Happy February!

I always love to get out my felt conversation heart garland when February rolls around! Remember to show extra love to everyone in your life this month, and have a fun Valentine’s Day! ♥

Other Valentine’s Day Craftiness:

Hearts Card Garland

Red Sweater Heart Pillow

Love Is A Red Red Rose

Easiest Party Garland Ever

Our granddaughter Ally asked to have her family birthday party at our house (happy face!), so I decided to make some colorful, festive, girly garland to offset the autumn décor. First, I put on a good movie and cut out a bazillion or so circles from my felt stash (using a peanut butter jar lid as a template). Then I arranged the circles in color patterns, moved to the sewing machine, and stitched them together down the middle with edges touching. Finally, I draped them around the room, ready to add table decorations, balloons, a cake, and gifts. She loved it! ♥

Peeps Garland!

I recently hung the Peeps garland I made last spring (out of felt, not the candy!). Here are the super-simple directions:

(1) Draw a simple bunny shape or find a free template online.

(2) Make the bunnies from felt, fabric scraps, construction paper, or scrapbook paper.

(3) Add the eye and nose dots with fabric paint, permanent marker, or embroidered French knots.

(4) Attach the bunnies to ric-rac, ribbon, rope, string, or twine using glue or hand or machine stitching.

You’ll soon have a cheery pop of color for your spring décor. Have fun! ♥

Our Peppermint Wreath

One of my FAVORITE holiday decorations is the felt peppermint wreath I made last winter. Click here to learn how to make the garland, and remember that you can use leftover “peppermints” to decorate anything from a package to a tree skirt to a headband. Enjoy! ♥

More Citrus Coasters!

Remember the fun felt citrus coasters I made last summer? While on my recent craft room spring-cleaning frenzy, I was surprised to find a whole set already made, just waiting for their little citrus fabric drawstring bag to live in! Don’t you just LOVE it when that happens??? I whipped up the bag in nothing flat, and now I have a another set ready for a summery hostess gift.  Here are the instructions again:

• Cut out three sizes of circles. The smallest and largest are from colored felt, and the middle is white. (I used the bottom of a yogurt carton, a peanut butter lid, and a random lid from my container drawer for templates.)
• Handstitch the small circle onto the white circle using matching embroidery floss.
  
• With white embroidery floss, stitch three criss-crossing lines across the colored circle.
• Glue the now-attached pieces to the larger circle to cover up the stitches, and trim all the way around with pinking shears.
• For a gift, make four of each and tie them together with a pretty orange, yellow, or green ribbon. Or, if you’re lucky enough to find some fabulous fruity fabric, you can make a simple drawstring bag to gift them in. ♥

Heart to Heart

Welcome to the Collectively Creative Lovey-Dovey edition, hosted by Kelly of Cobwebs, Cupcakes & Crayons! My project this month is felt conversation heart mini-pillows. They were so much fun to make! Here’s how:

(1) Buy a bag of candy conversation hearts for . . . um . . . er . . . research. 🙂

(2) Create a pattern with a free-hand drawing or googling a heart template—or do like I did and use a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

(3) Trace around your pattern on two pieces each of white and various pastel felt.

(4) Lightly pencil a candy saying on a heart of each color, then embroider all the sayings in red.

(5) Put the hearts of the same color back to back and attach the edges with a blanket stitch using a coordinating color of embroidery floss. Stop a couple of inches before you’re done to add a bit of fiberfill stuffing, then close them up.

(6) Use your hearts for valentines, brooches, magnets, hair accessories, sachets, mobiles,  or gift-wrap, wreath, or pillow a-la-mode; display them in a pretty bowl or shadow box; or . . . make GARLAND! I added in some of my red-sweater hearts as well for the perfect Valentine mantel decor.

Before you get started on YOUR mini-pillow hearts, be sure to visit all the amazing Lovey-Dovey blog posts below. Enjoy! ♥

• I Love You More Than… – (Cobwebs, Cupcakes & Crayons)
• Top Ten Romantic Movies of All Time – (The Thinking Closet)
• DIY Heart T-Shirt – (NorthStory)
• [DIY] 12 Pre-Planned Date Cards – (Inspire and Indulge)
• The Love Letters – (Mrs. And The Misc.)
• Valentine’s Day Bon Bon’s – (Happy Little Kiwi)
• Lovey Dovey School Lunch Ideas – (Time With Thea)
• Loving These Products – (Neaten Your Nest)
• Kniting Hearts – (Gentle Stitches)
• A Little Lovie Magic – (The Thing About Joan)
• Sending Hugs – (Cul de Sac)
• Give a Fortune of Love– (Green Door Hospitality)
• Will You Be My Valentine? – (A Ponytail Kind Of Day)
• Love Languages – for adults and kids! – (My Healthy ‘Ohana)

Peppermint Headband

After making a peppermint wreath and peppermint Christmas tree skirt, I had three little felt peppermints left, so I wrapped a headband in red bias tape and stitched the candies on top to make a festive accessory for a special little girl. This was another free-to-me activity since I already had all the supplies on hand . . . don’t you love it when that happens? There’ll be no more peppermint projects for me this Christmas since I used up all my red felt remnants and have vowed to use up my stash before buying more fabrics (we’ll see how THAT goes!). But several of you have said you’re on it now, so I can’t wait to see what you make! Now . . . on to some Christmas gifts . . . and Christmas pillows . . . and . . . ♥

