$5 Garland + Lampshade Leftovers = Wreath

I wish I had taken a photo of the process with my $5 wreath - I wasn't sure it would look decent when I began so I didn't think about documenting the process with photos.

But alas, I can describe it.

When we destroyed dismantled a lamp shade last year, I saved the big metal ring from the bottom with the full intent to turn it into a wreath. We then bought a $5 9-foot garland at Canadian Tire. We wrapped it around the metal ring and squished it until the garland was completely wound around the wire frame. It took two of us to wrangle the wire around the ring and we got little plastic pine needles all over the kitchen. It wasn't the most pleasant activity (repeatedly grabbing wire garlands with poky bits hurts your hands after a while).

I then found a bunch of loose decorations floating around the bottom of our Christmas Boxes and attached them with decoration hooks. I don't want the baubles and ornaments to be permanent because I may want to switch them around next year.

The strands of silver are Mardi Gras Beads left over from a NYE party we went to last year. I just looped them all together, making sure the knots are at the back. Again, nothing here is permanent so if I ever want to reclaim some of the materials, it will just be a case of dismantling the wreath.

I realize that all the materials for this wreath amount to greater than $5, but as far as recent spending habits go, I am quite pleased with my creation.

Red Riding Hood Halloween Costume with Real Wolf

Thought I'd share photos of our Halloween costumes from a party we went to on Saturday.

We were Red Riding Hood, the Wood Cutter and the Big Bad Wolf, dressed as Grandma.

Molly's costume was made from a thrift store pillow case and elastic. I eye-balled the entire thing, but am quite pleased with how it turned out. Tried to get a good photo of it, but she was camera shy. There were also holes in the bonnet to pull her ears through, but it didn't stay like that for long. It somehow ended up around her neck like a second collar, but she did stay in costume the entire night.

And I made my dress using a guide I found on Pinterest and some cheap fabric I had lying around. It was a rush job (decided to make the dress at 4pm - the party was at 8pm) but also turned out okay. I think I might go back and make the seams neat and fix the hack job at the front, but it was decent enough for a Halloween party. The cape was an old table cloth, pulled from a scrap bin at the thrift store.

Molly's costume cost $1.50 all up, mine was $3 and Hubby's costume was free. A family dressed in theme, including props for under $5. I think that's a success.

Any ideas for pet-friendly family themes for next year?

Happy Trick-or-treating!!!

Decorating Cans with Scrapbooking Embellishments

I recently made a few updates to my craft supply containers and thought I'd share, as a follow up to my Decorating Mason Jars post.

I had saved some leftover cans with pull-top lids from the recycling. I love these types of cans because I don't have to use a can opener and (best of all) it means I can REUSE them and not worry about jagged edges around the top lip. I

We also finished a tin of cocoa and although the "tins" are cardboard, they also have clean edges and they wash out well enough to be reused for craft storage purposes.

Now, I am not into scrap booking - I don't have the money, space or patience for that kind of hobby. But I do love paper crafts and some of the cute things made for scrap booking... such as this adhesive turquoise scrap booking edging found on a trip to the dollar store.

I spray painted the cans white and used some leftover wall paint for the cocoa tin (Benjamin Moore's Waterfall).
The scrap booking edging was very easy to apply to the two small cans. Then I used the white non-stick backing from it to decorate the cocoa tin, which was a tad trickier; I stuck it down with Mod Podge.

While I had the paintbrush out to paint the cocoa tin, I also grabbed a few glass items I had lying around. I did a coat on the inside, then a coat of Mod Podge to seal it.

I also recently bought a big paper cutter which I used to make some craft supply labels. Note particularly fancy, but I love it.

So those are my recent, though meager, craft attempts. Lately we have been spending a LOT of time planning our kitchen renovations, which hasn't left much time for anything else!

Happy crafting!

Cheap Dog Toy

Here's something I whipped up for Molly last week when she was driving me nuts (I was super busy and she was clearly bored). She loves new toys but, unfortunately, dog toys are so EXPENSIVE which I think is ridiculous, because she rips them to shreds and then tires of them a few days later. What a waste!
 

This is my upcycled version, using one of her favourite tennis balls and an old sock that lost its elasticity during the winter. I slipped the ball into the sock and nestled it into the hell of the sock. Then I tied two knots either side to keep the ball in place. It bounces when we throw it, it's a great tug-o-war toy and I have the other sock to slip the tennis ball into when she finally rips this one apart.

It's similar to the sweater sleeve + soda bottle toy I made a while ago (which she still adores). Any old clothing that the thrift store refuses or throws into land fill could be reused this way.

Basically, she loves old clothing tied around something hard. I could just shove any of her preexisting hard chew toys into a sock and wait a few days for her to fish it out.

What else could I shove into a sock/ sweater sleeve? I'd love your opinions/ feedback!!!

Pillow Case Box

I ditched school work today in favour of some crafting :)

Here is my creation; A fabric box made using an old pillow case and some cardboard!

