Another Pinterest Find

I am loving Pinterest. It is so cool to be able to spend a few minutes and have access to so many wonderful ideas, designs, crafts, etc.  Here is another idea I copied from a board on Pinterest. I love how they each turned out.  So the sweaters were purchased at Goodwill for $1.29 each. The pillow inserts I found at IKEA for $3.99.  I thought about buying the pillows at Goodwill too but since I am giving two of these away as gifts I wanted to make sure the pillow inserts were new and germ free like the just washed sweaters.

I still need to hand stitch the bottom of the pillow on the left but you get the idea.

This Time It’s Coasters

I keep seeing these cool coasters made out of ceramics tiles all over the internet so I decided to make a set for a young friend that is getting married next month. I love how they turned out and they were so easy to make.

I made my own design using a number of different fonts and a couple of digi scroll designs from Sugary Fancy that you can find here.  I printed the design off onto a heavy weight paper (in between paper and card stock but regular paper or card stock would work too) and then Mod Podged it onto the tile.  After that dried I painted the tile edges black then I lightly brushed the edges of the top of each tile with a semi dry paint sponge.  When the paint dried I added another coat of Mod Podge to seal the paper and give everything a nice sheen.  I added two coats of clear spray sealer along the top and sides of the tiles to make them waterproof.  When that was dry I cut out four pieces of black felt to glue onto the bottom of each tile. I like using a piece of felt the full size of the tile instead of the little felt rounds or squares. I think it gives in a more finished look.  Tie it all up with a pretty ribbon and you have a cute, homemade, personal gift.

 

Little Hands Can Create

Last year we made little stuffed pumpkins at our day care.  I picked up a variety of fall prints that I thought would make pretty pumpkins.  The children each picked their favorite fabrics and then cut circles.  I think the circles were about 4″ in diameter but you can cut them how ever large you want. You just need to make sure they are big enough to stuff.  After the circles were cut the children sewed a loose straight stitch around the edges of the circles.They gathered up the circles enough to stuff them with a plastic grocery bag but any type of stuffing would work.  After they are stuffed you need to tighten up the thread and knot it off. Don’t close up the top of the pumpkin all the way because you need to leave enough room to insert a twig that works for the stem. An adult will probably need to do this part.

Help the children hot glue the twigs into the top of the pumpkins and there you have it. Cute little mini pumpkins that are a perfect addition to any holiday arrangement and the best thing about them is they can be used for Halloween and for Thanksgiving!

Our pumpkin patch!

 

My Pinterest Obsession

Like thousands of people I have become obsessed with Pinterest. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. I have been motivated to bake more and craft more and even ponder the thoughts and quotes of others more.  I have Christmas presents figured out and I have done some home improvements and a little re-purposing of old things turned into new things. All because of my little obsession with Pinterest.

When I saw this on Pinterest I knew I had to make one.

These are so easy to make and really a lot of fun. I even enlisted the help of my son. The tutorial for the flower can be found here.  Her instructions were very easy to follow. I used hot glue for my flower and it was done and ready to wear in ten minutes.  So here is what you need to do to make a lovely t-shirt scarf/necklace…

First you need to cut up an old shirt. I used a men’s large size.  Start by cutting off and discarding the hem. Then cut 1 inch strips as far up the shirt as you can. My shirt had a picture on the front so I couldn’t go all the way to the arm pits. The more strips you have the fuller scarf you will end up with.

Then you need to stretch your strips by pulling them on each end. They will roll up into themselves and turn into almost a tube. 

When you get bored with doing this you can find a helper.  

After you have all your strips stretched you should have a pile of t-shirt “yarn” that is like this.  You can see in the picture that you create a lot of lint when you stretch out the knit strips. I soaked my stretched out strips in water and then threw them in the dryer to help get rid of some of the lint since I knew I would be wearing this on a black shirt.The yellow scarf shows all the t-shirt tubes the same length. I didn’t want that look so I cut mine into different lengths. This was a little more work but I was pleased with the final look of it. It did mean I had to stitch all my tubes back together and the easiest way to do that is to cut a little piece of your t-shirt into roughly a 1 x 2″ piece. Gather all the loose ends on one side of the scarf and fold the piece of t-shirt over them and stitch. Gather the other ends of the tubes and tuck them into the other side of the t-shirt piece and sew them in. I folded over all the edges of my piece of t-shirt as I stitched so I wouldn’t have any unfinished edges.  Sorry I didn’t take a photo of this step.  I then made my flower using three t-shirts of different shades of gray. I put a pin on the back of my flower so I can attach it to a head band or wear it on a sweater. One flower, many possibilities.

