July 2011
  

I'm Somewhere Else Today

I've been busy with the preparations for my sister's bridal shower for tonight & I look forward to sharing with you some of the fun things that we've been doing- soon!

But for now, here's a shot of Talia & I hanging out.


And if you're a little less busy than I am today and you need something fun to do, head over to HowDoesShe cuz I'll be posting a fun activity idea over there today :)

Tutorial (Easy to Make Window Seat Cushion for IKEA Trofast Storage)

Here comes the promised step-by-step tutorial for how to make a window seat style cushion for the top of IKEA's trofast storage!
(You could do this for any flat bench though!)


Make a window seat cushion for IKEA Trofast Hack
(The fabric cover for the cushion is removable and involves no zipper)


Here's what we did:

1. I wanted a 2 inch thick cushion, but it was way cheaper to buy a big piece of 1 inch foam and double up (once you have the two pieces on top of each other, they don't slide around)

DIY Bench Cushion Tutorial without sewing machine
2. I bought fabric (I guessed on the amount- get enough to wrap around your foam like you're wrapping a gift)

3. When you get home, cut the foam to the size of the top of your bench (you can cut 1 inch foam with a pair of scissors)

4. Lay the foam on top of the fabric and wrap the fabric around the foam (like wrapping a gift) and make sure you have an overlap on top of the foam. (I made the fabric cover kind of like a pillow sham, so that you can take the cushion in & out, to wash the fabric. The overlap will not be sewn- it will be the opening for the foam)

DIY Window Seat Cushion without a sewing machine
5. Cut any extra fabric off (use the above picture as a guide to see how much fabric you need on the ends, taking into account that you'll be folding the edge over and pressing it as shown below)

Removable Washable DIY Fabric Window Seat Cover

6. Fold the ends (as shown above) and press. When I did mine, I worked it out so that the part that goes lengthwise across the cushion is the selvage, so it didn't need to be folded & pressed to finish it.

Time to Pin

7. Now we'll fold & pin the corners. Fold your first corner up (as shown in the photo below)

Removable Washable Fabric Cushion Cover Tutorial
8A. Pin into place as shown. (you can pin right into the foam if that helps)
8B. Un-pin the part shown in 8B (you don't have to pin & then un-pin it, I just did that to show you closely how to pin it so that you can do the next fold)
8C. Bring the fabric up as shown, so that you have a straight line across the top edge & side edge.
8D. Pin into place & repeat for the other corners.

DIY Window Seat Cushion with Removable Cover

9. Pin the edges up as shown:

DIY Removable Window Seat Cushion Cover Pictorial
Okay, now you're done pinning- yay!
Time to SEW!

Sewing Steps


You're going to sew by hand, and you're going to sew the foam right into the cover (don't worry- you can get it out later- I've already had to wash my cover once!)

1. Start at the top corner of one end. Tie a knot at the end of your thread and start (I tried to show you in the photo below)


2. Do a blind stitch (as shown below) to close up the side and top edges of the ends of the cushion.
How to Make your own fabric cushion cover

3. Now you're done sewing!
Here's what your little overlapping pillow-sham-like opening will look like:

Tutorial Make Your Own Removable Fabric Window Seat Cover

And here's the finished project!
A cute little seat for my girls to read on... or put their dolls to sleep on :)


Tutorial to make a DIY window seat cushion for IKEA Trofast bench


I hope this tutorial was easy to follow- let me know if I need to clarify anything!

You can find other sewing ideas & tutorials here.

Window Seat Bench Cushion for IKEA Trofast Frame

A while ago we decided to move Katrina into Talia's room with her and turn Katrina's room into a playroom. I've been working on it for a while and made several improvements (I already shared our cool tree wall).

I have a couple of projects from that room that I want to share with you & a couple that I still need to do (and then share ;)

We knew we needed a good system for toy storage and we went with IKEA's Trofast storage. I'm loving it! The first piece we bought was this one:

I knew that I wanted to make a cushion for it, so that it could act like a window seat (even though it's not by a window). So, I went out & bought some foam & fabric at a fabric store and my mom & I got to work!

