~Memory Blanket....made from clothes~

For me, what makes hand made 

gifts so special is the love 

and emotion that goes into it.

I'm thinking of the person I make it for 

throughout the entire process. 

This next thing I'm going to share with you

is one of the most emotional projects

I've ever worked on.

Eight and a half years ago, a very dear friend

of mine passed away suddenly, leaving two 

little boys and a husband behind. 

Her husband kept her clothes in the exact

place she'd left them in her closet and drawers

for six years. About two and a half years

ago, he asked me to go thru her clothes with him.

He wanted me to keep some of them to 

make blankets for the boys. 

Going thru her closet....that was rough.

tears. missing. laughter. memories.

I brought the clothes home that I'd set aside for the blankets

and had to wait another year and a half before

I had it in me to start working on the blankets.

I had a good excuse and a deadline....

her oldest son was getting married. 

I started it a couple months in advance. I'd

never made a blanket out of T-shirts before and I

had no idea how I was going to pull it off. 

This wasn't a project I went balls to the walls

and completed in a couple days...I could have...

but there were times I just had to put it aside

and step away. Man...I miss her.

There were also times it was like she was

sitting right next to me as I was working

on it. I swear I could have reached out and

touched her....I can't describe it. 

She was here...with me, making this for her son...and it's

like it was a gift from her too. 

I wanted to make sure the clothes I was choosing

held memories for her son as well.

The panels are from T-shirts, pajama pants, 

sweatshirts, her work shirt, swim shorts, etc.

I sewed the panels together, put a layer of batting 

in between and backed it with a flat sheet.

A couple of the panels had pockets on them.

I printed up pictures of her on fabric paper,

backed them with fabric from more of her clothes,

and hid them in the pockets. 

 This one is a pic of her and her oldest boy,

when he was about 5 or 6 years old...we were sledding.

I got the saying I printed on the pic from a 

children's book....I can't remember the name of the book.

I thought the words were PERFECT.

I was pleased with the finished product.

It gave me a great sense of accomplishment...

Her son loved it, he cried when he got it.

The ceremony was beautiful and heart wrenching all

at the same time. It hurt my heart that it was such

a big day for her son and she didn't live to see it.

This mourning business is so complex.

Lots of hidden cracks and crevices.

Just when you think you've moved on and 

accepted it....BAM! 

She may not have lived to see it but she

was there that day....and she was happy...

and she was proud of her boy. 

And so am I.

~t-shirt turned tank top~

 I wasn't kidding when I said I cut up pretty much

every t-shirt I have and turn it into something else.

Here's another:

I cut the neckline wider-

cut the sleeves shorter 

and gathered them up in the front and back

with a piece of grommet/ribbon I had in my scrap jar. 

I slit the underside of each sleeve clear up to 

the armpit seam so it wasn't as bulky.

Here's a view from the top:

(I want to snip that string SOOOOO bad in this pic)

So easy.....did it in 10 minutes.

I finished it off by snipping a little hole in the 

bottom hem of the shirt. The hem then became a

casing that I used to string a ribbon thru in order

to pull it tighter at the bottom. 

ANYONE can do this!

My only regret with the shirt is that it's a band

who I haven't had the opportunity to see yet.

Bummer....I'd love to cake on the black eye make-up,

throw on some tight-ass jeans and rat my hair 

as high and big as it can get....good times.

Next time I'll share one of my more 

intricate t-shirt re-vamps. 

And by intricate I mean I cursed a lot

when making it.

~hand stamped Aztec inspired shirt~

Did y'all have a nice Father's Day weekend?

I spent the weekend gazing at this:

 Yeah-my husband wanted to go camping

for Father's Day so we packed up the RV and

took it out for 2012's maiden voyage.

I have to admit-I'm not really an outdoor gal.....

I LOVE and appreciate the beauty of the Earth

and I thoroughly enjoy seeing all of God's beauty.

