I made a bracelet from WHAT?!?!

I have a confession to make... I HATE to throw things away. Not garbage of course but things that break or things that are outgrown, outworn, unused, or unwanted items. So basically what I'm saying is I'm a hoarder, kinda sorta. I am really proud that our family can fill our recycle trash can by the time it is collected every other week. The things that can't be recycled I hang on to if I have any thoughts of reusing or repurposing.

For instance:

 

These pajama pants have been mine long enough for the elastic waistband to stop being stretchy. I still wore them for a few months anyway, picture me with my t-shirt tucked in just to hold them up, yeah I was a sexy mama. Everytime I tossed them into the laundry I'd think about getting rid of them but hated being wasteful, I mean they were still somewhat wearable. HA!  Then one day as I was cleaning out the garage I came across an empty tape roll!!! As I walked the cardboard tube to the recycle bin I decided it needed to be a bracelet instead so into my hoard/save pile it went. Then the idea hit me to use the fabric from the pajama pants to create a bracelet!

 

 Now 2 things are getting use from my DO NOT THROW AWAY pile. I just tore the pj pants into strips and wrapped around the cardboard tube. There really wasn't a need to even use glue. As I added strips I just overlapped the end of the last strip in the inside. The last strip is tucked into the wrapped parts on the inside. Gray is my favorite color so I think I will get a lot of use out of it.

 

 

Not bad for trash huh? Ok, please tell me I am not the only one who saves things or hates to throw things away. I have way too many people in my life that don't even recycle {gasp}!!!

Thanks for stopping by At Home with Sweet T

-Tracy

Linking up here:

My Repurposed Life

Lace earring organizer

Happy New Year friends!!! Are you just going nuts trying to get your home cleaned and organized? I am!!! All of January's post I will be sharing how I am getting our house in shape for 2014!

Do you remember my Knobby Jewelry Organizer? Today I'm sharing how I store my earrings. 

I found this frame on a garage sale page for a whopping $3!!! Score! It is just hard plastic but I loved the shape and the little roses on it seemed perfectly romantic.

 

The picture just isn't my style so it's bu-bye in the trash. I saved the glass though, who knows when I'll think of something to do with it. 

Supplies:

Frame

Spray paint

Rub 'n buff

Lace

Hot glue

I wiped down the frame to have a clean surface to spray. I spray painted it with Krylon Island Splash. I thought it looked similar in color to the knobby jewelry organizer.

 

Then to highlight the roses I used some Silver leaf Rub 'n Buff.

To add the lace I just applied a small line of hot glue then using the eraser end of a pencil tapped the lace into the glue. The pencil really will save you from having burnt fingers-trust me (Youch!!) 

Then add your beautiful earrings and hang on your wall. 

Voila!!!

I love it!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by At Home with Sweet T!

-Tracy
Linking up here:

Zipper Bracelet

What's a blogger to do when her husband finally gives up a badly tattered pair of shorts??? Salvage every last thing she can from them. Am I right? I could not believe how long it took for him to give up on these shorts, in places they were bare threads. Wish I would have thought to take a picture of the shorts before they were tossed. The left over fabric was so thin, it couldn't be used for anything. I kept all of the buttons (cargo pants have lots of buttons) and the zipper. As soon as I cut the zipper off I knew I wanted to make a bracelet from it. So here's what I did:

I cut as close to the teeth as possible to remove the zipper. I wanted the bracelet to mainly be the teeth and the pull. I loved this bronze-y color to the zipper.

Insert a jump ring at the end of the zipper between the last of the teeth and the stop. I used a pair of pliers to open the jump ring (I don't have jewelry tools yet) and it worked fine.

This mess is supposed to show you that I sewed another jump ring onto the other end of the zipper. It was sort of like sewing on a button.

From here I added a clasp to one of the jump rings. You could use the hole in the zipper pull instead of one of the jump rings but then you would have to wear the zipper open or closed depending on where you put it. I wanted to have an option.

Which way would you wear it? Zipped?...

Or unzipped?...

I ended up wearing it zipped for the evening.

Thanks for stopping by At Home with Sweet T!!!

-Tracy

Linking up to these fabulous parties:

Knobby Jewelry Organizer

I may have mentioned this before but my husband is a carpenter, he owns his own business (insert shameless plug here: Carpentry Plus). Last year he remodeled a kitchen for a family. After some convincing, he (or his helper) retrieved a few items from the dumpster for me to re-purpose. I wish I could have seen this kitchen before the remodel. 

I can't decide if the kitchen was cute based on the color or an old DIY project gone bad. This is just a drawer front in a lovely blue-tealy color with cute little white ceramic (I think) knobs. I think the drawer and the front were separated in the dumpster tossing. Seeing the front alone with the cute knobs gave me the idea to turn this into a jewelry organizer for my necklaces. 

To begin I cleaned the whole piece up because it was gross dirty. Then I removed the knobs, see how gross dirty they were:

Yuck!!! I soaked these little guys in vinegar overnight before I could touch them again and clean them up. No worries though the gunk came right off. I decided 4 knobs wouldn't be enough so I stole knobs from the other rescued drawers. 

That's the drawer I stole from, I only added this pic because I thought it looked like the drawer is looking at you. 

Ok, so after all the cleaning then I borrowed hubby's sander again since it worked so well for me on the Photo Door. I think I am getting lucky with projects turning out so well after just some sanding. I really like that look though and it just made the tealy color so pretty. After I sanded it down, hubby let me borrow his drill (I NEED my own tools, don't ya think?). I added more holes for the extra knobs. Look at me go:

I like the look of the knobs that they show the screw heads. Of course I had to make sure the slot in every screw head was lined up perfectly. So here's the finished Knobby Jewelry Organizer

What do you think? I have more jewelry so I think I might use the other rescued drawers for more storage. hmmm.

Have a great week my Sweets

-Tracy

I will be linking up to these fabulous linky parties ;)