How to Make a Rose from a T-shirt

I have a super quick project made from old T-shirts for you today.  I'm going to show you THREE different ways to use these fun flowers.

As seen here, this T-shirt Flower has been added to a dog collar for a unique way to dress up your pooch whether it be for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday or for everyday wear.

If it's a child you're looking to dress up, I'll show you how to easily turn the same flower into a hair clip like this one:

And finally, if it's a special treat for you that you're looking for.  We'll add a pin back so that you can wear a pretty rose on your jacket, blouse or handbag:

You can hop over to my YouTube Channel to see the full instructions for making these sweet (not to mention simple) flowers.

DIY T-Shirt Yarn Candy Cane Ornament: Day 2 of 12

So simple, so cute, so upcycled...that's my kind of Christmas ornament!  These T-shirt Yarn Candy Cane Ornaments were so much fun to make that I had to make a few extra for my upcoming craft fair!  But fear not, I'm sharing the loving and giving you the step by step instructions to make some of your very own.  Not to mention giving them away as part of the "Twelve Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments" and 5K Subscriber Giveaway.

Head over to my YouTube channel to see how I made these cute little candy canes from a couple scraps of T-shirt yarn.  And don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway to win these and all of my other ornaments.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Miss Day 1 did you?  You can find my tutorial for the Aluminum Can Ornaments here.

Three Upcycled Dog Toys Made From T-shirts

Have you all met my puppy, Cooper, yet?  Most of you will have met Chico, my ancient Chihuahua, if you haven't seen him in my YouTube videos then you've surely heard him snoring in the background. I love him to death but he's never been one to play much.  Although to be fair, I adopted him at ten years old!  Anyway, here's my Cooper:

He seems so little in this picture at the dog park.  And it was taken just a couple of months ago.  Last week I caught him trying to fit in the bottom cube of this cubby in the bathroom.  He used to fit so nicely in there.  Now...not so much!

At ten months old, he still has a ton of puppy left in him and he is constantly needing to be entertained.  Otherwise, well, he'll find ways to stay entertained.  And typically, he and I don't see eye to eye on appropriate entertainment methods.  So that my friends, brings me to the purpose of this post.

The number of chew toys that I've had to purchase in the last few months is enough to break the piggy bank for sure.  Coming up with some cheaper (and greener) alternatives was a must!  My Cooper loves all three of these toys and each was made with little more than a T-shirt and a pair of scissors. I know you're wondering so let me tell you...YES, there is a video tutorial. It's a long one, but I do show you how to make all three toys in one video.  And if you hang in until the "bitter end" you'll be treated to a glimpse of my cutie patootie playing with one of his T-shirt toys.

What other ideas do you have for DIY dog toys?  I am ALL EARS!!

How to Make a Reusable Trick or Treat Bag

I love a good (and EASY) T-shirt upcycle and this one is exactly that!  If you've got ten minutes and a quarter, you too can make a fabulous trick or treat bag that is kinder and gentler on the earth.  Not to mention a major upgrade from the pillowcase that I used to use as a kid!

Whilst shopping at my local Goodwill Clearance Center, I started to run across super cute Halloween kids shirts....all throughout the year.  And I ended up with a stack of 'em.  For this project, I used just one from my stack along with a pair of scissors and a sewing machine.  If you have a little one just learning to sew, this is an excellent project!

If you'd like to see a brief video demonstration, you can check that out here...it's less than two minutes! Or you can follow these simple steps:

1.  Cut both of the sleeves and the collar of the shirt away.
2. Turn your T-shirt inside out and use the bottom hem as a guide to sew a straight line across the bottom opening of the shirt.
3.  Turn your bag right side out and DONE!

It really is that easy.  And what a great way to balance out the waste of all those candy wrappers!

An Oh So Upcycled Piece of Pallet Wall Art

So I made a fabulous little piece of wall art, and boy is it upcycled!  It all started with a few planks from a discarded pallet.  Then I added some paint from the "oopsie" paint table from my local Lowes and flowers made from thrifted T-shirts and scrap fabric.

Assembling the "canvas" portion of the artwork was the easy part.  Yes, I had to use a few power tools but it really was quite quick.  The steps are below, but if you'd like to see it done you can view the YouTube video here.

