Weekend Wool Felting

Last year I became interesting in felting old wool sweaters after pinning a few items that used that technique.  Although I was interested in it and wanted to experiment with it myself I didn't have a clear project in mind to make it happen...until last week!

Last week while scrolling through the latest posts by all the bloggers I follow I ran across this from the Can't Stop Making Things blog and thought it was just so cute and knew I had found my inspiration!

 

My Inspiration from Can't Stop Making Things

As I've written about before, Saturday mornings usually mean a trip to our favorite thrift store  and last Saturday I knew just what I was after!  I immediately checked the rack with all the 75% off items and found a green sweater that would make good leaves...score!  After rummaging through all the other stuff I made my way over to the racks and racks of sweaters feeling my way through until I found a beautiful royal blue sweater as well as a amethyst colored one and red one too, luckily one was another 75% off and one was 50% so I only paid full price for one of them.  What is full price you ask?  A whopping $2.29 is the full price so I paid less then 5 dollars for all 4 of these wool sweaters.

One of the other projects I'm working on is making a brooch bouquet for my Niece's wedding this spring so earlier last week I thought I'd just run into the Goodwill store to see if they had any there for me to buy...and you know, while I was there I may as well just look to see if they had any sweaters that I could use to make one of these.  I didn't find any sweaters but did find a pale pink wool vest!  Well actually, I did find a men's olive green lambswool Old Navy sweater so i brought that home with me too.  Of course I didn't think to take any pictures of them!  I just have to add that I paid for my restlessness...each of the sweaters was $4.49 at Goodwill, which is what I paid for all 4 at my favorite store...just sayin'!

Once I had amassed my collection of wool sweaters washed them in hot water then dried them on the highest heat my dryer could muster and pulled them out half the size they were when they went in!  On purpose I shrunk them...lol.  I really wanted to give someone that cliche tearful heartfelt apology for shrinking their favorite sweater and thought about my hubby...but then I'd have to have had to explain it all to him first place! 

I pretty much followed her instructions for making the flowers, I cut the felted sweaters in several circles, I used 8 inch circles for the pink vest and got about 5 of them and using 6 inch circles for the blue sweater.  I then went back and cut notches in the outer circle then used a wavy kinda crazy line to cut into the circle making spirals.  To form the flowers I departed from her tutorial a bit and just layered the center of the spiral around itself till I got the the tail and then tucked it in.  I secured it all with stitches and sewed buttons in the center of each flower. 

Here is the pale pink vest transformed into a flower scarf, of course it was my first project and I was too busy playing to stop and take any pictures.  I'm not liking the big pink 'buttons' I used so I may take it apart and rework it using her tutorial for making the flowers cause I like hers better.

This is the blue sweater transformed into flowers and I like it much better, and the buttons in the center add just a touch of bling are at least proportionate to the flower...I like it!

I liked it so much I wore it today to work!

The best part?  I still have 3 more sweaters to play with!  I have plans for them too, can't wait to see what I come up with for them.

ReStore Upcycle Challenge-Part 2~Dog Bed

My last post was the beginning of my sharing the projects I submitted to our local ReStore for their Upcycle Challenge last spring.  The challenge was to take items purchased in their store and transform them somehow and it was right up my ally!  I mentioned in my previous post how I love to create and make things but often don't have the space or in this case, the need for the things I make. 

Case in point this trash to treasure end table turned 

Dog bed

Our Saturday morning routine usually involves a trip to our Habitat for Humanity ReStore and our favorite thrift store.  While I often stop and check out our local Goodwill I don't normally buy or donate to them after finding out how much their directors make.  I'd prefer to patronize my locally owned and operated stores where I know the money is being redirected back into my local community. 

*steps off my soapbox*

While cruising the aisles of our local ReStore one day I came across this end table and although in pretty good shape it had seem better days.  She had gorgeous curvy legs and some pretty details which I knew would really stand out with some chalk paint and stain.  I've already made one of these for my friend Liz and her terror terrior Casey and I loved the way it turned out so I wanted to make another one.

I can't remember how much it was but somewhere around $12-15 , however it was also the yellow tag items turn to be reduced by 75% so it was really only $3 or $3.50 so I swooped it up as the hubby gave me that "what are you going to do with THAT" look.  I'm sure my kindred spirit repurposers know that look all to well themselves.

