New Designs

Wade and I have been working hard on adding new designs and items to our shop. Here are the latest!

Neutral Heart Burlap Door Hanger

 Red Heart Burlap Door Hanger

I am so excited about this next one!! We now are offering Initials!!!

Initial Door Hanger

Leprechaun Hat Door Hanger

State Hand Towels

Mississippi!! These can be made for any state with any of my fabric choices.

 Alabama!

Keep checking back! We have several more new ones underway and we always welcome custom orders!
Email me at justbecausedesigns (at) yahoo (dot) com

DIY Fabulous Curtains

I am no seamstress. I am actually a pretty much self-taught, can't cut or sew a straight line, throw it together my way, kind of girl. My friend, Brandi, talked me into buying a sewing machine one black Friday 5 or so years ago. Why?! I don't know, but I bought it and I was intimidated as ever. That thing sat in the box in my closet for probably a year. Brandi sat with me a few times and walked me through using it and helped me make a few things. I was seriously just over it... Until one day, I faced my fear and just pulled that thing out of the box. I was determined that I could do it. I was going to sew.

I started small doing applique shirts and hand towels (which are my loves)... I then learned how to make throw pillows and ruffle pants, and I even made a shower curtain once. Most recently I have made several valances for a few friends and family.

I like to sew and I like to think I know how....but I am sure if you have been sewing your whole entire life, you may want to just stop reading now!!! The rest of this post may freak you out as I am going to show you the Melanie way....in Melanie words....

SO, I recently showed you where I made some curtains and throw pillows for my living room. I just had some panel curtains from the Dollar General. I fancied them up just by adding some fabric to the bottom. I know there are probably a ton of ways to do this, but this is how I did mine.

First thing  you need to do is just measure the width of your curtains. Then determine how much fabric you want to add. In my case, I wanted to add 12 more inches to my panel curtains.

I didn't want the back of my fabric "raw" so I lined it.

I had some muslin fabric on hand. I cut it out 13x34.

I cut my fabric the same size and laid it on my muslin face down.

Next, pin it down all the way around.  

Sew it up. Go almost all the way around but leave a gap (about 6-8 inches) to be able to pull it through to the right side. 

Here is my gap left open.  

Trim any excess fabric and snip your corners.  

Now pull your fabric through your gap to the right side.  

I then used my iron to smooth it out.  

 I wanted the top of my fabric to go right on top of the seam of the curtains. Place your fabric on top of your curtains where ever you want it and pin down.

 Next you will need to tuck your "gap" and pin down. You could go ahead and hand stitch your opening, but I didn't. I just folded mine in and pinned really well onto my fabric.

Now just sew straight across the top of the fabric onto the curtains.

 And there you have it.....Fancied up Dollar General curtains! LOVE THEM!

Here is the back...

If you made it this far....don't judge! :o)

This is how I roll!

 Our living room finally complete! 

Drab to fab curtains!

Right when we moved in our house, I didn't really have a clue as to how I wanted to decorate, what type of window treatments I wanted, etc. I knew that I didn't want to spend a lot of money on "stuff" until I knew exactly what I wanted. And even then I don't want to spend a lot of money. So, I bought some brown panel curtains from the Dollar General. Yes. The Dollar General just to have something on my window in the living room. I think I paid about $15 or so for them. I have had them in my living room since we moved in. I never really loved them, but it hasn't been a priority to replace.

I found some adorable fabric a few weeks ago and decided to make some throw pillows for my couch and "re-do" my living room. I bought some black panel curtains and I added some of the fabric to the bottom of them thinking that would tie the room together. Wrong!

I have a lot of browns and neutral things and the black just didn't flow. It was too bold for my living room. I was a little bummed out, but I knew that eventually I would find what I was looking for. I put the black curtains and throw pillow covers up in hopes of using them in my bedroom when Wade and I buy a new comforter. We'll see.

This is the only picture I have of the black curtains....It was a quick snap shot on my phone....

Back to the plain brown curtains.....I hung them back up for the time being. Ugh.

A few days later, I was over at my friend, Rebecca's, making a valance for her kitchen when I decided that her fabric would totally work in my living room. I LOVED it and it was totally my colors. She was nice enough to give me her fabric left overs after we were done with hers. (Another phone picture....Here is her valance)

So, this weekend I finally got my curtains and throw pillows done.

MUCH BETTER than the black curtains!!!

Those Dollar General panel curtains have turned fabulous if I do say so myself!

This afternoon I sent my friend, Julie, a text showing her my new curtains and throw pillows when a few seconds later she called me to tell me that was the exact fabric she used in her recent living room update. She had some curtains and pillows made using some of this fabric.

Great minds think a like! :o)

 

 I do think my living room is now complete....for now that is! :o)



A splash of valentines...

I like to decorate for each holiday/season whether it's all over the house like Christmas or just a splash in the foyer like Valentines. Valentines decor can be tricky though. It's not that I don't like Valentines, but.....cute can turn to corny and tacky really quick if you are not careful! Just my opinion.

Over the last few days I have managed to add a little splash of Valentines to our home. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but it all just came together and I like the end results.

I first saw this great, free printable on Pinterest. I had it printed off at Sams in an 8x10 for about a $1.50 and put it in a frame I already had.

I normally like to use seasonal candy and put in glass jars, but when I do that, the candy is gone in a few days. :o) SO, I came across these heart picks at the Dollar Tree this weekend and I decided to use them in place of candy. I pulled the sticks out of the hearts and tossed the hearts in a glass dish.

 Perfect....I'd like to see someone eat one of these :o)

I had some pink and white polka dot fabric and I cut a strip off to make a bow around my lamp shade.

Next, I made a burlap banner and just painted on my letters with pink paint.

Another great find on Pinterest was a cute heart made of hand prints. Annah Brooke and I had a little crafty fun this afternoon. We gathered our supplies and got busy. I thought about doing this on a piece of wood, but decided to just use card stock.

One hand red and the other pink.

 Once the paint was dry, I wrote this verse around her hand prints. Love this verse and how appropriate to use at Valentines. I had an old gold frame that I spray painted Watermelon pink and we framed it!

And here it is all together. I like it and think it is just enough to add a splash of love this Valentines. Ha!

I didn't want pink or red on my front door for whatever reason so I made this cream and chocolate brown heart for my door.

Do you decorate for Valentines?