DIY: Tie Headbands

Have you ever felt like you paid way too much for a headband? Or tried to make your own and spent too much money on fabrics? Dana has. And if she were here (and she is), she would tell you to listen up because I have great news for you!
You know what makes fantastic and unexpected headbands? Men's ties.

My dad has a ton that he doesn't wear any more, but I'm sure that he would not appreciate me cutting them up. So instead, Dana and I picked up  some good ones at thrift stores around town. Goodwill seems to be a good one, but sometimes it can get a bit pricey, as far as thrift stores go. Lucky for us, we just keep going on days when they have $1 sales. Everything in the store is only $1. Seriously. Best. Thing. Ever.
Punctuation makes things dramatic-ly emphasized, you know.
I picked up eight different ties in one go!
So naturally, this crafty chica was ready to get to work straight away. (Did I really just call myself a "crafty chica?" Guess so... Hmmm... maybe the extent of my Spanish is not just "taco." Who knew.)

First step: I cut the skinny end of the tie so it was just long enough to tie around my head. (If you cut it a bit too short, there's a piece of white canvas on the inside of the tie that you can take out. It'll give you another half-inch of room or so, depending on how thick the tie is. Just stich the back right on up once you're done, and it's on to Step 2!)
Second step: I like to fold down the end that you cut in a triangle. This way, it kind of mimics the actual end of the tie, the one that you won't do anything with other than maybe cut the materials tag off, if it's even there. Or, if you want to advertise that your tie is 100% silk (and who doesn't love bragging now and then), then by all means, leave the thing on there!
Brag away. I won't tell you what to do. Much.
Third step: Now's when you would sew up that open (now folded) end to the headband. Make it as neat as you like. Sometimes I like to let the stitches show, give it a more handmade feel. Sometimes I make it as neat as I can, just to be a bit more polished.

And voila! Instant headband! Just tie it around your head, and you're ready to par-tay. Tea party that is. Might as well get fancy with it.
If you're feeling super crafty and have some floral wire or even jewelry wire hanging around, you could try putting a wire down the center of the headband (on the inside, of course) to make it super chic and fashionable. And to wear with a bit more ease.

Like I said, I picked up eight of these bad boys at various thrift stores earlier this weekend, and I "converted" all of them to headbands in an hour or two.
So experiment, play around with things, and if you come up with any bright ideas for the other half of the tie, let us know!
Dana might have a treat for y'all later on the tie front,  but I'll try not to spoil things.

Until next time, my dears!

Seven out of eight are chilling on my floor. Next project: storage...

Thrifting Remake: From Shirt to Skirt

Every other Sunday, out local Goodwill has a sale. But not just any sale. A super sale. You can get anything in the store, anything at all (except for maybe furniture) for a dollar. You heard me. One. Dollar. Now, obviously this is always the highlight of my week. With $12 worth of Goodwill clothes in my bag, and Dana's sewing machine on my desk, I'm ready for a fun week of projects!

Obviously this shirt is fantastic. Well, maybe not the shirt itself, but who doesn't love a graphic print? And this one is pretty fantastic. One of the best ones I've seen. But the shirt itself is 8 sizes too big, and has an absolutely terrible crocheted lace "bib".
But the print. It caught my eye as soon as I saw it, and I just knew I could make something fantastic.

The idea came as soon as I picked it up. I had some extra elastic back in my craft bin, and I was going to make a skirt.
I cut off the bust of the shirt, sewed a loop for my elastic, threaded it through (with the help of a paper clip), and sewed it tight and shut.
And voila! A brand new skirt to rock around campus. With leggings on the colder days of course.
With my red boots and a thrifted red belt, I was ready to head out on the town!

Cardigan: Goodwill. Shirt: Thrifted. Belt: Thrifted. Leggings: Target. Boots: Washington DC. Necklace: Claire's.
Thanks to the roomie for a lovely picture!

That's all for today, my dears! Stay tuned for more fun projects and thrifting adventures!

DIY: Fix Your Boring Magnets

If you are really quite bored, and need an easy, fun, useless, and random crafting idea try sprucing up your fridge magnets (it'll be great):
First off there are those random and usually geometric magnets, of which you don't really know where they came from, like this pinkish-redish one to the left in the photo.  You could try covering those magnets with fabric, just with hot glue; you could also Modge-Podge it with magazine pages.  Just do something interesting with it:

Then there are those magnets that you got from going to that one thing in a packet with a bunch of other random things...I love my University but I think this magnet could be more interesting.  

