DIY Postage Pins

Geeky childhood confession - I collected postage stamps.  I actually feel like it was instigated by my mom who got my sister and I "Canada Post Stamp collecting kits" which I remember as being free in the early 90's (which I could be wrong about - but that was 20 years ago...).  As I got older I stopped thinking stamp collecting was super awesome but my mom continued on the collecting for years.  I still make a note of checking out the stamps on any mail I receive and I always like checking out the new stamp collections at the post office when I'm there.  It's such a neat art form and with this rad tutorial from Miss Vicky Voila (link) - you can turn that post marked postage into pins! Check it out:

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Oh do I ever love this idea! I'm also on quite the Sculpey accessory making binge so this fits in perfectly! Now all I need to do is find some cool stamps worth pinning to my cardigan and I will be set! How about you? Do you go on craft binges? Did you collect anything embarrassing as a kid?

hello

Apparently I've been neglecting my poor blog much more than I should be and have decided to pop back in and share a few of the crafts I've been working on in the last while.  I've been buying up vintage sheets from thrift shops for a few years now (why yes - I do tend to hoard) and decided to bite the bullet and start hacking them up and using them! Turns out it wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be because now I get to enjoy a snippet of vintage goodness every time I walk through my front door! How lovely! I also decided to go with "hello" as my greeting instead of the traditional "welcome" because it seemed to suit me better (for some unknown reason). Now I just need to get around to putting the rest of that vintage sheet stash to good use. What have you been up to lately? 

New Goals

It's official - I have been motivated enough to create two wonderful new goals for myself! How lovely!

They are as follows:

Goal 1. Recreate this beautiful piece of lumpy succulent joy (on the cheap):

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I'm thinking to fulfill this goal I will scavenge the thrift shops for some sort of neato jello mold, spray paint said mold,  then string that baby up and fill it with love (also known as dirt and potentially hard to kill plants). It's a plan!

Goal 2. Blog more. 

I will let you know how things go with the goals...or you know, I won't if I fail at that second one...

Gradient Vases

I'm such a sucker for simple and colourful decorating ideas and these upcycled glass bottle vases (link) really take the cake:

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Okay, so the blog I got these off of may be in Spanish, but you don't need to be bilingual to do this project! Just collect yourself some bottom from the recycling (or thrift shop), grab the paints, and get mixing and pouring! Woo hoo! I think these would be especially lovely filled with pom pom bouquets too! Oh my! What do you think? 

trick up your sleeve pouch!

When I came across this fun upcycled pouch project from Family Chic (link) I totally kicked myself for chucking all the old cuffs from the mass of blouses I've been shortening the sleeves on (link)! Gah! Just look at all the cute (and super easy) little button pouches I could have made from the scraps:

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Oh! They are so darling! I think I will need to find myself another long sleeve blouse or two to modify so I can whip up my own matching little pouch! These would be substantially better than the airline ziplock bags I'm using to keep my lip balm and pills from getting lost in the bottom of my purse and would be way cuter too! Looks like this project is going straight to the sewing list! What do you think? What would you do with your own cuff pouch? 

Refashioning like a pro

As part of my goal to de-stress my way into ultimate happiness I've been working on conquering the clutter I seem to have piling up in miscellaneous corners around the house! Hooray! First on the clutter-busting is my laundry basket full of "to alter" thrift store finds I felt I could work into something wonderful! With two down and a big ol' basket full left to go I came across this amazing "men's shirt to cute dress" DIY from Michael Ann Made (link) and oh boy do I ever want to add this one to the pile:

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Oh I just can't pass up such a potentially awesome and adorable deal! Now to get back to that sewing machine I've enslaved myself too. I'll let you know when the laundry basket is empty...

Thrifty Refashion Time

Last year I was determined to refashion a men's dress shirt into a skirt.  I scavenged thrift shops looking for XXL bargains that would become the most wondrous of summer skirts but once getting home realized that all the shirts I found would never properly cover all my hips/thighs/bum to my liking and the project went on the back burner. Alas. Luckily I came across another shirt refashioning project online - and this time I don't have to worry about how skimpy it may turn out! Check out the adorable bow tie shirt upcycle project from Extra Petite (link):

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Isn't it adorable? Collared shirts are all the rave right now and that matching bowtie/ascot is the perfect touch of feminine meets structure! Eep! I've even managed to finish up five (that's right - FIVE) little sewing alteration projects I've been putting off all summer so my machine (and my mental state) are ready to tackle something new! Woo hoo! What do you think? Are you ready to join me in the perfect fall refashion project?

