So many posts this month I feel famous!! I got super lucky and got a spot in the Nikki Sivils Swap — I was sent the “Exit Here” collection to work with.

To make my little “containers” (which happen to be full of vintage ribbon.. perfect for a mantle or kitchen table center piece!) I cut three of the patterned papers to 7.25 x 4 inches. Roll the paper to overlap about 1/4 inch and glue. Then flatten one edge, glue and cut with decorative scissors! If you’re thinking of using an edge punch I suggest punching BEFORE you glue

This baby uses the patterned paper, and die cuts from the sheet in the collection pack. It also uses A large chipboard pennant piece from the Basic Embellies Large Pennant pack which was covered in other pieces of patterned paper from Nikki’s collection pack. It has a double layer cut slightly smaller on top.

This one uses 2 more of the die cuts, some May Arts ribbon and a canvas heart from the Basically Embellies Heart Set 2. I dabbed some Pumice Stone distress stain and Spun Sugar distress stain on my teflon mat, spritzed with water and then dipped the heart into it.

And the third one utilizes LOTS of the die cuts, some pop dots and the perfectly round tree top from the Basically Embellies Happy Little Trees set. I used a crop-o-dile to punch holes in the felt and ran a Zig Yellow Painty FX pen through the holes to give them a bit of color.. I thought the yellow might be TOO yellow, so I went over it with a White Painty FX pen after it was dry

Here you can see the layering and “popping”

Enjoy!! -DeeDee

Get on over to Nikki Sivil’s blog and check out their team’s great projects for our hop!

DeeDee here, again Today I’m sharing the Fleur de lis by Basically Bare in canvas..

… totally off the page! 

-click to enlarge!-

To accompany my canvas fleur de lis I’ve gathered Distress Stain in Pumice Stone, a medium color burlap, muslin, dark brown quilting thread (it’s thicker than normal every day thread), a gorgeous super wide dark brown burlap ribbon by May Arts, vintage buttons and pillow fluff!

I splattered some distress stain on my teflon mat, gave it a bit of a spritz with water and dipped my fleur de lis in it. I then set it out in the sun to dry… I did try heating it with a heat gun and for whatever reason it kept getting a purple tint. Mr. Natural Heat to the rescue

After he was dry I sewed a piece of burlap to a piece of muslin.. I knew I wanted the burlap to be the main texture of the pillow.. but didn’t want the fluff to poke through the open texture, so I created the base of the pillow from a nice tightly woven muslin. After the burlap was sewn to the muslin and my fleur de lis was dry I placed the Basically Bare canvas piece on top of the muslin and stitched a couple of times with the dark brown quilting thread.. not only to hold it in place but to pull together some of the darker browns I wanted to introduce into the pillow.

Then I sewed my ribbon on at the top and bottom.. Keep in mind there’s no back on my pillow yet.. At this point in time I’m basically building what I want the front to look like! After the ribbon is in place I pulled a couple of burlap strings from a scrap of the ribbon and sewed my vintage buttons into place.

Then I sewed my two sides of the pillow (my front piece and the back piece) together WRONG SIDES touching.. but I left a small section unsewn so I could pull my pillow right side out! This makes a very crisp clean sew line all the way around. Stuff pillow.. sew shut the tiny spot.. and DONE!

I just love that all the Basically Bare goods are ripe for the altering and ready for your imagination to take them where there are no bounds! I love pillows and was super excited by the end result of this one. I’m even MORE excited by the fact I got to use one of my all time favorite products.. not something normally associated with pillows but hey.. that’s what it’s all about right?

Hope this inspires you to try something CRAZY with your goods

-DeeDee