DIY Grainsack Style Stripe Pillows

Remember the sneak peak I gave you of my latest project {here}?

Welp, here it is in full. I love these cushion covers, but they just needed that little extra something. You know? I started with my washed and dried six dollar H&M cotton canvas cushion covers {here}(say THAT five times fast!), some painter's tape, a paint brush, tons of plastic grocery bags, and my leftover paint from my coffee table project {here}.

I simply folded the cushion covers in half vertically and hand pressed them to find the middle and make a crease. I put plastic grocery bags inside the covers and in between them and the table for protection in case the paint went through. Then I put a strip of tape down the middle, left a space half the width of the tape on either side, and then put another strip of tape, pressing down well each time along the edges to make sure the paint didn't spread. Then I just dipped my brush in the paint and went to town.

I did two coats, one right after another, to make sure it was a nice thick coat. I tried to take a picture (below) to show you the double coat on the left versus the single coat on the right.

Next was the fun part: removing the tape! Make sure to do this while it's still wet.

(Bags inside the cushion cover).

I let them dry for a couple hours. (As you can see I just washed them and didn't bother ironing them, once I out them on the pillows, they smooth out pretty well.)

And the finished product!

(...Aaaand a boring picture of the other couch....)

And my picture-taking began disrupting my sons play with Spiderman, so...

Here is a final before and after as a reminder of what they looked like before and how much better they are now; Boring brown pillow covers

BEFORE:

And

AFTER:

So pleased with this no-cost-to-me project!

Have a great week!

~Rebecca

Linked to: http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2014/08/august-before-and-after.html

The Friday Four Roundup {3}

1. My daughter took a cooking class at the art festival this week. My favorite day was when she brought us homemade strawberry jam that she made. Super YUM!

2. I had lots of fun teaching these kids popsicle stick and pipe cleaner art. On Wednesday, we started off by making our own bubble wands and blowing bubbles with a solution recipe I found {here}. (Worked great, don't think I will ever buy bubble solution again! It costs pennies and is so simple).

3. Are you familiar with H&M? It is a European clothing store, I'm assuming that is found at most malls across America now. Did you know H&M sells {homegoods}? I didn't either until I saw someone else pin one of their products on Pinterest. I was like "Whaaaaaaat? How did I not know this?" And their prices are very affordable. Their home products are only online and right now through August 10th they have free shipping with the code: 1991.

4. Speaking of H&M home goods, here is a sneak peak of what I will be sharing with you soon of how I spiced up some of their cushion covers I bought for my sofas. (They were only six bucks. For heavy cotton canvas zippered pillow covers. SIX BUCKS people!) Anyway, stay tuned to find out what I did to make them even better.

Tonight we will be watching my daughters perform and also checking out all the art projects at the open house from this week's art festival. Have a great weekend!

~Rebecca

Pipe Cleaner and Popsicle Stick Art!

Every year our community does a Children's Art Festival. This week I get to teach a pipe cleaners and popsicle sticks art class to 2nd and 3rd graders. I never knew popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners could be so much fun! (Thank goodness for pinterest!) These are just a few of the crafts we will be doing. Hopefully the kids will think it is as fun as I do :) (From left to right: popsicle stick fence flower garden, pipe cleaner rainbow, popsicle stick person, pipe cleaner art picture, popsicle stick and pipe cleaner bug/ant, pipe cleaner flower stem, pipe cleaner cheerio bird feeder, popsicle stick and pipe cleaner picture frame, pipe cleaner and popsicle stick butterfly.) Have a great week!

The Friday Four Roundup {2}

I can't believe it's Friday already and then we will be heading into the last week of July! Here are a couple things I've been enjoying this week:

1. My husband and I are cracking down on our carb, dairy, and sugar consumption. Every dinner this week has had very little or no carbs. I have already tried several new recipes, including tonight I made these two-ingredient pancakes; just eggs and bananas, they were amazing! I couldn't believe we were eating pancakes with NO flour! The recipe I followed is found {here}.

2. Speaking of food, one of my favorite stores for kitchen supplies, Williams-Sonoma is having 75% of all their clearance plus free shipping. You know what that means? Good deals on their Summer stuff AND everyone's getting ready to bring out the FALL stuff, my favorite! {yay!} I am in desperate need of some new kitchen towels and have been debating about getting a pack of their signature stripe ones, in the summer "clearance" colors, of course. I know they are pretty good quality. Anyone have experience with them?

3. I am enjoying using this little candle I picked up at Target last month. It is a light summer scent, not too strong and very lovely. You can see their entire line of Illume candles {here}.

4. And lastly, we are getting ready to do two days of Pioneer Days out here. Parades, rodeos, races, food, and lots of fun. This will actually be my first time attending here so I am excited to see what's on the schedule!

Have a fabulous weekend!

~Rebecca

My 3 Most Popular Pinterest Re-Pins

It's interesting what people are "pinterested" in. Here are three of my pins that I noticed get re-pinned alot that I thought it would be fun to share.

Popular pin #1 found {HERE}: (click to be directed to pinterest and to find original sources)
Halloween dipped marshmallows. I liked it because it is an easy, no bake treat that you could easily switch up for any holiday or occasion. It has been re-pinned 574 times.

Popular pin #2 found {HERE}:
This is Leigh Lezark. Not only is she beautiful, but she has cool hair. I pinned it for this great very dark brown medium length A-line hair cut. It has been pinned 344 times.

Popular pin #3 found {HERE}:
I loved Lillie's cute little outfit from dearlillie. But I especially loved the bow on her shirt. I thought it would be so easy and cute to pull a family picture together making matching bows I could pin on the girls, an alternative to flowers. This one has been pinned a whopping 1,393 times!

The Friday Four Roundup {1}

I am staring a new "series" on my blog called The Friday Four Roundup. I'm hoping this will motivate me to at least post 4 of something every week, especially for our loved ones who are so far away and enjoy the updates :) It might be about family life, current happenings, something that caught my eye, whatever. This week I will indulge the grandparents with some kid cuteness!

Our sweet baby turned one a little bit ago.

My patient mother in law taught me how to cut hair. 

The kids are enjoying summer time!

The baby decided to start walking (and climbing. and getting into everything...) around 13 months.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! We are currently enjoying a summer thunder storm and hopefully some cooler temperatures.

~Rebecca

Antlers.

In the fall of 2012, my husband shot his first buck. We finally finished mounting the antlers last week. For the first 10 years of marriage I was completely against any kind of animal parts hanging from my walls. However, since these in particular aren't that intrusive with our super tall ceiling and it is pretty hip in home decor right now, I decided to give it a go. Additionally, we've always loved a rustic feel for our home and these definitely add that.

He cleaned them, boiled them, bleached them, and left them in the sun for a time. Then I free handed a plaque shape on some scrap wood and he cut it out. Then we stained the wood with some leftover stain from our dresser and {coffee table}. He then screwed on the skull and I simply hot glued some neutral canvas fabric I had over it, just glueing and tightening and trimming, making it up as I went along. Don't look too closely because it is by no means a professional job, but stand back and look at it and we think it turned out pretty well! We had debated about using a plaid fabric scrap I had but anyone who knows me, knows of my fear of commitment to color and practicality of wanting it to "go with" everything and my love of neutrals and earth tones always wins out. And we're glad we chose this fabric. It looks natural and like a better finish of the real thing.

We love how it really makes a nice statement, draws your eye up and completes this focal point in the room.

please ignore the ugly tv cords!

And the view when you walk in the door:

linking to: http://www.lizmarieblog.com/2014/07/favorite-things-friday-69/