1.  Cut several planks from a pallet (or other pieces of weathered scrap wood) to the same size and sand them before proceeding
2.  Cut two more pieces of scrap wood to act as supports across the backside of the canvas
3.  Drill two pilot holes in one of the pieces and screw in your eye screws
4.  Glue and screw your support pieces into the planks
5.  Attach your picture wire

And that's that...for the canvas.

The artwork itself wasn't difficult but it was bit more involved. I found it easiest to prepare all my pieces and do a rough layout before making anything permanent.  I started with several flowers made from T-shirts.  These are a very simple flower that you can make from T-shirts or any other fabric scraps that you already have.  Check out the video tutorial of the flowers here.

To make the stems and the shaped flower petals I simple wrapped some craft wire with T-shirt and other scraps, securing it with a little E6000 Adhesive.  I used the same adhesive to attach all fabric pieces to the pallet canvas.  But before I did that, I used my Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine
to cut all of the letters out from contact paper.  I applied the letters to the pallet canvas and used a dry brush to paint over them.  Then I removed the contact paper and used a paint pen to make the letters pop.  You can see it ALL done in this video tutorial.

How to Make a Drawstring Pouch from a T-shirt Sleeve

Happy National Craft Month!! Who's ready for another T-shirt craft?  These are simplest bags (pouches) you'll ever make and they are made from thrifted T-shirt sleeves.  I make them by the boat-load and use them to package up shoppers purchases when I'm working an Art Festival or Farmer's Market. But you can certainly make just one for that something special that you need to wrap.  You will need a sewing machine and scissors but everything is constructed from T-shirts.  Come see how I make these over on YouTube.

How to Make a 3D Fringed Flower from a T-shirt

I love these 3D flowers made from thrifted T-shirts and I'm going to show you how easy it is to make them!

First, a confession.  I saw someone do a fringed T-shirt flower tutorial a few weeks ago and took a mental note so I could go back and give it a try.  And when I lost that mental note and couldn't find the original tutorial, I tried to do it myself. Needless to say, this is not what her flowers looked like.  They were a great deal flatter and I'd still like to give it a try. So, if you know the tutorial I'm talking about PLEASE leave a link in the comments.

I made a quick little video tutorial to show you how I made these flowers.  You can find it here.  So gather up your supplies; an old T-shirt, fabric glue and a pair of scissors and join me.  And stay tuned because I have an idea or two for using these flowers in other projects.

Upcycled Games on the Go

This is it, the last unofficial week of summer!  Are you ready for it to be over?  Hopefully you're planning one last get away this holiday weekend.  And if that includes a trip with the kids you'll likely be packing a few activities to keep them busy.  Here's an upcycled version of travel game that I recently pinned from Martha Stewart:

You'll need a T-shirt, ruler, scissors, fabric markers, safety pin, sewing machine and at least 24 bottle caps in two colors.

Lets get started!  First cut a T-shirt bottom off just below the armpit.  You may want to adjust where you make that cut depending on the T-shirt size, I'm using a ladies size Large.  Then cut off a strip about an inch wide from the armpit side (keep the hem in tact) and set it aside.

Flip your T-shirt inside out and sew a seam across the cut portion creating a bag.  Then cut two small slits in the T-shirts original hem.  Grab the 1" strip that you previously set aside, cut side hem off if there is one and then tug the piece from end to end to make a piece of yarn.  Use a safety pin to thread the yarn through the hem.

Turn your bag right side out and flatten it out on your work surface.  Using your ruler and a fabric marker it's time to mark out your checkerboard pattern, which is 8 squares by 8 squares.  I made mine 1" X 1" squares but think that 1 1/2" X 1 1/2" would have been been better. Once you've decided how large you need to make your board start drawing your lines...mine were 8" long. As your boxes are formed you can start coloring in  every other box.

You're checkerboard is done.  To double the fun, flip the pouch over and sketch out a couple of tic tac toe boards.

Finally toss your bottle caps (a minimum of 12 of each color) in the pouch and off you go.  

A Cat Toy Made of T-Shirt Yarn

I've been experimenting with cat toys...cheap, easy DIY cat toys.  I found one that's been a real hit with the kitties, as Gremlin demonstrates here:

This one only requires an old T-shirt and a pair of scissors.  Check out my T-shirt Cat Toy Video Tutorial over on YouTube to make your own.  In the meantime, I need to figure out a cool toy using my old bath scrubbies...Angel is constantly hunting them!