Band Cap

Here is a Christmas decoration idea for next year. I found this old band cap at an antique mall. I fell in love with it and had to have it, but I didn't know what I was going to do with it. As I was standing in line waiting to pay for it; it came to me - the dog can wear it for the Christmas card picture! It will be sooo cute! ...but the dog was afraid of it and wouldn't wear it...?
So I took it home, turned it upside down and put my Christmas tree in it! How cute is that?! Not as cute as a Bernese Mountain dog, but pretty darn cute! I'm thinking you could even use it as a vase and put a poinsettia in it!

Coat Rack

Check out this great coat rack! My sister and her partner said they wanted a coat rack for their new apartment...REALLY?!! I've been thinking about making a coat rack from an old porch post for years. I quickly told them not to buy anything new - that I have an idea! My husband and I worked together on this really fun project. It seemed like such a simple project when we started, but bringing all the materials together got a little difficult. We wanted to use all repurposed materials and not spend a lot of money. The not spending a lot money part was the difficult part! A lot of the materials were proving to be hard to find inexpensively. But we persevered and succeeded! After a long search, my husband and I found the perfect porch post (well, actually we found two!) I knew what I wanted the coat rack to look like but had no idea how to make it stand up; what to use as a base? This is where my husband comes in - he found an old cast-iron tractor wheel! The tractor wheel is heavy but not too big - it doesn't take up too much floor space. We didn't want huge legs protruding from the coat rack creating the potential for being tripped on.

We had such a good time searching antique markets and brainstorming and discussing the potential of different objects to use as hooks and the finial for the top. My husband got really into the coat rack production - such as testing different paint and stain techniques. Of course, he was the one to put it all together! How to attach the tractor wheel to the post? That was all him!

We wanted to keep the coat rack rustic looking and I think we have succeeded in making a beautiful and useful piece of furniture. We presented it to the girls as a Christmas gift and they were very pleased and it looks great in their apartment!
We are now finishing putting together another coat rack out of the second post we bought. We have all the materials gathered; my husband just has to put it together and then we will offer it for sale. Keep posted for pictures.

Summer Sum Up

It's almost Labor Day, so this is my end of summer summing up! I've had a very productive summer. I've completed quite a few repurposing projects this summer. This bread bag tote is my favorite and simplest project! It is sooo cute! I crocheted strips of bread bags in a single crochet stitch around and around and around. It was fun and easy! It didn't take long to save up enough bread bags ( I lost count how many I used). I used a few celery bags and a plastic potato bag too! I liked this project better than my grocery bag rug. It is lighter and more colorful.This is something I'll make a few more of. I think it will be durable. I planned to use this as a shopping bag, but I am so pleased with how it turned out, I might use it as a purse! It will be easy to wash, just dip it in soapy water and set it in the sun to dry. My grocery bag rug is pretty durable as well. I must honestly say how surprised I am at how well it is holding up. I use it in the kitchen and it gets a lot of traffic.
I finished my Grandmother's chair makeover. My mom recovered this chair in the early eighties. I don't remember what it looked like originally. But I think my makeover gives it a bright fun look for today! Refreshed and not so grandmotherly!

Here are the two aluminum chaise lounge chairs that I got at public auctions. I got both chairs extremely cheap at two different sales. I used upholstery fabric that I already had. The most expensive part of the project was the foam. My husband and I are enjoying lounging and napping on these vintage chairs and I'm sure we will enjoy them many more years! I have many more projects in different phases of completion and the coming of fall always makes me feel like starting new projects. I guess it's the going back to school in the fall thing! There are always new projects buzzing around in my head. And my notebook is filled with notes and sketches for new projects. Stay tuned!

Glow Ball

I found this intriguing ball on a recent antique trip. My friends and I thought it was a big tea ball! The tag said it was a rice steamer ball? The people that worked at the antique mall weren't quite sure what it was either. My friends and I even "tried it on", opened up, as a Viking-esque bra! I had to buy it because it was so unusual and I think I paid $3.00 for it! When I got home I "googled" it and came up with nothing...

So I filled it with white lights and now it is an awesome GLOW BALL! It makes stars and constellations on the ceiling and walls. It makes my bedroom look like a planetarium! So pretty and romantic! An awesome night light!

Mosaics - Another addiction!

I'm feeling the need to make mosaics again! Making mosaics are so much fun; and I haven't played with tiles in a long time. I became so serious at making mosaics and tiling; my husband bought me my very own tile cutter and equipped a custom toolbox with tiling tools!

