Campfire Starter

Easy to make campfire starters from items you normally throw away.

Some former co-workers and I are going to go on an overnight camping trip in July, which is going to be an adventure for me as the closest I have ever been to camping is staying at Motel 6, but I remembered making these at Girl Scout daycamp when I was young and they are useful for starting a campfire.

Items used:

• -   Toilet Paper Tube
• -    Dryer Lint
• -    Scrap paper or Napkin
• -    String

Stuff the dryer lint inside the toilet paper then wrap the paper or napkin around the toilet paper tube.

Scrunch the ends into the end of each tube and then tie string around the end to secure.











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30 Days of Creativity
Stutt Your Stuff Saturday at Six Sisters Stuff

1 Minute Pen Makeover With Duck Tape

Quick and easy way to turn a plain ball point pen into a snazzy pen.

This was inspired by a desk set my supervisor has at work that she and her granddaughter made using one of the many wonderful print Duck Tapes that are now on the market.

Items used:

-   Ball Point Pen
-   Duck Tape
-   Scissors

The Duck tape I bought was more the consistency of packing tape and I got off of a clearance rack at Walgreens for .79 cents, but I think any Duck (or Duct) tape would work.

To be sure the cap still fit on both ends I laid out the tape and cut to length leaving some of the original pen exposed on both ends, laid the pen and one end of the tape as pictured and carefully rolled it up.

For the cap (not picture) I cut a small piece to wrap around the handle area of the cap first, then piece that was long enough to fit up to just where the handle meets the cap and wrap it around, then a piece fit from the top of the handle to a little over the top of the pen, wrap it around, pinch the tape shut at the top and then snip off the remaining excess at the end.

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30 Days of Creativity

Unicorn and a Rainbow Notebook

As it seems my son will use whatever notebook is handy as his own, I decided to come up with one there is no way he would want to be seen.

It was painted with a layer of blue acrylic paint then glued on with craft glue a unicorn drawn on a scrap of fabric with black fabric paint and outlined in dimensional paint.   The rainbow consists of nail polishes from my stash as some of my Sharpies have gone dry.

After taking the picture I wrote "Happy Thoughts" in the lower right hand corner with a purple Sharpie to balance it out a little more

Nope, he won't be toting to his automotive classes.  

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30 Days of Creativty

Refashion of Girl's T-Shirt to Dress

This is a dress I made for donation to Dress A Girl Around The World and it for a Size 8 girl.  The skirt is only slightly gathered, but if you wanted a fuller skirt you could double up on the yardage cut two pieces, on for the front and another for the back.

Items used:

• T-shirt 
• T-shirt in contrasting color (I was able use the sleeves off of an adult t-shirt)
• Half a yard of fabric
• Dollar Store Lei
• Button
• 1/2 yard of fabric (more for larger sizes)
• Sewing machine and thread
• Scissors
• Straight Pins
• Iron
• Ziplock baggie (optional)
• Needle
• Clear or sparkly Nail Polish

This a Size 8 girls t-shirt, but it the same concept could be used to make any size.

First I cut the sleeves and about halfway down on the t-shirt off.

Save the bottom for a different project.

Cut 2 strips of the contrasting fabric 4 inches wide and as long as the width + 1 inch. (1/2 inc for seam allowances.

Right sides together stitch the two strips together. Press seams open.

Pin the right side of the strip to the right side of the t-shirt with the seams at the side of the t-shirt and stitch together.

 For the bottom skirt, fold the right side to the wrong side  1/2 all the way around at the bottom, then fold up  1/2 inch again the top stitch 1/4 inch away from the edge all the way around.

Run a basting stitch 1/4 of an inch and 1/2 inch from the edge at the top up to 1/2 inch from each edge and leaving the threads long so the fabric can be gathered.

Right sides together, pin the long side of the fabric together in and stitch.  Press seam open.

Right sides together pin the back seam at the center back of the t-shirt (find center back by folding t-shirt in back and then insert a straight pin.  Gather and pin then stitch.

Take the Dollar Store Lei apart by clipping the string.   For easier clean up I opened a ziplock baggie and pushed everything off the string into the bag (there are little clear plastic pieces in between each flower that can be hard to see and they can mess up a vacuum cleaner).

To help prevent the edges of the flower from fraying and used sparkly nail polish around the edges of the three flowers I chose and also put a little on the button and allowed the to dry before stacking the flowers on top of each other and pinned them to the dress.

Put the button in the center and hand stitch the flowers/button to the dress.






