DIY EASY UPCYCLING | Upcycled Measuring Tape Sewing Room Wall Decor

This upcycling craft is for all my fellow seamstresses out there, to spruce up your sewing space. I hope you save your old measuring tapes because you're going to need a couple.

You'll also need:

A frame
A piece of card stock that fits your frame
Scissors
Hot glue gun or super glue

All you're doing is arranging the measuring tapes on the card stock in any way you want. I happened to have this frame I found at the thrift store, with a neat oval plastic mat (I spray painted it red). Other shapes would be really cute too, like a heart.

I used the oval mat as a stencil on the paper, cut the measuring tapes (3 of them) to fit and glued them horizontally in a repeating pattern. Once it was done, then just placed it in the frame.

If you don't want to make wall decor, consider one of these measuring tape upcycling ideas:

Recycled From Vintage Rulers, JacQ’s Bracelets Are Made to Measure

Tape Measure Watches

Tape Measure Belts

Upcycled Vintage Tape Measure and Ruler Earrings

Measuring Tape Zippered Bag

Tape Meaure Rug from VivaTerra

Refashion: How to Fix High Waters / Flood Pants

Don't you hate when clothes shrink? For most clothing it's just inevitable after so many washes or rather times in the dryer. I don't worry too much about tops shrinking but when pants shrink, ugh.
Don't be so quick to get rid of those pants though! You have other options...

Let the hem down. Most pants have at least another inch in length that make up the hem. Use your seam ripper to undo this. Once that is done it could give at least a half inch, maybe more. To hem it again use your serger then hem up the serged length. If you don't mind a serger rolled hem then do that to get the most length out of this.
Add fabric. Give your pants a new look by adding a cuff. This is especially cute and easy for children's pants. Check this tutorial by You & Mie.
Turn your pants into Shorts or Capris. Patch Work Posse has a great tutorial here on how to make capris happen.

And thennnnn there's my option. Add elastic.

By adding elastic to the pre-existing hem or the one you create, you get this harem / jogger pants look. You also get a pants length that is pretty adjustable. You can wear them to your ankle or below the knee and anywhere in between. Of course this option though, best lends itself to pants that are not so skinny or straight legged. They should have a good width to them like a flare, bell bottom or wide leg.
Here's how you can do it...

I have these olive green linen pants that I love, they're so comfy. Downside, they shrunk after a couple washes. So I added elastic to them. Luckily these pants have a wide hem that perfectly fits an inch wide elastic through. If your pants don't have a wide enough hem, then you'll have to make your own.
Create an opening by ripping a seam. If your pants have one side where the seam is double top stitched and thick, pick the other side so it's easier.

Measure your leg for the width you want. For mine I wanted the pants to sit above the ankle but I measured the width of my leg higher than that so the elastic will stretch comfortably over that. I hope that makes sense.
Next place a safety pin on one end of the elastic to keep a grip on it while you string it through the opening in the seam you made.

Now sew the elastic down, going over the seam a couple times. Then stretch out the elastic so the ruching is evenly distributed. Close the openings (where the elastic was strung through) with small seams just enough to close them.

You're done. Keep on ~~trekking~~ wearing? Oh you get it.

P.S. Always try to avoid throwing out clothes. Our planet doesn't need anymore of that garbage. If you can recycle it, do it but if not then at least donate it (Although, even donations center can only handle so much). With this case of high waters, yeah there's always people who are shorter than you, if doesn't fit you anymore it'll probably fit someone else. Someone will make it work but they're already your pants, you bought them and they fit your top half so why not you make it work for you. Give your pants a new look.

Upcycled Wall Decor | DIY Mirror Glass From Thrift Store Framed Art

Here's a super easy upcycling project you can do with old thrifted wall decor and spray paints (the color/s you want for the frames and Krylon Looking Glass).

The before: A set of matching framed wall art and mirror. The artwork looks dated with the gold colored frames but the detail on the frames is cute and a mirror is always useful no matter the age.

The after: A matching pair of mirrors. I chose a gloss black for the frames because it matches the bathroom decor (please ignore the dated wall paneling, it's up next for a makeover). Now, yes one mirror is stronger than the other (the original mirror of course) but the mirror I created myself is truly not that bad. All you have to do is simply spray paint one side of the frame's glass.

See the backside is dull. While the other side is the shiny mirror that you'll see through the glass. Leave the original matted artwork though, for the frame's back support (you won't see it anymore anyway).

Upcycling Inspiration: Chairs, Sofas and All Kinds of Seats

Please, take a seat...

