It's finally happened!

I know you all have been anxiously awaiting this day, and yes folks, it has finally happened...I have a sewing machine!  My mother-in-law apparently has a cache of them in her barn and graciously dug one out for me.  I picked it up on my trip home last weekend and today I set about trying to get to know the machine.  Now, let me assure everyone, I am a complete novice when it comes to sewing.  Yes, I did try once, 20 years ago, to sew, and if you have read my first blog entry you know how that turned out, but I retained nothing from that experience.  Thank goodness for Google and it's powerful search engine, which sent me to numerous videos and tutorials.  By watching a delightful British girl I learned how to thread a bobbin and my machine.  I was set to go!  I practiced on some fabric scraps and, although they were not straight, my seams did stay together. Success!!  So, what was I going to do with this new found skill?  I had pinned a link on Pinterest for a DYI skirt made from an old pair of jeans.  My sweet daughter is very slender and tall so most of the pants she has are too short.  I designated a pair of jeans that fit well around the waist for this craft.  Here's the link to the tutorial.  My try was...well, not the best.  The tutorial is specifically a no-sew craft, using fabric glue instead of a sewing machine, but I went ahead and tried anyway.  Basically, after a few injuries, I was able to complete the skirt, but no, it does not look great.  Thankfully, Z is only 4, and although she considers herself quite stylish, maybe she wont notice my crooked seams.  Perhaps denim wasn't the ideal medium for a first-time sewing project.  Live and learn, right??

I will post a picture of the machine at another date, frankly, I'm too lazy to get up and go take one at the moment. ;-)

Happy crafting and as always, I welcome any suggestions, ideas or comments!

Slowly but Surely...

I have recently been documenting my quest to find cheap ways to decorate my young daughters bedroom.   We had an old wooden wall shelf with pegs gathering dust in the garage so I set about refashioning it to contribute to Z's somewhat barren walls.

Pretty banged up after 2 moves.

I first sanded this down after digging around in my husband's tool box for sandpaper scraps (shh, don't tell him).  I used leftover wall paint to give the shelf a nice neutral color.

I decided after looking at the plainness of the shelf, that I should use this opportunity to try my hand at decoupage.  I even found this on Pinterest and made my own modge podge.

At first I didn't really have a vision, but, after I drug out all of my miscellaneous crafting supplies, I decided on what materials I wanted to add and went from there.  I had some chipboard and cut out a scroll designs for the side out of scrapbook paper.

I also used some fabric scraps I thought were cute and a die cut for the rest of my design.  As an after thought I hot glued some buttons I found in the bottom of my sewing basket as embellishments.

I decided to make this shelf multifunctional by reusing yarn and clothes pins that I actually recieved at Z's baby shower almost 5 years ago (tear).

Displaying some art masterpieces.

It is a big hit already and I haven't even decided what to put on the shelf.  Maybe that's another craft for another day...

Happy Crafting!!

Craft, Thy Name is Thrifty!

I am a thrifty gal.  Unfortunately for my thriftiness, I am also uncrafty.   As my previous posts have attested, I am trying to up my craft skills in order to be productive enough that I can save money in some areas.  I would love to get to the point where I can make my daughter a cute dress for school instead of buying one.  I have a long way to go.

I own a pair of shoes that are so comfortable.  I have had them for a guesstimate of four years.  I love these shoes. I wear them often.  These shoes have the holes to prove my love.  Ideally I could afford to buy another pair of navy blue Toms but unfortunately, the budget says no.  Instead of throwing the shoes in the trash I got on Google and searched for a way to salvage my favorite shoes.  I came across this tutorial and quickly made a trip to Hobby Lobby for fabric scraps and E-6000.  This technique looks easy enough that I felt fairly confident tackling this activity.

Here's a picture of my Toms after I stitched up the holes in the toes.  They didn't have any other holes so I chose a simple path and decided to just cover the toes.

I picked out a couple of squares of fabric and fitted it over the toes of the shoe.  After putting that on I dug into my ribbon stash and added some to my shoes.  It's not the best looking and I got half the container of glue on my fingers, but it did the job.  And, the great thing about this craft is, if you grow tired of the look, you can add more fabric.  I may get more adventurous and add some stitching or embellishments later on.

Anyway, here is the finished product.  It was truly easy and pretty quick, even for this unskilled mamma.

Happy Crafting!