art stuff: recycled sweater ornaments

one beautiful vintage sweater + one super duty front loader dryer = wooly heart ornaments

Please tell me someone else has done this - accidentally dried their favorite sweater! Well, I did it this week, and after I cried for three days I chalked it up to some yummy felted wool and a handful of awesome vintage buttons.

With Christmas just around the corner I decided to use some of the salvaged wool for pretty little ornaments. Let me tell you- I LOVE them! And they were so super easy that I thought I would share. (Just don't go shrink a sweater to make 'em! )

1. Grab some wool or felt or whatever else you have on hand that is nice and chunky and cut it into the shape of a heart.

2. Stamp or print a word or two on fabric and cut out.

3. Stitch all around the edges of your heart. Doodle style stitching is my favorite, so no need to be perfect here.

4. Lay your tag out on heart and stitch around that too. A contrasting color is always my favorite.

5. Using a needle with a large eye, thread some bakers twine or ribbon through the top of the heart and tie a knot.

You could be done here, but I decided to add a tiny ring of faux greenery on the twine. I love them!

Super sweet. Super easy. AND I can share my favorite sweater with my besties!

Christmas Wrap: Gift Card Tags

I love to wrap gifts, so much in fact, that when my children started growing up and asking for gift cards I was crushed. Now how could I wrap those? Well it didn't take long for me to hunt down little boxes and bags. Soon I was wrapping the cards like miniature gifts and they were adorable.

This year I was looking for a budget friendly and re-purposed alternative to boxes and bows. In an ongoing effort to use up my memory making supplies I started digging through unused goodies and this is what I came up with -

        A FEW SIMPLE SUPPLIES:

• a few over sized manilla tags
• a few small manilla tags
• paper borders
• a cut up vintage handkerchief
• bakers twine
• fabric covered buttons
• scrapbook embellishments
• recycled miniature brown bags

         THIS IS WHAT I DID:

• Fold a large tag in half.
• Layer with mini brown bag and hankie scrap & pin in place.
• Lay out paper borders & embellishments and pin in place.
• Unfold your tag and carefully stitch all components, unpinning as you go.
• Stitch up left and right sides of tag. I also stitched up the bottom just for fun.
• Add paper borders to top of tag and stitch into place as well. Add baker's twine.
• Using another mini brown bag, staple a tiny tag or embellishment and insert gift card.
• Cut one small manilla tag in half, add paper, buttons and twine to dress it up.
• Insert bag with gift card into the large tag pocket.
• Insert the small to/from tag into the side (brown bag) pocket.       

This is a super simple way to make a sweet Gift Card Holder at the Holidays AND an easy way to
start using up some of those stockpiled art supplies! Great for teachers, neighbors and co-workers!

 I know it is early, but I am already getting excited, so - Happy Holidays!

Christmas Wrap: Apple Bag Gift Wrap

During the holidays, if you are like me, you go through a lot of apples! Apple Pie,
Caramel Apples, Apple Crisps and Cider - even big bowls of juicy red apples are
usual season favorites around here.

As I am always looking to re-purpose everything in sight, I thought it might be fun
to use all of these cool stretchy red apples bags as part of my holiday packaging.
Just carefully snip the top or bottom of your apple bag, preserving most of the bag.
Then snip off the tag, keeping as much of it as well.

Adding holiday picks, baker's twine or a small keepsake ornament is an easy and
affordable way to dress up your package.

Use the plastic tag to make a coordinating gift tag or card. Now you have a beautiful
gift and you have recycled something as well! An Eco friendly way to surprise someone!

Check back often as I will be sharing more cool packaging ideas for the Holidays!