I bet a lot of you are appreciating all of Missy’s behind the scenes hard work right about now…Unfortunately, technology doesn’t always cooperate as well as we might like it to and in the process of transferring a few things, I was locked out of the site last week!
There are still some lingering issues, but let’s hope there are no repeat delays?!
Paint Results {Week 1}
In any event, I didn’t get a chance to announce last week’s winner.
Please congratulate Haley, from Welcome to the Mouse House, who’s fabric hutch came in first place.
Here are the full results:
- Painted Flour Sack – Jessica
- Boys Toolbox – Janiene
- Shell Jewelry – Naomi
- Oil Painter – Melissa
- Fabric Hutch – Hayley
- Mason Jar Candle Holder – Jesika
- Polish Painted Chain Bracelets – Beth
- Ombre Painted Bottle Lamp – Sheena
- Dr. Seuss Sign – Nat
We have had one crafter drop out and so fortunately, we do not have say goodbye to anyone. Phew.
Upcycling {Week 2}
I have a bit of a confession. I am not great at upcycling…I want to be good at it, but truly I am better at creating from scratch or simply buying. It’s a shame, I know. Nevertheless, in the spirit of fun and this competition, I have been working on a few projects around the house.
Currently, I am in the midst of spray painting a fun retro metal patio set for my front deck. I can’t wait to share it!
Don’t forget, you have the opportunity to showcase your favorite upcycle projects this Thursday during the “I’m Crafty” link up.
Without further delay, let’s have the competition begin!
Nine Great Upcycling Projects
Project #1 Oversized Dress to Perfect Fit
Let me tell you, I have visited around a gazillion charity shops in the last 2 weeks trying to find inspiration for this week’s challenge. Originally I was going to upcycle some furniture but nothing spoke to me. Then, glistening in the corner, amidst a rack of clothes, I saw my upcycle project. It wasn’t a wooden cabinet or a set of china plates, it was a shift style top in beautiful fabric just too many sizes too big for me. Perfect.
I bought the top, took it home and looked at it for a couple of hours. I had a plan. That fabric sparkled, it was crisp and swooshy all at the same time. It needed to be a party dress. Finally I took the plunge and spent an hour gently prising off the sleeves then took a deep breath and cut the top in half. Eeek! Halfway through I regretted not sticking to a wooden, static project. The fabric was a NIGHTMARE! It frayed like nobody’s business so I had to overlock the entire thing, every possible seam and join.
The sparkle in the fabric is actually a fine metallic thread that loved to catch and pull on the sewing machine needle and each pin I used. So I won’t lie, there were some cross words spoken and I may or may not have thrown it across the room at one point. However, slowly but surely it began to take shape. I managed to make new darts for the bust line. It was actually not as tricky as it seemed at first. I shaped the top bodice to fit and added an invisible zip to the side. I fiddled and fussed until I got six neat pleats in the skirt. I lined up the invisible zip from the top and stitched into the skirt. At last, I stitched the whole thing together to form the party dress. Phew! Tricky but all worth it. Finally, I used the sleeves to make a little clutch bag to finish off the outfit.
The great thing about being part of these weekly challenges is that it is pushing me to try new things. This is first dress I have made for myself and I love it. Now I just need a good excuse to wear it. Summer mojitos anyone?
Project #2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Lair
My little boy is a huge Ninja Turtle fan. Lucky for him, his Dad and Uncles were also big into Turtles back in the day. They saved all their figurines and have handed them down to my little guy.
We noticed that he was going to need some sort of “home” for these turtles and bad guys. My little boy saw a Ninja Turtle lair at the toy store. He quickly feel in love with it. It looked like a pizza box from the outside but folded out to a lair. I knew that we could make something similar for a fraction of the cost.
Project #3 Rainy Day Redo
We popped them off and sanded and sanded. Did I mention we sanded for weeks!! The mirror and dresser top got a new life with stain and the rest a fun color. We added new knobs to the drawers.
One day I plan to give it another new job as a changing table, but it’s not quite ready for such a big job…yet!
Project #5 Upcycled Jacket to Handbag
Know where I got the coat to make this cute little handbag? GOODWILL! I’m poppin’ tags!
I knew I wanted to make a handbag out of an old piece of clothing, so I headed to the thrift shop down the road (somebody stop me with the Macklemore references!) and found this embroidered jacket. For $5.99!
