HOW-TO-TUESDAY: sweater makeover

I've had this sweater for a few years.... it's soft and cottony and I love it.... but.... I never wear it.  One of those items you hang onto in hopes of one day wearing again.... But, honestly, do those days ever come?  Usually not for me....

So, I took this as a sign.... A makeover kinda sign!

Here's what went down:

I took this 100% cotton American Eagle sweater that I bought for the low-low price of $9.99 (I know!)....

And started by doing this....

 Then this....

Then this....

And this....

And this too....

And voila!  A new cardi from a sweater that I loved....

Yay!

HOW-TO-TUESDAY: t-shirt bracelet tutorial

So, there's no science or secret formula here.... the t-shirt bracelet is one of the quickest and easiest crafty projects one can do....  All you'll need for this project are:

- old t-shirts
- needle (sewing machine optional)
- coordinating (or not) thread
- scissors
- safety pin

Lots of fun to make.... and always an endless supply of t-shirt yarn.... 

Have a great day everyone  ;)

Getting here from there....

Ever since I was a child, I've been making 'stuff'.... some of the first things I remember making were furniture from cereal boxes for my pseudo-Barbie doll (my mom couldn't afford the real-deal, so I had the hollow plastic one who when you tried putting her into a seated position, would annoyingly put herself on display in a way that only adult men could appreciate... do you remember those dolls without bendy knees? maybe you had one too?)   

Aaaanyway, I hand-stitched little clothes to cover that doll, made pillows and blankets using my old clothes ~ I guess I did this out of necessity because we didn't have the means to buy the latest toys.... if anything, those were the beginnings of my love for re-purposing items.  It's funny where life takes you, isn't it?  It's been a rough journey for me to get to where I am now.... but, I'll tell you one thing I've learned, you should always appreciate the small things, because it's those itty-bitty, seemingly-insignificant, take-for-granted-type-things that truly make you happy.... The glitter and fluff is just that, glitter and fluff.... that stuff eventually blows away.  Not trying to be preachy or anything.... I'm just sayin'....  Step back every once in a while and take inventory.  It really does help keep perspective.

So, I'm appreciative of my meager beginnings; because, if they weren't a part of me then I don't believe I would have evolved into the extremely crafty, re-purposeful maven that you've come to know and adore  ;)  .... (did I also mention, I'm oftentimes full of crap?)

Anyhow.... getting on with things.... Found some really cute owl hats floating around the WWW, google it, they're EVERYWHERE.... Again, aaaanyway, anyone who even has the teeny-tiniest bit of craft-savvy knows that mostly everything that's in manufactured existence can be replicated in some way, shape or form.....  So here's my take on the owl hat....

The purple-eyed lady belongs to my little girl-babe.... the other two are being delivered today to our friends, Avery and Jordan.... I hope you like them!

Have a great day people  ;)

Interesting.... no, Pinteresting....

I am in love with Pinterest.... if you don't know what it is, check it out, it's pretty self-explanatory....  Think brainstorming-idea centre-organizing thoughts.... Ahhh, all in one place....

Anyhow, I've been having a great time browsing everybody's idea's and adapting them to my own life/home/what-have-you....  Just thought I'd share some of the Pinteresting things I've found of late....

Organization - Pinterest

Peacock tutu tutorial - via Pinterest

Fairy lights - found on Pinterest

Headband tutorial - Pinteresting

Chocolate chips and raspberries - via Pinterest

10 things to make with cereal boxes - found on Pinterest

Pinterest is for anyone looking to organize and share their thoughts.... have a look, you may be inspired to do something you didn't even know you wanted to do....

Have a great day everyone ;)

Little lady hip-sack tutorial....

You know how all kids collect things when they're on a walk or a hike or just outside in general?  Well, in my earlier Mommy days, I would just give the boys Ziploc sandwich bags to do their collecting.... then I realized how much we actually walked and hiked and were outside in general.... not very cost efficient or environmentally friendly to be using so many plastic baggies.

Anyhow, when my husband decided that his pair of camo cargo work-around-the-house pants were no longer fit for working around the house,  I snatched them up very quickly and ripped off those big, bulky cargo pockets and made hip-sacks for my boys.... they use them for everything!  Collecting, taking toys to Great-Grans, helping Daddy with working-on-type-projects.... they have been one of my most successful D.I.Y. sewing projects.

I figured it was high time I got around to making a girlie version for the mini-monkey....  Only this time, instead of using a cargo pocket (as I was told to "Stay away from my pants!"), I used a cut-off denim pant leg....

Here it goes....