Although I'm pretty sure I took pictures of each step I can only find the ones I took with my phone and I've procrastinated too long already to get these projects posted so I'm just going with what I have.  I used the DIY chalk paint with some Ooops paint from Menards ($2 a quart speaks to my cheap thrifty little heart) that was a nondescript cream color.  Since it would be going to someone else's house I needed to choose a color that was fairly neutral although I really wanted to make it green or turquoise.  I also found some dowel wood caps I fitted and glued to the ends of the table legs to give it a little fancier detail then the leg bottoms.

The joy of using the chalk paint is that you don't have to prime or sand it prior to painting it, or paint it very neatly either which is great since I'm too impatient to do all that.  I gave it one coat of the chalk paint and then went in and painted the pretty scrolls and some of the accents on the piece with some blue chalk pain I had used on another project.  Once it dried I did a second coat of the cream colored chalk paint and let it all dry overnight.

(Just pretend there's a picture of my table covered in chalk paint with the pretty blue exposed)

I used a wet rag to rub over the areas I had painted blue to expose a bit of the color until I was kinda happy with how much of it was exposed.  I then sanded the whole table with a fine grit sandpaper to make sure the chalk paint was nice and smooth.  I went over some areas with a courser grit to expose some of the wood beneath the paint, mostly along the edges and some parts of the scrolled areas.  I then applied a brown glaze on top of the paint, wiping it off once I got one area coated.  This picture below shows the leg on the left after the glaze and the one on the right before.

 I glazed then wiped the whole piece until I liked the way it looked. The haphazard chalk painting technique allows the paint to hold just enough of the glaze to give it an antique feel and the glaze stayed nicely in the recessed areas of the piece giving it just the look I was going for.  Yea, Lets go with that!

I let it dry outside overnight so the glaze was good and dry.  I really like the way it turned out although now I had those two holes in the front where the fake drawer pull was attached that I had to deal with. 

If I was making this for someone I knew then I would have made a plaque with the dog, or cats name however a generic dog bone would need to suffice.  I had also picked up a piece of foam that I fit into the bottom of the table then used a pillow and blue pillow cover for the cushion.  I think it turned out pretty cute.

I hope there is a happy critter out there who is enjoying their new bed!

I'm linking up to these parties
 

ReStore Upcycle Challenge-Part 1~Daisy Whatchamathing

This past spring my local ReStore had an Upcycle Challenge to bring awareness to their store and mission and to raise a little cash.  I was so excited because while I love to do projects and repurpose things I don't have a place to keep everything I want to try or make, this gave me a great excuse to try a few things I'd been wanting to make.  I ended up making several things so I'm gonna break my sharing down into several blog posts.  Today I'll start with the favorite thing I made, really the only thing I wish I had kept!

My table top Daisy Whatchamathing!  

I know, I can hear you now...what the heck is a whatchamathing?  I don't really know either but I've seen them on people's tables, they usually hold things like a napkin holder & salt & pepper shaker, maybe things you don't want directly on a wood table?

This project was inspired by another of my blog stalk-ees Sawdust and Embryos where she redid the top of an old buffet she rescued from a burn pile, she redid it with a 'charcoal shading' type of technique using wood stain.  I fell in love with that technique however I'm years removed from doing any fine art type work myself,  although I've been itching to rekindle my love affair with pen and ink old barn drawings.  I know I couldn't pull off a large scale project like she did so when I found this chunky wood cabinet door I figured it was the perfect chance to try it on a much smaller scale, plus it was only .50 with the tag color 75% discount...BONUS!. The original  door was from one of those octagonal end tables that open for storage, the sides were slightly beveled and not completely square, it might just be the rebel in me...but it made me like it even more. 

I sanded all the old finish off till I was down to bare wood and drew my offset daisy on the wood with some chalk and began laying in some color with the stain.  Although Beth gave a pretty detailed tutorial for how she accomplished her design I know I'd have to just wing it, I couldn't copy her style because the flower I chose wouldn't work for that exact shading technique so I just used hers as an inspiration.  

I wiped off the original stain from the inner circle and then went back over it as well as I started laying in the beginning of the petal layers.  I kept wiping and reapplying the stain where I wanted the darkest areas.  I then began adding in the secondary petals in-between the bigger ones.

 Did I mention this was just a trial and error project?  The error comes into play because I didn't think about wiping the stain off in a controlled manner and instead I just wiped it across the whole damn thing, which in turn darkened the whole area as well.  NOT the look I was really going for but ya live, experiment and go on right?  

