Recycle a Sweater for Home Decor

October 27, 2020October 26, 20202 Comments

Good morning! The days and nights are getting chillier! I do like fall, but I am not looking forward to winter. I don’t like the cold, dark and dreary days and the way it get dark so early. I am looking forward to the holidays though and being with my sweet family!

Have you ever recycled a piece of worn out clothing into something for your home? Sounds kind of crazy, but I have done this a few times. Mostly to make pillows out of, but this time I did something different. This sweater had a hole in the neckline, so it wasn’t wearable, but I liked the stripes and the colors of the fabric, so I chose to make a small stuffed pumpkin pillow with it.

I found a pumpkin pattern online and printed it out. Then I traced it onto the sweater with a piece of chalk.

I cut through both layers of the fabric so I would have two identical pieces. I sewed the pieces together, leaving an one inch opening at the bottom.

I stuffed the pumpkin and then hand stitched the opening closed. I cut out a stem from felt and found some embroidery thread in the same yellow color.

This part was a little difficult, but I stitched lines through all the layers using a long stitch. It was kind of hard keeping nice stitches, but with all the puffiness, you can’t really tell. Don’t be too hard on yourself!

Whew! Made it! Now just add the stem. I glued mine, but you could stitch it on too.

Once the pumpkin was finished, I placed it on my mantle with a few other fall items.

It gives a little spot of color in an otherwise neutral mantle.

I would love to know if you have recycled any clothing to create some home decor! Let me know! Have a wonderful day!

Here are some other posts you may have missed:

What I Have Been Up To-Recycled Box to Planter

August 12, 2020August 11, 20204 Comments

Good morning! I can hardly believe summer is coming to an end, on the calendar anyways! We will be very hot for awhile yet. But that’s ok by me!

Here is one project I was able to complete this summer. My husband brought this big box home from work. It took me a bit to figure out how to recycle it into something useful, but I finally did. I knew it would be a great planter for the back yard.

The first thing I did was to remove any nails and stickers. I then patched the holes where the nails had been.

I painted all the edges of the box, the ends, and the top of the inside with white paint. I knew I was going to cover up the middle sections on the sides with wood, so I didn’t worry about the middle.

Once the paint was dry, I drilled two holes in both ends of the box.

I ran rope through the holes and tied knots on the inside.

I found a bunch of pieces of scrap wood and cut them all the same length. I painted them with all the different colors I already had in my garage. 🙂 Then I sanded them a bit to give them a worn look.

I laid the pieces out to make sure they would be randomly placed and then nailed them on both sides of the box.

I didn’t want all the dirt and water to rot the wood, so I cut a piece of plastic to line the box with. It took two of us, but we stapled the plastic to the inside of the box. I don’t have a picture, but I filled the bottom of the box with plastic bottles and then filled the rest with potting soil.

Next I filled it with some plants and a few other decorations.

Pieces of driftwood, seashells and rocks fill in some of the empty spaces until the plants start to grow.

I found this Mickey and other pieces at Dollar General and knew he would be perfect here!

I added a few fairy lights too which look so pretty in the evening.

I like adding a few special touches to my patio and enjoy spending time out here! Have you made anything for your patio or porch this summer? I would love to hear about it!

Here are some posts you may have missed!

Fall Decor Tips in the Family Room

October 2, 2017October 1, 20172 Comments

Good morning! It’s October! Can you believe it? We have been having some beautiful weather this past week. I’ve been able to have the windows open and feel the breeze come through the house. It’s wonderful! My school visits the pumpkin patch this week and I hope to be able to pick up a few nice colored pumpkins while I am there.

I’ve continued my fall decorating through the house. You can see the the dining room here and the living room here. As you can see I changed from my green, black and white color scheme. I went a little more traditional in here. This room is separated from the living room, so I can change it up a little bit. I still used a lot of neutrals, but I added little touches of orange too. I have a few tips or ideas that I use when decorating for fall.

My first tip: Use what you have! Many of the pieces you already own can be used in your fall decor. Lanterns, baskets, burlap, cozy blankets. These items all add great texture and coziness to your rooms.

2. Texture: I mentioned this above. Woven baskets are a great way to add texture and to store some other fall decor in. Baskets can be found everywhere from Craft and Art stores, to Walmart, to thrift stores. Baskets can be painted or left natural to fit your decor. There are woven ones or metal ones and many others in between. Burlap and nubby blankets also add texture.

3. Natural Accents: Remember those baskets? Use them to store pinecones, pumpkins, acorns, ect. Fall is the perfect time to find things outdoors to use indoors. Even a tall basket full of sticks would be perfect. Of course, fall colored leaves add just the right touch to any room.

