What a wonderful cause.  One of the best organic plant foods is seaweed.  Perhaps you could collect it, dry it in sheets, crush it to a powder, and include that to sprinkle or even reconstitute and feed with the water.  Drying it and powdering it would make it very lightweight.

Those are fabulous!  I can't tell if the heel is open, like stirrup pants, but if it is, you could wear those, in the same color as a pair of heeled pumps, and slip the heel of them through the hole, and look like skintight boots!  Love it!

AWESOME!!!  I can usually fit into the foot part of boots if I go up a size and a half, but the calf never quite makes it.  I am SO going to pick some thrift boots up tomorrow and try this!!!!  Thank you!!!

Brilliant idea!  Now it doesn't matter what color shoes or boots come in, as long as there's Krylon paint!  Thanks for that awesomeness in the world.   

Hey all, newbie here!  I love this thread!  I think my first upcycling project was when I got bored in high school and drew all over my white cross trainers.    I felt so wicked...

Anyway, this year I got sick of the fact that ALL the summer shoes for my 12 yr old daughter were flimsy, hard, HEELED of all things, or otherwise completely unsuited for having any fun.  So my partner picked out these boys' river sandals, and I used paint pens to cute them up.  To get the flowers somewhat uniform, I just made pink x's, then added petals between those petals as desired (usually just one more), then waited until dry and added the little centers.  I painted them on every strip of leather big enough.  She gets complimented on them all the time and they're super comfy.  



(Guess I can't post a pic yet, sorry, but here's the link...hope that works...)

Wow, sexy and easy!  What could be better?  Wait...that didn't come out right.  LOL!  Seriously, these are so cute and sexy!  Makes me want my first pair of flats in over ten years!  And yours are better than the original, fer sure.

Wow!  Freehand?  No way.  These are awesome!  And Personally I think the Purple is Perfect.   

44.  New to craftster, so Hi!  I LOVE this thread so thought it was a good place to jump in.

I don't know if anyone else can do this, but on my local animal rescue's facebook page, I posted that I'd like to start "crafternoons" where we bring our stuff and craft things for the rescue to sell in their thrift store.  Well, the rescue got back to me and said they get all kinds of craft stuff donated and have a hard time thinking of things to do with it, and they'd love to help me organize these "crafternoons" and let us all craft with those FREE supplies!  I'm going in to talk about getting it started today.  :-)

I'm sorry, but I feel almost all of what was said here was very unhelpful and quite discouraging for the beginning seamster.

Today I had someone deliver an old sewing machine in cabinet for $40, and when she left I discovered the plug was completely encrusted with green junk that made me afraid to plug it in for fear of blowing out the electrical in my whole apt.  I have left two messages wanting my money back, but no reply.  In the ad, it said her MIL gave it to her and it worked fine she just didn't sew.  This was obviously kept outside.  I didn't pick it up myself because it's in a cabinet and I only own a car, so I paid her extra to deliver.  

So...no, I don't shop at Walmart or Target because I believe they are destroying our world, but if I want a machine to get started sewing again, I cannot spend more than $100, and I'm already $40 down with nothing but a very heavy old piece of crap taking up space in the corner of my office/sewing room.  

A few people have said they bought a 'cheapo' machine that turned out to be a piece of crap, but didn't give a brand or model number, so that's pretty useless.  Brother makes machines from $60 to a few hundred bucks.  I'm looking at one for $114 new at Walmart (which is out of the question because I WILL NOT shop there) but is available refurbished on Overstock for $90.  It is by no means the cheapest there, but is not the most expensive, either.  It has mostly great reviews and does a ton of cool things, and has a platform arm to support your sewing project.

 It is, specifically, the Brother XL3750 Free Arm Sewing Machine

Maybe you would say I should take my remaining $60 to the thrift store and buy a "granny just waiting to teach me to sew", but it's not like I can try those out, and who says they haven't been in storage for ten years and won't need a $100 tune up?  Some grandmas are way past retirement, nearly blind, and still trying to drive anyway.  Not good.  And what they've taught me today is don't buy used unless you can try it out and you really know machines enough to know if you have a good one or one that is going to cost you $100 in repairs tomorrow.

No, I'm all about recycling, but I feel safer buying new from someone who will give me a refund if not satisfied.

If you can afford Pfaff's and Janome's good for you, but it does no good to tell someone who can't, that they have no option but to buy a used old possible lemon or a cheap new piece of crap.

This is absolutely amazing.  I'm just a newbie crafter with very few scraps and doodads, but this makes me want MORE!  It also makes me want a sewing machine, but I'm wondering if I could cut even MORE corners and just fabric glue it all!  :-D