It's Pinspired Friday! {"Heaven is a Little Closer in a Home by the Lake" Quote Pillow Tutorial}

I've got an easy decor piece for you today! It's Pinspired Friday!

My in-laws came over last weekend to visit and my mother-in-law and I went over to the local store to grab a few things. One of the things we ran across was this super cute pillow in a beautiful french ticking fabric with a great quote on it:

From Uptowncountryhome.com - Not the exact one (the one I saw was about 10" x  10" and had blue ticking) but close

And I was smitten - until I just about fell over from the price tag... $24.99! So I quickly put (really quickly, haha) it back down and walked away. It hit me a few days later... I could really easily make something just like that! And you can too! :)

So while the pillow wasn't "Pinspired", I wasn't sure how to cleanly get a quote on fabric without painting or using a stencil... so off to Pinterest I went. A lot of sites said that using paper, spray adhesive, and an inkjet printer was the way to go... but I didn't have any spray adhesive. Then in the comments section of one of the sites, someone mentioned that using freezer paper was a better method... and that I did have. Because I already had the fabric, freezer paper, inkjet printer, and sewing machine, the cost for this project was free. Much better than $24.99 for something very similar!

Want to make your own? You'll need:
• Freezer paper (not wax paper)
• Fabric (if you're making a small pillow like mine, you'll need two pieces at 8.5"x11" each.)
• Polyfiber or other pillow filler

You'll also want:
• An inkjet printer (not laser)
• A sewing machine
• An iron

If you're making your own quote, you'll want to download the font "Bebas Neue" from Dafont.com.
If you want my quote, I'm sharing it in .PDF format with you lovelies :) (but please do not abuse this and use for profit... please only use for your personal use.) Document Here

A quick rundown if you're making your own quote:
• Change the layout to "landscape" so the paper is horizontal.

• You'll want to set your margins to 1" all around.
• Change your font to Bebas Neue
• Center your quote on the page


• Play with the spacing on your quote until you find what you think looks best. Mine was a combination, line by line spacing so the quote would have that block quote look. I believe it ranged from 10 pts to 16 pts.
• My font size was 77. You may need to adjust yours according to how long your font is.

Now back to if you're going to use the quote I provided...
Open the quote .PDF in Adobe Reader or other similar program. Get your inkjet hooked up if it's not already.

Pick out your fabrics. Each piece has to be 8.5"x11". You may find that tracing a piece of paper is helpful.

Cut out your freezer paper to 8.5"x11". You'll have one side that feels "sticky" or waxy, and the other side will feel like paper.

Iron your fabric out so it's not wrinkly, and after the fabric is smooth, place the freezer paper waxy side down on the fabric. Iron the paper side, which will activate the waxy part and stick to your fabric.

Cut around the fabric around the freezer paper. Try not to fray the fabric as you don't want it to get stuck in your printer. Leave your iron on (but don't forget about it! :) because you'll need it later.

Your setup might be different, of course, but load your fabric/freezer paper into your inkjet. Mine loads up top and shoots out the bottom. Once again, yours might be different, but I had the fabric facing out towards me and it printed right on the fabric. If it accidentally prints on the paper and not the fabric, reload the other way and try again.

Let it sit for about ten minutes before touching it. Luckily, my inkjet dries pretty fast, but I wanted it to have enough time to cure. While this is going on, iron your back of the pillow fabric if you have not already done so.

I love how crisp the lettering looks on the fabric!

Now that your quote is dry, and your back fabric ironed, trace your top fabric onto your back fabric so you have two same sized pieces if you have not already cut both pieces ahead of time.

If your back fabric has a right side and a wrong side, make sure your right sides are facing in (the side you'd want to see when the pillow is turned inside out after sewing the sides) and pin.

I used the zipper foot so I could get a 1/4" seam allowance. Sew the two long sides and one of the short sides. Trim your two corners.

Turn your pillow inside out. Flip the open edges under about 1/4" and iron the entire pillow (I ironed over the letters with no problem). Head back to your sewing machine...

Top stitch around the three sides again, leaving the pressed under side open. Stuff your pillow with polyfiber and then pin it closed so that you can topstitch that open side, so don't overstuff your pillow as it will make the quote hard to read and it will be a pain to try and close that side with the machine. Top stitch the open side to close the pillow and...

You've got a very cute quote pillow! The finished size is about 7.5" x 10", so not very large but a nice little decorative piece. And yes, it's easier to read in real life... the picture distorted it a little, haha. I imagine you could probably do something similar with an 11"x17" piece too!

And here is the back!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Do you have a special quote you're going to use? Tell me all about it! I'd love  to see what you create. See you next week, have a great weekend!

I'm linking up to these linky parties!

The Brambleberry Cottage Linky Party  French Country Cottage Linky Party

2012 Christmas Decor at Little Oak Creations

Hi all!
I wanted to share my Christmas decor with you today. I don't have a mantel in this house but I do have a white sofa table that I like to set vignettes on for each season, and here is my Christmas 2012 "mantel." One of my favorite things to do is collect home decor items from thrifting that "work" well together, so I've listed where I was lucky enough to get or make each item.

I made the wreath about two years ago for Mr. LOC and I's first Christmas together. It's gotten a little sun-bleached but I like the way it looks as the sun has made the glitter almost a bright red/orange and I think it's kind of neat. :) The Joy to the World wood piece hanging in the middle was from a dollar store a few years back. "K" stocking hanger is from Bed Bath and Beyond, about 2 years ago. Very heavy and has some rhinestones on it. :) The glass dish is a thrifting find too - it's a greenish gold and one of my favorite pieces.

I also made this column piece at the same time I made the wreath. It's held together quite well, considering it was dollar store greenery, ribbon, lights and pointsettas! I do love the dollar store - sometimes it's hard to imagine each piece separate but when you get it all together, the result can be pretty fantastic.

The LED candle in the glass and metal lantern was a Salvation Army find for like $2.00 (I know, I was pretty stoked about it too!) Worked great and nothing was broken or missing - it's about a foot or more tall too. The little red glass and glitter tree was also a thrifting find, I think it was .25 cents and it was new in box.

The "Oh Come Let Us Adore Him Christ the Lord" printable was from AKA designs, print yours out here for free! Thank you AKA Designs. It's in black/grey and white too, which makes it awesome for black and white only printers.

The frame was a TJ Maxx throw-a-way - I got it for .30 cents because it was scratched to high heaven but it still had it's glass and a beautiful black velvet flocked back... so I took a little bit of black spray paint and sprayed and rubbed off the excess to get the weathered look. The glitter star was a thrifting find on a thrifting adventure with Mama LOC, I think it's supposed to be a massive ornament but I like to set it places for some geometric interest. The glass candlestick is an antique and it was given to me during a set up for a garage sale. It's sitting on Dolly Parton's biography with the cover off and facing down. lol! :) The gold and ivory scarf was a Marshall's find from when I was in college.

And finally, this picture: I thought my mantel needed some dramatic flair. ;)

I do love how you can see my Christmas tree in the background of the print. Thank you for following along and I hope you had fun looking! :)

Linky Parties I am Linking up to!
A Thoughtful Place's home decor linky party!

Nester's 2012 Christmas Tour of Homes!
Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party!
The Inspired Room's Christmas Home Tour Party! And also hosted by Cottage Magpie!