What you'll need:


- cut off pant leg (demin or any other sturdy fabric leg)
- woven trim
- webbing for the strap backing
- hook and loop... aka velcro
- thread
- sewing machine
- button
- thin elastic for button closure
- embellishments (or not, totally your choice)

Cut an 8-10" length from the bottom of one pant leg.

At this point, decide which embellishments you would like to be sewn to the front of the hip sack.  This should be done before you sew the bottom of the sack closed as it's easier to slip the pant leg over the free-arm on your machine and maneuver it with ease.


 For this hip sack I created a ruching (pronounced roo-shing) effect on the front.  I cut a length of denim about twice the width of the pant leg from side seam to side seam. and roughly 2.5" wide.  I chose not to zig-zag the edges or do any kind of finishing hems to this... I want it to fray on the raw edges.  Sew a gathering stitch down the centre of the denim strip, causing the strip to ruffle.  Iron it flat and pin it to the front of the pant leg.  

Sew it on down the middle using a loose zig-zag stitch, then attach the raw edges to the sack using the same loose zig-zag roughly a 1/4" in from both edges. 

At this point, or when you're done with your embellishing, zig-zag the raw edges of the bottom of the bag then sew the bottom closed.  Use the finished jean/pant hem as the top opening of your hip sack... it's just easier that way, is less work, well, and makes sense :)

To create a wider bottom to the sack, push the side seam of the sack toward the bottom seam to create a point.  Sew across the point about 1" in, do this to both sides of the bottom of the sack... this will create a flat-ish bottom to your hip sack.

Sew the webbing to the back of your woven trim.  This will give you a stronger and more structured belt-like strap.  Cut a length of hook and loop closure about 4-5" long.  Sew the loop side of the hook and loop to one end of the strap on the woven trim side; sew the hook side onto the webbing side of the strap at the opposite end of the strap.


Attach the sack to the belt/strap in the middle of the strap, making sure to sew along the entire width of the back of the hip sack, this will ensure that it lays against your child's body nicely and doesn't sag in an odd manner.   Attach a loop of elastic to the middle back of opening of the sack and a button to the middle front about 1/2" down from the top; this will create a closure for the top of the hip sack.

And voila!  You're done!  Give it to your little lady and let the collecting begin!

Usually, the three hip sacks in our house get filled with rocks from one of our many hikes, then once home, they all get added to our rock garden.  It's a good thing we all have an affinity toward rocks.... I say, in the next 5 years or so, our little rock pile will be a mountain at my front door :D 

Aaaanyway, give it a try.... I highly suggest using a cargo pocket, if you can, as it will cut out the creating the flat-bottom pocket step and the button closure step as well, as most cargo pockets already have a flap closure.  Either way, your children will love these great little hip sacks.


Have a nice day all    ;)

Two old make one new....

Since having our daughter almost three years ago, we've been fortunate enough to have friends who are more than willing to pass along clothes to cover her little body....  Now, being the thrifty mom that I am, I am very, very appreciative of what we've been given.  It has made clothing her older brothers so much more cost efficient.  And as any parents of boys know, hand-me-downs are few and far between and so buying new boy clothes is a definite must.

Anyone who knows my children personally, knows that they are little trees.  Oftentimes when I do receive clothes of the girl-variety, the shirts are too short.... I have a size 5/6 top-wearing almost three year old.  It gets a little tough at times, she'll wear a shirt a few times and then it's too small.  So easy solution:  keep the smalls, stained, torn.... then de-construct and re-construct.


Here's a quick little tutorial for taking a stained top and a short top and making something cute and sweet!


Supplies needed:


2 shirts (given by 2 lovelies named A & A)
sewing machine (or not, hand sewing or fabric glue would work too)
scissors
coordinating or contrasting thread
buttons, embroidery floss
and YOUR CREATIVITY

Decide which shirt you'll be slicing and dicing.... in this case, I used the pink shirt for piecing over the white (stained) shirt.  

 First, I cut 2 long strips from the back of the pink shirt.  Then layered them one on top of the other and sewed them 1/2" in along both long edges to the middle front of the white shirt.

Then I cut 8 wonky (ye-ah, it's a word) circles and layered 2 together, spaced them evenly running down the middle of the pink strip.  I pinned and sewed them on in an X pattern.  In the middle of the X's, I sewed 4 different white buttons on using pink embroidery floss.  Then I cut the outer 1/2" into fringe along both long edges.

Here's the finished shirt being modeled by my cute little monkey.... "Tah-dah, momma!"....

The possibilities are endless for this quick and easy project.... ruffles, flowers, rick-rack, lace, use whatever you have.... and the nice thing about a t-shirt project is that you don't need to finish the raw edges, you've gotta love that!

