Bling and Lace Upcycled Jean Shorts

My daughter loves clothes. Girly, trendy clothes. She saw some shorts with lace cutouts on the leg that she loved. I about fell over when I saw the price tag. Holy schlamoly, dinner for two at a nice restaurant costs less than these shorts. And that includes martinis and dessert. I knew I could do them for a lot less. So I went for it. 

Luckily, she had a pair of jeans that were a little too short, so all we had to do was find some lace. We went to our local closeout store to look for something lacy. And cheap. I'm not spending good money on something I'm going to chop up. Oh, my no. We found a pink lace shirt for $7.00. Life was good.

I started off by hacking off the legs of the jeans. I used another pair of her shorts to make sure I didn't make them too short. No daughter of mine is wearing Daisy Dukes. At least I'd better not find out about it. Then I tossed them in the washer and dryer so the edges would fray. 

I cut out two v-shaped notches on the sides of the legs and pinned in pieces of the lace, making sure to use the hem of the shirt, so I wouldn't have to re-hem it. Then, off to my trusty sewing machine to sew it in place.

I still had a lot of shirt left and felt the shorts needed a little something, so I cut out some more pieces and pinned them inside the front pockets. This I couldn't do on my sewing machine; I had to do it by hand. Luckily, it didn't take long. Yes, I know the pic sucks. So does my camera.

I thought I was done, until my girly girl tried on the shorts and we realized they were too small in the thighs and inseam. Not pretty. A smiling crotch is not a happy crotch, if you know what I mean. It made no sense, cuz she has other jean shorts that are the same brand and size. So I took one of those pairs and tried again. 

So, I finished the other pair of shorts and decided it needed some bling. I like bling. Tasteful bling, that is. I don't like the "attacked by a Bedazzler" look. I found some silver beads and some pink crystal beads and came up with a pattern.

I glued the beads down first with a tiny dab of beading glue, let it dry, then stitched the beads in place. The glue helps hold the beads in place when I'm sewing, and they stay put where I placed them. Then I turned the shorts inside out and washed and dried them to make sure everything stayed put. Which it did.

Here are both pairs of finished shorts. My girl loves them, especially because they're unique! And I only spent $7.00 for these! Not a bad deal! I am awesome. And modest :)

Until my next project, 

Chris :)

Pretty In Pink Flower Wreath Made From Dyed Coffee Filters

So I was decorating my house for Valentine's Day (I pretty much decorate for any holiday; gives me an excuse to create more stuff), when I decided I needed to make yet another decoration. Why? Because I can! I had seen some tutorials on dyeing coffee filters decided to try my hand at it. I bought the cheapest coffee filters I could find for this project and they worked great! You are also going need craft paint and a small bucket or container in which to dye your coffee filters and an old towel or blanket to lay them on to dry.

I wanted red flowers, so I used red paint. Really. 

I poured paint into the bucket with some water (about 2 parts water to 1 part paint) and mixed until all the paint was dissolved. Which takes longer than you would think. 

It looks red, right? So one would think the coffee filters would come out red. But they didn't. What came out was decidedly pink. PINK. Pale, girly pink. I wanted red. Pink does NOT match my red Valentine's decorations. AT ALL.

I decided to suck it up and go ahead with it anyway. I soaked the filters in the "looks red, but is really pink" dye for about 30 seconds, gently squeezed them out and the laid them out to dry on an old towel. I used about a third of the package of coffee filters and I dried them in stacks, due to the fact that there was more coffee filters than counter space. I let them dry overnight. Some came out dark pink, some light and some were mottled. I liked it.

When they dried, they really were a pretty shade of pink. I thought of an adorable little girl who has a pink, butterfly-themed bedroom and decided to make the wreath for her. Because pink DOES NOT match my red Valentine's decorations. Yes, I am still rather peeved about that. I really like red. 

So now my coffee filters are dry and I'm ready to start my wreath. I grabbed a wire wreath form (I have a bunch in the craft stash, you could use another type of form) and my trusty glue gun. And glue sticks. And a drop cloth so I wouldn't get hot glue all over my carpet. That stuff is a *&*$%! to get out of carpet. Trust me on that.

I was going to do a rosebud wreath, but the rosebuds are small and I wanted a fuller, fluffier flower. I made a carnation-type flower, but I felt it lacked something, so I combined the two. I made the rosebuds by cutting filters into spirals. I just free handed them with the scissors, since this really isn't an exact science and I'm too lazy to draw perfect spirals. 

