Upcycle, upcyle

I love the first of the year. We can look at the old and start fresh. I must have been in that mood, because during January, I was attacking my jean stack making the old new.

I found a great tutorial, through pinterest, for the cutest apron. http://kimboscrafts.blogspot.com/2010/02/levi-apron.html

I followed her tutorial for the most part, but at the neck, I wanted a button, I wanted it to fit, but not pull on my neck (plus I really hate things tied around my neck, always makes me feel clausterphobic!)

And then I left the bottom with the original hem from the jeans.

My girls all want their own and so now I have a stack of their old jeans awaiting their aprons.

February, a new month, already!

I can't quite believe that February has snuck up on me. January just flew by. I think the entire month was spent with one person after another in our family being sick, but everyone is finally back to 100%, and as the mama, boy am I glad!

I did get several projects done in January. I had been given a very old, handmade table/cabinet. That had definetly seen better days. The doors were falling off, the back was missing. I spent a couple days putting it back together. I added a strip of wood, from our deck in San Antonio to the back that was missing. Totally got rid of one door. Sanded, stripped, primed, painted and added some turquoise knobs that I just love.

I also painted the inside white and added contact paper, for a little pop.

And, of course, I distressed, because that is always my favorite part. I really love this little piece and if fits so nicely next to my bed. I really should sell it, but not sure if I can part with it!.

Headband from re-cycled shorts

My son had some shorts w/stains on the legs. I was getting ready to throw them out (which I hate to do) because they were so small (18 m) and I couldn't salvage much, when I glanced at the waistband and the idea emerged. I could probably make a pretty good headband out of these. I used my small sewing scissors so that I could get as close to the seem as possible. Starting at the side seam I trimmed the waistband off. Then I trimmed the mock drawstring from the front.

Next, I cut 3 different size squares from the shorts, where there was no stains.

I cut out a butterfly shape. Then I layered the 3 butterflies over the place where I had removed the drawstring.

I decided it needed a little sparkle and added a bead. I sewed it all together with orange thread.

Voila! (That's the fancy french word for "look at this" according to my 5 year old and some Fancy Nancy reading). A new headband (and just in time as we broke 2 this morning). It took about 15 minutes.