color my summer: red

It's Monday and I am starting off this week with a little fun project! This project is part of a colorful series called "Color My Summer" over at Kojo Designs.

Now, my little girls are some of the girliest around! There are two colors that dominate everything they love... red & pink. Today, let's focus on the red. True and Brave also have two things they love to draw the most 1) their family 2) hearts. What little girl doesn't love doodling hearts all day long?!! Thus, I combined their love for hearts and red and came up with the "hidden in my heart" pillow.

The pillow is basically a heart with an added little heart pocket (or something else you may fancy as I used a little vintage embroidered doily for one of them) in the front.

Between little trinkets they collect, little drawings they make, or their favorite polaroids, they needed a little something to keep their special little treasures together. This little pillow is perfect for holding those little treasures, which sometimes revolve daily, and is also perfect for hugging their treasures when they go to sleep. Maybe if your kids are able to read, this is also the perfect spot to sneak them a little love note or treat.

It is such an easy thing to make and I am sure most of you could figure it out just by looking at the finished pillow, but just in case, here is a step-by-step:

1. Cut out your hearts. Make sure you have two big heart pieces, which will make the pillow, and two little heart pieces, which will make the little pocket. There should be 4 pieces total.

2. Make the heart pocket. Take your pieces for the pocket, place the right sides together and sew around the perimeter. Make sure to leave about a 1''-2'' opening so that you could turn the heart inside out.

3. Cut slits around the heart to the stitching, about every 1/2''-1" apart. This will allow the heart to curve nicely and lessen the bunching.

4. Turn pocket inside out. Place pocket in desired location on 1 of the big heart fabrics, pin in place, then sew only the bottom half of the pocket onto the fabric. There needs to be an opening at the top as this functions as a little pocket for hiding treasures. Note: You can topstitch the top of the pocket if you want to.

5. Place right sides of the big heart together and sew around the perimeter. Leave a 2''-3'' opening, so you can turn it inside out.

6. Cut slits around the heart to the stitching, about every 1/2''-1" apart. This will allow the heart to curve nicely and lessen the bunching.

7. Turn inside out and stuff pillow with poly-fil.

8. Hand stitch the opening close, put some treasures in, and hug!

Immediately, my girls started drawing little pictures and finding little trinkets to stuff in their pillows. Kids love pockets and hiding things, so this pillow is sure to be a welcomed treat!

I am sure you could make a truck or bug shaped pillow with pockets for boys, or maybe they like hearts too (not really sure cause I don't have any boys), but this pillow can easily be adapted to any shape. One thing for sure is that all kids have treasures and they love having pockets to put them in!

Thank you Kristin and Jordan for letting me be part of your fun series! I seriously enjoyed it and my daughters reaped the benefits. If you haven't checked out the series, you can here, there are seriously loads of good stuff and you will definitely want to make this necklace!

Today is also the last day to vote for me in the Circle of Moms: Kids Style. If you voted once before, you can still vote again. If you care to, just click on the icon below and give me a thumbs up! Thank you very much in advance!!! I so appreciate all of you...

Happy Monday friends!!!