brown fuzz? acorns!

A blissful weekend crafting with amazing friends and their equally amazing (and crafty) kids.  A bag of fuzz comes out, looking like this, just more of it:

....and I am introduced to felting.  I know, I know, I'm a little late to the party, and at first I didn't think it was for me.  Until I starting stabbing the needle into the foam (and my fingers on more than one occasion, ever increasing along with my wine intake).  So.  Much. Fun.  

Others were super creative, making giraffes and birds.  I focused on acorns, which turned out to be a group endeavor.  While I was stabbing and felting stabbing and felting, some of the crew was hiking and collecting caps.  It takes a village.  

These could be used in so many different ways, but I've got visions of holidays dancing in my head:  table cards, napkin rings, ornaments for your Chanukah bush or Christmas tree, bonus present when tied to the ribbon on the main present.

oh, hello ladybug and bumble bee!

the byrds and lazy susans

This post is taking a very hippie turn.  My friend tells me that at her parents' 1960's wedding ceremony, friends sung "Turn, Turn, Turn" a capella.  Of course they did.  Remember this fabulous industrial bobbin my mom scored for me at Brimfield? Until now, it had been used for ladder drills for a very small man:

A perfectly legitimate repurpose, but I had something else in mind.  Did you know you can turn anything (within reason, of course) into a lazy susan with - I kid you not - lazy susan hardware?

Isn't America the best?  So that's what I did.  The possibilities are endless:  tea or spice rack, jewelry or office supply holder, centerpiece, snack tray. 

here's where the Byrds come in

pulled this out of my box of
random tools to make a perfect handle

spice rack

tea rack with Tea Guys tea

Molly Hatch design!

sticks and bricks is 5!

Tonight I went to celebrate sticks and bricks' 5th anniversary. If you haven't been, go now.  The celebration motivated me to create a lot of beautiful new items, including these.

vintage glass slide = nightlight

vintage racquet press + yardsticks =
plant stand

or tea tray, snack tray, coral your
office supplies
the possibilities are endless!

more fun and games with
vintage tennis racquet presses

vintage glass art slides = night lights

I'm back with the repurpose for the gorgeous vintage glass art slides.  My friend did not dumpster dive at her art school in vain.  Behold:  simple, but so elegant.  Nightlights!

Oh yes, that's a typewriter.

I could totally make those.

Last spring I was at a craft fair in Asheville, North Carolina, which is where the Northampton hipsters winter.  I bought myself the cutest pair of earrings, which I quickly realized were made out of button covers.  Yep, I could totally make those.  But I bought them because I loved them and I like supporting other crafters.

Two weeks ago, I went to an awesome reuse rally at the voc school in town, because we are all about reuse around here.  And I found these (imagine it with the actual buttons and button bottoms in the packaging):

  
Not only were they free, but they were from Bradlees, a defunct Northeast department store.  An early Target, if you will.

You see where I'm going with this.  Of course what I didn't realize at the time is that there is a whole button cover kit, which necessitated a trip to Jo-Ann Fabric, a store for which I feel much less nostalgia.  But off I went.  Then I dug up lots of little scraps from my growing pile of vintage fabrics, quilt pieces, and cute little leftover bags from Pine Cone Hill (if you haven't gone to the tent sale and you live anywhere near Pittsfield, MA, then shame on you.  I mean....go!)

In no time at all, I produced these cuties which are posing on my industrial bobbin that my mom scored from Brimfield Flea Market. Next time you see it, it will be a lazy susan.  The ones with the vintage fabric feel very Betty Draper.