Turn Jeans into Denim Yarn

 

I was determined to make denim yarn last year. I wanted to crochet a denim hammock, but I didn’t have the patience to cut up that many jeans. Turns out, you’ll need tons of jeans for that.

Instead, you might try crocheting the denim yarn into a granny square to make a small rug. Or something like that.

Any other ideas? Let me know! I’d love to test more things out with this yarn. Plus, it’s extremely easy to make!

How to make denim yarn, you ask? Well, here you go:

1. Find a pair of old jeans to cut up
   
2. Cut along the smaller outer seam of one leg of the jeans. Then, cut horizontally across one leg of the jeans starting at the thick seam and stop about 1/2 an inch before the end of the fabric. See photo below.

   

3. Unfold the fabric, and it should look like the photo below.
   
4. Next, pick one side and cut through to the seam from the middle cut. Rotate extending the cut from each side, as shown in the photo below.
   
5. And now you have the denim yarn!!

 

Top 10 Favorite Wine Crafts

While your New Years Resolution may be to drink less wine, mine is exactly the opposite. Seeing all the awesome things you can do with leftover corks and wine bottles inspires my crafty side to drink more. I think Pinterest has turned me into an aspiring alcoholic. But, as popular as my “Wine Crafts” board is on Pinterest, I can’t be the only one.

I guess my wine obsession started earlier than Pinterest (Shh… I may not have been 21). In college, my friends and I would bring a bottle of wine to a party instead of a fifth of Burnetts. My obsession with corks started around then, too.  We were so set on saving corks, we’d wake up with corks in the back pocket of our jeans all the time.

We found lots of really creative uses for our wine bottle, too.

Example #1. My friend had a sunburn. We’re in a dorm room, so the only logical thing to do was to cool it with a wine bottle. Obviously.

Wine therapy for sunburns

At least Pinterest has helped steer my wine obsession toward classy. But, it’s still not classy to walk into a house and see evidence that this person drinks way too much wine. The solution is not to drink less, it’s just to give all these neat crafts as gifts instead of keeping them all for yourself. And, that brings me to example #2.

Example #2: Decorate wine glasses and give them as cheap birthday gifts. Another friend gave this to me for my birthday a few years ago. I still have it and love it! Perfect birthday gift for the wino in your life. Decorating the actual cup part of a wine glass is a big no-no though. The paint rubs off or falls off as soon as condensation forms on the outside of the glass (Oh, there’s that college degree talking: condensation.).

Birthday wine glass

Or, you could try one of these prettier crafts found on Pinterest. Here are my Top 10 Favorite Wine Bottle and Cork Crafts, in no particular order.

I love this wine bottle fountain using a recycled wine rack. Prefect garden decoration.

These wine bottles are just epsom salt and spray painted white. Easy, easy.

This is cute and doesn’t take many corks. Cut them in half to make the corks last even longer (unless you have way too many already).

What a great welcome to party goers. This is so cute! Click to see lots more wreaths on etsy

Essential for every college wino, but probably not acceptable in the workplace.

Now, this is a wine cork chandelier. I would love one of these!

It can be a little difficult to glue them together, so take your time and make sure not to be drinking too much wine.

Who can survive the holidays without wine?

Leftover yarn is always such a pain to get rid of. This is the perfect low-cost solution.

Spray paint, glitter and stencils is all you need for this one.

There’s my list for now. Stay tuned for a challenge accepted post… Much more wine crafts to come! After all, it is my new years resolution.

How To Dry Lavender: 3 Easy Steps

I saw a recipe for creamy lavender celery bisque this morning. I thought, how cool would it be if I could use my homegrown lavender? I looked into how to dry lavender and found a tutorial on wikihow. Of course, I’ve decided to make this a much more straight forward photo tutorial. See my photo tutorial below about how to dry lavender in three easy steps!

Supplies: Shears/scissors and ball of string
Time Needed: 20 minutes
Until Dry: 1 month

1. Cut lavender just above the leaves, so you have a long stem.

   
   

2. Tie each stem separately, close to the cut end with a long piece of string and loop the ends. Tie all the loops together.

   

3. With the loop, hang the lavender to dry. It should be in a dark, dry place. Let sit for one month.
   

Now you can have dried lavender in three easy steps! Also, in one month, stay tuned for my trial of that creamy celery bisque with my homegrown dried lavender.

