T-Shirt Refashion

Yesterday, I received a big box from Alicia stuffed full of super fun crafts to work on. I'm so excited to get going on all of them! This morning, I decided to sit down with the t-shirt refashion project she sent me.

At first, I felt completely out of my league - I've never sewn an adult sized piece of clothing, not even from a pattern! I wasn't sure I was going to have any idea what to do. But, I started sketching some ideas and then they just started tumbling in. It's so fun to run free with a project, without a "destination" in mind! With so many different ideas flying around, it felt a bit like listening to the make believe games my son and daughter play. They go something like this:

Her: Ok, pretend we're checking in to a hotel and going on vacation. Look at my pink suitcase - it has wheels!

Him: Right, ok. And then ninjas infiltrate the hotel lobby! And it's all hi-ya and whip-pew!

Her: Uh, ok. Then, me and my sister put on our pretty swimsuits and go to the pool.

Him: Yes! And we can have a race!

Her: Uh huh, or maybe we could try on clothes.

The project can take a lot of different directions, is what I'm saying.

I started out by completely forgetting to take a picture of the t-shirts Al sent me, and the pretty beads and handy organizer she packed in. Picture two brown t-shirts in a smaller and larger size.

I cut the smaller t-shirt down, giving it a one shoulder shape.



Then paired it with my sweats.



The larger t-shirt was to be used for embellishing, but I'm just not really a ruffles and flowers kind of girl. I like clean lines and solid colors, most of the time. (In fact, Al asked me a few weeks ago what colors I like to wear the most. I said brown. She asked what do you like to pair with brown? I said, often other browns. Ha ha! I understood why she had asked when I got my two brown shirts. Also, I laughed. She definitely listened!)

So, what to do with the larger t-shirt? While the one shoulder tank was sure comfy with my sweats, I decided it would be fun as a dress! So, I cut the shirt into a skirt.

I'm not going to go over all the steps I did because there are a dillion t-shirt refashion tutorials out there - all done by much better sewers than myself! I have no idea if I even did any of it the "right" way or not. This was definitely an exercise in trial and error - heavy emphasis on the error.

But, once I was done, this was what I had made. (I chopped my head off in the following pictures because I apparently make ridiculous faces while trying to photograph my whole self.)



I thought it would be fun paired with a big belt.



But, I also did want to use some of the pretty beads Al had sent. So, I cut out a few pieces of scrap fabric I had and beaded a little seed center for the flower. Here it is up close:



And pinned to the dress:



And, finally I braved the mirth of my numerous neighbors (Germany is very compact) and got a picture in true light to show you how I'll probably wear the dress most often - with one of my favorite shrugs:

T-Shirt Refashion

Days Go By

I just completed my most recent craft from Al! She had written recently about creating a perpetual calendar for herself, and she sent the ingredients off to me for my own. She did all the heavy lifting for me...counting out the pages and sticking little post-it notes in where I needed to start months and leave pages blank. Much easier for me and I got to concentrate on the aesthetics, instead!

I started off with this handsome journal.



I think I may go back and mod podge a decorative paper over the cover. But, I want to knock out a few other things first and make sure I've got mod podge skeelz before I take them to the calendar. It is supposed to be perpetual, after all.

Then, I designed header pages for each of the months. I started out by hand, but didn't like the direction I was taking. Rather than embellish out the page and try to steer around to the right direction, I decided to reverse course entirely and design the pages on the computer.

Take 1.

I used some gorgeous, graphic drop caps but ended up outside of the usage limits set by their designer and am therefore leaving those out of the pictures.

Ah, that's better.

Here's a glimpse of all the months.



The last step was to go back through and start adding in the dates I want to remember.



I'm color coding (because I always color code when given the opportunity). I made myself this handy little key that I tucked up front and will add to if I think of other important date categories. Any suggestions?



I'm really happy with the way this turned out! I love having this perpetual calendar and I love having an impetus to reach out and gather dates that I've wanted to know but never got around to finding out.

And now I'm heading down to the post office to get Al's next project in the mail!

Days Go By

Stars

Latest team picture:

(click through to see full size on Flickr)

Jen's very lovely and bright and light and ethereal yellow star is on the left, Al's shadowy and dark and glowing star is on the right.

Stars

Slow Growing Candles

Alicia sent me my latest project when I still lived in America.  Which would mean we're talking about March.  Which would mean I'm a crap craft blog partner.  But, on to the new news.

Al sent me some adorable teacups, a ceramic watering can, microwaveable soy wax, wicks, french vanilla scent and a link to design*sponge's teacup candle tutorial.  I had been eyeing this very project myself, and was stoked to have all the materials at hand and get started!

