Monday, November 28, 2011

How to make a recycled sweater Christmas tree from Sizzix die cut flowers

My Christmas mugs gaze adoringly at the latest recycled sweater Christmas tree to join the forest. This one had it's inspiration during the same craft show that the recycled sweater flower pumpkin did.
It's super easy to make. I die cut all the different sizes and shapes of Sizzix flowers I had out of all different shades of green recycled wool felted sweaters. I then stacked them up from biggest to smallest mixing up the shapes and colors.

I ran a bit of floral wire bent in half like a bobby pin from the top to the bottom and twisted it to secure the layers. Then I simply attached the bead with a silver tipped straight pin.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Double the Sweater Surgery crafty goodness

I did an event at the Burbank Library where attendees made recycled wool felted sweater flower rings with me and these twin girls were just so darn cute! They just cracked me up.

If crafting puts a smile on your face too, check out what my fellow crafters are up to:

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Retrofabulous Christmas Craftabration returns to The Impatient Crafter Blog! Madge makes a retro inspired upcycled gift box!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a tutorial on how to cut and lay a recycled end grain wood floor, a tip on how to cut tissue paper easier, a recipe for vegan white and milk chocolate and some wild crochet designs.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Learn how to crochet a cute striped Christmas tree skirt.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi decides to make a companion piece to the hand-painted and stitched silk quilt she just finished. Time to get painting again!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi shares a second Humphrey the Elephant 3D card.

Craft. You.
An inspiring interview with Crafty Mastermind Mark Montano!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shares a hand-made gift that someone else makes that is perfect for pet lovers.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
See how to make a tubular wine bottle tote from a cardboard mailing tube.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

How to crochet a Christmas tree skirt

My Halloween decorations aren't even all packed up yet and back in the rafters of the garage and I am already pulling down the Christmas trees! Oy! That's just the way it goes when you get inspired to make something. Today it's a crocheted Christmas tree skirt. I was savoring the pages of the new book Stashbuster Knits: Tips, Tricks, and 21 Beautiful Projects for Using Your Favorite Leftover Yarn and the page you see above has this cool jacket with a circular back and as the book title states it's made from the almighty stash (of which this fiber fanatic has in abundance!)

And the part of my stash I've been savoring and has been calling to me the loudest to work with is Vickie Howell's Sheepish yarn.
How to crochet this Striped Christmas tree skirt:
Gather your yarn and hook (I used a Boye "H" as the yarn indicated)

Note: I made it this way because I might use it with different little Christmas trees I have and some of them don't have removable legs so I wanted to be able to open it up as far as I needed to.
(This photo is of single crochet thought the back loop)
I did this because I think the stripes looked smoother this way.

-Chain 10 (or as many as you need to fit around the base of the tree you think you plan to use it with).

-Cut the end of the yarn and pull through the last loop.
-Tie a bow with the tail from the end and the tail from the beginning.
-Pick your next color yarn and starting at the beginning again 2 single crochets in the back of the first loop.
-Work single crochets around the chain doing 2 stitches in one stitch every few stitches to increase. (Note I don't count I just go with it to keep it flat by eye)
-Do 2 single crochets in the last loop, cut the yarn and pull through the last loop to secure. Tie a bow with the tails.
-That's pretty much it my crochet peeps! Just keep going until you have the size you want.

If you know what tree you are using and it has removable legs you don't have to tie each row together like I did to keep it able to be opened and adjustable.

Another thing I should note here, yes, this book is a knitting book but it is so pretty and inspirational I just happen to prefer when I am working in the round doing it in crochet.

More about the book from Potter Craft:
Stashbuster Knits: Tips, Tricks, and 21 Beautiful Projects for Using Your Favorite Leftover Yarn
by
Melissa Leapman

"This is the latest title from popular knitting teacher, designer and author Melissa Leapman. It includes 21 creative projects and ideas to utilise every last piece of yarn in the stash. It features basic techniques, special tips, alternate colour suggestions and guidance on storing your yarn collection. Popular knitting teacher, designer and author Melissa Leapman offers quick, easy and imaginative new projects designed to make use of all the yarn odds and ends every knitter has. From a tiny baby sweater to a lovely striped wrap, "Stashbuster Knits" provides 21 creative projects and ideas to utilise every last piece of yarn in your stash. Projects are organised by yarn weight and use a variety of techniques including lace, cables, colour-blocking, stripes and fair-isle to make items for men, women, children and the home. The book also includes basic knitting techniques, special tips, alternate colour suggestions and guidance on storing and organising your yarn collection."

Monday, November 7, 2011

Funny sewing machine shot from Maker Faire

I thought I'd share this fun sewing machine shot from the Swap-o-rama section at the last Maker Faire.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a tutorial on how to sunprint with paint on fabric, how to identify torch flames, a recipe for vegan white and milk chocolate and how to design the size and shape of your eyebrows.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi has used some low-tech tools to make some fun printed pieces of silk for a future project.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how to make a recycled zipper ring.

About Family Crafts
This current craft challenge is all about vacations. Do you have a vacation related craft you can submit?

Aileen's Musings
Aileen had a phenomenon happen while creating mini star ornaments from some microwave clay.

Cindy Gimbrone Beads
Cindy tries her hand at right angle weave and reviews Stitch Workshop: Right-Angle Weave published by Kalmach Books.

Craft Buds
Paper crafters can enter to win an Epic Letterpress Combo Kit (through 11/8) and learn how to make a fall wreath using this versatile machine.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy reviews a new book out called Craft Activism and gives you the inside scoop about how you can read the first chapter for free.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Here’s how to use 3D clay accents to make your decoupage projects pop.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

How to make a recycled zipper ring

My inspiration comes from a weird place today. These are characters from Sony's LittleBigPlanet. They have little zippers on them and I just thought I needed to make a new piece of recycled zipper jewelry.
So out came an old pair of jeans that I actually use when I felt a sweater so they really don't need their zipper and the seam ripper.
I used a piece of 20 gauge wire about 10 inches long and wrapped the wire through the zipper on each side of the pull. Then simply wrapped one end around all four pieces of wire on the side of the zipper pull that the zipper would come out of when it's together. The other end of the wire only gets wrapped around the other single wire so the "separated side" stays separate.

I am now going to go through some more of my old cloths to see if I can find some other zipper pulls to make more bling!
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