Winter Place Mat Pillows

Back in December when I went to the Blogger Christmas Social we were asked to bring a handmade gift and I brought these place mat pillows. 

I was at Target and saw these simple wintery place mats made from burlap so I bought 2. I think they were only $4 a piece (not super cheap but way cheaper than buying a pillow).

I didn't want anything Christmas'y but more Wintery so it could be used longer.

I wanted to make them a bit more 'handmade' so I cut out a stencil with my Silhouette using vinyl and stenciled on some wintery words.

I loved the metallic coppery color I found.

After the stenciling and paint was dried I then ripped open a 3 inch gap on the edge and stuffed it with poly fill (at Hob Lob a huge bag costs like $3, I think I used 1 bag for both pillows). Then I just hand stitched up the hole. Voila! A Pillow made from a Place Mat, hence "Place Mat Pillow"

 (like our fancy new faux fur blanket from Restoration Hardware that cost $100, my husband has a vendor at work that always spends a ridiculous amount of money on the Christmas gifts they give to clients, that could be a whole blog post by its self. PS, I would never have paid $100 for that thing)

 I wrapped them up with a bit of brown paper some brown twine and added a snow flake and a jingle bell! I thought the wrapping was super cute.

Place mat pillows are such great and easy handmade gift because there are always new and seasonal place mats out in the stores. Easy and totally can be personalized.