 Again, chose random crafty things and put them all together ontop of the magnet with glue-sticks, hot-glue, and modge-podge, all of it until it comes out interesting

Or you could altogether just make a magnet.  On the back of this mouse trap I glued some magnets...

 Then I glued a bunch of random stuff on the front.  Why a mouse-trap? Because you can use the bar-spring to hold larger amounts of pages if necessary for some reason.  (Note: Also if you can't tell, I was studying Dada in school at the time this was made and I think it shows!)

 And there's a whole new thought for the day!

DIY: Fabric Keychain and Key Wrap

So everyone's probably wondering, "What are we up to today, y'all?"

Well, I'm here to tell you that you're in for a treat today! A slightly less crazy treat than before, but a treat nonetheless.

Who else absolutely hates it when you get a bunch of keys with a terribly ugly keychain, and no way to tell them apart? I can't be the only one. Well, I've sure got good news for you then! 

Today's DIY comes to you in two parts. 

Part 1: The Keychain

Story time: I picked up my keys to work the other day, and the lady behind the counter gave them to me saying, "Each key costs $25 to replace if you lose them. You have $50 worth of keys right here." (As if I couldn't add. Like I'm not in college or anything.) "DON'T LOSE THEM." 

Got it, ma'am. Well, just to make her happy, I plan on never losing my keys! Because if I lose my keys, I lose this fabulous keychain!

Making this keychain is super easy.

Materials you shall need:

keys (and a keychain)

fabric scraps

scissors

embroidery floss and a (threaded) needle

cotton balls (not pictured)

First, you'll want to cut out a shape out of the largest of your fabric scraps. Whatever shape you want. I did an oval-y egg shape in blue with white polka-dots. Make sure you cut out two of this shape.
Next, you'll want to cut a strip of a different fabric about an inch or so long, and about half as wide. This will be the part that goes around the keychain. If you want a clean edge, you can fold each of the long sides under a little bit (I did, and I really should have taken a picture of it too...).
You're going to fold this strip into a loop, and place it halfway in between the main pieces of the keychain. Make sure, in this step, that on the main part of the keychain, the wrong sides are facing each other (we're going to leave the edge unfinished) and that on the loop, the closed end is out.
Now you can start sewing! I started where the loop was, so I ended up going through a couple layers of fabric. Make sure the loop is in there good and tight, and sew almost all the way around your shape.
When you get close to the end of your sewing, stuff a few fluffed-up cotton balls in there to make your keychain all nice and puffy and squishy!
Finish sewing the rest of the way around your shape, tie it off, and voila! A beautiful keychain! Granted, you have to still get it on the keyring, but that shouldn't be hard at all. Just slide it around until it's good and on there.
I felt like mine was missing something, so I made a quick fabric flower (out of a circled strip of a contrasting fabric) and stitched it onto the main keychain real quick. This part is optional, though. Purely up to you.
Voila! (Picture #2, here.)

Part 2: The Key "Wrap"

Now, I'm sure you hate it when you can't for the life of you figure out which key goes to which lock. Especially when they're almost the same shape.
It's a struggle. Every day. 

I know they make those super cute covers for keys and whatnot. They're not that expensive, really. And I had some last year. They just... fell apart. About halfway through the year, my cute owl covers for my keys were useless.
Well, I came up with a clever, durable yet non-permanent (we wouldn't want Kelly to have to pay $50 for a set of "ruined"--read "embellished"--keys, now, would we?) solution to this pressing problem.
On one key, (I took the one to my office, as opposed to the one to the building), I made this cute little wrap. Super easy, super cute, and now you can make one too!

What you need:
key

fabric scraps

masking tape

glue

Here, I cut a bit of masking tape, enough to go around my key about one-and-a-half times, hot glued a strip of fabric to it, and wrapped it around the head of the key.
What did I tell you? Super easy, right?

This would be cute with just about anything. Fabric, paper, fake flowers... pompoms.... beatles... THE Beatles... You could also just wrap a bit of tape around there and doodle. Or just a piece of colorful duct tape or something. Get creative.

You can do it!