I'm Tripping.

I've been MIA and I know it.  But if you missed me the past 2 weeks, this will be your only post for the next 2.

Joe and I are taking an adults only trip to the Philippines.  Random, I know. 

Joe's dad has lived over there for about 3 years now and we're thinking he'll be done with his job there come December.  Because of lack of our own funds, we decided to go over there and check out Manny Paquaio's homeland.

The flights are no bueno.  We are flying from here to Dallas (45 min flight), then fly Dallas to Seoul, Korea (no joke - 14 hours), then Seoul to Manilla (4 hours).  I just got done downloading some new books to the Kindle to help me through the flights (that and Xanax).

We arrive in Manilla around 10pm at night their time.  So I plan on just going to bed (did I mention I don't sleep on planes?)  The first day we are visiting the Taal Volcano and probably just hanging around the neighborhood we are staying in which is Makati.  Apparently there is a HUGE mall next door (yay!)

After that we fly to Cebu which is where Joe's dad actually lives.  We spend 2 days there I think and we'll probably take a day trip over to the island of Bohol.  Then we fly to Boracay for our beach vacation part of the trip for 3 days.  Then back to Cebu for a day and a half and then we fly home.  Kinda gonna be a whirlwind.

At first I was SO gung ho about going.  I was all "This is great! It'll be like old times before E was born when we use to travel a bunch and have adventures." And now I'm like biting my fingernails nervous about leaving Ev for that long and I'm Really not looking forward to the flights, but I am getting excited for the trip. 

It's gonna be great for Joe and I to have some alone time too and just have fun and do what we want to do and eat what we want to eat and not worry about a babysitter. 

I'll have a lot of catching up to do when I return-I got lots of projects done this week. Until then, Ciao!

Somebody's Having a Baby! And it's not Me.

I love me some babies.  LOVE! 

I worked in my church's daycare for 7 years - throughout high school and college. So I knew a lot more than the average bear going into this motherhood thing.  Mostly the grossness and noise making abilities. 

When Joe and I found out we were pregnant, I was pretty bummed - for like 5 months.  Evelyn was unplanned, but she's pretty awesome and can't imagine life without her.  Back to being bummed - Once we found out the sex of the baby and could start planning a room and picking a name things really started to come together for me emotionally.  Then the physical pain set in.  I had a ligament that wrapped the right side of my body from ribcage to spine that had me in so much pain I just wanted to scream bloody murder at my desk most days.  Nothing helped.  It was quite simply, awful.  Not to mention we had some personal problems with some immediate family that took over our lives for a few months and added to the emotional and mental strain Joe and I were already suffering.  When I look back on pregnancy, I get the chills.  So it's BIG that getting pregnant again is even a consideration.

But, I'm not there yet.

But, one of my best friends Rita is!  She is pregnant with her first baby and we already know that it's a boy!  Just because I don't want to be preggers - doesn't mean I don't want everyone else around me to not be.  Pretty much since the day she told me I've been sending 20 texts and emails a day with name suggestions, baby bedding, craft ideas for the rooms, and yesterday it culminated because I couldn't stand it any longer and just had to make that future bundle of joy something tangible.

I have a stock pile of white onesies at the house for baby gifts - usually I just get them embroidered with their names, but I wanted to do something else personal as a gift.  Rita's husband, Bryan, is really proud to be a Texan.  He loves Houston so much he told Lauren and I when we were visiting a few weeks ago "It's the greatest place on earth."  I beg to disagree (THE HEAT).  Anyway, I'm also painting this week a Home is Where the Heart Is painting and thought I could definitely apply this to clothing.  So I hit Joann and grabbed some fabric and thread and a button and VOILA!  Insta-gift.

I think Bryan was more excited than Rita!  But I think I was more excited than them both.  After sending out pictures of my proud accomplishment I was encouraged to put them in my Etsy store.  So I did.  You can view my store over on the right hand side of the blog menu bar at any time and I included a link here as well.  Next up, I'm doing an Oklahoma one for a special little lady I know! (not E) And an Arkansas one for the cutest most adorable little girl in the whole world! (I'm talking about Evelyn this time) ;)

DIY: How to Make Pillow Covers with Zippers

This is a DIY that made me raise my arms to the heavens and say "WHY?! Why didn't my mother teach me how to make pillow covers this way!??"  

Making pillow covers with a zipper is about 100 times easier than having to sew those suckers up by hand, which also saves at least 30 minutes.  The things I could do with an extra 30 mins:  vacuum, paint my toenails, catch some Team USA Water Polo - the possibilities are endless. 

I've got a lot of things I'd like to accomplish before picking up Evelyn from school today so I'll get right to it.  (Once she's home - all eyes must stay on her or she begins a silent protest of mass destruction). All in all - my entire worktime was 30 minutes.

Materials You Need for the Project:
A fabric of your choice - you can do the math on how much
A zipper (I used invisible)
Thread
Sewing Machine

JoAnn had this great 50% off coupon that the check out girls let me keep so I used it over and over again.  Two of those purchases were 20 inch pillow forms.  I ordered this fabric from Fabric.com (Waverly Cross Section in Bluebonnet).

Here is my math:  The fabric is 54 inches wide.  I need pillows that - on the finished product - are 20 square inches wide on both sides.  So 40 inches squared.  Plus 1 inch on each square to account for the seams.  So 42 inches squared.  I'm making 2 pillows, and a yard is 36 inches.  So I rounded up and ordered a yard and a half.  I even Instagrammed a photo of my drawing :).

First thing I did was cut my fabric into 4 equal sized squares.  Each piece was 21 inches square.  After I cut all 4, I laid them on top of one another and trimmed them down to all match perfectly. Now, it's sewing time!

This is what our invisible zipper looks like:

This part we are looking at now, is the part we will see on the outside of the pillow when we are done - aka "the pretty side".

So, lay your fabric pretty side up, and we are going to lay the zipper on top of the fabric ugly side up.

Line up the sides together and pin the length of the zipper.

Now we sew.  I put a zipper foot on my machine, but you don't have to use that.  The zipper foot gives you the ability to get right up as close as possible to the zipper part so less of it will show on the outside (pretty side) when you are done.

Drop your foot.  Get as close as possible, and sew.  Tip:  You will have to unzip and zip the the zipper to get the entire thing sewn in because of the zipper pull.  I dropped my foot right after the pull, then after I had finished sewing the length of the zipper I went back, unzipped it and sewed those first few inches. 

Drop that foot right up next to the zipper

 I started sewing after the zipper pull - then went back after, unzipped, and sewed the first few inches

 An in progress photo

This is how the pretty side should look when you are done sewing

 An inside look

Alright!  Now that we finished that side we need to do the other side.  Zip the zipper back together, and begin pinning the 2 fabric squares to each other.  I started with one corner and pinned a few inches in on each side from the corner.  This will insure the zipper will be lined up perfectly when we pin it and sew it in.

Now pin the zipper to the other side of the fabric.  Remember pretty side of fabric up, ugly side of zipper up.

And sew it just like we did the other - make sure the other side of the fabric is out of the way.

Moving on!  Now, I want to finish up the zipper side before I move on to the easy-peasy sides.  What we need to do is pin the remainder of the side to where the end of the zipper is on the inside of the pillow cover. 

Here's what it looked like after I finished sewing:

Now, that the hard part is done - let's finish 'er up!  First, I pinned the other 3 sides I hadn't worked on.  That still left a few inches unpinned in front of the zipper head.  Before you pin those, unzip the zipper!!!!!!  Again, UNZIP the ZIPPER!!!!  Then pin.  Then you just sew each side together. 

I took my seam all the way to the edges of the fabric.  You'll end up with a little box in each corner.  Take your scissors and clip a little triangle off each corner.  This will help give your pillow a nice, pointy corner.

When you get back around to the zipper head area, just do the steps we did for the other end to finish it off.  Then, Voila!  A fabulous homemade pillow cover that costs WAY less than Pottery Barn or shopping off Etsy!

 Before.....

After!  Sure made Evie happy!

Since we are keeping the walls Rich Cream, that area was desperately needing a pop of color.