A dress redo!

So I bought this shirt and I love it.  I wear it under a cute little grey sweater and it looks fun and fashionable.haha (Pardon the bad lighting in the pictures, I couldn't wait to post this.)

And I bought this dress last year on clearance for 10.00, but the top didn't fit and I forgot to return it. I cleaned out my closet this year and found it!  I loved the fabric and I couldn't return it so I started to think what could I do with it and then I remembered the grey polka dot shirt and thought "hey wait a minute here!"

See isn't it cute???

First I cut off the halter part of the blue dress. Then I stretched out the grey shrit and layed it on my dress for a pattern. Then I stitched the arm wholes, and a neck line. I took the original straps from the halter and used those for the tie part, notice the little wooden beads, I love those and thought I could use them. I didn't even have to put a hem in the bottom because I just cut from the top of the dress.  It turned out great!  I LOVE it!  I need to make or find a brown cover up to wear with it.

~toodles~ Laura

One of my pet peeves!

Do you have a pet peeve?  I have a few, they aren't things that I stew over everyday but little things that I just don't understand why companies can't fix these,  so today I am sharing one of them. I am addicted to lotion, I cannot go without lotion on my hands so I have a pump bottle of lotion at my kitchen and bathroom sink and on my desk at my office.  Here is the part that bothers me, have you ever noticed how much lotion is still in the bottle when the pump no longer works??? Half a bottle, that's how much!  Ok, so I am exaggerating a bit but there is alot left in the bottle. I have kept track before and it lasted my another 6 weeks.  Check out my solution.

This is the type of bottle I am talking about, it doesn't matter what brand, they all have the same problem.

I get out my handy dandy knife and cut the bottle in half.

You see I am not kidding there is another half of an inch of lotion in there!!!! How wasteful to just throw that away.  We can keep a baby in a diaper for a week without changing it now and have bubbles that attack grime and bleach that doesn't take the color out of clothing, why can't we have lotion bottles that use up ALL of the product? I'm ranting, sorry!!!

Enough fussing, here is the solution until someone comes up with a brilliant answer. I cut the bottle in half  then I cut slits down both halves on each side, that is 4 cuts.  Then I take the pump and cut about an inch off of the bottom of it, that part you have to play with, depends on how much you are going to push the bottle down in the other half.

Simple huh??? ( I think my sister taught me this, so I really shouldn't take any credit!) I just pushed one half of the bottle on top of the other making the bottle shorter now so the pump reaches the left over lotion (the slits make this possible) and now I can use it. Eventually even this won't work then I just stick the leftovers in a little jar I carry in my purse.  It's good to the last drop!  (Is that a coffee commercial???)

A close up and side view so you can see what I have done.  I need to come up with a marketable solution to this like the people who invented that thing that lets you use all of your toothpaste.  So tell me... what bothers you and do you have a solution??? I am working on a solution for the end of my deodorant, it always fall off the stick at the end!!!! @#%!

Furniture shopping inspirationPart II

So I mentioned a few days ago about going to a home furniture store and really being inspired by some of their furniture and their art. I could not believe how much of what they had could be very easily reproduced at a fraction of the cost. Check out this picture, how easy would this be? If you can't draw don't worry about it.  Find a drawing of  a chandelier that you like on the internet and blow it up to the size you want.  You can get graphite paper in white.  Trace over your design onto black paper and then go over it loosely a couple more times.  Super easy.  I think I am going to have to make one of these and the lamp!  I saw a chandelier at Goodwill and didn't buy it and now I wish I had, it would have been perfect to make into a lamp like this one! Look below at this artwork.  Can you imagine useing stamps and scrapbook paper?  I think it would be cute to use real paper doll clothing.  You can find all kinds of styles at a bookstore. These would be so cuuuuutttteee in a bathroom.

 It doesn't get much simpler than this.  Find some neat wrapping paper at a Hallmark or a nice gift shop, you could even use wallpaper. Pick up some second hand frames at a thriftstore and you have art for near to nothing!  That's my favorite kind of art!!!

This would work great with a piece of graphic fabric.  Check out the bins with remnants, you don't need more than a yard.  Simply nail some 2x2's together to form a frame and stretch and staple the fabric onto the frame.  It would even look really cool if you found several coordinating fabrics and made smaller ones.

