Long Weekend Fun!

I didn't have any big travel or party plans for the long weekend, so I had the opportunity to work on lots of projects!  At one point, I had four projects going at once:

Measurements and folding lines ready for the six-pointed star!
My other stars are five-pointed - this was a custom order.

A little early in the season?  I don't care -
I have a bunch of Scrabble ornaments ready to go!

"Love" license plate sign in progress.  Clamping the wood together
before trimming for size and attaching the letters.

A couple of picture frames I found at a garage sale -
being painted pink.

I am proud to say that I got three of these projects finished!

Six-pointed star: California-bound!

My favorite ornament: "love."
I listed this and a few others in my Etsy shop for early shoppers.

"Love" license plate sign.  It turned out so cute I kind of want to keep it.
But - it's listed in my Etsy shop as well.

The pink picture frames still need a little more paint - lots of weird angles to get into.  I think they would be super cute props for a wedding reception photo booth.  Or a photo prop for any reason.  Or for just hanging on the wall.

It's so much fun to complete projects!  Anything exciting and new any of you have been working on lately?  Leave me a comment!

T-Shirt Scarf/Chunky Necklace

I few weeks ago, I attempted to make this pin.  It was for a cute and easy t-shirt scarf, like this:

This photo is from the original tutorial - found here.

I was loved the idea of a bright yellow t-shirt scarf for spring/summer, but I planned to make it even easier by wrapping the ends in a strip of the fabric from the shirt, rather than the leather and jewels and whatever else they used.

Well, apparently I bought the wrong kind of t-shirt at the thrift store, because after I made the cuts and started stretching the fabric, it did not start curling up on itself all soft and cute like in the tutorial.  It just got longer and weirder and shedded tiny yellow fabric dots everywhere.

But, I wasn't giving up.  I decided to braid the pieces to make my own version of the scarf.  The pieces were so long at that point that I had to wind them up and clip them together with a hair clip so they wouldn't get tangled on each other.  It didn't turn out quite as I had hoped, and I'm not sure if it is a scarf or a necklace at this point.  The first time I wore it, it continued to shed yellow dots all over me, but now it's getting better.  Anyway, here it is:

Yellow braided t-shirt scarf/necklace.

 Not exactly what I intended it to be, but I still like it!  On the plus side, it worked just fine to wrap the back part with a scrap of the yellow fabric.

I may try the original idea with a different t-shirt in the future!  Or I may just keep working my way through the multitude of pins that I want to try!

After Pictures: Walkman Purse!

I finally finished my walkman project!  See my before pictures and inspiration in the post below.

I made a purse!  In my mind, this would be really easy - gut it out and done.  However, it turned out to be a bit more challenging than I expected.  My lovely boyfriend helped me with some of the logistics and with running some of the tools.  Rather than try to explain it, I'll just go to the after pictures:



Shoulder bag- holds business cards nicely.
Also credit cards and cash.

And it's adjustable - crossbody size here.

I found a weird belt at a thrift store that I re-fashioned into the strap.

After gutting it, I lined it with some neoprene scraps to cover ragged edges.

The hardware to hold the strap was the only thing I had to buy new.

Sadly, I had to take off the NKOTB sticker to get it apart and alter it.

But 1989 Nichelle remains.

A secret compartment - originally for the batteries.
Now it's great for rolled up bills, spare change, or keys.

The buttons had to be glued in place, but the orange "pause" still moves.

Full view of the purse.

Close-up.

It opens and closes manually with this tab.  Definitely stays closed securely.

The strap is even removable, so a ribbon can be added
to make it into a walkman wristlet.

I had originally hoped to sell it in my shop, but it is a bit of a prototype with a few mistakes along the way, so I'm going to hang onto this one.  I wore it out today and already got a few compliments!  Such a fun accessory.  Thanks so much to the Upcyclers Team for the inspiration!  If you want to see everyone's creations, they will be pinned here: Upcyclers Creative Challenge Board.

Before pictures...

So, I recently got started with a project due to an awesome challenge by the Upcyclers Team on Etsy.  Here's a summary of the challenge: "Starting May 2012, we will host a creative challenge to inspire upcycling ideas among the team!  Each month a selected shop (Judge) will choose a common upcycled medium, like a tin can, an old magazine, etc), and participants respond with photographed ideas of what they upcycled that medium into!"  So, the challenge this month was: "a stereo/radio/boombox/speaker/cdplayer."

FUN!  My initial idea was to take an old discarded discman CD player and create some sort of card/picture frame that has something decorative on the outside and something else when it gets opened up.  Well, I didn't find a discman and wasn't sure how to execute this idea anyway.  However, I did find an old walkman cassette player and had an even more exciting idea.  But it's a surprise!  Feel free to guess in the comments!  Also feel free to steal my discman idea.

Here are some before pictures of my walkman...

Not technically a walkman.  A portable cassette player/recorder.

It opens.

Someone added a sticker of Jordan from NKOTB.  Awesome.

Someone also added the year and their name - "1989 Nichelle."

Business cards!

My business cards came in the mail today!  I love them; they match my Etsy banner and avatar.  I can't wait to start giving them out to friends/family and including them in my packages when I ship items.  I have no graphic design expertise, so I had a seller on Etsy do the design for me.  I totally recommend this if you're unskilled like me but want to get more of a consistent look to go along with your name.  Next on the agenda - a facebook page for my business!

UPDATE:  I decided to get right on it!  Here is my brand-new facebook page.

Upcycled Letter A!

Many of my friends are well-aware of my crafty, upcycling ways.  This past winter, my friend Amber gave me a coffee mug she had and loved, but it had broken.  She thought maybe I could make it into something cool.  It took me a little while to figure out what to do, but I finally decided to break it up more and make it into a mosaic letter A for her.  I taped off an A on an old piece of wood and filled it in with the broken up pieces.  I covered it all with a clear coating to protect it a bit after removing the tape.  I was finally able to deliver it to her this past weekend, and realized I hadn't taken any pictures of it.  So, I took a picture in my car at the gas station while I was on my way.  Here it is!

A for Amber!