Make // Design a Pillow with Tulip For Your Home

Today I'm sharing a stenciled pillow project, sponsored by the folks at Tulip®. I happen to love their Soft Fabric Paints and have used them on several textile projects. This paint is exceptional on fabric and always dries soft and flexible. So it's no surprise that I was excited to try some products from their new Tulip For Your Home line.

With stylish stencils and an extensive line of paint colors, they make it EASY to create affordable, on-trend home decor. It's the perfect medium for personalizing any textile project-- from pillow cases & placemats to lampshades & canvas art.

I was given all the tools to create this pillow case, including the "cool" color palette of blueberry, ocean and nickel.

Click HERE for the full post

Year in Review // 2013 Most Popular Posts

Why hello there! How was your week? I feel like I was in some sort of time warp and can't account for the last several days. It was Christmas, I blinked, and now we're 2 days into 2014. Whooosh! Crazy how that happens.

Whether you're working or taking time off, I hope that the past week has been a good one. We enjoyed some much needed down time at our place in San Diego. It was nice to unplug for a bit and reflect upon the year gone by.

I always like reading "year in review" posts, so here's ours.

bliss bloom blog's top posts of 2013

#1 milk jug votives

I guess you guys like upcycle/recycle projects? This was a fun one and I'm now dreaming up earth day projects for 2014.

Click "Read more" for the full post

Make // Fabric Pinecone - Toile

I took a month off from crafting and wasn't going to make any Fall projects, but then I started thinking about pinecones... I love pinecones! So I eeked this one out last Saturday between two soccer games and a baseball practice. Sometimes a little pressure helps the creative process. :)

I've made pinecones before-- this lace one, this felt one, and this muslin fabric one... So this time I combined a few techniques and came up with yet another version of a fabric pinecone.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

Make // Design Your Own Textiles

Last year my kids brought home art smocks that they had made at camp. They looked like very colorful batik, but instead of using wax, kids school glue was used for the "wax resist". And instead of using fabric dyes, acrylic paints were used. While it was very pretty and colorful, the acrylic paints made the fabric stiff and prone to cracking. I know I didn't want stiff fabric, but I also didn't want to use messy, toxic dyes, so I had to do a little homework and find some alternative materials.

Last weekend I finally got around to trying out this technique and am pretty happy with the results!

Make // Faux Batik Circle Scarf

I'm blogging over at SEI Lifestyle this week. There's also a giveaway going on right now.  Stop by and say hello! Here's one of the tutorials that I'm sharing...

While I love to make things, I don't have the kind of space where I can make huge messes-- no cement floors in my home, my laundry room is the size of a postage stamp and the garage is the Hub's domain...  So a "batik" type project was out of question until I stumbled upon an easy & mess-free method.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

bliss bloom blog // Favorite Projects

A compilation of some of my favorite projects...

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[Upcycle] Fabric Artichokes from Light Bulbs

The trendy folks at BuzzFeed asked me to create an upcycle project with old light bulbs. I have never done anything with light bulbs except stick them in a socket, but... I like a good challenge. So I said yes and here we are.

I've seen a ton of light bulbs upcycled into vases, terrariums, even fish bowls (??)... all which involve cutting metal/glass and extracting the filament. I value my fingers (and eyeballs), and I wanted to be a little unique, so I went a different route. I did a quick Google check and I'm pretty sure there aren't any light bulb artichokes out there yet.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Round-Up] Holiday & Christmas Projects

Christmas is 10 days away.  Say it with me "What??!!!".  I think I say this every year, but this year seems EXTRA crazy! Self-imposed crazy, of course, but still enough to keep me chugging along late into the night. Anyhow, I thought it would be a good time to do a round-up of my past and present Holiday projects. After all, there are still 10 more days to create!! :)

Hope you're having an awesome weekend!

[Make] Handmade Tree Vignette

Here's my 2012 Handmade Christmas Tree vignette. It's peaceful, it's neutral and little woodland creatures are hiding in there...My kind of decorations!  Many of the trees were used in last year's vignette, but I also added six more. Is there such thing as having too many trees? 

Click "Read more" for the details

[Make] Trees, Lots of Trees

Just popping in to say "hello" and also give you a peek of this year's tree collection...

r to l: muslin tree, felt rose tree, ruffle trim tree and crushed shell tree

I like how they are completely different yet complement each other nicely.  Can't wait to see what they look like with the rest of the trees... I'll be taking those out in December.  Soon, very soon.

Hope you're having a good Monday!

sharing with...

[Make] Muslin Ornament

This Muslin Ornament is a simple and inexpensive way to upcycle an old, unwanted ornament.  I love the fluffy, deconstructed look and, since I have a ton of old ornaments to upcycle, I plan on covering my tree with a bunch of these.

