Full of Great Ideas

To the Cloud! DIY Cloud Identification Tool

2012-03-16T16:03:00.000-04:00

I am sorry for being away from here for a few weeks. I truly appreciate all the emails I received from readers asking where I have been and if I was returning. Don't worry, I have no plan on stopping Full of Great Ideas. No one has been sick and unfortunately, we have not been away, I just can't seem to find time to post anything. My projects have continued as normal, but finding the time to sit down and share them with you has been difficult.

So I am starting with a small post that I did with my kids this past week while they were on March break.

I pinned this Cloud Identification Tool kit idea a really long time ago and had always intended to make it. You can buy a kit online for a pretty reasonable price; however, they are intended for a classroom use so you have to buy at least 25 of them for $35. I have no need for 25, so I made my own.

I started by going online and found free images of the different types of clouds. Using Publisher (you can do this in any format), I arranged the clouds by the way they appear in the sky. The lower ones, are low clouds, the upper clouds are high in the sky...well you get the idea. I added the name of the cloud type below the image.

I printed the design out on photo paper with my color printer as a 5x7 and carefully cut out the middle rectangle. (I don't love the quality of my printer, so I think I might send it to Costco for a nice, professional print.)

I then cut a piece of white card stock to the exact size.

I glued the two pieces together with a wooden stick secured in the middle to be used for a handle. To be honest with you, I have no idea why I have tongue depressors in my house, but I had a few of them. I was expecting to have to eat a Popsicle just so I could get a stick..but nope. I still ate a Popsicle though :)

We are having the best March break weather ever, so we went outside to test it out. Unfortunately, we only had a few clouds in the sky.

Here is the only cloud, but you get the idea though how it works.

My son loved it...my daughter wasn't as interested. It always amazes me how different two kids from the same parents can be.

If you would like this, leave me a comment with your email address and I can email you the 5x7 high resolution jpeg. As usual, I just ask that you use it for personal use..or classroom use :)

What do you think?

I hope everyone has/is having a great March break.

Stephanie at Full of Great Ideas

1982 called and it wants its Bookends back

2012-02-24T11:32:00.000-05:00

I found a set of A and Z faux wood bookends at a local thrift store last year for the extremely reasonable price of $1.99. Nothing at my thrift store seems to be reasonably priced anymore, so you know they were bad and no one wanted them.

So here are the two beauties before.

Isn't the faux wood grain pretty.

They are even signed! Look at the date, November 1982. They will be celebrating their 30th Birthday soon. Wow I am old..it is scary when you realize you have something that is 'retro' (aka old but we want to charge you too much money for it so we will call it retro) and you could have made it.

My husband again rolled his eyes when I walked in the front door with this gorgeous set. Can't you see the potential? I could. And for $2 who could go wrong?

They each got a good dusting, because they were filthy, and a few coats of white gloss spray paint. Everything looks better with white gloss spray paint!

Here is the A now. Isn't it cute!

I intended to put them in our office but they have found a home on the shelves in my family room.

I am trying to put more white on these bookcases. As you can see the wood dice and recovered photo albums I created last year have also been relocated here.

I have never been happy with how these shelves are decorated but I think it has more to do with the selves. They look really red in the picture but they aren't really. I am seriously debating painting or wallpapering the back of each shelving unit. But there are so many other things to do around the house before that happens.

Not bad for $1.99 plus a little spray paint!

What deals have you found lately? Have you found your thrift stores are raising their prices too?

Have a great day and happy thrifting.
Stephanie

Pillow Case Yoga Bag -Sew it yourself for $0

2012-02-23T14:59:00.001-05:00

As one of my New Year's Resolution, I vowed to start exercising. I know it is not a very original resolution, but after having an extremely serious bout of pneumonia a few months ago, I was informed I had scarring on my lungs. I had to start exercising just so I could teach my lungs to take deep breaths again and to stretch out some of the scar tissue.

Well my wonderful sister-in-law convinced me to join bootcamp with her. I think the name bootcamp is a little misleading...it should be called "kick your butt and every other part of your body"camp! You realize you have muscles that you would never knew you had let alone imagine they could hurt that much. But I LOVE IT! I have actually already signed up for the next session.

You are probably wondering why I am sharing this. Well, for each session we have to bring our own yoga mats. I have a mat but I don't have a bag to carry that mat. I struggle with it hanging out the end of my gym bag twice a week, then on my off days it sits in the corner of my bedroom slowly unraveling into a mess.

I went out to buy one, but I am far to cheap to spend money on something like that. So I thought I would make one. After very little Google searching, I found quite a few ways to sew your own. None of which were great for basic sewers or lazy sewers like me.

So this is how I got here. I wanted a quick and easy way to sew a yoga mat bag.

Materials

Pillow case
Thread
Ribbon

Method

I headed to my linen closet and found the ugliest pillow case we had. Don't judge my 90s burgundy, hunter green and navy blue paisley pillow case. I am sure if each and every one of you were to dive elbows deep into your linen closets you would find something just as beautiful! :) Just note that since this worked so well, I will be making another one out of a nicer, maybe even funky pillow case that I find on clearance someplace.

Make sure the pillow case is longer than the yoga bag.

Cut off the 'cuff' (you know the fancy end of the pillow case where the fabric is folded over) of the pillow case with scissors; try to get as close to the body of the pillow case as possible. Then remove the seam on the 'cuff' so you have one long piece of fabric. This is going to make the strap of your yoga bag.

Iron your cuff fabric in half.

Then sew it along the two sides and then down the middle. This gives a nice firm fabric that will not twist or bunch.

I then determined how wide I needed the yoga bag to be. Make sure you leave enough space that the mat can slide in easily. I recommend pinning it and testing before you cut.

I cut the pillow case with my rotary cutter to get a straight line but you can use scissors easily too.

Now this part will seem a little tricky, but it really isn't. With the right side of the pillow case facing in, you need to put the strap of the bag inside. This will allow you to sew the strap right into the side seam of the bag. I sewed the strap on an angle into the side seam so they lay nicely when I wear the bag.

I did not need the full length of the 'cuff' strap. So I recommend, pinning this, flipping it right side out and carefully (so you don't prick yourself) determine how long you want your strap to be. Everyone will like it a different length.

This is the strap tucked within the pillow case bag.