4. Pumpkins, of course! Pumpkins in all different sizes, colors, fabrics and materials. I have pumpkins made of fabric, styrofoam and rulers, and of course, real ones too. I found these little burlap ones at the Dollar Tree. Real ones come in all sorts of colors now too. Pick from orange, white, blues and greens.

5. I didn’t use any in my family room but free printables are a great way to add small touches of fall to any room. Many bloggers offer some great designs. They can be placed in frames or on clipboards and changed out for the seasons or just your mood!

6. Lights and candles: extra lamps add soft lighting, especially with the days getting shorter. I placed a lighted fall leaf garland in the wire basket on the hearth with some burlap and pumpkins. Scented candles are wonderful and really add to the fall mood.

What else do you add to your rooms? I’m sure I missed some things. Let me know what you do for the fall season! I hope you all have a great week!

Old Drawer Recycled to a Purse Organizer

April 25, 2016April 23, 201619 Comments

We live on an alley. Needless to say, we find a lot of junk! One day, Haley found these 2 drawers sitting out there, just calling to her that they needed a new home. So they came home with us! Now just to figure out what to do with them!

I was talking with Lauren one day and mentioned that I didn’t know a good way to store my purses. They always seemed to be getting lost in my closet. Voila! An idea was born!

We actually have 2 of these, but I will start out with just one today. I have a couple of ideas for the other one, but I have to pick which one! As you can see, they are pretty big drawers. They were 18 inches across, 23 inches tall and 9 inches deep.

Steve took apart the old cupboards in the laundry room to make space for the lockers, so we had a bunch of wood left from that. Since this would be going in the closet and wouldn’t be a show piece, we just used particle board for the shelves and dividers.

Steve even made the braces for the shelves to sit on. This was a completely free project!!

I measured out some of my purses and then comparing that to the size of the drawer, I came up with the measurements for the cubbies. I wanted 3 large spaces on the bottom for large totes and bags, 4 small spaces for wallets and small handbags, and 2 on top for the medium size purses (sounds like the 3 bears!-sorry! Preschool teacher here!)

Yep! I pulled all this out of my closet and this was just one corner! I found purses in every nook and cranny. I was putting them wherever I could find space. I pulled boots out too because the new organizer would be occupying that corner.

After a couple of coats of white paint, it was ready to bring in the house and organize!! I love how well it fit everything!

I should be able to find what I am looking for now!

These are the cubbies for the smaller purses and wallets.

Here are the larger ones.

I always love finding ways to get more organized and a way to recycle old stuff!

Now I just have to figure out which idea to use for the other one! I will keep you updated! Have a wonderful week!

Upcycled Old Metal T.V. Trays

February 22, 2016February 21, 201620 Comments

Hello again! Did you all have a wonderful weekend? I pretty much just stayed home (saves money that way!) and worked on bringing some spring inside! We already have blossoms on trees and flowers blooming here. It’s probably too early, but it’s so beautiful, it’s hard to complain! I did get to work on a couple of projects too.

I have had these trays for years and could never really decide what to do with them. I have always used them for decorating outside because I felt like the floral design just lent itself to be outdoors. But they never had a specific purpose. I don’t know why this took so long to figure out, but an idea finally came to mind-at least for one of them.

I dug through some letters I have had for awhile and found enough to sort of make the word ‘garden.’ I had to add the leg for the ‘R’ and an extra line for the ‘E’, but I managed to make it work. I planned on doing the word ‘summer’ on the other one, but I didn’t have enough letters.

Now that I have my letters, I put a little glue on the back of each one and placed them on the tray. Probably a spray adhesive would have worked better, but I didn’t have any, so I went with what I could.

For the other tray, I tried covering the design with burlap and spraying around it.

With the letters attached on the first tray and lined up, I started spraying lightly over the top with white spray paint. I always use the Rustoleum 2X paint. Love this stuff!

Once I knew the letters would stick, I sprayed more layers of paint. It’s best to spray several light layers and let the paint dry in between. Once the paint was dry, I removed the letters.

I didn’t like how the second tray turned out, so I tried something different. I printed out 3 large flowers, laid them on top and sprayed around them. I didn’t like this either, so I am going to have to come up with a whole new plan. I will probably spray the whole thing white and then stencil something on top.

On the first tray, I sanded a little around the edges and over the top. I still wanted it to look like it belonged outside. After the sanding, I sprayed a clear sealer over the top to add some protection for the outdoors. I also added drawer pulls to the edges so it could be used as a tray for serving. At least one out of two turned out good!

I love how a little bit of the floral peeks through.

I wish it was warm enough to actually use this right now!

Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can enjoy a nice glass of tea out in the garden. Are you ready for spring? Have you started any spring projects yet? I would love to hear about it!