Recycled Wood Sign Key Holder

I used old fence to make this wood sign and then added hooks along the bottom for my keys. I had another plan to decorate a key holder until I came across how to use your home printer to transfer letters to wood on Pinterest. I had to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was.

First thing I did was build the sign. I used three pieces of wood fence and two pieces of scrap wood for the back. I nailed them together and lightly sanded the wood.

I first saw this tutorial for transferring letters to wood on Pinterest from Upcycled Treasures. I printed the saying I wanted to use with my ink jet printer in reverse. Place the letters face down on the wood. Instead of using a brush to wet the paper I used a damp sponge. I think it allows a little more control to how wet you get the paper. If you get it too wet, the ink will run.

Working small sections at a time, I used the cap of my sharpie to rub the back side of the letters, transferring the ink to the wood.

After I finished transferring, I filled in the letters with sharpie markers.

My fence wood was a little old and blah, so I used a natural colored stain to bring out the wood grain.

I drilled small holes for the hooks. This wood was very old and dry and I didn't want to take a chance of it splitting. 

The last thing I did was add some hardware to the back so I could securely hang it on the wall.

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Crochet Jar

I love to find ways to recycle trash into something useful. I have been waiting patiently for someone to finish off this jar of pickles so I could crochet it!

I used this pattern

These jars could be used for holding flowers, pencils or candles. They would even make cute center pieces for a vintage wedding.

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DIY Girl's Purse From A Stuffed Animal

I made this sweet bunny purse for my daughter just in time for Easter but you could use any stuffed animal for this cute project!

So I wanted to do this after I saw some really cute animal purses at Target. I got to thinking, maybe I could make one with an old stuffed animal. So often kids end up with more stuffed animals than they can ever play with. What a cool way to hold on to a cherished toy and re-purpose it into a fun bag. If you can't bring yourself to cut up one of your own stuffed animals, you can check out the thrift store. I know most people aren't into buying used stuffed animals, but take a look, you never know! I found this bunny at the thrift store. It was clean and in good shape. After a bath in the washing machine she's good as new! 

When deciding on the animal to use, keep in mind the shape and position of animal. It's going to be hanging there by a strap. You want something that is going to look natural and not like it's hanging on for dear life! This bunny wouldn't have been my first choice. I was actually looking for a dog or cat but this was all I could find at the thrift store that day.

I found a couple tutorials online on how to sew in the zipper and lining. I put mine together by following this one. She even used a bunny too! Here are a couple more to check out...My Darling Rainbow and Knitting-and

What you need:

• stuffed animal
• zipper
• something for strap(I used a belt also from thrift store)
• fabric for lining

In the tutorial I followed, after cutting the opening for the zipper she flipped it right inside out and and sewed the lining and zipper. I wish it was so easy for me! I had to use a combination of sewing machine and hand sewing. It was a bit of a fight! After some harsh words, I figured it out and the bunny and I made up. 

Finish sewing the straps on before closing the lining

I can't wait to try this again with a different animal. My daughter LOVES purses!

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Upcycle Hand-Me-Downs, Summer Edition

It's such a bummer to have all these clothes for boys here and now I have a little girl that can't use them...or can she? I'm turning my boy's hand-me-downs into girl's clothes again! 

I pulled out the clothes from storage and found a few pieces that had potential for summer refashions...

Overalls Cut Offs...This is the easiest makeover of the bunch! Just cut off pants and pull apart the bottom a bit to make them fray more. I didn't really like the red patch on the front pocket so I pulled it off and replaced with a crochet heart applique. 

T-Shirt Make Over...This shirt is very easy and best of all, when you use knit fabric, you can leave the edges unfinished. Trim shirt as pictured, sew the tops of front and back to make a pocket for the tie. Tie is bottom cut off of adult tshirt. 

Tie Front Button Up...This shirt definitely took the most patience. I wouldn't say it was hard, but I had to go slow and I hate doing stuff slow! Carefully remove sleeves, and trim fabric up closer to collar. Measure and cut bottom of shirt leaving long sections in front for ties. I inserted some elastic in the back and then sewed up all rough edges. I added some lace to make little cap sleeves.

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Turn A Man's Shirt Into A Skirt

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was just brilliant so the last time my husband was cleaning out his closet, I grabbed one of his old shirts. This skirt is so easy, all you have to do is sew straight lines!

My daughter loves her new long skirt because it makes her feel like a princess!

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Matryoshka Plaque

I have been slightly obsessed with Matryoshka Dolls for a couple weeks now and this paper pieced wooden plaque is the first of many projects I've been planning. I've had so many ideas for Matryoshka projects, I had to start writing them down so I wouldn't forget! These pretty plaques are made up of images cut from magazines! Yup, I'm recycling again. I have so many magazines which I do try to read, but there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Supplies:

• piece of wood(scrap section in home improvement store is perfect for this)
• old magazines
• Mod Podge
• glue stick

I started out by drawing the doll shape on a piece of paper and cutting out. I use this as a template so I can piece the cut out paper into the right shape I want. I chose to stain my wood but it's up to you what look you want.  Now just flip through your magazines and look for pretty pictures/patterns that will work with your design! If you don't have any magazines you could always use scrapbook paper too. My faces are circles cut from large faces in the magazine and then I use pen to draw on the eyes and mouth.

I glued my paper pieces together with a glue stick first to make sure everything stayed together the way it was supposed to. Now, just Mod Podge the pieces onto the prepared wood. Magazine paper is pretty thin and will rip when it gets wet so be careful! Follow with a few layers of Mod Podge to seal it really well.

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Upcycle Hand-Me-Downs 2

Turning boy's clothes into girl's clothes...again!

So here is my second go at taking my boy's hand-me-downs and refashioning them for my girl.(see first clothing upcycle) I can certainly go and buy her new clothes and trust me, she has tons but it's fun to try something new and save some cash while I'm at it! I saw these shirts early in the season that had ruffled sections of sheer fabric in the back. I wanted to do something like that but since it's still winter, no sheer fabric over here! 

This is a boy's heavy, sweater-like shirt. I tried it on my daughter first to see what the fit was like. I wanted it to be a little more fitted so I cut off the sleeves and them trimmed excess fabric down the sides. I cut out a section from the back of the red sweater where I was going to insert the grey.

For the grey back section, I used a men's grey t-shirt and cut a section from the bottom of the shirt (keeping the original seam) about twice the width of the red sweater. Since I wanted it to hang a little lower in the center, I made the length longer in the center.

Ruffle this grey section by running the top edge through your machine with the stitch length and the tension settings turned all the way up. Now sew the top edge of the grey to the bottom edge of the back of the red sweater with zigzag stitch(don't forget to readjust the tension and stitch length back to normal).

Now you just need to put the rest of the shirt back together, sew the sleeves back on(I made mine a little tighter) and down the sides.

I cut out a heart from the grey t-shirt for the front and attached it with a zigzag stitch.

 See Upcycle Hand-Me-Down #1

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