Dip and Thrift

I popped over to Lovely Cupboard for this 5 layer greek dip. Delicious, I know!

So delicious, I nearly missed a previous post! Heather at Lovely Cupboard started with this frame:

It is lovely, but doesn't exactly scream young and fun.

After a little creativity, paint chips, and (a lot of) cutting she made the frame look like this:

Did you just do a double take? I sure did! What a genius Heather is!

It is so bright and geometric and completely Kate!

What is the best thrift store re-purpose you've ever done?

Friday Find: My Friend Monster

Today's find is Victoria's very own My Friend Monster. I met Terri (the head monster creator behind the shop) a few weeks back at the Sunday market here and totally fell in love with all of her lovely upcycled friends! Take a look at Mikey:


She certainly has skill when combining some old sweaters, safety eyes, and a little thread and stuffing! I totally recommend taking a peek at her shop and if you have the means you totally need to see her at the market! She has loads of fun one of a kind monster creations it's hard to pick a favourite! Keep up the good work Terri, you're making my old sweaters jealous...

what I wore: upcycled old lady skirt

I've been holding onto pictures of this project for much too long and decided to take the plunge and post them! A while back Lindsay and I went thrift shopping over on the north shore and I picked up two "need a lot of work but only cost about $3" skirts I was determined to make over. The first one just needed a simple hemming job (which I did and wore as part of my Harry Potter costume back in July). The second skirt needed a little more work. Lindsay laughed at me and was not convinced I could pull off such an old lady piece of clothing, but I think I managed. Behold the transformation:


Ahha! So much better! My biggest goal was to take the perpendicular patterned pockets off since they added way too much attention to my already large hips/bum. Then I just had to take it in a smidge and hem it! To my surprise the hem had already been taken up by the previous owner:


Could you imagine how long it must have been to begin with? I bet it was floor length on some little old short lady (in case you didn't know, I have monstrously long legs). Percy also decided he wanted to help:


After a little sewing session at mom's house (a place with a plethora of matching thread colours to use, proper sewing machine needles, and a spot big enough to iron and sew in), it was time for one of my favourite "make your clothes look brand new" tools - the fuzz buster:


Now I'm not sure if "fuzz buster" is the technical term, but if you don't have one of these babies they are worth the investment! It is like an electric razor for your clothes that does wonders to pilled and pulled fuzz bits that accumulate on your fabric after tons of use. Hooray! Instantly turn one worn out skirt back into brand new condition! Now it is time to head back to mom's house to take pictures in her garden:


Isn't her yard amazing? Much better than our "we're growing a weedy meadow in protest of the awful lawn mower our landlord has" backdrop that is available at our house right now. Once again - Percy wanted to join in:


Too bad you're an indoor cat Stinkums! Now off to the outfit pictures:

Outfit details: v-neck white tshirt = joe fresh, teal belt = some store on main street in vancouver, upcycled old lady skirt = penny pinchers and then reworked by me, necklace = horn of plenty, leather watch = fossil, leather clutch = bonspiel creation, flats = aldo

Okay, so I am still new to the world of outfit fashion blogging, but I do love sharing my clothing choices with you and I did want to make sure someone else would agree that this was a successful skirt transformation! I also really wanted to do an outfit post where I am wearing (and pulling off) my new mustard tights, but sadly (ok, not really sadly) the summer weather is just too nice for covered up legs! Looks like those will have to wait for the fall. For now I will be enjoying my upcycled creation! I am also really enjoying the high waisted look for my tiny little torso (I feel like that second picture makes my body go from chest to legs)! Woo! What do you think? Have you ever adventured into thrift shopping altered clothes?

