Southern Scraps

For the first time ever, I'm into decorating for St. Patrick's Day. In the past, it was just one of those holidays I didn't decorate for. Wearing green is about all the celebrating I do. Which is ironic, since I have Irish ancestors and live within driving distance of the famous Savannah, Georgia, celebration. I do like the color green and this year I was won over by all the shiny sparkly green craft supplies in the stores. I'll be showing you a few things I've made for St. Patrick's Day in a few days, but for now, here's a round up of 17 crafts and decorations . The Pampered Chef     Centerpiece by Cupcakes and Crinolines     Shamrock tree by Lolly Jane     Shamrock button art by Happy Clippings     St. Patrick's Day Garland by This Girl's Life   Door hanging by BHG     Framed shamrocks by Life in Wonderland     Leprechaun pants treat bags   ...

I changed out the pillows on my porch when I decorated for Christmas. If you've followed me this year (and if you haven't, won't you now?) you know that my favorite way to make pillows is placemats . So once again I have pillows from placemats.

I hope everyone in the area of Sandy is safe and recovering. I've been a little quiet since Halloween, but Halloween is very busy for us, so not much else got accomplished last week and then we had to recover! I finally got a chance to move on to some fall projects this weekend, and I've packed up Halloween and replaced it with fall/thanksgiving items. I'll be sharing some of that later. I replaced the summer back porch items with fall items, and once again, I made pillows from placemats. I found these placemats at Tuesday Morning and knew they would be perfect for fall. These are the easiest pillows ever- just pick out a small section of the seam on a double thickness placemat and stuff with polyfill. Sew your section back up and you are good to go. I also found this fun striped dish towel at Tuesday Morning and loved that it coordinated with my green pillows and still has a fall feel. I was going to make a pillow like these   with two dish towels but the...

I've kept you in suspense too long. I said I'd be sharing my back porch makeover, so here it is. I started with a blank pallette, with the exception of the furniture we've had for a few years. All we had was the furniture. No plants, no personality. We did have a light up palm tree, but that was it. You can tell from the top picture that the first thing I did was go to Lowe's and get some plants to create some container gardens. It was already late in the season, so there wasn't much to choose from but I got some container garden fill-ins for 50% off. Just plop them in a pot and you are done. I got some other plants as well to create my own mix. ( Bella was also helping me lay everything out.) Here's another before shot. Now here's those plants: I picked up the cute little chair plant stand at Wal-Mart. The flip flop candle holder and butterfly lantern came from Pier One. I bought them when I was shopping for the front porch makeover...

Hi and welcome to my new followers. Sorry I'm late with this week's Tried It out Thursday. Sometimes life just gets in the way.  I was browsing in Tuesday Morning a few weeks ago and found the perfect placemats for making pillows. Just the color I want to use on my back porch and one has butterflies too. Even better is the fact that one has a pattern on both sides and one has a solid back so I have reversible pillows for more options. These are so easy to make. Use placemats that have two layers of materials. Pick one end, or part of it, open with a seam ripper and fill with fiberfill or quilt batting. Sew the end closed again. I love easy projects like this that allow me instant gratification and satisfaction over completing something- and saving money too. The mats were only a couple of dollars each. Sharing here: Think Pink Sundays ** Under the Table and Dreaming * Sundae Scoop * Creative Bloggers Party and Hop * Craftomaniac Monday * Make the S...

Almost a year ago I purchased a sweater from the thrift store to make a pillow from. A couple of  months after that I found two pillows at a yard sale for 50 cents each. I knew I could use these in place of pillow forms for some pillow projects. I finally got around to this. The first thing I did was place my pillow inside the sweater to measure. The sweater is a size medium so I could only get one pillow from it. I determined that I should just cut the sleeves off at the shoulder and cut straight down. I also cut the turtleneck off of the top. I went back and trimmed the whole top off even. Since my sweater did not have side seams, I had to sew all four seams. I cut the bottom off, allowing for a seam. I turned it inside out and sewed three sides and part of the four with the machine. I turned it right side out and placed the pillow inside. I finished the last seam by hand. Here's my pillow. I played around with placing in on the love seat and the couch...