I didn’t get around to laser cutting the bracelets before my first gift exchange, so I cut 5 of them by hand. I did 5 in under 2 hours (while watching TV). So you can tell that these things are easy to make! There are only 4 days left until Christmas, but that’s more than enough time to head to your local leather shop & make matching leather bracelets for all of your girlfriends (and their pets).

• S U P P L I E S •

• 2-4oz leather or industrial felt
• pattern piece
• 1/2 inch buckle
• scissors
• hole punch
• hammer
• needle
• coarse thread or sinew
• packing tape

• I N S T R U C T I O N S •

If you’re a pet owner or have a friend who is, these bracelets could double as a cat/dog collar. Just add a D-ring & a doggie tag! Also, if you’d like to win one of the lasered bracelets, click here.

Wasn’t that easy? Click the download button below to download a printable version of the instructions, supplies & the pattern.

This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering the file NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

This guest post comes from Laura, my thrifting sister. Seriously, she finds the raddest things! I love this dresser she rehabbed! It’s giving me the motivation to finally finish the dresser I started to rehab 8 months ago!

• • •

Hi I’m Laura from You Are My New Dream.

Today I’d like to share with you my most recent diy undertaking. I am so proud to have finally found my much sought after mid century dresser purchased for $39 at the Salvation Army Thrift store. When I first laid eyes on this piece it looked like this:

I wasn’t feeling the sloppy burgundy paint job or the jacked up drawers. It looked pitiful in the store and none of the drawers fit right. It had already been marked down from $60. I thought to myself what a shame that the drawers are messed up. I really fell in love with the mid century shape and I could tell the dresser was solid wood construction with no veneer. I made myself at home on the floor of the thrift store and I played musical drawers until all 6 drawers fit perfectly. Then I walked ran to the register and bought it.

Now let me back up and say that I had never refinished furniture before. (There was that one time I sanded the finish off of a jenny lind bed with sandpaper and spray painted it –not recommended.) I knew what supplies were necessary because I had seen my husband do it before. This was the dresser of my dreams and I knew that there was no way I could paint over that ugliness. It would have to be stripped down to the wood and I would have to figure it out myself. So whats a girl to do? Google. A lot of googling!

I used:

• Chemical proof gloves (trust me, paint stripper will burn your skin)
• Goggles
• Paint stripper (Jasco premium)
• Small metal bucket to hold the stripper
• Scrubby paint remover pads
• Metal bristle mini brushes
• A scraper
• Mineral spirits/paint thinner
• Drop Cloth
• Wood putty
• Sandpaper medium and fine grade (do not use a belt sander if you are a beginner)
• Latex interior/exterior primer (Kilz)
• Latex semi gloss pain (Valspar from Lowes)
• Foam roller
• Clear coat or lacquer to seal the deal (Rustoleum clear lacquer spray)

I put the dresser over a dropcloth & outside beneath a carport because it can be quite messy & smelly. Armored with my chemical proof gloves I used a large old paint brush to brush on a thick coat of the paint stripper. I let it sit for 10-15 minutes before trying to scrape it off.

If you’re doing this – you may have to repeat this step a few times depending on the layers of paint or varnish. You can use the scrubby stripping pads, or the bristle brushes for intricate detailed areas. DO NOT get paint stripper on your skin! It will burn horribly. If this happens wash the area with soap and warm water immediately.

Luckily I was working with a lot of straight lines -all except for the sculptural wood drawer pulls. It’s really not as difficult as it sounds! I was very apprehensive at the beginning of this project but once I started, it was surprisingly easy. After I stripped as much paint as I could, I used an old rag to wipe it down with mineral spirits(not soaked) to clean up any of the paint stripper residue. After it dried, I used medium grit sandpaper to remove the remaining paint.

From there I used fine grit sandpaper to sand the wood until it was smooth and even. I discovered two sizable gauges on the top of the dresser so I filled those areas with wood putty which I sanded after it was dry. After brushing off the dresser, I wiped it again with mineral spirits to catch any dust that was left behind. I let it sit for a day so it would dry out completely.

Then I began priming with a brush. I used two THIN coats of interior/exterior primer but a mysterious and stubborn stain kept bleeding through on the top. Thin coats are best! Sand between each coat & use Kilz for stains that bleed through. One light sanding after painting the last coat will do for helping your final paint stick.

I let it sit for about 2 days to let the primer dry thoroughly. Then I painted a thin coat of my color on. I let that dry for about 24 hours then painted another thin coat on all surfaces. I used a foam roller to give the top of the dresser a nice, even final coat. Again, I let this dry for another day or so before spraying it down with Rustoleum clear spray lacquer to protect the surface.

I am very pleased with how this project turned out. This dresser is for my 3 year old daughter Sophie and she loves the happy color. You can see more of Sophie’s room here.

