Lamp from a Creamer Container

One more flower pin.  I am so proud of her!  Not bad for an eleven year old.

A flower pin.

A Three Finger Ring

This is a purse she designed and sewed all by herself, with a flower pin she made her self.

Maddy is quite a little crafter, this scarf is another item she has made.

This is what it looked like painted, and open, ready to wire and pour the pebbles in.

Granddad helped her do the wiring.

I used a soldering iron to burn the holes in the top and down at the bottom for the cord.Then Maddy weighted the bottom down with some pebbles she poured inside.

Her Granddad picked up a light kit for her.

This is my beautiful granddaughter who is the genius behind this project.  We were sitting at the dinner table and we had an empty creamer container, and she was looking at it and said this would make a cute lamp!  I had her use some plastic paints and some zebra duct tape to decorate it. 

 

This is the finished lamp, she is going to use it in her bedroom.  We are still going to work on that shade, I think we will recover it with some zebra print fabric.

Repurposing a Beloved Skirt

Then I made a sweet little headband to match it.

The finished product!  I attached the ruffle to the bottom, again a two inch x the circumference, of the skirt+2/3-3/4 of the circumference measurement, depending on how fully you want it gathered.  Mine was about 60inches.

I then made two roses, each from a strip of a fabric 1 inch x 12 inches.  I rolled them and stitched them as I went and sewed them on.

To further embellish the skirt, I gathered a 1 1/2 inch x 12 inch piece of netting and sewed that to the middle, front of the top ruffle.

I pulled the bobbin threads up and fitted and pinned the ruffle to the skirt, and used a zigzag stitch to attach the ruffle.

For the ruffle, I cut a two inch strip the measurement of the skirt around, plus about 3/4 of that length added.  Mine was 45 inches long. I set my sewing machine to a long basting stitch, and stitched up the middle of the ruffle to gather it.

Jean Skirt After I had applied one ruffle.   I should have taken a picture of the skirt with nothing on it; But it didn't occur to me to use it for a blog project until I got this far.  You can see the diagonal seam remaining, the top one was the same, and they continue around the back too.

 

 

 

 

 

Simplicity #2238

You will have to look at the pictures from the bottom up, because I cannot get my picture to reverse the order in my posts.  I have tried and I have given up.  This is a skirt my eleven year old granddaughter brought to me.  She asked me if I could add a little something to the bottom to make it a little longer, because it still fit around, but it was a little too short.  It's one of her favorites, so I thought I would try.  Yellow is her very favorite color, so, being that I can't just do one thing to anything, I proceeded to update and embellish it a bit!  If You would like to do this to a skirt of your own, and it didn't already have diagonal seams, You could just mark and draw some guides onto it for your self and create the same look.  I have a picture above of a darling pattern I picked up at the store last week.  I think the little top, pants, dress and skirt are decorated cute on the pattern, but you could also easily disregard the patterns embellishments and add some of your own creativity.  I also made her a little headband to match, she has very long, straight hair, so it should look really cute.  I may be able to talk her into modeling it all for me, and let me take some pictures, but she is pretty camera shy.  If I get one, I will post it.  Wish me luck!

Gone Too Far?

Sometimes I wonder if I go too far.  Do you ever feel that way?  I get an idea for something, and I will sketch the idea up and it looks appealing and then I start finding the supplies I need, and begin to assemble the project, and that's usually where my idea either comes together beautifully, without any hesitation, or, it turns a weird corner and goes awry.  That's when I think, "Should I waste the time finishing this?  Or, should I scrap it now?"  It's so hard to decide.  I felt like this about this project.  I started off making the round centerpiece as a pin.  I thought it was a somewhat pretty pin, and my daughter saw it and said she loved it and so I decided I would make it into a necklace for her.  Then I started adding parts to it, and making the necklace, and now I am afraid to give it to her, I think I went to far!  I don't have a lot of confidence in my creations anyway, that is one of the reasons I started a blog.  It is a lot easier to show someone your design and not have to be face to face.

