Remember this chair I posted in “Go Thrifting for a Creative Buzz“?  I bought it with my mom & sister last summer, took this shot out the back of our farm and got real excited for a transformation.  We chose a turquoise paint color, some wild orange fabric and an additional print for a back pillow.  I wanted to learn the step-by-step process of recovering a cushion to make this a funky conversation piece.  My mom, a.k.a. The Prairie Chick, just posted the process (nearly half a year later – better late than never, right?!).  Take the jump over to her blog and check out the final product… I hope you get inspired to try your own mini makeover soon!

Guest post by Ashley @ ahomebeautiful…

I’m so excited to share something warm and fuzzy with an audience who really needs it! Although, California’s desert climate gets surprisingly cold in the winter months. (Yes, we have a winter! It’s grey and cold and it even rains.) I love the California sun but nothing compares to the gorgeous crisp air of fall I miss most of all about my native roots back east. My husband and I just spent a weekend enjoying the most beautiful fall weather in NYC, strolling through Central Park and a few Brooklyn vintage markets (stay tuned for goodies from this latest Treasure Hunt on my blog), and visiting family and friends. The weather was just right to sport my latest handcrafted style creation! A perfectly fitting time to guest spot on Makie’s awesome blog. I hope all of Makie’s lovely east coast and upper midwest readers enjoy my cool weather style!

For any of you who know how to crochet a simple single crochet stitch this will be a super easy project. The directions will be relative based on what size you want to make to fit your own hands and neck but this should give you a good starting point.

Here’s how I made these adorable accessories:

1. For the wrist warmers, I cast on about 20 stitches. I single crocheted evenly until I had about a 5″ by 10″ inch rectangle. Before ending my last stitch I wrapped the piece around my hand to make sure it would fit. Snug is okay because it will stretch a little bit. Instead of finishing off your stitch, fold the rectangle in half, – short end to short end – and single stitch crochet through both holes of each short side. This creates the ridge on the side. Skip over a place for your thumb by only stitching through one side (I chose to do this on the side that would be on the top of my thumb when I’m wearing them), then finish the rest of the edge stitching through both edges and then finish off your last stitch and weave the tail into the edge to hide it.

2. For the neck warmer, cast on about 25 stitches (or less…I have a tall neck). You may need to experiment with a 4 inch test square to get your correct gauge. Single crochet a long rectangle. My neck warmer ended up about 6 inches tall and 18 inches around (measure your neck and then add about several inches for overlap and for it to stretch over your head). Once my rectangle was ready, I experimented with several ideas for how to connect it as a neck warmer. My piece was laying really well with a slight overlap. I didn’t line the edges up perfectly when I attached the buttons because it sits in a way where it creates a notch that falls just right on my neck when worn to the right side. I attached the three leather buttons by threading a long piece of my yarn through each and threading it through both layers of the neck warmer and tying the back in knots and trimming the yarn tails.

3. Wear your matching wrist and neck warmers separate or together. The neck warmer looks great with a simple boat or neck shirt and fantastic peeking through a standard trench. The wrist warmers work with any length sleeve and were a perfect subtle matching addition to the neck warmer with my black trench. Make your neck warmers in basic colors to wear with everything or flashy colors to spice up your basics. A warm red or orange (my favorite color that I’ll definitely be making this in) would be the perfect fall accessory to complement the breathtaking fall foliage.

Enjoy the beautiful details of this season and keep it warm and fuzzy!

xo Ashley @ ahomebeautiful

Did you find this post helpful or creatively inspiring?

You know me, if there’s a way to get creatively inspired about life goals I’m game.

Here’s how to play:

1.) Get a big sheet of tag board. (I always think of Junior High when I use this stuff.  Remember the science fair?  I did a project on decomposing garbage.  Pe-ew.  But I digress…) You’ll need scissors and some sticky stuff too – glue, tape, whatever.

2.) Gather your favorite mags and go to town. Rip, cut, arrange, ponder and paste!

3.) Viola! Your vision board is complete! Make sure to stick photos of yourself in there with all the great stuff you want to cultivate in your life.  This is the first time I’ve ever used photos of myself rather than photos of other people doing things I’d like to do.  I’m an actor so of course I had photos of myself on me.  You never want to be caught without a headshot, business card, or perhaps a postcard or two!  Haha.  Glad to have liberated a few of them from my dingy bag where they lie in wait for auditions and such.  If you aren’t an odd, actor bird like me, print a few pics of your mug or draw yourself on some card stock!

What’s on your board?! Scuba diving?  Ballet dancing?  Publishing?  Babies?  Love?  Laughter?  Creativity?  Success?  Faith?  Family?

This was a fun project.  Especially with my girl, April, and the sound of country tunes in the background. (Which later morphed into show tunes as we looked back on our days at musical theatre school.  Where it all began.)

Go ahead, have some creative play and get visual with your goals.  It’s a good time!

xo
Makie

I’m in! What about you?

If you can put your art (your photos, drawings, crafty cut-outs, etc) on 5 postcards and send to Kat, you’ll get 5 back from 5 other artists!

What a great way to share or ‘liberate’ your creativity with others around the world.

Click the button below for more details.  (This was too much fun, I just had to share!)

Here’s what came out of my creative play…  I decided the adults will get a little something fun in addition to the kids’ standard Easter baskets.  I bought some white mini paper bags, a few fuzzy egg stickers and dug out my acrylic paints.  I’m not a great direction follower but here’s a loose play by play if you would like to try:

Grab your brushes, some pastel-colored acrylics, fuzzy stickers/stamps or what have you and dig in.Paint the fronts of your little white bags.  I chose to leave the backs bare naked and bright white Then paint some card stock – woo hoo!
Cut the card stock to 3.5 x 4.5 rectangles and punch some hearts in the corners.  If you don’t have a little doodad like that, feel free to do something else creative and cool.  I had several cards left over and I may use them for place settings or food cards.  I’ll let you know if I get that ambitious.Glue your rectangles to the bags, slap on a fun fuzzy sticker and viola!  Stuff with goodies and you’re set.  You can write names on the cards or leave blank.  I haven’t decided on that yet.

Now I’m off to clean.

Or eat that last piece of tempting cherry pie.

Yes, pie – and then, “I’ll get up early to clean…”

xoxo

Happy Easter!

Makie