Pillow Fight

     As a teacher, I often visited Dollar Tree where everything is one dollar.  Seriously, EVERYTHING.  And no, it's not full of old, dirty, gross items that no one wants.  There is a whole aisle geared towards teachers.  Even though I'm not currently teaching, I still love to go in and see what's new. 
     A month or so ago, I found a bunch of cute summery place mats.  There were bright green, blue, and pink.  Some were plain and others were polka dots.  I thought about picking up a bunch but when I really thought about it, I was like...who am I kidding.  I do not entertain and there is no reason for place mats on our table.  But with each visit, they kept catching my eye.

     So, I did what any girl would do.  I gave in and bought 3!  Two of them are plain blue and one is blue with white polka dots.  I decided that I would turn them into pillows for our play room.  Lily is always laying on the floor next to the cat or dog.  I keep giving her our cute couch pillows but they are more for decoration and not for comfort.  Problem is now solved!
     The place mats are double sided, meaning I can just fill the inside with stuffing.  How EASY PEASY!  I only spent $3 on my pillows, since I had the stuffing left over from another project.  I bought the stuffing at Walmart and it is pretty reasonable.

     First I broke open the seam on one side.  I only made the hole big enough to fit my hand through.  I turned the place mat inside out and noticed that there was "Wonder Under" on it.  That is just a backing that keeps the two pieces of fabric together.  

     I gently took the "Wonder Under" out of place mat and tossed it in the garbage.  Next I washed the place mats.  This took the stiffness out of the fabric.  Much softer now!

     Now comes the fun part....STUFFING!  You get to decide how much or little you want to put into your new pillows.  I elected for a lot because I figure that the kids will be tossing them around and I don't want a limp pillow after a couple of weeks.  I mean I put a lot of time and money into these pillows!  Ok it was really like 15 minutes and $3....but who needs to know!

   Next, I stitched up the hole and tada....you have a pillow!

Isn't she cute?!