Refashion: Button-Up shirt to Little Boys 'GI Joe' Outfit

I heart little girl things.

Ruffles.

Frills.

Skirts and dresses.

Lace and Ribbon.


Alas, I was blessed with a little boy.  So I must adapt ...

Camo.

Sports Teams.

Practical & Sturdy.

Denim & Dark colours.

 ........ So lets at least try to keep it a little fun!!~~~~~

 1. Military colour shirt - $1.99 @ VV Boutique (aka Value village Thrift Store) - Men's small

2.Chopped off both arms

3.  Measured with one of my sons shirts that fits him (even a little too big) I don't want him outgrowing this next month!

4. Using that same shirt - measured to see how much to take out of the sides - pinned and serged edges - remember to leave the arm hole open - this is where we have to reattach the arms

5. Reattached arms ~ at this point I overthink things - don't put one of the arms one inside out and think you might be able to get away with it - you will HAVE to take it off and put it on the right way *wink*

6. At this point - if you have a girl this would be perfect for a Dress!

7.  Add Army-esque embelishments - Of course I just used some of my scraps.  The stripes are some ribbon my little man picked out himself.

Pretty Snazzy!!

Before he would wear it I had to make matching pants (he's very matchy-matchy for 3.5) So I quickly put together some pants with big Cargo-type pockets on both legs made from the left over shirt material - and an elastic waist ... Apparently -this is how he feels he should 'pose' for the camera .... and the cowboy hat? I have no idea - maybe he escaped the Cuban Army?

Linked to Funky Junk SNS
 & A Vision to Remember
& Kuzak's Closet 

Easy Scrabble wall Art ...

Time from start to finish : 20 minutes

Materials Required: Picture Frame with or with out glass

Scrabble tiles

Scrap of material to cover the front or any picture you want to see behind your letters

Tape

Glue Gun

1. Wrap the Cardboard 'backing' from the picture frame with the material - you can do the same if you want to use a picture frame with glass - just wrap the glass with the material.

Tape it on the back side so it stays in place (no one will ever see this side - so let your be as messy as you want)

Set it back in the frame

 

 2. Then I played with some Scrabble tiles and made some words suitable for the bedroom :)

 3. Got out the trusty Glue -gun and stuck the letters in place ...

4.  Hang it in a nice spot

Owl Pattern ... for easy Applique

This is my own pattern that I created and I thought I would share the pattern with anyone who might want it.

The rest of the pics are the girlie Owl Quilt I just finished ...

Using Fusible Webbing ... LOVE working with it - makes Applique SO easy!!

 

 

Just Right Click the Picture Below - then Save File As ... then you can print it and enlarge it

and if someone can tell me how to link a pdf that can be printed I'll be forever grateful lol

Vintage Seasame Street Sheet ... to Fun Mini-Chef's Apron

Chef's Hat Coming Soon ...

So a vintage VV Boutique find (ahem Value Village) ... or coulda been Sally Ann's ... (cough Salvation Army cough)  But the Seasame Street sheet could simply NOT have been left behind! ... Taking some quick measurements of my little man, I fab'd the basic pattern, cutting 2 pieces of the body, one of the print and one of the gingham.

Then 'hemmed' the edges to the front so the gingham would 'trim' it.  Plus I kinda like how you can see the gingham pattern through the front.  I think I will try to do a full tutorial on this one day because it is just so simple & quick to make.

The armholes are casing for the Tie so this is totally adjustable for itty-bitty Chefs, to the bigger ones - I think this would even work fine for a 5-6 year old.  My son is 3.5 and in bed now, so I won't make him model it :)

 

Totally Charming!!

 

Footstool Re-Do

 BEFORE:

One retro stool for $2.99 - horrible shape but I could see the potential.  Deal of the week!!

Classic: Brown vinyl with drizzled gold & silver paint!! The legs were solid but in definite need of some TLC

AFTER

Sanded the legs down

Then burnished with Burnt Umber Acrylic paint with a touch of gold (I was thinking a dark Walnut Stain but didn't have any on hand - I think it turned out well)

Finished with a light coating of Tung Oil

 For the new top - I just measured and cut the top & 4 sides from a drapery remnant that had been gifted to me ($0.00!!)

 Sewed it together ... Added some padding ~ double layered 

(I used leftover remnant of mattress padding $0.00)

Stapled the edges under ...

 Good as new ... for $2.99

and it matches the curtain in my bedroom that I already made out of big piece of drapery material :)


and now I've decided it's not quite Finished as of Wed. March 24 ... I'm not happy with the edges along the bottom ... so I guess it's still a work in Progress ... like so many other things :)

What do you think?
Ruffles?
Ribbon?

anything else?

Linked to: Ma Nouvelle Mode

Bargain of the day!! Vintage Lamps - perfect for a snowy-day project ...

 $12.00!! love it!!

no markings on this one - but it's very solid

 it's missing one of the sets of crystals ... so I will probably replace them all ... the detail in the metal is beautiful!! ... I think it will just need a new shade and a clean-up and will be ready to go!

 $10.00!!! It's very cool too!!

L & L 1973 lamp - there's a small bulb in the base that lights up as well.

the shade is too big ... hmmm maybe I will just swap them around ...

and see if the tacky flowers will come off - then try to paint or stencil something fun on it ... any suggestions?

