Making Fairy Gardens: Upcycling broken clay pots... Pinterest Inspired

The other night, the entire family was in the car on the way to ice cream... "Stop!" I said, and my husband backed up the car.  I had this "pin" in the back of my mind that was perfect for my boys... these are the pieces we found in our neighbors "treasure" by the curb.  My son, J, says... "Mommy, did you hit the jackpot?" YEP!

here are the pieces we found...

This was inspired by a few pins found on pinterest... we created this one trying to "copy" and then the boys got creative...

I found that filling the pots with sopping wet soil was the easiest rather than filling with soil and sprinkling to get wet... but really that is the fun of it.  just keep adding pieces and soil and see what you get... the steps are easy to make, take long rectangular pieces and press into the soil.

The boys like breaking up pieces for steps...

we added some sedum and plan on adding other details, but for now... this is what we have.

The best part was being creative and creating with my boys.

DIY Pink Play Kitchen perfect for girls!

What we have here is an old wooden play kitchen remodel.  It was flat, dinged up and had painted burners and black plastic knobs.  It has been princess-ized for our dd who enjoys hosting tea parties.  After 2 boys, most of our home has been dinosaur-ed, hot wheeled, cowboy-ed out, so the pink kitchen is perfect for our hostess.  It is one of her favorite colors.  

The old plastic tub sink was replaced with a shiny "stainless steel" dog bowl and the faucet is recycled from the main bathroom.   Glass knobs are from HomeGoods and stainless handles are from HomeDepot.  The pink is inspired by PBK!  I added some trim along the top and bottom of the sink to add some details.

The burners are wooden skewers with E6000 glue and silver spray paint.

Curtain fabrics are inspired by our dd's bedding and designed by Tanya Whelan and Bari J. Ackerman.

Dreamy Dollhouse: Customize your Doll's house!

I have a lovely dollhouse that my dad built for me, but my daughter, Brooke, is too young to appreciate the lovely details and hand work that went into it.  This Pottery Barn Kids Dollhouse is perfect for her doll house play.  The furniture is well constructed and great for little hands.  We found the house and vacation cottage with the furniture for less than $100 on craigslist.  The Grandma's helped out with that.

So much fun for imaginative play!

I purchased these castle sets a while back for a whopping $5.99 each at Pottery Barn Kids.  Yep, they do have great sales.  Great furniture, just didn't suit a pink dollhouse and blue cottage, so I customized it.

I used Bari J. Ackerman's fabric... she is a FABULOUS fabric designer .  If you ever want to add to your fabric stash... check out her beautiful fabrics.  She inspires me!

I took the maroon fabric pieces carefully off and used spray adhesive to cover with new fabrics. Then glued the pieces back on with E6000 glue.  If you don't own a tube of this glue, you need it!  I use it to fix everything and it is great for crafting too, and you can get it anywhere!

Then for a little added detail, I painted flowers using acrylic paint, all you do is make a mark with a small paintbrush... you can do it too!

Don't Dismiss the sleeves! An Up-cycling Tutorial

It must have been passed down to me from my dad... I hate wasting things!  These little leggings/shorties were made from the sleeves of a J-Crew 3/4 sleeve top that I found at GW!  It served me well, but now has a few small holes on the front of the top.  I love the peachy red color, so I thought, I can use most of it for fabric and the sleeves are great legs for a little lady to play in.   All you need is a pair of scissors, sewing machine and some elastic!

Here is the top.  $3.00 at GW!

Just cut along the seam.

In a few of my other posts, I used leggings that I owned for a pattern.  I made my own pattern by tracing the leggings and then placed them on the sleeves.

Here you go... sew them together, sew a channel at the top for  some elastic and you have some comfy leggings or shorties, and they could last you a year or two, and they are great for play, so comfy and light!  Enjoy!

Shirt to Shorties, another T-shirt Tutorial in 8 steps!

This t-shirt is a junior size, $1.50 at GW (red barbs were half off), so I am going to make shorties.

I always have an eye out for cute knits to up-cycle.

1. Fold the t-shirt length-wise and set your pattern.  I used an existing pair of leggings that I had for a pattern. Place the waist of the shorties along the finished edge of the T-shirt.

2. Use the existing fabric of the T-shirt to cut a wide strip.

3. Cut the wide band of fabric down the middle to have 2 strips for the ruffle.  Now, you should have 4 fabric pieces, 2 legs and 2 strips for ruffles.

4. On my machine, I can raise the thread tension and stitch length and get a simple gathered ruffle.  Gather both strips.