Once it all dried I went back in and sanded some of the stain back off to achieve the look I think I was going for.  Notice how I carried the design onto the side as well? 

 This is how it looked once the stain was all dry and finished and although kinda cool, I was disappointed.  It didn't even come close to the image I had in my head but I was hoping that once it was coated with a finishing coat it would tie it all together and I would like it more.  My mojo was deflated so I sat it aside for a week or so before deciding my next move.

I got my craft paints out and began to experiment, I ended up giving it kind of a color wash to bring out the flower a bit more.  It certainly brightened it up a lot and was more like the daisy I had in my head but was it too much?

  I figured that once again, since nobody else could see the image I had in my head it was probably good enough, besides...I wasn't gonna keep it anyway...right?  Although I did want it to bring in some money for the ReStore, and I have a habit of overthinking things at times so I figured I'd go ahead and wax it before I changed my mind again.  I was going to put a coat of poly on it but I had the wax out because I was doing some chalk-paint projects too so I just waxed and buffed it.  A few coats of wax and some elbow grease buffing it out and I fell in love with it, it was much closer to what I'd imagined.  It mellowed the color a bit and the gradual fade around the flower smoothed out a bit so it looks much more unintentional. 

I found some wooden ball knobs at Hobby Lobby and stained them to match the top, to attach them I found the double ended screws and screwed them to each corner of it so it would sit up off the table.  Of course I forgot to take a picture that showed them but here is my finished wooden daisy whatchamathing! 

 I took a picture of it with a vase of flowers that the hubby bought me, he's kinda wonderful that way. 

 

I suppose if I was a fancypants kinda gal I would call it a 'centerpiece'...but I'm not, and I still don't know what to call it other then....awesome! 

 I wish I had kept it, I hope it's new owner is kinda diggin' it too.

I'm linking up at Gail's Catch as Catch Can over on her My Repurposed Life blog and over at Kammy's Corner for her Trash to Treasure Tuesdays.

Quick weekend Projects

I've been remiss in updating my blog...again.  I can't believe I haven't posted since August when I couldn't believe I hadn't posted since March...where does the time go!  In my defense, my quirk get in my way.  I have this 'thing' about doing things in order which totally goes against my carefree willy-nilly attitude.  Although I'd love to totally embrace that bohemian rule-breaking care-free side of me as I get older the more my personality disorder...idiosyncrasy...quirks get the better of me. 

I just need to get over myself.  

Nobody is the boss of me here so I can do what I want, when I want and how I want...it is MY blog after all.

When I started this blog I also started my Project 50 as I was heading into the celebration of my first half century of life and although I didn't fully realize all my goals I did accomplish a lot and I'm in a much better place emotionally and spiritually then I have been in a very long time.  I'm continuing this project into this next year with Project Me! 

Three months ago I embarked on a wellness plan with several of my co-workers that was paid for by my employer and although I volunteered begrudgingly I've had great success and it was really just the kick in the ass I needed to begin to take care of me.  Both of my kids left the nest about the same time so all my excuses were wiped out, I could have made up a few but I decided to take advantage of the opportunity.  I met my 10 week goal of losing 25 pounds and as of now, three weeks post program I'm down 32 pounds and walk about 3 miles a day and I'm feeling better then I have in more then two...three decades.  I'm motivated to keep going, during the program we had to identify our seven vital needs, two of mine are needing to have a project to work on and time alone...my walking satisfies both. 

Speaking of projects...my walking time has cut into my creative project time but I did two quick ones over the weekend that I'm going to share.  Those that know me also know I'm a collector of junk...stuff...treasures that feed my ever growing list of 'thing I wanna make'.  Several months ago at a yard sale I purchased two small-ish pillows I bought for throw pillows on my couch...and threw them on my couch.  Plain.  There they sat, plain, unadorned, for months...but I had intentions!  My couch is a hand-me-down from a friend and it's just plain ugly tan microfiber crap material and I hate it, but hey it's still good, and it fits, and I'm too cheap to buy new. Now that the kids are gone maybe I will but until then I found two great floral print Waverly fabric covers that I love and it gives me the French country cottage feel that I love.  While out thrifting over the weekend I found two sweaters that I thought would look good on my forgotten pillows and they were only $2.29 a piece!  A blue chenille one and olive wool one with flowers all over it.

