Pottery Barn catalog is one of my favorite sources for decorating ideas and inspiration for creating “one of my own.” Sooo . . . when the Christmas catalog arrived and I saw this cute little Pottery Barn “Jingle” Pillow the wheels in my head began turning. In no time at all I had created a new pillow that was much kinder to my budget than the $39.50 Pottery Barn price!
In addition, I think the font on this pillow is actually cuter than Pottery Barn’s, with the added embellishment of tweeting birds and snowflakes!
Here is what you’ll need to put this together yourself:
Drop Cloth Fabric, Burlap or another fabric of your choice
A Pillow Form – or – Polyester Fiberfill
Jingle Bells
Iron-on Transfer Paper (I recommend Lesley Riley Tap which I purchased from Amazon.com. It really is the best!)
A Free Font From Dafont.com
This is the super cute font (KingthingsChristmas) that I chose from Dafont.com. This great website has hundreds of fonts available for download onto your computer’s word processing program. Most are free or “by donation” to the creator. The homepage at Dafont.com gives downloading instructions for your particular type of computer. For my PC I simply chose the font I wanted, hit “download” and saved it to my computer. Then I opened the font I’d just installed (if you have trouble finding it do a search). When you open it a page comes up with several lines. One line says “read this” and it gives guidelines for use of the font (most are for private use only). On another line is the font itself which you simply “open” and “install”. If your computer shows a “zipped” file just right click and “extract” to open the file.
The next step is to open your computer’s Word Processing program and type out your text, in this case the word “jingle”. After typing the text you’ll adjust your font size (this was 600) and color (red). I ended up with four pages and saved them in my pictures as a JPEG file.
The next step requires that you have Microsoft Publisher which, to me, is really worth having as I use it all the time. Open Publisher and choose a blank page size (8-1/2 x 11). “Insert” your saved picture onto the blank page (you will be inserting and flipping one page at a time). Highlight your text and click on “arrange”, “rotate or flip” and “flip horizontal”. Now you have a mirror image of your script and you are ready to print onto your iron-on transfer paper and then iron onto your pre-cut fabric. You can make your pillow any size you want but mine (and PB’s) is 12″x24″.
After ironing sew on a few jingle bells to the front of your pillow, stitch your pillow together, stuff (or add a pillow form) and sew bells to the four corners of your pillow.
My pillow looked perfect on Mr. OTN’s leather lounge chair. He loved it too. In fact, he missed it when it disappeared. SOLD! Yes, right out from under him. I will be making him another though. Super cute! Super easy! Super cheap! My kinda’ holiday craft. Do you have a favorite idea catalog? What kinds of “knock-offs” have you tried? I think it would be fun to have a “knock-off” party. What about you?
Blessings to you,
FrugalCraftyHome, Dwellings
VMG206, BeBetsy,TuesdaysAtOurHome,
Melinda@The Refeathered Roost says
What a fantastic job…absolutely beautiful!
Marisa Franca says
They are adorable and will be on my to do list for next year. I will certainly have to save your instructions. I love Pottery Barn catalog but also Ballards. They have lots of inspiration in them also. Thank you so much for a really great idea. It is great when you ladies point us newcomers in the right direction 🙂
Linda @ A La Carte says
This is really cute! I have a chair this would be perfect on. I may try to make one…thanks for the great info!
Linda says
Thank you so much for sharing info about the fonts. I can’t wait to try my hand at a pillow thanks to your most helpful tutorial!
gail says
love your pillow! it’s perfectly sweet. Thanks for sharing the font, I have downloaded it.
catching you this week!
gail
Diane says
Your sweet jingle pillow is so cute, love the little bells. I think it’s prettier than the PB version!
Ritchil says
I like yours better than the one from Pottery Barn. A knock off party sounds fun!
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above says
Patti,
We love the pillow. Thanks so much for sharing with Adorned From Above’s Link Party. Have a great week.
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
Catherine says
Ooooh! This is just so CUTE!! Love the fun & festive look of this pillow, and the word “jingle” just makes me smile! Thanks for a great tutorial. Merry Christmas, Catherine
Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co. says
What a darling pillow! And I agree, your font is really super cute – love those little birds too! What a nicely detailed tutorial!
Kathy says
Wow, this looks wonderful! I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
Kathy
Kelly @ The Moon and Me says
Your pillow is so awesome! Is it okay if I say I like it even better than the original?
Love it love it love it!
Kelly
Karen says
Patti, this is so cute! Thank you for sharing at Redoux! I am featuring tomorrow. I agree with the previous comment, your pillow is far cuter, and you have an awesome tutorial!
JaneEllen says
Love your pillow, must be nice to spend that kind of money on a pillow when it can be made by oneself. I’m too cheap (and believe me on SS that kind of money has to be used to buy groceries). I’ll try anything I can to figure out how to make it, but would not buy it. I thought their pillow was too busy, too much. Your tutorial is great, I might be able to actually use a font. I never keep them as I don’t know what to do with them, exceptionally digitally challenged. I don’t have a silhouette either so use stencils to do any wording needed. Not as good as I’d like but it’s all I’ve got to work with. I’m going to make this pillow cover, love it. Great post.
Happy holidays.
Richella Parham says
Patti, your pillow is absolutely adorable!! I’ve never used the transfer paper. You’ve made me want to start!
Can you tell me more about Microsoft Publisher? I’ve never heard of it. But obviously you’re making good use of it! 🙂
Becca says
Congrats! You will be featured on Friday’s Five Features over on DIY Vintage Chic. Stop by tomorrow and grab yourself a button!
Judy says
Hi Patti. I have been loving that pillow on Pinterest and in the Pottery Barn catalog. Yours turned out so pretty. Thanks for sharing all the info..Happy Thursday..Judy
Mindi says
Patti you have outdone yourself!! This is o stinkin’ cute and I agree better than pottery barns!! I love it! and I pinned it! It would be so awesome if you shared this at our wowza weekend link party!! It is too cute not to share!
http://mylove2create.blogspot.com/2013/12/wowza-weekend-link-party-34.html
Trina @ afewmineradjustments.blogspot.com says
Love it! You did a great job! Thanks for joining our Twirl and Take a Bow Party! Hope to see you again next week!
Rachel Paxton says
I love this! You were featured on . Come by and grab a button!
Rachel @ Maison de Pax
Jann Olson says
Patti, a lot of people have made this jingle pillow this year. All are cute, but I love your added little graphics! Thanks for sharing it with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Pat Champagne says
I love your Jingle pillow way better than the one from Pottery Barn. Thank you for the tutorial. Just found and joined your blog now. Can’t wait to follow along. Merry Christmas. Pat.
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