I like to make stuff when I’m not writing. Like I have all the time in the world! Or I only need to sleep two hours a night. Yeah, I wish!
I wanted to take home ec in middle school. (Back in the days when they still had home ec!) The classes were all full, so somehow I found myself the only girl in woodworking. The teacher joked with all the guys about how long I’d last until I transferred to another class, but I stuck with it and ended up getting the highest grade. In your face, boys!
So I got to make all kinds of really cool stuff out of wood, but it didn’t help much when I had kids and wanted to make the kinds of dresses and Halloween costumes my mom used to make for us…
I still learned how to sew passably well, thanks to my mom and Simplicity patterns. I have lots of ideas yet to try, but for now I’ve been messing around with making jewelry.
So here are a few things I made the other day! Look at ’em, look!
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| Anya had a scrap piece of striped ribbon that I thought was pretty cool, so I swiped it when she wasn’t looking. The pendant was from a necklace that one of the girls broke, and I had the lace lying around. So I made a pretty wrist cuff! |
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| I had another broken pendant, so I popped the cameo out of it and glued it to a new pendant to cover up a design I just didn’t like very much. |
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| Two broken things (obviously, I save all the pretty things my kids break) glued together to make a new brooch! |
Sorry about the terrible picture quality. I took these with my cell phone. More to come if I’m motivated enough to keep creating!
Fairies and Pirates 
I love the wrist cuff 🙂
What fun! And creative. And eco friendly because you're recycling. I had to help my youngest son (21 yo) who wanted to make a Viking shirt for Halloween. He'd only sewed a little in a class in junior high, and I haven't in years. I also couldn't remember how to thread the machine. Epic fail! But his shirt is almost done.
Your home ec makes me want to rageface, but it sounds like you did great in his class! That jewelery – WANT. That's my favorite aesthetic right now. It's a shame that some of them broke, but now you get to make even purdier things! I think there's a life lesson here somewhere, but I'm too distracted by the pretty to learn it.
What a creative idea! I love creating cool stuff out of stuff that would otherwise be thrown away. Your projects look great, and so much fun!
I wish I was creative enough to do stuff like this. I end up breaking a lot of things it seems. Although, I guess I did get really creative last year when I was head of costumes and makeup for our show, I did put together some interesting things out of normal stuff laying around.
Really cool. I guess creating, whether it's stories, jewels, or kids is just your thing!
Those are really really pretty. I love the bracelet. And guess what else (this is not a shameless plug for my book, well maybe not) but my MC in my book was a wood shop genius in high school. haha
You crafty pants, you! I love that little garter-bracelet.
You creative genius, you! I'm a saver of intriguing cast-offs too, and I think they're great for all sorts of inspiring things. That makes me think of Cinderella and how the mice and birds trimmed Cinderella's gown with her stepsisters discarded accessories and made the dress beautiful!
Kristin, that is SUPER CUTE! Love it! What a fun idea!
Thanks, you guys! I almost threw away all that broken stuff, but I thought they were so pretty that it would be a waste, so I just waited for inspiration to strike and make them into something new. If you couldn't tell, I LOVE cameos and collect as many as I can!
Might want to check out my blog on Friday as there's something there for you.
http://weavingataleortwo.blogspot.com/
That is SO fun.
I LOVE to re-purpose.
I make pj pants out of sheets, and pajama dresses.