Dress Up Your Liquid Soap Bottle

A quick and easy craft project using a sweater sleeve and a rubber band.  From inspiration to finished product in under 15 minutes!  I just can’t stop making stuff out of Thrift Shop sweaters.  

I like to use liquid hand soap but the ho-hum (ugly) bottle on my sink really bothers me.  I’m just too lazy – oops, I mean BUSY – to decant it into a prettier container.  But today, inspiration struck.

I couldn’t pass up this cute little girl’s sweater at the Thrift Shop.  I figured it was worth it for the buttons alone.  Today I cut off the sleeves, and dressed up my sink tops with a little “slipcover” for my liquid soap dispenser!

Here’s how:
1. Lop off the sleeve of a sweater.  Cut it MUCH longer than your soap bottle.
2. Slip it over the bottle with the cuff at the top.
3. Secure it with a rubber band around the screw cap part of the pump.
4.  Fold the cuff down and arrange it nicely.
5. Here is where you will need to make some decisions based on the thickness and pattern of your sweater.  I was planning on gluing or stitching a hem for the base and that is still a fine idea.  But I decided to simply turn it under with a generous hem so that the raw edge tucked nice and flat all the way up to the design on the sweater.  That way, if the edge made a bump, it would be camouflaged.

 That’s all!  How simple….  And best of all, when it gets yucky, just throw it in the laundry and slip it back on.

Your Desk Wants a Makeover

My Three Offices....  Yes, I have three offices.  My home office, my "creative" office (aka my craft & sewing room), and the office where I spend the most time - the one that generates a paycheck.  

Unfortunately, the one where I spend the most time is the least cozy and appealing.  Organized - but that's not enough - right?  I want pretty!

Inspired by a Thrift Shop sweater, I transformed my ho-hum desk to a cozy retreat that I look forward to sitting at all day.

I started with the sweater and this lamp.  The lamp was a great find at the Thrift Shop.  It tested out perfectly (you always want to check the wiring).  It was really a perfectly fine lamp but just a tad boring.  

So I lopped off a sleeve of the sweater,  slipped it over the base of the lamp and was delighted with the results!  I used the cuff at the top, turning it down so it would fit properly and also provide a little extra interest.

I cut the bottom edge so that I had about 1/2" to turn under.  I used a bit of fabric glue to secure it. It still needed a little embellishment, so I added a couple of ribbons and the results were just what I wanted!




Next, I started in on some accessories.  I knew the plastic pencil organizer would have to go! So I found a glass vase, just the right size and shape and using the other sweater sleeve, made a little cozy.  See my post from AprilDress up a glass or vase with a sweater sleeve cozy!  Perfect!  

Next up.... the paper clip dish.  With another Thrift Shop find, some paint pens and a great idea from The Mother Huddle, I glued magnets on the bottom of the little plate, drew a cute design on the plain white dish and my paper clips now have a much cuter home than the unattractive plastic thing.

They won't fall out!

Before... not bad - just not very cozy.

Now my ho-hum and 'oh so ordinary' desk has lovely light and pretty accessories.  All from a cast off sweater and a few thrifty finds!  I couldn't be happier.

After - or maybe I should say "in process".

Next I think I will work on a dish for my sticky notes and maybe a new stylish mousepad.  Any more ideas?  I'd love to hear them.

Make a Cute Fish Pincushion

Put this on your craft to do list!  Make a felt pincushion that is a cute little fish.  This one is cute enough for Mom but also manly enough for a Father’s Day craft project. 

I found this tired and sad little fishy swimming around in Grandfather’s sewing basket.  I’m guessing he is about 60 or 70 years old.  Definitely needs to be retired since his innards are coming out.  So I found some felt and a few ribbon bits, dug out the pinking shears and started on a whole school of little fishies. 

Here’s how:

1.  Draw, then cut out a fish shape on paper.  Mine is about 6” long.

2.  Cut 3 identically sized felt pieces.  If you use a contrasting color for the bottom piece it makes a nice effect for the tail.

3.  On the two sides that will be the top of the fishes body, use pinking shears to give a jagged effect.

4.  By hand or machine with wrong sides together sew the pieces together to form the body.  Use a 1/8” seam allowance that will protrude and give him some dimension. 

5.  Leave the third side partially open so you can push in some stuffing.  I like Polyfill.  Stuff it rather tightly so that the pins will stay put.

6.  Before you stitch up the remaining bit, use some sparkly embroidery floss to make eyes.  I like to use a French knot but use your imagination and see what happens.

