30 Days For 30 Dollars: Day 6

Day 6:  For The Wine Lover

Using up more of my vintage buttons.

buttons and wine charms (99 cents)

For this project you need the kind of buttons with the knob on the back (like here)

Slip the button onto the wine charm and use a pliers to turn up the very end of the circle. 

(If it's already turned you may have to flatten it out to get the button on, then turn back when you're done)

To make the packaging, I used 1 piece of card stock, 3" x 4"

Use an xacto knife to evenly cut 8 small slits.

Slide charms through the openings.

Optional:  Use letter stamps to stamp the word "CHEERS!"

Total Spent:  $1.00

Day 1:  Pretty Hair Ties 1.00

Day 2:  Pin Cushion 1.00

Day 3:  Cowl 1.50

Day 4:  Apron 1.00

Day 5:  Baby Hat .75

Day 6:  Wine Charms 1.00

______________

6.25

30 Days For 30 Dollars: Day 5

Day 5:  Gifts For Baby

Supplies:  1 skein of chunky yarn (thrifted, 75 cents)

Basic Crochet Hat Pattern HERE (free) in both newborn and 0-3 month size

Pom-Pom Tutorial:

Leaving a long tail, wrap yarn around your hand.  Wrap a lot, probably a lot more than you think you need, to create a full pom-pom.  

Leaving another long tail, cut yarn and carefully slide off of your hand.

Use your 2 long tails to tie around the middle, tightly.

Use a small scissors to snip all of the loops.

Fluff.

Use 1 off the long tails to sew onto the hat.  Trim the other long tail to the same size as the rest of the pom-pom.

Total Spent:  75 cents

Day 1:  Pretty Hair Ties 1.00

Day 2:  Pin Cushion 1.00

Day 3:  Cowl 1.50

Day 4:  Apron 1.00

Day 5:  Baby Hat .75

______________

5.25

Now Why Didn't I Think Of That: Turtleneck to Scoopneck

I feel like I've been cold for the last week straight!  So I finally dug through my closet looking for my warmest, coziest sweaters and found this one.  Which I never wore because it was a turtleneck.  And I have a thing about tight things around my neck.  

Luckily, this tutorial came to my rescue - simply unpick the turtleneck part.  Most (but not all) turtlenecks are attached as a separate piece so if you unpick the stitches attaching them they come right off!

Loving my new scoop neck sweater.  And I'm finally warm!!

Stocking Stuffers Under $10

*glasses keeper * re-usable grocery bag * alpaca gloves * leather notebooks * bottle stopper * measuring tapes * earrings * sippy cups * pocket soduku*

30 Days For 30 Dollars: Day 4

Day 3:  For The Cook

Supplies Needed:

1 pillowcase (thrifted 50 cents) & 1 sheet (thrifted 40 cents)

Cut open the pillowcase along the seam and open it up to a square/rectangle.

Cut:

(1) 26" square from sheet fabric (this will be the apron backing)

(1) 26" square from the pillowcase, preserving any needlework that you want on the apron

(2) waist ties: 3" X 26" from sheet fabric

(2) neck ties: 3" X 19" from the sheet fabric

Create Neck & Waist Ties:

Iron each strip in half lengthwise.

Open up and iron each edge in to the mid line.

Fold one short edge in.

Iron the entire strip in half lengthwise again.   This time all of your raw edges except for one short side should be enclosed.

Sew down each long side.

Assemble Apron:

Pin the (2) 26" square pieces together, right sides together.  Adding the 2 waistband  ties at the 2 mid corners.  Stitch around all sides, leaving an opening for turning.

Turn right sides out, press, and top stitch around.

Fold top corner down 8" and stitch in place.

Attach neck ties.

Optional:  Add buttons at the seam where the neckties attach to the apron.

Total spent:  90 cents (but I'm rounding to $1)

Day 1:  Pretty Hair Ties 1.00

Day 2:  Pin Cushion 1.00

Day 3:  Cowl 1.50

Day 4:  Apron 1.00

______________

4.50

30 Days For 30 Dollars: Day 3

Day 3:  Gifts For Girls

For this project I used 2 skeins of thrifted yarn, 75 cents a piece.

This pattern is very easy and would be great for a beginning knitter.  It's a simple drop stitch pattern.  You add stitches on in 1 row and drop them off in the next.

Easy Knit Cowl Pattern:

Yarn:  Chunky 

Needles:  Size 15

Cast on 35 stitches.

Row 1:  *K1, YO (yarn over) twice* K1

Row 2:  *K1, drop 2 stitches* K1

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until piece measures approximately 30 inches

Bind off loosely.  

Stitch ends together 

Note:  Your bind off row and starting row may not match up exactly (I tend to bind off somewhat tightly) but you should be able to ease them together.

Total spent:  $1.50

Total Spent:

Day 1:  Pretty Hair Ties 1.00

Day 2:  Pin Cushion 1.00

Day 3:  Cowl 1.50

______________

3.50

Small Business Saturday: November 24

Amidst  all of the Black Friday craziness, don't forget about Small Business Saturday tomorrow.  And if you have an American Express card, you can even get a $25 credit to help support your local small businesses!!  Find out more.