I turned them inside out and pulled my sewing machine out, I put the pillow on the inside out sweater and kinda eyeballed how big of a square I'd need.  I used a narrow zig-zag stitch to sew my square then unbuttoned them and turned the right side out, stuffed my pillow inside and buttoned it back up. 

Of course I forgot to take a pic of the blue one before sewing and hacking but here it is with the other plain pillow before I stuffed it into the other sweater

.

Both of my new fru fru pretty throw pillows.  I'm kinda diggin' them, and I can change them whenever I want...and find new pretty sweaters. 

 

The bonus?  I still have the sleeves to make boot toppers with!

Something else caught my eye at the thrift shop, a skinny silver belt that I thought would make a great bracelet.  I cut it to size and you know what?

  I was right!

 

Daisy Dragonfly

It seems that my blogging has been on hiatus for some time now but I certainly didn't realize it's been since March since I've posted anything!  I could unleash a thousand excuses but in the end it doesn't matter, what does matter is getting back on the horse, time to saddle up! I've been doing plenty of projecting during my absence but my chronicling and editing pics for posting I wasn't so good at.  The best way to get back in the water is to just jump so I'm jumping. 

 (Wonder how many more cliches I can put here)

I'll post the projects completed as I find, collect and edit all the pics for them, I did quite a few projects for our local Habitat ReStore's Upcycle Challange!  I made several of these dragonflies for the challenge and due to an error, someone who'd bid on the daisy one didn't get it and she was disappointed so Karen, the store Manager asked if I'd make her one, which I did, and I think it's my favorite!

One of my blog crushes is the Lucy Designs Blog
which is where I saw her gorgeous dragonflies made with fan blades.  She has since had such great success she uses regular plywood now for hers but the originals were make from fan blades.  Check out her photo gallery to see how incredibly talented she is!

I was out of blades and body parts (table legs, rail balusters, etc...) so a quick trip to the ReStore and I was ready to craft!  I came home with a toilet paper holder, some blades and a few rail balusters for the body. 

I glued marbles in the sockets of the TP holder for the eyes and used marbles for the end of her spiraled wire antennas.  The buttons are made from two sets of knob back-plates (from the ReStore too) and I painted the smaller set blue to match the wings.

I cut one end of the baluster off to create the tapered end, then topped it off with a vintage doorknob I also found at the ReStore.  Two scrolled knob back-plates I pillaged rescued from an end table on someone's curb and two more blue ones adorn the body.

 

I dropped her off at the ReStore so she could be picked up by her new owner and I hope she loves her as much as I did.

I'm joining a link party with another of my blog crushes, Gail over at My Repurposed Life

Watercolor my world

On a recent outing to our favorite spot, our local ReStore, I found an original watercolor painting that was framed and I loved it.  Watercolors is a medium I've never been able to conquer but I'm in love with the inherent softness achieved with them so I bought it!  The $30 price tag was a bit steep but I was in luck because red tags were 75% off that week.  SCORE!  

 

I was in love with the picture but the frame itself had a lot to be desired.  It was just a plain.  As we made out way through the store I found another stack of pictures and found this ugly sailboat picture that used to hang in our Red Lobster.  It was $15 and another red tag 75% discount score.   The picture was alright if you're a sailing kind a person I suppose, but the frame was beautiful!  It had little holes all around it where they nailed it to the wall but they were fixable.  I eyeballed them both and judged them to be the same size so I figured a little paint and this frame would be perfect for this watercolor.  

I used my white chalk paint left over from the bench project for the first two coats, then I made up a green that was the same color as a green in the painting and covered the white with green.  I thought revealing the white beneath the green would look great!

WRONG

I put it aside for a few days and then decided to recover it with white and reveal a little green beneath.  I've been seeing different techniques for distressing and one of them was to use Vaseline where you don't want paint to stick and thought I'd try it.  Discovering we had none, and I wasn't buying any to smear on my furniture.  I remembered something I'd had success with in the past, and that is to use a candle to coat areas in wax that paint won't adhere too, so I waxed my frame kinda willy nilly.  I covered the green with another layer of white and when dried I sanded it lightly and all my green bits began to come through!  I coated it with a few coats of wax and buffed it to a sheen but I still wasn't happy with it.  I then tried a little glaze and did a little more sanding and I think I'm happy with it now.  

Of course my eyeballing judgement was off as they weren't the same size, the watercolor was about 1/2 inch larger then the sailboat so I had to do a little nip and tucking to get it to fit.   I really like the end result!

