Pinterest Make: Yarnwrapped Monogram

I am still in love with Pinterest.  It's the best of browsing the web and flipping through magazines, all in one (free!) spot.  Mostly, my Pinterest boards are full of dreams and somedays, but this weekend I used one of the ideas for a wedding shower gift.  The mission: give your letter a sweater.

One ball of yarn (Hello, Vanna!), a large wooden letter, and a glue gun is all you need for this project.

Wrap the tricky bits first.  (Thankfully, a J doesn't have too many tricky bits.)

Squeeze out a bit of glue, every so often (on the backside) and keep wrapping tightly.

Finished letters look good on bookshelves!  Hopefully the soon-to-be Mrs., Mrs., Mrs., Mrs. Jones....Mrs. Jones will find a good place for it in her new home. :)

There you have it!  In 15 minutes or less, you could have one, too.

Last Holiday Thriftcraft Hurrah

This is it.  Holidays have come to an end.  Tomorrow will be the mad scramble of preparations before school begins again on Monday.  I couldn't let the day go by without a craft...or two.

It's been a yarn-free weekend.  I found a tutorial for a t-shirt scarf at A Diamond In the Stuff.  (Follow the link for the full explanation.  She does a great job of explaining it.)

I successfully made a green version today, although it's more of a necklace than a scarf.

This was made from a polka dotted t-shirt, so I was disappointed that the fabric curled the other way and only a bit of polka dots popped through.

I'm not over the moon about this one, but I'm going to think about what kind of bling I could add to it and I might save it for Spring.

Cost of the bling-free scarf/necklace: $1.00 for a thrift-store t-shirt.  (Free, if you've got an old or damaged shirt hanging around.)

If you're going to give this craft a whirl, know that the t-shirt fabric must be a jersey knit.  My first attempt was with a cherry pink ribbed knit t-shirt.  While it was a fail, I'm happy to report that I'll be able to turn it into all kinds of funky little rosettes like this one:

Finally, I framed and mounted another piece of sheet music.  It was hard to photograph, thanks to the glare from the glass, but this is going to hang in our bathroom.  I think it's a charming little phrase to have reflected beside my face in the mirror. :)

You can find a quick and simple set of instructions in an earlier blog post.

Cost of this project:  The sheet music was a $1.00 find from an antique mall somewhere near Ithaca, NY.  The frame was a $12.00 special at Michael's.  $13.00 framed decor sounds like a good deal to me!

His&Hers Art (No yarn was harmed in the making of this craft.)

This is by far the quickest craft I have made in a while.  We got a new duvet cover which inspired the following his and hers framed set: king and queen chess pieces.  One sits on my night stand, and one on his.  Here they are against the duvet:

These are simply free clip-art printed onto ivory card stock and slipped into 4x6 frames from the dollar store.

Cost:
$2.00 for the frames
$0.02 for the paper (seriously--precut at the dollar store!)
$? for the ink
==========
Under $2.50 total.

While I type, hubby is busy working on the Monday Makeover.  I can hear the brush strokes!  Here is a preview:

We purchased the paint in the spring with good intentions, so it has been sitting for a good, long while.  This sunny, warm Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect weather for painting, but it definitely needed a good stir after all that waiting...

(He stirred it 500 times, to be precise.  I love that he counted and I love that he's game for painting things purple!)

Looking forward to showing off the finished project.

Colourful Cozy Comfort For A Corner Of The Classroom

I've decided my classroom needs a few touches of homemade craftiness. My first project was a pillow. I found the pattern on a blog called Attic 24. The pattern is listed as a "Blooming Flower Cushion," and while it looks like a flower on the Attic 24 page, when worked up in one colour, it almost likes like an alien flower or a funky piece of coral or something. Whatever it is, I think it looks super cute on my kid-sized IKEA chair in my Book Nook.




The pattern is pretty cool--working in front loops to create shells and back loops to create plain dc backing.



Finding a round pillow form was NOT EASY. After hunting through Michaels, Len's Mill, Fabricland and Zellers, I finally found a gorgeous one at....Goodwill! It was in excellent shape and better quality than a typical craft store pillow form.


Sooo..... total cost for this project:


$0.00 for the yarn (it was scraps from an afghan I made 2 years ago)
$1.00 for the pillow form
================
$1.00

WOW!. Cheapest craft yet. ;)

Dresser Collection

I can't take full credit for this idea. It's based on a suggestion I found in some magazine, somewhere, at some time! One of my favourite little bits of my dressing room/our guest room is my dresser collection of blues and greens. Nothing on the dresser cost more than $5.00 (the jar of beach glass from Nova Scotia) and most things cost less than $1.00. Every so often, I see something interesting and add it in and/or swap something out. A simple way to add a little cottagey-kitsch to our cozy home. :)

Spraypaint Success!

The fastest way to transform something from ugly into updated? Spray paint. :) Here are two projects from a recent Spraypaint Sunday.

The first project took all of about 60 seconds, including the time to hang it on the wall. A somewhat tacky metal Christmas card display "wreath" became a year-round wreath after I removed the metal bow and sprayed it with bright yellow paint. It looks very happy on our office wall. (Now send us lotsa photos and postcards so we can fill it up, okay?)

Here is the wreath before...


...and here it is after!


The second is a set of candlesticks. I haven't decided if they're a centrepiece for the dining room table or a funky bookshelf decoration. Anyway, they're all re-used items. Two of the big candlesticks came from hubby's weird collection of stuff. The other four were purchased from the thrift store for $0.50 to $1.50 each. The tray cost a whopping $0.50, too (ugly print, but a neat shape).

Please try this at home! If there is any wax left on the candle holders, just put them in a freezer for a few minutes and then pop it off with a butter knife. Use a damp rag to wipe off any dust or grease and get to spraying. ;) (Don't forget to wear gloves....remembered that this time! Also, make sure the drop cloth you're using for spraypainting completely covers your work surface. We have black, white and schoolbus yellow patches of grass in the backyard right now.)

Total cost of the 1st project:
$2.00 for the wreath
$1.00 for 1/5 of a can of spray paint
-----
$3.00

Total cost of the 2nd project:
$4.50 for the candle sticks and tray
$0.00 for the candle sticks I found in the basement. ;)
$2.50 for the 1/2 can of spray paint
-----
$7.00

Sheet Music Art

I love the simple graphics and designs on old sheet music. When I came across this particular piece of 1920s schmaltz, titled "Cut Yourself a Piece of Cake and Make Yourself At Home," I was instantly struck with an idea of how to incorporate it into our dining room. (It's hanging right above the piano, of couse!)

The pictures below should make this project pretty simple, if you wanted to try it yourself. Simply cut off the cover (I used my Fiskars paper trimmer) and then slice the actual sheet music into smaller pieces to collage together as a background. I purchased a frame that came with a mat and used double-sided tape to secure everything to the sample picture that came in the frame.



Cost of the project:
$0.50 for the sheet music at the thrift store
$17.99 for the frame (on sale)
-------
$18.49


1. Attach sheet music bits to the sample picture that comes in the frame...
2. Centre the sheet music cover over the collage. Use double-sided tape to secure it in place...
3. Lay the matting over top to make sure you haven't missed covering any visible spots. (No need to tape this part.)