Here's what we came up with:

On Monday I'll share a step by step tutorial on how we made it, so if you're interested, be sure to check back! :)

Amber & Russ (Engagement Photos)


My sister, Amber, is marrying her highschool sweetheart this year! Here are a few favourites from the engagement session that I did for them on Russ's parents' property. Hope you enjoy! :)
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You can find Amber's Cherish the Dress and Maternity Photos on the blog now, too!

Moments- a tiny flower

It's the little things that count...



A small gift from a small girl.
So pretty :)

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Life is busy here. I feel I'm in my own busy little world and I'm doing my best to keep on top of things. Hope your little corner of the world has pretty little moments mixed in with whatever busy or stressful times you may be in!

Sneak Peak (Engagement Photos)

I've been slowly processing engagement photos of my sister & her fiance for a few days now. Here's a little sneak peak:


My little family & I went camping for a couple of days this week, so I've taken a break from everything, along with not feeling too well, so hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things soon!

Hey, while I'm at it, check out this girl's gorgeous ring!!

I forgot to add the little thing at the bottom of this picture for the blog- this photo is taken by me, it is my sister's hand, I didn't steal it from another website. That is all.

Watermelon Ice Cream Cake

Here's another cool treat that I whipped up recently (and another idea that came from Pinterest :)



I couldn't find lime sherbet, so I used mint chocolate chip for the green part. I found that the easiest way to line the springform pan with the first layer (of green) was to open the (rectangular) ice cream box & cut a piece (the thickness that I wanted the green layer to be) and then cut it in half (so that it was the height I wanted the cake to be)... I used 4 of those pieces to go around my pan.

I did the vanilla layer the same way. Then for the red part, you mix the chocolate chips in & fill in the rest of the cake. (Can you tell from my picture that I forgot to mix my chocolate chips in- I got a little too excited & skipped that step, so I just stuck them on afterward ;)



I was really happy with how it turned out! Isn't it cute? :)


abc button Lil\'Luna

Cupcakes In A Jar!



I have been wanting to make cupcakes in a jar for a while now. (I've pinned several versions on my recipe board on Pinterest ;)

I recently looked for mason jars at WalMart and discovered that they're not very expensive, so I bought them with excitement & planned to make some red & white version of cupcakes in a jar for our family gathering for Canada Day.

You may notice that I didn't quite succeed with the red & white Canada Day plan, but meh... they were yummy ;)



I found a frosting recipe with strawberries in it and used this version of cupcakes in a jar as a guideline. I just used a cake mix for the cupcakes. I was happy with the frosting & the way these turned out- aren't they cute? :)

Basically all you have to do is get the right size of jar, make cupcakes (make sure you make all 24 so your cupcakes don't turn out too big) and then squish them into the jars with frosting between 2 cupcakes- easy & so cute & portable! :)

I have a feeling this is only the beginning of a long love of mason jars :) Have you ever made anything creative in a mason jar?


Easy, Healthy, Yogurt Popsicles

If you've been following me on Pinterest, you might have seen this delicious pin. I've seen Jamie Oliver's show recently, and I'm trying to eat a little healthier, so it didn't take me long to try these yogurt pops:

All you do is follow that recipe linked above & poor it into little bathroom cups. Stick a popsicle stick in there after they get a little stiff in the freezer, and in a few hours, you've got a nice supply of summery treats!



The girls have loved them & they disappeared quickly! (I never got a picture of them out of the cups because they went so fast!) I'm sure we'll be making more as soon as I can pick up some bananas! :)

Winner

So it felt like June picked me up and ran with me and didn't put me down! It's July now and I think June may have just made a pass off, cuz I don't feel like things have slowed down ;)

I think it's gonna be a crazy summer! I have a lot of things I want to post about that have already happened, but haven't found the time to sit down & do it yet!

For today, it's time to announce the winner of the Sensodyne giveaway!

Congratulations, Leanne! You'll be eating ice cream again in no time! :)

I'll have a chilly food post for you tomorrow, so stay tuned :)

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