I am very pleased with the end result. I got a lot of compliments on it.

Do I Wish I Could Wear High Heels…that’s up for debate between me and my feet.

I can’t wear high heels, kills my feet, legs, back but boy if I could I would be sporting a pair of these babies. Oh my gosh are these the prettiest things you’ve ever seen?  They have a pretty price tag too, you can find it here.  Maybe it’s a good thing I can’t wear high heels. I would need to take out a loan for these.

Responsibility Station for Kids – available now! : I’m an Organizing Junkie

Responsibility Station for Kids – available now! : I’m an Organizing Junkie.

This is such a great idea for teaching our children responsibility.

Grandma’s Chair

I have had this chair since my grandma passed away in 1986. It was the chair she sat on while she sewed. To everyone else it is just an old beat up chair but to me it is a memory of a woman that I love and admire so there was no way I was ever getting rid of this chair. It has sat in my daughter’s room almost her whole life. Yep, looking just like this.

 

 

Catherine decided it was time to redecorate her room during one of her recent trips home from school. I decided it was time to do something about this chair that I treasured.

 

After I removed the tacks, that at one time held a cushion in place, I filled the wholes and sanded away. Then it was time for a few coats of spray paint. I don’t know how people get their spray painted projects to look so good. I can never seem to get the results I want but I live with it anyway.

 

 

 

So after those few coats of paint and a new pad from IKEA that I swear they made just to fit this special chair, it was finished and Catherine loved it. She loved it even more after I reminded her that it used to belong to her Great Grandmother. She didn’t know that (I know I told her the story when she was little but I guess not lately so she had forgotten) so now it is not only a functional piece of furniture that she uses when she is sitting at her desk but it is also an heirloom that has been passed down through the generations.

Why did I not do this 25 years ago? I’m just really glad I have always held onto this little chair.

From Spices To Jewelry

I’m almost embarrassed to show this picture but this is where my jewelry lived until a few days ago. Keep in mind I don’t have any jewelry that is worth anything so I have never really had a problem with it being kept (or unkept as the case may be) like this but I have been making some new pieces and decided I wanted to store it in a little more organized fashion.

I found this spice rack at the Good Will the other day. It was perfect for what I was envisioning in my head but it was not so perfect for what i wanted to spend. I thought $5.99 was a bit expensive for an old, somewhat beat up spice rack although it was very well made out of real wood. I’m cheap so I kept on looking.  Our Good Will has these magical Monday sales where everything with a green sticker sells for $1.97 so I decided to go back and see if my (notice it has already become mine) spice rack was still there. I was a bit disappointed when I went to the isle of various racks and it was gone. I looked over some of the other items to see if they might work. Right about the time I was beating myself up for being so cheap and just buying the stupid thing when I first saw it, there it was, tucked up under some other rack type items. Like it had been hidden in wait just for me. And yep, there was that lovely green tag just like I remembered. Oh happy day!

 I decided instead of screwing little hooks into the bottom, which would have made my necklaces hang too low, I would drill holes and glue in some wood pegs on the sides and front. Then I painted it, sanded it and stained it and it was beautiful.

 I love my new jewelry holder because now all of my jewelry is together, in plain view where I might actually remember to wear it.  I wasn’t sure what to do with my post earrings at first and even though this ribbon is doing the job I will probably switch it out for one with wire in it so it stays more taunt.

There are plenty of pegs for all of my necklaces and bracelets and even a headband.

Now if I could just do something about that ugly speaker built into my wall.

HOLY COW, where have I been?

I was shocked when I saw when my last post was. Where the heck have I been all this time?  Well, I’m here now and just in time to announce a new quick page exchange at ScrapMatters.  You can join in the fun here.

Andilynn Designs has done it again!

Andilynn Designs has created another fun and very versatile date element. This one is full of possibilities and you can win it by posting a comment this week on Andilynn’s blog to enter our Dates Matter Volume 3 sweepstakes! We’ll randomly select a winner on Friday March 12th!!

Here is how I used this fun set.