what i wore: harry potter party

Even though I don't get to join in all the fun of seeing the final Harry Potter film in theatres (movies on the big screen give me motion sickness), I did get to attend a fabulous HP party at Sarra's new apartment giving me the perfect opportunity to whip out my Gryffindor costume:


Isn't it fun? My mom and I made the cloaks back in 2005 (well, mom made the cloak and I made the felt gryffindor patch) for a "dress as your favourite fictional character from a children's novel" party I attended with my sister. I picked up our wands at the Kelowna farmer's market (where I was living at the time) and mom (once again to the rescue) sewed our maroon ties and knit us scarves too! Here we are in our matching attire:


More than just my hair changed in the last six years - I swapped out the pants and loafers for a skirt, tights, and flats for a more updated (and less Ron Weasley-like) version of Hogwart's student. Just take a peek at my outfit under the cloak:


And to keep the crafty wonderfulness going I even upcycled my skirt from a very matronly old lady $3 number I picked up at a thrift store. Check out the awesome before and after shot:


Amazing what a little cleaning, hemming, and ironing can do! I actually thought I made the skirt a little bit shorter than I had hoped (no skanky mini skirts for me!) but once I tried it on with the rest of my costume I felt better about the alterations and I do love skirts with pockets! I even tried to keep up the Harry Potter fun in my accessories too:


Didn't Fraser do a wonderful job of photographing me this time? We had loads of fun playing in the front yard with the camera and by the end I was even casting spells on him:


Outfit details: cloak, scarf, and tie = homemade (thanks mom!), white dress shirt = swapped, sweater vest = smart set sale rack in highschool, skirt = thrifted and modified, tights = joe fresh, flats = payless, owl ring = pike place market in may

After my posing and picture taking fun was over, I picked up Lindsay and a huge bag of ice and we headed to the party! I (as usual) didn't do an amazing job of picture taking but I assure you it was wonderful! Sarra was wearing her dress robes and prepared an amazing HP/English/movie watching feast for us to enjoy! Her cousin even made golden snitch desserts:


Sarra made some delicious uplifting non-alcoholic potions for Lindsay and I and super tasty smelling butter beers for everyone else! We even had little bowls of treats around the house:


No spinach, liver, or tripe every flavour beans here! Oh what a great time it was and I do love any excuse to get into costume. So how about you? Any Harry Potter fans out there? Have you seen the movie yet? How will I survive the long wait for it to come out on video!? Eep!

How Pinteresting...

Just in case I haven't convinced you of how awesome Pinterest is, here are a few projects I found on the site that I'm totally in love with. They also happen to be projects I've been chatting with the girls from work about so it is a great opportunity to round them up for a future craft night together! Ready? Let's go!

Project #1 - Bathtub "tea"


This fun DIY from radmegan is just up my alley! One night Alanna, Hetty, and I were talking about how much we love the smell of lavender earl gray tea and were discussing the possibility of using it to scent your bath. We're all big believers in bath time being the ultimate in stress relief and this project suits that perfectly.

There isn't actually any tea in Megan's tutorial (just tea like sewn silk bags) so it does make me wonder if bathing in tea might stain your skin (if you didn't already know I am quite pale and my skin is prone to discolouration). On the plus side studies have shown that caffeine helps reduce cellulite so maybe a wee bit of skin tinting would be worth it if it helped smooth out some thigh lumps (okay, so this is pretty unlikely but I like to dream)!

The bathtime tea from this tutorial include epson salts, lavender, and other nice smelling flower petals all sewn into little bags. I really love the little heart detail on the bags and they would make awesome gifts! I also really enjoy the fact that you wouldn't come out of the bath covered in little bits of dried floral crud after a stress relieving bath soak because all the scented loveliness is all contained! Hooray!

Project #2 - Upcycled men's shirt skirt:


I really like this project since 1) I am always on the lookout for more skirts to wear, 2) it is an upcycling project letting me reduce, reuse, and recycle, and 3) it gives me an excuse to go thrift shopping! This project caught my eye after Sarra was telling me about how she was looking for ideas for reusing some of her husband's old dress shirts. I do have one skirt that I've been holing on for such a sewing project but I think I'd like to try this one with a thrift store buy before committing to cutting up my amazing swapped plaid number. It is an awfully cute project though and Blue Babes Create's blog gives great step by step instructions with loads of images! Sweet!