BUT- (and this is a big butt)

I like to enjoy it without getting dirty,

crapping in the woods or sweating.

So-with that being said, you won't be

surprised to hear that when we go camping I

usually pack up a bunch of craft projects

and work on them inside the motor home or

outside while sitting at a picnic bench 

IN THE SHADE.

This first project I'm going to show you 

was one that I read about on the blog

P.S. I Made This.....check out the blog-

it is FULL of fun DIY ideas!

 I took these pics out in my back yard.....I 

was totally trying to pose and look cool

and then I realized when I came and put them

onto my computer.....I didn't have any make-up on!

NICE. 

I'm sure if any of my neighbors saw me

they got a good show-

trying to balance the camera on the hot tub

while running to get into place before the timer

snapped the photo.....and trying

not to trip over this little darling in the process. 

My glamorous life.

I try to be cool but most of the time it 

just doesn't happen.

~t-shirt transformation~

 My friend's son has really cool taste in 

t-shirts. He likes them rock-n-roll style.

On Sunday I was lucky enough to intercept 4

of these shirts that he had discarded into the 

"donate" bag because they no longer fit him.

SCORE!

These are the exact shirts I love to transform.

I've already re-vamped two of them....

Here's the first one:

One thing I love about re-vamping t-shirts is 

that they are so easy and they don't have to

be perfect to be cute and wearable. 

I mean....it's just a t-shirt. 

 The first thing I do when I re-vamp a shirt is 

cut off the crew neck collar.

HATE THEM.

For a person who is well endowed in the boob

department and very short (which I am both)

-crew necks ARE NOT flattering.

In fact, in my humble opinion, crew necks

are really not flattering on most people.

After cutting the neckline much bigger, I needed

to do something to bring it in so I made this little

tuck in the center. I then cut the sleeves off a little

and  did pull thru slits all the way up both sleeves.

I still needed it to fit tighter around the neckline

so I went ahead and did pull thru slits across

the top back of the shirt.  

Not perfect.....not any of it.....

but it's cute anyway and has more personality

than just a plain 'ol t-shirt. 

And here's the back story to this concert shirt.

TRAPT.....

A spur of the moment concert that Jolie

and I went to. I had just had my daughter

about 3 weeks prior and I was needing

to get out of the house. The concert was

at a small venue downtown.

At some point during the 

concert the place in which we were standing

had turned into a mosh-pit and we were 

almost dead center of it. Jolie puts her arms

out and screams as she's dragging me out 

of it, "Precious cargo! Full momma boobs

right here folks! Make a path!" 

Obviously-I had VERY 

full boobs because I had a newborn baby

at home and they were extremely tender AND FULL 

at that point in the night. 

Jolie wanted to get her little guy a

shirt from the concert and this was the shirt

she got him. We ended up meeting 

the band after the show......

Two words.

Douche. Bags.

At least the shirt is cute.

~wall art with a t-shirt~

I think I'm going to start a continuing post topic on 

here titled, "Things I've done with t-shirts."
I don't have much time this morning so

this first one I'm going to share is simple.

A couple times a year when my friend goes thru

her closet, she lets me rummage thru her

"donate" bag before sending it off. 

I find all sorts of treasures :)

This project is made from an adorable tank-top

she had that was stretched out and unwearable.

I loved the design and COLORS on it and

knew immediately what I wanted to do with it.

 I framed it and hung it on the wall

in my little lady's room.

It makes me smile each time I look at it.

It's just so bright and happy looking.

The design on the shirt was actually just the

tree and the hearts. 

The butterfly's are old vintage pins 

that were given to me by my Grandma and

a good friend. I just attached them to the 

shirt after I got it framed.

 Next time you have an old t-shirt that you

like....think outside the box before tossing it.

You never know what you might come up with. 

Tomorrow I am being featured on 

The Birthday Blog.

(click above to be directed)

It's a blog all about birthday parties!

