Upcycling is Priceless : DIY Fabric Bracelet

Is there anything better than turning something old into something new - for free?!

I made myself this braided bracelet (try saying that 5 times in a row quickly) to match a dress I am in the process of making.

I bought the cute clip with a bow at my latest Value Village trip and it cost me a whopping $1 for an entire bag of these suckers! And there must be at least 50 of them in the bag!

I used the seams of the scrap pieces of material from my husband's shirt that was destroyed in the great dog attack of 2013. 

Once I get my sewing machine in running order, the dress will be done in no time! I'm keeping all the scrapes so I can make other accessories! 

Reduce, upcycle and make your children be the models for your latest creation because they don't have hairy arms!

{Daily Odd Compliment: You have one of the brightest minds I've ever known. It's as if the sun looked at da Vinci and was like, 'Sup, playa?' And then da Vinci was all, 'You wanna do this?' And then they created your mind.}

March Break

For the first time since Abby has started school, I took the week of March break off work!

Granted, there was almost more work to be done at home, but it was definitely nice to wear sweatpants and spend time with my kids! 

I also took care of a bunch of dogs and it was awesome!

Monday: We started the week off with some face painting for Abby, and then we (Abby, Xavier, Grandma and Aunt Vanessa) all watched a Little Ray's Reptiles presentation. 

Both of which were free! Yay!

Tuesday: It was a pretty quiet day! My mom was wonderful and kept the kids overnight Monday, so I took all 4 dogs to the dog park, and then went up to the woods with Draco, Felix and my sister-in-law and her puppy. Abby requested we take another walk, once The Professor woke up. She walked Draco, and I love seeing people's face when they see a 6 year old girl walking an enormous dog - priceless.

Wednesday: We went hiking with my mom, and even though it was a little below freezing, it was a very nice morning walk!

Thursday: We started the day off with a visit to some friends, had some lunch, then took care of 2 more puppies! 

Friday: I started the day off with another walk and Abby went skiing with Jay!
I also completed my sweater skirt, and made some pretty good progress on Jay's ripped shirt that I am turning into a dress! Of course, now my sewing machine is being funny, and I have googled it and will reattempt fixing it in the morning!
Time to work on Mel's skirt! Here's a little preview of my work so far...

There are a few more projects I want to get done before April, so I better get on it!
March break was a blast!

 * Thank you to all those who let me take care of their puppies! *

{Daily Odd Compliment: I'm so glad I know you because this year would have sucked a lot more if you weren't around.}

Sweater Skirt

While I was off for March break with the kids, I had a couple sewing goals.

I gave myself goals in groups of threes: I wanted to have 3 sewing projects completed/started - a sweater skirt, and 2 ruffle skirts. Well I still need to buy elastic thread, so the ruffle skirts were put on hold, but I started cutting/getting them ready? And I wanted to have 3 blog posts completed by the end of the week, so that I can feel like I am getting stuff done! 

I did, however, finish my sweater skirt!

First, I took an old sweater shirt that I was no longer wearing, and folded it in half where I wanted the top of the skirt to be. 

(I didn't take a picture of every step, since I didn't think it was necessary)

Next, I used an elastic from an old pair of boxer shorts, and threaded it through with a safety pin, sewed the ends together, then sewed the opening closed.

This is seriously the easiest thing in the world! Try it! Or bring me your old sweater and I will turn it into a skirt that you will love wearing with leggings!

I think I will need to do something fun with the top... any ideas? 

I'm considering making it into a skirt for Abby.. or a bolero? 

 Whatever it ends up being, there will be a post about it!

{Daily Odd Compliment: People are going to say you're weird. And that's okay. Because weird people make life interesting, and those other people probably suck.}  

Infinity Scarves

I went on a scarf making binge.

I love skinny scarves and I had never made an infinity scarf before, so I put the two together! 
Mel called them 'skinfinity scarves', which I think has a nice ring to it, and I will be the last person on earth to argue a pun!  

I went a little crazy! But I just love my knitting machine so much! 
(It is seriously as fast a they advertise on their site!)

I made 2 black and blue scarves for friends who got me a pair of stress boobs for Christmas. 

(They made a good point though, who doesn't like boobs?)
And I made the watermelon infinity scarf for Brigitte. She appeared to like it and it suits her, so I count that as a win!

I also made one for Valentine's Day for Abby's teacher. Jay thinks that it will make Abby the teacher's pet.. I think it's worth the risk! It will be a good learning experience about jealousy!

Of course, after seeing it, Abby wanted one too! So, 10 minutes later, I had made another one for her.

BUT WAIT! There's more!

I decided to make one for Tracy, for her birthday.
(Side note - why the heck is it so expensive to send a tiny parcel through Canada Post?? Is mail as expensive in the states? Seriously - $10 - and I squished it as much as I could before wrapping it! Very odd!)

I hand sewed her initials onto it, for a little more color, and personalized touch.

Another friend of mine, Anne-Marie, also has a birthday in February so I made her a camouflage skinny scarf. 

I didn't mail this one though - I brought it to her in Kingston, and I think that that was cheaper!

Last month, Draco decided that he was mad at us for putting him in his crate, so he attacked Jay's clothes that were sitting on the crate - an awesome plaid shirt (that I am working on turning into a dress) and his Ché sweater (which is twice as old as our relationship). I was really sad about both, and sat on some ideas for a while before deciding to turn the remains of the sweater into - you guessed it - an infinity scarf! 

(I will have a separate post later on how I made this.)

