Recycling Old Clothes into New Fashions

If you can't tell by now I LOVE DIY things! I always feel so empowered when I create things on my own. I'm not sure if its because I can do something I never thought I could or the fact that the more I practice, the more money I can save while still having the look that I want... Anyway this post is to inspire SPRING TIME! Its getting warmer outside and just about time for all of those cute little sundresses. I have got a closet full of maternity and bigger clothes that I am finally just about out of. I could just drop them off at the local Goodwill, but where would the fun in that be? I spent hundreds of dollars on these clothes...I want to get more out of them! So I took an old dress and button up top and made a cute halter top sundress for Spring.

Happy Halloween! DIY Ghost and Cat Silhouette Candle Boxes

My first DIY! I hope you all like it. I felt festive on this Friday morning and decided to add to my fall/Halloween indoor decor. However, like the rest of the country I am also on a budget. These are things that I had in my house. You can alter the look of these by adding more details (i.e. by using an exct-o knife, using orange tissue paper, or larger contruction paper for a wider box-type look). This is EASY on a crafting scale so even people will little to no creativity can easily pull this off and impress their friends and neighbors this Halloween!
What you'll need:

Black construction paper (I used an 18" x 12" construction paper pad $1 at the Dollar Tree)

Scissors (any size should do. I think mine are actually supposed to be kitchen scissors)

Tissue paper (either white or orange)

Glue stick

Tape

A ruler

A pen or pencil

First you will want to divide the length of the paper by 4 to ensure it will be a square when it is finished. ( for my paper i did 18/4 = 4.5 inches. I took my ruler and measured 4.5" four times and drew a line up the paper so I knew where to fold it when I was finished. (Note: You want to make sure you are drawing on the inside at all times so when you are finished it looks clean and neat)

Then I measured the holes for my windows (the cat's was 1/2 inch and the ghosts were 1 inch all around)

I used the paper i cut out from the holes to cut my silhouette shapes.
An easy way to cut a perfect full moon is to use a nickle!

Next you glue the tissue paper to the black construction paper. It should look like little "windows".

For the cat silhouette I glued the fence posts first, then the horizontal "posts" on top of them. You don't have to make everything perfect, each side differs slightly from the others.


Once you have glued your paper bits to the inside of the tissue paper, bend the edges to form your box.

Cut off excess tissue paper around the construction paper and tape the open corner together. You can glue the corner together, but it is much faster and less mess to use tape.

Put a small, medium, or large pillar candle underneath (I used a small one) and there you have it! Your very own Halloween Silhouette Candles!

MY Black Marker Purchase

So I said I would try it on my own purse and here it is!!! I only did the front side because I have some errands I need to run, however I think it turned out pretty good! I am pleased with my $6 designer look. I bought the purse from WalMart last year for $4 and I got a $2 pack of sharpies (for larger projects like this one you will definitely need more then one marker!). White purses are so hard to keep clean, once they get trashed it's easy to throw them out or throw them in the back of your closet (mine was under the sink in my bathroom!). I put stripes where it was the worst and I love it!!! Easy, easy, easy! You could do it with anything! And it doesn't have to be just white. You could do it on pink, blue, yellow, green, etc. but for the best designer look I'd stick with white. I hope y'all like it! Just the front took me about 30 minutes, so the whole project will be along the lines of an hour and a half I'm guessing.

Happy Friday! Have a Great Labor Day Weekend!