I started with a plain white pillow case from the thrift store. We live in a tourist town, so lots of plain white hotel linens end up at the thrift store. Woo-hoo!

I trimmed off the band at the open end of the pillow case and later used it as a handle on the box.

I then sat the pillow case on the counter to create a flat base. I rolled down the top part so that I could see the corners. It's exactly how I made the tiny fabric box in this post.

I then marked straight lines across the corners...

Difficult to see the pencil marks, but they're there!

Then I sewed along the pencil lines.

The triangular flaps were long enough to sew together, so I did :)

Here you can see the box standing up, but it has no support.

Inside of the box...

(note: this is a great time to attach a handle to the box. The band I cut off at the beginning worked well - but I forgot to take photos of this step! I also should have ironed it, but didn't realize how crinkled the finished box would look.)

To give it some support, I used some cardboard I had lying around.

I made a box shape using the cardboard...

 

... Then stretched the pillow case around it...

... Then shoved the base to the bottom and hid all the rough edges.

I glued the excess pillow case (the raw edge from taking off the band) back up inside the box. I then glued the base of the box around the bottom edge to keep everything in place.

Here it is looking tidy-ish:

Ta-da!

The bottom of the box:

Inside the box:

I saw some similar boxes at Home Hardware for $7 each, but this one took me 25 minutes to make and cost me $1.50.

And because it is plain white, it's a blank canvas to decorate. Flowers, accent fabrics, labels... the possibilities are endless. How would you decorate it?

Happy crafting!

Sewn Storage

I have been messing around with my sewing machine quite a lot today. It took me ages to achieve something, but I had a few scraps of fabric and a very full recycling bag.

These are my creations:

Right now my creations are all taking up residence in the bathroom, but it's a temporary home. Still not sure where/how I should use them.

But for now, I am off to bed. I will have tutorials up tomorrow :)

Neck Tie turned Cable Tamer

I am not sure what to call this invention... so I have dubbed it a cable tamer.

Here is the problem:

The appliance is super close to the power outlet, so I don't need the 3' cable that comes with it. It's puddling on the floor, collecting dust and dog hair. So, creativity to the rescue.

I have seen this done with a toilet paper roll on Pinterest, but have devised my own 'laundry-proof/ fabric' design so that as it gets dirty (and it will, being so close to the dog floor) I can toss it in the washing machine.

I wanted a neutral colour that would blend in with the cable and I had just the thing - one of hubby's old neck ties.

I had previously shoved a tp roll onto all the cables and knew that it was a good fit, so I found the point at which the tp roll and the neck tie were the same size.

I then chopped out that section, discarded the innards (who knew there was so much stuff inside a neck tie???) then hemmed both ends.

I then went back and shoved the excess cord into it. The whole process took about 5 minutes.

Problem solved.

Decorate Mason Jars and Coffee Cans Different Ways

Thought I'd share a few of the different jar/coffee cans I have on display in my craft desk. Seeing as the cupboards above my desk have glass doors, it's vital that my craft supplies are stored in a pretty and chic way.

So, from L-R these are my suggestions:

1. Put the right items at the front. My mini glitter glue collection looked crazy with all the colours showing, until I realized I just had to shove the blue/green colours to the front to match my craft desk decor.

2. Re-purpose an old sweater. See this previous blog post.

3. Put pretty items in. I am not going to decorate this tiny glass mason jar because it's holding shells and they are pretty enough on their own.

4. Wrapping paper. Enough said.

5. Stickers and Frosted Glass Spray Paint. I would love to pick the stickers off to leave little circles of clear glass, but I had another jar go horribly wrong when I tried it, so the white stickers are staying on for now.

6. Paint Chips on a coffee can. See this previous blog post.

So there you have it! I never throw away a glass jar or a coffee can, so keep posted to see if I come up with any other ideas :)

Toddler Hopscotch

Thought I'd share an activity I did in class today.

After rising to the '100 Thing Challenge' (get rid of 100 unwanted/unused items from your house), I had a box full of unwanted junk.

In it were a few old IKEA place mats that were still in good condition so I didn't want to part with them just yet. So, as with most unwanted junk in my house, I took it to work for a re-purposed future.

I had 4 beige cloth ones and two green foam ones. I threw them down on the ground and the kids immediately turned it into a game of stepping stones/ hop scotch.

Last week we used bubble wrap with numbers on it, but it was a bit slippery at times.

These place mats didn't slip, regardless of how many little feet ran over them and it's a much safer option than walking over the blocks, as the children like to do when we are not watching.

I considered writing big numbers onto them, but the children then used some of them in the house centre (to set their table) and they also grabbed the foam alphabet letters and started sorting them by colour onto each of the place mats. The green ones were rather stiff so they were used as trays for carrying around various toys.

So, no numbers for now because clearly they are a versatile resource and I'd hate to confine them to one purpose. I wonder what else my little cherubs will use them for...