Guest Post!

If you haven’t been over to The Stories of A to Z, then you’ve missed out.  Shame on you.  Since Beth is my blog friend, I knew I could totally take advantage of our friendship and ask her to be my first guest blogger!  She certainly didn’t disappoint.  Enjoy!

Hello all of you J-a-Girl-Junkies!  Right now I am doing my best Happy Dance over the opportunity to be guest posting today.  (Just imagine Beyonce' at her best.  I'm sure that's exactly what my Happy Dance looks like.)  When I asked Chris what she'd like me to share with you all today, she said, "I just want you to say 'Look at me and how talented I am'."  Oh.  Okay.  No pressure.  If you stick with me through this post you may not see much talent, but you will learn how to make a fantastic pillow without sewing a stitch!

What you will need:

• Drop cloth
• Tea towel (optional)
• Avery T-Shirt transfers
• Stitch Witchery (hem tape)
• Fabric glue
• Ribbon, buttons, fringe, bling (optional)
• Old pillow or pillow form

I like to buy my drop cloths from Big Lots because you get a gajillion feet of canvas for $10.  The iron-ons and hem tape can be found at Michaels and at Walmart.

Step 1:  Iron the material to smooth out any wrinkles in the fabric.  Canvas requires a lot of steam, so steam away and get a facial while you're at it.

Step 2:  Measure the pillow that you want to cover and add about 2 inches in all directions.  For example, if your pillow is 15x15 you will measure out an 19x19 inch square.

Step 3:  Once you have cut your two squares, place hem tape between the seams and iron away.  Experience the facial once again!

Step 4:  While ironing on top of your counter, have your 2 yr old abscond your camera and take pictures of you.

Step 5:  Seal up three sides of your pillow with hem tape and turn it right side out.  You are now ready to put on some bling!  You can print out any image of your choice onto your transfer paper and iron it directly to your pillow.  I like to use tea towels instead to add a little extra somethin'-somethin'.  

Step 6:  Use fabric glue to glue on your iron-on, ribbon, and buttons.  Of course you can sew this part by hand, but if you're lazy short on time fabric glue works too!  You're almost done, so be sure to admire you're work at this point...and your toes.

Step 7:  Tuck and fold the bottom edge of your pillow like a present and use fabric glue to secure.  Look at how cute it is!

Step 8: Worship the beauty of your handiwork with lots of praise, admiration, and paparazzi .  This pillow is for my friend, Michael's, bedroom, but seeing how cute it looks on my own bed I'm now wishing that my last name began with W.   Michaela requested that I leave the top open as a little pocket.  Perhaps she and her husband can use it to exchange love notes.   

In case you are wondering, I made myself a whole porch full of these babies a few months ago and they have tolerated the abuses of the outdoors (and two little boys) beautifully.

Thank you Chris for entrusting me with a post!  Thank you J-a-Girl-Junkies for sticking it out with me.  I would love to meet some of you, okay, well actually ALL of you, so stop on by The Stories of A to Z for a visit.