After my husband and I tiled our whole kitchen in our old house; I saved all the broken tiles and even bought some recycled ones at the Habitat Restore to make mosaics with. The kitchen was a serious tiling project. We tiled everything - walls, counters, floors. It looked great! But it was so much more fun to purposely break up bags of tile and piece them together. I tiled mirror frames and trays.
This little coffee table has been through so many incarnations. I bought it from a friend some 20+ years ago. I think it was stained a dark brown. I then painted it a greenish teal color. (I know, I know, but it was the 80's) I used it in my art studio to hold brushes and paint. Then when we moved into this house, I painted it a peach color and forgot about it up in the attic. So when I felt the mosaic itch; I found my big box of broken tiles. Painted the table again and tiled the top! I am so pleased how this turned out. It's become such a pretty piece and I'm using it as a....well....wait for it....a coffee table!
Mosaics are like quilting in ceramics. You can make random patterns like a crazy quilt. Or you can create exact designs or make pictures. There are endless possibilities. And you can mosaic anything.

I am ready to mosaic this table - a leftover reject from a public auction. I'm using it outdoors and plan to continue to do; so I can keep it sort of rough. I want to go beyond ceramic tile and incorporate some found materials like glass, keys, marbles and maybe some small, pretty stones.

Paper or Plastic

Paper or Plastic? Neither! Use your recyclable cloth bags! If you don't have one, I'll make you one!

I don't just use them for grocery shopping anymore, I take them department store shopping too. The clerks at the big chain department stores used to look at me kinda of weird when I said I wanted to use my own bag, but I think more and more people are doing it; so I don't get such weird looks anymore. I even know of a local consignment shop that will give you a discount if you use one of their cloth bags.

I just saw on the news this morning, it's the 150th anniversary of the brown paper bag, or something like that. Anyway, I remember using brown paper grocery bags for all kinds of things when I was a kid. We used to cover our text books with them. I loved a fresh brown canvas to doodle on. The grocery store logo had to be on the inside, of course! I made a new cover every coupla months because my covers were black with all the scribbling! We made hats and masks. Remember the Unknown Comic?! He made the plain brown paper bag famous and invented a really easy Halloween costume!

Even though the brown paper bag has more nostalgia then the plastic bag, I think it's time is up. Use your cloth bags! And for you people that claim that cloth bags harbor bacteria and germs...well, you know you can wash them!

My niece, Lori Linton, is busy repurposing! She is appliqueing all sorts of found materials, such as doilies, napkins, and bits of tablecloths, on baby onesies! They are very cool. And the babies that will wear these one-of-a-kind, fashionable onesies will be trendsetters! Keep on creating, Lori!

Recycle Runway

On a recent (and much needed) vacation, my husband and I had a short layover at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Imagine my delight and surprise when I walked off the plane and into the terminal (actually International Concourse E) and saw a party dress made out of Target bags! I was so excited! There were display windows up and down the concourse displaying beautiful, couture fashion made from recycled materials. I loved it! It was right up my alley! There was a suit made from parts of a car and a dress made from tires and another dress decorated with pieces of aluminum soda cans. The layover seemed very short since I was so busy taking pictures and admiring the art; I was having a great time - and in the airport! I noticed other people taking pictures that were excited as I was.
I have since learned the installation is called Recycle Runway and it is by artist and environmental educator, Nancy Judd. And there are a total of 18 installations in the Atlanta airport.

On all the display windows was this great quote, "Waste does not exist, only wasted resources." LOVE IT!!

And here is my souvenir from Mexico: These bags were everywhere. They are made from cracker and cookie packaging. Most of the bags were really colorful featuring pictures of food images, like cheese and odd Mexican animal mascots. I couldn't resist this one! It was the only one like it...it's so me!

Grocery Bag Rug

I've finished it! After months and months - and I lost track of how many grocery bags - I've finished the rug! It was a good project to do while watching movies on those cold winter nights. The crocheting was the fun part; but cutting the bags into strips was tedious! I'd get a pile of bags, cut only a couple at a time into strips, because I couldn't wait to get to the crocheting part. I wasn't too neat about cutting the strips - the first few I tried to be neat, but I liked the way the different widths of the strips looked; and I could cut more strips faster if I wasn't too careful. I used no tape or wire - just plastic grocery bags, and a little bit of Bernese Mountain dog fur, which was unintentional and unavoidable in my house!

Isn't it cool?! I love it! I'm going to use it in front of my kitchen sink! The rug is about 30" in diameter. It's not huge, but it took a lot more bags and a lot more time than I thought it would. It was a fun project, but I don't think I'll be doing it again, but... Now I'm saving plastic bread bags - same concept; different project!