Project #3 - Coconut whipped cream:


The idea of this last pin makes my mouth water! It is also a fitting project for a whole bunch of work mates including (yes I am listing this):

a) Alanna - lactose intolerant coconut lover
b) Cindy and Annie - two girls that need to experience the fun and excitement of using a hand beater
c) Sarra - someone who is oozing creativity and needs more projects to try out
and
d) Lindsay (not actually a work mate, but ex-work mates count too right?) - someone who is currently on a "no dairy, no wheat, no raw fruit or veg" diet and clearly needs some sort of delicious treat to try after putting up with that

I had no idea you could whip coconut milk but next time I'm at the grocery store I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to pick up a can. Nutty Kitchen's instructions are super simple too. Just get a can of milk, leave it in the fridge overnight, and then in the morning scoop off the top creamy layer and whip it up with a little vanilla and cinnamon! Yum!

So what do you think? Are any of these projects calling to you? Which is your fav?

Pallet Wall Garden

Do you recall that blog post I did about all the fun projects you could do with old shipping pallets? Well turns out there is one more they talked about on Craftzine that I really (really) want to try. Behold - a pallet wall garden:


Mmm! Isn't that a great idea? It would be perfect at adding a little greenery to a small space and limits your watering to a very small area! Ok, so this totally wouldn't work in Kamloops (our semi-arid desert = too dry and hot for this one) but perhaps Fraser and I will find a lovely little apartment on Victoria this fall that would have a balcony perfect for this project! What do you think?

I've pretty much given up on my green thumb skills this summer since our front garden of our rental is a mess! My sweet peas and nasturtiums have barely grown/haven't sprouted and the nasty weeds are out of control! Add in my inconsistent watering, super poor soil (thanks to the dirt being the neighbourhood litter box despite my coffee ground scattering), and cruddy weather so far and we've got one sad little garden. My attempts at weeding were unsuccessful since after about five minutes I swell up into a painful lupus mess. Looks like the garden will be au naturel for the rest of our stay here! Looks like I will have to rethink some outdoor plants once we move to an area where I'm more likely to have some success! Bring on the rain! Which reminds me - anyone know a good place to get rain jackets?

A post for Wendy.

Do you ever see a project and think, "that would be perfect for (insert friend's name)"? Well I certainly have that feeling often (usually for Lindsay and Sarra who I can just tag on Pinterest), and this next project is just perfect for my friend Wendy. She is one of the handiest (and nicest) people out there and is always coming up with unique and interesting uses for ordinary items! What's that? You're throwing out perfectly good wooden pallets? Why I'll take those and make them into a whole range of neat projects like they did at Organic Authority! How about a new dining room table, floor boards, china display, coffee table, or bed? Just take a peek:


Oh my! The possibilities are endless! Time to get your upcycling thinking caps on and get creating! Oh and just in case you needed a few more items on your new home "to do" list, I hope you enjoyed some inspiration for any wooden pallets you save from the dump! Happy Wednesday!

more chalkboards

Apparently I am set on making my own chalkboards. After already writing three blog posts where I oozed about how great chalkboards (and chalkboard paints) are (one, two, three), I found this blog post saved in my drafts section to write about at a later date:


Sparkle power - you have totally renewed my interest in chalkboard making! Just check out those sweet frame colours and just think of the possibilities with those blank canvases (well..boards?) What fun! Even etsy is all about the chalk fun with their featured seller post on playing grown up featuring a whole slew of chalkboard products! Finding fun old frames to paint up is certainly back on my agenda. How about you? What do you think of chalkboards?