I’ve been a contributing guest blogger at Houzz for the last 3 monts and it’s high time I share my latest ideabooks with you!

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 

If you’re not familiar with Houzz.com, it’s a comprehensive home decor site. There you can find home tours, the latest in home designs, trends & ideabooks featuring places where you can buy fantastic home items. I contribute to the latter. I scour the web for inspiring items for the home & I’ve had so much fun doing so. Here’s a little description of the ideabooks I’ve compiled thus far:

20 Art Prints for Under $100  - having art in the home is SO important! Pat yourself on the back if you have invested in originals. If you’re on a tight budget & want to get started collecting some fantastic art, you’ll definitely want to see this ideabook. I’ve aggregated 20 prints worth purchasing, all under $100. Most are under $50. I have quite a few of these in my own home.

19 Decorative Toys - Toys don’t have to be an eye sore or ridiculously expensive. Here’s a list of 19 design-friendly, kid-friendly toys that I wouldn’t mind displaying in my home.

20 Great Big-Box Finds - With my budget, I typically look to Ikea or vintage shops to find unique, but in this ideabook you’ll find 20 fabulous design finds for the home available online or at your local big-box store.

All of my ideabooks include items that I would consider buying myself, so you’ll find that most of the items published there are affordable. I hope you take a look around (especially at the art one – many of those items are made by independent artists)!

top: H&M, leggings: Thief + Bandit kids, socks: Children’s place, shoes: H&M

Also, last night I spent about 4 hours at H&M’s pre-opening party. It was fantastic! I spent a load of money & outfitted (mostly) our family for winter. I’ll say, the best about that shopping experience was that the place was SO organized & there was a sales associate at every turn. Sadly, though, I missed out on the skirt that I planned on getting: Hot Pink Pleated Skirt. I found what I thought was my size, but it turned out it was too small! Oh curses, reverse muffin top!! Anyone near an H&M with that skirt in stock?

It wasn’t too hard to convince her that she wanted to be an evil witch. Witches have brooms & can fly. Turns out she just wants to fly somehow for Halloween.

I dyed some white cotton stockings green & once we figured out that she’s going to go as the Wicked Witch, I needed stripes. I used Liz’s idea for painting stripes with masking tape, but I stretched the stockings over a round mailer in order to get the lines to go all the way around. They’re even enough. I’m really excited to reveal the rest of her costume! It’s going to be awesome. Or an awesome failure.

Happy Halloween Weekend!

• I love working with Jersey
• Jersey & the catch stitch = best friends for hemlines
• I’ve fallen head-over-heels in love with Swedish Tracing Paper*
• I’m totally sold on making cheap mock-ups when working on a pattern
• I need to store my scissors WAAAAY higher than I have them currently

The plan was to make a knee-length knit jersey dress with dolman sleeves, the bodice on the bias, an elastic waistline (using method from P’s most recent refashion) with mid-length sleeves. My plan was hugely thwarted when Penelope found access (who knows how) to my scissors & massacred a good portion of my fabric. I knew the bias was completely out, but hopeful that I had enough room for a regular top. BARELY! I had to adjust the neckline & couldn’t get as long a sleeve all due to some poorly placed gashes. Now I know I need to store my scissors on a stand-alone shelf at least 7 feet off the ground. Currently they’re only 5 feet off the ground.

Also, I need to order more than one yard of fabric if I’m planning on making a dress. I’m sure I would have had I had the above vision when I bought the fabric.

With the restrictions I already had, I decided that I needed to be meticulous in my planning. Using my refashioned dolman top as a starting point, I traced the outline onto the Swedish Tracing Paper that Pamela gave me* at Sewing Summit. She told me that this stuff was awesome. It really is. I’ve used Glassine in the past, but this stuff is WAY better.

Once I got a pattern that I was pretty happy with, I was tempted to just get going on my dress, but I was smart & held back. I got out a similar jersey from my stash – I found this at JoAnn’s in their scraps pile for like $2 – and whipped up a top. Thank goodness I did! I found the sleeves were too tight for the look I wanted & the body was much too loose, too. I made the adjustments on the top (besides the arms) and then translated it onto a new pattern piece. Click here to see more of the above outfit.

From there I cut out my skirt & bodice pieces & sewed them together. I used the same technique for gathering & attaching the gathered skirt as I did with Penelope’s granny polo dress. It was perfect. Again! The waist is a bit loose for wearing without a belt, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. If you look closely you can tell that I hadn’t hemmed the sleeves or the bottom of the dress when I took this picture. Daylight was running out yesterday, so I thought I’d grab a quick pic. I spent last night vegging & hemming. I’m wearing this outfit today, so check out the fashion blog for the rest of the outfit details.