Happy Thanksgiving

Need a little something to work on while the turkey cooks?  

via

How about a crocheted turkey handbag?  Now who doesn't need one of those????

30 Days For 30 Dollars: Day 2

Day 2:  For Crafters

Supplies Needed:

1 small picture frame  - thrifted, $1.00

scrap of fabric and batting (from my stash)

You can dismantle the picture frame and discard (or save for another use) the glass.

Follow this tutorial from Craftaholics Anonymous to create your pin cushion.

Note #1:  I also used a little craft glue to help hold everything in place.

Note #2:  Can't find the supplies to make this?  You can purchase a kit here.

Total spent:  $1 for the frame

Total Spent:

Day 1:  Pretty Hair Ties 1.00

Day 2:  Pin Cushion 1.00

______________

2.00

30 Days For 30 Dollars: Day 1

If you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember 30 Days For 30 Dollars from around this time last year.  The premise:  30 days of thrifty, crafty projects with a total budget of 30 dollars - yes, around one dollar a day. 

Well, I decided to bring it back this year, with a slightly different focus - gift giving.  With the holidays coming up, who doesn't want to stretch their budget a little further?  So, what kind of gifts can you make on a dollar  budget (that actually look like you spent more than a dollar)?  Well, read on . . .

(Btw, I'm not counting basic crafting supplies such as glues, papers, paints, fabrics, etc. as part of the budget. I figure most crafters are going to have some of that stuff on hand as I do.)

Day 1:  Gifts For Girls

This project began as  . . . 

99 cent elastic hair ties and buttons from my stash

Note:  You  need buttons that have this type of attachment.  And it needs to be big enough to fit the hair tie through.  My pink button was too small so I ended up swapping it out for a different one.

To make these, I followed this tutorial from DreamPatch.  So easy!

But what's a gift without a pretty presentation?

To create the packaging, I traced the original packaging onto a piece of paper board (like a cereal box) and cut out.  Use a glue stick to attach a piece of pretty paper.  Let dry and then trim to size and shape.  Place hair ties on your new packaging.

Total spent:  $1.00 (for 18 hair ties so I could actually make a bunch more of these)

Freezing Avocados: An Update

So if you've seen my previous post on freezing avocados,  you will know that I had great success with my first try (above photo).  I pulled my second batch of frozen avocados out of the freezer last night for guacamole, and had less than stellar results.  These avocados were kind of mushy, watery and had a weird texture.  I'm trying to figure out the difference between the two trials.  I have 2 theories:  a.)  the second batch of avocados were over-ripe when I froze them or b.)  I left them in the freezer for too long.

Has anyone tried this?  How did it turn out for you?

Can you help me figure out this mystery?

Woven Stitch Crochet Pattern

This pattern is based on lyndamk's Lavender Fields Blanket (which you can only see if you have a Ravelry account).  Her pattern is hdc, ch 1 but I couldn't get mine to turn out quite right.  The "weaving" just didn't seem tight enough.  So I made one little tweak.  

I crocheted each hdc into the stitch 2 rows below.  So the yellow row is being crocheted into the grey row, skipping the white row.

Here's the pattern written out (in US terms):

Chain the length that you would like your project to be.

Row 1: * hdc, ch1, sk 1* Repeat across.  Ch 2.  Turn.

Row 2:  *sk 1, hdc into the stitch 2 rows below (the starting chain for this row)*  Repeat across. Your hdc and ch 1 should be alternating now.  Ch 2.  Turn.

Row 3:  *hdc, ch 1, sk 1*  Repeat across.  Ch 2.  Turn.

Repeat row 2 and 3 until your project is the size that you would like.  

I changed colors at the end of each row.

Let me know if I made any mistakes writing this out or if you have any questions.

making progress on my afghan - and using up lots of scraps of yarn!

Turtleneck to Boatneck Refashion

Hating things that are too tight or high on my neck, I don't wear turtlenecks, not even "mock" turtlenecks.  So the neckline on this thrifted horrible 80's dress (complete with shoulder pads) was definitely going to have to be changed. After removing the shoulder pads, of course, I changed it to a boatneck.  It's really pretty easy - here's how:

1.  I used my largest serving platter as a pattern for my new neckline
2.  Trace new neckline with a pencil or dressmaker's pencil.
3.  Cut out new neckline along the marked line.

For the next step, you will need double fold bias tape.

Open up bias tape and pin to the inside of the neckline, starting at the midpoint in the back.

When you have pinned all the way around, fold over your starting edge 1/4 of an inch, then lay your ending edge over and cut.  Pin in place.  This will give you a finished joining edge when your all done.

Stitch in place all around.

Flip bias tape over along the fold to the front side of the neckline and pin in place, covering your original stitch line.  You can see my now finished joining edge in the above photo.

Front, pinned in place

Stitch front edge down, sewing as close to the edge as you can.

Finished neckline!

I also hemmed the dress to above the knee.