Crafts

Cozy Sweater Gift Jars: a Sweater Upcycle Idea

September 23, 2014 by Bre 14 Comments

Looking for a creative sweater upcycle or repurposing idea? Try making these cozy sweater gift jars! They’re perfect for fall!

I have never used a mason jar for anything in my life. Preserving, crafting, containing . . . nothing. Because mason jars are everywhere these days, I sort of feel like I should win some type of medal for that. Agree?

Being of German heritage (translation = I am stubborn), I declared that I would not break my mason-jar-free existence at any cost.

But, I am also a lawyer, so I easily found a loophole in this declaration, and am now able to present to you these cute and cozy sweater gift jars that do not use mason jars, per se, but instead, plain glass jars. (Is there a difference? Probably not. LOL!)

And, they’re an awesome way to repurpose or upcycle that ratty sweater from college. Win!

Gotta love loopholes (when they work to your advantage at least).

Anyway, these jars were really fun to make and I know they’ll be really fun to give, too. You only need a few simple supplies, which is a total bonus.

Sweater Jars Supplies Needed

Some of these are affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

Note: when I published this post back in 2014, Mod Podge had a pre-tinted product that came in orange. It is no longer sold, but this tutorial has been updated to account for that!

Glass jars
Mod Podge in any finish
Orange acrylic paint
Old Sweater
Twine
Artificial Leaves
Mixing bowl and spoon

How to Make Upcycled Sweater Gift Jars

Start by mixing a small amount of orange acrylic paint with Mod Podge. Continue adding paint until you have a shade you like!

Next, pour a generous amount of Mod Podge into each jar. Then, swirl it around and coat the inside of each jar in its entirety.

Next, turn each jar upside down and let the excess Mod Podge drain from the jars. This took a long time – like hours.

(Remember: the Mod Podge shown in this photo is no longer sold, but this written tutorial has been updated to account for that!)

Once the excess product finishes draining, turn the jars over to let them begin drying out. The Mod Podge product will still be thick and opaque at this point.

If the Mod Podge isn’t drying as fast as you’d like, you can use a blow dryer to speed up the drying process. And, once the Mod Podge is dry, it will become translucent instead of opaque!

Here’s Another Great Sweater Upcycle Idea!

Sweater Embroidery Hoop Art

Next, grab an old sweater and cut parts of the sleeves off.

Then, put those sweater sleeves around the jars. The parts with the cuffs look best.

Finally, tie some twine around the sweater portion and add some artificial fall leaves to the twine.

Pop a little candy, coffee, or a gift card in there and you’ve got a cute little gift for someone special!

I’m handing my first one out tomorrow to thank a friend for helping me out with my daughter. I hope she loves it!

DIY Earring Organizer Made from a Kitchen Gadget

September 12, 2014 by Bre 29 Comments

Hi, friends-

If you’ve been following my blog for any amount of time at all, you know that I have a deep love for Dollar Tree. I find the BEST things there, and of course they’re always things that I never knew I needed before.

Things like this splatter screen that I found in the kitchen section.

What in the world do you do with this thing in the kitchen? It has a mesh screen, so I don’t really understand how it’s supposed to prevent splattering, but whatever – I didn’t buy it for the kitchen anyway.

Nope. From the second I laid eyes on it, I thought EARRING ORGANIZER!

See, I have a collection of some awesome dangle earrings that I used to wear on nights out. Since my nights out now usually consist of “Kids Eat Free Night” at [insert local brewpub name here], I don’t wear my fun earrings all that much anymore. They sit in my jewelry box and tangle themselves up with my more practical earrings, which is super annoying.

So, I decided they need to be segregated and I made this special place for them – all from my Dollar Tree splatter screen!

Easiest project EVER. I know I’ve said it before, but this time it is the truth. All you need is:

splatter screen
spray paint
ribbon

Step One

Spray paint your splatter screen. (Learn from my mistake – make sure the screen part isn’t touching whatever you’re painting on, as the paint may pool and form smudges on your screen.)

Step Two

Add some ribbon to the top of the splatter screen for a cute touch.

Step Three

Put your earrings through the mesh and hang up your new earring organizer.

SEE? I told you it was the easiest project ever.

– Bre

Twigs and Berries Fall Door Decor

September 8, 2014 by Bre 36 Comments

Like it or not, fall is in the air.

I like it. A lot.

So it’s no surprise that I am thrilled to be getting my home ready for the new season. Last year I barely plunked a pumpkin on my porch because all of my fall decor was in storage during our basement remodeling project. This year will be totally different! My home will look like a scarecrow vomited copious amounts of harvest-themed decor all over it.

One item that I already added to my backdoor was this cute little guy I made with some twigs I lifted from my neighbor’s yard.

OK, they weren’t actually twigs – it was actually more like a tree limb that I took from my neighbor’s yard. (Trust me – I waited until I was sure nobody was around to see me dragging this thing into my house. I looked like a lunatic. Even my daughter asked what was wrong with me. Look at her face – you can tell she thinks I’m crazy.)

Once I sawed my tree limb into twigs of appropriate sizes, I got to work making my door decor.

I used the following supplies (please note that some of these are affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure policy here.)

First I hot glued my twigs together to form the letter I wanted. Then I wrapped the joints with twine to give some extra hold.

Next, I drew lines on my canvas so that I could paint stripes on it with my gold acrylic paint. You could obviously paint your canvas however you like.

When I filled in those lines, I loved how it looked! The gold was subtle but added a little interest to the plain canvas. Perfect.

Next, I hot glued a small artificial berry sprig to my letter, and tied some twine around the base. Then I hot glued the entire thing to the front of my canvas.

Finally, I cut two strips of fabric and hot glued them to the back of my canvas so that I would have a way to hang my letter decor.