7.  Finish stitching the body. 

8.  Take a bit of ribbon (about 5-6” will do) and tie tightly so that the tail fans out.

Upcycle! Make a Flower Vase Cozy from a Sweater Sleeve

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with snapping up Thrift Shop sweaters and turning them into pillows and lampshades.  I now have a nice collection of sweater sleeves and I’ve been thinking about how to use them.  Then it hit me….  Make cozies for flower vases!  I have a bunch of glass vases from flower shops that aren’t really that pretty but seem too nice to get rid of.  Dress them up with a knit cozy.   Perfect!

This is a very easy DIY project but you will need to play with it a bit depending on the shape of your vase and the thickness of the sweater.  I actually used several methods on these vases.  The shapely red one was actually the easiest.  I used the turned cuff at the bottom, slipping the arm part over the curves then I tucked the excess into the vase.  This is perfect for artificial flowers but won’t work as well with fresh flowers that need water. 

I fiddled around with various ways to stitch the raw edges and finally found that it really works better, and is much easier to simply tuck the raw edge under.  If there is a line or bump, cover it up with a pretty bow. 

The part that makes this project so much fun is that the knit is so forgiving.  You can stretch it around a variety of shapes and sizes, in a variety of ways.

Give it a try.  I had lots of fun and I love the results!

              

Bunnies, Hearts and Spring

What a great project for Spring!  Get started now making some for Mother’s Day.  It is so much fun to work with Polymer Clay.  Whenever Nicole brings me one of her creations, I get so excited and this little pot is one of my favorites. 

Sponge paint the little pots and have a blast embellishing them with little flowers and critters made with Fimo or Sculpey.

Organize Spools of Ribbon in a Hurricane Globe

It's so easy to see everything.

Last month I organized all of my bits of ribbons on foam core.  That is working out so well.  I love it!  But I still had ribbons on spools that really had too much yardage to take off and wrap on the foam core.  I had tried using a dowel system but that wasn’t really working for me.  They seem to unroll too easily and also, I like to be able to just grab a spool and take it to my project, which is sometimes in another room.

Since I really like to SEE all my pretty supplies, I came up with this system.  SIMPLE!  I stacked them all inside a hurricane globe. 
They are neat and organized, protected from dust, very easy to get to and best of all… I can see them all and they are so pretty!

The relatively small size of the stack makes it manageable.  If I need a spool from the middle or even the bottom, I simply lift off the hurricane globe, the stack remains stable and I can grab the spool I need without the stack toppling over or unwinding. 

A couple of notes however….  Be sure you select a hurricane globe that is wide enough for the spools.  Also, if you slip a plate under the entire thing, it gives it even more stability when you lift off the globe.

Organize Your Ribbons & Trims

I know how hard it can be to keep your craft room organized when you have so many creative ideas bouncing around your head.  When my crafting supplies are not organized, I sometimes find myself running up to JoAnn’s or Michaels to buy a bit of ribbon, trim or fabric just because it is too much trouble to rummage through my stuff to find what I need.  Now that is ridiculous! 

So, let’s get organized!  I’m planning a series of posts to help you organize your craft room.

If you are like me, you can’t bear to part with small bits and pieces of ribbons and trims.  You never know when a small piece will be just perfect for an accent.  Until now, my organization method has been tossing the bits in boxes or bags, loosely grouped by color and size.  It has been okay but I knew I could come up with a better system.  So I did a little research on Pinterest and found several ideas including boxes with holes to pull the ribbon out, tic tac containers, pants hangers and dowel systems of all sorts.  Great ideas, but none of these seemed right for my collections of assorted odds and ends.  Finally I found a picture of ribbons wound around a piece of cardboard cut from a packing box.  I tried that one and it certainly did clean up the collection but I still wasn’t satisfied.  

• First of all it really wasn’t very pretty.

•  Second, the way I had to secure the ends with pins was a bit dangerous – I really don’t like pricking my fingers.  

• This led me straight to the perfect solution!  

FOAM CORE!

Neat, organized, easy to see what you have and... 

OH SO PRETTY! 

To cut the foam core, mark with a pencil then
using an X-Acto knife and straight edge,
score along the marked line.
Now "crack" the board, turn it over and
make the final cut.  

I cut a piece of 20” x 30” foam core into 15 pieces each 4” x 10”.  Wound the ribbons around the short side and secure at the top with a pin.  By sticking the pin into the top of the foam core, you’ve added some protection against getting poked by the sharp point.  These boards will now fit perfectly in those fabulously decorative shoe boxes.