Got another catalog today from Ballard Designs.  And once again I fell in love with this Document fabric that they keep showing on various items in their catalog.  I couldn’t stand it any longer, it catches my every time, I am so drawn to it.   I caved in… I went on their site and ordered two yards of the fabric.  Big spender huh?  It is 55″ wide, so I should get some good projects out of it.  I am so excited to see if it is as cool in person as it is on their stuff.  I could do a lamp shade, a memory board, a tack board, cushion covers, pillows…who knows!  I just can’t wait for it to arrive.

I am also loving their laundry sign, $129, and those cute safety pins above it, $39 for all three pins, not a bad price I think. 

Think I might try using my new circut expressions machine to make one of these laundry signs for myself in brighter colors.  But of course I have to finish my other sign first…which has become a real challenge to get it right,  but I am up for it.  I hope to have a post on it this week.  Well, now I have to since I have actually put that in writing..oops.  Oh but the good news is that Jen over at Tater Tots and Jello featured my practice sign on her weekend party wrap up post.  Now that was exciting!  I was honored.  Thank you Jen!

Ballard Design Document Fabric is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

I feel in love with this outdoor pillow from Pottery Barn the other day.  They  have some great outdoor pillows on their site and reasonable too.  This one was $35,  a little more than most of them but really cute and looked hand painted {or at least the illusion of it being hand painted}  Once I saw it, I was inspired to make my own.  I especially liked the idea of not having to be too perfect on the lines since I can’t draw a straight line to save my life.

Well, this is what I ended up with..

Ok, I know it isn’t exactly like the Pottery Barn one, but you get the idea.  Once I had finished painting the flag on the fabric {which was so easy to do because you didn’t have to be perfect}  I felt that it needed a little somethin, somethin, {plus I used a pen to make my lines and they were showing through the paint..shhh} so I added on the ruffle trim and some fabric flowers and Ta Da! I just love it!

Here is a brief overview on how I did it.

I used a pillow pattern for the pillow, {only because I happened to have one handy and again, I really can’t cut or draw a straight line so having a pattern helps me} but you can just cut two pieces of fabric to any rectangluar size you want or even make it square!

I did not use outdoor fabric, couldn’t find any in the color I wanted so I used duck cloth instead for the front and just regular blue ticking fabric for the back. {I knew the pillow would be only for decoration outside for a short period, so I figured I was safe not using the outdoor fabric}

{this is where those awesome real bloggers would insert a beautiful PDF of the flag for you to download..but I am not one of those awesome bloggers so I have to do it the old school way}

I used a ruler and pen (don’t suggest that part, a pencil would be better, but I was lazy and used what I had at hand) to draw out the flag on my fabric.  I started with the blue area and drew a  5″ x 7″ rectangle (where you put your 50 stars ) and then measured and drew the rest of the flag stripes which ended up being about 1/2″ wide.  The whole flag altogether ended up being 9 1/2″ x 14″.

I used regular craft acrylic paint on the duck cloth.

Personally, the stars were a problem for me to draw, so I went with plan “b” and found some silver brad stars in my stash and cut the brads off the back and glued them on.  I am going to admit, embarrasingly, that I had to count the stars on the flag and how they were laid out in order to put them on. This is how it goes, 6 across 5 down.

First row 6 stars, Second row staggered 5 stars repeat until you have 5 rows.

I cut and glued store bought ruffle ribbon on top of my stripes.  I just happened upon these ruffle ribbons, otherwise I would of used my ruffler, love that thing!

I made fabric flowers from scraps, and glued them on where I thought they should go.  I sewed the two sides together, inside out of course, and then turned it right side out (leaving an opening for stufing) I cut open a left over pillow I wasn’t using and stuffed my new pillow and sewed the small opening  shut.

I plan on doing other versions of this pillow, (thought of an easier version for the flag so that motivates me even more) that I plan on putting around my yard for the 4th of July, so stay tuned!

I am linking to

My Version Of the Pottery Barn Outdoor Pillow is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

So here is my decorating dilemma.

This bedroom.  The lighting, electrical and furniture plan I drew up when we built this room was all based on this layout of the furniture.

The chair and half against this window wall

And the tv and console on  this wall

Well even the best laid out plans don’t always work.  It just wasn’t flowing once I got everything in the room.  So I switched the two and it flowed so much better.  But this is the problem…

I put up those white decorative pieces which looked really cool above the tv.  But once I moved the two pieces of furniture, they were off centered and out of place.  No big deal right?  NOT!  They are stuck so good, I can’t get them off without taking off the paint and part of the drywall.  So I thought I would just add more to the wall instead, but those little puppies are not cheap, and it would of cost me a fortune to do the whole space. So this is my plan.  I bought these at target, (hard to see from this picture though) they are white metal butterflies and I was thinking of scattering them on the big blank space somehow making them look like they connect to the white octogan thingys, but it is a long shot.

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Here is the rest of the room, I like how everything turned out as long as you don’t look at the wall above the couch.  Any suggestions?

Decorating Dilemma @ Serenity Now is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.

• How long have you been blogging?

I started blogging on my old blog back in Oct ’09.  http://cre8tivedesigns.blogspot.com/  This new blog I just started about a week ago and is still in the infant stages of cre8ting my style.

• Why did you start blogging?

After stalking many blogs, I decided that there were so many things I had in common with these wonderful people whom I had never met but felt I knew them so well.  I love interior design, crafty things, and kids, and I wanted to be a part sharing and talking with other people who actually cared about my obsessions.

• Tell me about your blog’s title. Why did you choose it?

I wanted to use cre8tive, because that is the name in my Etsy shop, so this is what was available.  I really, really wanted “crap I’ve made” but it was taken by a wonderful blogger, so I am stuck with this one.  Cre8tive actually does represent me, but I do make a lot of random crap.

• What do you blog about?

Right now, just interiors on things I have found that I love.  I eventually want to do tutorials and share rooms of my house and the story behind the design, and before and afters of interiors and projects I have done and share other before and afters I drool and envy over on other blogs.

• What is your favorite thing about blogging?

Feeling like what I post someone cares  (not to sound like my friends and family are not supportive, but they get tired of hearing me talk about it all the time) Even if it is just one person that connects with me, I am in heaven!  I love comments, don’t get too many, but the few I have gotten, I have truly loved looking at their blogs and getting to know them.  There isn’t any sales pitches to go view their sites, just down to earth people who have the same interests as me and want to chat.  I love that!

• If you had to choose one famous person to become your blog’s next devoted reader, who would you pick?

FOR SURE not Matha Stewart!  She makes me feel inadequate as a mom, a hostess and a crafter.  I love her ideas (if they even hers anymore) but I would break out in a sweat if I knew she saw what I did and how I did it.  So what famous person would I want?  Actually, no one.  I love the everyday people, those are the devoted readers I would pick.

• What’s the funniest comment you’ve ever received on a blog post?

Amy at Mod Podge Rocks, (on my prior blog)  said I should submit my first attempt of a snowman globe soap to a craft site dedicated to mess ups.  I thought that was pretty funny that she saw my humor in my post and encouraged me to share my disaster with others.

Serenity Now-Dishing It Party is a post from: Cre8tive Designs Inc.