Have a fantastic day everyone   ;)

New and coming soon to the shop....

For a while now, I've been throwing around the idea of adding a wider selection of 'stuff' to my etsy shop. You know, I'm a little more diverse craft-wise, than just hats, I really am.... I love ALL things crafty.

And as I admitted yesterday, I have a new obsession: finding fun and totally vintage patterns and pattern books. I've already added one vintage pattern of a cute kids/teens cotton dress/cover-up to the shop; and will be adding the other books that I just found too.

I've also been really liking the hand embellished kitchen towels that I've seen in stores, on etsy and elsewhere.... I decided to try my hand at that as well. Yesterday I added this cute little lady to the shop.... of course, this is an in progress picture, you can find the finished towel in the shop....


Secretly, I'm thinking that if it doesn't sell quickly, I'll just add it to my own kitchen towel drawer because I like it that much ;)

And, AND! The sea star washies are working up very nicely and quite quickly.... there'll be sets of those available later in the week, too.

I dunno what's going on with me... wasn't I just saying recently that I wasn't feeling much like crafting? Well, that drought seems to have passed. My mind is racing a mile a minute with different project ideas, and just last night after I had the kiddies tucked into bed, I whipped up a hip sack for Hammy. The boys have had their own for quite some time. They use them every time we go on a hike. They tuck their rocks, leaves, and anything else they find into them. And this time, I took pictures of the process.... I'm hoping to find the time to make up a tutorial for the hip sack soon.

Aaaanyway, nothing more to add today.... hope you all have a great day ;)

Quick sunday morning project....

I've had the itch to do some summer sewing projects.... just haven't had the time lately.... but, I had these two summer baby jumpers stashed away for no other reason than I loved how they looked on the Ham and I just couldn't bare to sell them.

After going through all of the kids clothes a few weeks ago, preparing for a Mom-to-Mom sale, I came across them again, and decided to cut the bottoms off and transform them into summer tops for the girl-babe.

A super simple project that I finished in 30 minutes.... that's two new summery tops.... in 30 minutes! I know!

Aaaanyway, they went from this....


to this....


to this.... Voila!


Have a great Sunday everyone ;)

Working day....

This little blog space has been feeling very neglected lately; but, I assure you, I'm always thinking of it.... it's just lately I've been busy with life in general - you know, sick children; school trips; helping friends; lounging poolside on hot days.... ok, technically the last one doesn't quite qualify as "work"; but it is definitely needed on some of our scorching Southern Ontario days....

Today is another busy one.... my beautiful friend Kim has organized a fantastically HUGE get-together tomorrow for all of Becky's family, friends and supporters.... So for me today is a prep day.... you know, getting veggies cut, rice and quinoa cooked, etc, etc, etc, so tomorrow morning I'll just have to toss the two salads together and fill and wrap a ton of rice paper veggie wraps.... sounds easy right? Fingers crossed tomorrow morning goes well ;)

And I'm hoping to throw together a pretty little Irish-inspired dress or top for my girl-babe.... and by Irish-inspired I just mean green.... I really don't have time between now and 2pm tomorrow to learn and feverishly knit an aran sweater or stitch-up a traditional tartan kilt.... not to mention, I don't have the slightest idea about how to do either....

Aaanyway, just wanted to let you know that I'm still kickin' around.... and if I do in fact manage to finish a dress or top for Hammy, I'll be sure to post it in this lonely little place....

My hunny will be by later today with your Friday night video, have a lovely afternoon until then ;)

Can we just skip this month????

Do you ever feel like you can do it all? Ever bite off more than you can chew? I think it must be a mom thing.... We all do it. I know it. You know it. Yet, we're able to put on this stoic face that lets everyone around us know that we are in control, when really, we're never totally in control of anything. Is that what it comes down to though? Control? We need to be the commanding officers of our own little army. The centres of our own little universe.

I CANNOT do. it. all. There, I've said it. Now you say it. Take a deep cleansing breath, and be fine with the fact that NOBODY expects you to do it all. No one except yourself, that is.

Aaaaanyway, just to give you an idea of what my May is shaping up to be, here's the short list:
Make toy soldier costume for school play (oh, and it needs to be to school for TOMORROW. I got a real head start on it though.... this. morning.).
Hosting Rummage Sale for a Cause Fundraiser with teammates and friends.
Helping a friend with a Plant Sale/Fundraiser at our school.
Baseball for my boys starts (2 nights a week).
Hosting THINK PINK TEA Fundraiser with teammates and friends.
Attend baby shower for a friend.... I LOVE BABY SHOWERS... AND I LO-OVE BABIES, YUMMM!
Signing-Up for baseball for myself. (What, you ask? Do I play baseball? No, but what the heck, I've got time.).
Mom-to-Mom Sale... I've got a table... anyone care to join me?
Kids Clothes Week Challenge being hosted by the wonderfully creative bloggity-blog Elsie Marley.... please do check out this space, it's so full of fun and inspiration.

