Friend Day and Tutorials

Occasionally, I would like to highlight one of my followers' blogs.  The first one is Debbie at Love the Decor.  (That's her, on the left with a fellow blogger.)  She leaves comments even when my posts aren't the best, thanks, Debbie!

She is a decorator and has her own on-line store.  This is where she hangs out:

Other posts you might like:  New Year New Look

Nicaragua Adventure  (When she's not decorating, she building!)

Top photo, Debbie with blog buddy:  A Great Day!

Now onto biz:

Tutorials:
I've gotten a request or two on the toile spheres in my I'm So Blue post.  It was so very easy - other than the sticky part.  What you will need:  

• Styrofoam balls
• napkins or other pretty lightweight paper
• decoupage medium 
• brush, narrow if possible

Cut the paper into strips about 3/4 " wide.  If the napkin has plies (several layers), separate them now, otherwise only the bottom ply will stick to the ball.  "Paint" a smallish line of decoupage medium on the ball (about 2" long), place the napkin on it continue doing that until the entire strip is adhered.  (I found doing it in sections made it a little less sticky.)  Note:  You might want to let a strip dry a bit to keep the stickiness down for you go on to the next layers.  (I didn't find this to be too big an inconvenience, as I left it on the kitchen counter and would let it sit, work around the kitchen a bit, then come back to it.)  

 Keep adding strips until the ball is covered to your satisfaction.  

From my PB Teen post, pink felt pillow:

 You will need:

• Pillow form (mine was 18")
• fabric (I chose felt)
• zipper (I used 14")
• tools:  scissors, ruler, thread
• circle template (I used the top of a salad dressing bottle, the kind where you add dry mix then the other ingredients)

Cut out two 19 x 19 squares, then your circles.  Layout the circles where you would like them.  (I placed mine in a checker board pattern this time.) 

Next I pinned them in place (with only one pin, no need to get too fanatical).  Then I sewed them on using (free-form) squares.  Free form, meaning I didn't measure anything, just took them to the machine and kind of eye-balled the start and stop points.

Next I put the zipper in (I used one that was leftover from another project which was lavender, so it looks a little Easter-eggish, but only me and my best peeps will know, right?)  Finally, I sewed the remaining three sides together.  I used I zipper because I was afraid the felt would get weirdly stretched out of shape if I made an envelope closure.  


One last tip from my tote bag which nobody asked about, but you're getting the info anyway because it's my blog and you can't stop me!


A drop cloth was involved!  I lined the tote and it's handles with drop cloth fabric - can you get more durable?  Normally, I would sew each long side with right sides together, then pull the fabric through.  If you decide to make a handle with drop cloth, I would suggest doing it this way:

Sew one long side together, press in seam allowances, then fold, press and top stitch along the other long edge.  That way, you don't have to try to pull the heavy drop cloth fabric through.

Assembly process shown.  Have fun!  Please let me know if you make any of these project and I'll have a feature day!


I'm linking up with:

Diana at

Tiff at




Jules at