I hotglued the wicks to the candleholders. 



I need a new glue gun.  Mine is cute and pink but it's a little ridiculous to require a transformer to power a three inch long glue melter.

I melted the soy wax in the microwave, then allowed it to cool down to 140° to add the fragrance in.





I probably could have filled the watering can a little more, but I wasn't entirely confident the laws of physics would stay on my side and the hot wax wouldn't come bubbling out of the pouring spout.

All in all, this was a fun and very easy project and I'm thrilled with my three new candles! I almost always have a candle going in the kitchen and often one in the living room, as well. I'm looking forward to coming up with new vessels and scents and burning the midnight oil. Heh heh.





Look forward to a new Team Awesome Photo tomorrow!

Slow Growing Candles

Ribbons and bows and sparklies, oh my!

We live.  Just busy.  But, I have a feeling the floodgates are about to open up!

Alicia sent me the cutest craft and I had SO much fun with it.  Even better, my daughter scored. It all started off with these instructions (which I thought were pretty spanking awesome):

I set up all the goodies Al sent me:

I knocked out approximately three hairbows and then my glue gun crapped out.  Which sounds like a setback, but actually I was totally stoked at the chance to run down to Michaels and pick up the super cute pink glue gun I wanted anyway.

I got back, fired up the cuteness and had SO much fun.  My daughter got involved, picking out the ribbons she wanted and the "flair" she wanted added to each pin.  Then, she refused to leave my side, intent on averting any accidental mixup of the 12839387423293 hairbows she had picked out for herself with the 5 or so hairbows she had assigned to various friends.

Here's the finished haul:

One of them apparently tipped over and somehow I didn't notice that despite shooting about a dillion pictures of the lot.

Some of them came out really well:

Others of them didn't quite work out the way I had hoped:

I had a blast and my daughter cleaned. up.  All around WIN!

I sent Al's next craft off to her last week, so look for that next...

Ribbons and bows and sparklies, oh my!

It’s been a looooooong time coming…

You may remember that Alicia sent me two crafts in her first dispatch. I’ve been working on craft #2 for, uh…let’s not go there. Between training my replacement at work, prepping the house for sale and general extracurriculars and sports/household stuff/kids gotta eat/etc…, I’ve had a tough time squeezing in the fun stuff like this adorable stuffed owl kit.

Alicia suggested I let Cheeseball (my four year old little girl) help sew up the smaller owl, which was a fantastic idea! Unfortch, trying to squeeze that in to daytime hours just didn’t happen and I finally gave up and completed it myself. She’ll be the beneficiary of the two little owls, though, and that completely makes her sparkly little day.

This kit was a lot of fun and so, so easy. Alicia is one smart cookie and knows that a craft kit that includes all the materials and is designed for the skillset of a smallish child is right in my craft sweetspot.

I think I actually managed to execute just as well as a smallish child if you pretend not to notice the fact that these poor little owls are woefully understuffed. Even without the giant leftover blob of fluff, I can tell these needed more belly. Which leads into my very few tips for the project:

Sew up to the recommended opening on both owls before stuffing either.

Stuff, sew the recommended opening mostly closed, then stuff some more.

Yep, that’s it. Seriously – so, so easy, you guys!

It’s been a looooooong time coming…

Glitter Trees

All done!

This super fun Martha Stewart Tree Centerpiece Kit turns out the cutest, glittery little trees. Like all things Martha Stewart, the quality is excellent and the details matter. Everything you need comes in the kit (perfect for a total craft loser like myself) and the instructions are clear and easy (come to think of it, also perfect for a total craft loser like myself).

Here's a close up of the sparkle (my favorite part of...well, pretty much anything).

Bling!

And here they are in their little spot in our Christmas decorations.  I feel compelled to point out that these are on a mantel far, far above my little head and I had no idea it needed to be dusted AGAIN until the pictures called me out loud and clear.  (AGAIN!? I mean, I swear I dusted up there last year.)

And now...I have another part of Al's last package that I get to unwrap!

Glitter Trees

Batter up!

I received this adorable card and lovely craft assigment from Alicia this week.  It's so cute, in fact, that if I hadn't managed to fall prey to The Heinously Evil Stomach Bug Of Evil  (SO evil that the fact it knocked a few pounds off my scale STILL does not endow it with any redeeming qualities) this week, I would have already done it!

Coming soon....

Batter up!

One- From WA to NC

Today I went out and bought the first two projects I'll be sending to Jen. I hope to get them in the mail tomorrow so she can get the first one done this weekend.

One- From WA to NC