It is full of ideas and a great resource for

planning a party. Check it out.

She is featuring my son's pirate party

and daughter's 1st birthday cupcake toppers.

Also.....maybe another giveaway later today?

 

~girls activity dolly~

I got a set of onesies for my little girl when

she was born that were absolutely adorable.

I LOVED the print and the colors of them together

and I couldn't bear to part with them when 

she outgrew them. I just had to find something

to do with them. A couple days ago I

decided to make her a dolly for Christmas 

with these onesies. 

I will put a full tutorial up here after Christmas

but for now I'm just going to show you the doll.

I have to first say that when I initially cut it

out and laid it out before sewing, it looked like this:

Cute isn't it?

Well-when I sewed it together something happened....

it S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D. 

So....it ended up looking like this:

I still think she turned out cute but

I liked the look of it better before it stretched.

I call it an activity doll because she can:

Snap the heart on and off.

Braid her pony's.

Stick the blankie on and off with Velcro.

And tie the belt after she takes off the skirt.

(Look close...dolly has a muffin top like momma :)

Even though it stretched, I am still happy with it.

The only thing I'm not too fond of is the arms.

They stretched all weird. They look like a swan neck

and head. Anyway-I think my little lady will 

enjoy this. Check back next week for a tutorial.

Linking up with Kojo Designs.

~elton clutch~

After making the clutch purse for my friend's birthday,
I really wanted one for myself.
I have an old Elton John concert shirt that I had
previously turned into a zip up vest.
I love the colors in it and thought it would be
great to re-invent it yet again only this time
turn it into a "going out" purse.

Here is a view of if zipped up, folded over and buttoned.

I used some knit fabric I had for the lining and
the zippered front of the vest became the purse opening.

The picture above is the front of the purse.

The old vintage buttons that Jolie gave me were used
as an embellishment and also to hold down the top
half of the purse once it's zipped up and folded over.

This picture below is the back of the purse.

Here is a view of the inside of the purse.
Just the right size for all the "going out" essentials.
I threw on a wrist strap and called it good.

I'm really into rockin t-shirt purses right now.
The possibilities are endless.....
hmmm.....
stay tuned.

~clutch purse~

I wanted to make a cool "going out" purse
for my friend, Jolie's, birthday.

I started with this t-shirt.
I ordered it for free from www.vistaprint.com
and only had to pay for the shipping.
I was able to pick from a bunch of designs
and put my own text on it.
I decided to put a bunch of words on
it that I felt were positive affirmations to take
her into her next 40 years.

I got the inspiration for the shape of the
purse from a gift bag I received at Christmas.

This is what I came up with.

Although the purse zips up, I thought
it would be cute to fold the top over and fasten
with a little flap. Decorating the flap is an
old vintage button that was actually Jolie's
husband's Grandma's (did you get that?).
The top can either be folded over neatly to one side
or bunched down and fastened.
I think it looks cuter bunched down.

I lined it with plain black fabric and used a
black/white animal print for the sides, strap and piping.
It's been awhile since I've made a purse and it took
me a few minutes of pinning and thinking hard
about what steps have to be done first.
You basically have to start with the details and
do them first....i.e. zipper, pockets, piping, flap, etc.
The last thing you do is construct the bag
and sew it together.
This is total backwards thinking for my brain.
I usually start a project with the basic construction
and add details last.

Here is the inside.
Just big enough to throw in a few "essential" items.

I intended this to be a "going out" purse but
I think it may be too flimsy for that.
By flimsy I don't mean poorly constructed,
it's sewn very well and it's not going to fall apart.
I mean that it doesn't hold it's shape
well once you put too much weight in it.
I only did a heavy interfacing on the bottom,
I should have done it on the main
body of the purse as well to give it
a stronger shape.

It may end up being a little travel bag
for jewelry or make-up.
Whatever she uses it for, I know she's going to love it.

Truth be told,
I want to keep it for myself.