Speaking of DIY, I came across a clever post on pinterest that tells you how to take an ordinary placemat and turn it into a decorative pillow. I never would've thought to do this on my own!!! So this afternoon while shopping with my mom at Pier 1, I came across these adorable placemats on clearance and I knew exactly what to do with them.
I don't know about you guys but I pretty much love everything inside Pier 1 except for the prices. It's safe to say I don't pick something up unless it has a red clearance tag on it and even then I wince sometimes about the amount on the sticker and carefully place the item back on the shelf before I break it. (On a sidenote, I did actually break something there once but they were nice enough to not make me pay for it...pheww!) Anywho, I stumbled upon these guys and they were marked down to $1.88 so I thought what the hay but...when I went to checkout they rang up $.98! HAPPY DANCE!!! Is it just me or does anyone else fall more in love with an item when it rings up for less at the register?! :)
After a quick trip to Hobby Lobby for filler and matching thread it was time to get to work. Taking a seam ripper, I carefully opened up about a 3 inch part in the seam on one side of my mat. I would post a picture of what it looked like by my evil phone decided it didn't want to save that photo for you guys. I discovered that the thread I saw on the outside was really for decoration and there was an inner seam that I had to rip open as well. Begin filling your placemat to your desired fullness making sure to push the polyfil into the corners. Once it's as full as you like use a running stitch to close your pillow up and your down.
That's it! Two new pillows for under $5 each! Pretty cool huh? Especially for those of you like me who really don't know how to sew...it's like someone else has down all the hard work for you! The hardest part for me will be finding a place for my new pillows since we don't have any living room furniture yet....
