My Farmhouse Style Giveaway goes to.........

Thank you EVERYONE who entered for my giveaway!
And thank you to everyone who has been with me for a while or has just recently joined my journey. I appreciate all of you. As I mentioned I will be spending less time on line for the next while and putting my energy where its really needed. Every now and then you need to check in with yourself and your loved ones and prioritize. As a Mom of 5 kids, 5 pets and a husband! I need to start taking better care of myself. I want to spend time outside and encourage my children to do the same! With all this technology at your fingers we seem to disconnect from many things. There may be big changes in our future and we need to focus on how we will deal with it as a family. I'm sure you have all had times in your life when you need to do the same thing and I wish you well on your own journey!! SO!!!!! ......At long last the winner of my giveaway is....PATTI HANKINSON!!! Patti, on the right sidebar of my blog you will notice a contact form please fill that out along with your address so I can mail you a copy of LANDHAUS LIVING magazine featuring my home and the awesome grain sack apron I made!

Thank you all again and be well everyone! 
Until next time, 
~Mel

FARMHOUSE STYLE GIVEAWAY!

Sometimes in life-some really important things have to take precedence over others. As much as I enjoy being on line, sharing and being inspired by so many others-I have to take a little time away. There are big things going on in our lives right now & my health, my children and my household need as much of my attention as possible. I will peek in now & then but slowing down for a while. So, I was thinking it's a great time for another FARMHOUSE STYLE GIVEAWAY just because I have always appreciated my followers and I hope you can hang in there with me while I am having a little down time. 
You may remember that we were lucky enough to have our home featured in PRAIRIE STYLE magazine last spring...

....well, I am thrilled that those photos are now also featured in LANDHAUS LIVING magazine from Germany. And I am so proud to say WE MADE THE COVER! ..YEP.. That's my dining room on the cover!

You may also remember this pretty grain sack apron I made?

 Well, I am going to give BOTH of these away for my FARMHOUSE STYLE GIVEAWAY!!

That's right! ONE lucky winner will receive BOTH the grain sack apron & this copy of LANDHAUS LIVING magazine featuring our home alongside so many other gorgeous homes!

There are 5 ways to enter this giveaway.

1. Follow my blog here RUSTIC FARMHOUSE.

2. Follow me on facebook HERE

3. Follow MYRUSTICFARMHOUSE on Instagram HERE

4. Follow me on Pinterest HERE

5. SHARE this giveaway on your sites-facebook, instagram, your blog. 

In order to have each entry count, please leave a comment ON THIS POST for each entry. 

My giveaway ends midnight Sunday April 26th. 
I will announce the winner sometime the following day.

Thank you ALL!
~Mel

Linen Slipcover (Part 1)

 OK friends and fellow DIY'ers!  I have decided to give making a LINEN SLIPCOVER for my EKTORP SOFA a try!  You may, or may not remember the gorgeous ruffled LINEN bedskirt I made for my daughters bed with it's amazing wrinkliness

 

 It wasn't easy-I'm not the greatest sewer and I have little patience-the sewing machine was close a few times to being thrown out the door! I'm not kidding! I was like.......just walk away...breathe!

I also made a LINEN slipcover for my thrift store chair. This was also frustrating BUT...IT CAN BE DONE!  Taking your time and thinking things through is the key. I searched all over for linen and found it to be quite pricey. I had already purchased a couple of the LINBLOMMA 100% linen duvet cover sets from IKEA and loved them but it took a while for it to CLICK! I realized because they were quite inexpensive for the amount of linen you get- purchasing more sets for my projects was the way to go!  Here in Canada the duvet cover sets are twin 69.99, full/queen 89.99 and king 99.99. When compared to fabric shops-this was the cheaper route. I am hoping I will only have to use my KING size duvet cover for the whole couch but I will see how it goes as I sew along.

I am not the greatest at giving step by step instructions, or following instructions for that matter!  I get a lot out of just looking at photos. I did find a lot of information on pinterest! OH HOW I LOVE PINTEREST! I read over a couple slipcover tutorials, and from those I decided to start, I am not following any one tutorial in particular at this point. You are welcome to ask me any question you may have! I started out by cutting 2 of the side seams out of my king duvet cover so I was left with one GIANT sheet of material. I laid one corner section of my large 'sheet' over the couch and I cut a section off to fit the seat and back rest. I am leaving this as one piece I didnt feel the need to cut it apart and sew it back together for the very back corner. The front section is about 6 inches from the floor because I will be adding a separate section for the skirt. Always keep in mind leaving that extra 1 INCH of material everywhere for your hems.

Next I laid another section over the top part of the arm to meet with base, and along the side I cut it at about 6 inches from floor since I will be adding a skirt.

Then I pinned all along the edges where the pieces meet up trying to be tight in the groove. There was some extra length of material hanging so I cut it down closer to my pins so it would be easier to see & sew.

Then I got a piece of paper and as best I could I cut it to the shape of the arm.

Then I pinned that to the material and cut a section that was about 1 inch larger than the paper. (it doesnt look like there is an extra inch in photo but there is)

Then I pinned that section to the part going up over the top of the arm

Then I sewed those sections together! and YES my pins are in the wrong direction but HEY!

One of the hardest parts about sewing sometimes is working inside out and backwards!!!
I did all the work on the left hand side of the couch-for the right side!  My brain isn't always that high functioning!

AND YES!!! It's looking pretty good so far! I chose not to add piping on the edges. Not ONLY because it is way less work, but the IKEA slipcover I have on this Ektorp sofa right now is the Stenasa and it doesn't have piping either and it kinda grew on me.

So this is the point I am at now, I will do a little more as soon as possible! It is Easter weekend and the Easter bunny will be hiding some chocolate eggs for the kids (me) and we will be enjoying a nice turkey dinner as well. I hope you all enjoy your weekend my friends! Mel

Pretty Pastel Easter Eggs

Every Easter, I gather the kids to dye some eggs.
I LOVE the pretty pastels! 

 We've tried natural dyes, craft paints, made chalk paint dye and this year we used just regular old food coloring.

Most of the time I hard boil eggs-which the kids love-cuz they get to eat a lot of them!
But this year I found these plastic egg kits at Walmart for $2.00 ea.  (Canadian!)
They are so cute! 

So the kids had some craft time-well, they mostly competed over who did a better job of course!
I love craft time! It usually means Mommy gets to take some pretty home decor photos afterwards!
But overall they had fun and a few laughs!
I will go back to the regular hard boiling next year and we can add these ones into the mix for an even bigger bowl full!

Do you dye eggs every Easter?

~Mel