How To Make Homemade Greenhouses

The weather here has been amazing lately, but when I started my mini urban garden, that wasn’t the case. I had a small plastic dresser outside all winter that kept all my garden supplies. The plastic drawer didn’t hold up so well through the winter, so I decided to dismantle it and use it as a planter instead. At first, this was as far as my idea went. I poked holes in the bottom for drainage and filled them up with soil.

I found that I had all these other pieces from the shelving of the drawers that fit perfectly on top the drawers. Suddenly, I had a genius idea. I was determined to make an upcycled greenhouse with plastic drawers, painter’s plastic, a stapler, scissors and a hot glue gun. My roommates thought I had really lost it, but I went for it. So, here’s a short photo story on how to make a greenhouse.

I made three prototypes to see which one worked best. See the photos below.

Blue shelving piece and planter box drawer. Step one.

Painter’s plastic and blue shelf. Step two.

Unroll and place shelf in the center. I treated it like wrapping a present.

Wrapped it up and stapled where I could. Step Three.

Finished product of prototype #1. Benefits: Stable base. Disadvantages: Doesn’t hold up well in the rain.

Finished prototype #2. Benefits: Holds up better in rain. Disadvantages: Unstable base.

The final greenhouse prototype was the best, but I had to hot glue sticks to the blue plastic and wrap the painter’s plastic around the whole square. It was much more stable and held up through the inches of rain we had. The weather got really nice, and I don’t really need a greenhouse for lettuce, kale and romenesco anymore though, so I have these guys on top of my other plant starts for now.

Prototype #3. Benefits: Stable and more rain resistant. Disadvantages: Difficult to construct, especially when using found branches and hot glue.

A close-up of the sticks and plastic.

Have you ever done something like this? Any advice?

Seashell Wreaths

When I was growing up, we always lived by or vacationed at the beach. During all those years, my family and I collected and created lots of nautical decorations for our house. My dad was obsessed with glass fishing floats and sand dollars.  Sometimes he even pushed old ladies or children out of the way if one of these things was sitting on the beach. However, my mom was a little more reserved in her beach obsession and stuck to creating beachy crafts for our house. This seashell wreath is one of her favorites, and we’ve decided to share it with all of you!

This handmade decorative seashell wreath is for indoors only. This one is 14 inches in diameter and is covered in shells. The backing is straw. We’ll take custom seashell wreath orders and sizes as well.We’re asking much less money than most, and at $30 this seashell wreath, or one like it, can be yours. If you’re interested leave a comment below!

All wreaths are different because no two shells are alike!

A great wall hanging or festive centerpiece.

A close detail shot of the shells and quality

Dinosaur Baby Hat Pattern

I have received so many comments on my dinosaur baby hat post, and I am so flattered that everyone likes it so much! I feel so guilty that I don’t have the pattern posted yet. My life has been insanely busy, and I wasn’t expecting the blog to take off like it did. Anyway, I’ve finally found the time for making the pattern!
Below is my free pattern for a baby dinosaur hat. It’s a step-by-step crochet pattern. What’s better than learning to crochet by example. It basically starts off as a baby beanie, then trails off into a tail. See below for more.

Enjoy! Share it with anyone and everyone! Ask me any questions you have, and I’ll try to get back to you.

Dinosaur hat:

Dinosaur hat complete!

Materials needed:
Crochet needle, I used size F, but it will depend on your yarn.
2 colors of baby yarn, one ball of each should be more than enough.

1. Chain 4. Join to form loop.
   

   Step One.

   

   Loop formed in Step One

2. Chain 2. Single crochet 7 stitches inside the loop for a total of 8 around. Join.
   

   At the end of the step, when you join the row.

3. Chain 2, single crochet in first stitch. 2 single crochet in each stitch until end and join.
   

   Keep adding rows like this.

4. Chain 2. single crochet in next stitch 2 single crochet in next stitch. Repeat sc, 2sc until end. Join.
   

   Again, another round. They should all be like this in even circles, if it starts to get uneven, something has gone wrong.

5. Repeat step three.
6. Chain 2. single crochet until end. Join.
7. Repeat step 6 for 11 to 15 more rows, depending on desired length of the hat.
   

   This was my test size. Yours should probably be longer, depending on your baby's head size.

8. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 22 stitches. Turn.
   