And then I turned it into this handbag. I bought some linen fabric in a similar blue to the embroidery, and used that for the lining. To make the handle, I used the fabric from the jacket backed by some beige leather I had on hand.
I love how it turned out. I used the back of the jacket, which had that piping detail on it, for the front of the purse, so I didn’t even have to add the piping myself. The flap is secured with a magnetic snap. I’m not very good at sewing, so this was a tough project for me, but I’m happy with the results and glad I stretched myself!
Hope you enjoy!
Project #6 Upcycled Play Kitchen
Hey everyone!! I’m so excited to be back again this week to share my upcycle project with you. Upcycle is one of my favorite things to do. When I found out upcycle was one of our projects I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a play kitchen for my children from an old piece of furniture.
The hardest part of this project for me was coming up with how I wanted to paint it. You see I have several children and I have at least one girl and at least one boy so it can’t be pink or blue. It has to be gender neutral. Actually I bought some different paint for this project and ended up not using it and used some different paint that I already had, that is how difficult of a time I had deciding on colors.
I found this old entertainment center on Craigslist for $10. They even gave me a TV with it. My husband did a good bit to help me with this project. I am not the most graceful person when it comes to hand tools so his help was required. First I decided what I wanted each part to be and what extra wood I would need to make it work. I really wanted to buy as little extra wood as possible.
We took off the back, took out the drawers, added a piece of wood for the bottom under the drawers, added a piece of wood to divide the bottom then puttied all the holes and messed up places on it. Then we sanded it, cut out the holes for the sink and faucet, cut the wood for the oven door, predrilled the holes for everything and then I put two coats of kilz on it.
At this point I had not decided how I wanted to paint it. I knew I wanted to use some gender neutral bright colors so I went with red, blue, green and yellow. At first I thought I wanted the main color to be black with different areas having a touch of each color. Then I decided I’d paint different areas different colors. Finally I decided I’d paint it white and add a little bit of red, blue, green and yellow. I decided to make the oven door red since the oven is hot and I made it like a window looking into the oven. I did the same thing with the refrigerator but I used blue since the refrigerator is cold. Then I made a window that is green since the grass is green when you look outside. I couldn’t come up with something good for yellow so I painted a yellow strip across the top to give it a little pop. I also painted wooden wheels one of each color red, blue, green and yellow. Then my husband helped me attach them so that they will spin like a real stove knobs will.
I used a cat bowl for a sink and I got a real faucet for the pretend faucet. I found some baskets to match the color scheme to hold all the food toys. Then I divided them all up and put the baskets in the refrigerator, oven and under the sink. I found this cute fabric that had all four colors in it and had a few other colors too. I made a curtain to hide under the kitchen sink and a curtain for the window. I had a good bit of fabric left over so I decided to make a quilted potholder to go with it.
I really hope you like my project as much as I do!! I had a lot of fun making it and my kids are having a lot of fun playing with it.
Project #7 Upcycled Chair
Upcycle…making something old and ugly into something new. I don’t even want to talk about how old and ugly this chair was, but let’s do it anyway. Wonderful SHINY black paint, gold accents, and a funky stencil. We’ve been using it as our computer chair, so it’s been through a lot. From the hole in the cushion that the children enjoy pulling stuffing out of, to the teeth marks??? on the arm, it was WAY past time for a makeover!
Gotta say, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome! Hope you like it too!
I decided I needed a cute tank top for some summer concerts so I did a lot of hacking, a lot of pinning and a lot of sewing and it actually turned out how I intended it too!
I am still working out kinks on making my own clothes but I was presently surprised at how cute it is and I am so excited to wear it, but for now the mannequin (let’s call her Tina) will model for you since you aren’t supposed to know who I am.
I hope you enjoy my thrifty clothing upcycle I would say it is much cuter now than it was and now it actually fits me!
Week 2 Vote
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LOVE the new way to vote and the graphic at the end!
I like the new version of voting and I love that dress. Great job!
Fun & awesome upcycles!! Great job ladies!!
Janiene
Wow, this was a hard week to rank! I had so many favorites, at some point every project was in my “top three”. Good job, contestants!
Oh please, please tell me the name of the colour of the blue paint used for the chair in project #7? It’s gorgeous!