Then I started at the inside edge and rolled it up into a rosebud shape and pinched the bottom together.

For the carnation-type flowers, I took three filters, made a cone shape and pinched the bottom while I fluffed and fussed with the edges until it looked like a flower. My vision of a flower, anyway.

Then I broke out the glue gun and the band-aids and burn cream (I always burn myself and occasionally get a blister, but, luckily, not this time). I put a dab of glue in the center of the carnation and then put the rosebud in the center.

I like it! It's flowery and funky and pretty. Now I grabbed the wreath form and started gluing. I put two small dabs of glue on the form and wedged the bottom of my flower between the wires.

I just started gluing and wedging in no particular order, just wherever I felt it looked good.

After I glued all flowers in, I stood back and admired it and patted myself on the back, cuz I did an awesome job. However, it needed something. I thought it might look nice hanging from a sparkly, sheer pink ribbon that I had in my craft stash. I tied it to the wreath form and gave it a dab of glue to keep it secure.

It looks so pretty and girly and I really liked it! Even if it's not red. I think if I want this wreath in red, I will have to paint the coffee filters. With a brush. One by one. I'm not sure if I have the patience to paint that many. I'm going to have to think on that. I have, however, thought that this would look good in a pale yellow. That I will have to try. I can handle the dyeing method. That's a piece of cake. Which sounds awfully good right now. 

I think I'm going to make a cake.

Chris :)

Go Stylishly Green With Reusable T-Shirt Shopping Bags

I do a lot of grocery shopping. I do a big shop once a week, but I always forget something, somebody needs something, or (my personal favorite) "guess what we just ran out of?" So I practically live at the grocery store. I go through a lot of plastic bags, and I do usually recycle them in the container provided just for said purpose, but I've been feeling kinda earth conscious lately. So I recycled some old t-shirts into reusable shopping bags. Double eco-friendly brownie points for me since I'm using old t-shirts :) Now I'm thinking about brownies :(

So I grabbed me some t-shirts and tank tops.

 Then I grabbed scissors, thread and my sewing machine. I started by cutting off the sleeves and the collar. 

Then I turned the shirt inside out, pinned the bottom hem and prepared to sew the bottom together.

 I also did a quick tack stitch at the seam ends where I cut the collar and sleeves off, just to prevent any coming apart at the seams. With my luck, the bag would come apart and eggs would come crashing out, leaving an ooey, gooey mess. This has happened to me before with a plastic bag. It is NOT fun. Except for the jerk in the car next to me.

I ran a straight stitch along the bottom, using the hem as my guide. I then went back over the straight stitch with a zig zag stitch to reinforce the bottom and make it stronger. 

 I cut off the excess, turned the bag right side out, and boom, I got me a brand new bag. I did the same thing with a tank top, except (obviously) I didn't cut off the sleeves or collar.

 I use Oscar on days when I feel a little grouchy (or outright hostile, whatever).

Next I decided to try a no sew bag. It wasn't completely no sew, as I did reinforce the seams where I cut them (after the egg incident, I'm not taking any chances). After I cut the sleeves and collar off, I cut off the hem and made a line where I wanted my fringe to start.

I thought a beach t-shirt would be cool for a fringe-bottomed bag. Kinda reminds me of those t-shirts you can get at the beach that have the fringed bottoms. Anyway, I then started to cut my fringe.

Then all you do is take two pieces and make a double knot, the kind you do when you want to tie someone's shoelaces together. So easy, even a blonde can do it. And yes, I am a blonde. So it really is that easy.

And here is the finished bag. 

Here is another one. You can stuff loads of stuff in these bags, especially if you use men's t-shirts. I should try to find xxx-large shirts. Just think of how much you could cram in one of those babies!

I made a bunch of these bad boys and was pretty impressed with my bad self. They look awesome and really hold a lot of stuff. I put cereal boxes, crackers and soup cans in these for demonstration purposes. I put four 2 liters of soda in one at the grocery store (you had to buy four to get the sale price, really) and it carried them all without a problem. Which is pretty cool, if you ask me.

So that's one way I'm doing my part to preserve Mother Earth for future generations. And I look cool doing it. Well, at least I think I do.

Chris :)