Out With The Old...

We turn not older with years, but newer every day. ~Emily Dickinson


I'm not a big crafter, nor am I the best there is, but I have fun with it. Here are some things I made recently from stuff sitting around the house.

First, you can see above the phrase I said I was going to cross-stitch for myself. (http://thrivingafter40.blogspot.com/2010/06/good-advice.html) The frame was one just sitting idle, so hubby spray-painted it flat black for me, then he made the matte from poster board and painted that pink. I used spray adhesive to attach the aida (that's cross-stitch material to the uninitiated) to the cardboard backing from the frame and now the finished product hangs above my cork board in my home office.

Secondly, you can see that I cut the back pocket off a pair of my husband's holey jeans. I hot-glued strong magnets to the back (the kind used with a name tag work best), cross-stitched the word "Coupons" on a piece of blue aida, and then stitched it onto the pocket with thread the same color as jean stitching and voila! Coupon pocket for my fridge.

Finally, my first book purse. The book was Shadowfire by Dean Koontz. I'd already read it a couple times and as it isn't my favorite by him, and was too small to sell to the local book store chain (they don't take book club books because they're slightly smaller in size!), so I figured I'd use it to try out these directions: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Book-Purse. Pretty cute, but I will definitely try a few different things next time. I think I will actually glue the material directly to the inside of the book, rather than using pieces of material-wrapped cardboard. I think I can eliminate the white edges that way. I think I may try drilling holes for a chain handle, as well. Here's a link for another fun old-book craft: http://www.thehaystackneedleonline.com/2010/05/david-stark-design-how-to-make-book-clock.html

Have fun turning old things into new ones!