   This is where you're starting the tail. It should be almost half way around the hat.

9. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch for 10 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end, it should be 10 stitches. Turn.
   

   Ten stitches in on row 2 of the tail, and decrease. See photos below.

   

   Needle in next stitch, yarn over.

   

   Needle in next stitch, yarn over.

   

   Pull through both loops.

10. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
11. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 8 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
12. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
13. Repeat previous two steps once more.
14. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 7 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
15. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
16.  Repeat previous two steps once more.
17. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 6 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
18. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
19.  Repeat previous two steps once more.
20. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 5 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
21. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
22. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
23. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 5 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
24. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
25. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
26. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 4 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
27. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
28. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
29. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 4 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
30. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
31. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
32. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 3 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
33. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
34. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
35. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 3 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
36. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
37. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
38. Chain 2. Single crochet in next 2 stitches. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet until end. Turn.
39. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
40. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
41. Chain 2. Single crochet in next stitch. Decrease two stitches. Single crochet and turn.
42. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn.
43. Chain 2. Single crochet in each stitch until end. Turn. There should only be three stitches in this row, including beginning and end.
44. Fasten off!

Scales:

Note:

1. Cast on with color #2. Start about four rows from the end of the tail. Find the center of this row and insert needle. Yarn over and pull through. Yarn over again and pull through both loops.
   

   Step one. Find the middle, insert hook, yarn over, pull through.

   

   Two loops on hook now. Yarn over and pull through. Stitch one complete.

2. Insert needle into next stitch and repeat until you have seven stitches.
   

   Row 1 = 7 stitches

3. Now you are at the next row. Turn, but don’t chain. Single crochet in each stitch. At the end you will have six stitches.
   

   Row 2 = 6 stitches

4. Continue this pattern, no chaining between rows and you should have a triangle. Row 1 = 7 stitches, row 2 = 6 stitches, row 3 = 5 stitches, row 4 = 4 stitches, row 5 = 3 stitches, row 6 = 2 stitches, row 7 = 1 stitch. Fasten off when you get finish row 7. Weave in all loose ends.
   

   Row 3 = 5 stitches

   

   Row 4 = 4 stitches

   

   Row 6 = 2 stitches

   

   Row 7 = 1 stitch

5. Repeat this so the scales are evenly dispersed on the tail and hat, this will probably about 6 scales, but could be more depending on the length of your hat and tail!

Crochet Dinosaur Baby Hat Pattern

**THE COMPLETED FREE PATTERN WITH PHOTOS IS ON THE NEXT BLOG POST!**

Baby hats are adorable no matter what, but I’m pretty sure these long-tailed crochet dinosaur baby hats are the cutest thing I’ve ever made.  I have always given these hats to people as gifts for newborns, and I’ve never had the chance to see the baby actually wearing the hat. Unfortunately, there is no baby model for this post, but i promise they are absolutely adorable on! I’ve only ever made t-rex baby hats, but I’ve found a few stegosaurus baby hats that I want to try too! Here’s the quick photo tutorial:

Dinosaur baby hat view #1

I’m working on perfecting the detailed pattern now, but I’ll give you a rough idea of how to make these little crochet beauties. You’ll need two colors of baby yarn, but the hats definitely won’t take the whole ball. You could probably make two or three with the two balls of yarn.

**THE COMPLETED FREE PATTERN WITH PHOTOS IS ON THE NEXT BLOG POST!**

Start by making a regular hat from the top: Chain a few, join, turn, and increase until it’s at the desired size. For a baby hat you probably want to single or half double crochet. It’s more time consuming, but it’ll keep their little heads very warm. Form into a hat as you would usually do, but for a baby’s head. When the hat is at its desired length, begin the next row, but only make your way less than half way around. Turn, and go back to the beginning of that row. This is where you are forming the tail of the hat. Continue going back and forth and turning as usual. Once you’re a few rows in, start to decrease the pattern. You don’t want to decrease every row, but probably every other row or every three rows. You’ll want to end with about three stitches at the last row so it’s not as pointy as decreasing to one stitch would be. The length really depends on how long you want the tail to be and how big and old the baby is. This tail is pretty long and is probably the length of the baby or at least to cover the baby’s bottom, if that helps any.

