Colorful Cat (or Other Animal) Storage Jars

Materials:
*Empty jars (e.g. pickle jars)
*Plastic animals
*White acrylic paint
*Acrylic paint in colors of your choice
*Paintbrush
*Hot glue gun

Directions:
*Carefully glue plastic animals to the lids of the jars using your hot glue gun.
*Paint the lids and the attached animals white, then let dry.  Depending on the color of your animals, you may need to use multiple coats.
*Once dry, paint the lids in colors of your choice.

Tip: For a smoother, more even paint job, you may want to try using spray on paint instead.

Winter Themed Decorated Journal

Materials:
*12 Andes Peppermint Crunch wrappers (or other wrappers to use as a background)
*6 Andes Creme de Menthe wrappers (or other green wrappers)
*Silver duct tape (or silver candy wrappers)
*Small scrap of brown paper (or brown candy wrapper)
*White scrap paper
*Hole punch
*Glitter glue
*Notebook
*Glue
*Tape
*Scissors

Directions:
*Arrange the Andes Peppermint Crunch (or other background) wrappers across the cover of the journal and glue down.  It's okay if the wrappers don't cover the very bottom of the notebook because the silver duct tape will take care of that.
*Take the green wrappers and flip them over so that the green side faces down.  Tape the wrappers together in a rectangular formation and tape them together, then cut out a tree shape from the green rectangle.
*Cut out a trunk for the tree from the brown paper (or brown candy wrapper) and glue to the tree.
*Position the tree near the bottom of the journal and glue down.
*Cut a strip of silver duct tape long enough to cover the bottom of the notebook.  Trim the top of the strip to make it look like uneven ground.
*Adhere the duct tape to the bottom of the notebook.
*Punch out a number of white circles, then arrange them along the cover and glue down.
*Add a dot of glitter to each of the circles.

Candy Wrapper Decorated Journal

Instead of throwing away your candy wrappers from Halloween, use them in a craft.

Materials:
*Spiral bound notebook
*20 Tootsie Roll wrappers (or similar wrappers)
*White paint
*Paintbrush
*A brad
*Iron
*Glue
*Scissors

Directions:
*Iron candy wrappers on low heat (only if you are using waxy wrappers like Tootsie Roll wrappers) to flatten them out.
*Snip off the ends of the wrappers and set aside.
*If your wrappers are somewhat transparent and you have a dark colored notebook, paint the backs of the wrappers white so that the notebook cover won't show through the wrappers.  Set wrappers aside to dry.
*Arrange the wrappers on the cover of your notebook in a pattern you find pleasing, then glue the wrappers to the notebook cover.  Set aside to dry.
*If your notebook cover starts warping from the glue, set the notebook underneath a heavy book until it dries.
*While the notebook is drying, gather up 20 of the wrapper ends you set aside.  Using your scissors, round the edges on one end.
*Carefully poke holes in the square ends of the wrappers.  Arrange the wrappers in an appealing color pattern, then slide onto the brad.  Fan the wrappers out to form a flower shape, then fasten then ends of the brad closed.
*Glue the flower to the notebook cover.

Clothes Dyeing

Have a plain colored shirt that you would like to liven up or shirt that has started to fade?  Here's a way to give bland or old clothes a new life.

Materials:
*Light colored shirt or other garment
*Fabric dye
*Salt

Directions:
*Fill a three quart saucepan with water, 2/3 cups salt, and a few drops of fabric dye.  Stir until the salt has dissolved.
*Heat water on the stovetop until it is boiling, then reduce heat.
*Put the shirt or other garment that you are dyeing into the water.
*Stir constantly for half an hour.  This step is essential if you want even coloring.  I did not stir constantly and I ended up with uneven dyeing, but I liked the end result anyway.
*After the shirt has been in the dye for 15 minutes, turn off the burner.
*At the end of the 30 minutes, remove the shirt from the dye solution.  Rinse with warm water, then wash in your washing machine.
Note: There are a number of different dyeing techniques, each rquiring varying levels of effort and difficulty.  This is the one that I chose to use, but there are many others you can choose from, some of which you can find here.

Cracked Glass Vase

     Do you have a glass that has a small crack in it or one that you just don't use anymore, but don't want to ger rid of?  Turn it into a flower vase.

Materials:
*Glass
*Waterproof sealant (if using a glass with a crack in it)
*Stickers
*Ribbon
*All purpose adhesive
*Water resistant scrapbooking "paper"
*Scissors
*Mod podge
*Paintbrush
*Other embellishments

Directions:
*Spread waterproof sealant along the inside of the glass, covering the crack.  Let sealant dry
*Decorate the glass as you wish using stickers, paper, ribbon, and any other embellishments you would like to use

Brooch Pendants

I found some funky brooches at a yard sale last weekend and thought that they were so intriguing that I wanted to use them as pendants for brooches.  Here are the resulting necklaces and some of the techniques I used to make them.

