In its former life is was a sweater I rarely wore because it was shapeless and itchy.  In its reincarnation is a capelet that can be converted removing the band and/or flower pin.   As the flower is glued to a  pin back, it can be pinned anywhere on the capelet or pinned to other items in my wardrobe. 





I have the tutorial for this on my website:

http://craftsandcreationswithkathy.blogspot.com/
Thanks for looking and have a great day:)

Dollar Store Crafts (http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2011/11/project-dollar-store-accessory-thrifty-challenge-reveal-and-linkup/) has a challenge to correspond with Project Accessory for anyone who would like to play along and I decided to participate  week one.  

This challenge was to create a belt, a necklace and one other accessory to go with a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans based on items from a thrift store (or in my case, using the materials I found in my garage).


this is the purse that I started with and I used it along with a used the license plate and the broken Hot Wheel.

I cut down the purse at the bottom and flattened it and cut off the straps and attached one of them to each end instead of the sides.  On one side I glued the license plate and added 4 brads for decoration and to help hold it on the bag.  


On the back, there was an ugly spot where I removed the bow that had been on the purse, so I glued the broken Hot Wheel to cover it up, and it also gives the purse a different look depending on what side is facing outward.  I used velcro inside and glued it in to hold the purse closed.



The belt is made out of one of the straps and the snaps of of the purse and the wheel off of a model car.  The other components are thread, aluminum tape from the hardware store and 9001 glue.

I have never worked with duct tape before so I thought this challenge was a good was to get started using this medium.

It came out better than expected because from a distance, it looks like a heavy chain when in fact it is lightweight so there is the potential to craft is in to more costumey Halloween chains.

I used regular duct tape to create a duct tape chain by cutting into 4 thin strip, folded into thirds and then wove two sets of strand together and taped to two pieces of duct tape folded in half.

Don't let high prices for decorations scare you - you can make your own "Bottle of Boos" out of a clear 2 liter bottle and 2 white plastic grocery bags and a Black Sharpie for little to no cost.

For the how to see
http://uniqueunusualandinterestingart.blogspot.com/2010/10/bottle-of-boos.html

For this challenge I used an orange crayon Jumbo Glitter Crayon, polka dot fabric, a barrette blank, a sewing machine and a glue gun to create a "Happy Polka Dot Crayon Barrette" bow for my hair on those days where all is sunshine and roses.


For those PMS and gloomy days, I used pencil to make a Skull hairstick out of pencil, Sculpey clay, a few plastic seed beads an aluminum tray and oven.

I shaped the Sculpey clay around the pencil with about 1 inch longer over the top of the pencil.  I then rolled up a ball of Sculpey, shaped it into a skull shape and used a different pencil with a broken pencil lead to gouge out the eyes, nose and shape the teeth a pencil.

Gift package wrapping made entirely of upcycled items.



This was based on tutorial over at Craftzine by Vanessa at Designs by Vanessa:
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/12/upcycled_gift_wrapping.html

Items used:

    * Bubble mailer
    * Magazine pages
    * Scrap of fabric
    * Scissors
    * Glue stick

It is the same concept except I used an old bubble mailer instead of a grocery bag, a scrap piece of fleece instead of a piece of sweater (although I love the sweater look - just haven't chopped up any recently so I don't have any scraps) and instead of the cardboard tag I cut out letter for the name free hand from an old magazine.   The piece of paper with the wording is Singular ad.

I had originally planned something different for this challenge, but the lawn service obliterated my garden area outside my house and it looked horrible and I needed to do something with it and it is too late in the season to try to replant, so I decided to make it a fairy/whimsy garden for this fall.



Items purchased at the Dollar Store (not all are pictured)

-   1 bag large decorative stones
-   1 bag small decorative stones
-   DVDs (2 for $1)
-   1 pkg Glue sticks
-   1 pkg of glue sticks
-   1 pkg rubber bands
-   1 pkg pipe cleaners
-   1 stem silk flowers
-   1 flower girl figurine


Frog in a pond


Paper Bag Mushroom


Toad House


Fairy House


Fly man and fly pod


Angel with fairy wings


Barrel


Fairy house and paper bag mushroom:


DVD Case Wooden Lean-to Shanty



I got lots of inspirations from other sites on the web and will list them later, as well (as links to tutorials if anyone is interested) as I work 3 shift - 12 hour shifts  for the next couple of days and need to get some sleep.

I was going for a retro kitschy pop-art late 60's vibe.

Here is a picture of the shoes.  

I started out with just a plain pair of lime green sandals, then glued the strip of photos (covered with packing tape for protection) with 1/8 inch black ribbon on the top and bottom and on the bottom edge of the front of the shoe.  The shoe is then outlined with black gloss fabric paint.

Here is the barrette:


It is a piece of cardboard off of a soda pop box covered in green felt with a strip of pictures glued to the top and outlined with black gloss fabric paint and a barrette black glued to the bottom.

Here is a the original picture of my son trying out guitars at a local guitar shop.


I used the free software and Picnik.com to turn the photo into black and white, then tint it and make the collage.




I also have a tote bag in the works that goes with this ensemble, but Walgreens chopped off the top of the heads in on 3/4 of the ones that I ordered and have to try to get the reprinted.

Upcycle an old jar and film negatives into a unique candle holder!

Here is the link to the tutorial if anyone is interested in crafting their own.

http://craftsandcreationswithkathy.blogspot.com/2009/06/corseted-film-strip-jar-candle-holder.html

I wanted to keep a journal to jot down ideas and lists of things and have it sort of pop artish, but the ones that I found in the stores started about about $12 and went up from there, so I decided to make my own.

This worked out even better and everything but the felt and the glue on this is recycled/upcycled cardboard and paper and my cost out of pocket was under 25 cents.

As this was my first attempt at something like this, it is a little rough, but I do plan on making more for these for Christmas presents.