This one looks more complicated but not really.  Get clear contact paper and cut out a bunch of leaves and stems and place them on a white canvas and then paint over it.  This canvas has a faux finish look to it that doesn't show up in the picture.  Then take a brighter orange a paint a few leaves.  You could do this with lots of designs, not just a tree.

It doesn't get any simpler than this.  You can't tell from the picture but these were hung at different depths. I am sure they had spacers behind the CD's so that some stuck out further from the wall.  Perfect for a teenagers room.

I think this is such a cool idea.  Make a map.  Perfect for a pirate room. My son used to have a travel themed room, this would have been just the right touch.  It looked like bulletin board paper or even brown packaging paper, wrinkled up and painted over.  It had a real aged look to it. Look at the rose compass next to it.  I made one of these for my sons room.  Very simple.  I bought a circle already cut out from the hardward store.

A closer look!

This could be done with paint or with scrapbook paper.  It had a bit of texture in the middle.  Take some spackling and a stencil and place it on your background and take a putty knife and scrape it over the stencil.  Once it dries you can antique it or you could mix some paint in with the spackling before you use it. These are all great ideas and could be used in so many places in your home.  I think I need more wall space.  Were you inspired by anything?  If you make something be sure to share with me what you have done!

~toodles~ Laura

Come and check out the Linky party and see lots of new ideas!
toolsareforwomentoo src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4565738303_c1f085c93f_o.jpg">

Furniture shopping inspiration!

So I recently went furniture shopping with my niece. It has been awhile since I went to a furniture store, it was so much fun. It never occurred to me to go to a furniture store for inspiration.  That would be such a fun place to work. I took lots of pics and I want to share them with you!

Ok, this isn't actually inspiration, it is a rug I LOVE!!!! It would be perfect in my house, if only I had a place that I needed one!

I know there are alot of you out there that love this pattern.  It would be really difficult to cut this out, but imagine if you painted it on a screen, you could even use door panels to make it. Look at the neat reflection it makes on the wall.

This looks like so many pieces of furniture that I have seen on blogs for and 10 times the cost.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  I just picked up a piece of furniture for nothing, hmmmm wonder if this is the color I should make it.  It has little specs of paint splashed on also.  I just love it!

How easy would this be?  You could use your circuit and cut out a design and place it on a lampshade.  I love that only part of the design is on there.  Of course you could always paint something on.  I love the high contrast and graphic design of this lamp.

I have made these, they are so simple. I need to do a tutorial on it and show you how.  It is a floral block glued on a 50 cent white tile from the hardware store and then the plants of your choice stuck into the brick. Super easy and you can make them any size.  They are great for putting on a wall sconce.

Look at the texture on this pillow.  It is some kind of fleece cut into little rectangles.  It rolls up all by itself and then each one is sewn on right thru the center.  It would be great in a kids room but imagine it in white, how cool would it be in your bedroom.

I fell in love with this idea!!! I think they used wrapping paper, but you could also use scrapbook paper.  This is such a simple idea.

Look at all of the litte alphabet stickers in the middle, brilliant!

Look at the dimension of these. They used ribbon for the stems and put polka dots on them.

And the butterfly!  It is flying thru the room, too sweet, perfect for a little girls room.

Look at the guitar!  It's huge and there is a real whole in the wall. There are real strings on it also.  Look at the next picture and see how they made the strings stay on.

I don't know the names for guitar parts but look at where the strings begin, they used finials, such a smart idea! My daughter is into playing the guitar right now I would love to paint this in her room.
Check back later and see Part II, lots of simple art ideas. Did anything inspire you?

Let there be light!

I saw a lamp at Marshall's that I loved and wanted for my front porch but it was 25.00 dollars and I really couldn't justify spending that money on a lamp I wanted and didn't really need. A couple of days later I am at Big Lots and see this cute little lantern and think that will do, I'll just have a candle on my porch.  I was unwrapping it and then a little light bulb went on in my head and I thought ah-ha!

Isn't it cute! I then remembered I had this....

This had a glass shade on it and it broke.  Why I kept it I don't know but it's a good thing.  Are you thinking what I am thinking?????

So this seemed like a simple thing to do, well maybe.  It's a really basic process but figuring out how to make this layout work took a little bit of time. The base from the broken lamp was easy, just unscrewed it.

Making a lamp is really easy.  You have to strip the plastic off of the cord until you have about a half of an inch of the copper wiring exposed.

