Thrifty Decorating: Cute burlap pillow....

{Guest post by Angie}

Hello to all you Thrifty Decorators!!

I'm Angie, and I blog over at The Cellar Door Stories. Can I just tell you how excited I am to be here today for my (drumroll please....) first guest post EVER! Thanks so much for having me here, Nikki! Now, let's get to the project, shall we?

Did you ever have one of those all-of-the-sudden-ideas that you feel the need to complete say......five minutes ago? That happened to me a few days ago. We had about an hour or so before we needed to leave for church, but one kiddo was sleeping, and the hubby and the other kiddo were playing, so the wheels began turning.

I have this nearly unexplainable love for burlap, so I thought I would try a burlap pillow. I am not exactly proficient at using a sewing machine, but this project was super easy. To decorate it, I used something I would almost guarantee all of you have in your homes, crafty or not ~ a Sharpie!!

Here are the basic steps I used...

1) Cut 3 pieces of burlap ~ we are making an easy envelope closure for this pillowcase! My pillow form was 14x14 inches, so I kind of measured, kind of eyeballed one piece that was 15x15 inches for the front, and then 2 pieces big enough to overlap each other by a few inches for the back. My pieces were 15 inches high and 10ish inches long.

2) Decorate the front piece. Make sure you put something under your burlap so the Sharpie doesn't get through! Since I am trying anything possible to usher in spring, I chose to stencil the word "BLOOM." First I outlined and then I colored in the letters.

3) Pin the pieces together (inside out ~ so "BLOOM" was on the inside!!) and sew. Attempt to sew straight lines. I attempted but only slightly succeeded. I'm not proud of this, but it just proves that anyone can do this project!

4) Trim the excess burlap, flip right side out and put your pillow form in! I thought mine looked a little plain, so I added some bright, springy fabric flowers.

I'm really happy with the end result and can't wait to do some more burlap & Sharpie projects!! The possibilities are endless!

Thanks again for inviting me, Nikki.....and hope to see the rest of you Thrifty Decorators over at The Cellar Door Stories sometime soon!

------------------------------------

Thanks so much for sharing this awesome project! I can't wait to make some for the rockers (that I pulled out of the trash!) that are sitting on my front porch!! Angie has some wonderful other projects at The Cellar Door Stories.

Are you planning a Sesame Street themed birthday party? How about some Elmo Cupcakes?