MAKE IT YOURSELF // The First Project in the Project Room

Now that the project room is finished (well, kind of), it is time for my first project. One thing I have been wanting to do for a long time is to figure out to use my Silhouette Cameo machine. The Silhouette was a wonderful Christmas present from my husband and I just hadn’t blocked out the time to figure out what to make and how to make it. The time is finally here.

I went to IKEA yesterday to check to see if they had any white pillow covers. I previously did a blog post on how to make pillow covers but I am looking for the ready-made-type. (You know, the kind I don’t actually have to make myself.)  I hoped IKEA would have nice quality and well-priced white pillow covers. And boy did I get lucky! I found some really nice white 20″ x 20″ covers called GURLI for $4.00 each. Seriously? Only $4.00? (Ok, just stop and think for a second. After you calculate the cost of the fabric, thread, zipper, labor, packaging, shipping, and cost to sell it in the store, exactly where is the profit in this?) I ended up buying ten of them.  Just in case someone in management at IKEA reads my blog post and decides to raise the price.

My next step was conquering the Silhouette Cameo machine. Thank heavens for youtube because I have watched at least twenty how-to videos. And boy was I clueless. Did you know I actually thought the pillows were stenciled with fabric paint instead of applied with heat transfer material? Duh.

I did a test run and printed the word HOME on one of my kitchen towels. Love this!

Next, I decided to try to make a holiday pillow. It’s really easy to create the design on the computer and then send it through the Silhouette cutting machine. (One tip – go to the website Creative Market and add some fun fonts to your computer first.)

Then I decided to get fancy and use two colors.

For the final project, my son’s girlfriend (@charcharbell) and I made her a sweatshirt. She is definitely a NAP QUEEN. And she loves it!

I want to thank Niki Carpenter @carpenterfarmhouse for inspiring me to figure out how to use my Silhouette machine. She has a wonderful sign company and makes signs with her machine every single day in her bedroom! You can find her store on Etsy at Carpenter Farmhouse. 

I am now officially addicted to my Silhouette Machine. And I am going to make lots more pillow covers. I am so excited! What would you put on your pillows?

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