Repurposing at the fair

Life has been a bit busy lately.  I've been working on some projects for the upcoming women's retreat with my church, but I don't have anything quite ready to post yet.

 

I did attend our county fair a couple weeks ago and found some repurposed projects there that I want to share with you.  First off, the fair committee had a contest in which people could decorate bowling pins.  There were lots of great ones.  Here are some of my favorites.

 

I love checking out the artsy and crafty projects that 4-H'ers create.  I was in 4-H for 10 years when I was growing up, and fell in love with crafting through that fabulous organization. 

 

 One girl created a dress out of book pages!  She must have had a lot of patience.  It's absolutely fabulous.  She even included a picture of her wearing it.

 

 

Another project I loved was this sunset painted onto an old board.  Unfortunately, my picture doesn't do it justice.  The lighting in the building was not condusive to taking good pictures.

 

 

I'm doing the Reader Pick at Take-a-Look Tuesday

Mandy at Sugar Bee Crafts hosts a wonderful linky party, Take-A-Look Tuesday.  I have the great privilege of doing her Reader Pick feature for the week.  Boy, are there lots of fabulous projects this week!  I'm featuring a few (yes, 12 is a few when you consider just how many link up to this great party) of my top faves, but I encourage you to check out more.

For the purpose of those of you reading this from Sugar Bee Crafts, I'll say that I'm Carrie from Five Seventeen Repurposing, and I would love for you to come check out my young blog.

I'm a fairly new blogger, so you haven't had much chance to get to know my personality, style, or likes.  But I'm sure you can tell that I like flowers.  I was super excited to see at today's party two posts about multiple flower projects.  So I have to make those my top features.

Check out Henry Happened for 25+ flower projects: making different kinds of flowers and wonderful projects from flowers. 

The pics show giant paper roses and flower lollipops.  Go see all the wonderful ideas!

The Crafty Blog Stalker has scoped out 20 paper flower projects.  Because my heart is for repurposing, I'm posting the pic of the paint chip flower.  I hope you enjoy them all!

Because I'm new at this, I'm still trying to figure out how I want my blog to be.  I know I want to reflect my personality and not just what I think others want it to be.  So when I saw that Iuliana from Hip 2 Thrift is doing 30 Days to Finding your Blogging Voice, I was very excited.  I don't know how often I'll participate in the writing prompts, but I'm looking forward to doing what I can.

Vintage Mellie created patio bliss!  I absolutely love it!  There are so many beautiful pics.  She did a fabulous job of creating this space.  I won't spoil it all here, but I will post two of the awesome pics.

I love pallet projects!  There's a fabulous pallet headboard over at Ready Home for you to check out.  I wouldn't have even guessed that it started out as a pallet.

Going along with my love for repurposing, I have to feature Nici's (from Posed Perfection) "green" package packing idea.  She also showed a great gift wrapping idea.

Did you know you can iron fabric directly to your wall?  I didn't, but The Creek Line House shows us how.  So cool!

I've been seeing several projects with drop cloths, and here's another one from Ashley at Domestic Imperfection.  She used it to recover her bar stools.  Wonderful!

These little birdies by Jill at Made it on Monday are so cute!  She even gives a link to the tutorial and pattern she used.  I'm not much of a sewer, but I think I could do these.

I found a fabulous idea for embellishing a skirt over at Shop Ruby Jean.  I love the ombre look!

This feature wouldn't be complete without some dessert!

I think peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite dessert combo.  The Farm Girl's Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Dessert sounds super yummy!

I'm a brownie girl, and I'm thinking these mallow brownie bars will be made in my kitchen very soon.  Check out the recipe at The Mandatory Mooch.

Well, those are my top twelve faves!  But there's so much more fabulousness over at Take-A-Look Tuesday for you to scope out.  Enjoy!

Embroidery hoop cake/dessert stands

A few weeks ago a rummage sale was coming to a close and the deal was $1 for a bag of wonderfulness.  A number of embroidery hoops made it into my bag, as well as some pink fabric and other goodies that will be used in other projects once inspiration hits.

I went on a Pinterest search and was inspired to make cake/dessert stands by this post from The Sweetest Occasion.

I followed her directions fairly closely.  I did find that I needed to use a craft knife to cut the foam board to get a cleaner cut.  I also hot glued the foam circles to the inside of the hoops to insure that they would be secure.  FYI-I found foam board at the Dollar Tree for a buck a piece.  That's the cheapest I've ever seen it, even when it's on sale at other places.

The vase used for the tallest stand was found in a box of vases on the side of the road.  The jars came via my pantry.

Using the scraps from my fabric, I made confetti to nest my burlap flower and origami butterfly.

My tutorial for the flower is found here.

I used this tutorial to make the butterfly.

I like that these dessert stands can be customized by changing out the fabric and/or the nested items in the jars.