Upcycled Pesto

Amidst my daily internet addiction surfing I came across the most amazing paper doily jar project from pilli pilli:


As many of you know I am a sucker for mason jars, doilies, and instant gratification projects so I figured I was destined to attempt this! After all - pilli pilli promised it as a 5 minute DIY and it seemed easy enough to squeeze in my busy schedule right? Yup she was spot on - check out my upcycled before and after:



Hooray! I successfully turned that ugly pesto jar into a lovely new cactus pot! Just in time too - I don't think the noddy cup was going to last much longer:


I'm sure you're wondering, "why would you plant that little stub of a cactus in a paper cup in the first place?" Well I assure you I didn't do it just so I could write this blog post (although sometimes I think about posts based on lamer excuses). I've been wanting to get my hands on one of those cacti for quite a while. My grandma used to have a huge one by her front door and I remember visiting her as a kid and thinking how cool it was that you could pull the little leaves off the ridges of the plant and it would ooze milky stuff out of it (aren't all kids into that sort of thing?). I'm not entirely sure where that giant cactus of hers ended up but I've been wanting to get my own for years ever since. I've tried to find one in a store or online but it turns out that's a pretty hard task when you don't actually know what the plant is called. I had pretty much given up hope until I spotted one of those tall milking cacti at one of my favourite mexican restaurants! I decided to try my hand at growing my own from a clipping of their plant and headed up to my mom's house to steal her plant potting supplies. Perfect! She had little pebbles, soil, and the all important root hormone powder to help my little cactus stub establish itself. The only thing she didn't have was a pot to plant it in so we improvised with the paper noddy cup. I was planning on transplanting him into an actual pot once I could find a suitable one and pilli pilli doily jars seemed like the perfect match! Doesn't the little cactus look at home in his new jar?:


I think so! Plus I saved that old pesto jar from a livelong existence on a shelf in fraser's studio as a paintbrush water container. Perfect! Now I just need to try to not kill that plant! What do you think?

No Sew Teacup

For some reason I am all about the mug tutorials these days (like this one and this one) and just in case you need a little more motivation to re-purpose all your tea cups - check out this wonderful no sew cup pincushion from punk projects:


I love the idea of using a cute little tea cup of pins during my next sewing project and this tutorial is super simple! Just get yourself a mug, a scrap of fabric, and a little stuffing and you're set! Plus it gives you an alternate use for my cupboards full of mugs! Double win! What do you think?

Monogramed Mug Tutorial

Even though I originally saw this project well before xmas, my hopes to attempt it never actually happened (surprise surprise) but thought it would be fun to share anyways - just in case you are looking for a nice late winter present giving you may run into. Take a look at these wonderful upcycled monogramed mugs from man made diy:


Fun! And oh so easy - all you need to do is pick up some plain mugs (they got theirs from the thrift store), a porcelain pen, and a little creativity! Then you just draw up your initial on the mug, bake, and give! They even added a cute hot cocoa mix inside of each mug for an extra special touch. I'd really like to turn this idea into a more complex project by swapping some sort of design up for the monogram and have my own custom tea cup! I then realized that I really don't need any more mugs...or tea pots for that matter...just look at my cupboards:


In fact I even have an extra shelf in my cups and plates cupboard for the overflow mug collection:


Eep! So many mugs! I do use them all though (by rotating through the collection during my daily pot of tea) so it isn't that impractical of a collection right? I'll tell myself that anyways. Maybe I can make some limited edition scientific culture illustrated mugs for an upcoming craft show instead. That way I still get to dip my hands in this fun custom upcycled mug project without having to figure out what I'd do with all the finished pieces. Genius! What do you think? What wide set eye smile kate drawing would you like to drink out of?

Project Restyle

Just in case you haven't heard of project restyle I thought I'd take a moment to tell you about it (and hopefully get some of you excited to start restyling!). Elsie (of a beautiful mess) and Rachel (of smile and wave) decided to hook up and come up with a fun thrifty project for 2011 encouraging you to creatively upcycle your heart out:


All you need to do is create something fabulous from something old, take some before and after shots, then post them on the flickr group! Each week they will chose a few of their favourites to share on their blog I must say I am already swooning over all the restyled projects. Take a look at their roundup of week 1:


If you hadn't guessed it the recycled jersey scarf is my fav (I've already done two posts on those - clearly I need to find a shirt and get crafting), but you must admit that olive green is fantastic! Plus it is super fun to give old items a new life - and you're doing your part for the environment (okay...not always....but I'd like to think so). I totally want to get thrifting and get creating! Any takers?