It's almost Thanksgiving! Do you have your meal plans ready? Or, if you are not cooking this year, have you prepared your liver for wine?
We are really in the festive spirit here. But as I was going through my holiday boxes, I found a sad lacking of Thanksgiving stuff. My DIY Thanksgiving table runner was looking to be it.
Since we are hosting this year, I really wanted our home to have reminders of Thanksgiving all over. So I took matters into my own hands, and started with these easy, adorable, and festive pillows!
Supplies:
Blank pillow case or slip cover in a thinner fabric (I made my own slip covers to fit my existing sofa pillows.)
Fabric paint
Small paint brushes in various sizes
Wax paper
A good movie to watch while you paint (I went with Jingle All the Way)
Start by creating your design. Make sure you size it to match the blank pillow cover you have.
You are welcome to use our design! Just right click the image, then save it to your computer. All I ask is you give credit to us here at This inSane House.
When you have the design just as you want it, change your printer to "poster" setting. This will print the picture out on several pages maintaining the original size.
Once it is printed, just tape it together. Trim any excess along the edges. You need to make it narrow enough to slip inside your pillow.
Slide your design into your pillow case. This is why you needed a thinner material. Now you can clearly see the design through the fabric, and it is time to start tracing!
Once you have traced your design, remove the paper and place wax paper inside your pillow. This will keep the paint from bleeding through onto the back of the pillow.
Let the painting commence!
I used two smaller brushes to paint the design on. Because I chose swirly-fancy-shmancy cursive font, it did take a while to make it perfect. Luckily I had a good movie on to keep me occupied. Side note: don't you just love requisitioning your kids stuff for your own purposes? Thanks kiddos for the use of your Sesame Street table!
Once you have finished painting, let it dry overnight before removing the wax paper. Easy peasy!
I was so happy with how it turned out, I decided to make another.
Happy crafting!! Love the pillows but don't have the time to make them yourself, order them from our etsy shop!
For Halloween I wanted to be Pac-Man. Figuring it out took a little ingenuity, but overall wasn't too bad!
Supplies:
$0 Cardboard
$1 Roll of cheap duct tape *had this already
$1 Bag of Glue Sticks
$8 Quart of True Lemon Yellow Paint (Walmart brand)
$3 Black Paint (sample would be plenty) *had this already
$1 Black mesh *had this already
-----
$14 Total, I payed $9 because I had most of these supplies.
Tools:
Hot Glue Gun
Box Cutter
Paint Brush
Protractor
Ruler
I found an image of Pac-Man someone used for an algebra or trigonometry class. I measured the diameter to be 2 3/8", and the length of the mouth to be 1 1/4".
I got all my cardboard for free at Costco. Usually there will be some slip sheets in their metal box bins, but if there isn't just ask around.
My first attempt was a 25" circle with a 60 degree 13" equilateral triangle cut out of it. To create the circle, you can use my tutorial from our Minnie Mouse Bean Bag Toss. As you can see it was a little small. OK A LOT SMALL! Time for attempt #2.
The next attempt I used a 36" circle with an 18" triangle. For the triangle, draw an 18" line. Next line up a protractor and mark a dash at 60 degrees. Draw another 18" line from the end of the first line, through that dash. Connect the two lines.
Once you have your circle and triangle, place the triangle on the circle, lining up two corners to the outside of the circle. Trace it, and cut out the lines.
For the arm hole, I took a couple different plates and saucers and matched them up with my arm until I found one that worked, traced it and cut it out.
Copy and cut for the second side.
For the connecting center, I measured from shoulder to shoulder which was 16." I added 1" to be safe (I regret doing this because it doesn't sit directly on my shoulder), and 1" for the connecting kerf. Cut your connecting center so the cardboard is horizontal. This way it can roll and take shape.
Once you have your center cut, roll it up so it will take shape easier. Next make a line 1/2" in on each side. Take a blade and make cuts up to that line, bending inward as you go.
Begin your assembly. I hot glued and duct taped the pieces together. The top mouth section was the same as the rest of the center pieces, except I used stiffer cardboard (unbent), and I cut a rectangle out so I would be able to see. The bottom I cut a piece 23"x18," and rolled 5" worth of it.
Once all the assembly was complete I finally got to the fun part! PAINT! I got a quart of Walmart's True Lemon Yellow paint and I had some left over black chalkboard paint for the mouth.
For the eyes, I wanted them to look like a backwards Pac Man.
It took a couple different saucers and bowls to figure out a good size for them. I drew a circle, measured to the center point, and drew a 60 degree triangle from it. I wish I had done this before assembly and painting.
Finally, I hot glued black mesh to the eyes and the front viewing rectangle.
Pac-Man in action!
It was a lot of fun making it, and even more fun wearing it! I did bump into a car at one point while trying to pick up a balloon that was running off in the wind. The peripherals aren't great, but it's a small price to pay for a awesome costume!
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, or Pinterest for more interesting content!
Here's a reader-made costume for her son that she posted on our Facebook page! So flattered that it worked out great for him!