So, I am asking for some comments.  If you don't like it, I won't blame you, I made it and I'm not sure if I even like it!  I am thinking of cutting everything off it except the little center circle pin that I started off with.  Decisions...Decisions...

Turtleneck to Shrug

detail of ribbon and flowers

Back view

Front of shrug

This is my little two-year- old princess, who refuses to model lately.

 

This week I decided to tackle some turtlenecks that I got at an end of the season sale, a few weeks ago, for twenty-five cents each.  I wouldn't want something I have so much invested in to be forgotten, and not used!  I had went to "Cut out and Keep" to this this link: http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/tshirt_shrug# and found out how to make a shrug from a T shirt, and cut off the neck and cut down the middle of the front, like the tutorial suggests.  The only thing that I changed is:  When you go around your corner up at the neck area, I rounded the corner, rather than leaving it squared off.  It was too hard to fold the inch over to make the casing for your ribbon, in that area.  There was too much fabric and too much bulk for me to make a smooth turn.  So I just rounded my corners off, then all went smoothly. I also added a 2 inch ruffle to the bottom, and neck area.  I  measured the bottom of the shirt and made the ruffle 2"  wide by the measurement of the bottom, plus one half that length added to it.  So, if your bottom measurement is 24 inches, then it would be:      24 + 12 =36 inches long.  I ran two rows of basting stitches down the ruffle, then found and marked the center.  I started pinning it to the bottom of the shirt, wrong sides together, easing in the ruffles to fit.  Make sure you stop with the tapered end of the ruffle before your casing for ribbon, or you won't be able to put your ribbon through.  Next, stitch the ruffle on. I pressed the seam allowance toward the top of the garment, and then top stitched  about 1/8 from seam to make the ruffle lay nicer.  Repeat the same for neck ruffle, but make sure you stitch it on below your sewing line for the casing, as not to interfere with it.  Feed your ribbon through, tie a bow and adjust your gathers.   I added some flowers near the neck area.   Mine is a size two for the cutest little princess you've ever seen, but...she has decided, lately, that she does not like to model clothes, nor have gram take her picture!  So even though it looks much cuter on an adorable two year old, how can you argue with a princess??   My daughter ( otherwise known as the princess's mother), makes all of her adorable hair decorations, and she has some beautiful ones.

I'm Hung up on Necklaces

                                      I think I am addicted to making necklaces, jewelry in general.  I am loving playing with the paperclips and tape,  I am mad at my camera, though!  I can not get it to take pictures true to color.  My background on the zebra is a soft pink, and I am getting peachy.  It looks like I have a sepia tone overcasting it.  I've tried all kinds of lighting, nothing works!  I need a new one, but funds are not allowing it right now.  I am also having problems with the date on my pictures.  My camera is putting bizarre dates, going all the way back to 2006 on my pictures!  I keep resetting it, but it puts the wrong date almost every time!  Anyway, enough complaining.  I have been pretty busy lately, and haven't had time for many projects, but I have sneaked in a couple pieces of jewelry late at night.  I thought about calling my jewelry creations
"Midnight Oil Designs", because it seems most of my work is done in the wee hours of the morning, after midnight, "Burning the midnight oil".  I love blue and white together, I love birds, and when I was these cute blue and white china birds, I knew I had to create something with them.  I would like to mention someone  who commented on my last post and mention her blog.  It is Debbie, from Simply Debbie, and she is the sweetest lady. Her blog is a praying blog, and it is such a wonderful, God filled blog.  I really enjoyed it.  If any of you get a chance, check it out.  Well, I guess that's about all I have for now.  Hopefully, I will have something a little bit more interesting soon.  I am trying to get my lovely daughter who paints beautiful murals and designs great rooms to let me feature her on my blog.  I will try to get her on this week.  Happy crafting, and I hope you all have a great week.

Paperclip and Sequins

China Bird Earrings

Another Paperclip Design

3 Strand Bracelet tied together with a bit of lace.

2 Strand Bird Necklace