Inspiration : Lourdes Sánchez Wall Art, Trapezoid Geo

I love West Elm design and Lourdes Sánchez's textile-inspired artwork.  At $179 for her Trapezoid Geo framed linen artwork, I decided to try it myself.  

 

West Elm

And here's my version made from watercolor paper, charcoal pencil, ruler, eraser, and about 6 hours using a black frame and white matte I already had.  Not bad for practically free (and all my hard work).  Lourdes originally made hers as a watercolor painting.  I would imagine many, many, many month went into her work.  Definitely worth $179 for her awesome work. 

I have it hanging in my living room right now.  Just set this up for the photo.  I do however love the stack of books I created.  Just by taking off the book jackets, these books have a real textural quality I like.

 

Handmade Lavender Eye Pillow

I have had a little bag of French lavender sitting in my spice drawer. It is one of my favorite scents and sooo relaxing.  I decided to make a lavender eye pillow.  It is easy to make in less than an hour with a sewing machine for less than $3. 

Use your eye pillow to relax your eyes anytime of day.  

1.  Collect all ingredients:

• 2 washcloths or other similar sized material (you want it to be soft on the eyes) 
• About 1-1/2 cups rice 
• About 28 ounces fresh French lavender 
• About 1 tablespoon chamomile or 1 sachet Tazo Calm herbal infusion

2.  Draw out a rough sketch of your pillow shape on paper.  I tried for a rounded eye pillow shape, but my finished product still came out mostly rectangular.  Add about 1 inch all the around the desired size to allow for a seam.  My template measured about 10.5" wide x 5.5" tall.  Cut out template and lay on top of your material.  Trace around the edge using a Sharpie. 

3.  Cut the shape out so that you have a front and back for the eye pillow. I chose a white washcloth and a cream colored one.

4.  Turn your material so that the desired outsides are facing one another so that after sewing you will turn it right side out. Pin your material all the way around.

 
5.  After pinning, begin to sew leaving a 1" seam, removing the pins as you go along.  Leave an opening of about 2.5" to be able to fill with rice and lavender.

6.  Time to fill it up!  I made a funnel out of a sturdy magazine page. Pour in the rice and lavender.

7.  Open the Tazo sachet into a small bowl and pour into the pillow.

8.   Now it's time for a little hand-stitching to seal it up.

 9.  And here it is!  Écouter! (Finished!).  The finished product meaasures about 9.5" x 4.5".

10.  A great addition to my evening ritual.

11.  Sweet dreams......