Challenge Accepted

Today's refashioning project started with a bed sheet and a persistent sister-in-law.

Katie found this sheet at a thrift store and loved the pattern. She thought it would make a cute maxi dress. Since she is also quite pale she gave me some shreds of an old shirt that matched the blue color and said it would make a nice ruffle at the top to offset the light fabric. Well despite the odd and slightly demanding request, I think it turned out quite nicely. :)

I would also like to point out the amazing necklace that Marshall is safely chewing on in this picture. Similar necklaces can be found in all sorts of colors on my Etsy shop. Stylish and practical, great for that mom on the go!


Disclaimer: Do not try this with me. It worked because she was my sister-in-law. Otherwise, I would have told her to go away. :)

Who says you can't get anything of worth for only 5 cents??

I have been back in the frigid north for almost 3 months now! Time has absolutely flown by!

So, what have I been up to? Well... not much. I've started grad school and I am enjoying it very much. I am excited at what I am going to learn over the next three years, despite being at a hippy school that makes me meditate.

Since class is only one day a week and I have yet to find work, I have a lot of free time. During that free time I watch Netflix and craft. I have expanded my Etsy shop and have even shared a booth at farmer's markets and craft fairs with my sister-in-law, Katie, and our friend, Bethany.

Most of the things I have been making are to sell but a few have been for myself. Usually, I get my inspiration from Pinterest. This time it led me to this blog in which a girl finds ridiculous items at thrift stores and makes them cute. I thought I would give it a try.

I started with this lovely dress from a local thrift store. Their basement items are only 5 cents a piece!! It was clearly hand made and since this is a small town, if you know who made this, send my apologies. :)

What to do? What to do?

Well, first I cut out the shoulder pads and chopped off the sleeves. Then I pinned where I wanted the top of the dress to be.

Then I stitched up the top hem. 

I would like to take this moment to say how much I love my mom's sewing machine!

Then I threaded elastic through the top hem.

And voila!

Sorry for the Myspacesque self portraits but nothing else was working and I have no photographer.

An adorable new dress for only 5 cents! Plus any excuse to wear my pink heals is a bonus!

Stay tuned for more! I found many items during my excursion yesterday, there will be more creations!

Etsy

Yep. I did it. I opened an Etsy shop.

Check it out! More great things to come so check back often. :)

It's A Family Tradition

Christmas Crafting Fun!

Ok, so now that I have given everyone their Christmas presents I can show you all what I have been up to for the past few weeks (similar to what my sister-in-law did on her blog). Crafting!

If you haven't heard of it yet you should all check out Pinterest. I'm obsessed. Here are a few of the wonderful ideas I have found on there.

This is the change holder I made for my mom. We are planning a trip to Greece in a few years and have been saving change but Mom has only had a peanut jar to keep hers in.

I took a shadow box and drilled a slit in the top (with some assistance) and found a wonderful picture of the Greece shore to put in it for inspiration. You could find one pre-made online for about $25 but I find making them is more fun and about half the cost.

The next thing I made were wreaths. I made one for the Tinsley's and one for the Scruggs.

I found the inspiration on Pinerest but there was not one specific tutorial I could point you to. I bought pipe insulation at Home Depot for $0.98 and duct taped it in a circle. One, six foot piece was enough for two wreaths. I then wrapped the foam in yarn then took ribbon I found at the Dollar Store and ruffled it around and attached with pins. It took two spools of yarn for one wreath. I then took bells I also found at the Dollar Store and pinned them on and to complete the look I took ornaments that I found at... guess where... and hung them in the middle. The effect was wonderful. So all together each wreath ended up costing me $4.50. (I would now like to apologize to the people I made these for. They look more expensive than they actually were.)

Another project I thoroughly enjoyed was making this necklace.

I bought an ugly tie from Goodwill (the uglier the tie the cuter the necklace) and took it apart with my dear friend, the seam ripper. I then sewed it back together in a thin tube. I placed large plastic beads inside and tied a not in between each bead. A more in depth tutorial can be found here.

I bought the beads at Hobby Lobby and if you shop at Hobby Lobby and ever pay full price you are crazy. They have 50% off sales each week on different items. If what you want is not currently on sale, go back next week and it most likely will. If it can't wait they have 40% off coupons on their website every week and if you have a smart phone you can pull it up on your phone and don't need to print it off. Well that was my aside to Hobby Lobby. Moral of the story, I got the beads on sale and the cost of the necklace ended up being $2.50.

There are still other projects going on but until they are delivered to their final destinations I can not put them on here. If you have a spare minute (and I can tell you do since you are reading this) check out Pinterest but beware... it's addicting!

I hope all of you had a wonderful and joyous Christmas and have a Happy New Year!