recycled kid's tote giveaway!

These little bags were introduced to the recycled+revamped line last year, right before christmas. Little f needed a bag for his books and toys. He took the first one from my studio and ran out to fill it up, declaring it was his. Turns out it was great for gifting too, as I packed each of my nieces' and nephews' gifts inside. More will be coming for this year's show season!

aqua star tote, coral star tote, striped star tote

Here are the details on a giveaway of one of these bags to reward my loyal readers, and entice those of you who drop by to do so more often. Giveaway will close next Friday night. Winners will be chosen at random and posted here by next week Monday. Comments closed! Thanks to all who entered here! Check out my tutorial giveaway and the ReSew book! So, here are several chances to do it:


To be entered to win:
1. leave a comment on this post, telling which is your favorite tote.
2. become a follower, or leave another comment if you already are a follower.
3. become a fan or friend on facebook (first timers only) and leave a comment.
4. mention this giveaway on your blog or facebook and leave a comment with your link.
5. twitter about it and leave another comment. 
6. add recycled+revamped to your blogroll and leave a comment.


And the winner is, by random.org's pick of #16:
besquirrely!
congratulations!

this moment - baking

This moment - one fabulous moment from the week that I want to remember, inspired by Amanda Blake Soule at soulemama.

 

revamped mushroom stools

Walking around in papa's slippers, looking at a book with a nice wooly sweater made with love by Aunt Jon. This is a little slice of our lives. It's toasty warm by the fire, which is just to the right of the photo.

The mushroom stools were a gift from "unty", t's brother, scored at a garage sale. He loves the thrill of the find like I do, and while these were two different colors of vinyl at one time, they have been revamped!

After cutting a circle of chocolate brown wool larger than the seat of the stool, allowing extra for the sides of the seat and enough to wrap around to the underside, I cut out some smaller pieces from a creamy white felted wool sweater, set them on the wool on the stool and pinned into place. I stitched those on and then went to find the staple gun.

First, I layed the wool down on the floor, dots down and put the stool seat on top. With my staple gun, I secured the south side of the wool (closest to me) to the underside of the seat. Stretching a little to make it taut, I moved to the north side, and then east and west sides. And then I was able to secure all the places inbetween, pulling a bit to keep the top smooth as I stapled.

Did I mention how much I love staple guns?

custom purse for martha

Here's how it started...

Martha gave me the dimensions she wanted for her purse. Then I went into the studio to find some fabrics to fit her request for something to go with black, maybe with a touch of dark red, to go with everything. I came up with a curtain from my friend's cottage in New Hampshire, a pair of jeans, some striped corduroy from some of my pants and brown and black recycled office furniture fabric.

I sewed together a strip of scraps to make the other side of the purse more interesting. Plus I like it that she could switch her purse around and it looks totally different from the pocket side.

Inside there are pockets on both sides, three small ones and one large zippered pocket, as well as a key hook. Oh, how I love pockets in my purse!

Here's one side, with a zippered pocket in front. It's the perfect place for your phone, list or receipts.

Here's the whole set. I added a couple of zippered pouches, b/c they make great little mobile pockets. You can take them out and put them in as you need them. She also mentioned that she doesn't really switch purses much, so this leaves the option of using the little star clutch and leaving the big bag in the car.

The star motif was inspired by a Native American story about a girl named Kotemanyo, who carries a large bag for her grandmother for several days. Finally, she becomes so curious that she peeks inside late one night, and the stars come flying out! There is much more to the story and I promise to tell you the whole thing soon.

This little pouch was so fun to make that I made a tutorial on it!

cashmere balaclava

Here it is on my little f...

The dresser in the first photo was one of my first projects up here. The drawer fronts are covered with maps showing all the places we traveled in our first year together. After repainting the dresser, all I needed was a little mod podge to hold the maps in place!

kid's cashmere balaclava

While I adore the woolens in Nova Naturals, I found this solution fit my time frame and my budget, as well as my incredible desire for making it my own.  Using my husband's fleece balaclava, I made a pattern on a paper grocery sack, drawing the lines in about 1/2" or so, to make it smaller. Then I cut it out of a brown cashmere sweater, using the bottom of the sweater and part of the side seam up the back. The face hole in front I made pretty small, thinking I could always trim if needed later.

A few minutes later I was off to my serger to stitch it up!

Found this hold and realized I need to do something about it, even though I really like the plain brown cashmere. So I found a groovy scrap and stitched on a little peace sign.

Check it out! I'm guest blogging over at Orchestrated Grace!

You might know that I love weddings. I keep binders full of wedding ideas from my days as an event planner in GR. Sometimes, on a summer weekend, you'll find me helping my friend, Chandra, with some fabulous wedding here in northern Michigan. And you've probably heard me rave on about how one of those weddings was featured by Martha Stewart.

Hop on over here to check out my guest blog for valentine's day and see what else a wedding planner can do to make a wedding amazing, especially if you choose DIY special touches.

winter weekends

Here's what we did last weekend!

recycled photo card, valentine and birthday thank you

While my original idea for this project was much different that this, it turned out fine. I had some great polka dot envelopes that I found on etsy, but couldn't find them in my studio... Maybe it's time to do some reorganizing, huh?

The photos are from kodak gallery, wallet size, trimmed with my creative memories photo papercutter. The paper is scrap from another birthday project a year or two ago.

This pic was one of the last that my printer eeked out before it was totally out of ink. It was a bit purplish and light, but I decided it was artsy enough to work. And I needed to get this project done so I could work on another tutorial!

The valentine was the same style we have made since the little f's first valentine day. My friend, Marcy at Mecca had the idea and I've used the same one ever since.  He loves making his handprint now and did some of these all by himself! Now I'll watch for red paint and doilies on sale so I'm ready for next year.

Hope you had a lovely valentine's day!

this moment

this moment - inspired by Amanda Blake Soule
One moment to cherish...

leave a link to your moment in the comments if you wish.

recycled tank tunic for valentine's day

Here is something to wear with leggings, that works as well as a dress when it's toasty by the woodstove, but also works when you put on snowpants to go outside. Best part is that it's made from stuff in my clothing recycle bin! It helps to have a serger, to do that groovy stitching, but it could be stitched with a stretch stitch and left raw or turned inside for a cleaner look.

I'm working on a few more versions of this same concept, with other tops and recycled t-shirt scraps. Next, maybe I can teach a class and work up a tutorial. Wouldn't this be a cute little girls tunic too?

recycled wool sweater coat and kids star tote bag

 

Last fall, when Fyn was outgrowing his little fox sweater coat, I set about making him a new one. The fair isle sweater was the starting point and from there, I added the ice skating sweater on the back. With the hood and sleeves layed out, I placed the other sweater pieces in place and stitched them together. Using a fleece vest as a lining, all the pieces were attached and here it is! Fyn loves it and we get plenty of attention when he wears it. 

"You didn't get that here! You must have gotten that in New York!" is my favorite comment to far.

And the pointy elfin hood pulls up to cover his head, while the sleeves roll down to cover his hands when we need a little extra warmth. That means we don't have to keep track of hats or mittens all the time.


Yes, I was able to figure out a way to circumvent the technical issues so I could blog! There's so much to tell you about with christmas and all! I'll try to get you caught up in the next few weeks. And I'm hoping to post a few more tutorials and some new things on my etsy shop.