Spray Painted Owl: Ugly or Neat? You Weigh In!

When I started my job back in October, there was this really ugly owl perching on the ledge of my cubicle.  You know, one of those brown plastic ones they use to scare away rats and pigeons at gas stations.  Yeah.  Terrifying.

Anyway, no one knows who he belongs to, so I inherited him as a cubicle decoration.  Or something.  The hideous thing has been staring me down as I do my work every day for six months now, so this weekend I took him home with me determined to prettify him.  Or something.

By the by, I took this pic on my phone and texted it with no message to my mom.  I'm pretty sure she thinks I've gone nuts.

Owl, meet gold spray paint.

I had this spray paint left over from a fall wreath project I did a few years back, and gold just happens to be one of the school colors for the independent college newspaper I work for.  So I sprayed him with three light coats and voila:

He looks like a giant freakin' trophy.  I'm not sure if this is any more attractive, but it's less scary and will definitely add some novelty and, dare I say, retro/vintage bling to my office space.  What do you think?

In other news, the pallet patio table is coming along, although taking a lot longer to finish than anticipated.  We're about half finished with the painting, and then we'll start working on the top-secret part of the project that will make my patio table way more awesome than one I could have bought in any store.  So stay tuned.  I promise to give you the details soon!

Thanks for stopping by today and reading.  I really appreciate all your support!  I hope you're having a great weekend and are super excited for Easter tomorrow!  Until next time, happy crafting! :)

--CC

Ruffle Cuff Pant Legs

Just a quickie to share something great I found today.   If you liked my Knot No-Hem Pants tutorial, I'm sure you're going to love these from A Mother Huddle:

Source

This Ruffle Cuff Pants tutorial shows you a great way to transform pants that are either too short or too long into ones that fit and are completely adorable.  I wish I were younger so I could make some of these for myself! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy crafting. :)

--CC

Refashion: Men's Dress Shirt to Sleeveless Blouse

Ta-da!  I told you I'd be back with this shirt refashion today!  Anyway, I made this top using this tutorial, except, of course, I made it big people size instead of child size.  :) 

Tyler donated a button-up shirt that didn't fit him anymore and I cut it up using a sleeveless blouse of mine as a pattern.  It does pucker a little bit around the bust, so if you try and make this top I suggest cutting it a little larger than needed so you can add darts.

Notice the slight puckering near the arm holes?

Anyway, I kept the same bottom hem as the original shirt, so all I had to do was sew together the sides and the shoulders/neck, plus add bias tape (which I made myself for the first time!) around the arm holes.

I did everything pretty much the same as the tutorial, except that since my shirt was adult sized I didn't have enough fabric leftover for the neck tie.  Sooo...I just happened to have this teal and navy satin fabric that I scooped up at Jo-Ann's for $2 a yard way back when and it matched fabulously.

I think I like the top with the satin tie around the neck better than I would have liked it if the whole shirt were just the navy blue fabric.  I think it gives it the shirt a little surprise factor and femininity.

This top was so easy to make it was ridiculous, and now I have something new I can wear for work that cost me less than $2.  Hooray!

Thanks for reading and happy crafting to ya!

--CC

This post is linked up here.

Tutorial: Knot No-Hem Capri Pants

So, sorry about the long break.  Things got a little crazier than I expected (financially, academically, and moving-ly).  But I finally had a little time to do some sewing and blogging today annnnd....I have what you've been waiting for (maybe)!  Remember this picture I used to taunt you in my last post?

Well....Introducing the Knot No-Hem Capri Pants...

Because there's knot no hem on them!  Get it?  Hahaha.  I crack myself up.  :)

 But, okay.  Seriously, let's talk about the pants.  I made three pairs of these pants for my boyfriend's niece and thought they were worth sharing.  They can be made into shorts or capri (cropped) pants.  I made mine capris because I figured the elastic would stretch to still fit in the waist as she grows and then as the length gets shorter maybe she can wear them as bermudas or even shorts (if they still fit in the waist by then). 

They're super easy, super cute and they don't take much fabric at all.  I made mine out of some scrap fabric and a remnant I bought at Jo-Ann's.

But you can make the project even easier than that.  If your youngster has some long pants they wore this spring that you know won't fit by fall, why not cut off the extra length and add the cute knot to the bottom to make them into a new summer item?

You could even make an adult version with some old jeans for yourself!

So without further ado, here's the Knot No-Hem Cropped Pants tutorial.  Join me after the jump to learn how to make your own pair.