it's DIY time! (and the winner is...) {giveaway now closed}

happy Friday morning everyone! i know you're all dying to see what today's giveaway entails, but before we get to that, i wanted to share a special DIY with you.

many of you who visited the booth at Farm Chicks commented on the bunting backdrop i used. it was pretty awesome right? it was similar to the bunting Melissa and I used in the dear darling booth last year, except this year i had a bit of a crazier vision- a whole wall made of it!

since the theme of this year's Farm Chicks Show was 'Find what you love', i knew i wanted to incorporate hearts into the booth design, to play along with the theme. i had a few ideas running through my head (you can see some of my other inspirations on my 'farm chicks booth' Pinterest board), but after asking Melissa if she'd be willing to sew for me (i'm terrible at sewing), i decided on this sewn paper bunting again. 

i have a large stash of vintage dictionaries, most in poor shape, and since i wanted to keep the booth consistent with my black and white branding, dictionary pages seemed like a great choice for the paper. after cutting all the pages out of the binding with a rotary cutter, i ran a few pages at a time through the Sizzix cutter we borrowed from Melissa's mom, using a heart shaped die. once the hearts were cut, i counted out piles that would make a long enough piece of bunting to hang from the top of the booth to the floor. Melissa then sewed one pile in a long row to make one row of bunting. it was super tedious, but at least we did it together (Melissa usually does it by herself when she makes them for party decorations). 

once we had enough vertical rows for the back wall of the booth, we made a few horizontal rows to run along the tops, then i winded them all onto pieces of cardboard to keep them tangle free until Farm Chicks!  

the bunting in the lower left photo is one of Melissa's creations that she occasionally sells- so cute! 

i think bunting like this would make a really cute photo backdrop for a wedding or party, don't you?

so, as we promised many of you, today Melissa has re-posted the tutorial she created on her blog, Re.Stock, for making this style of bunting. we hope that you'll want to tackle this project yourself after seeing how simple it is! even if you can't sew (like me), it's a great team project, so enlist the help of someone you know who can sew!

last, but not least, since i know you can't wait to find out who won yesterday's giveaway, the winner of a necklace from Prairie & Pearl and a gather and hunt tote bag is...

Theresa Hanson from Yakima, WA! Congratulations Theresa! Send me a message with your mailing address and your necklace choice (I know you like the locket, but feel free to change your mind), so I can mail your prize to you!

if you haven't won yet- don't lose heart- there will be two prizes to win in today's giveaway, and you'll have all weekend to enter! check back soon for the big giveaway post!