I'm sharing my creations at the following parties:
Sunday Showcase
Sunday's Best
Adorned from Above
Show and Share
Under $100 Link Party
Transformation Thursday
Hookin' Up with House of Hepworths
36th Avenue Link Party

Show and Tell Friday
Feature Friday
Frugal Friday
Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday
Pity Party Friday
Saturday Show and Tell
Say G'Day Linky Party
Pink Hippo Party
Trash to Treasure Tuesdays
Tuesday's Treasures

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Be Inspired
Twirl and Take a Bow
Weekend Warrior Party
Back for Seconds Social
Tutorial Link Party



Water Bottle Bracelets

I've been working on more project ideas for the women's retreat that I will be helping with in September.  One of the ladies in charge reminded me that the project will need to be simple because the ladies will want to do a lot of talking and will likely not pay attention to a bunch of different steps.  The burlap flowers are fairly simple, but I don't think they're simple enough for my audience.  Plus, they're kind of messy.  Our retreat is at a hotel on Mackinac Island, which means that we need to have something that won't make a mess for the staff to clean up, or worse, for us to be charged a fee for.

My next idea (and one that I'm pretty sure we'll go with) is water bottle bracelets. 

I like these first of all because they are a wonderful repurposing project.  The main things needed for them are a water bottle and repurposed fabric of some sort.  The peach one is from a T-shirt, and the white flowered one is from an old pair of pajama pants.

Secondly, they're simple.  All I did was cut the water bottle and wrap fabric around it, hot gluing a bit along the way.  I used a piece of velcro to make a closure for each bracelet.

Thirdly, many things can be done to embellish them.  With the peach one, I cut out ovals of various sizes and hot glued them on, one on top of the other.  For the flowered bracelet, I used a strip of the PJ fabric to make a rosette and then hot glued it.

And that's that.  I think I have a winner for the retreat.  I plan on showing the ladies in charge this week to get their input.

P.S.  Check out my previous post from ealier today.  A woman in my area is selling a vintage typewriter for $40 or best offer.  If you're interested, let me know, and I'll put you in contact with her.

I'm linking the bracelets here:

Wow Us Wednesdays

Your Whims Wednesday

Show and Share

Create and Share

We Did It Wednesday

Transformation Thursday

Under $100 Link Party

Hookin' Up with House of Hepworths

Vintage typewriter for sale

This typewriter is being sold by a woman in my area for $40 or best offer.  If you are interested, let me know and I will put you in contact with her. 

Burlap Flower Arrangement

Don't be shocked...I bought the burlap.  This isn't a repurposing project.  But I found this cute project and wanted to try it.  I'm in charge of bringing a craft project to my church's women's retreat at the end of September.  The theme is a western one, and I think the burlap fits the theme well.

I found the burlap flower on Fave Crafts.  It's a great site and even sends a newsletter of ideas each day.  I've found lots of great things. 

Click here for how it was made for Fave Crafts.

I tweaked the instructions just a bit.  I used hot glue instead of tacky glue because I didn't want to wait for glue to dry.  If you use hot glue, be aware that it could seep through the burlap and burn you or stick to the surface below.  Using a low temp glue gun helps.

 

I cut a piece of burlap.  I didn't do a specific measurement, but my guess is it's 5 x 10 inches.  Just be aware that the bigger the piece, the larger the flower.  I ran a line of hot glue down each long side about four burlap threads in from the sides.

Beginning at the center, I began pulling the long burlap threads.  I had to be careful not to also pull the short threads.

I folded the burlap in half and glued it.

I began hot gluing a skewer to one end of the burlap piece and rolled it up, gluing as I went.

I fluffed out the ends of the flower to make it look more realistic.  I made three of them.  I think I like it better without a button in the center. 

I think it will be a great project for our women's retreat.  I'm looking forward to it.

I made these tassles from the long burlap threads that I pulled out.  I couldn't bear to just throw them away, so I made these simple tassles by gathering a bunch of threads, folding them in half, and using one thread to tie them together.  I'm thinking they would be great add-ons to wrapped packages.

I'm showing these off at the following parties:

Inspire Me Monday

Made By You Mondays

Creative Me

Tuesday To Do

Craft and Tell

Tip Me Tuesday

Southern Lovely Show and Share

Wow Us Wednesdays

Your Whims Wednesday

Create and Share

We Did It! Wednesday

Under $100 Linky Party

Transformation Thursday

Hookin' Up with House of Hepworths

36th Avenue Link Party

Blissful and Domestic Feature Friday

Show and Tell Friday

Frugal Friday

Friday Flair

Weekend Wrap Up Party

Strut Your Stuff

Saturday Nite Special

Once Upon a Weekend Link Party

Get Schooled Saturday

Say G'Day Saturday

Sunday's Best

Nowhere near normal

Life has been interesting lately.

