Pottery Barn 4th of July Table Runner- How To

Did you see this adorable table runner at Pottery Barn?

I loved it the second I saw it and wanted it sooooo bad!  Then I looked at the price tag... $69 plus tax (and shipping if you need to order it).  Ugh.  I couldn't justify that, especially since I was there buying things that were more practical and useful, and this once a year table runner did not fall into that category.  So I decided I had to make my own, and I did it for $15, and in less than an hour!  I spent a total of $30 on supplies and will be making the matching flag pillows this weekend.  Here's how I got my PB runner (it is EXACTLY the same, their picture editing makes the blue look darker, but in real life they are identical), for a fraction of the price...

First- Order your blue flag fabric.  I had to order it online.  It's by Moda and it's for this adorable quilt I'm actually making called Quilts of Valor.  I've linked the words Order your fabric to an ebay site that carries it.  I'm sure there are several, just search for it..  I'd get 1/2 a yard to be safe.  Then you just need high quality muslin for the white and a deeper, richer plain red fabric (not christmassy red).  You need  about a 1/2 yard of each of those fabrics for the front and extra muslin for the back, so a total of 1 yard of muslin.  There's your $15.

Now it's time to sew.
*Cut your piece of the blue with white stars to measure 18 inches long and 11 inches wide.
*Now cut your red and white fabric into 3 inch strips.  You'll need 6 long strips of each color.  Alternating between the red and white, sew all of your strips together.
*Then cut the strips at 18 inches and take what you cut off and sew that chunk of red and white stripes to the ones you already have.  You need 21 red and white stripes that are 18 inches long. (You can make your runner as long/short as you want.  You can increase the blue bunting part and increase/decrease how many strips to add, this is just the size I made and it's pretty awesome)

*Now sew your strips to your blue fabric.
*Trim all your loose threads and iron the top
*Cut a piece of muslin 18 inches long and  59 1/2 inches wide.  (sew pieces of muslin together, if needed, to get 1 solid piece this size for your backing)
*Put the pretty side of your runner face down against your muslin back piece.  Sew 1/4 seam allowance all the way around the edge, and leave a small hole about 4-5 inches long.  Take your hand and reach inside the whole and pull the fabric out (flipping it inside out).  The pretty part of your table runner should now be on the outside and all seams on the inside except for your hole.
*Iron the runner and fold in the fabric along the hole so there are no raw edges.
*Now you are gong to top stitch 1/4 inch all around the entire table runner top, including over the hole.
*Trim your threads and you are done!

 Enjoy your Pottery Barn Runner.  Now I'm off to make the matching pillows :-)

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Red, White, Turquoise/Blue Party

My sister and I hosted a bridal shower luncheon for our cousin this past month.  We had so much fun putting it together!  We went with a red and white and turquoise party.  I used red and white chevron for the background print for the invitations and also for the table runners.  There were so many small details.  Here's a quick summary of a very fun party:

We were having 16 people to lunch so we extended the table to seat everyone together.  We had clear glasses and red gobblets.  We had adorable pennants that tied all of our colors together, along with turqoise, and red and white polka dot tissue poms.  We did 3 smaller flower arrangements down the table.  We used red roses and babys breath. 

 *One of my favorite features of the party were the individual cupcake stands.  At each place setting, everyone had their own cupcake on a stand.  They were red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!
*We also served strawberry daiquiri's and had adorable turquoise and white striped paper straws.
*For the food table, we used small wooden chalkboard signs to label each food item.
*We had a separate water station that highlighted the beautiful glass etched pitcher I made with my silhouette!

*For the party favor, we made lavender and orange body scrub.  We packaged them in mason jar's and covered the lid with blue fabric and tied with red ribbon.
*I decided to make some adorable "streamers" out of napkins.  You use a ruffle stitch and sew the napkins longways together.  They turned out really cute and festive, especially with decorative napkins.
*I also decided to make a burlap banner that said Congrats!  I used the same instructions for making the happy birthday sign in this post.  I think the sign really finished off the food table area.
*We also had several small glasses and mason jars filled with babies breath around the tables.

It was such a fun party and so pretty!  We love hand-made!!

Wax Paper Gift Bag Tutorial

I was making goodie bags for my daughters birthday.  I really wanted some of those cute wax paper bags that you can buy online.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to order them before the party, so I decided to make my own.  These are so versatile and turned out so cute.  I will definitely be doing it again.

Here's a quick "How To", to make your wax paper goodie bags:
Step 1:  Get your roll of wax paper and cut it into long rectangles about 8 inches wide and 16 inches long.  This is variable.  You can make the bag whatever size you need for what you are putting in it.  These are just the measurements I made them.
Step 2:  Fold the wax paper in half so it should now look like a square (mine were about 8 inches by 8 inches).
Step 3:  I decided to stamp a Thank You on the front of each bag.  I used black ink and a cute stamp that had some little butterflies on it.  The stamp will smear if you touch it right away.  I stamped mine and let them dry overnight.  They didn't smear after it dried.  So stamp all of your bags.
Step 4:  After letting your stamps dry, take the bag and sew a straight line along 3 sides of the bag.  You could use different color thread, whatever you want.
Step 5:  Fill up your bag with whatever you want.
Step 6:  Sew across the  top of the bag so it is now sealed on all sides. 