Peppermint Mini-Skirt

No, not for me . . . for a mini-Christmas tree! 🙂 I used this small tree in my classroom when I was an elementary teacher and decided to put it on a side table this year to showcase some of our homemade-by-family-and-friends ornaments. To make the skirt, I:

• cut a 24-inch diameter circle from the thrifted red tablecloth I used for my argyle pillow and opened one side,
• cut a 3-inch diameter circle in the center,
• used a remnant from my snowman pillow to make a bias edging for the top,
• sewed on some fancy red and white rick-rack from my stash,
• machine-hemmed the sides and bottom, and added my no-sew felt peppermints.

It was a “free” project for me since I already had all the materials and adds a festive touch to a favorite little spot in our living room. ♥  P.S. Three peppermints to go . . . one more project!

Peppermint Wreath

Yesterday I posted a tutorial for “Easy No-Sew Felt Peppermint Garland.” Here’s what I made with mine! We’ve had the grapevine wreath forever, and it was definitely due for refreshing, so I pulled off all the tired greenery and replaced it with my new garland. Other than tying the ends together at the top, I didn’t even have to stitch or glue anything as the branches themselves hold the garland in place. Now the wreath is hanging in my kitchen window topped with a little raffia. I love it! ♥  P.S. I have ten “peppermints” left over, so watch for one more post on them!

Easy No-Sew Felt Peppermint Garland

I fell in love with this Christmas garland, adapted from an idea in Fa la la la Felt by Kathy Sheldon. Here are the steps:

(1) Cut red and white felt into strips. Mine are 1/2 inch x 8 inches.

(2) Lay a white strip over a red strip, then pull the white strip down about an inch. Begin rolling upward at the end you pulled down. This will give the “candy” a solid white center and a red outer layer.

(3) After the piece is rolled, put a pin through it to hold everything in place until you string the candies.

(4) Using a sturdy needle and extra-strength thread, poke the needle through the loose end of a candy, go through the middle of the candy and out the middle of the opposite side, and remove the pin. Pull the candies close together to keep the rolls tight.

(5) Hang your garland on the mantel, in a doorway or window, or on a Christmas tree or wreath! ♥

Felt Baby Mobile

The minute I saw an adorable mobile on Eco Felt Crafts (who got the idea from It’s the Life, who got the idea from The Handmade Home . . . don’t you love how bloggers share???) I  knew I had to make one for a special baby girl. I love the combination of felt, fabric, buttons, and ribbons in greens, pinks, blues, and whites to match her nursery. It was so much fun to make!  P.S. Click here and here and here and here and here for five more cute mobiles. And if you’ve made one, please send me a link in a comment and I’ll add it to this post. I’d love to try them all! ♥

Other baby gift posts on Pillows A-la-mode:

Nursery Pillows

Crib Skirt

Diaper Clutch

Burpies and more burpies and even more burpies (plus a receiving blanket!)

Necktie Onesie

Locket Onesie

X’s and O’s . . . er . . . Lemons and Limes

Do you have little ones in your family who LOVE to play tic-tac-toe? We do! Since I bought plenty of orange, yellow, green, and white felt for my citrus coaster project, I decided to use it to make a birthday gift for one of these sweet little girls with a giant orange slice gameboard and lemon and lime game pieces. And how serendipitous to find an orange slice notepad in the dollar bin at Michaels for keeping score! 🙂 At first, I was going to make a bag out of my citrus fabric to hold everything, but then I figured out that the gameboard itself could be the bag with the addition of ties. It worked! Now I’m imagining all sorts of other themes . . . a basketball gameboard with different colors of “team” T-shirts for the game pieces . . . a Disney fabric gameboard with Mickey and Goofy game pieces . . . the sky is the limit! You could also make them different sizes and even add velcro to the gameboard and pieces to play it in the car. Other ideas are welcome! ♥

Citrus Coasters

I was browsing the department store ads in the Sunday paper a couple of weeks ago when I was captivated by a lovely display of summery picnic dinnerware. When I saw coasters that looked like slices of oranges, lemons, and limes, my little DIY fairy said, “You should make some of those!” So off I went to the fabric store where, serendipitously, I spotted a lovely orange, lemon, and lime print on my way to purchase the felt I’d need. How fun is that!!! 🙂

Here’s how I made the coasters:

• Cut out three sizes of circles. The smallest and largest are from colored felt, and the middle is white. (I used the bottom of a yogurt carton, my trusty peanut butter lid, and a random lid from my container drawer for templates.)
• Handstitch the small circle onto the white circle using matching embroidery floss.
• With white embroidery floss, stitch three criss-crossing lines across the colored circle.
• Glue the now-attached pieces to the larger circle to cover up the stitches, and trim all the way around with pinking shears.

For a gift, make four of each and tie them together with a pretty orange, yellow, or green ribbon. Or, if you’re lucky enough to find some fabulous fruity fabric, you can make a simple little drawstring bag to gift them in. They’re so fun, easy, and colorful . . . you’ll love making your own! ♥