Dec 18, 2017

Our Holiday Table and Pottery Barn Faux Fur Placemat Knock-Off



I hope you're all enjoying this week leading up to Christmas. This year I pared my lists down to the nubbins and got my shopping done early. I think it might be the first time ever I've had some time over the holidays to spend working on Christmas craft projects in my studio.


And I've been enjoying the heck out of it!!



Today, I'm sharing my favorite holiday craft project along with my holiday table.



I fell in love with (and I mean IN LOVE with!) Pottery Barn's faux fur placemats when I saw them online last month. At $28.00 each, it would have cost nearly $170.00 for me to purchase six for my holiday table. $170.00 for placemats doesn't even compute in my brain. It's unfathomable! And don't even get me started on the recommended dry cleaning. We're talking food here, people!



But, oh gosh, I really, really loved them.



So, one day when I was out buying a faux fur throw on sale for our bed for $15.00, it dawned on me, how hard could it be to make my own placemats? Well, guess what? Not hard at all!



While I machine washed and dried my $15 faux fur throw, I made a paper pattern an inch smaller than the Pottery Barn placemats which are 18" x 21". That fit my throw's dimensions perfectly. When the throw was dry, I cut the placemats out and then sewed an inch and a half seam around the cut openings to match the seam already on the uncut edges. I thought I'd have to slip stitch all the raw edges closed by hand while binge watching The Gilmore Girls for the tenth time, but the fur curled up on the edges and the placemats looked great when I laid them out flat. 



Seriously, it took about two hours to make six faux fur placemats from my $15.00 throw. That's only $2.50 each! The hardest part was vacuuming up the little fur trimmings that were kind of like chicken feathers. I even had enough fabric left over to make a fur runner for my buffet. 



It was like a big fat Christmas gift to myself. I love saving money and getting just what I wanted!

HO HO HO!

Merry Christmas, Everybody! 


Dec 14, 2017

2017 Holiday Home Tour


Welcome to our holiday home tour!


We're into our grey days of winter here in Boise, so I've really been enjoying decorating our home with lights and sparkle to chase the chill away. This year we'll be staying home to celebrate Christmas with our family, and I can't think of a better place to be. I hope you enjoy our holiday home tour as I dash away to wrap gifts to put under our Christmas tree.





















I hope you have enjoyed our tour and that the rest of your winter day will be cozy and warm!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas