Sewing Projects Christmas Gifts

I sewed a lot of Christmas gifts this past year, thanks to my wonderful sewing instructor. She suggested ideas, found patterns, and obviously helped me learn how to make pretty gifts. I want to share a few of the things that I made, not because I want to turn Posh Purpose into a DIY blog, but because these gift ideas are super easy for a beginner. 

pillows for J's mom

pillows for my mom

 I love making pillows! If you buy the piping, making pillows is super easy and fast. Of course, I had to make my own piping to get the exact look I had imagined. I purchased the pillow forms, the fabric for both the body and the piping, and piping cord. I used a thinner cord for the bird pillows and an extra fat cord for my mom's pillows.

 I made three table runners this year. One for each of my sisters-in-law on J's side and one for my sister. Table runners are another easy project, but they do require more fabric. You need a top fabric (shown above) and a lining fabric to go underneath. Some people use the same fabric, but I went with a plain brown for the floral and a subtle green print for the wintery runner. Table runners are one of those home good items that can be a lot cheaper to make than it is to purchase.

I made way too many aprons last year. Sorry for the horrible photo editing above - I have no desire to share my somewhat messy kitchen on the blog today. I did not intend for the picture to end up on the blog, but I just realized I didn't take any other pictures! Anyway, I made two like the one above plus two others. Aprons can be easy or complicated, depending on what look you want. The one above had a lot of circle hems, so take that into consideration. You can probably find a lot of online patterns for aprons, or just wing it if you are so inclined.

Another project I made is this giant laundry bag for my dad's sailboat. I bought the canvas fabrics at Habitat for about $2 and totally made it up from there. Somehow the bag ended up far larger than expected. This is a case of the aforementioned 'winging it.' I put a draw string in the top and reinforced the horizontal seams quite a bit.

Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the rest of my projects before wrapping and giving them away. Maybe my sister will take a picture of herself in the apron she received (hint, hint). I really enjoyed sewing Christmas gifts and hope to do it again next year, but I may be otherwise occupied with sewing projects for my own home! 

DIY Christmas Gift Ideas

I'm almost done making all the Christmas gifts on my list this year, but I am starting to get worried about not finishing on time. J and I are going on our anniversary trip for 4 days, and then we are leaving the Friday before Christmas to visit family in South Florida up until Christmas Eve. This means I have significantly less time than I realized. I only have thirteen crafting days left! Eeek!

For those of you looking for last minute inspiration, here are a few of the DIY gifts I gave last year, plus a bonus gift idea from Trial and Error Creativity. All three projects involve objects you can easily pick up in Marshalls, Walmart, or Home Depot/Lowes and normal craft supplies.

DIY gold terra cotta pots were super easy and fast. The pots still look perfect after a year on my parents' back porch. That being said, they have also sat empty for the whole year so I can't say what happens if you plant something in them. Mother seems to prefer the pots as is.

This painted spoon project is also very easy, but you will need to prepare for a lot of drying time. My sister Bekah has been using these spoons for a whole year and the paint is still looking great. She even tosses them into the dishwasher!

My sister-in-law monogramed these glasses as part of our wedding gift. Aren't they great?!

Posh Purpose Review: The Cottage Shop in Nags Head, NC

When we went to Nags Head last year, I came across a super cute shop called The Cottage Shop that sells home decor, Christmas decorations, entertaining essentials, and small gifts.  I bought our yearly ornament from The Cottage Shop last year and I decided to go back to look for another this past weekend.  I also got a bunch of great Christmas decorating ideas for my first Christmas tree that I was able to put together using cheaper sources such as Michael's.  The store is creatively decorated with at least six Christmas trees, but doesn't feel too crowded or overdone.  The sales ladies are all wonderfully helpful and sweet.  Here's a couple of the displays that I thought were especially creative...like this inverted white Christmas tree designed to look like underwater sea life:

I also really like the more natural look to this red and burlap woodland tree.  I love the frilly bow at the top.  The faux poinsettias are really pretty pops of color!  Using faux florals on my tree is one of the ideas I got from this store last year.

These beautiful hanging ornaments would look great in the windows, hanging from the banisters or mantels, or even from certain chandeliers.

Unfortunately, I couldn't limit myself to just one ornament this year!  All the ornaments are so pretty and well-made, that I wound up buying four, but luckily they were only $11.99-$13.99 each aaaaaand the super sweet sales lady gave me a discount.

I'm super excited to put these on my tree in a few weeks!  If you are in the Outer Banks, I highly recommend that you stop by The Cottage Shop at one of their three locations for some decorating inspiration and gift ideas. There will be another sale on Black Friday if you are lucky enough to be spending Thanksgiving at the beach!

Duck

1201 Duck Road

Kitty Hawk, NC 27949

252-261-8121

Nags Head

5000 South Croatan Highway

Nags Head, NC 27959

252-441-2522

Corolla

Timbuck II Shopping Village

790 North Ocean Trail

Unit G

Corolla, NC 27927

252-453-3525

Posh Purpose: Styling a Baby Bouquet

My friend Tara delivered the sweetest little baby boy a few weeks ago.  Mr. 3 is craaaazy for babies and we immediately went over to visit the newborn at only three days old.  I wanted to bring my good friend a flower arrangement and I decided to try my hand at styling a bouquet for a baby.

I bought all of my flowers from Safeway and used a clear vase I already owned. 

Supplies

Bouquet vase

4 types of flowers - one large fluffy bloom, a medium fluffy bloom, and two smaller blooms

1 small baby balloon from the floral department

Ribbon

I picked up a pack of large hydrangeas with three stems, medium sized green hydrangeas with 5 stems, and two packs of mini carnations. I decided to do the main blooms in more "boy" colors with green and blue, but since I was sending these to a new mama, I added in some pink accents.  I put my arrangement together on Friday when I heard that the baby had been born in order to give the flowers time to open up before we visited on Sunday.

I started by trimming all the stems at an angle and prepping the vase with room temp water and plant food.  I put the largest blooms and the medium blooms with all of the leaves that were above the water line still intact (leaves below the water line = yucky, murky water).  

I moved the blooms around until they were evenly spaced and then began filling in with clusters of mini-carnations.

Once I had everything packed in, I added in my baby balloon.  I also eyeballed the arrangement and removed the hydrangea leaves that I thought looked a little wonky.  I liked the color and extra fullness that they added to the arrangement, but I didn't want my arrangement to look like a crazy overgrown wildabeast, so I removed the ones that looked "off."

Finally, I found some scrap white ribbon and tied a bow around the neck of the vase for a bit of extra festive fun (also, it's a gift...don't all gifts need bows?).

 Because I had the scrap ribbon and vase, this flower arrangement only cost about $23 (I had an e-coupon through Safeway for the carnations!).  If you had to add those costs in, you would probably be looking at about $35 if you had to buy the vase at the grocery store (but check Dollar Tree and the thrift stores...you can always find cheap vases!).  I also had enough leftover carnations to make two small arrangements for myself!  I tend to spend more money on flowers that take up a lot of room, but may only come with a few stems (like hydrangeas, lilies, peonies) and then using cheaper blooms that usually come in large quantities for fill in (like carnations and mums).

This is a great project to try your first attempt at flower arranging because you can make it really low cost and you don't need anything special like floral foam.  If you live close enough to take visit your friend or family member, making your own bouquet is also waaaaaaay cheaper and more personal than ordering flowers online.  You could easily use these same Posh Purpose styling tips to make bouquets for birthdays and other celebrations, or to cheer someone up as a get well present  (Safeway had several choices for balloons for every occasion).  Anyone else made any pretty bouquets lately?  We would love to see them, so feel free to email them to us at poshpurpose@gmail.com!

Save $: The Today Show Steals & Deals

I recently found out about a great resource for gifts and coupons that I wanted to share with all our Posh Purpose readers!  For those of you who have been at working or don't own a TV (I know Briana doesn't!), The Today Show has a segment called "Jill's Steals and Deals" which runs twice a month and has coupon codes and special deals for different products.  I caught the first segment for this month and found that there are some great opportunities to spruce up your home, apartment, or dorm room and stock up on gifts!

Bliss
4 Full Sized Products + Tote
Full Price: $94 Today Show Price: $29

Linum Home
Turkish Pestemal Towels
Full Price: $98 Today Show Price:$22

Aquiesse
Four Pack of Candles
Full Price: $104 Today Show Price: $37.95

Frog Hill Designs
Toss Pillows
Full Price: $159 Today Show Price: $25

Nine Space
Linen & Cotton Sheet Set
Full Price: $200-$240 Today Show Price: $60

These are excellent deals and great gifts!  I've used Bliss products in the past and they are super luxe and you cannot beat the Today Show price.  Even when I've found them at Nordstrom Rack or Marshall's they are still at least $15 each.  I also just found the Aquiesse candles in a fancy pants store in Davidson, NC and they were super yummy - I really liked the lavender candle! - but also $25+ each.  I've also heard wonderful things about linen sheets and Turkish towels and at these prices you could definitely do a mini-makeover for a guest bedroom orrrrr treat a college student to some nicer goods for the dorm room - who wants to read or study when lounging on scratchy sheets?  Anyone else ever shopped the Today Show Steals & Deals?  

***I've put a link to Jill's Steals and Deals on each product image above, but you can also access the links and codes here.  All images are sourced from the main web page or the individual shopping pages.  We were not compensated in anyway by the Today Show or any of the individual companies.  We simply like to share opportunities to save!***

Wine Review: Cloud Break Pinot Noir

I don't know about y'all, but when I'm throwing a party or having people over for dinner I like to serve a nice bottle of wine...but wine doesn't have to be expensive to be good!  The wine store can be really overwhelming and intimidating if you don't know where to start.  Fortunately, I have a fool proof wine to suggest for y'all today!

Cloud Break Pinot Noir
California
$8.99
Image Source: Total Wine

Mr. 3 and I found Cloud Break Pinot Noir over a year ago at our local Total Wine store.  We picked it out based on the price and the fact that it was a California pinot noir which always seems to appeal to both of us.  Not only did we love it, all of our guests have as well!  We had a wine tasting party where everyone bought a bottle of pinot noir under $15 to share and we voted at the end on which one tasted best and this wine was chosen by our friends as the top pick!

Total Wine describes Cloud Break as: Elegant, Strawberry, Cherry, Medium-bodied, pairs well with salmon

I'm not fancy pants enough to identify 100% of all the notes in a wine, but I can say that it pairs well with just about everything, is very mellow, and super drinkable!

As for using it for parties or taking it as a hostess gift, the label artwork looks nice and the price is even better!  We bring this quite frequently when we are invited to dinner at other people's houses. Sooo, if you are in need of a go to wine that won't break the bank, I highly recommend Cloud Break for your next event!

***This post was not sponsored by either Total Wine or Cloud Break. We just like to share our ways to make your Posh Purpose lifestyle easier!***

Beginners Sewing

Remember back at the beginning of the year when Melinda and I shared our goals for 2014? Well I finally took initiative on the creative aspect and started in a sewing class! My seamstress, and a wonderful family friend, offered to teach a beginners class for my older sister and me, plus two other ladies from town and it has been a ton of fun! Mrs. Loveless is a wonderful teacher and provides great snacks too.

 Since I have been remiss in updating y'all on my goals the past few months, I wanted to share with you a few of the projects I have completed in the sewing class. Keep in mind that I had only a little bit of experience before I started the class, and am entirely a beginner.

I made a lined tote bag, a zippered pouch, and a pillow with coordinating piping. The tote is lined in green, which you catch a glimpse of in the left corner. It also has three pockets on the inside! The matching pouch is also lined in green. Mrs. Loveless used the pouch to teach us how to sew with zippers. 

The pillow was a really exciting project because it is something I can make for my future house. Toss pillows can be so expensive! And learning how to make the piping was a big deal for me because it makes the pillow look much more professional.

I made this cute apron for my little sister since she is moving into an apartment in Atlanta in a few months (I have also been picking up kitchen goods at Habitat for her like a porcelain teapot with infuser and an angel food cake pan). Sorry about the poor picture quality, I gave it to her immediately after class and this was the only spot in her bedroom that wasn't totally covered in stuff. There is a pocket all the way through the apron between the two layers. We also learned a bit about pleats by putting one in on each side of the bottom layer.

All of these projects were challenging but doable. If you have been interested in learning how to sew, I definitely recommend it! Mrs. Loveless is already helping me think of Christmas presents that I can make for family members. And hopefully I will have a house in the near future so I can start really sewing away.

Pinterest Personalized for You

I just discovered that Tech Crunch included this post in their review of Pinterest's personalization feature. After reading it, I realized I may have not been clear in my original post (found below). When I said I have no "personal interest" in the coffee body scrub, I simply meant I myself don't care to use it. The research I mentioned was performed because I wanted to make the scrub for my sisters-in-law. You may have already read about how I made that scrub. My overall point is that Pinterest prioritized many things that I do not spend much, if any time, searching or pinning.


I got a notification from Pinterest yesterday about a new feature. There is a new category for browsing called "Personalized for You" and is located with all the other categories like Popular, Weddings, etc. I have ignored Pinterest's previous updates like maps and whatever else they have done recently, but I decided to check this one out. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I have included a screenshot of the page that came up for me. Please ignore my crazy bookmarks. I don't clean them up ever.

First thing I noticed was the coffee body scrub section right in the middle of the top row. I have no personal interest in coffee body scrubs, but I guess Pinterest assumed I do because I did some research leading up to making the coffee body scrub gifts and then pinned my own article (shameless self promotion). The second thing I noticed was the gloves section, which I suppose came from my beaded glove project because I have never searched for gloves otherwise. The thrift store section was interesting and more in line with my interests. I clicked on it and it just seemed to pull up a bunch of pins as if I had searched "thrift stores," so I am not sure it has added any value to my Pinterest experience. More exploring could change my mind, however.

I really am not a cocktail party, but my pin from my What to Wear to a Christmas Cocktail party is featured on the right side. The doily art is amusing to me, because I know it came from gift ideas research, as did the wine decanter segment. And I don't think I have ever searched for gold kitchens, but I know I have searched those words separately. Overall, I think Pinterest could improve their algorithms for this personalization feature but for now it doesn't add much to my life. Have y'all tried it out yet? We would love to hear other opinions!

Thrift Store Finds

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! Melinda's brunch was a success, and my family's lunch was absolutely delicious. Later this week, she will be sharing all her secrets. While she recovers from all her hard work, I thought we could admire some thrift store finds from our spring break adventures. All of these items were found in the town to the south. 

This tea set was quite lovely and in great condition. It is perfect f you wanted a special gift to give a bride, yet don't want to spend $100 or more. Just make sure she likes gold, because this set makes a statement!

I love these little guys. I think they are bookends? There were two little ones and two big ones, and all four were quite heavy. I should have bought them! If I remember correctly, the price averaged out to about $7 per piece.

This dress was not priced, but the surrounding clothes were all reasonable. I love the shape of the hemline and the sleeves matched! The color is terrible for me, or else I would have bought it since the dress was in such good condition.

I had to show y'all this piece of furniture with the doors both open and closed. While the color of the wood is not to my liking, everything about this piece was very interesting. And for $49, you (or someone you pay) could totally refinish it to suit your other furniture!

This $20 decanter was really pretty. The store was more of a consignment/antique store than the thrift variety, so less digging was needed to find pretty things. Melinda bought her beautiful floral dish here! I will definitely be going back to this store when I need a bridal shower or wedding gift.

This beautiful coffee set immediately caught our eyes when we walked in the room. The finish is iridescent and in very good condition, although not perfect. There were six coffee cups, which is great! Normally, I see sets with three or five cups due to breakage over the years. This would make another lovely gift for a bride, especially if she isn't into the gold set at the beginning of this post.

Posh Purpose DIY: Tea Party Favor

I hope you got a chance to read our How to Host: A Tea Party! and our tutorial on styling a low flower arrangement.  I wanted to share with you the super easy DIY favor I gave to the girls I invited over.  I wanted a cute tea party themed favor, but I also wanted to be something useful and also something that my friends probably didn't have.  I found these tea bag rests at World Market for $1.99 each and I had a 20% off coupon, so I got them for $1.59 each (plus tax) for a total of $7.95 (plus tax) for favors for 4 guests and myself.

I decided to glam them up a bit using some leftover Martha Stewart glass paint from my painted jewelry bowl project.  I laid down a bit of newspaper to protect my table and I cleaned up the tea rests with a bit of rubbing alcohol before washing them as well.  I drew the first initial for each girl in the center of the tea pot and then added gold details to the "pot."  I had a hard time getting some of the initials on and centered, but each time I just wiped the surface clean and started again (I waited until I had the letter placed perfected before decorating any other part of the tea rest).  I waited until the next day and then I put all the rests on a lined cookie sheet and baked them according the the Martha Stewart instructions to seal the paint.

I used the personalized tea rests to mark each girl's seat at her place setting.  Aren't they cute?

"A" is for my friend Amy!

Although I had a bit of difficulty getting the initials on straight and centered, it still only took me about 30 mins to decorate the 5 tea rests.  I'm extremely happy with how they turned out.  I'm even happier that my friends are actually using them!  I went over to one friend's house this weekend for dinner and saw that she was using it as a spoon rest on the coffee and tea station she has set up in her dining room.

Super easy, cheap, pretty, and useful...can't ask for more out of a favor!

Goodwill Bust

Mr. 3 and I went to drop off our first round of Goodwill spring cleaning donations (aka the massive apartment purge of 2014.  These purges give Mr. 3 the shakes every time...evidently, I'm scary business when I'm in one of my "donating moods.")  We took them to a Goodwill location in Fairfax, VA.  In an effort to find more thrifty goodness in DC, we decided to go in for a quick tour around the store.  I was expecting to find a couple of things worth photographing, but I have nothing to post.  This Goodwill had heinous heavy dark wood furniture from the 80s and 90s that were marked really high.  Most of the pieces needed significant repair.  I found one OK-looking dresser, but it had a badly damaged drawer and they still had it priced at $150.

As far as the glassware, there was nothing really exciting to check out and it was all priced at $1.96 or higher per piece.  Even the plasticware was 96 cents, which was way overpriced considering you could go to the Dollar Tree and pick up brand new plasticware for only 4 cents more.

I spotted two pretty pictures, but they were $10 each and one definitely needed a new frame.  I wasn't in love with them enough for the high price tag.  I also didn't have anywhere to really hang them and again, I wasn't in love with them enough to just store them.

We found some okay-looking cufflinks for Mr. 3 for $4 (he said he liked them good enough for $4 and he has been known to loose a pair or two) and he found a book for $2.59, but those were our only takeaways.

Mr. 3's photo of his find.

I think overall the selection was boring and overpriced.  So all in all, it was a bust.  I'm checking out another thrift store this weekend that holds a lot more promise...so stay tuned!

DIY: Painted Jewelry Bowl

I've been trying to get my makeup table together and styled to share on the blog and I wanted to throw in a crafty project to hold my everyday jewelry.  I found a ceramic bowl at World Market for $3.99 and used a 20% off total purchase coupon.  I also bought three Martha Stewart glass paints and a sponge brush from Michael's.  The paints are not food safe so I wouldn't recommend using them in any project where you might serve food (wrapped candy would probably be ok).  I wanted the bowl to have some sheen and color to it, so I picked a gold metallic, a blue fine glitter, and a white fine glitter.

 

I grabbed a paper grocery bag and opened it up to lay it down to protect the floor and I tested each of the colors to see how much control I would have for decorating the bowl.  I found that I had to use a fair amount of pressure to get the paint to come out, but I got fairly thin lines and I had a lot of control.

I didn't have a real plan for the design, but I decided to do a little at a time and use the details on the bowl to guide me.  I began by making random length gold lines to highlight the details on the edge of the bowl.

I let the bowl dry for one day and then went back in and added blue lines using the same pattern.

After the blue and gold edge had dried, I decided to decorate the rest of the outside of the bowl.  My first attempt, was to put blue paint on the bottom edge of the bowl and spread it around using the sponge brush.  Big fail.  The sponge absorbed the paint and took it off of the bowl leaving just light smears of color.

So, I used the paint tube to apply a thick coat and basically colored it in, which worked much better.

At this point, I was on a roll and decided to add even more decoration.  To keep it from looking too mariachi, I used the white glitter paint to add more subtle decorations with lots of texture.  Again, using the details of the ceramic to guide me, I added a white design with big fat dots.

I also decided I wanted to personalize the bowl, so I added a gold "M" to the inside of the bowl.  You can see on the right side of the paper bag that I practiced two different types of lettering.  I decided to go with the cursive "M", but my first attempt (not pictured) didn't turn out so well.  Luckily, this paint is very forgiving if you tackle your mistakes as you see them.  I simply wiped out the bowl with a damp paper towel, then again with a dry paper towel, and tried again.

Finally, I added some additional dots of white fine glitter to add extra detail.

Here's the final result!  The biggest trick was to let each level of detail dry before moving on to the next so I didn't have to worry about smudging the design.  Originally, I thought I would need to bake the bowl in the oven based on the display that Michael's had for the paints in order to make the paints permanent.  Martha Stewart glass paints don't have a whole lot of instructions on the outside of the tubes, so I looked online for instructions on the temperatures.  According to the online information, the glitter glass paints cannot be baked (there is a wide variety of finishes - satin, metallic, glitter, opaque, etc), so I simply had to wait for the bowl to cure for 21 days.  Luckily, I hadn't been the most productive on this project, so by the time I had gotten around to getting ready to turn on the oven it had already been 21 days.  

The paints for the craft were about $3 or $4 each and I had a 40% off coupon for one of them. So, total cost was about $13.  I have another upcoming craft in store for the glass paints to make some favors for a party I'm throwing in late March, so they will be a good investment!  I think these could be a great way to make shower favors or small Christmas gifts (check out Martha Stewart's Craft Department for more gift inspiration)  World Market has a great selection of white ceramics at cheap prices, but you could also check out Goodwill and Habitat for even cheaper options.  Anyone else tried out any glass paints?