First of all, I finally finished sewing valances for my mother's sunroom windows. there are nine tall but skinny windows, and my mother had picked up the perfect golden colored fabric with a tiny white foliage pattern on it, that gives the effect of a texture more than a pattern, since it is so small. Then we used satin yellow ribbon to tie them up. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
And yes, I am a Christmas junkie. Everybody knows I am. And yes, I already have my holiday mantel planned out (you can never be too ready, wink, wink.) I couldn't wait to get started on these. They came out reasonably close to my vision. But I wasn't willing to pay 30 to 50 dollars a piece for the versions I was seeing on world market, Etsy, Zazzle or Pottery Barn either. So, DIY it was.
First of all, I started with 2 Hobby Lobby pillow covers. Yes, that place hurts me in a political sense, but I'm a sucker for crafts so I apologetically compromised my belief system for $9.99 pillow covers in the shade of black that I wanted. The border was brown jute.
The first thing I did, was take a red sharpie, and color the borders red. This was a little time consuming, but I did it mindlessly while watching a movie, so no big deal.
Next, I printed out two inspirational free chalkboard printouts. I found both on Pinterest, but the links to the actual bloggers/printables are as follows. The "Let it Snow" one is from Craftberrybush.com and the Baby It's Cold Outside is from UpcycledTreasures.com
You know, you might never have thought of it but just search on Pinterest or google for "free printables." You would not believe how many bloggers out there have done the creative legwork for you, and they are sharing it, very generously, for free! It's a fantastic resource for decorating and it can save you money. Just change out the pictures in frames you already have, seasonally.
So, using an exacto knife, I imperfectly cut out the letters to make stencils. Then I filled in the stencils with chalk to have a vague outline. In my perfect world, I would have had vinyl stencils and used chalk spray paint to do these properly. I ended up free-handing much more than I wanted to. I used matte chalk paint and a tiny paintbrush to fill in the letters myself.
And here you go. Finished products. This project cost me about $25 total, which was about a fifty percent savings and then you also have the ability to tell someone, "I made that" which is always a nice feeling.
Can't wait until Christmas 2015!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ready.