I then did a really loose stitch up the side seam (Remember the bottom seam is already sewn from the pillow case). I did this so that if there was a problem I could pull it out easily. I verified everything worked, i.e. the strap length, the opening for the mat, etc. Once I determined it was all good I did a nice straight stitch and then went over the seam with a zigzag stitch.

Now this is where you make the bottom stand nicely. The other patterns online want you to cut a circle and carefully line it up with the bottom..come on. I can make it a million time easier. Since the bottom of the pillow case was already sewn all you need to do is a square corner. To do this, grab one corner (where the side seam is) and pull the fabric out so the bottom seam is down the middle. Really the middle seam and the side seam are laying on top of each other. Pin it. Then do the same with the opposite side.

So it will look like this.

Determine how wide your yoga mat roll is and sew a straight line, creating a triangle on each corner. Taa Daa! You have a flat bottom. (In any other situation, I would not be hoping for a flat bottom :)).

Now to the top of the bag. I simple folded the top over by a 1/2 inch, ironed it down and sewed the pocket, threaded some ribbon through and used an old bauble thingy from one of my kids old boots :).

Here it is done! I did take some pictures of it on my back but I looked like I had two chins and I am not sharing those.

Not bad huh, 90s paisley and all. Just image how cute it could be with a pretty pillow case (if you have one on hand or find one on clearance).

If you have any question on my confusing tutorial, let me know.

Thanks and Enjoy!
Stephanie
Linking to some great parties including: Story of A2Z, Thrifty Home

Don't you love when you find things from your house in magazines?

2012-02-23T12:15:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been flipping through a magazine and you see something that you absolutely love but deep down know there is no way you can afford it? I was browsing through my most recent edition of Style at Home magazine and came across an amazing chair. I mean I could have drooled over the pages.

Source Metropolitan Home

Do you see the one I am talking about? The one with the three ovals? Isn't it absolutely gorgeous? Let me officially introduce you to the Bracelet Chair by Barbara Barry.
Here are a few more images of it:

Source Metropolitan Home

Source Barbara Barry

Oh I love it so much, but not for the retails price of...wait for it...$2,800! Yes, there is a coma and two zeros on that price. If you drop the one zero I might consider it or maybe even the 2 and the comma (probably not) :) So I can honestly say I will never have it but I can dream. In fact I was dreaming so much that I showed it to my husband, and him being the wonderful man he is he looked at it and said "how is that different from the headboard you pulled out of the garbage?" I immediately corrected him and said I didn't pull it out of the garbage I picked it up at the Sidewalk Boutique. :)

But then a light went on and he was correct. It does look remarkably like this headboard I got for free out of the trash. Amazing! It actually made me smile.

Then I stumbled upon this in a Parenting magazine I got.

Source Ballard Design

It retails at Ballard Design for $153. Seriously, it is a small ottoman! But isn't the fabric purdy? Well does it look familiar?How about now:

This is the same fabric I used a year ago to recover my kitchen chairs and to create the stair basket I made out of a cardboard box here:

So if I were to find a cheap crappy ottoman at a thrift store for a few buck, spray paint the legs black and cover it with fabric I have on hand (cost under $15 per yard to start out with) I could have almost the same ottoman for around $10! A savings of $140!

I am literally going to head out to my local thrift stores after I hit publish on this post to go find one. I will let you know how it goes.

Doesn't it make you happy when you find things in your home that are in magazines? It makes you feel like you might have made a couple of right decorating decisions.

Have you ever found something like this before?

Have a great day,
Stephanie

Multiple Pant Hangers - Save space by hanging sleeveless shirts and t-shirts on them!

2012-02-21T20:36:00.002-05:00

Have you ever bought something just because it was on sale? How about buying a tool to try to get your closet organized but knew deep down that you probably wouldn't use it? Well I did just that.

I was at my local Home Sense (much like the US equivalent Marshall's) and they had padded pant hangers on clearance for $2! Granted they only had bright pink and purple but I thought for $2, how could I beat that! So I snatched up 4. To be honest with you I had 8 in the cart but thought there would be no way I would use them in my son's or husband closets, so I put half back.

Once I got home, I had buyers remorse. You know the feeling! Yes, I only spent $10 but I really had no need for them. Especially since, we have a basic closet organizer in our walk in closet, so our pants are already housed on a long, low hanging rack. I really had no need to conserve pant space (another reason why I really should not have bought them).

After walking around the house with these hangers, I ended up finding an amazing way to use all four of my clearance pant hangers! They are saving me loads of space and I now wish I had purchased all 8!

Here is what I have used them for..are you ready for this? It is one of those, why didn't I think of this sooner ideas. Hang your sleeveless shirts and short sleeve shirts on them!!!!

I tend to wear a lot of sleeveless shirts under my dressy work outfits. I hate that each shirt takes a hanger but I don't want to fold them because I hate ironing more than I hate laundry :). The same goes for short sleeve shirts.

Seriously, this works amazingly well!

I simply turned the hanger sideways, so it was parallel to the ground, and slipped one sleeveless shirt on each row.

For the t-shirts, I slide the padded pant holder through the cap sleeves.

Now that they are hung like this, they take almost no space at all.

See them tucked in the corner? I already have the ultra thin hangers in all my closets and to think there are 10 tops hung in that small amount of space makes me smile.

I need a few more now to organize my daughter's closet, especially to hang all her dance tanks, sleeveless dresses, sundresses, etc.

I am now going to have to keep my eyes open to see if I can find any more on clearance. In fact, I love this so much, I might buy some at full price! If you know me, you know how much I must love this, because I buy almost nothing at full price.

Don't you just love it! It really is funny how such a small thing can make me so excited :)

Have a great night and happy organizing.
Stephanie
Linking to some great parties including: Story of A2Z, Thrifty Home

Handmade 3D Butterfly Art on a $0 Budget

2012-02-20T13:15:00.001-05:00

Do you remember one of last year's favorite crafts, specimen art? You know, where you cut out a hundred butterflies and beautifully arrange them in a frame. I had intended to create one for my daughter's room but just never got around to it. With an electronic cutter (i.e. Silhouette or Cricut) or a paper punch in the correct shape, the project would have only taken 30 minutes but 30 minutes I just didn't seem to find. Until now.

