Banner crazy!!!!

So at my work the library got rid of all these old books, stacks and stacks of them, and crafter that I am I could not just let them get "recycled" aka shredded.  I literally have stacks of books waiting for a purpose sitting on the dining room floor.  I wanted to find something fun and easy to do with them so I could get some immediate gratification to make up for the scary hoarder scene taking place in my home.  I found this idea on Pinterest (where else?) and started with an old book.

We decided we liked them so much we would hang them willy nilly (that is a real academic term I am sure) around the house.

 

I loved them so much that next I used a Chinese newspaper I found.  Then it was the wrapping paper from one of my birthday gifts and some carnival tickets. 

  

After that I tried paint chips since we had stocked up at Lowe's last night.

All I did was cut out diamond shapes, fold them over the string and stitch them close together so as not to waste thread, and then cut the threads between them when done and hang.  Super easy.  Ayla says it looks like we are having a circus at home but I think there could be worse things!

Another marvelous cuff!

Here is another cuff I made last night for my daughter's friend's 10th birthday today.  I am trying to go without buying any store made gifts for a year.  We'll see how that goes when my son turns 13 in June but for now I am happy with the results.  I also used more of the old-book-pages-stiched-together wrapping paper I blogged about last week.  Reuse!  Repurpose!  Yay!

Best birthday wrap ever!!!

Ayla had a birthday party today and I knew I wanted to give her friend a handmade gift so she found a design she wanted and we made a stuffie together.  I cut out the pieces and did the sewing and she did the stuffing.
 I didn't want to deal with digging through Xmas wrap for some birthday wrapping paper plus it just didn't seem right with my handmade gift.  I thought about what could I repurpose.  I love that reusing things in new ways concept.  I have a stack of old books they got rid of at the library at work and I knew I could find uses for them..  I saw the stack sitting there, picked the biggest one, an old book about birds, and it became clear.  I took two pages out (sorry bibliophiles) and stitched them on 3 sides on my sewing machine.  Then I put the stuffie in the package and stiched up the remaining side.  We added a bow made of vintage ribbon and a handmade card.  It was gorgeous.  I am definitely doing this again!