Mother's Day Gift-Great Grandmother Pillow

A few years ago my husband bought me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas.  I have just recently gotten the bug to figure out all the neat things you can make with it.  Originally I wanted it for scrapbooking.  Honestly, I have gotten way more interested in cutting vinyl for signs, walls, and such. 

I decided I wanted to try making some shirts for our family.  With three girls, our clothing bill is getting extreme.  The girls love to make stuff, and with this machine the T-shirts look like you bought them.  So, we decided it was time to buy a heat press.  A heat press makes this process so much easier and quicker than an iron.  It offers equal heat preventing spots that don't stick the vinyl completely to the shirt. 

I've been wanting to make my 91 year old Grandmother a gift, but what do you make the woman who has everything?  I wanted to make something she'd actually use, but also be meaningful.  I am really close to my grandmother, so I really wanted it to be special.  Her life's work and purpose was raising her family.  I wanted her to know that she is still loved.  Sometimes she needs a reminder of the people who love her, when she's having a bad day.  Which when your 91, there aren't many days she isn't in pain.  I thought this pillow would offer her comfort, remind her of her family, and just be something beautiful to look at.  I put a cute saying on the front about great Grandmas and all the names of her great grandchildren on the back.

I started by designing the pillow on my Silhouette Cameo.  I like to find fonts on dafonts.com.  They have tons that are free for personal use or very little cost for commercial use.  Don't forget to mirror your image.  I then cut out my design on HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl) with my Silhouettte Cameo.  I personally like Siser Easyweed, but there are many products out there.

You could change the pillow to say:

Just when a mother thinks her work is done, someone calls her Grandma.

I decided the cheapest place to buy good quality pillows and pillow covers was at Ikea.  I settled on these.  They were about $5.

They offered the choice of a cotton pillow or feather pillow under $5.

 I opened the pillow cover and ironed it.  I then, stuck the cut HTV on top of the pillow centering it.

I put the pillow cover with HTV onto my Heat Press.  You could use an iron if you do not have a heat press.  Be careful not to burn yourself, and follow all safety instructions.

I always cover my HTV with a Teflon or Parchments paper to prevent it from coming off onto the hot surface.

I set my heat press to 315 for 15 seconds.  You might have to adjust the settings according to your particular heat press.

After the 15 seconds, I carefully removed the slip cover form the heat press.  I then removed the backing form the HTV, leaving the vinyl behind.  Check over your final product to make sure it is completely sticking to the pillow cover.

If you are not satisfied you can put it through the heat press one more time.  Don't forget your Teflon cover.

Time for the back side.  Since you have already put vinyl on the front side of the pillow cover you will need to put either a Teflon sheet or parchment paper on both front and  back of your pillow to keep the HTV from sticking to the heat press.

Repeat the steps for the heat press you used for the front of the pillow cover.

Once you are satisfied with your HTV, open your pillow and give it a good fluff.

The pillow has a huge annoying tag on it, so I cut my tag off.

Insert your pillow into the pillow cover, and there you have it a great gift in under 10 minutes.

Hope your Grandma loves her gift.

We'd love to hear how it turned out for you, so leave us a comment.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

Mother's Appreciation Jar

Handprints You will Want to Display

Father's Day Photoshoot

Father of the Bride Gift

Fuzzy Socks Cupcake

Faux Stained Glass Mother's Day Vase

Mother's Day Preschool Project

Daddy's Beard Party Game

DIY USAF Shirt

Amazing things you can do with an Instant Pot

Faux Stained Glass Vase

This faux stained glass tissue paper vase is super simple to make.

It would make a wonderful Mother's Day or Grandparent's Day gift.

You could even fill it with flowers and give it as a teacher appreciation gift.

A fun art project for any age!

If your significant other ever gives you flowers (if their a keeper they do), 

then you have a ton of these plain vases lying around. 

If not your local thrift store or dollar store should have plenty.

You'll need (Amazon Links) :

a vase

tissue paper

Mod Podge

foam brush

optional: flowers

Choose some fun colors of tissue paper.

You an use patterned tissue paper, but make sure you place a plain one in between

Cut your tissue paper in 1 inch strips.

*A paper trimmer will help speed this step up.

Next, cut those strips into squares.

Grab your Mod Podge.

I like to use the glossy kind to give it the shine of glass.

I like to apply the Mod Podge with a foam brush.

You can either cover your whole vase and work quickly,

or apply Mod Podge to sections as you go.

Apply the squares one at a time slightly overlapping.  

Mix up you colors, so you aren't repeating the same color next to each other.  

Once your entire vase is covered, allow to dry.

After it is completely dry, add a layer of Mod Podge over entire area covered in tissue paper.

There you have it, from plain boring glass to a beautiful faux stained glass finish.

Since we didn't Mod Podge the inside of the vase, it is still safe for flowers.

We hope your mom loves it!

If you liked this post, you might also like:
Faux Stained Glass

Hand Print Bathroom Decor.

Father's Day Photo Shoot

Father of the Bride gift

Wash Your Hands

Throwback to a craft we made several years ago for our bathroom.  I wanted to make a craft with hand prints and couldn't think of one.  While talking to my sister, she told me of a cute bathroom she visited in a restaurant.  On the walls they had painted "Please Wash Your Hands" and the entire wall was covered with hand prints.  Light bulb moment, that would be super cute on a board with our kids hand prints.  I loved it so much, I made one for both bathrooms.

I just cut board to fit the spot I wanted to display the hand prints. 

 Painted the boards to match the bathroom. 

 I measured each child's hand to make sure the spot was big enough. 

 I used a Sizzix die cutting machine to cut out the words and mod podged them on.  You could even use vinyl lettering for this.  I just tried to make the saying match the number of kids or you could do all the family members.

  I painted the kids hand with a sponge brush, and carefully applied it to the board.  If you are worried the hand print will get messed up, you could always make a few on card stock and mod podge your favorite, or scan it into your computer and cut it out in vinyl.

I hot glued ribbon on the back to hang it.

Would make a great mother's, Father's, or grandparent's gift.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

Mother's Appreciation Jar

Father's Day Photoshoot

Father of the Bride Gift

Daddy's Beard Party Game