I wanted to make something a little more unique than the specimen art so I hunted around Pinterest and Etsy, two of my major suppliers of inspiration, and found these two items that I love:

Source Ikea - $15

Source Etsy - approx. $40

These can be made with a Silhouette, a Cricut if you have Sure Cuts a Lot or by hand. So for those of you who do not have an electronic cutter, don't worry, this is a simple project that anyone can do.

The first thing I did was found a few free jpeg images of butterflies online that I liked. I saved them to my computer and opened them in Picasa. Since I did not want the entire butterfly cut out and wanted the wings to pop out of the page, I cropped the image so I had two separate halves.

If you have Sure Cuts a Lot (sorry this software is no longer available for the Cricut), insert both halves of the butterflies and line then up. Group them and then you can resize, rotate etc. You can see, that the Cricut will only cut where there are lines. The middle of the butterfly will not be cut.

If you do not have a Cricut or Silhouette, design the page in Microsoft Word. Using an 8.5x11 blank page, insert the jpegs one at a time to create the design you like. Reformat the page to be grey scale making the lines a really light grey. Print the design on a nice card stock and cut the grey lines carefully with an Exacto knife. A little more time is needed for this, but it will still produce the same amazing end product.

I did this one..sorry it is hard to see but you can get the idea.

After I cut the card stock using my Cricut it looked like this.

I have a pointy tool that came with my craft knife set that I use to score things. I placed my metal rule between the two points of the butterfly and gently scored where I wanted the butterfly wings to pop up.

Sorry the photos are dark. I was too lazy to go get my good camera so these are from my horrible little point a shoot.

After each butterfly is scored twice, carefully bend the wings back.

I had a DollarStore frame on hand for this. I had to remove the glass because there is no depth to the frame. Ideally I will eventually do this with a shadow box style of frame so the paper will be behind glass..

My daughter selected a bright pink piece of scrapbook paper to put behind the butterflies since her room is pink.

Isn't it pretty?

It was my neice's birthday yesterday, so my daughter wanted to give her one too. We used the same DollarStore frame but spray painted it with glossy purple and a piece of purple scrapbook paper. To be honest, I like this one better because of the contast between the paper and the frame. My daughter's one might have to venture into the garage for a little spray paint.

I love this!

I might be pulling this downstairs soon for my Easter decorations.

Grand total for this was $0..I had the frames, scrapbook paper and card stock all on hand. If I had to buy everything, I think it would be under $2!

I think I will design a dragon fly one next or maybe hearts. I will share those when/if I finish them.

What do you think? I am really happy with how they turned out.

Stephanie

Linking to some great parties including: Story of A2Z, Thrifty Home

Giving Hydrangeas New Life with Spray Paint

2012-02-16T15:01:00.001-05:00

As you may remember, I made gorgeous fresh hydrangea wreaths for my front doors a year and a half ago. I absolutely loved them. I loved how they looked, I loved the bright and vibrant colors and I loved that they cost me almost nothing at the time to make.

They stayed that way for about a year and a half. Unfortunately, they now they look blanched because the color has fully leached out of them.

They are still pretty but not something I want to hang on my front door. I honestly thought my only option would be to throw them out, but I had one of those aha moments when I was redoing (aka spray painting) some accessories for my family room (I will share those soon). I was spray painting all sorts of things and thought, why can't I spray paint the hydrangeas? What would be the worst thing that could happen? I might ruin them? Well they were already destined for the garbage so it was worth a try.

Here is what wreaths looked like before they ventured into my garage for some spray painting:

Here is what they look like now after a few different colors of spray paint:

Not bad huh! Sorry the photos are a little dark...it is pretty dreary here today.

Here is how I did it. I pulled out four colors of spray paint that matched the original pre-dried color of the hydrangeas. I only have 3 in this picture but I also used a bright lime green.

I started by painting the entire wreath a light green.

I then progressively got darker. So went next to the lime color, then the celery and finally the brick color. I made sure to do sections with just one color to mimic how the hydrangeas look when fresh.

See how parts are green and others deep red? If you look really closely you can tell it was spray painted...but if someone wants to look that closely they can just go home! :)

I will probably make these again with fresh hydrangeas again next fall, but for now, the wreaths have new life and look great all over again.

Can you image the possibilities? Hydrangeas come in so many different colors so you can match any room in your house. If you have some dried on your bushes outside, go cut them and grab your favorite colors of spray paint. See what you can make.

What do you think?
Stephanie

DIY Large Burlap Star on my $0 Budget

2012-02-02T14:02:00.000-05:00

This project was inspired by two posts I pinned a while ago. The first was Choose to Thrives DIY tin stars. I have wanted to make one for a long time but just never knew how I wanted to finish it. Then I stumbled upon my second inspiration The Douglas Family where she took a metal star and covered it with burlap. I knew I had a DIY project merging the two ideas together.

I made this star using a tin oven liner I purchased at the Dollar store months ago and then covered it with burlap I had left over from my custom burlap covered cardboard storage boxes.

Using a 12 inch star I cut out on my Cricut as the shape, I added 1.5 inches around the outer edges to enlarge it. I traced the star onto the tin, plus the width of my ruler, with a scoring tool that came with my Dollar store craft knife kit.

Here is what the scored tin looks like.

I then cut along the lines with my craft scissors; I thought I might have needed tin snips but the scissors did a great job.

I had to unravel a couple of the edges of the liner to get the points.

Here is what it looked like after it was cut out.

Using a good ruler, I scored from the center of each star point to the middle. By scoring it you can see how the star is taking shape.

I then flipped the star over and scored the lines from the center to where the two points meet. I made the shape of the star by using these score marks as the creases.

I decided to give the outer part of the start a quick coat of white spray paint so that I wouldn't see the shiny tin through the burlap.

I covered the entire outer star with ModgePodge and flipped it over to stick on the burlap.

I cut around the star leaving about 1/2 an inch of excess burlap to fold over the back. Here is where I had to play around for a bit. I had a few failed attempts securing the excess burlap but eventually got it to work.

First I tried ModgePodge to secure the excess burlap on the back. That didn't work at all. Then I thought I would use a little clear tape to hold it until the ModgePodge dried...well the tape could not stick on the ModgePodge. So I puled out my favorite backup tool...duct tape :) Yes, it worked but it looked horrible. I know that no one will see the back but I just couldn't live with it.

I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but hot glue worked the best. I ran a bead of hot glue and folded the burlap over. Stuck instantly and gave nice clean edged.