5. Place the gathered ruffles on the right side of the fabric, and sew along the gathering stitch.  

6. With right sides together, sew along the pant leg, and then sew the legs together...

7. Almost done, fold in the waist to make a channel for some elastic to suit your little one.

Ta-dah, too cute! Comfy and Feminine and fun for play.

Embellish your Tops... Quick Stitch makes an Impact

I love shopping for Brooke! There is an abundance of cute things out there for little ladies.  To keep up with the style and budget... I look for things to that can evolve into something new!  My goto source for supplies... GW!

Found this cute top at GW and paid $1.00 for it.  Little side tip... Target donates to GW their customer returns, damaged goods, and seasonal items.  The top I bought was new from Target, still had the tags on!

I had just enough lace to embellish the sleeves.  I purchased the lace at a Rummage sale.  I just sewed it on with a zig zag stitch.

Looks similar to one I saw for $32.00, but mine was a little over a $1.00.

She likes it, so I am happy.

Dresser Makeover into Bathroom Vanity

My inspiration for this project is this EJ Victor chest that I saw on http://theenchantedhome.blogspot.com/. Her blog is AMAZING.  

This is what I needed. Wood filler to fill in imperfections, base coat color paint, a color to mix with the glaze and then I used acrylics for the details.

This was a french provincial dresser that I bought for $20 from a craigslist ad.  I painted it navy blue for our second son's nursery, but when our baby girl came along, the boys moved in together and we had a navy blue dresser!  What to do?  We wanted to replace our bathroom vanity in the Master Bedroom, so my husband, Mark used his carpentry skills to transform the dresser into a vanity and it works well.  I really like the height of it.

On goes the first coat of paint

... and then another coat of paint.

Then I painted the trim of the drawers in a dark brown.

Next came some of the details. I made marks with a pencil and used a ruler to create the harlequin pattern, then free-handed the flower details. On the top two faux drawers I used a gold metallic paint, just for something different.

Then I started to free-hand the flowers.  At first, I didn't like them, but then the more I did, the more it came together.  Lesson learned: Don't give up... keep going and follow through with your idea.

A little more details to the flowers...

And here is the finished product, I ended up using the glaze along the sides of the vanity, legs and bottom.  Just follow the directions on the can... it is easy. Now, I am off to Hobby Lobby to find some great handles for the bottom 3 drawers.  Their furniture knobs and handles are always 50% off! And they have a few that resemble the ones at Anthropologie!

T-shirt Transformation: Making ruffled leggings from a T-shirt Tutorial

These ruffled leggings are from an up-cyclyed t-shirt.  Learn how I did it here and be inspired to try some of your own.  You'll need a t-shirt and a sewing machine.

I went hunting in the local thrift shop and found these knit tops for $3 each.  I was looking for stripes and a 95% cotton /5% spandex mix.  The larger the t-shirt the more fabric, but I was specifically looking for fabric designs that would match some of Brooke's current closet.

I used a pair of leggings that we currently own as a pattern.

You can alter the size by fold up the leggings and a bottom ruffle will add length.   Fold the t-shirt down the center and use the bottom, finished edge of the t-shirt as waist of the leggings.

Use the rest of the t-shirt to cut strips for the ruffles.  It is up to you how perfect you want your leggings, but I  know that a 2 year little girl with 2 big brothers will be wearing them, so perfection doesn't last long around here.  I didn't remove the pockets or worry much about the inseams of the T.

Here are the cut pieces from the t-shirt, the legs, and strips for ruffles.  The strips will be long loops, just cut on one end and gather.

Take the strips of fabric to the sewing machine and gather the top of each strip.  These leggings will have two ruffles on each leg, so I gathered 4 strips of t-shirt fabric.  I am blessed enough to have just upgraded my sewing machine; when I raise the thread tension and stitch length, the knit strips easily gather.  Some people may have a gathering foot, or conventionally gathering the fabric works too.

Place the right sides together of the leggings leg and ruffle and I added a plain strip to have 2 ruffles.  

This is what they end up looking like all ruffled up!

Next, sew the leggings together, and then sew the leggings, all right sides together.

Last step is to fold over the finished edge of the t-shirt and sew leaving a small opening.  Insert the elastic into the opening and weave it through the waist channel.  Stitch the ends of elastic, and wallah!  Finished leggings!

Comfortable and cute, feminine and frilly, leggings for your little lady that cost $3.00,  and an hour of time.  I hope you are inspired to try something new!