Christmas Pillows

Ever since I made my first set of pillow covers (here), I can't stop making pillow covers for each season/holiday. 

I started by using red and green chevron fabric to add some color to the living room. Then, I decided to make these fabulous gold and white pillow covers. I found it easiest to first make the pillow covers out of white duck canvas, and then add the gold lettering. I designed the pillows on photoshop, printed them out, and traced them onto the pillow using pencil. Then, I placed cardboard inside the pillow cover and used gold paint to fill it all in. It wasn't long before they were dry and I was throwing them on our couch.

I probably sat in my living room staring at the pillows for a good 10 minutes. I think it's my favorite project I've done in a while, and I could not stop admiring my work.

The biggest problem I've had with these pillows is keeping them clean. A certain four-legged friend of mine loves to lay right on top of them, leaving footprints in her tracks. White should not be allowed in my living room. 

Santa Initial Wreath

Tonight I am introducing the newest addition to my Christmas decor.

 Drum roll please....drum roll. Oh, ah ah bththththtthth.....JOY TO THE WORLD.....

Bam, Santa Initial Wreath!

In case you haven't noticed, I am a wee bit in love with the letter M! I just love adding in our initial to any decor to make it a little more personal. 

Every year, I manage to make a wreath that I deem inappropriate to hang on my front door. The first year Adam and I lived together, I made an ornament wreath. Turns out, I liked it better hanging on a mirror than I did hanging it on our apartment door. When we moved into our house and celebrated our first Christmas here, I quickly realized that the wreath was too large to fit between the front door and the glass door. So I obviously needed a new wreath...

I ended up making a Christmas Wreath Frame. I immediately decided it was too beautiful to hang on our front door to possibly get ruined. So this year, I think I finally came up with a "wreath" that fits perfectly. Not too bulky or fancy, but just right. 

I must admit, this idea came from Pinterest. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the original source so I am unable to give much deserved credit to whoever came up with this wonderful idea. My favorite part? I only needed to buy two things to make this whole thing come together, the "M" and the gold glitter stick.

what you'll need:

wooden "m," red spray paint, black acrylic paint, white felt, black ribbon, and gold glitter, glue gun

This is definitely a simple afternoon project. The longest part is waiting for the glue to dry. Now that's my kind of project: quick and easy.

While this looks I'm betting I'll decide by next year that I just need another one. 

Does anyone else change out their wreaths every year until they find the perfect one? 

Letter Photo Art

Looking for last minute gift ideas? 

Check out these fun letter art photos!

A few years ago, I made some of these as gifts and they were a huge hit! I love that you can pick whatever word you want, pick your letter design, and pick the size you want the letters to be!

In order to make this, you will need:

piece of wood, pictures frames (I got mine at Dollar Tree), spray paint, hot glue gun, letter pictures.

First, I picked my letters be clicking HERE. There are a ton of letters to choose from, and they are absolutely free!

Next, I spray painted both the wood and the picture frames. Then, I popped the pictures in the frames and pulled the support piece off the backing of frame, and hot glued the frames to the board.

Not only was this project simple, it was also pretty inexpensive. I bought the frames from the dollar store, making the spray paint the most expensive part.

I love making my gifts, not only to save money, but to make them a bit more personal as well. You can personalize these make them great gifts for anyone, and even if you have completed your Christmas shopping, you can always make one for yourself!

Happy Homemade Gifting!

Santa's Beard and Mustache

Ahhh, the semester has ended and that is a HUGE sense of relief for me! 

I have an entire month with absolutely no homework. What ever will I do with myself?! Well, don't worry about me! I have quite a few projects up my sleeve that I can't wait to do and then share with you all. 

With only 12 days left until Christmas, I am finally finding the time to create some wonderful new Christmas decor. I showed off my ruffled tree skirt earlier this week, and tonight, I present to you my new wall hanging for over the couch.

This project was inspired by some wrapping paper I've seen in multiple stores now that just has Santa's beard and mustache all over it. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, but hubby reminded my of the thousands of rolls of wrapping paper I already had. So I came up with a better idea instead...