And the cherry on top of my sundae... Kris requested a black scarf! She left the details up to me, so of course, I went with an infinity scarf!

Phew! Now that spring is in the air, I am moving on to sewing stuff! 
Watch for my next few posts about turning a ripped shirt into a dress, and a sweater skirt! 

{Daily Odd Compliment: Every time I think about you, I'm like "Welp, I guess I'm not sleeping tonight!}

Thirft Store Shopping

Anyone and everyone who knows me will tell you that I love Value Village.

And that is an understatement! 

To be honest, I like all thrift stores, but Value Village is definitely my top pick! They recently had a 50% off sale and this past weekend was the pre-sale for members. So of course, I got the baby dressed, rounded up some friends and made my way to the store in search of decent baby clothes. What I found was better than decent! I found a Calvin Klein hoodie, for The Professor, for $2.50! Barely worn!

I paid $17 for all of this! I think I deserve a self high five for that!

There are a couple tricks to finding anything in a thrift store, so here are some based on my experience as a shopper and former Value Village employee...

First - you need to have the time. This may sound silly, but you really need to take the time to look through everything if there is something specific you are looking for. And when I say 'everything', I mean every related section. If you are looking for a shirt, look in ALL clothes sections! People pick up an item, change their minds, and just put it anywhere.

Next - you need to go often! They get their truck loads during the week only and the people who put the stuff on the floor also only work during the week. So, if you go on a weekend, be aware that you are looking through merchandise that was put out on Friday.

Then- Try everything on! Just because it says size 4 - doesn't mean it still fits like a size 4! Remember that almost everything you pick up will have been worn/washed so it could have changed shape. If you are lucky, you will find a brand new item of clothing with tags! 

Lastly - shop out of season when possible. People tend to donate seasonal items at the beginning of the season - however - items are cheaper out of season. Seasonal items are usually kept closest to the front of the store, so don't be afraid to dive in!

And of course - have fun! This is key for me! 
I don't tend to go to a mall because it's too commercialized/busy for my liking, and I hate having to go to many different places to find the things I want! And Abby loves Value Village for the endless possibilities and mystery of what treasures we might find! 

So there you have it! 

Reduce, reuse, upcycle and help me make a greener place for our children. :)


{Daily Odd Compliment: The say Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth. Which is weird because I didn't know being in your arms had a name.}

Gnome Kisses

We made some pretty adorable gnomes for Abby's class for Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day has never really been my thing, but it occurred to me last year, (after Abby brought home many Valentine's Day cards) that maybe it's a bigger deal to kids. 
So this year, I'm going big! 
I think cards are a waste of money, so I decided to get creative and I found the perfect inspiration!
I fell in love with these gnomes as soon as I saw them! 
So here is our take on them.. 

Since I don't like felt, I used old file folders to make the hats. 
(I use these a lot because we go through them like candy at work, so it makes a great free material for our crafts! And recycling is just a bonus!)
Mel drew circles and Abby cut them out. She was a great helper!

I happened to find some colorful googly eyes at the dollarstore! I also picked up some boring ones, but I couldn't leave these ones!

See what I mean?

So I glued those first, with the hot glue gun, to the kisses. Once our circles were cut out, we cut them in four equal parts, to make little triangles, then I glued those to the top of the kisses.
They were almost done, but I needed somewhere to write the kids' names, so that's why they have beards! And on the bottom of the beards, I added my signature. 

And you are never too old to look your very best while crafting!

I think they turned out pretty good! I think they might look better in felt, but I prefer using recyclable supplies than having to buy more. 

Down with commercialism - Upcycle all the way! 

(If you are reading this because your child got one of these - welcome! And thank you for checking out my blog(s)!)


{Daily Odd Compliment: I was going to get you chocolate for Valentine's day, but then I was like, "An otter feeding you the chocolate would be so much better." Because they're cute, and you're cute, so it makes sense. But I didn't do that because otters seem hard to train, and they're probably expensive.}

Girls Craft Night Saga

I have been having more and more girls night/craft night, but it's never enough!

This past Saturday, I had an awesome girls crafting night! I am trying to get as many of my friends as possible to do crafting with me cause I LOOOOVE it! 

Seriously - it was awesome to not have to worry about my kids (they were with Grandma and Grandpa) and have some wine and just craft! 

Also, I love when my living room looks like this...

Here are some of the awesome crafty things that went down...

Mel made an awesome collage, using something I found and have no idea what it's for...

So it got re-purposed as a pretty tray!

Angela did a bunch of stuff with pictures of her son and some of his artwork. 
Kids have way too much artwork, so kudos to her for framing it!

Amy painted a really cute monkey for her son!

Lindsay re-purposed a metal tray into a makeup holder by adding fabric to the tray, and magnets to her makeup. 

My sister, Vanessa, made a really awesome crayon art. 
She glued a bunch of crayons to a 2x4...

And then used the hairdryer to make them melt onto the canvas, while Mel held the cardboard over the silhouette that Vanessa painted on the canvas.

And finally, I also mangaged to make a few things.. in between cooking all the delicious appetizers we had for dinner...

 I made this shadow box for Mel. It contains a rose and peacock feather from my bouquet as her M.O.H, as well as a few buttons. I used scrapbook paper to cover the front of it. 
Then, I made a notebook for Jay out of old disquettes. 

(I used sticker letters to write his name on the front.)

This concludes an addition of Girls Craft Night. 
Stay tuned.. there will be many many more!

{Daily Odd compliment: When I first saw you, I pictured our lives together. Is that weird? That's not weird. You're weird. And I like it.}