Doily Shirt

     One thing I would love to get more into is refashioning.  It's a great way to upcycle thrift store clothes or hand-me-downs, and some people make things incredibly creative and chic.  It takes a certain eye to see clothes' potential, and I'm not sure I have that, but I am capable of copying others' work! ;-)

This is one example of something I have been able to do -- here's theirs: 

Here's mine:

I used leftover doilies from my wedding, and I mostly got those on eBay, in case you were wondering.

Sweatshirt Bag

 Do you have a favorite sweatshirt that you can't wear anymore?  Wouldn't it be fun to turn it into a bag?  I do! I did!  I got the idea from this pinned link, and again elsewhere.  Mine turned out differently than these; I liked the original idea but I didn't think I would use it as a purse or messenger bag often, so I made mine an athletic-style drawstring bag. 

I sewed up the sides and bottom, and transplanted the drawstring from the hood to the top of the bag. I made the strap from one of the sleeves -- only one strap because I never use athletic bags like backpacks on both shoulders -- and securely attached it to the bag and itself (it was from 2 pieces).

This is my cat, Fritz, enjoying being out on our patio. :)

Monogram Door Hanger

This idea from Pinterest is on Etsy. There's another Etsy seller with similar items here, if you want to buy theirs.  I liked the idea, and used it as inspiration for my own version, coincidentally also a letter S.

I made mine with a wooden letter from Hobby Lobby (two actually, they were thinner than I wanted), wrapped in Sugar & Cream yarn and accented with felt flowers.  The tutorial for the flowers is here.

Christmas Stockings

      This pin links to a wonderful tutorial over at Sew Like My Mom, which I painstakingly followed to make Andrew and myself stockings for our first married Christmas. Her applique part would've been great if I had had the right materials.  Since I live in a small town where apparently no one sews, I was hard pressed to make it work.  Hers are a lot nicer than mine, but possibly because she's also quite a bit better at sewing than me!
     Here's how mine turned out:

Christmas Tree Skirt

 This pin links to Teal & Lime, which has a tutorial for how to make a Christmas tree skirt out of a round tablecloth.  This is great, because it's pretty simple but looks nice, and you could even upcycle an older or thrift store tablecloth.  I love mine, and really enjoyed having it under our tree this year!

Mine was $10 at Target (it could be cheaper if you caught them on clearance!) and a great fabric and color.  It looked lovely under our tree, nestling our gifts.

3D Paper Snowflake

       The above photo from this pin is a tutorial for these fun 3D paper snowflakes. They make fun winter or Christmas decorations, though I can't really use them since my cat will destroy anything like this. I made one with the idea of using it as a gift topper instead of a bow, but it ended up being larger than I expected. I used paper squares about 5 inches wide, and it turned out to be about 14 inches wide, point to point. Pretty straightforward, but it takes a bit of time. I used wrapping paper, but you could use construction paper or scrapbook paper if you want it to be sturdier.

Here's mine:

Homemade Fruit Snacks

These fruit snacks are from this pin and this website.
It's a fun recipe to try! We tried it with grape juice and put it in Andrew's dinosaur ice trays. They were fun, but I would try a different flavor if we did it again. The grape flavor is pretty strong, a bit too strong for my tastes. They also turned out chewier than your average fruit snacks, which could be
an upside or a downside based on your preferences.