I just have to find that awesome Blog where some crafty girl repainted and aged the metal parts of the lamp and it looked so NICE! - if I find it I will post the link :)

my Camera's broken ...

One evening, my son was 'performing' with his guitar and singing and I thought - get it on video - so hubby grabbed our digital camera & started taking video, then he decided that balancing it on it's bottom & lens so it was slightly pointed down towards my son was a good idea ... for about 5 seconds until the camera crashed to the floor ... now the lens won't come out so therefore it won't work .... so no pictures of projects  ... for now ...

Then I've been sick sick sick since 2 Wednesdays ago ... Sinus, cold, fever, mucus, YUCK ... my son got it (along with an ear & chest infection) and hubby is fighting it (doing a better job than me) ...

So I will fish a few old pics of projects out just so I don't feel so blahhh :)

Halloweens Past ...

The only Halloween so far that I didn't make him his costume ... he was 4 days old here (6 weeks premature) and that onsie is size 3 months :) he was just 5 lbs at birth ...

2008 - I found a Quick & Simple Pattern - Simplicity 7475 - and he was a dragon @ 1 year old

 2009 - using the same pattern - he was a Puppy :)

2010 - 3 years of age - and he tells me - I want to be Spider man! - I made the whole costume except the mask - which for $5 at the Farmers market was a bargain because the trial Face painting did not look very good 

Owl is the grand and rather clever old man of the forest. He can also spell Tuesday.

 It started as a few scrappy strips sewn together ... to make a crib quilt .... then the panel of fuzzy fleece was added in between the 2 panel of strips ... Bordered by the brown fleece

Then it needed some more length so I added strips of some of the same fabrics from the middle


Backed it with light teal Flannel ... quilted it ...
but it still needed something ... it was Zzzzzzzzzzz

OWLS!!

Cute Bouncing Owls ... I hope the new Mommy likes it ;)

now to make a girly one ... :)

Homemade Miche Cover ... using a placemat

Hmmm - I while back I made my own 'slipcover' for a Miche Bag and it was frustrating and stitchrippingly 'fun' (I'll post a picture of my first one at the end) ... so I put off trying another ...  Until I was hit with a brainwave while 'treasure hunting' in a thrift shop today ... Hey - these nice placemats are about the same size as a Miche cover ....

~~ Cardboard template of full cover~~

 (is for when I attempt to fabricate the whole cover)

~~~~~ Placemat $1.49 ~~~~

 (just seemed so much easier)

 Cardboard template for each side of bag.

Cutting 2 pieces of dark fabric, which will be the inside that the original Miche cover flaps will be inserted into.

The curved edge will be the top of the cover (as the original Miche cover is curved like that)

Press the edges of the insides down ...

I also pressed & hemmed the straight edge that will be the opening for the flaps of the Original Miche cover to go into.

 On my cardboard template I had marked where the 'Bottom' of the Bag would be, so I would know where to put the inside flaps. But after Trial 1 I ripped them on and repositioned them as far to the outside edge as I could.

~~EPIC FAIL~~ was trying to use fusible Heat activated hemming tape (2 times  grrr) that I just could not get to work ... so I gave up and sewed them to the placemat ...

 .... the inside view ...

... Inserting the Original into the Newly made Cover

Voila ~~~ The curved top edge isn't quite perfect ... but what the who ... looks pretty okay .... could always add some ribbon along the top to hide it I guess

I've got another one that I fabric glued the inside panels into place - I think it will look better without the seams showing

This is the first attempt to make the whole thing from scratch ... pretty wobbly seams along the top ... but I've gotten lots of compliments on it :)

Day 8 - Get your A$$ organized ... the Coat Closet ... so easy :)

Before:  Kinda messy ... however I did a huge purge before Christmas, I noticed a few ladies that were asking for warm winter coats on Kijiji so decided to weed out what I hadn't worn in a while and gift them ... I couldn't believe how many replies I got ... made me wish I had a dozen coats to give to people in need ...

AFTER: Shoes on the shoe rack, shelf straightened up ... I only wish they will all be this easy :)

Day 7 ... Organize the pantry ...

If you haven't taken the 21 day Organize challenge yet ... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! ... you're house is so clean? oh yah? I dare you to post pictures :) ... seriously, go to A bowl full of Lemons , and get inspired and motivated ... on to my pantry ...

BEFORE: to be honest, typically for me it's not that bad ... sorry :( ... but on a day to day basis only 1 or 2 things fall out onto my toes, and that's pretty good ... lol ... note Cleo, sniffing for stuff that has fallen out of broken bags, sad but true ... there's about 1/4 box of spilled Rottini tri-colour pasta down there ...


AFTER: Wowza!! Beautiful! Combined, Filled, Re-Jarred and Tossed ...



My Favourite Project: Transferring a bunch of stuff that was in bags with clips to some vintage Gem jars & Mason Jars that my Dad gave me ... Love the ones with the Glass tops ... Filled them with beans, cereal, chick peas, raisins, cornmeal and more .... and didn't cost me a dollar :)

Top Shelf: topped up my baking containers (sugar was empty, whole wheat flour was almost empty), tossed the stale crackers & cereal and restacked ...

Bottom ... Made the vintage 70's canisters accessible; they contain healthy snacks for the little boy, swept out the bottom and WOW!!