Sun Pendant

Materials:

*Pendant

*Gold length of chain

*Purple length of chain (should be shorter than the gold chain)

*Gold head pins

*6 large beads

*6 gold seed beads

*Clasp

*8 gold jump rings

*Round nosed pliers

*Flat nosed pliers

*Wire cutters

Directions:

*Using pliers, open the first jump ring and loop it through the two lengths of chain and one end of the clasp and then close the jump ring.  Open a second jump ring and attach it to the other end of the chains and the clasp

*Slide pendant through the center of the gold chain

*Take one of the head pins and slide a gold seed bead onto it, then slide one of the larger beads onto it

*Using the round nosed pliers, form a loop.  Wrap the rest of the wire around the loop and cut off any excess wire

*Repeat for the remaining 5 beads

*Find a desirable spacing for the beads and attach to the gold chain using the remaining jump rings

Cat Pendant

Materials:

*Pendant

*One length gold chain

*One length pink chain

*2 gold butterfly beads

*4 gold jump rings

*Clasp

*Round nosed pliers

*Flat nosed pliers

Directions:

*Follow the same directions given for the sun pendant, omitting the inapplicable steps

Fish Pendant

Materials:

*Pendant

*Wire or fishing line

*Pearls

*Gold seed beads

*4 crystal spacers

*Clasp

*Crimp beads (if working with wire)

*Flat nosed pliers

*Round nosed pliers

*Wire cutter

Directions:

*Cut a section of wire or string slightly longer than you would like your chain to be

*Place pendant in the center of the wire or string. String pearls on either side of the pendant, adding crystal spacers when appropriate

*If you are using string, once the desired length of string has been beaded, tie the ends of the string to either side of the necklace clasp, or attach to a jump ring and then attach the jump ring to the necklace clasp

*If using wire, once desired length of wire has been beaded, curl over the end of the wire to form a loop. Slide a crimp bead over the loop and clamp at the base of the loop. Open a jump ring and slide the loop and one end of the necklace clasp into the jump ring, then close the jump ring. Repeat procedure for the other side of the chain

*Cut two more lengths of wire or string, each a bit longer than the space between the two spacers on the same side of the necklace

*Take one of the lengths of wire or string nad put on enough seed beads to fill in the gap

*Loop the wire or string through one spacer and fasten using a procedure similar to the one used on the clasp.  Thread through the bottom spacer and repeat thr procedure

*Repeat the previous two steps for the other length of wire

Cardboard Box Organizer

I enjoy scrapbooking, but I have never really had anywhere to store my scrapbooking supplies.  I tried stowing most of the stickers, full sized pages, scraps of paper, etc. inside one large box, but could never find anything because it was completely disorganized.  I also had a number of smaller boxes, packs of paper, and other items that I stored separately, which made it quite a chore to gather together all of my scrapbooking supplies.  It finally got to a point where I had to do something about it, so I grabbed a large cardboard box and made my own organizer.

What's inside the box:

*Clear storage bags
*The white ribbon is a pulley system to make it easier for me to lift my paper out of the box
*A smaller, decorative box to hold other small items (see this earlier post for ideas on how to decorate cardboard boxes)

Materials:
*Appropriately sized cardboard box
*Plastic bags

Additionally, if you want a lever system:
*Sturdy ribbon or string
*Cardboard
*Scissors
*All purpose adhesive
*Decorative tools to embellish the box (optional)

Directions:
*Separate the items you would like to store in your organizer into categories.  For me, I divided my supplies into stickers, frames and templates, and paper scraps.  Put items intp clear plastic bags.  The bags I used were bags that my curtains came in, but ziplock bags should work as well
*For a lever system like what I have for my paper, cut a piece of cardboard slightly larger than the items you would like to have lifted by the pulley
*Slide a piece of ribbon under the cardboard and place the cardboard inside the cardboard box.  Adjust the length of ribbon until it is long enough to comfortably pull out of the box
*Slide a piece of ribbon under the cardboard going the other way and repeat the prevoius step
*Find the center of each strip of ribbon and glue the centers together so that the ribbons form a plus sign
*Let dry, then place the ribbon in the cardboard box.  Put the piece of cardboard on top of the ribbon, then place the items you would like to lift on top of the cardboard

Repurposing Old Jewelry

Have some broken necklaces or bracelets?  Perhaps you lost some of the beads over time and no longer have enough to put the necklace/bracelet in its entirety back together.  If you have loose beads from a number of different jewelry items you may consider combining them into one necklace.  My mom had a couple of broken vintage necklaces, so I combined the beads to make the necklace pictured above.  If you don't have other beads, thrift shops can be a good place to find necklaces you could repurpose for low cost.

You could also incorporate loose beads into a pair of earrings, like the earrings featured above

My jewelry designs for this post are fairly basic, but you can get a lot fancier with your repurposing, like the jewelry featured in this blog post.  For some more creative ways to repuropse old jewely, check out this blog post.

Hand Towel Advent Calendar

     Do you have an old hand towel that is in fairly good condition, but not perfect?  Perhaps it has a stain that you just cannot remove, or some other imperfection.  Here is an excellent project you can make with that towel.

Materials:

*Hand towel

*Felt in various colors

*Glitter glue

*All purpose adhesive

*Scissors

*Ribbon

*Foam board or cardboard

Directions:

*Cut out 24 felt squares

*Using glitter glue, number the squares from 1 to 24.  Let dry

*Arrange the squares on the hand towel in a pattern you find pleasing

*Using the all purpose adhesive, glue down the bottom section and the two sides of each square.  Do not glue down the top part, as this is where you will insert your treats.  Let dry

*Glue a loop of ribbon to the back of the towel using the all purpose adhesive. 

*Using foam board or cardboard, cut out a strip about an inch or two long that is as wide as your curtain.  Glue the foam or cardboard to the top of your calendar on the backside.  This will prevent the calendar from folding in on itself when you hang it up.

*Once dry, you can hang up your calendar.  Fill pockets with goodies of your choice