My new dress turned out fantastic! It’s definitely bright & cheery enough for Spring & Summer, but I think it’s also easily styled into a fall ensemble. Just add more browns & neutrals to the dress. It’s light & airy so I know this will become a staple in my wardrobe during those hot summer months!

*Swedish Tracing Paper was given to me as a gift from NearSea Naturals at Sewing Summit. I just so happened to love it!

I haven’t been on an actual search to find those specific earrings, but when I saw Nikki post about Yozo Craft & their adorable charms, I thought I’d see what they had. Sure enough, they had a really cool fern charm & thought it’d be adorable paired with a little rose. I don’t typically wear dangle earrings, so I glued a regular post back to the rose & joined the rose & fern leaf together with a jump ring. Altogether costing about $3.50 for the pair of earrings. Now that I’m looking around, these wing charms would’ve worked nicely, too.

Here’s how I wore the earrings on Wednesday. Reader Tamara found some earrings similar to Anya’s at Forever 21, They’re probably the closest I’ve seen to what she wears.

I was so looking forward to a quiet winter without the stress of a newborn or a new place, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards for us. I’m both excited & stressed about our relocation, but I’m convinced it’ll be for the best.

Before the madness of boxing & packing happens, I thought I’d clean up & take some pictures (and video) of my studio. I’m mostly doing this so that when I’m packing & going crazy with the stress of moving, I can look at these pictures & remember how clean things once were. I’ll do my best to cite sources, but if there’s something I’ve left out, let me know. I’ll do my best to respond in the comments.

We’ll start with the studio-side of the room. This is my craft desk where I take my table top shots.

• chair, $7
• table legs & top, $30 from Ikea
• bookshelf, $3 thrifted
• bookcase & boxes purchased at Ikea by my mom for last year’s b-day gift
• dachshund, won from a giveaway
• cork boards, $3 thrifted
• clipboard, $5 Urban Outfitters
• posters, c/o A Vintage Poster
• wreath, $30 knock knocking
• globe, hand-me-down from parents
• elephant, $12 Urban Outfitters
• yellow & white vases, $1 thrifted

I attached paper to the wall with bulldog clips for my photography backdrop & added plexiglass atop the lower paper. It’s the perfect permanent backdrop. I can always wipe up my spills & messes off the plexi & snap away. Also I like the Apple-esque reflective effect it gives to my photos.

Lunch box stores my calligraphy supplies.

• lamp, Ikea ages ago
• calligraphy box, part of swag at Alt
• painting, gift from sis-in-law from France
• line drawing, $5 from Colt Bowden

I love that this globe has markers indicating how old it is. The USSR & other colonies are on here. I believe this globe is circa 1979-ish.

Here’s my sewing space. I just bought the thread rack right before we found out we were moving, so that’s just hanging out there. I plan on wall-mounting it at our new place (wherever that new place may be!).

• shelf, $5 Ikea
• frame & print, $50 Paul Ferney + Michaels
• bucket, $4 Michaels
• tins, dunno
• scissor bucket, $.50
• machine, 1970s BERNINA record from Mother-in-Law
• chair, $7
• thread rack, $9 Walmart

• dress form, $119 Amazon
• cutting board & stash storage, $44 Ikea
• cutting board, $15 JoAnn’s

I love having my fabric stash organized by color palette. Each basket is as follows: warms, cools, greyscale, browns. The other side is separated out by large cuts & projects needing to get done.

Here’s my desk. I’ve got the 27″ solid state iMac (SO FAST!), Wacom tablet stacking robots & a stash basket on the actual desk. I mounted two shelves with a break between them right behind the computer. This allows us to store & have easy access to all of our hard drives & for me to easily move the Silhouette cutter onto the desk when it’s in use.

I’ve got a few treasures on the shelves themselves.

• vintage clock, $10 etsy
• book: It Must Be Hard To Be A Mother, gift from a friend
• pencil holder, formula can covered with wallpaper
• ceramic bucket for misc cords, $2 thrifted

This might be my favorite corner of the whole room. It’s my Christopher shrine. On the left is a painting done of him when he was a baby. The middle two paintings are mine and the right is a stenciled self-portrait on a suitcase. He used this suitcase in college & made it long before we ever met. I love this stencil of him.

• ironing board, $12 Ikea
• ironing board cover, Cath Kidston from Sewing summit

Like the goiter on the side of the ironing board? Yeah, turns out our ironing board is not a full-sized ironing board. Maybe one day I’ll upgrade to a full-sized ironing board.

I love baby Chris’s striped shirt & chubby cheeks. The yellow border is adorable, too.

This explains Chris perfectly when we met. This is a stencil of him rocking out to music. I love everything about what this suitcase says. Perhaps we could collect more suitcases & stencil the entire family!

Here’s a little video tour of the room. Please excuse my awkward pauses. I can’t seem to operate a video camera & talk at the same time.

