Upcycled Ruffle Pants {With a Half-Baked Tutorial}

These were so simple.

Crazy. Easy.
(Don't believe me? Just you watch. No one ever believes me when I say things are easy....)

Unbelievably Un-hard!

I've been wanting to make some ruffled pants for awhile now. I mean, they are the cutest things on girls, right? Oy. I love ruffles.

And my cute friend, Sundi, has made loads of them. And she posted a fun tutorial for them a few months ago. It reminded me yet again, how I want to make some.

Then I was at the thrift store and I found this dress...

Ok. This isn't the actual dress. I can't find the before picture I took. But this is close to
what it looked like. 

Mmmm, not something I would normally pull of the rack. I would feel a bit too....exposed. BUT (through the magic of my blog) I turned it into these...

Yes! Perfect ruffled pants for my Zoe. I LOVE them. And she does, too. She wore them for three days straight.

And these are my kind of project.  Because, see, I like to make stuff (shocking, right?)

However, I'm trying to a be a writer (minus the tweed elbow patches) and it's hard to find time for sewing or crafting. But I get this itch (and pinterest is not helping). And I want to, no I need to make something. So, I love it when I can find things that don't take too long to whip up and also gives me that creative fix.

So, anyhoodles, are you ready for the half-baked tutorial. Let's roll...

Step #1: Figure out how long you want your ruffle pants. Capris? Or longer? Now get yourself a pattern. Trace your girl's pants. Google a pattern. Check out some tutorials.

Step #2: Cut your pattern out with the hem of it lined up with the ruffles of the dress.

Step #3: Sew up your pants like you would any pajama pants pattern. And Voila! You have yourself a pair of  cute ruffled boutique pants for your beautiful girl.

I told you it was easy. So. There.

Need some ruffled pants inspiration? Check these out....

Pink Ruffled Pants by A Joyful Vision

Denim Ruffled Pants by Sew In Fashion

Orange Polka Dot Ruffle Pants by The Trendy Baby

More cute denim ruffled pants by Pretty Me (I love that flower.)

Striped Ruffle Pants by Isadora Kids

Now if you're like me and you've been wanting to make these darling pants....race to the thrift store and hope they have some cute sundresses in stock!

I mean it.

Go now.

Or else I'm going to beat you to them....

Ack! There's a Monster Eating my Head! {A Carnivorous Hat}

Sorry to be a pain, but I've moved this post to my new crafty blog, Hazel and Company. I hope you'll come check it out! 

Upcycled Sweater Dress Tutorial

Well, sorry to be annoying, but I've moved this tutorial to my new crafty blog, Hazel and Company. Come check it out!

Easy Upcycled Autumn Rosette Wreath

Sorry to be a pain, but this tutorial has been moved to my new crafty blog, Hazel and Company. I hope you'll come check it out! 

Pringle Can Bangle Bracelet Tutorial

Yes. That's right. You can upcycle Pringle cans or water bottles or some other plastic bottle you can easily cut with scissors or an exacto knife into *Awesome Bangle Bracelets. 

Ready for the tutorial? Alright here we go......

Ok. Now don't hate me....but I've moved this tutorial to my new crafty blog, Hazel and Company. Come check it out!

I know, right? Pringle Can Bracelets. Who would have thought this was even possible?

50 Cent Shirt Re-do

That's right. This shirt cost me a whoppin' 50 cents.

I bought it at one of my favorite stores, The Catholic Thrift Shoppe.  On the last weekend of the month they put all their clothes on sale for 50 cents.  Yes! It's Thrifty Heaven.  And originally I bought this shirt for fabric. I thought I could make some fun hair flowers with it.

But after I pulled it from my Massive Mountain of Thrifty Finds (someone should really stick a flag in that thing and claim it for their country.  Yeah, it's that big.) I got looking at it and decided I kind of liked it (I say kind of because usually I'm a boring solid colored shirt kind of girl).

Although it was much too big. But recently I'd read this chickadee's blog, Grosgrain Fabulous and she talked about her thrifty upcycled adventures. Wow. She does some amazing things.

So, I put the shirt on inside out and pinned it where I wanted it taken in on the side*.

Then I sewed up the sides and tried it on and then took the sides in some more and then repeated a few more times and...

Voila! A new shirt. For 50 cents.

I don't usually peruse the too-big-for-me aisles at the stores for good deals, but now I will. This opens up a whole new thrifty door for my wardrobe!

Hmmmm, it was fun trying to get a good picture of me in this shirt. I asked my sweet friend, Kathy, to snap some pics. And apparently I have a hard time appearing natural. And I don't know where to put my arms. And I kept talking or laughing as she snapped away. Oops.

Here we see my Wonder Woman pose...

And I think this is my "Hey. What's up, dude?" look....

And then lastly we have the "Woah there, buddy!" face which I'm directing at Kathy's cute boy as he rode a little car toward me.  Maybe he'd decided he could improve the picture by simply running me over.  