I had a ribbon and bow saved from a Christmas gift I got; I love to save these because the bows are perfect (something I can never seem to master). I glued the bow to the middle of the star and then the ribbon to the corners.

I had made the star to hang over one of the most difficult spots I have had decorating in my house, my three sided fireplace. This fireplace is huge and such a focal point in our family room and kitchen.

Here is what I have so far. I moved my toilet paper art from the dining room to here. I am still not 100% happy but feel I am getting closer. Please HELP if you have suggestions.

Please don't mind the plastic on the candles, I am not sure if I love them so I refuse to take off the plastic :)

What do you think? Any suggestions?
Stephanie

Delicious Rotisserie Chicken on my $0 Budget

2012-02-02T12:41:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the limited posts lately. I am having a tough time balancing work, home, being a mom, exercise and my blog. So the blog has fallen behind. I have a huge backlog of posts on my $0 budget so they will continue to come well into February. Please stop by and see what I did with my $0 budget over the next couple of weeks.

For those of you who know me this is not something new, but for everyone else...I hate touching meat. I do not like thinking about where it comes from; I would love to believe (and I do try to convince myself this) that meat grows in those white Styrofoam containers with plastic wrap around it :). I am not a vegetarian but I can understand why people are. Unfortunately, I also hate most types of beans so that definitely eliminates vegetarianism for me.

Why am I telling you this? Well with my $0 budget month, I cleared out the majority of my freezer and ended up finding two whole chickens. Do not ask me why I bought the stupid things to start out with, when I had no clue how to cook them and absolutely no desire to touch them. I do actually know why I bought them and this will just reinforce to you how cheap I am...the grocery store was having a sale for $4 for the ugly things. I saw it as though, I could buy one boneless chicken breast for the same price and this would feed the 4 of us. So I snatched up two..because dealing with the thing wasn't enough once, I had to do it twice :)

I am honestly proud of myself and thrilled with how they turned out. So thrilled in fact, I took pictures when I made the second bird. I am by no means going to start sharing my daily recipes and photos of my cooking with you. So don't worry :) I officially am not a food photographer! My photos look horrible but this was the best chicken I have made so I had to share. I will never buy a store bought, precooked chicken again!

Source Food Network- you can see my finished photo later. It isn't this pretty.

I got a new toaster oven about 6 months ago and it came with a rotisserie feature in it. At the time I thought it would never be used...but I love it now. I have made these chickens and the best pork roasts with it. Yum.

I go this chicken recipe from the food network here.

Recipe:
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 whole chicken

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Rub dry mix over the entire chicken.

Secure chicken on rotisserie spit. Cook on the rotisserie (I broiled at 450 degrees) until fully cooked (180 degrees internal temperature) for approximately 1.5 hours.

I cannot describe how good this was!

See this is why I will not post recipes...that chicken looks pathetic :) Doesn't the Food Network photo look so much more appealing.

I am just happy to be able to use those chickens up from the freezer. Had I not have done my $0 budget month, they would have sat there and never been used. Now I know I can do it and I might try some other recipes.

Do any of you have great rotisserie recipes? I would love to hear them!

Have a great day and happy cooking,
Stephanie

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Smart n Snazzy

2012-01-30T08:00:00.003-05:00

Hi there! Thanks so much, Stephanie for having me guest post during her fabulous $0 Budget Month series! I'm Lia from Smart n Snazzy, where I focus mostly on DIY, fashion, beauty, and decor, but I also post about whatever strikes my fancy. I'm a wife and mother of two beautiful kids, and I work full time as a Data Analyst in Denver, Colorado.

I like to say that I have expensive taste but a limited budget. Having a family to help support doesn't really allow for us to buy what we desire, so we have to make do. I like to invest in classic pieces, and skimp on the trends. A lot of the time, I'll make pieces inspired by high-end designer items for only a fraction of the cost. And sometimes, I make things using what I've got on hand! Here are a few examples.

When I laid eyes on the beautiful Kate Spade City Lights Bracelet, I knew I had to have it. But its price tag is not anything I'd be willing to spend. So I made it instead. Here's my version, and here's the original post:

Inspired by this gorgeous Dannijo Studded Stingray Cuff Bracelet, I created one in a similar fashion to that of the City Lights bracelet. Click here for the original post:

Finally, and yes I know I was on a TOTAL bracelet kick, I saw the whimsical Anthropologie Earbuds Bracelet and was completely enamored with it! So I rounded up the supplies and made my own. Here's the original post:

I hope you love and have been inspired to recreate some of your favorite pieces using some unconventional materials! I always try to think outside the box and am so proud when I do!

A huge thank you once again to Stephanie for having me on Full of Great Ideas! Please stop by Smart n Snazzy and say hi!

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: I Think I Can Squared

2012-01-29T17:02:00.001-05:00

Just call me cheap. Or the lady that ends with WAY too much stuff from buying sprees at Hobby Lobby.

Ok, cheap is easier.

I love crafts that don't cost a fortune. Blame it on my days as a daycare teacher where I had to pay out of pocket to keep the kiddies entertained :) I also go for cheap fixes for decorating because I'll admit, I hate doing it.

Here's some of my faves(ok, my faves that I actually blogged about)
Reused candle holder

Door wreath

Redoing a picture frame

April is a stay at home mom of 3 kids, ages 14, 12, and 5 and a zookeeper to an assortment of pets. She enjoy saving money, reading, sleeping, and doing way too many crafts. In her spare time, she blogs at I Think I Can, I Think I Can.

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: NMCreatrix

2012-01-29T08:29:00.000-05:00

I am an artist and recycler, and I have taken a pledge (from Full of Great Ideas) to not make any non-essential purchases during the month of January. I will be retiring in February and think that going a month without any non-essential purchases will be a way to get ready for it. I have been gearing down for this for all of 2011, but the holiday season got me a little off track.

Part of the process is deciding which things are essential and which are non-essential. I am sure that it will be an on-going issue. Since creating art is an essential for me, I plan to use what art materials I have on hand and not purchase anything. That also helps reduce my stash!

Some of my ideas include making postcards, ATC {artist trading card) Buisness Cards and product hang tags for my wares. I use recycled cardboard boxes, paint and embellish them, and then cut to the size I need. I apply tags that I downloaded that I have customized with my company information. This gives the recipient both a small work of art and my business information. See my prior posts here and here for July.

