Purple Pajamas Pillow Cover Review & Giveaway - ENDED

Purple Pajamas offers gorgeous pillow covers, wall art and home decor. They also welcome custom orders so if you have a certain color or style in mind, contact them! Purple Pajamas recently sent me a set of 2 Fresh Fusion Pillow Covers to review. They arrived beautiful packaged and wrapped with a matching ribbon. You all know of my love/small obsession for birds so when I pulled these pillow covers out of the package I was in birdie heaven, what gorgeous fabric! One of the many reasons why I love all things handmade is because the quality is typically so much better than mass produced products. These pillow covers are definitely made to last, not to mention that they are just plain cute! They would make the perfect housewarming gift!

Buy It:

Purple Pajamas is offering a 15% discount during the duration of this giveaway when you use the promo code "VANESSA" in the notes to seller at checkout. A purchase is not necessary to enter the giveaway.

Win It:

Purple Pajamas is giving away a set of 2 - 11x17 Fresh Fusion Pillow Covers to 1 lucky winner! This giveaway is open to US residents. For a chance to win, you must do the following:

Required:

1. Visit Purple Pajamas and tell me about another item you like. Make sure to leave your email address or a way for me to contact you in your comment.

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3. Blog about this giveaway.

4. Add Purple Pajamas to your favorites on Etsy.

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7. Tweet the following (can be tweeted daily): Purple Pajamas Pillow Cover Giveaway @designsvanessa - http://designsbyvanessa.blogspot.com/2010/05/purple-pajamas-pillow-cover-review.html

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9. Enter another giveaway on this blog.

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Do this by May 30th and you are in! 1 winner will be picked randomly. Please make sure that you leave a way for us to contact you or we won't be able to get this fabulous prize to you. Winners who I am unable to contact and who don't respond within 48 hours of being sent their winning email notification will forfeit their prize and I will draw another name.

Project Nursery: Rugs

I'm in love, love, love with this hopscotch rug from CB2!! The only problem is that I'm leaning towards painting the walls a greyish color with a bluish grey accent wall. I figure that the grey walls will tone down this super colorful room, but will a grey rug be too much grey? I'm also not convinced that it will fit in with my woodland creature motif, but it is just so dang cute! I was also contemplating doing a green shag rug, which will definitely bring in more of a nature feel to the room. That might actually be better because our furbabies tend to claw up rugs that aren't shag, not that they'll be allowed in the nursery. Maybe I'll just have to wait and see what the room looks like after it's painted. Decisions, decisions...

Hopscotch Rug from CB2

Par Shag Rug from CB2

Project Nursery: Bedding

Project Nursery is slowly progressing, we now have bedding for our little guy!! My awesome mom bought the fab Skip Hop Mod Dots collection for us and it was recently delivered (thanks mom!). It is so much cuter in person, I just love the colors and the pattern!

Next Up: Paint Colors & Closet Organization

How-To: Upcycled Yarn Vase

I suffer from major craft ADHD. I jump from project to project and I can't seem to complete anything because a new idea pops into my head that I just have to start. I guess this is better than crafters block (you know, like writers block) but it is turning my craft studio into a disaster zone and my supplies are starting to trickle into the rest of my home...soon they will take over the entire house! I need help before Mr. Designs by Vanessa gets buried in glitter and yarn. Hmm glitter and yarn...that would make for a great new project. See what I mean? I need a craft intervention!

As much as I would like to see Mr. Designs by Vanessa covered in glitter and yarn, I have decided to start and actually finish a project today. I have yet another fabulous tutorial for my fabulous readers on this fabulous day (I just wanted to see how many times I could use the word fabulous in a sentence). Read on my crafty friends...

You will need yarn (1 color, 2 colors, 10 colors...this is completely up to you), a bottle of some sort (think upcycling), glue (I used craft tacky glue) and scissors.


Start by squeezing a thin line of glue along the bottom of your bottle. This is an old perrier bottle but you can use old soda bottles, wine bottles, etc. You can even use old jars or containers for a different look, the possibilities are endless.


Simply place the yarn on your glue and press down to secure in place. Continue squeezing small thin lines of glue followed by placing your yarn, wrapping up and around your bottle. Make sure your yarn is wrapped closely together to prevent gaps or holes.


Keep going, don't succumb to the craft ADHD (this is mainly a pep talk to myself). You can switch yarn colors at anytime (that sorta feels like a new project), just glue the start of the new strand of yarn as close as you can get to the end of the old strand and continue gluing and wrapping.


That is it, super easy and super cute! Add a flower or find a nice shelf to plop it on for a decorative look. Woohoo, I actually completed a project today! Now if I can only bring myself to organize my craft studio...


Don't forget to add your upcycled yarn vase photos to the Designs by Vanessa Tutorial Flickr Group so we can all see your finished product!

How-To: Fabric Wall Art

Mr. Designs by Vanessa and I have lived in this home for almost a year and while it no longer echoes (due to the bare walls and lack of furniture), there are still a few rooms in need of Nate Berkus' help. Because I don't have Oprah's personal cell number I had to channel my inner interior designer and this is what I came up with: fabric wall art! I found the perfect fabric (birdie themed of course) by studio e and developed a new founded love for the staple gun.

Go pick out some material, gather your materials (screwdriver, staple gun, wooden frame) and I'll talk you through this surprisingly easy project. I purchased my fabric from Fabric Supplies.


I found my wooden frame at IKEA, it came in four pieces and I had to screw the pieces together to make a frame. I started out with a regular old screw driver and quickly plugged in my electric screw driver (sooo much easier). Local art supply stores also carry these frames.



Next, cut your fabric larger than your frame leaving room to wrap the fabric around the back of the frame. I left about 3-4 inches on each side but this will vary depending on how thick your frame is.



Still hanging in there with me? I promise the fun part is coming up soon. Make sure your fabric is nice and ironed before we move on (no, this is not the fun part I promised).


Get out your staple gun and go to business (this is the fun part, trust me)! You can use tiny nails and hammer your fabric to your frame but staple guns are much more cathartic. I placed a staple every inch or so. Pull your material tight as you go but there is no need to stretch it tight.



Fold your corners just as you would wrap a present and add about 3 staples to secure the corners. This doesn't have to be perfect, just make sure it looks good from the front.




Now you have this fabulous one of a kind piece of art. I hope you had fun, I'm off to go staple gun something...



Don't forget to add your fabric wall art photos to the Designs by Vanessa Tutorial Flickr Group so we can all see your finished product!

Birdie Painting

We finally have a picture hung in our new home...yay!! This painting is called "Hope" and is by the fabulous Amy Giacomelli. It's hung in our dining room and is absolutely perfect. You know you are an adult when you've graduated from posters to paintings ;-)