In thee Shop: Upcycled Denim Owl Bags

These are the remaining owls in the shop. I'm debating whether or not to make any more. I do have plenty of jeans and other clothing hems though so I'll probably make more but not sure when or if any time soon. Until then these are it.

P.S. I saw this and thought it was cute, had to share:

Advice from an Owl

Stay focused
Be "whoo" you are
Trust in a wise friend
Live off the land
Glide through the dark times
Be observant
Life's a hoot!

Check out the bags in the shop here.

☮♥♻

Refashion | DIY Fabric Cuff Thermal Top à la Free People

• cuff sleeve thermal top, Refashion, Tutorials

What an embellishment. Take a simple cozy top and give that extra pizazz with a lovely piece of fabric. To think waffle knit thermal tops use to just be undergarments or sleepwear.

I had been wanting to do this and when I saw this fabric at Joann, I thought it would be perfect. Instead of patchworking fabrics yourself, you can use this fabric and achieve the same result with less work. The fabric is cotton with a metallic print that looks sort of like it's embroidered trims put together.

Asian Inspired Cotton Fabric 44"-Mini Asian Floral Stripe Met

I think this one would totally work too. Especially with some added cotton lace trim.

Vintage Cotton Fabric 43''-Jacobean Stripe on Red

So the way I added the fabric to the sleeve is in my opinion, the most effective. You end up with no raw edges needing serged or anything like that, it's great. I had only serged the edges of the striped fabric because initially I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. I measured the width of my arm, top and bottom of where the fabric cuff would go. Sewed it together to create both cuffs.

First you mark how long of an opening you'd like. I know it looks crooked but I made it parallel to the side seam. Pin in place.

You want to sew around your marking about quarter inch wide. I have three seams because it was too skinny of an opening at first. Also sew around the cuff end joining the sleeve and fabric.

Then you cut in between your opening seams. Clip a v shape at the end or beginning however you look at it (on the left in the photo).

Flip the fabric right side out over the sleeve and pin into place to get rid of the raw edge.

You end up with these hoof looking things lol.

I chose mismatched buttons and used a loop trim that I simply sewed to the underside of one side of the opening.

Lastly I decided to add a metallic trim to top edge because I didn't like how it looked. I suppose it was fine really but yeah. It was the only trim I found in store that followed the color scheme the most.

I would've liked all brass buttons but these are what I had. Maybe I'll change them later on whenever I get some. I definitely want to do this again to another top though.

☮♥♻

DIY Upcycled Cat Toy (Menswear Mouse Toy)

• DIY, upcycled clothing, Upcycling

So I end up with small odd shaped scraps of material like all the time. Not a whole lot (because I upcycle them of course) but still, the smaller remnants accumulate eventually.

I found this project idea from MarthaStewart.com after searching for something smaller to do with them and finally got around to actually doing it.

It's a menswear mouse toy for your cats! or snakes? Hey maybe. Okay probably not because they don't really play, or do they?

Anyway, check it out...

Adorable right? and not to mention kind of easy to do as the tutorial is pretty simple to follow. Mine was a plaid blazer for the mouse body and then a denim underbelly with a brown gingham cotton tail.

I made mine fast though. I mean I didn't even add the eyes (I couldn't find any more beads) and its ears are different than in the tutorial but my cats loved it nonetheless.

Now to make another mouse toy so each cat has their own (there's two, Ajax and Athena) because sharing is no fun.

New in thee Shop: Moon Inspired Upcycled Denim Canteen Circle Bags

• moon bag, Shoptalk, upcycled denim

Two new upcycled denim canteen bags in the shop! Stay wild, moonchild.

The moon is a loyal companion, indeed. Beautifully put by Tahereh Mafi in Shatter Me.

The moon has always served as an inspiration. Personally I've always had a penchant for celestial themed goods. I found myself wanting to create something new in the canteen bag style. A moon is perfect.

My Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 has like 600 stitches and I would like to use them all at least once haha. Here's a chart with some of them. Numbers 28 and 35 stood out to me because they look most like star bursts or twinkles. I ended up using #35 on a dark gray jean remnants cut into crescent shapes. Then I hand beaded the stars on the patchwork denim sky. If I make more of these I'm definitely going to try mixing up the stitches using different designs and maybe a full moon too.

Check them out in the shop here:

DIY Burlap Fabric Pumpkins

• DIY, fall decor, pumpkins, sewing, Tutorials

These fabric pumpkins turned out so cute. I found the perfect sized pumpkins by The Spruce. You can get their free sewing pattern here. They have it titled as pumpkin pillows but if you just follow their tutorial for the body, you can add whatever type of stem you'd like and use whatever kind of fabric. I wasn't looking for pillows, more like just for decor but again the sizing of these worked out great. I took the large pumpkin pattern and scaled it up about two sizes more to make the really big pumpkin.

I also found this tutorial for upcycled pumpkins. If I didn't have so much of this fabric already I would've definitely done this one. You can check out the how-to by Evie Bidell, here.

I have had this orange burlap material for years and it never occurred to me that it would be great for some fake pumpkins. It would be good for some fake carrots too but those don't really say fall as much as they do Easter. Anyway there is so much of this material that I was tempted to make huge pumpkins but then I wasn't sure where I would put them since I don't want them outside.

This craft also allowed me to make use of some fabric samples that were from a company I no longer order fabrics from. I took all the green shaded taffeta swatches and some crepe satin but only ended up using the taffeta. Taffeta is awesome to work with because it's stiff, lightweight and you can easily singe the edges. It's basically the paper of fabrics.

For the trunks or stems rather, I got a roll of faux burlap ribbon. I knew I only needed small pieces so I went with the ribbon instead of buying fabric. Added bonus the ribbon has sealed edges making it even easier to work with.

I sort of followed the given pattern for the stems but not really because mine are not as curved nor as tall. I gave them a little stuffing too. For the pumpkin leaves I cut away the pieces of swatches that had glue residue from the booklet they were in and cut out some pumpkiny looking leaves.

Then I singed the edges of the leaves with a candle and hot glued a little pleat on them. Also hot glued some of the stem edges inward to create a flatter base.

First I glued on the leaves then the stem on top. I added some bows made out of twine for added decoration. It's not much but looks cute all together.

So fabric pumpkins are pretty easy to make whether you sew or not, there are plenty of tutorials out there showing you different methods to get it done. (Just search "no sew fabric pumpkins" on google or Pinterest) Real pumpkins are nice but they are one time deal, they're a fruit (yes, technically because it has seeds) and are better cooked up and eaten than wasted. Make these pumpkins and you can re-use them every autumn.

Here they are sitting on the piano. The middle pumpkin is almost too big for this spot but I like how they look all lined up. I'm thinking some wooden letters or signs would accompany them really nicely. Maybe like the words "give thanks" or even "fall" would work. I hope you give making your own reusable pumpkin decor a try.

☮♥♻

20 DIY Upcycled Wreaths for All Occasions!

• christmas wreath, diy holiday, holiday crafts, seasonal wreaths, Upcycling, wreaths

The holidays are around the corner and they have me thinking all about the decor. Decor is probably my favorite part of it all. I always thought it be super cute to have a bunch of seasonal wreaths to put out every month, like I see others do. I never get around to doing so though. If you're thinking to yourself "hey, me too" well then this list I've come up with, is sure to inspire you as well.

P.S. As I was searching for wreaths, I came across this befitting quote from Buddha...

"As from a large heap of flowers many garlands and wreaths are made, so by a mortal in this life there is much good work to be done."

1. Aluminum Can Leaves Wreath for le Fall time.