These are postcards for a mail art swap that I was involved in for October. These use recycled materials and supplies that I already had on hand. Only cost was the postage.

Shari Adkisson
http://nmcreatrix.blogspot.com/

www.etsy.com/shop/nmcreatrix

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Never Home SAHM

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

I would like to welcome Mikita from Never Home SAHM to Full of Great Ideas. Here is Makita's great frugal idea for organizing those dreaded headbands..perfect for all you who have daughters!

Here is what Mikita had to say:
"I was recently having a chat with another Mom of girls and she said, there is really no good way to organize headbands. I agreed, as I remembered how my daughter's headbands have taken over the dresser and floor and bathroom!

I also took this conversation as a personal challenge to find a way to organize them. Luckily, I have fallen in love with a little site called Pintrest. If you don't know about it, send me your email and I will invite you to join. *Warning* the site is addicting, seriously, you will be hooked! You've been warned!

Anyway, so I can't take credit for the idea itself, but I can take credit for my version of how I did it. You need rings that are hooked together, any rings. I used a silver looped belt that was in my daughter's closet. You could use shower curtain rings, linky baby toys that most people use to hang toys on a car seat. Just hook them together and hang them on a wall, I used push pins and put one of the loops on the pin.

My loop organizer holds headbands and scarfs by threading them through the loops! So easy. I also tied a ribbon on one of the loops and clipped on bows and barrets!

Publish Post

So easy and free way to organize them!"

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Chic Done Cheap

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hi! I'm Maizie from Chic Done Cheap. Chic Done Cheap is all about living the luxe life for less: whether you're barely getting by or just looking to save more money. My blog is a mix of DIYs, saving money ideas, interior design and fashion. Visit Chic Done Cheap, here. For chic tips on the go, follow me on Twitter: @chicdonecheap.

Here are some chic projects to get your 2012 started off right.

Never too cool for school-DIY covered pencils

Coffee Break Craft- Floppy Disc Coasters

Crayola coral

-Chic Done Cheap

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: House Wife in Town

2012-01-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

Hello Everyone,

I contact Laura at House Wife in Town and asked if she would be willing to share her 31 Days to Happier Children series with you. I love this series and it fits so well with this month, not because it doesn't costs anything, but because we have so much more time to grow as a family this month. As you might (or might not) remember from my last 1 month $0 challenge, the best thing we got out of it was not saving money, it was the time we spent together. Please be sure to stop by and see what Laura had to say in her 31 Days to Happier Children.

Happiness is a choice. "We choose to count our blessings. We choose to head outside and look for contentment and joy in nature. We choose to eat food that encourage optimism. We choose joy." taken from this post back in October introducing my 31 Days to Happier Children series.

So much of our daily life is about the habits we have -- how we spend our time, what we choose to eat and drink, when we sleep. Have you noticed that some habits lead to happiness and others don't? It's a pretty simple formula -- get happy by making happy habits. And teaching your children to do the same! Add in gratefulness for what you have, quick forgiveness when others wrong you, empathy, and understanding how your personality and love language affects your relationships, and you'll have to fight to be UNhappy.

When I set out to write about happy kids every day for 31 days in October, I didn't know I'd get over 44,000 pageviews and pins all over Pinterest. Many people are obviously looking for answers for themselves and for their children. We want to spend more time with our kids, but really -- we want our time spent to be effective. We want our words to really impact our children for good. We want our parenting to be dynamic, with positive outcomes. I want all that too. And writing all thirty-one days, on topics from eating your vegetables to traveling together to focusing on marriage, helped ME put things in perspective and see what our family needed more of to be highly functioning.

Writing this series HAS helped my family become happier. And now I've got it as a resource to come back to. I can ask the questions: How are we doing lately? Am I making it a point to put on my oxygen mask as a mom? Are we still focusing on emotional intelligence in our interactions with each other and with our friends? Did we laugh together today?

Happiness is worth so much more than money. You can't put a dollar amount on it. Especially when you see the research behind it. Check this out:

"Optimism is so closely related to happiness that the two can practically be equated. And guess what: optimism is a teachable skill. Hope, faith and optimism are all positive emotions about the future, and so are essential parts of a happy childhood. That is enough for me, but if a happy childhood isn't your first priority for your kids, think about these other benefits reaped by optimistic children. Compared to pessimistic people, optimists are:

More successful in school, at work, and in athletics
They are healthier and they live longer
They are more satisfied with their marriages
They are less likely to suffer from depression
They are less anxious..."

quoted from an article entitled "The Benefits of Optimism" by Christine Carter, Ph.D. at the Greater Good Institute

Don't be alarmed -- my kids aren't happy all the time. If only! But I really believe that the habits we are forming have made a difference in our level of happiness. So I can say that our family continues to learn happiness, from living intentionally and continually making positive lifestyle choices. It's not a quick fix, it's a way of life. And we'll be reaping the rewards for a long time.

To read all 31 posts in my series, click here. And let me know what you think.

Paper Roll Cross (two actually) on my $0 budget

2012-01-22T20:26:00.001-05:00

I realize this idea is somewhat of a repeat of a $0 budget project from last, but I thought it was worth the post since it really is different and I absolutely love how they turned out.

So here they are, paper roll (aka paper towel/toilet paper roll) crosses.

If you did not see the toilet paper 'art' I created (below) last year on my $0 budget, you can see it here.

So I used the same technique as my previous project. I flattened the paper roll (I used mostly paper towel rolls this time) and cut the two ends off each of the rolls. I then cut (with a rotary cutter) the flattened rolls into a approximately 1 inch pieces.

If the seam starts to come undone on the inside, just hot glue it as you go.

I start by making little flowers making sure to get the 4 corner points together nicely.

Once you make a few of these, lay them out and figure out the design you like. Then glue together the flowers and add any additional pieces to make your shape.

After you have glued all the pieces together, prime the entire piece with spray paint primer. This cannot be skipped, otherwise your paint will look blotchy. Wait the recommended time and then spray paint to your desired color.

I did two coats of spray primer and then a few coats of oil rubbed bronze for my cross. It really does look like it is metal! There is a slight shine of gold when the light hits it.

I love how it looks with the iron wall piece I have in my dining room.

Cross #2
My daughter designed this one all by herself. She wanted it to look like a cross of flowers and then leaves coming out of the ends. She asked me to spay paint the pieces different colors and at first I thought it wouldn't look nice, but thought it doesn't cost anything if we need to make it again. But I love how it looks.

