Cartwheels In My Mind: Update Your Room.

Hi everyone! I hope summer has been treating you well! As I was thinking of what kind of project I could do for this newest 'update you room' article.. I was so inspired by summer... fresh, fun and pretty! I was also very inspired by Cheryl's necklace brooch...her stunning cami transformation! Seeing what a few flowers can do to a simple white tank top ..I started to look around the house, wondering here I could sneak that technique into my home decor!

The victim for my project makeover this time.. this pillow that has lived on our bed forever! It is an itty bitty pillow, and actually was a coordinating piece to a duvet cover that we don't even use anymore.. but since it was so versatile, it stayed on the bed as the items and linens around it got replaced.

How about some fabric flowers? Sure why not right!? I started to make these, and got a little carried away.. so the pillow ended up with a few more than I originally intended! lol My daughter eventually asked me.. "ummmm mom, are you going to cover the whole pillow!?" ha ha! Nooooooo! Although, if time allowed.. I do think it would look very pretty!

I had this whole tutorial in mind.. had the camera ready to take step by step pictures, but got so into it.. I only got the one taken! Ack! But here is a general guideline for making these rolled fabric flowers..

1. Cut a felt circle.. however big you wish, somewhere around 1-2 inches should work great!

2. Cut a strip of fabric, or rip it even! Again, however wide you want it! Experiment, and find what width works for you!

3. Tie a knot in one end of the fabric.

4. Hot glue that knot to the center of the felt circle.

5. Then, with glue gun near by, roll and glue fabric going around and around the original knot until you have a rolled fabric flower in the size that you wish!

6. Finish by hot glueing flowers onto pillow!

See.. easy!! I used many assorted sized on this pillow.. really, anything goes!

I really love how it turned out! It took barely any time at all! You could do this treatment in so many ways.. a small cluster in the corner, a bigger bold single strip across the center.. all one colour or a variety of colours/patterns, cover the entire pillow, do a border.. ANYTHING!

That is the beauty of doing these fun and easy makeovers yourself.. you end up with a piece of art that is totally suited to YOU! A standard $10 throw pillow that is sold all over the country, and probably resides on thousands of beds, is now 100% unique!

You can use any sort of fabric too! Although, lightweight cotton probably rolls the easiest. but at the same time, keep in mind that you can use ANY sort of flower or treatment to easily make over a throw cushion! When looking for fabric, look to your fabric stash.. as well as old clothes, scraps, thrift stores, vintage fabric, tea towels.. anywhere really!

Hope you enjoyed this month's installment of 'update your room' ..I know I definitely had fun transforming this simple pillow into something a bit more special!!

Jen :)