Well it's taken me longer than expected, as most projects do but I'm so happy to check this one off my list. It's a dress up dresser for our little bug. I'm working on a couple dresses, tutus, jewelry and some other fun accessories to hopefully fill it up in time for her birthday.
This project was super simple and there are some tutorials out there on the web or even better, Pinterest. You simply take out the drawers, I left one for shoes and other accessories, paint it and attach some fabric to the inside. I'd say the fabric was the hardest part but once it's full of fun stuff you wont even tell it's not perfect. I kept mine neutral anticipating it may go in a fun playroom one day but you could do all kinda of fun colors.
Stay tuned for fun posts on DIY costumes/ dress up items!
If you've been following my blog for awhile you know I've been saving up my glass jars in the hopes of recycling them into something amazing. :)
I was thinking Christmas would be the perfect time to put some of these gems to use. I had been saving quite the collection on top of our fridge.
Here's a couple ideas to inspire you to recycle your glass jars.
First, is my favorite...these apothecary jars. These are all over Pinterest so you're sure to find a tutorial for something similar.
For these, I simply gathered up some wood pieces I had from previous projects (originally from Hobby Lobby) and glued them together. The jar and the lid are simply old spaghetti sauce jars. Paint them in the color of your choice and you have you're very own apothecary jars.
I painted mine brown because I plan to use them year round and fill them with different items depending on the season. For free...these will get lots of use!
Second, a tealight centerpiece. This idea is also all over Pinterest. Simply pour some Epsom salt in a jar and add a candle and you're done. It's a dramatic look for very little work!
Go create some holiday decor of you're own. This year I'm really getting into the Christmas spirit. Not sure what is in the air but I'm loving it! More Christmas ideas to come....
After inheriting quite a few hankies from my grandma I was hunting for ideas to use them rather than have them stuffed away in a box.
My first creation was this adorable little hanky shirt for my babe. You can find a tutorial over at Trey and Lucy. It was the perfect lightweight fabric for summer and I'm pretty sure it will still fit next year.
I knew I wanted to make something I could wear as well to show off these vintage hankies.
So, who doesn't love scarves? I wear them all the time and I knew these hankies could easily make an adorable addition to my wardrobe.
They are so simple to make. Just pin the ends of two scarves together and sew with as little of seem allowance as you can. Repeat to your desired length. Mine was about six feet or six hankies long.
If the edges don't match up due to the sizes of the hankies, don't worry about it. Once your scarf is complete, you won't even notice.
I am in love! With so many different colors in the hankies, their are endless possibilities.
As you probably figured, I decided to take a little break from blogging. It all started out by me wanting to reorganize
and clean up my blog. Then things happen
and I got caught up in life. A day
turned into a week and a week turned into a month.
I was overwhelmed and inspired by all the feedback I got
when I took my blog down. I’m so happy
to encourage others to create!
Well, since I’ve been gone, I went on somewhat of a rampage
on my house and decided anything and everything needed to be cleaned and
organized. It’s an ongoing process and
is a bit more work than I had planned; probably another reason blogging was put
on delay. But honestly, all the work is
completely worth it.
Having an organized house puts you at such peace. I will continue this voyage with the hope of
one day having a place for everything…not that necessarily means everything
will be in its place.
I hope to share some of my organizing tips in the next
couple months of course with crafty inspiration mixed in and of course some
Christmas goodness.
For now, let’s enjoy some Halloween craftiness. I realize Halloween is over and these don’t
help much this year but if you’re like me, get started on them now and quite
possibly they will be ready for next Halloween.
I have to have a little disclaimer here…all these ideas came
from Pinterest. If you haven’t checked
it out, you should!
First up, these cute little lanterns. They are made from recycled glass jars I had
been saving up and left over paint.
Which made them free! I hope to
save up some more jars and create a bunch more for next Halloween to light up
our porch windows. Get the tutorial
here.
Next up, pumpkins galore.
These pumpkins are so quick and easy…and you don’t even need a sewing
machine. Although, I’ll admit, I used
mine to speed up the process. I used some lefover fabric so mine are in more neutral colors but they'd be super cute in bright, bold colors too. Find out
how to make your own here.
Finally, our little girl’s Halloween dress. I wanted an outfit for Halloween for our
little stinker but wasn’t really finding anything I liked in the store. Then I came across this free pattern and knew
I could turn it into something perfect for Halloween. It’s such a simple and quick tutorial; I plan
to make a couple more everyday dresses as well.
For this one I just shortened the sleeves, added a bow on the collar and
some ruffles on the bottom. You could do
all kinds of things with this simple pattern.
I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. Can you believe it’s November? The holiday season is upon us!
I’m excited to be back and thank you for all your support!
I've recently fallen in love with this look of multiple sized vases in a group lining a shelf.
I thought to myself that could easily be made on your own by painting a bunch of different vases on your own instead of paying tons of money for ceramic ones.
Instead of simply painting the outside of each piece of glass with a sponge brush, thanks to Pinterest, I found an even quicker tutorial here.
It is so simple, just poor some paint in your bottle and swirl away. You wont be able to use them as a true vase with water inside but for me that was perfect. I wanted some to redecorate the top of my kitchen cabinets.
Save up your recyclable glass (milk bottles, spaghetti sauce jars, salsa jars, juice jars, etc.) and you can do this project for practically nothing. If you have paint on hand, it's free!! I used left over acrylic paint for these but once I get some more glassware saved up, I plan on using leftover house paint.
