Recycled Shower Curtain

BEFORE: old shower curtain           AFTER:  new throw pillow sham

For most people, Labor Day weekend symbolizes the end of summer.  Maybe you'll go to the beach one last time, have a cookout with friends or enjoy a good book as you sit by the pool.  I'll definitely be enjoying the nice weather this weekend, but I'll also be working on a new craft to help keep some of the colorful summer fun in my house year round.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I love lots of things about the summer, especially the footwear.  When I got my first apartment, I decided to go with a flip flop theme for the bathroom.  Of course, some of the decor spilled over into my living room. So when I was figuring out how to decorate my couch throw pillows, I came up with a great idea.  You see, my original cloth shower curtain was more fashion than function.  It tended to hold on to water and continuously drip onto the floor.  I bought a new vinyl flip flop curtain and realized I could use the cloth flip flops for a new pillow sham.  Since an all white background would be kind of boring, I added a colorful polka dot border and backing.  I'm so glad I got to save some of the old curtain and I absolutely love the end product.  It's colorful, fun and totally me.  Now I just have to make three more! 

Crafts, Interrupted

Have you ever been really excited about a new project?  I’m talking really, really excited…so excited that you gathered up about two dozen old t-shirts, whipped out the scissors and went to work creating a mountain of fabric scraps.



Okay, it looked more mountainous before I folded all the scraps.


How will you reuse all of this fun fabric?  There are plenty of awesome ideas online.  You decide to start with pillow cases, because who doesn’t need extra pillow cases?  You carefully arrange the designs and start sewing.  You make exactly one half of one pillow case before it’s time for a weekend getaway with your girlfriends.

You tell yourself you’ll jump right back in when you return, but then it’s your birthday week and you’re busy celebrating with friends and family and eating cake…lots of cake!  Did I mention you get this awesome craft desk as a present?  You can’t wait to set it up.

Before you can tap back into your creative juices, you’re off again.  This time it’s a family vacation for almost a week.  You can’t very well pack a sewing machine, but you’ve gotten a few requests for crochet products and it’s the perfect time to make that puppy hat for your cousin’s baby.  It seems like a good idea, but you soon realize you’d prefer to use the furry yarn you left at home.  Might as well just relax and soak up the sun.

I may not have accomplished much with my crochet, but I did learn to paddle board!




Just a few of the pages I've finished so far.

You return home refreshed and ready to get crafting.  But when you think about the awesome few weeks you’ve  had – two vacations, a concert and lots of cake – you decide now is the time for scrapping.  So you load all your photos onto the computer and send them off to the printer.  You’re really excited to put all these memories down on paper.  Besides how long could it take to scrapbook a few (hundred) photos?

So many crafts, so little time

I’m guessing that by now you know I’m not really talking about “you.”  It’s been almost a month since my last post and this is the reason why.  I’ve started three new projects and finished none.  My creativity is seriously out of control and my crafts are suffering.  So maybe this isn’t your story, but you’ve probably dealt with a similar crafter’s conflict.  Sometimes life just gets in the way.  But I'm promising myself now that I'll tackle each one as I find time...I wouldn't want any of these awesome projects to end up in the bin!

When Life Gives You A Bum Thumb...

It didn't look good after the fall, but we had no idea
how much worse it could get.

About a week ago, my mom was running late for work - literally running - when she tripped and fell on the concrete garage floor.  Unfortunately, her left thumb took the brunt of the impact.  So instead of  going to work, she ended up at the hospital.

The next day, x-rays confirmed it was broken.  My mom was especially upset because my older brother is getting married at the end of the month and she wasn't sure what she'd have to wear while it healed.

After it stopped swelling, she went back to the hospital to learn her fate...and it was bad.  We're talking a big ol' hitchhiker cast the color of creamy tomato soup bad.  Worst of all, she won't get it off until three days after the wedding.  Needless to say, there were tears.

Not a match...not even close.

You might be wondering why a grown woman would allow someone to put her in a bright red cast - so was the rest of my family.  Apparently there was some discussion about black, which was deemed too hot for summer and then someone suggested they try to match her dress, her beautiful, deep raspberry colored dress.  This attempt was woefully unsuccessful.

So what do you do when life gives you a bum thumb and a bright red hitchhiker cast 3 weeks before your son's wedding?  You make a cast cover.

The Prototype

This is where I come in.  You see, there aren't many options when it comes to cast covers.  So I made one myself.  I started with a plain purple fabric for everyday wear.  I plan to use a champagne chiffon for the wedding.  Here's how I did it:

The Verdict:

Two Thumbs Up from Mom!