Isn't it adorable? Perfect for her room!

What do you think?

How has your month been? I have been so busy working out this month, I don't miss shopping. I long for sleep more than anything else :)

There are some amazing guest posts this week so be sure to stop by.

Have a great week,
Stephanie

Piercing American Girl Doll's ears on my $0 Budget

2012-01-19T10:59:00.000-05:00

I am sorry I have been absent for over a week. I started a new fitness session and it is kicking my butt; I have no energy to do anything. Actually, it hurts right now to lift my arms up to type :) Next time when your loving sister-in-law asks you to join bootcamp with her, just know you will be tired, grumpy and sore for the full 8 weeks :) But I do love, so I am thankful for the invite.

Over a year ago we packed up our car and drove to New York City with the kids for a family holiday. Three of us had never been to New York before (my husband had been) and we were very excited. It was a month or so before my daughter's birthday so my husband and I decided to surprise her with a trip to American Girl; we made reservations at the Cafe for dinner and then while we were their bought her her first American Girl doll. She carried that doll around New York for 4 days with pride and excitement.

Well after we returned home from our holidays, she asked if she could get her own ears pierced. This was something we had held off doing until she could make the decision on her own and was mature enough to care for it. After much discussion and 30 minutes of crying/screaming at the salon, she got it done. I will add, after the women did both ears at the same time she said "That didn't hurt at all." I am glad my husband video taped some of her pre-ear piercing fun. Now this meant her American Girl no longer looked exactly like her.

Ever since she has been hoping we could go to an American Girl store to have Emily's ear's pierced. We have not made it to one and I refuse to mail the doll away. So, we decided to try to do it ourselves. I thought "Come on, how hard could it be?" Boy does my husband hate when I say those words. But this time it wasn't difficult.

We pulled together the tools we thought would be necessary.

Hammer
Pliers
Thick sewing needle
Old pair of earrings

Method

Identify where you want the earrings to be situated on the dolls ears. You will just be putting the earring into the ear and no back will be used. The earring post just goes into the dolls head.

Place the doll on a hard flat surface and using a hammer, gently tap the thick sewing needle to make the hole.

I do not recommend using a tack because it will make the hole too large and the earrings will just fall out.

What a horrible shot :) It really reminded me of when I was younger and kids would try to pierce their own ears.

If necessary, use pliers to pull the needle out of the ear.

Insert earrings and you are done!

Here is Catrina with Emily (American Girl #1).

Well, after her first doll was done, she was determined for dad to pierce her other American Girls ears too.

If you were to get their ear's pierced at the store, they would charge us $14 per doll. So we saved $28 and now we don't have to carry the dolls with us on our next vacation. A Win win in my books.

What have you been up to on your spend free months? Anyone else feel like they are not able to move as a result of their dumb New Year's resolution to get back in shape?

I hope to have more $0 ideas soon.
Stephanie

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Mother Hen Strikes Again

2012-01-17T08:00:00.005-05:00

Hi There, Mother Hen here, my blog is Mother Hen Strikes Again. I'm a crafter, cook, mother and love making and baking!

I first came across Stephanie's blog in November 2011 on Pinterest. Someone had pinned her blog post about $0 for the month of March 2011. I am fairly new to the blogging scene and thought this was a brilliant idea, I thought what a fabulous idea! I left a comment for Stephanie saying she had inspired me to do this in January when things are naturally tight after over spending at Christmas. I also have a ton of unfinished projects and craft items around the house, surely I could get on and use some of these things up! This was just the inspiration I needed to rise to the challenge! Stephanie kindly emailed me and asked if I would like to join her through this journey in January and I replied that I would love to! And so the journey began....

I came up with 7 Golden Rules to live by for the month, see my original post for those. I have then set to coming up with some ideas to use up these craft supplies I have!

So far I have made quite a few things I'm very pleased with. I will give you a peak at just a few, but please feel free to visit my blog.

Golden Rule 3 states, not buying any sweets or treats! So having to curb that sweet tooth, means I've been using up the baking ingredients in my cupboards to make some yummy goodies...

Blueberry and White Chocolate Muffins

I have also made a couple of nice things with some crafty leftovers or up cycling!

Shabby Chic Necklace, Old Jewellery and T-shirt

Felt Egg Cozies

And saving a few pennies with home made toiletries/cosmetics....

Body Scrub, Facial Scrub and Moisturiser

Please feel free to join us for the rest of the January $0.00 Spend Challenge, it's not to late to join in the fun! Yes being Thrify can be Fun!

Mother Hen

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Tutus & Tea Parties

2012-01-16T08:00:00.002-05:00

Hi, I'm Lauren. I am super happy to be sharing some ideas with you here on

Full of Great Ideas!

I post over at Tutus & Tea Parties about art & activities for the kiddos, tutorials for the parents and some great info I come across for parents. I am a wife to a very understanding hubby who deals with crafting supplies taking over our small apartment and a moma to a 2 1/2 year old toddler {known as Bug} who loves to play, craft and cook with me. We live on a pretty tight budget so crafting isn't always something I can spend a lot on. If you ask Bug where she likes to shop she will tell you Walmart & Michaels. We love using our 40% off coupon at Michaels and will go once a day if we have to get multiple things {or we will drag along some friends or family to make a purchase for us}.

Here are a couple $0 budget projects we have done:

TP Roll Binoculars for the kiddos:

We used two toilet paper rolls, a scrap piece of yarn and glue. Easy peasy!

Magnetic Bookmarks:

We used a paint strip {free at home stores & Walmart has them too}, glue, business magnets {like you get from the pizza place and what not}, and I used a brad...but that is optional.

Necklace Onesie {flower optional}: Don't you just love baby bling?!

We used a white onesie we already had, acrylic paint or fabric paint {I have about 20 bottles of acrylic & fabric paint on hand...is that normal?}, a pencil and a small paint brush.

I'd love to know if you make any of these! Just post a pic on my Facebook page to show me.

Thank you,
Lauren

http://www.etsy.com/shop/crocheting4baby
http://tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tutus-Tea-Parties/142834599102143

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Organizing Made Fun

2012-01-14T13:04:00.000-05:00

My name is Becky and I blog at Organizing Made Fun.

Stephanie asked me to help out with her month long challenge of $0 spending. I did an entire month or organizing on a very similar subject: 31 Days to cheaply organize your home!