Such a simple project that can create a dramatic look. I love them!
(These were not my first color choices but I wanted to use the paint I already had on hand. The "coral" looks a lot more pinkish than I had planned. Im a sucker for color though, all white wouldn't have looked right to me.)
I've seen similar doily jars on the web lately but all the tutorials I could find were using spray adhesive. I have to say, I'm not a fan of spray adhesive at all. It gets everywhere and gets everything sticky and gross and I find myself cleaning it up for days to follow. So, I was not into the spray adhesive route and decided to attempt a different version. These are so easy to make and all you need is (all currently on hand and this project is $0!):
Doilies (I used old ones from my mom but I would search antique shops)
Recycled Glass Jars (I used spaghetti sauce jars for mine)
Mod Podge
Sponge Brush
Ribbon or Hemp Yarn
Tealight Candles
Sorry I don't have good pictures for this tutorial. I know, I'm not very good at capturing moments throughout my projects. This is so easy though, you don't need them.
1. Peal the label off your glass jar and clean any "gunk" off. This is seriously the hardest step of the whole project.
2. Once you have your clean glass jar, spread a thin layer of mod podge on about 1/3 of the jar. Press your the center of your doily to the area of the jar that you just applied mod podge. Slowly apply more mod podge to the jar where your doily will be attached. Once your whole doily is mod modged to the jar, press all around making sure it adheres.
3. I then applied mod podge all around my glass jar (even where the doily was not attached) in order to make it consistent around the jar. With light shining through once you add the tealight, you will notice where there is or is not mod podge applied. Set your jar aside to dry completely.
4. Once your jar is dry and your doily is attached, add your ribbon or hemp yarn to the the top ring. Embellish with buttons or beads if you like.
The bucket I once used to store hair accessories for my little girl was suddenly overflowing and I had clips and headbands everywhere. I don't use headbands much any more since they are immediately pulled off but every now and then when I would go to find one, it was a big mess. I'm all for organization so I researched some ideas on the internet and then created my own with supplies I already had.
First up this embroidery hoop with a hanky from my grandma and some lace ribbon to store clips. As always, I love the vintage look and it's perfect to display clips so I can find one to match quick. Once my little girl's hair grows out I can add more lace ribbon to hold more clips too!
Next, this simple formula container covered in scrapbook paper. Super easy and I love that you can see the headbands out in the open rather than thrown in a drawer. Plus, you can store extras inside. With fall and winter approaching I'll have to swap out some other colors.
I don't have picture of this rack before I hung it and inserted the book but I think you can get the idea. It was basically just an old floor heating vent with no middle that I just cleaned...a lot. I got this for free from a antique store downtown. I don't know the name of this store but it is in an alley and whenever I go in there the guy just states a price, nothing is marked. On this trip I had an old window and this vent and the guy said "I'll take $5 for the window and you can have the vent." Shortly after, we walked over to an antique store across the street and similar windows were selling for $20 and similar vents for $10. I thought I got a pretty good deal.
Anyway, this old vent was missing the middle and it wouldn't quite work
to hold magazines so I had to find something to put in the middle. I
thought of using it as a picture frame type thing but if you have been
to my house you know I have enough pictures hanging around. Then as I
was going through our bookcase to get rid of some, I came across this
book that I had from college and thought it would be perfect to put in
the "frame" of this old vent. So there you have it, that's all. It's
just an old heating vent with a book in the middle screwed upside down
to the wall. Perfect for our little reading nook on our porch. I love
sitting out there in the spring and fall.
This cute little outfit was made from this vintage scarf I found at a antique store for one dollar. I made some shorts to match out of some extra pink fabric. One day I will get to the sunhat I planned for this little outfit. It's still a bit chilly here but once summer hits, this is the perfect outfit to stay cool in.
I've kind of been on a repurposing kick lately. After finding numerous clothes that were stained or I just didn't like anymore I got to thinking about what I could make with all this extra fabric I now had. The first creation, pajama pants from old t-shirts. My tutorial is not the best because I get going and forget to take pictures along the way. They are so simple though I think directions will suffice. These are so perfect for comfy lounging/night time pants. Plus, they take about five minutes to make.
First cut your tshirt's arms off and cut the front apart from the back so you have two pieces.
Then fold your fabric in a way that will make the t-shirt design stand out when the pants are complete. This may take some time and hard thought. :) Even with the thought in the beginning, they may not turn out as planned as I experienced.
Second lay your premade baby pants on top of your folded t-shirt. You want the side seam of the pants lined up with the fold. Mark around your pants leaving about half an inch for seam allowance.
Sew the legs closed like so.
Turn one leg right side out and place inside the other wrong side out leg (so right sides are together). Pin and sew the two legs together.
Turn the pants right side out and fold the top over about an inch or whatever width your elastic is. Sew the hem in place leaving a small opening to pull your elastic through.
Measure your elastic loosely around your baby's waist. Pull your elastic through your hem using a safety pin.
Sew the ends of your elastic together using about a half inch seam allowance. Pull elastic to encase it in your hem.
Whaaalaaa...finished!
Note: You can hem the bottoms and may want to hide the raw edge of your hem for the elastic. I didn't feel this was necessary since the tshirt fabric doesn't fray much, it just curls.