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30 Days of Creativity


Happy Crafting!

Soap Dish from bottom of 2 liter bottle

I was inspired by a post at Alessia's Scrap Craft to create my own version of the bottom of 2 liter plastic bottle into a soap dish, although I made mine taller.  Not only does it cost almost nothing to make, it keeps the soap from getting soggy and gross on the bottom.

Items used:

• 2 litter plastic bottle
• Kitchen shears, Xacto Knife, box cutter or some other method to cut the bottle
• Rhinestones 
• E6000 or other strong clear glue

1. Decide how tall you want your soap dish to be.  I used a line that was already on the bottle below the label for a guide.
2. Cut the bottom off of the bottle (I used kitchen shears as I found I have better control over keeping the even, to start the cut, pinch the plastic slightly, cut, then insert one of the blades inside the bottle).
3. Glue rhinestones around the edge - I alternated blue and clear about and put them the length of 2nd bend in my index finger as a rough guide, but you could glue them wherever you wanted.

Happy crafting!

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30 Days of Creativity

Bows 'N Tulle 20 Minute T-Shirt Refashion

 

I wanted to fancy up a t-shirt with a somewhat vintage feel and created this for $2 using only a pair of scissors - no sewing required!  (1st picture is bow tied onel second picture is bow tied twice).

Items used:

• T-shirt
• Roll of 6 inch wide tulle (Purchased at Dollar Tree $1 - found in the bridal section)
• Scissors
• Seam gauge or ruler
• 1 piece scrap paper
• Pencil or marking chalk
• Safety pin

At the neckline, measure and mark 1/2 inch below the binding and cut.








Using a piece of paper I folded a long triangle with the base being and inch and 1/2 wide and cut it out.  Place up against the bound end of the sleeve with the narrowest part at the top and the widest at the bottom and mark.






At the neckline, measure 3/4 of an inch down and mark all the way around.  Mark the center front and back on the shirt.  One inch from each mark will be where you want to start your 2 inch markings.

 From the 3/4 inch mark, measure two inches down and mark all the way around at two inch intervals.

On the sleeves, starting at the top of the sleeve, also measure 3/4 inch from the edge and mark, then measure two below that mark and mark on the sleeve at two inch intervals.

Make cuts where marked.  I found it easiest to fold the fabric in half on the line marked and begin the cut.  Repeats all the way around the neckline and on the sleeves.

For the neckline, I cut a piece approximately 2 1/2 yards of tulle and folded the bottom up 2 inches and the top down two inches and folded the end over and secured with a safety pin to make it easier to thread through the neckline.

Start threading two cuts below the right hand side on the t-shirt weaving in and out all the way around then tie into a bow.   Trim bow to the length you want.

On the sleeve,  start one cut down from the top and thread all the way around, tie a bow and cut ends to the length you want, repeat on the other sleeve.






This is for Day 22 for 30 Days of Creativity

Girls Fireflies Dress from a T-Shirt

I always liked fireflies and decided to use up some of my glow-in-the-dark fabric paint to create a fireflies themed dress (girls size 2-3) using a green t-shirt.
Items used:

• Free pattern and instructions from Dana from "Made"
• T-Shirt (I used a women's large)
• Printer and paper
• Glow-In-The-Dark fabric paint
• Scissors
• Iron
• Sewing machine and matching thread 
• Straight pins
• Saftey Pin (for turning the tie inside out)

The "fireflies" were made making a somewhat bottom heavy cross shape in a diagonal pattern on the front and back of the dress before stitching together.





 I adapted the "Warhol Dress" by Dana from "Made" and added 2 1/2 inches to the top of the pattern and folded under 1/2 inch, pressed then stitched down, then 1 1/4 inch, pressed then stitched down 1/4 inch from the edge at the bottom on each side. 






I then stitched the ties together inside out leaving the ends open and used a safety pin to turn right side out the pressed with an iron.
 I then  threaded the ties through to make it more adjustable as I am going to be sending it to Dress A Girl Around the World.



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Updated Monster Hoodie

This is for Day 15 of .30 Days of Creativity with a theme of "Monsters".

I updated a Monster Hoodie I had made previously adding a 2nd set of teeth underneath to make it look more ominous.

Milk Chocolate Chip Browies

This is for Day 14 of  30 Day of Creativity; while the theme is "Quotations" and I had a different idea in mind for that project, I didn't have the time so instead, I am sharing these Milk Chocolate Chip Brownies that I made using a brownie mix made according to the directions on the package and I added 1 cup of Milk Chocolate Chips, which made it moister and more milk chocolately.

