One Hour Pillow UpCycle

  Are you here for Pink Saturday?  After you read this one, see my PINK here!

One day, about a year ago, I was shopping at a thrift store in Mount Vernon, Washington, when I came upon this...

I was not just excited because of the neat Regency-era picture, the really big deal here for me was:  I had just discovered printable fabric!!!

Since then, I have found lots of inspiration on The Graphics Fairy's wonderful website and have made a couple pillows on my own. I decided to make one tonight for my March Giveaway Jubilee!

I began by selecting the graphic I wanted on The Graphics Fairy, then I create a correctly-sized text box in Word.  The size of my text box depends on how big I want the picture to be on my pillow.  I insert the picture into the text box, then I print it off onto printable fabric.

Next, I assemble my supplies.  I use Elmer's Craft Bond spray adhesive, which bonds really well right away, so I've got to work quickly once I get that sprayed on.  I find my pillows at thrift stores. I take them home, toss them in the wash, and then trim off any loose strings that might be hanging around...good as new!

I always like to position my graphic onto the pillow to get a feel for how it will look.

Then I peel the backing off of the fabric piece and spray it with the glue.  I do the pillow too.

I very gently tap the picture down.  I don't want any wrinkles at all in the fabric.  I also don't want to smear the wet ink.

I knew my pillow definitely needed something extra...but what?  I quickly decided against paper flowers and moved on to something else.

Yes! Raid the vintage jewelry collection!!

I decided on this vintage gold brooch because the swooping design of it reminds me of a bird (there are birds on the graphic I'm using---click on the pictures to enlarge if you need to).  I also chose this purple and gold earring set.  I can use the second earring on a bottle or something to go with this pillow.

Now what this pillow needs is some trimmings!

I found a length of pretty blue vintage lace.

Then I found this cute eyelet trim for around the graphic...but, OH! There's not enough!

Hooray for thrift store finds...I knew this would come in handy!

But, I don't really like the trim all the way around the graphic after all...so I go back to the way I had it!

Now it's time to glue!

I did end up finding a place for those paper flowers after all---I put them at the ends of the eyelet trimming.  See the pretty pink flowers there?

I think this turned out super cute---what do you think?  

Homemaking Link-Up Weekend and Pink Saturday

Want to see something adorable?

There's more!

Early this month, Daddy wrote Lynzie (12) and Selah (5) an invitation to the Daddy Daughter Dance!

He made reservations at Le Restaurant Coller, the PINKest place in town!

They ordered their dresses to be made by Madam Coller's Fine Apparel.  A good time was had by all!

Don't forget the quarterly Giveaway Jubilee for the month of March! Would you like to participate as either a giver, a winner, or both?  Click my adorable new button for all the details!



And...now it's time for this week's Homemaking Link-Up Weekend!

Would you like to participate in the party each week but just can't remember to link up?  There's a couple things I can do to help you out with that!  First, there's a cute button at the top of my sidebar that you can put on your blog to serve as a reminder for you---and an advertisement for me!  Secondly, I will send you an email reminder!  I send out a short email to participants who've participated on Wednesday nights to remind everyone about the party.  Please let me know in the comments below if you'd like me to remove you from that list!


I'd love to have you link up your homemaking posts below!  Hope you have a GREAT weekend!

Also linking with:

Showing Compassion-- Part Two

This is part two of a study on showing compassion to the unsaved.  I posted part one last week---you can read that here.

As I said last week, the Bible says that, as Christians, we are called to compassion.  1 Peter 3:8-9 instructs us in this way:  "Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another;  love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing."

Unfortunately, we often refuse to show compassion to those around us who need it the most.  There are several reasons for this and, if we're honest, we'll see that we are all guilty of the hypocrisy of ignoring those whom Christ would have us minister to.

One reason why we are not compassionate toward the unsaved is that we have a Sense of Superiority.  Proverbs 6:16-17 says this:  "These six things the Lord hates, yes seven are an abomination to Him:   A proud look..."  There are times when we observe someone who is obviously unsaved and we think things like, "I'm better than that."  "I would never do that."  Etc.  This dangerously prideful attitude is displayed obviously on our faces. 

What's that you say?  You've never had the proud look?  You don't even know what it looks like?  Well, then this would be the perfect time for you to go look in the mirror so you can see exactly what it looks like!  In all seriousness though, think about a time when someone has given you the proud look.  It was very obvious, wasn't it?  They might have been trying to hide it, but you saw it didn't you?  Don't be fooled into thinking you can hide the proud look too!  Something that is so important to remember is that many people, especially those who have been hurt by Christians before, are very discerning of false kindnesses and false behavior.

How can I get rid of my proud look?  It's a simple answer but not so easy to put into practice!  Our proud looks will disappear when the sense of superiority is erased from our hearts!  Once we stop thinking we are "better than that" or that we are "above that behavior" and acknowledge that "all have sinned and fall(en) short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), we will have no more problems with the proud look because we won't feel superior anymore!

Confession time!  Do you have a problem with a sense of superiority like I sometimes do?  Comment and let me know.  Next time, I'll share another reason why we're not quick to offer compassion and grace to the unsaved in our lives.

Don't forget the quarterly Giveaway Jubilee for the month of March! Would you like to participate as either a giver, a winner, or both?  Click my adorable new button for all the details!

This article was featured in the 50th edition of The Godly Home magazine.