So, this is everything I can think of off the top of my head... oh, there's more, there's ALWAYS more. I can get through all of this, I know I can. And I know it's really not as much as it seems.... and truly, truly, I love being busy. I must, otherwise I wouldn't commit to SO. MUCH.

As a side note, and totally-totally off topic; just yesterday I had an urge to check out the Habitat for Humanity site, really it was just my way of escaping all of the aforementioned happenings.... Anyway, I've always wanted to help on a build. So, here's what I found out.... a-ma-zing organization, a-ma-zing volunteers, doing a-ma-zing things for people. I'm serious when I say, I will do this one day... only catch is, I'd love to do it internationally. What a fantastic way to see the world and all of the wonderful people in it. Check them out, you will be compelled to help.

Anyway, it's sunday morning, which is pancake morning around here - and oddly enough, pancakes always put me in a good mood even though I don't eat them; but my kids always get so excited and that makes it so much more special.

This little menopausal moment has been very, very helpful folks.... I feel so much better now than I did when I sat down to type this. Sometimes all we need is to itemize our to-do lists.... it seems to give us better perspective, don't you think? Ahhh, *sigh of relief*.

Let me know how your May is looking.... Oh, I've had one taker on my offer to sew something for the Kids Clothes Week Challenge, anyone else interested in something for free? Please leave me a comment if you're interested.

Have a great sunday everyone ;)

Inspired by a friend....

On the way home from walking the boys to school this morning, I was talking with my friend Kim.... she was telling me and another friend how she was getting ready for the Royal Wedding on friday morning, and in the spirit of the wedding has made hair fascinators for herself and her sister to wear while they watch and sip some lovely tea. Of course, you know me, I could NOT pass up an opportunity to learn yet ANOTHER new craft *head spinning with ideas*....

So here's what I whipped up for me and the Ham....




Itty-bitty-pretty hair fascinators made out of red tulle. Whatd'ya think? Cheesy or Fun? I'm kinda partial to cheese.... The Ham and I will be donning these babies when we walk the boys to school on friday morning.... gee, I hope it doesn't do too much emotional damage.... Whatev; that's what mom's are for, I say....

Have a jolly-good day everyone ;)

Basic fort kit tutorial....

This is something that I am in no way passing off as my own idea. I mean, come on, when you really think about it, kids have been making these things all on their own since the day that sheets and blankets were first invented....

Us modern day mom's and crafty people just tweaked an already great idea and made it more of an actual 'kit'....

So here's what you'll need for your Fort Kit:


~double sized or larger flat bed sheet
~bias tape, ribbon or velcro
~sewing machine or needle & thread
~variety of clips or clothes pins
~rope
~flashlight
~storage bin or bag


Take your bias tape (ribbon or velcro) and cut desired length.


Sew one on each corner and a few evenly spaced on each sides (I think all totalled I ended up attaching 16 loops) and be sure to reinforce your stitches, I did two rows of zig zags about a 1/2 inch apart.... and it's also up to you about how many loops/ties you attach and what type you use. I used loops on mine for the rope to run through, kinda making it like a camping tarp. In hindsight, I would have actually attached a loop to the middle top of the bed sheet as well, just in case the fort builders wanted to 'tent' their sheet.... the more options the better.... And once the sheet/tarp part is complete, you just need to fold/roll it and tie it into a neat little bundle....


I also went ahead and made a little pouch to hold the clips. I used the back pocket of an old pair of cargo pants - easy-peasy! I'll do a tutorial for the pouches at a later date.... they're a TON of fun and great for boys! I've made them into hip-sacks for my guys and they use them whenever we're hiking.


So, here's everything all ready to go into the kit storage bin.... I struggled with bag or bin, and settled with bin. I thought a bag would be too fiddly for small hands and also that a child would be more apt to pull it out and play with it if they could actually see everything inside the bin.... I know in my home, kids are visually stimulated first, which I believe is true for most kids....


And, everything neatly tucked into their new home just waiting to be stretched out and hid in! And, of course, I had to attach my own personal touch by adding my 3 monkeys inc tag to it.... it was lots of fun to put together and give as a birthday gift to a special little friend.... who I hear has been enjoying the kit already!

This is just a basic kit. You can totally add to it and make it bigger and better.... the possibilities are endless!

Have a great day everyone ;)


I've linked this tutorial up at Polly Want A Crafter?