 Now, where to hang it!

Project Catch-up and the Winter Blues

I confess...I haven't abandoned my blog or my projects, I've just been in a bit of a funk! 

After the hoop-a-la of the holiday season and life settles back into normalcy is about the time my SAD kicks in. I know I'm not alone in my battle of this disorder and I've heard many friends remark this season about how it effects them, and read many bloggers who seem to be suffering from it as well. 

For me, it manifests in anxiety and depression...the depression I can logically deal with because I know it's there, underwriting my emotions and I can fight that inner demon. Anxiety is the much bigger issues for me because it takes me so long to recognize it. My imagination takes over and feeds on that anxiety and pretty soon whatever trigger (something I've heard, read or seen) has been activated eventually takes on a life of their own. My latest spiral was last week, after seeing a student with a car issue in the parking lot (his whole front wheel/tire fell off or broke) I immediately 'heard/felt' something in my truck and I thought it would happen to me next. I shook that thought off and ordered it out of my head and I hoped that the student could have it repaired without too much of a strain on his finances. That thought soon began to spiral in my head and by the end of the day I could hardly breath. I couldn't figure out why I was so worked up...my chest was tight and I felt like I was on the verge of tears all day. It hit me late that afternoon...when I took a moment to catch my breath and collect my spirit and I realized that my inner trouble-seeker already had me jobless/homeless/divorced and alone because something happened to my vehicle that insurance wouldn't cover, so I had no vehicle to get to work...no job means no money to pay bills...which means I'd lose my house and everything else. Irrational much? Once I recognized the anxiety trigger I could deal with it...and I did...and that inner trouble-maker hasn't made a reappearance since then. 

Spring is right around the corner thankfully! 

Today I'm going to share a couple of projects from Christmas that I didn't share earlier.  

Curb Alert is another of the blogs I follow and when I saw this project pop up in my feed it spoke to me for some reason.  I pinned that baby!

Picture frame wreath from Curb Alert

Why?  No clue!  I'm not even one of those decorating chic's...I like cool things, but putting them together in my house to create a 'decorating style' of my own but I thought "I could do that!" so I began my hunt for an oval frame.  I wasn't very lucky in that search so with about 2 weeks to go before Christmas I had to switch tactics.  

I found this among all of my treasures and figured it would do just fine, even though the frame wasn't as substantial as I would have liked. 

 

 I took it all apart and grabbed a can of spray paint and went to town.  It took about 3 coats but it covered well.   

 

I found these great ornaments at the Dollar Tree, some ribbon from my stash an next thing I knew I had a great new quirky wreath!  

  

I just wish I had thought to take pictures of it on my actual door!  

Traditionally I don't buy gifts for my circle of friends and co-workers for the holidays.  I don't know why, perhaps it all feels so phony and trivial to me.  I hate feeling obligated to buy something for someone because it's the holiday!  I prefer to gift my friends with things throughout the year...something special because I've thought of them or knew they'd love something!  I have in the past picked one item to mass produce for the holiday gifting season and this year I found my project on Facebook of all places.  One of the pages I stumbled upon belongs to Charlotte and her Roma Land Woodcrafts page.   She has a shop in Tennessee and does the cutest decorative painting on wood and other found objects. 

She painted wineglasses turned upside down to look like snowmen and then used the bottom of the wine glass as a stand for a candle.  They were super cute and I thought I could take that idea and take it one step farther. 

Another of my holiday traditions is making treats to gift, you know...cookies, candies etc...  I figured if I glued a plate or bowl to the upside down stemware it would make a great container for the goodies.  I got all my craft paints out and went to town on my snowmen. 

They all got faces with noses all pointing different directions so they are all different.

They all got a hat next which is where some of their personalities began to emerge.  Most of them were painted willy-nilly but a few were done with particular people in mind. 

Next I glued on some plates and bowls I had collected in my thrifting and yard-sale adventures. 

One of the dishes filled with baklava, cheese straws, Christmas crack and a few types of cookies.   

 

I wrapped them all in Saran Wrap and ribbon and they were ready for gifting!  

It's been a particularly hard year at work and thought some of my co-workers could use a little pick-me-up and I do believe they all loved them!  

I'm linking up the one of my blog crushies, Gail over at My Repurposed Life even though I'm a linky failure...somehow my pic didn't show!  I figure all this bloggy stuff out one day!

Thanks for the idea Charlotte!