Click "Read more" for the Tutorial

[Make] Ruffle Trim Tree

This Ruffle Trim Tree is similar to the muslin tree that I made the other day... But much more simple to make.  In fact, aside from letting some paint dry, it took less than 5 minutes to put together.

It's easy. It's pretty.  Who's in?

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Muslin Tree

This year I've decided to add some natural elements to my Christmas decor.  I've spent the last couple of years transitioning from a burgundy & gold theme to silver & white.  However, I'm finding that the silver & white is looking a little flat. Since I love natural elements and use a lot of it in my everyday decor, I decided to add some natural tones to my Christmas decorations-- Bring on the muslin, twine, shells, and burlap!

First up is a Muslin Tree--

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Round-Up] Fall Projects

The weather has cooled down, the leaves are turning, and it's finally starting to feel like Autumn here in Southern California.  I love it! For some reason, this is the time of year when I feel the most creative. I was born this month too-- I don't always relish the growing older part, but celebrating a birthday is fun... Maybe that explains my affinity for Fall (??).  Anyhow, I've jumped ahead to Christmas projects, but I didn't want to skip over my favorite season. Here's a round-up of my past and present Fall Projects--

Have a nice weekend!

[Make] Scalloped Lace Pinecone

Yep, another pinecone project.  I actually bought the lace earlier in the year to make something for Easter, but since that didn't happen... More pinecone love! 

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Fabric Pinecone

As my children can attest, I love pinecones.  I'm always picking them up when we're at a park... which seems to be often since the boys play baseball and soccer multiple times a week.  And if I happen to miss one, my little helpers are always sure to bring me a few.

While I've collected quite a few real pinecones, I also love the handmade ones.  Last year I made a felt version.  This year I wanted a more natural look and created this fabric pinecone out of muslin.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Batty Branches

Whoa, it's October! How did that happen?  I'll be honest with you, I'm not feeling Fall yet. We had a late summer and it's still incredibly hot here in Southern California.  I can't take Fall seriously when I'm still wearing sundresses, flip flops and slathering on sunscreen! Even the deciduous trees are still bright green and don't look like they'll be shedding their leaves any time soon.

But it's October, so time to start thinking of falling leaves, pumpkins, bare branches and thing that go "Boo!".  As far as decorations go, I don't usually go all-out for Halloween... Just a little nod to the last day of the month.  Last year I made these ghosts, this year I decided to do something with bare branches and bats...

Definitely more on the elegant side than scary... but I kinda like it like that.  :)

Click "Read more" for the details... 

[Make] Lyrical Message Stenciled Pillow

I had some time this week and finally got around to a project that's been on the back-burner for several months now.  A pillow with lyrics.  Not just any lyrics though... Lyrics that I LIKE!  Do you recognize the song?

Last year I spotted this "You Are My Sunshine" pillow on VivaTerra --

Then I looked at the price tag (whoosh!) and moved along.  If you could only see what my boys do with pillows. Pillows are seldom on the couch or bed, but can usually be found all over the floor, smashed into unrecognizable shapes.  They serve as building blocks for my kids' imagination--  spaceships, forts, racing cars, falling boulders... All good but, ahem,  no expensive pillows for this household!

I was quite happy when I stumbled upon this DIY version by Amanda at Wit & Whistle and put it on my "things to tackle" list.  I already had a plain pillow (not linen, but a sturdy muslin) and a fabric pen, so it was just a matter of finding the time.

Click "Read more" for tips on making a Message Pillow

[Make] Press N Seal Stenciled Pillow

An alternative to the Freezer Paper Stencil!  

Which for the life of me... I CANNOT find.   Several months ago, when I decided that a freezer paper stencil project was in my future, I stocked up on what I "thought" was freezer paper.  I bought Press'n Seal Freezer instead.  It said "freezer" so I just went with it.

Skip forward to today... I was all ready to go when I discovered that I bought the wrong thing.  But when I read on the box that it "seals to plastic, paper, metal, wood and many other surfaces", I decided to see if it'd work on fabric too.  And, amazingly, it worked! It also has a few perks over freezer paper-- The Press'n Seal Freezer stencil can be reused, the plastic is sturdy and easy to cut, AND there is no ironing involved.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Tea Dyed & Painted Tulle Eggs

While Spring cleaning this weekend I came across a roll of white tulle. What does one do with a roll of white tulle besides wrap wedding presents and make big fluffy tulle balls? Then I got to thinking... Well how about big fluffy Tulle Eggs?

and of course ya can't just leave them white!

Click "Read more" for the tutorial