I'm a hanger-on

I've told ya before if we were in prison, you would want to know me. Not only do I know where to find stuff but I also have an uncanny knack for listening to and gleaning folk's preferences, wish lists and wants.
I had a small pile 'o stuff left over from estate sale finds and People Give me Stuff stash that was too cool to toss in the trash but not desirable enough to sell on eBay and not useful enough to donate to Goodwill.

Box o' stuff from Kay:
I kept the faux cameos & keys
and gave the ephemera to Cathe

What's a pack-rat-crafter-afraid-of-becoming-a-hoarder to do? Puh-lease, I knew exactly the most suitable recipient - Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made fame. Cathe is a graphic artist, swell crafter and fantastic blogger who appreciates the often overlooked and is super generous in sharing her talented ideas.

Take a look at what she did with a little bank "gimme" I gave her via Kay's box o' stuff. My recycled junk in an artist's talented hands, it's a good thing.


What can you share today?

You give what you get.
You get what you give.

This week, I get to be a hanger-on because Cathe's growth chart posting was shown on yesterday's One Pretty Thing printable round up.
Woo Hoo!

People give me stuff, part 3

Dawn gave me a box of earring parts consisting of big 1980's style earrings like pageant girls are wont to wear. I knew I would eventually find some use for them and finally did. WooHoo! It is a double People Give Me Stuff! Mom gave me the big ma'am-a jamma crystals and I combined them with the Dawn earring parts for fabulous suncatchers, Feng Shui crystals or Christmas tree ornaments.

Reduce, reuse, recycle - repurpose in the SkitzozLeezra way!

Tree skirt repurposed into a cute skirt!

Found this small tree skirt with rickrack trim in the box of estate sale fabric and wondered what to do with it. Held it up and thought: instead of a tree skirt, how's about a little girl circle skirt?
Called a little girl mama and obtained a little girl waist size. Before cutting, I luckily remembered that a circle skirt waist is cut by folding fabric into quarters and cutting top in SMALL increments or else you snip too much and have a huge hole. Nobody wants a huge hole.

1. Anyhow, cut top of skirt and laid it flat to measure with tape. Repeated steps until desired measurement was complete.
2. Finished cut edges of skirt seam by serging (you can zigzag also).
   
3. Sewed edges together for side seam.
   
4. Turned under the raw pinked hem edge and ironed with that magic tape stuff then hand stitched the hem. The hand stitching took longer than all the other steps combined.


5. Applied stretch elastic to waist although a sewn casing and drawstring would work well too.

It is a Cee-ute skirt, I tell ya!
Repurposed in the SkitzoLeezra way!
I may have just made myself some craft karma.

After the holidays when you look at all of those 50% off tree skirts at the stores, look again, you might see cute skirt potential!

(Tried to wait for a photo with the petite model in her skirt but want to show the technique to you NOW! Will post action photo when available.)

Hold up, here's cute little girl in her twirly skirt!

Dance on, Miss G!

People give me stuff

Folks give me the best stuff. Not sure if it is because I am so crafty, just good karma or a willing receiver of their cast-off trinkets.
Check out these recent acquisitions of a stash of vintage, old and not-so-old jewelry, contemporary jewelry and watches.
Caw, caw, me like shiny stuff!
All those buttons in previous post were given to me because of my craft tendencies. Plus the silver bowl of tatting and crochet thread. Oh my gosh, I am remembering even more stuff. Stay tune for Part 2.



.

Cat on your shirt

* Created some craft karma with a gift to Chrysanthemum and stitched this kitty cat on a knit t-shirt with an Aunt Martha iron-on transfer.
* Reinforced the knit with an interfacing product called Ultra Solvy to avoid stretching out while stitching in a hoop. The clear interfacing can be used in the hoop or applied to shirt. If applied, remove by dissolving in hot water.

* Grey outline stitches did not show up well on blue background so I filled stitches in with white floss.

* Petticoat effect created by interlaced backstitch. Also on bonnet.

* Lazy daisy stitch flowers on dress.

Craft Karma

I am going to heaven, through my good works in craft. I am certain of it.
Friday night, Hayes, the eldest 10 year old nephew, spent the night with me. He brought over the remains of his beloved "mine", his mom's satin-y Vic's Secret pajama that he adored as a child and apparently still does. He pulled it out of his bag and asked if we could make something out of it. I suggested a sham style pillowcase.
Bless me already, right? We measured, cut out, pinned and then I sat him in front of sewing machine. He was a bit surprised when I instructed him to situate his foot on the pedal and hands on the machine. But he did surprisingly well. He was really proud of himself and got into it. After he fell asleep, the control freak in me took it back to attach a Velcro dot on the back to mind the gape in back. When I showed it to him the next day, he studied it and asked how I sewed in a circle. Already he is analyzing stitches and such!
Then Saturday the other two nephews came over for individual craft time. They selected chunky foam stamps, applied paint and stamped onto pre-cut greeting cards. They both loved the process and were quite proud of their artwork. Walter, the 5 year old, used a huge fleur-de-lis that was too large for the card. This is his blue paint card. It was so awesome that I copied it after he left.

Gregory, the almost 4 year old, stamped a blue butterfly onto red paper. Quite striking, gonna copy that too. It is way more cheerful than anything I would ever do. (My stamping friend laughs at my constant choices of "dirt colors". I love me some taupe, brown and olive!)

Create some crafting karma for yourself!