Let me tell you that if you think organizing has to be expensive, it doesn't. I'm going to give you three examples of how to organize without having to break the bank! First is oatmeal containers!

Source

This oatmeal container was turned into a ribbon organizer.

I have made one into a headband/hair things organizer for my daughter's hair things, too.

Source

How about a yarn organizer/holder?

Source

My next idea is hangers! What about those dry cleaner hangers that come with your dry cleaning? If you were going to send them back or throw them away...consider this instead:

Source

I found this cute way to organize flip flops - quite creative for someone with a large collection of flip flops.

Source

How about hanging scarves or tights? This is such a simple and easy idea!

Source

Maybe you have a pants hanger that you no longer need? Organize your ribbon!

Source

Last hanger idea...my friend, Julie, came up with this clever way to organize her boots! She took a skirt hanger with clips and clipped her boots!

OK, last idea is left-over containers.

Source

I used left-over containers to organize my whole stash of paint supplies.

Source

You can use scrapbook paper to make ugly containers into something pretty and use somewhere in your home for organizing.

Source

Or even use it to help organize things in your fridge - like snacks for your kiddos!

Well, I hope this gets your imagination going. I would love for you to stop by Organizing Made Fun and get more inspired by all kinds of organizing ideas.

I'm currently doing a series every Monday this month called "Organized Resolutions" and I'd love for you to check it out.

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: Busy Kids=Happy Mom!

2012-01-10T08:00:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone. I want to share with you the guest post sent to me by Kristen at Busy Kids = Happy Mom! Kristen didn't have a lot to say in her post, so I thought I would share with you how cute her blog is. If you have kids (like I do), Kristen has some adorable ideas that your kids will absolutely love to make! Here are a few ideas that I found on her blog that I will be making with my guys. These may have not been $0 crafts for Kristen to make...but I can make them this month with stuff I have laying around my house :)
Coffee Filter Turkey

Clay Mickey Mouse Snowman Ornament

Glow Stick Lanterns (what child would not love this!)

Now here are the adorable posts that Kristen sent me for her $0 budget crafts.

Here are 2 popular posts for a $0 budget:
Spend, Save, Give Banks for Kids

Out of Pringles Cans! Go here to see more!

Upcycled Craft for Kids

Out of things in your house!
Go here for our secret ingredient.

Be sure to stop by and meet Kristen, a part-time as a reading specialist. She blogs about ideas for keeping her kids engaged, unplugged, and life skills training. She also has a popular Mom Spotlight Series. Visit her here at Busy Kids = Happy Mom.

$0 Budget Month Guest Post: I'm Not a Trophy Wife

2012-01-09T08:00:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone

Happy New Year! Stephanie over at Full of Great Ideas asked for Guest Posts on Full of Great Ideas during the $0 Budget Month. I knew this was a post I could contribute to.. if I got my post submitted early!

My name is Laura and I'm Not a Trophy Wife. It's a description of myself and a blog title all rolled up into one! I think the title says it all! I always say I am many things, but I'm Not a Trophy Wife. I describe my decorating style as Pottery Barn inspiration meets TJ Maxx, Target meets garage sale (heavy on the last two)!

So here are a few of my favorite $0.00 budget ideas. These ideas came from items I already had on hand. I didn't have to leave my home or spend money to create these project!

My first project is an up cycling idea from large green bean cans. I have changed these up several times during the year. The first project was for organizing my son's "treasures."

This project was created with burlap, ribbon and greenery in my ~~craft room~~ unfinished basement.

My next project is one of my most popular posts. Here is the original post.

I repeated the theme for Christmas by adding branches from our Christmas tree and Cuties oranges. Here is the original post. So easy, zero dollars and they both have an organic look.

Here's a final project that was zero dollars (sorta)! I already had the super discounted dinged frames from Michael's and I had the scrapbook paper in stock. I made it for Valentines Day, but it has a permanent spot in our bedroom. Here's the final framed piece of artwork. It's leaning against 2 shoe boxes wrapped in a roll of brown paper from Home Depot I bought during the summer as a boredom buster for summer.

Thanks Stephanie for the opportunity to show simple ideas for $0.00 Budget Month.

FANtastic Beer Steins on my $0 budget

2012-01-07T21:20:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I can say this...I have not spent a penny in 1 week! We had some returns to do from Christmas gifts this week and we were fantastic to return the items but did not buy anything after. Even the kids returned a couple of items and they took the money and have saved it for another time. I would like to say they are learning to save, but I know this is not 100% true. I have to admit that teaching my kids to save and value money has been one of the toughest things we have been trying to deal with lately. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them. Please share how you have taught your kids to value money.

We have already noticed that the amount of time we spend together has increased. We spent today as a family playing outside (our weather is ridiculously warm), reading in the sun, doing a couple of crafts and taking down the last of the Christmas decorations. My husband and I both commented how wonderful today was because we didn't run around shopping.

I made my own bread and hamburger buns today and used up a few small items in the freezer (we had hamburgers and hot turkey sandwiches for lunch) but we are starting to run out of fresh vegetables and milk, so I will have to stop by the grocery store quickly tomorrow.

How are all of you doing? Are you saving a few dollars? Are you also spending more family time?

Here is my $0 budget post for today.

Have you seen the NFL beer steins on Pottery Barn's site? They are FANtastic (hee hee hee) and if your football team is in the playoffs it makes you want them even more. Well at $24.00 EACH!!! they would have to have some gold content in order for me to feel they were worth buying. But as soon as I saw them, I knew I could make them for nothin.

Source Pottery Barn

I should now share a picture of my husband's beer stein collection but I won't because it might make you think he has a drinking problem, which he doesn't :). Well he has lots of beer steins! So I grabbed 4 of his favorite shaped steins and snuck away to my craft room.

I designed the team logo using Sure Cuts a Lot and cut it with vinyl I had left over from my marble tiles. Yes, I could have used contact paper but I really didn't want to mess up one of the beer steins so I used my good vinyl.

To be honest with you, the larger steins with the handles would work easier than this shape since it was difficult to get the vinyl to lay flat on these. But these did work out great, I just had to cut the vinyl and overlap it carefully to create the circles.

I used a flat knife that I have to cut 4 straight lines to quarter each of the circles. You could use an exacto knife or a pair of scissors to do this too.

