Design by Night

I have a bunch of cheapy long bead plastic necklaces that I have picked up over the years. You can usually find them at yard sales and thrift store for a quarter. I often put them on then take them right off, until now! Rework your necklaces with a few minutes, some ribbon and a pair of scissors. Here's how: I used 3 necklaces and some grosgrain ribbon. Cut the ribbon into four pieces, two-12" and two-18". Take one 18" piece and loop it through all the necklaces. Tie a into a single knot. Take a 12" piece of ribbon and center it on the knotted ribbon. Using the ribbon that is already knotted to the necklaces tie the 12" piece to the mix. Take the 12" piece of ribbon and tie it into a bow. Trim ribbon ends as needed. Repeat with the other side.

Recently I got a stash of my grandmom's old plastic bangles that she originally got from the 5 and 10 store. Although I love bangles the years had put a bunch of nicks and dings on them so I decided to give them an facelift. This project is super easy and cheap. One of the best parts is that you can not only use old bangles you can use all those bits and pieces of embroidery floss that you have left over from other projects.   Supplies 2-skeins of embroidery floss* plastic bangle scissors white craft glue *You can use more than 2 colors, I encourage using as many as you want. Tie embroidery floss to the bracelet. Make sure to double not it so it doesn't slip off.  Wrap the embroidery floss around the bracelet making sure to cover the short tail by wrapping the embroidery floss over it.  To change colors tie one color of floss to the other. Make sure to double knot it tightly so the knot doesn't slip (3A). Closely trim the tails of the floss makin...

Ever get tired of the same ole bows on top of those presents? Well change it up a bit with this recycled package topper. This topper can be made from the card board rolls that you have left over after you have finished your wrapping paper and they are super simple to make. Supplies 1-card board roll (or paper towel roll) White glue Ribbon (long enough to fit around your package) Scissors (I used both plain and fancy edged) X-acto knife Scraps of colored or scrap book paper Compass Ruler Take the card board roll and flatten it. Measure out eight 1.75" wide sections and cut them. Put white glue on about a half inch of the bottom of one of the card board pieces then glue it to another of the card board pieces. Continue glueing the card board sections together to form a circular star. Cut a circle out of your scrap paper that is 2.5" round. (NOTE: I used scissors that had a fancy edge but regular scissors would work fine. I also cut a second 2" circle from another color and ...

So if you follow my blog you know that I love to do tutorials! Well the nice people at Baltimore Magazine asked me to come up with a tutorial that would use recycled holiday gift wrap. Well I put on my thinking cap and came up with a quilled paper necklace. And don't worry, if you are not have access to Baltimore Magazine but you want to make the necklace come back Monday and I will post the tutorial!

I am a bubble wrap girl. Even as a child I was more excited about popping the bubble wrap than playing with the item the bubble wrap was protecting. So recently when I was packing up one of my feather creations to ship and I reached for the bubble wrap and it wasn't there I didn't know what to do. It was late and I couldn't go to the store but the package needed to ship first thing in the morning. I wandered around the house looking for packing items when I came upon my "bag o' bags." You know, that bag of plastic bags you get from stores? I usually try to bring reusable bags but find that I still have at least a dozen plastic bags on hand. I usually use them as trash or doggy poo bags or return them to the recycle bins at the stores but now I use them for packing. Plastic store bags make great packing material around delicate objects! So the next time you need packing material grab for that bag o' bags. I usually wrap the item in tissue paper befo...

Usually when I go to the mail box I only ever pull out bills so you can imagine my surprise when I had the latest copy of Green Craft magazine waiting for me. It was such a big surprise because I did not order the magazine, I got a free copy because my Recycled Ruffled headband tutorial was published! I love how to craft books and magazines so coming up with tutorials is one of my favorite things and it tickles me to see one published!

Did your P go under the sofa? Lose your S over a heated game? Do you have a Scrabble game sitting around that is missing letter tiles? Well I have the perfect tutorial for you! Recycle those Scrabble tiles and make clever and quirky coasters. A set would make a great Father's day or house warming gift. Supplies : 16 Scrabble tiles (makes one coaster) Xacto or Utility Knife Ruler E-6000 Glue 4” x 4” piece of thin cork that can be cut with an Xacto Knife* Paper towel *Note: I used Project Cork that I purchased at a Joann’s Store however you can also find it on Amazon . If you use this cork you want to unroll it and sit it under a heavy book so to remove the curl that the roll causes. Plus if it is very thin you might want to double it up. The coaster will be four tiles wide and four tiles high. Take your Scrabble tiles and figure out what letters you would like to use. I choose to use four 4-letter words that have something to do with beverages. Here are some suggestions: · Beer...

Every time I buy furniture that requires assembly I always left over hardware. I take this hardware and put it in a jar thinking that one day I will need that extra nut or bolt. Well today is that day! Below is a tutorial on how to take those extra washers and make them into a cute necklace. Supplies: Scissors X-acto knife or hole punch Pencil Small piece of scrapbooking paper (you can use the left over scraps for this project) Modge Podge (or something similar) Washer Aleene’s Paper Glaze 36” of ribbon or cord Use the washer to trace a circle on the paper, don’t forget to trace the inside circle as well. Using your scissors cut just inside of the traced line on the outer circle. Note: you want to cut inside of the line and not on it so it fits on the washer and does not overlap the edges. If the hole for your center is close to the same size of a hole punch, simply punch out the center circle. If not use the X-acto knife to cut out the center area. Modge Podge the paper to the washer ...

Need some craft room organization? Look no further than your recycling bin. Instead of purchasing foo foo expensive containers from your local craft store pull out those pickle jars from your recycling. With a few jars, some paper scraps, misc. buttons and a little bit of time you can make very cute (and very free) craft organizers. The above organizers consist of a salsa, pickle and tomato sauce jars.