sealer. So for anyone else who might have the same question, I thought I'd post the information here as well.

The paint I used is called FolkArt Enamel Acrylic Paint made by Plaid. It is for glass and ceramics.

It DOES NOT require a sealer. But before you begin you must clean the surface with rubbing alcohol. Then you choose to either bake it or air dry for 21 days. After either is done, it is okay to hand wash or wash on the top rack of the dishwasher. The baking instruction are on the back of the bottle.

Hope that helps, and sorry I didn't think to include that important piece of info before! Thanks for your question Amy!

Plaid's Folkart Stencil and paints sold at Michael's and AC Moore.

Feel free to visit Plaid on facebook.  Or at their blog.

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