I used my painters tape technique to transfer the vinyl to the glass.

Be sure to lay the logo down first and then carefully the circle around it. Remember the circle will be bunchy, so you will need to carefully separate the vinyl where you cut it and overlap it. You can get a perfect circle this way, just be careful not to damage the vinyl otherwise the etching cream can creep under.

You can see the outer part of the circles are bunch and bubbly but that does not matter. You just need to make sure the part that will be in contact with the glass and etching cream is flat and tight on the glass.

Lay the glass on something to prevent it from rolling. The etching cream can run, so you want to make sure the glass doesn't move.

I used Armour etch to etch the glass. My instructions are covered with a million warnings so I have had to learn how to use this from trial and error. I now stir the etching cream before I apply it. This seems to make it give a more even etch.

I apply the cream using a cheap foam brush. I apply it really thick and evenly over the entire area to be etched. Be sure to not get any on the other part of the glass. It will etch almost immediately.

I recommend letting the etching cream sit on the glass for 20-25 minutes. I don't know what the jar says to do, but I did 4 of these glasses, 1 for 15 minutes, 1 for 20 and 2 for 25 and I found the 25 minute ones looked the best. Once the time had elapsed, I scrapped the etching cream back into the bottle. I was told to do this by a fellow blogger and it seems to work. I then take the steins to my laundry sink and run them under warm water to get off all the excess etching cream.

Peel off the vinyl and wash the glass with dish soap and you are done.

They took some time and were a little finicky to make, but they turned out great and cost me zero dollars, so well worth it.

What do you think? Not bad for nothing!

Have a great spend free weekend.

Stephanie

Fork Stand on my $0 Budget

2012-01-06T14:24:00.000-05:00

Did you see the Blessed to Be Blessed's guest post yesterday with here $0 infinity scarf? Amazingly creative! If you missed it, you can check it out here.

Today's post has helped me ~~get rid of~~ use up a basket of old forks I found laying around that didn't match my everyday or my formal set. I made photo stands out of them. This $0 project would work amazingly well with silver forks ...like anyone has some of those laying around to be altered into a plate/photo stand. Steer clear of thick, heavy gauge forks; they are very hard to bend and you will not be happy with the end results.

Here is what the project looks like in the end:

Materials:

Old forks
Needle nose pliers
Wire bending tool (not necessary but nice to have)

Method:
Using a wire bending tool my husband had (if you don't have this, you can easily use pliers) I bent the prongs of the forks forward and backwards so the fork stood on its own.

You start with the two outer prongs and you bend them forward to approximately a 90 degree angle. Be sure to line up where the bend is otherwise you will have a wobbly stand.

Once the outer two are bent, move to the middle two. Bend them in the opposite direction as the outer ones.

So your fork will look like this.

Then using a pair of pliers, I separated the middle prongs so they will provide better balance.

Test out the fork now and see if it stands well. If it is off balance, bend the prongs a little to get it in the right position. I liked mine to lean back slightly but it is up to you.

Then using needle nose pliers, I rolled the 4 prongs to make a loop on the ends. This makes it look a little nicer and provides an edge for the photo to lean against.

I had planned to used these forks as pictures stands. I really wanted this stand to hold photos of my two guys in my office that I don't want to frame since I change them frequently. I love how they are not bulky on my desk.

I now think these would have work great for the Personalized Marble Tiles I made for everyone at Christmas. I made over 20 of these as Christmas gifts and ended up buying plate stands at the Dollar Store for each of them. I wish I had thought of this earlier because they are far cuter than the Dollar store stands I gave. I will have to remember it next year.

I still have one of my original plates waiting to be gifted (we will see them later this month) so I tested out my fork stand and it worked great. You can barely see the top of the fork sticking out but I love how it doesn't take away from the tile.

What do you think of my $0 fork plate /photo stand?

How has your spend free day been? We have had an interesting morning. My guys were in desperate need of hair cuts but since I am determined to not spend unnecessarily, I sat them down and did it myself. Before you gasp in disgust, my son had really curly hair so even if I completely messed up and had many different lengths, you would not be able to tell on his hair. My daughter on the other hand has perfectly straight hair. So this took me a little longer but ended up working really well. I saved approximately $45 by doing this! Not bad. Maybe in the future I can alternate between me and a professional.

Do you but your kids hair? Anyone have any tricks to make this easier?

Have a great day,
Stephanie

$0 Budget Month Guest Post - Blessed to be a Blessing

2012-01-05T16:00:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone at Full of Great Ideas! I am so excited that Stephanie gave me this opportunity to guest post for the $0 Budget month. I am new to this whole world of blogging and so I am low on crafting supplies and trying to start small. Before I launch into my ideas, let me introduce myself!

My name is Alesha and I blog over at Blessed to be a Blessing. I got married last May to my high school sweetheart and the man of my dreams! Travis work as the Assistant high school and college age Pastor at our church. We serve together in both areas and on worship team! I have always enjoyed crafting and after much deliberation, decided to launch into the world of blogging. I sew, knit, crochet, make cards, scrapbook, and mend...(I guess that counts as sewing, but I feel like it should be in its own category!) So here are my projects...enjoy!

Project One: The Infinity Scarf

If you are like me, you probably have a bunch of old scarves laying around that you never wear but won't get rid of. They are pretty, but for some reason they are never just quite right; they were too thick, too thin, too long, or too short! And so often I won't get rid of them because they were gifts - in my case, they were hand knit or crocheted gifts from friends! I always feel so awful throwing away a homemade gift. =(

So my solution? Turn them into infinity scarves! This automatically solves both length and thickness issues - mostly anyways.

I didn't even bother taking pictures for this tutorial because it is so SIMPLE! Simply match up the ends of your scarf, pull out a needle and thread, and sew them together. The thread will be so thin compared to the yarn you won't even see it. Perfectly simple and completely free! I love, love, love my new scarves. And here's the best part...if I ever get tired of having them like this, then I can cut out the stitches and BAM! They are back to normal! =)

Project Two: Sleeve Removal from a Cardigan
I did this project when before I started blogging and was so impressed with myself that I had to create a blog to show it off!

This little refashion turned a sweater that I never wore into the perfect accessory! Take an old shirt, blouse, or cardigan and go to town! The full tutorial is on my blog.

Thanks again for having me and I'm looking forward to hearing more from you guys! Thanks again Stephanie!