You know, he might have been right...

*Note to self: Use safety pins instead of regular pins next time. You will have a much easier time taking the shirt off. Yeah, nutso, maybe you should try to avoid making yourself bleed. Just a thought.

Easy Patchwork Top and T-shirt Leggings

Check out and follow my new craft blog, Hazel and Company where you'll find tutorials, kid's crafts and loads of good times! 

I sewed up this super easy patchwork top as a dress for my smallest monkey a few months ago.  I tried using really wide elastic in the top casing. I thought it was a good idea but....erm....it made it too bulky for her small body. In fact, it looked just a wee bit strange on her. And it was way too long, too.  I have such a problem with getting the length right with dresses for my babies!

So, it's become a top for my older girl. And she was thrilled! The wider elastic doesn't seem too big on her. And she looks pretty darn cute in it, right? I especially like her choice of pink boots to complete the ensemble.

Her super crazy simple leggings are made from an upcycled t-shirt. I cut them out so the bottom of the pattern is lined up with the hem of the t-shirt. And then I don't have to hem the leggings. So incredibly easy. And I didn't even have to buy a pattern since I made one from a pair of leggings she already had. She has a bunch of these in fun stripes. I'm always on the look out for fun tees to upcycle into leggings.

I need to make some more of these for her and I'm thinking of putting a tutorial together. If you're interested, let me know. I'm more likely to do it if there are actual readers who want me to!

I've also jumped on the cute ruffley pants train. I've got to finish a few up and I'll post pictures soon. They're so fun!

Upcycled is the New Black

I love this idea of Upcycling. Love it. I am completely fascinated with the crazy and interesting upcycled things people come up with and sell on Etsy. I stare at the computer screen in awe. And then I wonder if I can make them, too. I'm sure Ryan (aka my handsome cowboy) is a bit tired of hearing, "Hey...come look at this...how did they make that?"

So, I'm going to share some the recent upcycled things that have me going Wow....



In christymcbride's shop you'll find all sorts of upcycled goodness.  But what I love the most is the artwork she makes from old magazines. Yeah. Old magazines. So. Stinking. Cool.  My favorite was this mosaic flower that is already sold. There is also a really neat Giant Burst Spider that is Awesome. And because I love her stuff so much, here is another one (made with old magazines! goodNESS.)...



Or how about a fork bracelet? Ok. Is there anything cooler than this? Nope. I don't think so.



You can find more of these crazy cool bracelets (and spoon rings!) in MarchelloArt.

How clever are these necklaces?



Seriously? Who thinks of legos and says, "Yep. A heart necklace." So. Awesome. I love it!  I found these at MichellesCharmsWorld shop.

Alright, another necklace....this time try and guess what it's made from....



Did you guess? Hum?  Really? It's made from a recycled skateboard! Wow.

Alright, one more. And this one is just UHHH-mazing. I love their shop. I love their art. And it's hard to just pick one to share, but check out this monkey...



Ha! They make one-of-a-kind art from license plates! That rocks. You can find more in their shop  Recycledartco.

So, what do you think you could upcycle? Hmmmmm?

Upcycled Tea Tray Tutorial

Oh, how my wee Zoe loves her tea set. We have countless tea parties where we pretend to sip cup after cup of hot cocoa.

And when her tea set is all set up on her pink table, she even manages to convince her older brothers to stop for a spell and have a cup of hot cocoa with her.

So, when I came across this tray I knew it was destined to become part of our tea party fun.



First we roughed it up a bit with some sand paper. Then we painted the side pieces of the tray.   I let Zoe pick the color. Of course, she chose...

Pink. This girl would live in a Pink World if she could manage it.

Since we were planning on covering up the bland paper in the bottom, it didn't matter if Zoe wasn't the most accurate painter. It would be much much easier to use spray paint on this project (for some of the reasons why spray paint is totally awesome, check out this fun post by my friend Sundi) but I opted for just the regular ol' acrylic craft paint. Because #1: It let Zoe be involved and #2: I didn't have any hot pink spray paint on hand. We used that all up on her little tea table.

I had some fun scrapbook paper for the tray down in my Pit of Despair (otherwise known as my sewing room/office) so I measured the tray, cut the paper to size and we spread some Modge Podge on the bottom of the tray and slapped it down, spreading it out all nice and neat. 

But the tray is wider than twelve inches, so we also had to add a border of a coordinating paper. Then we covered it all with another layer of modge podge. 

Then I lightly sanded the corners and edges of the tray, roughing it up a bit. Ryan sealed it with a clear coat spray (which I could have done myself, but he's just nice like that) and after it dried it was ready to play with!

You can't see her sparkley cape so good in this picture. 

She is also sporting a very nice cat mask. Yep, not just everyone gets to have a tea party with Super Kitty Cat and her doll, Pinky. :)