Upcycled Barrel Chair from Scoopa

Upcycled Suitcase Seat

Upcycled Roller Blinds Chair by Gruba

Upcycled Traffic Signs Furniture by Boris Bally

Upcycled Pallet Porch Swing

Upcycled Claw Foot Tub Sofa

Crutches made barstool by Ryan "Zieak" McFarland

Upcycled Patchwork Sofa

Upcycled Tire Seats

Upcycled Woven Belts Seat

Celebrate Earth Day 2015 | Love the Earth

"Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others,
Hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,
Have patience and indulgence toward the people,
Take off your hat to nothing known or unknown
or to any man or number of men,
Go freely with powerful uneducated persons
and with the young and with the mothers of families,
Read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,
Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book,
Dismiss whatever insults your own soul,
and your very flesh shall be a great poem and
Have the richest fluency not only in its words
but in the silent lines of its lips and face
and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

-Walt Whitman

Amaretti di Saronno - Italian Almond Cookies | RECIPE

Amaretti means Italian almond-flavored cookies. Amaretti di Saronno refer to an amaretto macaron that is traditional to Saronno, a comune of Lombardy, Italy. These cookies fall into the same family as French macarons and macaroons. So if you like those and just love almonds, give this recipe a try.

I used this soft (morbidi) amaretti cookie recipe by Love and Olive Oil but I think my cookies came out looking more like this not so soft looking amaretti di saronno cookie recipe by Garrett McCord. Either way, they are delicious little morsels of rich almond flavor.

The original recipe is in grams so I converted it to cups.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups Almond Flour or very finely ground almonds (I used Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour)
1 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
2 large Egg Whites
Pinch Salt
1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
Confectioners' Sugar, as needed

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, sift together almond flour, sugar, and flour.

In a bowl, whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are foamy and fall into soft mounds (not quite soft peaks). Whisk in almond extract. Add to bowl with dry ingredients and stir until it comes together to form a sticky dough.

Lightly dust your hands with powdered sugar, scoop out pieces of dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Place on parchment or silicon-lined baking sheets, leaving 1 inch of space between cookies.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F, letting cookies sit out and dry in the meantime for about 15 to 20 minutes.

When oven is preheated, bake cookies for 20 to 22 minutes or until tops are cracked and bottoms are just barely golden. Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies will keep, sealed in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

If you prefer a chewier cookie, just under bake them a little bit. I think my oven heats up more than you set it to so my cookies came out cracked, like they should though, on the outside but still very soft inside. Luckily I caught them before they really browned or worse, burnt.

Enjoy!

Refashion | Extend the Life of your Jeans! DIY Pants into Capris or Shorts

So your pants are tore up from the floor up? And I mean that literally and not all the way up, more like the hems are frayed, the knees are faded and no you didn't buy them like that. What are you to do? Donate? Maybe but it's spring, next is summer, time for shorts. Turn those old pants into new shorts and keep wearing them out! Here's how...

Last week I altered a couple jeans like this for a friend. Her mom saw them and decided she wanted some too. I used one of the first pairs I did as the length sample since her mom wanted the same. You can take a pair of your own that you like the length of or measure your leg directly. Always line them up together by the crotch and inseam since rises vary.

I know it's not that noticeable in the photo but to the sample shorts she also asked to have the holes patched up with black stretch lace underneath.

Take your desired inseam length and add on a couple inches for the cuff. I added 2.25" for this cuff. You can do more or less depending on how long and thick a cuff you want. Although I must say thicker is tougher and uncomfortable even if it is stretch denim it'll be tighter. I would've done less actually but I wanted to make sure the fold inside wouldn't show ever. Cut it once you've decided on the length.

Serge the ends to seal off the new length. This is sort of optional, I mean you don't have to but I do because it just makes for a cleaner finish.

Pin your cuffs in place. I folded it to where a 1.25" cuff would show.

Now you'll straight stitch with your machine, only the inseams and outer side seams, not the middles of the cuff. I like to go over a couple times but that's because I used regular thread and not the thick thread for denim.

Now you'll hand sew a short blind stitch to secure the middle of the cuff. Again this is optional because once the shorts are on you the cuff should stay in place by being stretched out but in case that doesn't happen, stitching it keeps it from unfolding.

You really shouldn't see where you stitched the middle of the cuff. It should just look as if though it were nicely folded shut.

There you have it. Turn old pants into new shorts. Also I think this works best with stretch denim. Regular denim tends to make a tighter cuff but you'll be the judge of that.

10 Ways to Upcycle Old Musical Instruments

As if the music alone wasn't enough, the non-musical things old instruments can create is equally amazing! Note for yourself:

1. Create Beautiful Mosaic Art

A Guitar by Crooked Moon Mosaics at Etsy