So simple and so fun. I made this entire thing in just about an hour.

It is a perfect touch of fall for my back door.

If you have an unfortunate last name that begins with a curvy letter, you may not be able to do this project, or you may have to get super lucky and find some bendy twigs in the yard. I’ll cross my fingers for you.

– Bre

Easy DIY Ice Pop Hand Warmers for the Kiddos

September 2, 2014 by Bre 12 Comments

With warm weather and kids there are always ice pops around. They’re a summertime staple! I love them because they’re less messy than regular popsicles, but I don’t like how my kids always complain about how cold their hands are while eating them. To solve that problem I made these DIY freeze pop holders!

These freeze pop holders are ridiculously simple, but seriously effective. And so, I love them.

DIY Ice Pop Holder Supplies

This post contains affiliate links. To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.

You need just three supplies for this project, or four if you decide to embellish your ice pop hand warmers as I did.

How to Make a No-Sew Freeze Pop Holder

STEP ONE

Cut felt into 2″ wide strips. I used pinking shears to create the zig-zag edge that you’ll see at the top of the freeze pop holder. Regular scissors will work just fine! You may need to use fabric scissors to cut the felt, as they’re generally sharper than regular scissors.

STEP TWO

Hot glue down the long sides of the felt strips.

STEP THREE

Fold the felt strips in half, and press along the glued seams.

STEP FOUR

Cut the ice pop holder pouch down so that it’s shorter. Embellish however you like, or leave it plain!

STEP FIVE

Watch your kids enjoy their icy treats without complaint! 🙂

Tip: For a healthier spin on ice pops, freeze yogurt pouches. My kids think they’re getting a special treat when they’re really having a healthy snack.

Now I’m going to go use one of my Koozies for a special adult treat. (Too bad they don’t have rainbow ric rac.) 🙂

– Bre

DIY Painted Beach Bags for Kids

June 3, 2014 by Bre 4 Comments

Going to the beach is always an adventure with kids! To help them take responsibility for their things, it’s great to give them their own beach bags. These fun DIY Painted Beach Bags for kids are are great project, and even a good “rainy day at the beach” project.

My kids made these beach bags to bring on our trip to Seabrook Island, South Carolina. They had a blast making them, and having individual beach bags made staying organized much easier!

Supplies Needed for DIY Kids Beach Bags

This post contains affiliate links. To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.

We only needed a few supplies for this project, which is perfect when working with kids. We used:

How to Make Beach Bags for Kids

First, I drew sea creatures on the back of Contact Paper to serve as our stencils. We chose fish, a seahorse, an octopus and an anchor.

Your drawings do not have to be perfect because your kids will inevitably get paint underneath the contact paper, which will deform the shapes anyway. But, if you want to be a perfectionist, you could find clip art online, print it, and trace it onto the Contact Paper.

Next we cut out the Contact Paper shapes, removed the backing paper and placed them sticky side down on our canvas tote bags, making sure to press them down the best that we could.

In this picture you can see that we’d placed one of the fish and still had to do the other items.

Third, we got down to business! My kids loaded up their paintbrushes and got to work covering their bags with their favorite sea-inspired colors.

My daughter, who is a huge Octonauts fan, was insistent on having two different colors so that there would be a difference between the “midnight zone” and the upper part of the ocean on her beach bag. Details details.

The little guy was pumped to be using such a large paintbrush filled with paint that leaves a permanent mark.

I was having a minor heart attack at this point.

Next we let the paint dry, and then we removed our stencils. The bags looked like this with the stencils removed.

They were a little plain, to say the least, so I got out the fabric markers and added a little extra detailing in the way of fish scales, tentacle suckers, eyeballs, etc. The creatures looked a little happier (and a little more identifiable) that way.

I’m not joking that my kids were super pumped to carry these down to the beach. They loved having their towels, sunglasses and sun hats in their own special place. (These beach bags are also perfect to carry back supplies for a DIY ‘Beach in a Bottle’ Vacation Souvenirs!)

Isn’t my model scrumptious? (The other one refused to stand still or make a normal face, so I don’t have a modeling pic of her.)

If you don’t have time to make these before you leave on vacation, bring some supplies with you (assuming your bag isn’t packed to the brim). Making DIY beach bags an awesome rainy day at the beach or quiet time activity for the kids. Plus, it makes for some great memories.

Oh, and hey, mama – if you need a beach bag of your own, check out this post on how to paint a straw tote bag!

Anthropologie Inspired Pom Pom Pushpins

May 16, 2014 by Bre 24 Comments

Okay, I seriously love Anthropologie. It’s definitely up there on my list of favorite stores, right there with Target and Nordstrom.

Most things Anthropologie sells are worth the higher price tag, in my opinion. But once in awhile, something sneaks in there that makes me scratch my head and say “for real?” Take pushpins with pom poms glued on them, for example.

$15 for a set of 12 pushpins?

No thank you. I’ll spend my $15 on a crystallized bobby pin or metallic hair tie, thank you very much. And I’ll make my own pom pom pushpins for a fraction of the price!

Seriously, this is so ridiculously easy I’m kind of embarrassed to post it. But these pushpins are cute, so I figured why not.

Literally all you need are some pre-made pom poms, wide-base pushpins and a hot glue gun.

I got these homemade-looking pom poms at Michaels for $2.99. They were in the summer kids crafting section, as opposed to the regular kids crafting section that has more traditional-looking pom poms (you know, not like actual yarn pom poms). Michaels also has wide-base pushpins, or you can get them at Dollar Tree (for a dollar, duh!).

Now, all you do is open your packages and hot glue one pom pom per pushpin.

E-A-S-Y!

They look super cute on any bulletin board, too!

Cheers to getting the look for less!

– Bre

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