Then you have to take those pieces of copper wire and hook them around a screw and screw the screw down until it is tightened. This light comes from the bottom of the lamp.  There was a whole already there to put he candle in.  I just put a little bit of hot glue to keep the light fixture down.

Isn't it cute!!! I just love it and I love making lamps out of different things.  This lamp cost me 5.00!!! What a deal and so simple! I still have the base of the other lamp I think it will become a base to a bowl.  Stay turned to see what it becomes!

The chair is finished!

So..... you may remember I posted this picture a while ago.  I just fell in love with it, it's kinda a chia chair, right?? Well I was at the local thrift store and just happened to find a chair that I thought would work out just fine for this project.

Let me just say mine looks nothing like this one but use your imagination and maybe squint your eyes!

Isn't she a beauty!!!! Can't you just see her in a cute little house in the 80's with some modge podge flowers on a basket next to her? (For those of you who do not know what I am talking about maybe I will do a tutorial on it, :)) She's got some beautiful legs, just wait until I take her skirt off!

Here she is after I stripped off about 4 kinds of fabric and removed 100, 1000, 1 million staples and gave her a fresh new coat of hot pink paint.  I also added some screening, I actually think this stuff is called hardware cloth, you find it at Loew's or Home Depot out in the garden area.  It cost about 8.00 I think. Anyway I stapled it all over the place and made a little pocket on the part where your back goes on a chair. I just used wire to kinda sew it together, ouch!  (kept poking myself) You may have noticed there are parts of the original chair that I left thinking this would help me with my master plan.  Well we had some rainy days and hot days and life got busy, so this thing just sat. Yesterday I said I have to get my chair finished and so I began on it this morning.  I took one look at it and said, my original plan is not going to work! (Actually I said, what the hec was I thinking... literally, don't remember what the plan was. You young ladies will have your day, just you wait!) Time for plan B!!!!!

So I looked through all of my junk and found this old drawer and thought ah-ha, that would work! So I drilled some wholes for drainage. (That kinda hurt because I didn't want to damage my drawer.)

But it was a good fit and probably wasn't ever going to use the thing anyway.  I filled it with some dirt and planted some angelwing begonias, morning glories and blue daze. When I took the chair apart there was some filler dried mossy stuff. They use it for upholstery. Interesting side note.  I recently visited Florida and that moss is all over the place.  One of the guides on a boat trip told us that in the early 1900's the moss was used to stuff furniture and beds.  They later realized it was filled with chiggers! That is where the saying "don't let the bed bugs bite comes from!  So hopefully my moss stuff has been around so long that the chiggers are long gone (why am I itching????) 

So here is my chair, doesn't look anything like the other chair but it's mine and I love it!

Look at that little creature, isn't he adorable?  I hope once everything grows out you won't see the hardware cloth.  I'll keep you posted and put up another pic when it grows out! Don't you think she needs a name?  Any ideas on what I should call her?

Peaches galore!

Now on our way back from Houston I stop at a peach stand, it's peach season here in Texas and I love me some peaches!!! I pick up enough for a pie and come home exhausted, to a house that the hub and son have been living in for the last few days.  Needless to say when I get home there is no time to mess with the peaches there's laundry and house cleaning calling my name and I am on another small road trip tomorrow so tonight at 11:00 I look at those peaches, knowing they will be bad by the time I get back.  I decide I will blanch them.  Blanching is a really easy technique if you have never tried it give it a try you will love it.  It is a great alternative to canning, I don't can!

First thing you do is put a big pot of water on to boil.  As the water is boiling I cut an "X" in the top and bottom of every peach, kinda like scoring it.  It will make the skin come off very easily when you are done. Once the water is boiled I drop about 10 - 12  peaches into the boiling water and leave them in there for about a minute.

 Then I fill a bowl full of water and ice to get the peaches ready for an ice bath.

Aren't you glad you aren't a peach at this point, from boiling to freezing in 1 minute!

Once you remove them from the ice bath the peach skin peels right off.

They are so much prettier like this and so tempting to eat! You could stop right here and eat them or use them for your pie but I am going to freeze them until I have the chance to make the pie.

I simply cut all around the peach once and then continue to cut slices cutting toward the pit. If your peaches are ripe it should be really easy to get the peach to release from the pit, if not you may not have very good tasting peaches. I hope you give this a try it is my favorite way to eat a peach!