saturday projects

I don't know what it is exactly, but I've been going to town the last couple of weeks in making our apartment more like home*. I've been hanging pictures, moving furniture, and arranging trinkets to give our place a more polished look and make it ours. I guess it's high time, considering we've been here for over 5 months now. :) Additionally, I also had time the last couple of Saturdays to work on some projects, which was fantastic!

First up is this Petal Pillow. It really was quite easy, although I made a few alterations from the tutorial posted for it on V and Co. First, instead of using felt I used some white fabric sturdified and made fray-proof (hopefully) with fusible interfacing. Second, I added a button to the front. And finally, I added a pretty yellow jewel button to the back to secure it. I really like how it turned out, much better than the old one I made about 6 years ago that no longer matches our decor. Although I will say Jeff was disappointed when I told him he couldn't actually lay on this pillow - for decoration only!



Next is this sweet little Valentine garland. It took me longer than I expected, but it turned out very cute. I'm not sure the pictures quite do it justice.

Finally, this is something from our time back in Boise that I never posted about (haha - not the first time I haven't posted a project). This bookcase, given to us by some friends, started out as one of those cheap $20 Walmart speicals. While I love Walmart and cheap furniture has its virtues (believe you me we have plenty of these items scattered around the house) I wanted to give it something to make it extra special. A small can of paint and some Snow & Graham wrapping paper, adhered with Mod Podge, did just the trick. Who needs fancy pre-assembled furniture when you can whip up something like this? Then again, pre-assembled furniture does sound pretty amazing. Someday... :)

*While we're on the topic of home, our LDS Family Services caseworker came to our place last week to update our home study. For those who don't speak adoptionese, that means we are VERY close to having all our paperwork done to get approved to adopt in the state of Maryland. That doesn't mean we have a baby all lined up to adopt, but at that point our online profile will be reactivated and we'll ready when a birthmom chooses us, whenever that is. Fingers crossed we're approved soon!