Ruffle Pants!

This blog is dedicated to making old things new again....so This week my project is to make my daughters old pants new again and better than before! They were floods on her, so she couldn't wear them any more, but they still fit perfectly in the waist. That happens all the time and always makes me sad because it's such a waste of perfectly good pants. Another problem I have encountered is holes in the knees! You can do this same thing with those. They just might need to be cut a little higher- they could be shorts instead of Capri's. Below is a quick tutorial on how to make these darling ruffle pants.

1- Find old pants.

2- Cut them wherever you want. If they have holes cut them just above the holes. If not, and you want to make capri's cut them just below the knee. You will need to use the pieces you cut off as connector pieces. Cut them to be about 2-2 1/2 inches wide.

3- Get 2 different kinds of fabric. 1 yard long. cut the fabric 2 1/2 inches x 1 yard. Do this to both pieces. You can use the same fabric for both ruffles if you want, or do them different.

4- Sew along one side of the strip of fabric with a tight zig zag stitch. then fold it over the zig zag and hem it up. If you have a surger, surge it instead of zig zag.

5-Next you are going to ruffle the strip of fabric. If you have a ruffle foot that works, but it's easy to do it without to. First adjust your sewing machine to a long stitch. Sew a straight line along the top edge that you want to gather. (edge opposite the hemmed edge.) Pull one of the threads to gather. I find that pulling the needle thread (the top one) works best for me.

6- Get the ruffles how you want them, and then pin them on the pants rights sides together so the ruffle is laying up on the pants.

7- Stitch the ruffle to the pants.

8- Next you will need the connector piece that you saved. Place the top connector section right sides to the pant, with the ruffle in between. Stitch in place.

9- Turn the connector piece down. Pin the next ruffle right sides together to the raw edge of the connector piece. Stitch in place.

10- Turn the ruffles down and press. Now just put a top stitch just above the seam of both ruffles- this will help the ruffles lay down properly.

All done!!

These are so cute and girly! All of my girls love these, even my 10 year old! You can add just one ruffle if you would like or even three! This funky and fun style is the perfect way to get more life out of those pants you would have just thrown away!

Easy Ruffle Flower Pillow

If you have read much of my blog you have noticed that I am kinda obsessed with ruffles. I think I add them to pretty much everything lately! Here is a little spoiler...next week I am doing a tutorial on how to add ruffles to old cut-off jeans! Stay tuned for that, you will love it I PROMISE! Anyway, back to this darling little pillow. It was quick and easy, and I think it turned out awesome!



First just cut two pieces of fabric the size you would like your pillow and sew up 3 of the sides, right sides together, leaving the bottom open.
Then just rip your flower fabric into long strips. (it can be the same as the pillow, or different!) Then just ruffle them.

The next step I totally cheated on! I probably should have sewn the ruffles on, but I wasn't really in the mood, so I got out the trusty glue gun and went to town! It was so fast and easy, I just love glue guns! On important tip if you are gluing the ruffles on.....make sure you put something in between the pillow so that the two panels don't get stuck together. I used a cutting board.

Just keep gluing it around and around. Try to keep the seam under the ruffle before it. Just keep putting it behind the ruffle you already glued on.

Make the flower as big as you want. Then just stuff it and sew up the bottom!

It's the perfect spring/summer accent pillow.

$ Store Candlestick Topiaries

I thought up this candlestick topiary idea one day, so I had to firgure out a cheap way to make some. My first thought is always thrift store, yard sale, or dollar store. I found these awesome old brass candlesticks at a yard sale for 50 cents! Then I headed to the local Dollar Tree store.

I bought some Reindeer Moss. This stuff is awesome. It has great texture, but it stinks. Don't worry, the smell wears off quickly, your house won't stink! Then I needed something round. I had a hard time coming up with something round. I looked for round pieces of styrophome in the craft section. All they had was square and rectangle. There was nothing in the craft section that was even close to round. So I just wandered around the store thinking I was out of luck. Then DUH! How about a ball? I felt kinda dumb as I walked towards the toys. I found these water ball things that come in a 2 pack. Perfect!

Then I got to work. With my trusty glue gun I just started gluing pieces of moss to the ball. It probably doubled in size.

When I was done gluing, I just pulled any loose pieces off. I found a few small holes that needed more moss, so I just added a little here and there.

Then I just set them on top of the candlesticks! I love the way they turned out! Usually topiaries are pretty expensive. I only spent $4.00 on both together, including the candlesticks! You could find bigger balls and make bigger topiaries to go on top of bigger candlesticks! They look great on a fireplace mantle, book shelf, table, pretty much anywhere!