I used a very thin piece of tempered hard board, and covered it in green chevron fabric. To make the mustache and beard, I traced the mustache and beard onto felt, cut it out, and hot glued it on. We were able to hang it on the wall using 3M strips, which work perfect for this kind of thing. 

Here's a few close-ups:

I think this is one of my favorite projects I've done in a long time! I get so giddy walking into my living room these days, surrounded by Christmas festiveness. 

And in true Muszynski fashion, my first night homework-free is being spent watching Home Alone. I swear I can recite the whole first movie, and probably even the second one as well. I don't know what it is about these movies, but I've loved them ever since I was a kid.

Merry Christmas ya flithly animal!

DIY Ruffled Tree Skirt

I would like to start off by announcing the winner of the Holiday Giveaway: CONGRATULATIONS to Kiara Ficklin on winning a free set of serving spoons from Melanie's Marketplace!

This project is very easy, and only requires three supplies: 

old tree skirt, fabric, and hot glue.

You see, I was tired of my ugly, boring old tree skirt from WalMart, so I decided to jazz it up a bit with some new fabric and some ruffles. 

I picked up my favorite fabric (duck canvas), and my favorite pattern (chevron) from Hobby Lobby. I bought four yards of the fabric, but still had plenty leftover to make pillow cases.

I cut my fabric into three inch wide strips and began gluing it, starting at the bottom of the tree skirt. I folded the fabric over a little bit for every ruffle and just kept on gluing. I went around and around and around until the whole thing was covered! 

 Notice the ribbon falling off the tree? That would be from Lucy's tail. I readjust it at least 10 times a day.

Although simple, this project was pretty time consuming, but totally worth every minute!

I love the way it looks in our living room under or green red and silver tree. 

Ahhh... Christmas time is here at last. 

Has anyone else ever attempted one of these ruffled tree skirt beauties? 

I would love to see them!

Keeping checking back for more Christmas Projects! I have a whole slew of projects in the works and in my noggin. We'll see how much I can get done after finals this week! 

A Holiday GIVEAWAY! and a Cyber Monday Coupon Code!

Happy December 1st, everyone!

With the holiday season here at last, and landing my first order (and then some) from my Etsy shop this weekend, I decided to do a giveaway! Who doesn't love giveaways?!

But first, Cyber Monday is tomorrow, and that calls for a Cyber Monday Sale! At checkout, type in the discount code "CYBERMONDAY" to receive 25% off your entire purchase!!

And now for the giveaway! The WINNER will receive one set of serving spoons with their choice of colors from Melanie's Marketplace absolutely FREE! Just in time for the holidays, you can give them as a gift or keep them for yourself!

Stop by Melanie's Marketplace on Etsy to start getting color ideas!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MelaniesMarketplace

You must use the Rafflecopter widget to enter.

Giveaway will be open until December 8 at 12AM. Winner will be chosen at random by Rafflecopter and notified by email. You will have 48 hours to respond before you lose your prize and a new winner will be chosen. Contest open to US Residents only. And of course, if you choose to take advantage of the Cyber Monday Sale and end up winning, you will get a full refund.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

The Color Situation

In preparation for my craft show, I need your help! I have gone through and made one of each color scheme to sell at the craft show, but I am having trouble deciding how many to make of each color. Obviously, there are some colors that will be more popular than others, I just need your help figuring out what those colors are!

Please tell me which colors YOU would most likely buy (Top 3, Top 1, whatever you want!)

What Colors Are Your Favorite?

Dark Blue/Green

Dark Blue/Yellow

Dark Blue/Orange

Dark Blue/Red

Dark Blue/White

Dark Blue/Tan

Light Blue/Dark Blue

Light Blue/Green

Light Blue/Yellow

Light Blue/Orange

Light Blue/Red

Light Blue/White

Red/Green

Red/Yellow

Green/White

White/Orange

White/Red

Tan/Red

Black/White

Black/Tan

Poll Maker

Thank you for your help! It is greatly appreciated!