Pillow Cover

My mom bought me some fun fabric a couple of weeks ago and I have been trying to figure out what to make.  I decided that I needed some new pillow covers for my sofa pillows.

This was my first pass at both piping and hidden zippers.  Part one of this tutorial is up and covers piping.  You can check it out here.  Part 2 covers the hidden zipper and assembly and can be found here.

Make your own magnets!

I'm sure you all have seen the magnets made of the clear glass mancala beads (or flat marbles).  But did you know how easy and inexpensive they are to make?

First you'll need to gather your materials:

• Mancala beads (you can find them at most craft stores, usually in the fake flower section, and I have also found them at the dollar store)
• Magnet of some sort, either the small flat round magnets, or magnet strip; however, I'll warn you the magnetic charge on the strips of magnets is pretty weak.  I used them in this tutorial but that is because I happened to have a roll of it lying around
• Glue (I used E-6000 which you can find at most craft stores)
• Magazine pages, scrapbook paper, etc. (anything with a pattern you like on it!)

Once you've got everything together, start cutting out patterns from your magazine/scrapbook paper into the shape of the mancala bead.  I usually cut my paper slightly smaller than the bead itself so it doesn't hang off the edges, and the beads slightly magnify the image so from the front it looks like it goes to the edges.

Also if you're not sure how a pattern would look on a magnet I will hold the mancala bead over the magazine page to see what it looks like.

Put a dab of glue on the piece of paper.

Place your mancala bead on top of the paper and press down.  You'll see the glue spread under the bead and you want to push until it has spread to all of the edges.

Now we want to add the magnet to the bead.  If you have round magnets you'd just put glue on one side of the magnet and stick it to the back of the mancala bead.  If you are using magnetic strips you'll want to cut a piece of magnet to the size you want.  Peel the tape off the back of the magnet and add a dab of glue to the sticky side.

Then stick this onto the back of the mancala bead.  Let the glue dry for a couple hours (or however long the instructions on the glue say) and you've got your very own customized magnets!

Here are some that I made out of a map in a Dwell magazine:

And here are some that I made in some shades of blue that I liked:

Have you made some magnets like these?  I would love to see how yours turned out!

Beginner's Quilt

I'm sure as many of you can guess I'm pretty new to the sewing world and figuring things out as I go along.  I love quilts but the idea of making one has always kind of scared me.  I decided to try to piece together a quilt, but make it a beginner's quilt.

There's my kitty Gaia checking it out!  

It's not perfect, but I think it's a pretty decent first attempt.  Even better, it was pretty easy!  I started out by cutting out a bunch of fabric rectangles that were 8x10" (12 of each in three different fabrics).  I arranged them on my coffee table in the pattern I wanted then started sewing rows of them together.

After I got six rows of six done, I started sewing the rows together.  Here's a peek at the back.

Then when I was done with that I made a sandwich of back fabric, quilt batting, and my sewn together pieces (right sides together with batting in the middle).  I sewed around the entire thing leaving a big opening for turning.  I turned right side out and then hand sewed the opening closed.  Pretty easy, even for a beginner like me!

I'm a Versatile Blogger!

I have been awarded the Versatile Blogger award by two amazing people!

First is Mel from The Crafty Scientist!  She has a great crafting blog that you should all check out.  I love her specimen art!  She has both butterfly and snowflake specimen art that you can see here and here.  I may need to make the butterfly one for my house!  She also has other great tutorials and a few amazing printables.  Make sure to stop by and say hi to her!

The second award comes from Adithis' Amma Sews!  The first thing that drew me to this blog was a beautiful dress made from pamphlets!  You have to take a look at this because it does NOT look like it was made from pamphlets.  She also has a ton of amazing tutorials, so make sure to check them out.

Thank you both so much for giving me this amazing award!  There are four things you have to do when accepting this award.  They are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award, and let the giver know you accept the award!

Onto the 7 things about me!
1.  My husband and I got married on the beach in Hawaii (on the big island).  Neither of us have the personality for a big wedding; we wanted something small and low key.  My dad lives in Hawaii and he helped us scope out a good beach to get married on!  Then we flew over to Maui for our honeymoon.  It was amazing and I wouldn't have done it any other way!

 2.  We have four pets.  A one year old chocolate lab named Chester.  A biiiiig grey cat named Gizmo, a medium sized tan cat with blue eyes named Gaia, and a small black and white cat named Gilly (who happens to be sitting on my lap as I type this).

