Vintage Scarf Pillows

I've been slowly trying to make my office a space that I want to be in since I've been spending more time in here. I decided I needed some storage so I brought up some dressers that my neighbor had given me in exchange for doing some painting for him. I had forgotten that when we took the drawers out to paint them, we found a hidden treasure-- an old vintage scarf that belonged to sweet Mary, my neighbor who among other great achievements lived to be 100! I loved the pattern on the scarf, but didn't know what to do with it.  At first I thought about framing it like these...

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But that didn't seem quite right.

So I made a pillow instead. Here she is:

(Oh! You can see in this photo a sneak peek of the 

Fretwork Eco Throw in GREY-- coming soon!)

Amazing how it matches the pelmet box fabric that I designed. 

I hadn't planned that, just a happy coincidence!

The pillow was super easy to make. I used some old drapery liner fabric that I had on hand and fused the scarf on to it with "Heat N Bond Lite", which is an iron on adhesive, so that way it has a little extra strength to it since it's a lightweight silk scarf. Iron the stuff on before you sew the pillow together (duh.) Since I'm too lazy to learn to sew a zipper, I just did an easy overlap in the back, I even just used the selvaged edge so I didn't have to sew a hem on it. (Hem is probably not the right word here, but you know what I mean.)

Making this scarf pillow took less than a half an hour, 

it was FREE since I had everything already

AND it's a green project--using recycled materials and scraps. 

Whoohoo!

Don't want to make one yourself? Check out these beauties:

All from Esty shop found here.

NEW: Extra Protection Custom Cases

Happy Habitat personalized phone cases are now available with Extra Protection! Extra Protection is a removable black rubber liner that subtly wraps around your phone, giving it a little padding between your phone and the hard-shell case. The rubber casing covers the power and volume buttons. 

Some FAQs:
Will this protective liner save your phone if it gets ran over?
Probably not.

Will it keep it dry if it falls in the toilet?
No.

Will it decrease my odds of getting a cracked screen if it slips out of my hand?
Yes.

Can the case work without the liner?
No.

Can the liner work with out the case.
Yes, but what's the point?

Get 'em in the shop with the design of your choice.

I found Barcelona in St. Louis!

We took a mini-vacay last weekend to St. Louis to do some kid stuff. I looked online at The City Museum and thought it definitely looked like fun for the kids. When we walked through the doors, I was completely blown away. I was immediately reminded of the architecture of Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. The City Museum is made from recycled materials found within the city-- little items pieced together to create a kid's fantasy land- there's old machinery, planes, tile. It's mosaics remind me so much of the melting wonderland at Parc Guell in Barcelona.

Here are some shots I took upon entering:

Some more great images of The City Museum

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And here's a small taste of Antonio Gaudi:

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Mosaics from Parc Guell, Barcelona

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Antonio Gaudi interior

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Casa Batllo, Barcelona

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Parc Guell, Barcelona

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Parc Guell Barcelona

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Casa Batllo, Barcelona

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The Most Wonderful Place on Earth- Parc Guell, Barcelona

Photos don't do either place justice. Truly magical.

I Spy HAPPY Art: Lara Harwood

I'll let the art speak for it's self...

Love the message on this one.
All from Lara's Website.
I imagine these to be even better large and in person. 

New in the shop: Polka Dot Case with your NAME!

 I had some requests for names on cases, so I made Polka Dot iPod Touch cases for my niece and neighbor. Pretty cute, right? These guys are now available in the shop. I haven't experimented yet with putting names on the other patterns besides the Polka Dots, but if you'd like to see what it would look like, just shoot me an email, and we can try it out!

The first one I did on the name on the side, but have since changed it to the middle--
but I make it either way.

happy lucky #13 my love...

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OH! and holy moly... just realized it's the 1 year anniversary of Happy Habitat! One year ago today, I started this blog. I had no idea I would open a store and still have something to say one year and 87 posts later. 

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Easy DIY Pelmet Box

In an effort to make my office look decent quickly and inexpensively, I put up a pelmet box around my windows. I wanted to share this because it's SO EASY. One of those things that looks good from the outside, but you'd be surprised to find out that it's actually just tape, staples and foam core board. There's really no reason to make it more difficult with different materials, because this works! I had bookmarked Jenny's tutorial a while back, and it came in handy. This is one of those things that you can really just figure out yourself: 1) Cut the foam board to size, make sure and cut 2 sides making sure that it's deep enough to clear the depth of your windows and blinds or curtains-- then it just got taped together. 2) Cut fabric and batting to size 3) Staple working from the inside going out, alternating from top to bottom 4) Tape the fabric down for extra smoothness (I used clear packing tape, but duck tape would have been stronger) 5) Tape L brackets on the back-- I used some old wood blind brackets and they just hang on the top of the window. I should probably put a nail in one of the holes for extra security, but it's done fine just sitting on there. The pelmet box frames the window and adds some pattern and color. Simple, cheap and effective.

My Fabric was just a bit short, so I had to have seams on either side,
I thought I was doing a great job of matching up the pattern, but FAILED,
so I covered it with some ribbon trim.

My piece was so large that I had to put together 3 pieces of foam board.
To strengthen it, I put extra pieces of foam board over the seams.
You can see my brackets here. I had a bunch of leftovers from hanging wood blinds--
of course I took the shortcut and only put 2 brackets up instead of 3,
so I was left with a bunch of these guys.