This top was a $4 thrift store find. I fell in love with the stripes & the gold button details on the shoulder. I took in the sides & shortened the sleeves. I didn’t feel the need to hem the sleeves as the fabric just rolled anyway.

This refashion took very little time to do. 30 minutes tops.

I’m already getting excited for Spring 2012. You?

So, of course the natural remedy is to cover it up in glitter. I like this remedy. It’s messy, it involves lots & lots of glitter & it reminds me of wizard of oz or something like that.

Susan has a tutorial on how to do it. I used PVA glue instead. I don’t have modge podge (gasp!), but PVA is pretty much the same, if not better. PVA is what I use for bookbinding & pretty much everything else. It’s my favorite kind of glue. Possibly ever.

Susan recommends doing multiple layers, which I think I might do. It would be good to make sure that glitter stays on. Ashlee also glitterfies some old shoes of hers, I love how she kept the bow the same. Hope you have a great weekend! I’ll be colorizing Penelope’s Dino brunch suite in a more masculine color palette! Check back on Monday for the download.

I didn’t like the shape, red details or the fit. I did like the circle skirt & checked pattern, but that was about it. When I looked at it I knew I wanted to refashion it, but I originally thought that I needed to just update the sleeves, fit & neckline to something a little more modern. Last week it hit like a ton of bricks: it needs to be a midi skirt instead. Once I decided on that my work refashioning this little number took about 30 minutes. Lickety split, eh?

I just cut out the skirt just below the waistline and attached elastic to the waist, using leftover elastic from my leather belt project*. Just to break it down, here’s what I did:

• measured my waist with the elastic
• cut out elastic & sewed ends together
• divided elastic & skirt waist into fourths & pinned together
• pinned elastic wrong side out to outside of the skirt which was right side out
• evenly pinned gaps of skirt every 2-3 inches along elastic
• stretched elastic to match up with skirt waist as I sewed my longest straight stitch
• ironed & wore

I think it’s a big improvement on the original & I love that I now own a midi-length skirt! I’m just over the moon that they’re super hot this fall. The above outfit is what I wore during my Refashioning class at Sewing Summit. The class went really well, too! We had a great time making fun of the gross things you can find at thrift stores. See outfit details here.

*Elastic provided by rufflefabric.com

It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do. I wanted something nice & thick, but didn’t have the budget to have them letterpressed. I have had my heart set on a 300 GSM paper, but unfortunately no digital printer (aka the cheapest form of printing) will print anything thicker than standard card stock. Most printers won’t even print on uncoated paper, which is also what I’ve been looking for.

Instead of getting them printed, I decided to get stamps made & stamp on the paper of my choice. I found a Stratton Bristol 4-ply paper (SO THICK!) at my local art store & cut that up. I’m SO happy with how these cards feel. They’re soft, smooth, thick & ultimately delicious. Paper can be delicious. This stuff is.

I kept my information as simple as possible to keep the stamp up to date as long as possible. I think this will last me a while. Nice thing is, I can stamp my info on ANY surface (hello wood biz cards!) in ANY color. I did my standard & cut out I Still Love You stickers, but instead of putting it all inside an envelope, I totally copied Nikki’s idea (pretty sure the thought of stamping my design was also inspired by Nikki) & used washi tape (can be found here) to attach them to the back of the business card.

I’m excited to pass these out this weekend!

This shirt was getting sort of ragged. The white wasn’t as white as it could be – I’m totally clueless when it comes to keeping whites white. I try, but after about a year my whites start to look dingy. Any advice would be awesome.

I decided that it was time I either chuck the shirt or give it new life. I cut off the neckline detailing, dyed it & trimmed up the sides a bit for a more fitted look. Of course, upon cutting the neckline (which I don’t regret one bit) I realized the neck was much too gaping for my taste. I had a couple of options, but being very inspired by This ILK’s harness jewelry (you don’t google that, btw) I thought it’d be pretty sweet to incorporate that idea into my refashion.

I used a combination of teal, turquoise & apple green Rit dye to get this color. I kept thinking of the fall brights that are so popular right now.

I used the chain to create a draped effect in the back. It brings the neckline up in the front & adds more visual interest in the back. I’ll definitely be doing this on any other gaping tees I own. It took very little time & I really like the result. Here’s a quick, no-photo step-by-step on how to do it:

• try your shirt on & place your gaping tee seams where you want them to lie
• measure the distance between the two seams
• cut two chains, one just slightly longer than the above measurement
• attach both chains with a jump ring on both ends
• secure jump ring onto your shirt by doing a satin zig-zag stitch or hand stitch
• wear

I really do love the new look of this top. Can you tell that I’m getting excited to talk about refashioning clothing at Sewing Summit next week? I truly can’t wait. Click here to view outfit details.