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It has been months since I have made a blog post. I think of posting every week but it just hasn’t happened. Today, As my daughter naps I figure what better time than this!

I have been making lots of creative solutions over the past few months. I wish I had photographed everything step by step for a tutorial (which was my original intention), but at least I have good after pics.

Here is a summary of some recent favorite projects!

First, this summer I made a one-of-a-kind display bust for my jewelry. Here is how I did it.  STEP 1: I went to a salvage store of sorts J&S Wholesale in Asheboro. There I searched and searched for a mannequin bust where I wouldn’t have to purchase a whole mannequin (because that can be very expensive).  When I almost gave up after finding plenty of whole mannequins that were too expensive I finally came across a silver one armed mannequin bust that looks like it was straight out of an 80′s department store. This lady, I call her Stella, was crammed back in a corner. She really needed a home and a face lift so with my husbands help I got to work.  STEP 2: I went to the local craft store, Hobby Lobby to purchase some pre-cut wooden circles to cap off the head and arms after we cut off the remainder of the neck and one arm. I also purchased ivory matte spray paint, a drawer pull, and some ribbon which I ended up not using.  STEP 3: We cut off the head and arm and then patched all wholes with spackle. While that was drying we pre-drilled the whole for the knob in the top and glued and threaded it through. We let that dry and them attached the circles on with epoxy cement.  STEP 4: Once all way dry I sanded and painted Stella for her first show Art May-Ham. What a big success! I am so happy with the appearance and sense of accomplishment.

My second favorite DIY project was my inspiration to make my daughter into an owl for Halloween. It was the first animal sound she spoke and I saw an adorable costume in the Pottery Barn catalog, but thought OMG when I saw the price. With all of my fabric hoarding I had literally everything I needed to make this. So I began drawing my vision. This woodland owl was going to be full of color and pattern. I gathered fabric scraps, felt, embroidery floss, thread and an old hoodie of my daughters from last years pumpkin costume. Here is how I made it all come together.  STEP 1: I sketched a few owl faces, stomachs and wings from my imagination and then realized some google image searches of a real owl photo would help.  STEP 2: Draw patterns for wings on stomach and deconstruct pumpkin hoodie costume. After pulling off pocket and taking off the yarn stem I sewed the seams back up and was good to go.  STEP 3: Trace a variety of fabric scraps with the pattern for wings and lay them out on an oval. I sewed them row by row across the top horizontally on the oval and stacked row by row to overlap.  STEP 4: Cut felt pieces and hand stitch face mask then sew to the top of hood.  STEP 5: Create wing pattern and trace, cut and sew symmetrical wings.  STEP 6: Fold top of stomach oval over and sew a channel to feed ribbon through. I then sewed ribbon on the ends of the hoodie to thread the stomach on and tie the hoodie closed.  STEP 7: Tack the face and wings on in two places each so that later on when your child outgrown the hoodie you can still use all of the pieces for dress up and play time! Here are some pictures to help you get the idea. Each project took me about a week working a few hours a day.