Mr. & Mrs. & other cuteness

Today, I'm supposed to be hosting the 2nd Annual Super Bowl Party and Craft-O-Rama (us non-football fans get crafty while the others scream and holler at the TV all afternoon), but I'm still horribly under the weather.  Our neighbor has graciously decided to host the footballers later today, and my husband hauled 10 of the 11 kids with him to church this morning, leaving me to sniffle and cough in peace.  I've barely emerged from my bed the last few days, but I'm trying hard not to let that interfere with my creative blitz (a girl's gotta have her priorities, after all).  :)

Some of you know that I'm undertaking a slow-but-sure master bedroom redecorating project.  I'm working with a neutral palette and sort of a "burlap and ruffles" mentality, so I threw together these pillowcases for the bed last night.  I absolutely love them -- this may be one of my favorite projects ever.

 

They'll look much cuter on the bed, but the bed is not in show-able condition, quite yet.  Here's a shot of them together:

Do you love them?  This is a great motivator to get the room done, so I can throw these little finishing touches around.  The ampersand pillow is actually a throw pillow that came with our old couches, which we have since sold but still had a few of the extra pillows lying around.  It was the perfect size and gave the set some variety, even with that mute color scheme.

I wish I could say I just whipped these up in no time at all, but honestly, this setup took me most of the afternoon, mostly because of my severely lacking sewing skills.  Here's how I did it:

Step 1:  Used my trusty Cricut to cut cardstock stencils in the font I wanted on the pillowcases.

Step 2:  Used a permanent fabric marker to trace stencils and fill in the black letters. 

Step 3:  Heat set the lettering by ironing with a press cloth.

Step 4:  Cut linen fabric & burlap pieces.

Step 5:  Made ruffles and gathered them. 

Step 6:  Sewed the burlap, then the ruffles on to each pillowcase.  Voila!

I wish I could say that Mr. Smitten just adores them as much as I do, but he gave me a sideways look and asked, "How long until you think I throw that pillow out the window?  Once my ear finds that burlap, it's all over." 

Ok, so they're really more throw/decor pillows than ones we'll actually lay our heads on, but I still love the look and think it will be the perfect touch on our as-yet-to-be-completed neutral master project. 

In case you need some color after all that beige, here's a look at my just-finished Valentine's "mantle"(which is really a thrift store sideboard and a dining room window, but it'll have to do).  

Happy Super Bowl Sunday, for those of you sports fans... and I hope the rest of you get a nice, long nap, instead. 

Have Fun and Get Smitten!

Linking to:

Saturday Soiree at A Little Lovely