Hooded Sweatshirt Jacket

I never ended up posting this sweatshirt I made my sister for her birthday this summer. I just found the pictures so I'm posting it now. I'm pretty proud of this sweatshirt/hoodie/jacket.

Nate was camping so I was home alone and stayed up until 4am one night making this for my sister's birthday. It's up-cycled from a strange yet awesome cardigan found at the thrift store that I bought to make into a hoodie. I used various other t-shirt scraps for the lining, hood and pockets. I started getting fancy with some of the decorative stitches on my still newish sewing machine and really love how it came out.


Now my sister has a kick-ass sweatshirt with long enough sleeves, an interior pocket, and it bears the Lacoste logo, which means I spent lots of money on it right? I used only stuff I had on hand which worked out well until I went searching for a long enough zipper. I had none, so I decided to use buttons, but of course I didn't have enough matching buttons in the size I wanted. I ended up stealing them off an old chef's coat I had, which means I need more jackets for work.

Sweater Vases

I have been saving all my old sweaters for awhile now, with plans to make a blanket at some point. I still don't have quite enough, but have been using the sleeves for other projects. Inspired by a sweater vase tutorial at Under the Table and Dreaming I "upholstered" some vases I had. I hadn't actually used them until Valentine's day (Nate got me roses). Seeing the flowers in one of the vases made me fall in love with these even more. The red sweater sleeve I used really makes the flowers look great. I also have three round vases I covered in pink and red, but will have to wait for more flowers to test these out (stargazer lilies maybe? hint hint hint).





I also wanted to show off one of my recent thrift store finds. Its a piece of rock with a hole drilled into it, creating a vase. I have seen these before at Pike Place Market but deemed them a great idea but too expensive for me to actually buy one. I found a large one though at a thrift store for $6.99, which seems expensive to me but the size I bought is usually sold for $75! (found them here) The piece of slate reminds me of the rocks that grow out of the ground around Delaware county.

Button Jewelry for Mom

I lucked out thrifting awhile back and found tons of great vintage buttons in various colors. They included some great blue glass buttons that were calling out to be made into jewelry. I made these for my mom's birthday. (Mom, I swear I made these on your birthday, I just didn't mail then until recently)


Nobody thinks I have a button problem do they? So many of my projects include buttons. Yes, I admit, I may be an addict.

Valentine's Button Tray

I've had this tray for awhile (I can never seem to pass up trays when I'm thrifting so I have quite a few) and finally decided to make it prettier. My button collection is still quite massive so I figured lining the inside with buttons was perfect. Currently I'm using this as a decoration but it will still work as a tray as well. If I poured resin in the tray the surface will be flat again, but I'm trying to control my spending and crafting only with what I have, so that will have to wait.