Burlap Spring Pennant Banner

Burlap is HUGE right now....so I thought it would be fun to do some projects with it. The first project I did was a pennant banner. All the supplies you need are pictured below....

I liked the white burlap, but the brown or tan would look great too! Then I used Jute to tie up on my fireplace and hook the mini clothespin on. I found all of my supplies at Walmart.

This project is sooooo simple. All you do is cut triangles, and then stencil letters on with acrylic paint. You could free hand the letters if you are brave, or buy letter stencils from Walmart or any craft store. I cut mine out with my Cricut, it worked great!

Then you just hang them from the Jute with mini clothespins, and DONE! It is clean, simple, and cute! You could always embellish it if you want not such a simple look. I was thinking it would be darling to tie some ribbon or ric rac between each letter on the Jute. Some spring colors would look great! Have Fun!

$5.00 Nest Wreath

My front door was in desperate need of a fun spring wreath. I decided that it would be fun to make it a bird's nest! So I headed to the dollar store to see what I could find. All you will need are the following 5 items. First, grab a 9" round wreath. Then some loose floral moss. They also had a moss sheet. This sheet worked perfectly for the nest bottom. Then, is you don't have ribbon but some of that, and last but not least, some eggs. I will show you later in the post what kind I ended up finding at the dollar store that work great. First step is to cut your ribbon and sting it around the wreath. Then get the moss sheet and lay in down on top of the wreath, Gently press it down into the wreath and trim the edges. Hot glue it down on the wreath.

Next take the loose moss and start to glue it around the outside of the wreath.

Keep gluing all the way around the top and sides until it is all covered.

Looking great!

Now for the eggs. I thought these little malted candy eggs were perfect! Only a dollar for the pack, and they are the perfect size and color! I just hot glued them down in the center right onto the moss.

And there you have it, the perfect Spring wreath for only $5.00!

Book page Carrots

Yep, that's right....carrots. I have seen carrots being used as a spring or Easter decoration, so I thought why not make some awesome ones? These are the supplies I used, plus some mod podge and some old book pages. (I forgot to get those in the pic.).

First you just take some old ads or news paper, and roll them in kindof a cone shape. Secure with masking tape. I used a lot of masking tape because it is easier to shape and mold that way. Then tuck in the longer part at the top.

Then do a smaller cone and slide it up into the bigger cone. secure with tape.

When you have done all of those steps it should look like this.

Then comes the fun messy part. Rip some old book pages up into strips and mod podge them onto the carrot. Here is what they look like now. Then get some orange paint and add a lot of water so that its really thin and watered down. brush a thin coat on just to tint the pages orange.

I bought some dried grass from the dollar store and hot glued it down in the top of the carrot. I added some glitter too! Then I tied them together in a bunch!

Now I just need a cute vintage bunny or something to stand by them!

I'm Baaack!

Did ya miss me? Sorry, I forgot to post that I was going to be MIA for awhile. I packed my bags and left for Texas last Wednesday. My sister and her cute little family live there, so we decided it was about time we pay them a visit. I had a blast! Texas was amazing! I love how green and beautiful it is. No mountains, so that kinda stinks, but they have lots of other things going for them! The blue bonnets were in bloom and you could see them everywhere! It was also really great weather! One day we went to the Canton flea market- (Oh. My. Gosh. crazy-amazing!) I think it was 90 degrees! I loved the food there. You can find deep fried anything! My nephew got a deep fried PB&J sandwich, and my Bro.-in law got a deep fried avocado! I ordered my daughter a corn dog and the thing was about two feet tall! I'm not kidding! Every things bigger in Texas right? Anyway, I had a lot of fun! I thought I would just post a couple of pictures of some of the treasures I found there! So...I was really excited to go to a real life Texas garage sale, so my cute sister took me to one. (I don't think she was too excited about it, but she rocks!) I found these treasures. I only spent $2.75! I got these awesome milk glass pieces, and these brass candle sticks. I am excited to find the perfect place for my new treasures!

My sis took me to this CRAZY store called Sam Moon. I got a headache the second I walked through the doors! Too much to look at it was overwhelming! I LOVE it! I spent way too long trying to pick a purse. I carried 5 around with me the whole time. I finally made my decision and I ADORE this one!

I found this cute little vintage inspired dress at the Canton flea market! I love the vintage girly look. I'm going to wear in with a cap sleeve T, and leggins! Love it!!!

I found these little cuties and had to have them! The teal lace ruffle petti pants came from the flea market, and the lace leggins I found at a store called Frisco Mercantile. My little cutie looks darling in these! Seriously, this is like stuff I dream about! Finding things that I adore, that are original and different than I have ever seen before- hey I made a rhyme!

Here is little Bentli in her new ruffle pants!