Shabby Chic-less

I guess I truly don't have what it takes to be "shabby-chic". I love the look of all white. I drool over those magazine spreads and web sites that are all neutral. Making up a room or a home in different shades of ecru and cream - ahh, so calm, so relaxing. I love it; but when I plan to do the all white thing, well... I'm not even trying for a whole room, just a piece of furniture; it never fails - I decide to add a "splash" of color! Next thing I know that splash takes over and it's bright red or neon green. I'm striving for that creamy confection; a cloud of colorless calm, but I keep gravitating to the whirling, swirling patchwork of color and chaos. I'm redoing an old chair of my grandmother's - I've painted it white and I was planning on recovering the cushions in white on white or a soft muted pink, but I found this fabulous multicolored, multi floral fabric. It's such a happy fabric! Another case in point; check out this cute white table - I decoupaged it with vacation postcards. There is no rest for the eye here, but there are happy vacation memories. So...maybe that's a good thing. I'm living with my souvenirs instead of putting them in a box or an album. I'm creating happy-chic! I'm surrounding myself in busy & colorful happiness!

A good friend of mine, MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson, is creating beautiful art from - for lack of a better word - garbage! She is making these fabulous collages from food packaging. Candy wrappers, fast food wrappers, cereal boxes and Chinese food packaging and more. She is layering tiny bits of colorful paper and foil to make interesting art with a message. Right now she is fascinated by the simplicity and obviousness of the instructions on the packaging. All her collages have a theme.

MaryAlice and I are both concentrating on finding useful ways to repurpose "trash". She is going the collage route and I'm going the utilitarian route. But both routes are very satisfying and, of course, fun!

Show and Tell

I've been busy sewing. I'm having a great time - no plans - no itinerary! Just making whatever strikes my fancy! And, my fancy has been all over the place! I've been getting to those projects that have been in the back of my mind for awhile and mostly just making up stuff as I go along. I'm sort of doodling with thread and fabric!
So this is my show and tell.

This is a picture of a set tea napkins I've been making out of vintage fabrics. I love the pinks and reds of this old kitchen curtain fabric. It's so funky!
The tea napkins are about 9" wide. I've been making them in groups of 4. Perfect for a ladies' tea or for cocktails. I like them because they are pretty and dainty.


I picked up 4 napkins at an Glass and China Outlet for 65 cents a piece! Isn't this a fun tote?! It's sturdy and washable!



And I made these pants out of a tablecloth that I picked up for $3.00!




















And while cleaning out my dresser drawers I found a couple pairs of footless tights. Inspiration struck - I cut them up, sewed on a button and some ribbon and they made really fun, and maybe a little sexy, wine bottle gift bags! These bags will stretch over any size bottle!

Spring Cleaning

I'm sort of in a pre-Spring cleaning mode - I need to get rid of all that stuff accumulated in drawers and closets. I'm taking on one closet or one drawer at a time. No pressure, no big - all weekend project. Just a little bit at a time and I will be rid of all that extra stuff. Lighten the load a little, why do we have all this stuff? Why do we have six decks of playing cards?
And of course, just because I'm cleaning out doesn't mean I'm throwing out! I'm donating, selling, recycling, and giving it away. Just because I'm done with it or don't need it anymore doesn't mean there isn't someone out there who does need it or could use it! I have a huge pile ready for the big spring garage sale. I gave away a pile of cookbooks. And I'm taking my old rollerblades to Play It Again Sports.
Everyone should be more conscious of the waste in their own homes. Think before you throw it away. There may be someone who needs it. Look in your local paper to see who is accepting donations. The Boy Scouts were taking old phonebooks and newspapers in my area. Look online there are a whole bunch of web sites that help you recycle old phones, ink cartridges, and etc.
And speaking of recycling - I found "my people"! I recently met this fabulous lady who introduced me to a really cool shop in downtown Lancaster - Lancaster Creative Reuse!
They sell, at really low prices, donated craft supplies. Everything from fabric, yarn, jewelry, paint, pencils, craft kits, and even fishing lures to plastic supply boxes to beads. I bought two really funky tablecloths! I even spotted a box of men's ties! What makes the shop extra cool is it's in the Old Stahr Armory. A repurposed building! How cool is that?! Theater of the Seven Sisters is also located there. There are local artists' work hanging in the hallways. A really cool, inspiring place. So in my whole house purging I'm sure I'll find some stuff to donate to Lancaster Creative Reuse! Or if I find something I just can't figure out what to do with....

I did figure out what to do with this old needlepoint chair seat cover. It's lined with vintage

fabric and has a vintage button.

Buy Handmade

I just signed the pledge on Buy Handmade.org! Everyone should buy handmade! This includes food too! We received some homemade, from the summer garden, canned food for Christmas, LOVE IT! A tasty gift, that's inexpensive and filled with love! If you can't grow your own - Buy locally grown food! Support your local farmers!

I love this thought too - Love what you have; if you don't love it - make it into something you do love or, give it away to someone who will love it, or have someone repurpose it for you into something to love! It's all about love!

Check out these awesome suitcases that I use for storage. They are in my guest room - I have a travel theme in there! I keep shoes, boots and bags in them. I love the way they look and, of course, they are practical!