 That's it!  You've got an adorable, custom made, wax paper goodie bag!

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Burlap Banner Tutorial

The month of May also brought my daughters birthday!  I used some of the similar colors from teacher appreciation because it ended up being the same week- turquoise and yellow.  We did a pool party with pizza.  I used the tissue poof balls, and paper flowers.  I added new runners and decided to add a burlap Happy Birthday banner.  I love how it turned out!

 

This sign was super easy to make and was a great addition to my birthday decor!  I used a light/white burlap and black paint.  I think this will be very versatile.

 Here's a quick "How To", to make your own burlap banner:
Step 1:  Cut your burlap into rectangles.  Mine were about 6 inches by 8 inches.  (Be warned, burlap is messy)
Step 2:  Taking the long side (that's 8 inches), fold over the burlap about 2 inches and iron flat.  Your square should now look square (about 6 inches by 6 inches).  Repeat for all of your rectangle pieces.
Step 3:  Sew a straight line a quarter of an inch from the edge of the fabric that you've folded over.  Repeat for all of the burlap squares.  You want to have a casing that is about an inch and a half.  This is where you are going to run the string through to hang it up. **If you don't sew, you could hot glue this piece down as well.

Step 4:  Using Freezer paper, cut the letters of your word out of the freezer paper.  Don't get them too close together because you need to cut out the space around the letter.  I used my silhouette to cut out my freezer paper.  I did about 4 letters per sheet and used the same settings as cutting vinyl and used my mat.  It's a little tricky getting the letters all cut out right but once you iron the paper onto the burlap, it turns out perfect.
Step 5:  Turn the burlap square over so the folded side that you've sewed down is facing down.  Iron the letter/paper  onto the Burlap square.
Step 6:  Put your burlap squares onto a towel or cardboard or something that paint can bleed through onto.  Carefully paint your letters.

Step 7:  Once it's dried, remover the freezer paper.
Step 8:  Take your string and feed through the pocket/casing you've made on your burlap squares.  I attached a safety pin to the end of my string which made it easier to feed through the pockets.

You're done!  You can do this with any word or phrase.  I love my burlap banner!!

Teacher Appreciation Thank You Gifts

Here's a few of the extra goodies we made for Teacher Appreciation Week:

 Cookies in the CD Holder:  Did you see this on Pinterest?  We got this idea on Pinterest.  These are the paper CD holders.  We got cookies donated from this awesome bakery in town.  The cookies fit just perfectly in the CD window.  We tied them with twine and put on an adorable Thank You tag. My friend Taryn made these tags.  They had a chevron background.  So cute!

 Thank You Pot with Gifts:  To go along with our "Grow" theme, I had the kids in our class decorate this pot for our teacher.  I collected money for the group gift and then filled the pot with all of our gifts.  I wrapped it all up with cellophane and a bow. 

Apple Oreo Pops:  We got this idea online too, but we did learn a few things that were not mentioned online.  You take the top off the oreo and then need to spread some of the chocolate inside and then push the stick into the white filling and chocolate.  Replace the top and let it set/harden.  Then you can dip the whole oreo on a stick into the chocolate.  Once it comes out, put in the pretzel stick for the stem and an airhead cut into a square for the leaf.  they turned out so cute!  We made 50 for all of the staff at our school.

 Hugs & Kisses:  This was the easiest but I think they loved it.  I used clear cellophane bags, added a handful of hershey kisses and hugs, and a tag.  The tag said, "We love our teachers and staff!  XOXO"

Teacher Appreciation

Wow.  2.5 months.  That's the longest I've gone without blogging.  But you know when you've waited a little bit and have a bunch of stuff to share, but it seems like so much and there's just never enough time because now it's so much, well it was like that :-)  But I have several months worth of crafts and some cute ideas to share!

May was beyond crazy and April was spent prepping for it.  First up was Teacher Appreciation Week.  My friends and I were in charge of it for the whole school.  We did a catered lunch for the teachers and staff of the entire school every day for a week!   Our theme was, "Thank You For Helping Our Children Grow."  Here's how some of it turned out.

We decorated the teachers lounge.  The room is very ugly and cluttered.  We did the best we could :-)

 Adding some burlap to the back of the wall really helped our food table.  The poofs, bunting, table cloths, signage, and centerpieces all went with our theme and color theme (yellow, white, turquoise/blue)
 

 
The centerpieces were small rose bushes wrapped in burlap and blue ribbon.  We had little signs that matched and had our theme on it.  The table runners were yellow with small blue polka dots.

 

 My friend Taryn made this adorable sign that went with our theme.  It was black vinyl on white paper.  She also made the adorable paper flowers that we used all over. 

 I was also the room mom for my daughters class. I delegated our door to some other mom's since I was busy decorating the rest of the school.  I think it turned out soooooo cute!  The kids faces were on the apples.  Love it!

 
Here's some of the decor from the front of the school.  There were grass and flowers by the front office.

 
We had signage and paper flowers going all the way down the corridor where everyone walks  into the school.  My friend Taryn did these signs!  They were awesome. 

 In 25 years, no one had ever decorated the outside of the school for the teachers.  It turned out soooo cute!! 

 It was a great week and I've already got new ideas for next year :-)