Winter Accent Pillow

Holly Jolly Stamped Accent Pillow by guest designer Carmen Flores Tanis BZZY LITTLE BEE . We hope you think her project is as adorable as we do.

I am so delighted to be a guest blogger today and to share with you a fun accent pillow which I made using Fairfield World products. This little accent pillow was inspired by a letterpress class I once took. But instead of metal type and paper, I used stamps and Oly*Fun fabric. This is a fun way to make your own custom fabrics quickly and easily.

Here’s how:

Holly Jolly Stamped Accent Pillow

Materials for accent pillow:

Oly*Fun Multi-Purpose Craft Material – 20″ x 3 Yds rolls – Cherry Pop, Snow White, Sky Blue
12″ x 16″ rectangle round Poly-fil® Soft Touch® pillow insert
Tulip® Fabric Markers™ Fine Writer Tip Pack (red, light blue, dark blue)

Tools:

Ann Butler Designs EZ-De’s 2″ Flourish Alphabet Stamps
Color Box Crafters Ink by Clearsnap: Night
Clear acrylic stamping blocks
Westcott Brand Scissors
Sewing Machine
White thread / pins
Iron /pressing cloth

Instructions for accent pillow:

1. Cut two 18″ x 5 1/2″ rectangles from the Cherry Pop Oly*fun fabric. Cut a strip 18″ x 4″ from the Snow White Oly*fun. Cut two 18″ x 14″ rectangles and two 18″ x 1 1/2″ strips from the Sky Blue Oly*fun. If the fabric is wrinkled, use an iron set to “low” and a pressing cloth. (Be careful here because you don’t want your iron to get too hot and melt the Oly*Fun.)

2. Stamp the word “Holly” all over one red rectangle and the word “Jolly” on the second red rectangle. Heat set the ink by covering the stamped rectangles with a pressing cloth and iron. (Again, be careful that your iron does not get too hot and melt the Oly*Fun.)

3. Pin the blue strips to the white strip and stitch with a 1/2″ seam. Fold the seams toward the blue fabric and top stitch.

4. Stitch the red stamped rectangles to the top and bottom blue strips with a 1/2″ seam. Fold the seams back onto the blue fabric and top stitch again

5. Draw a simple holly berries and leaves design on a piece of paper to use as a pattern. Place the pattern under the white strip and trace it with the fabric markers. Decorate the entire white strip.

6. To make the back opening of the pillow case, fold over 6″ of the end of one of the 18″ x 14″ blue rectangles. Topstitch 1/2″ from the folded end. Repeat for the second blue rectangle. Place the stamped piece face side up on the table and pin the blue rectangles face side down with the folded ends overlapped in the middle. Stitch a 1/2″ seam all along the outer edges. Trim the corners.

7. Turn the pillow case inside out by reaching into the opening that is made by the overlapped blue rectangles. Stuff the Poly-fil® Soft Touch® pillow insert into the pillow case and fluff it into place.

I had so much fun making this! Oly*Fun is a lovely material – it cuts beautifully and the colors are so vibrant. And by adding an opening to the back of the pillow case, it is easy to remove the pillow insert and add it to a new pillow case. Try stamping your own personal message and changing up the color scheme to match any holiday, season or event. Fairfield World makes it so easy!

Now for a few questions to help us get to know Carmen a little better. We loved the technique she used on the pillow and the results are adorable.

What DIY tips or tricks would you like to share with?

Buy a stack of baking sheets at the dollar store. You can use them to organize individual projects and then quickly move and stack them out of the way if you need to work on something else.

What is your favorite thing you have made for yourself? For someone else?

Recently I made a topiary out of Smoothfoam balls which looks like a little stylized orange tree complete with a bright sun and a little fallen orange at the base. I love it because the style is such a change for me. It’s very very clean and all about gesture, repetition, rhythm and color. So although it looks very simple, a lot of thought went into it and I’m very happy how it turned out.

A few months ago I needed to come up with a Father’s Day project for Kooltak, maker of adhesives and foils. I decided to do double duty with the project and make it for one of my brothers so I made him a little 3D portrait of his family. I used a wooden rocket, spools and photographs to make them a little family of astronauts complete with their own spaceship! I gave it to my brother and he loved it!

What are your favorite projects to design?

Orange and black is probably my favorite color combination so I love to design Halloween projects.

If you could be any animal what you be and why?

I would love to be a squirrel! They run fast, climb, can jump from tree to tree, balance on a fence top and can throw nuts down on people. They are just fun!

If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?

Paprika! There was always a tin of paprika in the house when I was growing up and I always loved how the word sounded. Pah- pree-kah. So pretty.

What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?

How to Train Your Dragon 2 – when the father proposes to his long lost wife again – so shyly – I just melted!

What do you miss most about being a kid?

I miss the feeling that you got graduating from one grade and the anticipation of starting the next grade. There was a sense of accomplishment that you’d finished one year and were ready to start the next. Now all the years seem to blur together!