3.  My favorite color is grey.  If I could have everything in grey, I'd be super happy!  Right now I'm living in my grey knit Uggs that my mother in law Julie got me.  They are so cute and crazy comfortable!
4.  I'm a pretty shy person at first, so coming up with 7 things about myself is somewhat difficult.  But once I get to know people I come out of my shell.
5.  My husband and I every once in a while spend an entire night listening to music.  We take turns picking a song  and this often goes on for hours where we just listen to random music (this is in fact how we spent our night last night).
6. My favorite book of all time is The Stranger by Albert Camus.  I have been trying for about 6 years to get my husband to read it, but he still has not. 
7. I love sushi!  It seems most people either hate it or love it, but I think it's amazing.  My husband got me hooked!


The 15 great bloggers that I am awarding are:
1.  Punky Noodles-This is a brand new craft blog started by my big sister Stephanie!  Make sure to go check it out!
2.  Rook No 17-Jenn has made an amazing blog featuring great crafts and amazing recipes.  She also has a great weekly linky party!
3.  A Law Student's Journey-Kitty posts some amazing tutorials on her blog.  How she has time to make things while in law school is a mystery to me.  Make sure to check out her T-Shirt headbands, they are adorable!
4. 504 Main-Holly is like wonderwoman.  She is a mom, wedding planner, designer, and author!  She's an amazing gal with an exceptional blog!
5.  Between 3 Sisters -This blog, started by three sisters, offers great fashion tips, recipes, and decorating!
6. Just a Geek Named Jess-What first drew me to Jess's blog was an amazing pair of shoes that she mod podged with comic books!  They are super cute.  I'm so glad that I became a follower because she has a great blog!
7.  Ninth Street Notions-Amanda has a great blog with tons of great crafts, recipes, and an awesome linky party!
8.  The Loops-Megan has a great blog  with some great crafts and tutorials.  Right now she has pet week going on so make sure to stop by and check it out!
9. Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom-Suzy has some amazing tutorials (make sure to check out the faux metal wall art, you'll be surprised what it's made out of), and has interviews with amazing people!
10. Creation Corner-Tasha has a great blog with amazing tutorials and a great link party.  What more could you ask for?!
11.  Crystal's Craft Spot-Crystal's blog is full of amazing ideas that I want to try.  Make sure to check out her crocheted specimen art!
12.  Home Frosting-This is the newest blog that I have found and love!  Lesa has a great sense of style and can't wait to see the amazing things she comes up with!
13. Thursday's Kiss-Cierra at Thursday's Kiss has a great blog that always has the best craft ideas and recipes.  Right now she has a ton of great St. Patty's day crafts that you still have time to make!
14.  The Country Chic Cottage-Angie's blog is amazing and filled with great DIY projects and giveaways.  Make sure to stop by and check otu all her amazing ideas!
15. Young Nester-Lauren has a great, fairly new, blog where she shares all of her creative ideas.  She also has a link party for crafts made under $10, I really love the idea of a thrift link party!


Thanks again to The Crafty Scientist and Adithis' Amma Sews for giving me this award.  Also, Happy Pi Day! (The math nerd in me wouldn't let me end this post without saying that!)

Easy Dog Bandanna Tutorial

Today is my puppy Chester's first birthday!  I can't believe he's already a year old, this past year has flown by!  I made him a bandanna and some treats for his birthday today.

The bandanna is so easy to make.  For a lab/retriever size dog, cut a square of fabric that is 25 inches by 25 inches.  Cut the square into a triangle by cutting a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner.  Fold a quarter inch of fabric under on each of the three sides and press with your iron.  Then sew with an 1/8 inch seam all the way around.  And you're done!  Pretty easy right?  All you have to do now is get your dog to sit still long enough to put it on him.

I think he looks pretty handsome with it on.  But I'm a bit partial to this little guy!

I also made him so special treats for his birthday.  I have wanted to try making the dog biscuits from Dukes' and Duchesses for a while and finally made them.  And Chester loooves them!   I didn't have a bone shaped cookie cutter so I used flowers and people.

Here he is being a good boy and shaking to get a delicious treat!

Do you have any great dog projects you have made?  I would love to see them!

Dove Chocolate Winner!!!

Thank you to everyone for entering my first giveaway!  Hopefully we'll have another one up soon.  Using random.org we have our winner:

Breaking Free From Old Ways said... I like the divine dessert cups!

Congratulations!!!  Please shoot me an email at eyespydiy@gmail.com within the next 72 hours with your name and address so we can send your prize.