Bicycle Dress from T-Shirt

 This size 3-4 girls dress was made using a free pattern and instructions by Dana from "Made" using a large t-shirt.  The only variations that I made is instead of freezer paper stenciling a banana for the "Warhol" dress, I used free clip art from The Graphics Fairy of a Vintage Bicycle and added a ruffle at the bottom using a decorative stitch.

Items used:

• Free pattern and instructions from Dana from "Made"
• The Graphics Fairy of a Vintage Bicycle
• T-Shirt (I used a women's large)
• 2 pieces of fabric 2 1/2 inches by 26 inch fabric for bow
• 1 piece of fabric 2 inches by 36 inches for ruffle
• Printer and paper
• Black fabric paint
• Scissors
• Iron
• Sewing machine and matching thread 
• Straight pins 

I followed the instructions up to cutting out and stitching armholes and gather stitching, but before stitching together I printed off a half-page image of the bike then played around with where I wanted to position it on the dress.

 Using the black fabric paint I went over all of the black lines with black paint the positioned it on the t-shirt with the paint side down and lightly patted it down to transfer the image (Note:  it will be a mirror image to whatever image you are transferring, so it won't work with lettering).




For the remainder of the dress, I followed the instructions.

I also added a two inch ruffle (approximately 1 yd wide) at the bottom, using an iron to press up a 1/2 inch hem then stitching down and using a gather stitch at the top.  I then sewed the ends together, pinned underneath the shirt at the hem then applied the decorative stitch to finish.

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Cheap and Easy DIY Tassel Earrings

These simple tassel earring only took about 10 minutes to make and cost practically nothing to make.

Items used:

• Crochet thread (or embroidery thread would be pretty)
• Scissors
• Matchbox
• Pencil
• Hot Glue gun and glue sticks
• 2 gold 10mm jump rings
• 2 gold ear wires

1. Line thread up with the bottom of matchbox lengthwise and wrap 15 times then cut thread.
2. Place a small dab of hot glue across the back 1/4 of an inch down to secure the threads.
3. Push the threads off of the matchbox and on to a pencil at the top.
4. Use a piece of thread (8 inches or more) and tie around the earrings tassel and knot in the back, tie a knot and then continue wrapping around and knotting in the back.  Clip ends.
5. Remove pencil, open jump ring and thread through the loop and the ring at the end of the ear wire and close.
6. Cut threads at the bottom end

This is  for Day 12 with the theme of "String" for 30 Days of Creativity.
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PAC MAN GLOW IN THE DARK MIU MIU INSPIRED COLLAR

Front view (above), back view (left), full view opened with the lights out (right)







This of for Day 10 of 30 Days of Creativity with the theme beiing 8 bit video games.  As Miu Miu had a detachable collar with birds or cats a season back and I love Pac Man, I decided to combine the two ideas to make this Pacman Glow In The Dark inspired collar and there is no sewing involved.  With the exception of the glow in the dark paint, E6000 glue and googly eyes, all items are upcycled from other garments.

Items used:

• White shirt with collar
• Paper and pen
• Cap off a soft drink bottle
• Scrap of paper
• Fabric scraps, 1 in yellow and 4 different solid colors (cotton works best)
• Heat N Bond Iron on fusing
• Iron
• Scissors
• E6000 Glue
• 9 small googly eyes.
• Glow In The Dark Fabric Paint

1.    Cut collar off of shirt just below the collar band.

2.  Use the soft drink bottle to draw two circles.  For the Pac Man draw two lines to cut out the mouth.

For the ghosts, draw a straight line down on the sides, a notch next to each side on the inside and a rounded notch in the middle.  So the would be the same on each side I folded the paper in the middle then cut out and unfolded.

3.  Draw the shapes on the HeatNBond (1 Pac Man & 4 Ghosts) then cut out.   Iron on the Pac Man to the yellow fabric and each of the Ghosts to a different color of fabric and cut out.

To iron on at the front collar, angle toward the front and pin to check how it will look; when it looks like the Pac Man is chasing the Ghost, iron on.

4.  Pin on the remaining Ghost, one at center back the other two half way in between the Pac Man and other Ghost then iron on.

5.  Glue two googly eyes on each ghost and one on Pac Man.   To finish the edges, use the glow in the dark paint and outline each of the Ghosts and the Pac Man then allow to dry.

One dry, dot three dots in between each Ghost.



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