kitchen curtains

A few years ago, I bought up a few cheap (and I mean CHEAP) kitchen curtain sets at Building 19, which is a major "bargain barn" type place here in the northeast. They aren't even my style, but they did the trick for a few years and made things presentable.

Earlier today I knocked the curtain over the sink off it's holder in my gloriously gracefull attempt (successfull attempt) to climb in the window. Yeah. I locked myself out. Instead of rehanging the curtain, I decided not to bother and to try my hand at making my own curtains from some stash.

Since I was forced to suffer the humiliation of breaking into my own house, and having it take about an hour and a half, (thankfully yesterday's rain has changed to bright, if cold, skies) I decided to treat myself to some blog surfing time. I haven't done this in what seems like ages! So what do you know...I ran accross Thimbly Things' Kitchen week! So cool, I love her style and thought process!

Top

I really want to try this top from Simplicity (3571), just like Darling Petunia did! She has a knack of finding great fabric and patterns that aren't super difficult! This will likely make a great place for me to start!

Oil Cloth?

Darling Petunia has the greatest ideas, this one is for covering a bench with oil cloth when you can't find oil cloth. The solution? Check it out and see!

painting in the rain

I love this idea! And who says we can only do it with kids?

Bead-Embelished Tote

I just love this Pop Garden Tote by Meg of Boutique Nutmeg Designs!

The things I love most about it are the creative appliqueing of the floral material over corduroy and the beaded embelishment! Two of my favorite things!

Gift Boxes

How perfect is this?!

For all our hand-made christmas presents this year, we can make these Origami Gift Boxes!

I found this site through Design*Sponge, always on top of the latest and greatest! They made one box from a 9 1/2" square as the bottom and the top box (cover) was made from a 10" square piece of wrapping paper.

Of course, the heavier the gift, the thicker the paper we'll need.

T-shirt refashion links

A lot of the tutorials at OhMyStars aren't quite my style, but there are clear instructions and I'm getting lots of ideas for things that would be my style.

Generation T is also a fantastic source of t-shirt refashionationating inspiration!

I also found another use for a Tee, along with other great tutorials at Stitchlounge.com including cowl-neck and boat-neck tees.

Very funny commentary here, which references WhattheCraft, which is way cool!

Oh my word, can you tell Hyung is back? I'm starting to talk like a teenager again!

Dress Refashion

How many of these dresses do we have left over from our teen years?
I'm always afraid that if I add a band of fabric at the bottom of a dress or skirt, it will look like an addition. Just like on a house, I don't want an addition to look awkward, like it's not meant to be there. I think that's another reason why I haven't had a lot of success with my refashions yet.
But check out what Wendy was able to do with her dress! It looks polished, sophisitcated, and very grown up, not for a 15 year old!

Totally cool way to save grease stained clothes!

Check out Helen's handiwork with reverse applique!

I can't wait to rescue my poor tops!

Great Freezer Paper Stenciling Tutorial

Dana is so talented! Check out her Freezer Paper Stenciling Tutorial. As she puts it, "poor man's silkscreening."

Fabric Envelopes

I found these, meant for sorting your cash when using a cash-only system, but it looks to me like a good way to sort receipts too. I use my ATM so as not to loose cash (which I've done before) but would love to use these fabric envelopes for sorting my receipts.
I don't see any reason why I couldn't figure out the dimensions and make them myself!

Paper Bowls

Elizabeth is a fantastic source of recycling knowledge and ideas! Since I'm planning on recycling my junk mail to make my christmas cards this year ("notes" 3&4 at that link), this idea for recycling paper to make paper bowls also intrigues me. Maybe I'll make Bowls of home-made cookies this year instead of plates! (Though I'm sure I can make sturdy recycled plates the same way I make the bowls!!)

Needlecase

I fell in love with this idea from over at Chris Cross Corner!
The stitch design isn't really my style, but I love the idea and may someday make a needlecase of my own with a small stitch pattern I absolutely adore!

Rosette Wreath

I have to attribute this idea to being farsighted and forgetting my reading glasses!
I saw a small picture of this wreath in a sidebar at Design*Sponge and thought it looked like it was made out of fabric rosettes!
So then I thought of using Blissed Out's flower petals to make a wreath!

If only I had 40 hours in a day to make all these great things!

Framed illustrations

Thimbly Things (TT) is just a font of creative ideas! She posted last night about another use for pages from old books and I'm absolutely "chompin' at the bit" to try it!

Baby's Wooden Blocks

I stumbled upon this idea from MarthaStewart.com while visiting one of my favorite blogs, Thimbly Things the other day.
I can't wait to try it myself!

Introducing Craftank

This is another one of my sub-blogs that allows me to post a craft-related idea I have or one I stumble across while touring blogland. This way I will never have to regret not writing something down again! I'll always have the link. If it helps you in any way, fantastic!