Denim-Covered Journal Made from Old
Jeans
Prepare your materials: 2 pieces of denim(use an old pair of jeans) 2 pieces of cardboard (I used the backing of last year's calendar) cut to the same size Patterned paper scraps cut 1/2-3/4" larger than the cardboard A flower embellishment (mine is made from used dryer sheets) An old notebook Ribbon
Cover one side of the cardboard with patterned paper. Make mitered corners by snipping the corners off the paper to a spot equal to the thickness of the cardboard. Glue and fold over edges.
Add your little flower embellishment. Here's how you make the one I used. Cut a used dryer sheet into four different sized circles (they don't need to be perfect). Layer the circles from largest to smallest and stitch a button to the center.
Glue the pocket-embellished-denim to the front cover, and the plain denim to the back. Cut bunches of scrap paper to size to use as your journal pages. I used leftover paper from a nearly used up spiral notebook, some solid cardstock scraps, and some copy paper. T-shirt shag rug tutorial
Supplies: 1 XL t-shirt, cloth scissors, and lots of small t-shirt scraps
1. Make the base. For the base of the rug, lay the X-L t-shirt flat and cut a large rectangle out of the shirt, as large as you would like the size of your rug to be.
2. Make scraps Cut these t-shirts into strips that are approximately 5-6’’ long and 1-1 ½’’ wide. You can use scissors, or if you are lucky, a rotary cutter and board, which helps make things faster. Some t-shirt fabrics stretch and so you can pull them to make them longer.
3. Cut holes into the base. Starting 1’’ from the edge of the base, carefully poke or snip horizontal and vertical rows of small holes about 1/2 ’’ to 2/3’’ inches apart T-SHIRT RUG CONTINUED…..
4. Start threading scraps into the base. Beginning at one corner, thread a strip down through the first hole and back up through the second. Take a second scrap and thread it through the second hole (the same hole you just pulled the first scrap up through) so that it shares this hole with the first scrap, and then pull it up through the third hole. Continue doing this for a very, very long time…
5. Give your rug a haircut. When you are finished, you can give your rag a little haircut to even out any longer scraps that look off, or you can leave your rug uneven for a shaggier look. But remember, these scraps don’t grow back! The top side of the rug looks great, but so does the bottom side. Flip the rug over for a new look and feel! If a scrap falls out or gets uneven, simply put it back in or pull it until it is even. It’s very easy to maintain. If you would like to wash it, please use a lingerie bag and run it in a delicate cycle as it could fall apart in the wash.
BACK OF THE RUG! ANOTHER LOOK… Tin Can Luminaries Here's what you'll need:
• Empty vegetable pet food or soup cans, cleaned out and labels removed • Water • Nail • Hammer • Scrap paper • Ruler • Tape • Spray paint (optional)
Instructions:
1. Pour water into the empty cans and place them in the freezer.
2. While the water is freezing, draw the design you want on the scrap paper. You can also use simple clip art.
3. Once the water in the cans is fully frozen, you can tape your designs to the can.
4. Use the hammer and nail to punch holes along the lines of your pattern.
5. Once finished with your pattern, you can spray paint the cans or leave them unpainted. The last step is to place a candle inside and, voila! you have your first luminary. 1 Dozen Paper flowers
What you need:
♥ Scissors ♥ Masking or sticky tape ♥ green duct tape ♥ Wooden BBQ skewers ♥ Magazines 1. Tear colorful ads from magazines, I like Vogue or wedding magazines as they always have loads of full page double sided ads.
2. With the colors you like to see more of facing up, fold the page in half and then according fold each page back on its self so you have 3 folds
3. With the folds facing up using the scissors cut along the strip; do not cut all the way down leave at least a centimeter. (See picture)
Continue with paper flower directions…. 4. Once it’s all cut take your wooden skewer and tape the end of your cut paper strip to it (depending on whether your right or left handed it will feel better to roll in a certain direction , might just take trial and error find best direction to roll in.)
5. Then gently roll the strip round the skewer, keep the tension tight as you roll and pushing it up to form a nice rounded flower head. (see picture)
6. Once rolled take some more tape and wrap it tightly round the base pulling the paper in. 7. Then take the green duct tape you need to pull on the tape, stretching it slightly as you go and wrap it around the paper flower from the base down the skewer.
Finished…repeat until you have 12 flowers to make a bouquet!
Supplies: An old t-shirt Stuffing Easy-Weave Newsprint Basket by Amy Brown
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You won't be-weave how fast this basket comes together when you work around a form. We used a roll of paper towels for ours. Clear tape keeps the strips secure. Materials Scissors Newspaper Transparent tape Paper towel roll Rubber band Instructions
1. Cut newspaper into 5-1/4- by 21-1/2-inch strips. Fold each strip lengthwise to about an inch wide. We used 3/4-inch strips for the short basket, 1-1/2-inch strips for the taller ones. 2. To make the basket's base, lay two strips in the shape of a plus sign and tape them together. (Tip: For taller containers, double the length of each base strip by taping two strips together.) Add four crosspieces to form an asterisk, as shown, taping after each.
3. Center the strips on the paper towel roll, then fold them down and use a rubber band to secure them, as shown.
4. Starting at the base of the basket, tuck a folded strip under one paper rib and secure it with tape. Begin weaving around the form, pulling tightly as you go. Tape the end in place. Continue adding strips in this way to achieve the desired height, leaving about 1 1/2 inches unwoven at the top. 5. Remove the rubber band and take the basket off the paper towel roll. Fold the raw edges inside the basket and tape them down. Magazine Bead Bracelet
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Recycle old catalogs and magazines into stretchy, swanky bracelets that cost next to nothing to make. Materials Cardboard Ruler Old catalogs and magazines Wooden skewers Glue stick Mod Podge Sparkle Paintbrush 6 feet of clear elastic cord Instructions 1. Cut out a cardboard triangle with a 1-inch base that is 6 inches high. Use it as a template to cut 30 to 35 triangles from colorful magazine and catalog pages. 2. To make a bead, tightly roll one triangle (base to point) around a skewer, then glue down its tip. Leave the bead on the skewer and roll the next one beside it. When the skewer is full and the beads are dry, slide them off of the stick. Brush on a thin layer of Mod Podge Sparkle and let the beads dry. 3. To assemble the bracelet, thread one bead onto the center of the cord. Add the next bead, as shown, threading one end of the elastic through each end of the bead. Pull the elastic tight. Continue adding beads in this way, tightening and straightening them as you go, until the bracelet is long enough to stretch around your child's wrist. Feed the remaining lengths of elastic back through the first bead, then knot them multiple times and trim.
Decorative Vase
Materials: Yarn Old vase or glass bottle/mason jar Scissors Hot glue gun
Directions: 1. Starting at the top of the bottle begin wrapping the jar with yarn. You will need to place hot glue around, little by little to secure the yarn. 2. You can change colors half way through to make a decoration. 3. When bottle is covered with yarn, you can then make a decoration to embellish the outside. 4. Fill with water and place favorite flowers in the vase. Enjoy!