Here's an up-close view of the hat for those of you who want to try it out

With the second color, make triangles. It’s pretty easy to do, but if you don’t know how, just leave a comment here and I’ll post at least that part to the blog! You can either attach the triangles (scales) to the hat, or directly crochet them on as you go. For more information on that, again, just leave a comment and I’ll provide a better tutorial!

This is what the decrease of the tail should look like

The scales on this hat were attached after the triangles were formed and just tied on

Is anyone interested in a hat or the detailed free pattern to these adorable little hats? Let me know, and I’ll get a move on it!

This is my first photo dinosaur hat for miss Annibelle

Look how adorable that is! This was a smaller version, for the newborn.

How to Make a Yarn Pompom

A few people have tried to show me how to make pompoms, but I’ve never found one way I really like. They’ve always been much more complicated that I’d like. That is, until now! Here’s the easiest and fastest way to make a pompom. I’ve been using these pompoms for gift wrapping, but you could just as easily add them to anything like hats, gloves, scarves or general decorations. And, FYI this pompom is not washing machine safe!

All you need is your hands, yarn and scissors.

Here are the step-by-step directions:

1. All you do is wrap the yarn around your hand several times. Start like this:

   

2. Loosely wrap the yarn around your fingers like the photo below. You don’t want it to be too tight. Keep your fingers spread apart for a larger pompom, and only wrap a few fingers for a smaller pompom. How many times you wrap the yarn around will depend on how big or full you want your pompom. This one is a really big one, so it requires a lot of yarn to stay full and puffy!
   
   
3. When you’ve wrapped enough times, carefully slide the pompom off your hand and cut off the end. Then, cut another piece of yarn at least twice as long as your yarn circle.

   

4. Carefully tie the string you just cut around the middle of the yarn circle so it looks like this:

   

5. Insert the scissors into the loops you have now and cut all the way across. Repeat for the other side. Like this:
   
   
6. Now take your ends attached to the center tie. Keep a hold of those and fluff the pompom out. Use those ties to secure the pompom to whatever you’re attaching it to.

If you’re looking for some variations besides size (because those little pompoms are absolutely adorable) you can do multi-colored pompoms. Just wrap multiple yarn strands at the same time. Basically, use two or more balls of different colored yarn to wrap!

Simple Crocheted Flowers and Headbands

I’ve been on a hunt for the best crochet flowers, and I think I’ve finally found them! Thank God for Pintrest! There, I found a crocheted flower pin that led me to this awesome craft blog. That blog led me to the original free pattern for these amazing crochet flowers. They’re really easy to make, and they create that huge pop you’re looking for when you’re making crochet flowers and attaching them to headbands, hats, or whatever else.  They’re much more elegant that the other ones I’ve found too.

Anyway, here’s what I came up with:

Simple and Gorgeous!

The headbands are extremely easy too! So, here’s a quick and basic headband pattern for the one pictured:

Base: Chain 13.

Row 1: Double crochet in third chain from hook. Double crochet until end.

Row 2: Chain two, double crochet in next double crochet until end.

Repeat until desired length, join ends with slip stitch to make the final  product. Mine was 15 rows total. It’s really simple to customize the pattern for a skinnier or wider headband! Just add or subtract stitches across.

I’ve found it’s best to do it this way because the headbands are stretchier and better fitting than when you do it length wise rather than width wise.

A quick model shot of the headband

Melty Crayon Art

Last night I finally made a melty crayon craft. I’ve been wanting to do it for months, and last night I finally found the time! As soon as it was dry I hung it up in my room. So cute! And, so easy! How-to guide is below! Find the inspiration here.

Materials:

• box of crayons
• canvas
• hot glue gun
• flower petals (or fake flowers)

How-To:

Take the wrappers off the crayons. Heat the glue gun. Load crayons like a glue stick. Tilt the canvas and apply the color and let it drip down. It’s really that easy! I glue gunned the petals on after the wax dried, and bam! Pretty new sunflower art!

Extra Tips:

The wax tends to spray, so make sure you lay some paper or something down. Don’t force the crayons to melt fast! They’ll spray or fly across the room! Remember that the colors may mix a little so be careful of using a dark and then a light color. Make sure you let the wax drip down, don’t draw the lines. It’ll look weird and flat.

There are other ways to do it too. If you want the crayons at the bottom, glue the crayons (with their wrappers) to the canvas. Then, get a hairdryer and melt the crayons that way. I’ve never tried it, but that’s the way a lot of people do it!