  My car died.  :(

In 2007 I purchased a Chrysler Sebring convertible.  It had been my dream car since I was in high school.  My husband and I were driving down the highway a week and a half ago when the car started acting weird.  We pulled it to the side of the road and turned off the engine.  That was the end.  The engine is dead.  We soon discovered that it would not be an easy or inexpensive fix.  It was our only vehicle, so we had to get something else quickly.  We didn't want to spend very much because we want to either fix my Sebring or get something else we really like when we don't feel as much pressure.  So now we have a 22 year old Oldsmobile 98 Regency.  She is certainly showing her age, but she is running pretty well. 

This weekend my husband and I took part in a wonderful ministry called One Day With God, run by Forgiven Ministry.  The purpose is to unite prison inmates with their children for an entire day of fun and love.  On Friday we went to the prison to work just with the dads, going through a program to teach them a little bit about fatherhood that they can do even while being away from their kids.  On Saturday we went back and spent the day with a man and his two daughters.  It was so good to watch all the smiles and hugs.  One man we worked with had not even met his five-year-old daughter.  Another man had not seen his kids for nine years.  Even the men who have seen their kids on a regular basis were excited because they could spend the entire day with them and not have as many rules to follow during their visit.  At this particular prison, once a child turns five, he/she is no longer allowed to sit on dad's lap and cuddle.  One Day With God is so important to many of the inmates that they are sure to fulfill all the requirements they have to join in the program, including remaining infraction free for the six months leading up to that day.  Even having an angry look or failing to clean an area properly would be enough to prevent them from seeing their kids.  I can't even begin to express what a wonderful ministry this is and how it has impacted me.  Please go to their website and find out more.

Between the craziness of the car situation and the many hours ministering at the prison, I don't have any repurposing projects to show.  I'm working on some bracelets with a water bottle base wrapped in t-shirt material.  I also made a dryer sheet flower, but I need to tweek it a bit before showing it.  I'm also in the midst of making some cake stands with embroidery hoops and glass jars.  I hope to have something to show soon.

I've been pinned!

This might not be a big deal to many of you who have been blogging a lot longer than I have.  But I've only had this blog for a couple of weeks.  So when Mary Beth from Cupcakes and Crinoline left me a comment saying she had pinned my hymnal flower arrangement, I was really excited!  She has several boards with lots of pins.  Go check it out!  I'm on her flowers-all board.  Woohoo!  I think I may be spending some time today (and probably for a few more days to see it all) on her boards.

I was checking out a linky party (don't remember which one, now) when I found Mary Beth's dollar store chalkboard.  I think it's super cool when people can go into the Dollar Tree (or another such store) and be inspired to create/repurpose items into fabulousness.

Repurpose those veggies!

I just received a link to an article titled Solutions for Overripe Veggies.  It has recipes for nearly gone cucumbers and tomatoes.  I've never thought about my passion for repurposing extending into the kitchen, but I guess sometimes it does.  My husband and I hate to waste food.  Most of the time we (mostly he) eat everything right away.  Occasionally life gets ahead of us, and the produce sits untouched.  These recipes sound like great ways to use those overripe cukes and tomatoes.

Thinking more about this, I decided to look up other ideas for clearing out the produce drawer without tossing the food into the garbage.  You could send it to the compost pile, which would be a great way to repurpose it.  But if you want to eat it, consider dehydrating it or finding other recipes.  There are a plethora of great recipes for bananas.  I also found this recipe for canteloupe sherbet, which sounds really good on a hot summer day (which most of the U.S. seems to be having.)  I typed "ripe" into the search field at allrecipes.com and came up with 890 options.  I'm sure you'll find something you like if you check it out.

Go repurpose that produce!

Playing at my husband's office

It was super-duper hot yesterday (what's new, right?) and we don't have AC in the house we're renting.  But my husband's office does!  That's where I hung out to beat the heat.  I brought a craft bag with me to keep me occupied when I didn't want to blog hop or read my book. 

I was inspired to make flowers from hymnal pages after making the bird featured by Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming.  You can see my version of the bird in the display that is part of my blog header.

 I first found the flower shape I wanted to use with my Photoshop Elements program.  I printed it, traced it onto a piece of cereal box, then traced and cut out a bunch of flowers onto hymnal pages.

Each flower has three layers.  The bottom two layers are glued together in the center (only.)  I used glitter glue to decorate the top layer.  I bought the glitter glue at the Dollar Tree.  It might not offer as much glitter as other methods, but I like how it has turned out.

 I glued the top layer to the other layers in the center.  I wrapped the petals of each layer around the skewer, starting at the tips, to curl them.  Then I glued each flower to a skewer.

 And tada, here we have this fabulous hymnal flower arrangement.